Week of Medicine

This past week is notable for it's doctor and varied medical appointments.

Tuesday morning I went to see my GP about some varied mild medical concerns. She gave me a couple of prescriptions and sent me for blood work to check my hormones and an ultrasound. She is also going to give me a referral to an allergist. One of the prescriptions required compounding so I took it to a small local pharmacy across the street from her office. The pharmacist graduated from UT Pharmacy school in 1980 where I had briefly attended in 1981. We chatted about it for the few minutes it took him to fill the prescription. I had only 10 minutes to drink 32 oz. of water and hold it for an hour before my abdominal ultrasound. Then I drove around the block before realizing I should go the blood-letting place next which was in the same center where I started. Excellent phlebotomist, I barely felt the needle. Then a short drive to the radiologist and wait till my appointment for the abdominal ultrasound which was followed by a vaginal ultrasound which I never hear of and wasn't expecting. My feeling on the vag ultrasound - All the goo and none of the fun!

Tuesday night after turning out all the lights and everybody tucked in bed, I leaned over to pet Arwen good-night. In the dark I didn't see her leg up in the air and thus poked her toenail with my right eyeball! I can't even begin to describe the pain! I was unable to utter a sound. Being a ranch dog, she runs around on 150+ acres, drags up dead things and chews on them, sometimes kills small creatures, mice, rabbits and such and steps in fetid water, wild animal excrement and the like. This made me terribly concerned about infection.

Arwen's Playground

I tried to wash my eye out with eye wash but it was painful. I went to bed and managed to get some sleep. I knew I had to get to an eye doctor the next day so I didn't bother to get up when the alarm went off. When I did get up I went to wash my eye out again because it was crusted up a little. It hurt even more than the first time. I could hardly blink my eye. Digging through the medicine cabinet I found an eye patch that had been there so long I couldn't remember why I bought it in the first place. I stuffed an kleenex under it to keep my eye closed, texted the boss and carpool, took 4 ibuprofen and went back to bed since I figured an optometrist wouldn't be open till around 10 am. In the morning I searched the internet for an nearby eye doctor (which isn't easy with one eye and that my weak one). I finally settled on the eye doctor at Wal-Mart in Seguin who opened at 9:30. I called and was told they would try to get me in around 10:45. I got in to see the doctor a little after 11, which really wasn't so bad. I liked the doctor very much and I may start seeing her for my regular exams. She prescribed some ophthalmic antibiotic ointment. I mentioned I thought I might stay home and she thought it was a good idea. I waited longer in Wal-Mart for them to slap a label on a tube of ointment than I had waited for the doctor. Long enough for me to buy a few new tops and a pair of pants.

My GP called Wednesday evening to let me know I have uterine fibroids which are quite common and very rarely malignat. The results of the blood tests will determine how we proceed.

Oh, did I mention this last week I was appointed our Division representative to the Safety Committee at work? It's a little more involved than I previously thought. I will have to attend quarterly meetings and be liason to our division. The committ decided to have the spring Safety Conference at Parrie Haynes Ranch this April. That should be interesting and I hope, fun.

Kent, my neighbor, has been emailing David Veale the TPW Wildlife Biologist for Gonzales and Guadalupe Co. to make an appointment for him to come out and look at our adjoining properties to discuss Wildlife Management and Prescribed Burns. Got email from David about the possibility of participating at a prescribed burn at Neasloney next Tuesday. We won't know for sure until Monday if the weather conditions will be correct and then only the first few email responders will get to go. Tim gave me permission to take off if I'm selected. But the whole thing could still be called off Tuesday when we get there if the conditions aren't right.

Also, I bought tickets to the San Antonio Rodeo to see Gary Allan on Feb. 6. Our seats are up in the nosebleed section but at least we have seats! Last time we went to see Gary Allan it was at Stubbs and it was standing room only! We wandered up as close to the stage as we could and had to stand through the opening act, too. I thought Ana was gonna pass out. It was quite warm. Ana and I are thinking about taking half or all day off on Friday for the Rodeo. Meet in San Marcos, drive to San Antonio, maybe have a late lunch/early dinner at Mi Tierra. Enjoy the vendors at the Rodeo and maybe check out the Livestock show.

