Help! My Blog Has Been Hijacked!

The brothers, Bubba and Joe, set out on their second great adventure on Wednesday, October 25.  It was a cool morning and beautiful as the two adventurers met at the Chipola River bridge on Highway 20.  Their last trip had been so much fun that they could hardly wait to continue onward down the river.  They left Joe's truck there and went on to the Peacock Bridge on Chipola River to launch their kayaks.

It's 8:30 AM and Bubba can hardly wait to get going.

Their journey started out much like their first outing.  It was peaceful going downstream enjoying the sights and sounds of the Chipola.

About every two hours, they would take a break and get out to stretch their legs and rest a little.

Then it started to dawn on Bubba that just possibly his younger brother was a foolhardy daredevil as they passed a cave and Joe kept trying to get Bubba to go in and look around.  Thankfully, Bubba had too much sense to oblige him.

They passed an old man fishing and divers preparing for a future cave dive.  Then they came to a place known as "Look and Tremble".  

Bubba is looking and possibly trembling in this picture.

Brother Joe says "I think I can make it."  He told Bubba it was "easy".  Then he proceeded to show Bubba how to do it.

In fact, it was so "easy" that Joe did it with his feet in the air.  Thankfully he had on his life jacket, but it scared Bubba as he ran down the bank trying to find Joe fearing that he had been hurt.

Joe climbed out with a defeated expression on his face.  He lost his cap, his water bottle, and his dignity.  In fact Bubba said he looked like a "wet rat".

Bubba sat on a rock, ate his lunch, laughed at Joe, and then carried his kayak around "Look and Tremble."  

Joe smiles as he tells Bubba that he is going to give it another try.  He made it the second time, but Bubba wasn't too impressed.

They continued their trip enjoying the clear water, sandy bottom, and the limestone cliffs.  After another three hours around 3:00 PM, Joe's GPS reading indicated that they were still five miles from their destination.  They had already traveled thirteen miles.  They were both tired and were running out of daylight.  Joe's trials with "Look and Tremble" had exhausted him.  

Then they decided their fastest way out would be to call Search and Rescue in the form of youngest brother, Tim, to help them out.  Of course, Tim responded.  After all, this was not the first time he had to take care of his brothers.  

Joe gets in the boat with Tim and then Tim tows both kayaks back to the landing.

Look at the smile on Tim's face.  He is already thinking about how much fun he will have telling about this "Search and Rescue" at the family Christmas gathering.

Tim tows them back the last five miles.  Bubba relaxes and enjoys the ride.

By the way, Tim says that he does not want a kayak.

We're going camping again soon.  Brother Joe wants them to kayak down the Pea River in Alabama.  Brother Tim warns Bubba about a waterfall that Joe let him go over one time on that same river.  I'm thinking Bubba and Joe have different ideologies about the sport of kayaking.  I think Bubba has a peaceful, non-eventful trip in his mind while Joe envisions more and more challenges with the thrill of adventure.  I'm hoping sister-in-law Judy will help me straighten them out on the fact that they are not spring chickens and have to be careful and safe.

Note: Bubba could hardly wait for me to write the blog about his trip.  He said that Joe took pictures of everything because it would be good for the blog.  Now he is telling me what to write and I can hardly type fast enough to keep up.  I'm thinking that they may need to start a Kayaking Brothers blog soon.

Fall Holiday

Amy, Darryl, and Amelia arrived here in the middle of the night on October 17.  Amy and Amelia were going to come for a quick fall holiday visit, but when Darryl's family's rental house needed some painting and repairs completed before the 1st of November Darryl decided to come with them to help his sister get the job done.

As always, it was great to have them here.  Bubba volunteered to pitch in and help with the work, leaving Amy, Amelia, and me home for some quality time together.  This is a picture of Amy spending quality time with her mom.

Note that she "appears" to be interested in what I'm saying, but she has her laptop open and is constantly glancing down to connect with the world. (I had to include that little dig. I hope she forgives me because she is truly a wonderful daughter.)  Bubba says I'm addicted to mine also so I guess that I'm getting a dose of my own medicine.

What was unusual about this visit is that we picked Amelia's cousin Avery up at "school" on Thursday and Friday and she stayed with us all afternoon.  There was so much activity that I didn't get any pictures of them together.  They were so funny.

The first afternoon we took them to the park up the road that has a really nice playground.  It is also the home of "Bucky" and "Doe-Doe", the goats that we enjoy feeding.  They visited the goats and played for a while and we headed back home.

When they crawled up into their car seats, Avery grabbed up Amelia's teddy bear that she had brought with her.  Amelia immediately began to wail wanting her teddy bear back.  We gave the sharing speech to no avail.  Suddenly Avery tossed the bear into the very back of the car and Amelia's wailing got louder.  Then Avery joined in with a fake wailing noise mocking Amelia.  Finally, I had enough.  I turned around and said, "If you both don't hush right this minute, you're both going to be in time out when we get home!"  To my surprise (and Amy's) they both turned it off immediately and we had a peaceful ride home.

Friday afternoon, we picked up Avery and headed for Pier Park. They have rides there now and it is is called Miracle Strip at Pier Park.  Both girls were very excited to be there. We got each one of them an arm band so they could ride as much as they wanted.  The afternoon passed quickly.  When we headed home, we stopped by "Chic-Fil-A" which Avery calls "Chick Olay" for ice cream and allowed them to play a while in the play area there.  

On the way home the fussing between the cousins started again.  "She touched me!"  "She looked mean at me!"  "She did her teeth at me!"  "I don't want her to come to my house!" "She doesn't share!"  "I don't want to play with her!"  But when we got back and Avery's mom was walking toward the car to get her, it changed to "I don't want Avery to go home!"  "I want to go home with Amelia!"  "I want Avery to play with me!"

It may not sound like it to you, but this was all a lot of fun.  We did a lot of laughing about it.  Ashley said that she and her cousin, Ginger, were the same way -- always bickering, but loving their time together.

Saturday, before they headed back to Baton Rouge, Bubba and Amelia enjoyed some time with the "hole" swing.  Amelia loves to swing high and she loves for Bubba to make the swing spin round and round.

She also loves to pose for pictures.  

One time when she was spinning on the swing, her dress got caught up in it somehow and her belly button was showing.  She thought this was hilarious so every time when she finished spinning, she somehow managed to finish with her belly button showing.  She would laugh and laugh.  I love the way she says "button".  It is "but" "ton" as though it was two words instead of just one.  

Way too soon, it was time for them to head home.  It was a very good visit.  In just a few weeks we will be on our way out there for Amelia's 5th birthday.  She is growing up so fast!  She is so loving and precious.  She has brought us all great joy.  We can't wait until next time.


Note:  How can you not be a LSU fan??

A Lot to Think About

The weekend following Bubba and Joe's first kayak adventure, we had a bad case of hitch itch.  We were ready to camp.  Now that we have a year of camping under our belts, we are more particular about where we want to camp.  It is important to us to be able to sit outside in a peaceful location preferably on the water with a nice view.  One of the two places that fit that description best is the park on Lake Seminole where we had just been with Joe and Judy a few weeks earlier.  So we headed out on Friday morning and were able to find the perfect spot.

The route we take to Lake Seminole goes through Marianna, Fl, where we always stop at the Travel Centers of America truck stop.  Now what makes this truck stop so appealing to us?  You guessed it!  Three of our favorite fast foods are offered there.  It's clean and it's easy to park the trailer.  We cannot pass this place without stopping.

I'm not going into a lot of details about this trip except to say that we both enjoyed time paddling the kayak.

Bubba ventured out a long way this time. 

Nature is a constant reminder of

all His hands have wrought.

 We both spent a lot of time in our recliners just talking, reading, and thinking.










I really had a lot to think about this particular weekend.  I worked for a man that I really respected, who treated staff well, and who made going to work enjoyable.  He was recently very unfairly advised by the higher ups that he could either move to another prison in south Florida or go home. He chose to go home.  His mother is elderly and in poor health and he didn't want to leave her.  We were all upset at work.  I began to think about my future and what I wanted to do.