Arrggghhhh!

Well, blogging is a habit I haven't gotten ingrained yet. I had so much I wanted to share about last week that I'll share it now.

My performance evaluation at work was the most enjoyable I have ever had and quite possibly anyone. My boss took me to Starbucks bought me a latte and a cupcake and told me he hoped I stayed his assistant as long as he was there.

Stellar Week

Girls turn on the couch!

This week started great with a holiday on Monday. Took the car to the shop for warranty work and got to drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo for the day. Man, I could get used to that vehicle. Decided to take the opportunity to do a little geocaching. It was a beautiful, clear crisp morning a little breezy. I found 10 geocaches before noon! Found my first Travel Bug. Which is a trackable dogtag with a mission. Probably could have found more but my GPS and laptop batteries ran down and so did mine. Stopped at Sonic for lunch and soon got the call to pick up the car. They pointed out my inspection had expired in November and I never even noticed so I asked them to take care of that, too.

Worth the Weekend

Ah, work is boring. This weekend was interesting! Yesterday I went to a Prescribed Buring Seminar with my neighbor Kent at M.O. Neasloney Wildlife Management Area. It was fantastic! We didn't get to burn, conditions were not quite right for the area but we learned a lot! Afterwards, Kent and I hung out and talked about our plans and ideas for our properties, which dovetail together very well.

Today was mostly a wash; clothes and dishes, that is. Until Kent called around 5 and asked if he could bring his sisters over to meet me. The house and I were a mess as usual so I jumped up and tried to straighten a few things. I could hear the ATV and went outside to greet them. It was a sight to see all three of them on the ATV plus a little dog, Lilly! Carol and Donna are wonderful! I almost feel like family myself. They brought me a bottle of wine. We walked around and visited and laughed like old friends! I think I've been invited to shoot skeet and drink egg nog next Christmas.

Recap - Week 1 2009

Finally made it to Saturday! Whew! For a while there I didn't think it would ever get here. Whereas I went back to work on Monday, my brain didn't arrive until Thursday!

Monday if felt strange going back to work, I think I could really get used to staying home 24/7. Doing what I want, when I want. All day was spent wading through 2 weeks of emails.

Tuesday I started to get back in the swing of things. Sonia, Chase & I went to the fitness center at lunch and had a really good work out! It took all day to update all the calendars. (I've been doing the Franklin Covey thing since July and I will testify that it works when you work it!)

Wednesday at the Production Meeting Tim distributed the purses from the Fantasy Football contest, my team, the Loominators were victorious! He also presented me with the Branch Monkey, a silly statuette of a monkey dressed like a cowboy. I'll get a pic next week and post it. Clemente, Chase & I worked out today, too. Chase says he's going to join me in my quest for 5 day a week workouts. On the way home I attempted 2 geocaches. One I did not find but in my defense the previous 2 cachers who looked for it didn't find it either. The other was a virtual in Luling which I did get credit for! That brings me to a total of 4!

Thursday Sonia & I had another good workout. Chase didn't make it because he had to go to Choke Canyon and photograph the Pine Flycatcher. First recorded sighting in the United States! Then the boss mandated we each turn in, by 5 pm Thurs. each week, a weekly report. This is in order for him to submit a weekly report to HIS boss. Nothing too wordy, short and sweet bullet type, highlights, lowlights, problems, projections, etc. This annoyed me no end. I felt stressed enough and one more piece of administrative BS was about to send me over the edge. Soon I discovered diving into the stacks of papers on my desk and compiling the requested report had the almost miraculous effect of ordering my world! Hallelujah! My ducks were finally in a row! Naturally, it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be and now I could make some headway.

Friday since my duckies we all lined I knew where to apply myself. A group of us went to Janitizo's for lunch in honor of Brandon's birthday. On the way home the carpool looked at and talked about the Pilot Knob volcano. I had printed out the info on the EarthCache there.

Now it's after 7 pm and I'm finally fixing some supper and going to watch some TV. I jumped in with both feet this morning with my moving project. Switching the Craft Room with the Guest Room. It's looking good and I've tossed quite a bit. I hate to stop but I'm starving. I hope I'm just as gung-ho tomorrow. I think I will be. It would be a miracle if I finish it tomorrow but I think I can make great strides.

Nice and cold overcast Sunday - Just like I like it, really!

Well, the last couple of days haven't been my best. A couple of highlights:

Friday I took the car to see if the paint peeling was under warranty, it WAS! The places where the paint is peeling from rocks hitting it is not, but they will touch it up! It won't look perfect but, it will look better and be protected from rusting out. I spent the rest of the day tormented over geocaches that were in crowded areas and couldn't figure how to be stealthy by myself. I need to bring Arwen with me. I made it to Sam's and bought some staples; dog food, dog treats, can salmon, can asparagus, can pineapple in juice, can fat-free refried beans, breakfast cereal (I decided to try Post Cranberry Vanilla Trail Mix Crunch, I hope it's not too sweet), and of course TP (lots of it!). Also, I stopped by Tractor Supply in Seguin on the way home and picked up some new cotter pins for the tractor, I don't know why they keep coming off! They had long sleeved ladies shirts on sale 25% off and I found one I liked in my size in a nice Turquoise, plain but nice.

Saturday I got up for the usual bathroom visit, noticed it was 4:30 am and remembered, amazingly, that there was a meteor shower scheduled for this morning (the Quadrantids) just before dawn. For info: http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/ I wandered outside and looked at the sky. Sure enough I saw a couple of meteors so I got my lawn chair with the footrest, a blanket, a glass of Pomegranate/Blueberry juice and sat down to enjoy. After about an hour and probably 20 meteors the clouds had finally obscured everything and I went back to bed. MISTAKE! I was practically worthless the rest of the day! I'm still obsessed with Geocaching, the website at least.

Today, Sunday, I'm hoping will be better. I like the weather better, anyway. It was 80 yesterday! Today, I doubt if tops 60! I did a little Yoga and worked up a little sweat.

HAPPY 2009!

First, I want to wish everyone the very best! May your God bless you!

How did I spend my New Year's Eve? I lit candles, put on silk pajamas and watched Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Feet Street then read my book. Did I stay up until midnight you ask? Yes. What was I doing? I was outside schlepping around calling for Angel to come in for the night! It was pretty chilly but she was no where to be found. Usually if I get up in the middle of the night I can find and bring her in but I was too tired last night and forgot.

The cows have been over already this morning. I love to watch them. My plans to switch guest bedroom with craft room/library are starting to gell. I've planned it all out on quadrille paper and now just have to figure out the sequence for least disruption, i.e. how to make it happen and finish in 4 days!

Yesterday I continued the housecleaning, it's getting closer. Did some more pre-sorting and planing for the room switch. The tire was flat on the lawn tractor so I put some more green goo in it, aired it up and took it for a spin, literally to spin the tire and spread the goo around. Of course I went too far and headed for virgin territory. The cotter pin came out again, glad I bought a spare! I still need to try and figure out why the Bronco won't start, put some air in a tire on the ATV and run it some.

1:00 pm Ahh, just got back from a hour walk around the property with the dogs. They had a blast rounding up the cattle. My treat for today? I got to watch them chase a poor little cottontail around. I say poor, they didn't catch if to my knowledge but it sure ran them ragged!

After looking at my plans for the bedroom again I discovered a couple of critical flaws. Damn, I hate it when that happens! All the bookcases won't fit like I planned. But, I guess that's O.K. I can leave the 2 in the cabin, it does need them. I need a sewing table, maybe I can use a TV tray?

Well, I'm hungry and going to go cook some Turkey Sausage with Mashed Potatos, Sauerkraut and Cheese with some Black-eyed peas on the side for my New Year's luck! Note to self: 1lb sausage/16 oz sauerkraut/4 servings mashed potatos.

6:00 pm The ATV started right off the bat, Yea! Had a nice long ride looking for some new trails. The Bronco still won't start. I think it's the starter. It's been through 2 or 3 in the 3 years I've had it. The new battery seems to have power. It does absolutely nothing when I turn the key. I can't keep off the geocaching site. It really enthralls me. Maybe I'll get out and do a few tomorrow.