I can tell you that I gave a lot of thought over the weekend about going ahead and retiring.  It would cost me a lot financially to do that.  Health insurance for just myself is $569.00 a month not to mention that I would have less retirement and social security to live on; however, before the weekend was over I decided that if I wasn't happy with the new boss I was going to retire.  

This was my view for a lot of the weekend.  

It was nearly two more weeks before I met the new boss.
I have to say that so far I'm happy.
He's a young man and has treated me as though I'm very important to him.  I have listened very closely to his dealings with staff and families and I like how he treats them.  He approves of the flex schedule I'm on now that allows me to be off every Friday which is very important to our new camping lifestyle. So my decision for now is to stick with it a while longer.

Anyone who knows Bubba knows that he is a pessimist (a glass half empty kind of guy).  I, on the other hand, am an optimist (my glass is half full).  It's kind of interesting that when planning for the future, we swap roles.  He is optimistic in thinking that we will both probably live well into our nineties.  I am pessimistic in thinking that we need to enjoy things while we are both in good health and can.  I think that probably we are both being somewhat realistic on this.  At any rate, I'm looking forward to retirement whether it be in a few months or a year.

This was a great weekend for relaxing and for thinking.  We all need one like that every now and then!

The Difference Between Men and Boys

Is the price of their toys.  As you know from my last blog about our trip to Lake Seminole with Joe and Judy, Joe had just purchased a 10 foot kayak.  That weekend we all took turns trying it out and of course Bubba caught the fever.  The very next weekend we went kayak shopping.  We searched high and low in Panama City on Friday with no success.  The next day we went to Academy Sports in Tallahassee where Bubba found his kayak and here it is. 

He bought it on Saturday and then he and Joe immediately planned an adventure for the following Wednesday. Bubba met Joe at 8:00 AM at the Peacock Road Bridge.  They put Joe's kayak in Bubba's truck and then drove to Marianna where they launched their kayaks and set off paddling.  It was a cool beautiful day.  They had estimated this to be a half day trip which they thought would be a good start.

It was so peaceful.  Along the way they saw an alligator, turkeys, ducks, and a lot of the beauty of God's world.

Their half day trip actually turned out to be a full day, but they really had a good time.  The next adventure is already being planned.  Stay tuned.

P.S.  After Bubba got his kayak, I decided it was okay to reward myself with a new ipod.  Mine got "lost" while I was in the hospital.  I'm thinking that I may eventually want a kayak of my own, but maybe not until I retire.

And a Good Time Was Had by All

After several weeks of trying to synchronize our calendars, we finally found a weekend that Bubba’s brother Joe and wife Judy could go camping with us.  Our destination was Seminole State Park in Donaldsonville, Ga.  We have been here several times before and it is one of our favorite spots.  We were supposed to meet them there at 1:00, but since we usually get lost trying to get there we left a little earlier than was necessary and arrived at noon on Friday.  We went ahead and checked in and were able to check Joe and Judy in at the same time so that we could claim a site for them next to us.  We were in luck.  There were a number of sites left on the lake and we staked our claim for one on each side of us so that they could take their pick.

Once they were set up in their camp site, the first order of business was to try out Joe’s new kayak.  We all took a turn.  Of course, Bubba loved it and is now kayak shopping for one of his own.

Supper on Friday night was chili, crackers and pear salad.  Judy cooked it and it was delicious.  After supper, we built a fire and set around and visited until bedtime. 

Saturday was more of the same.  Bubba fried mullet and flounder for lunch.  It smelled wonderful and tasted as good as it smelled.  Come to think of it, we sure did a lot of eating.  Supper that night was another huge meal followed by marshmallows roasted over the campfire.

This was one of our best weekends camping.  While we have enjoyed every trip we've taken, we've always thought it would be even better with family or friends and we were right.  We're looking forward to our next trip already.  

Long Overdue Camping Trip to St. Joe Peninsula State Park

February was filled with the excitement of making our camping reservations for the summer.  We had plans to go to East Bank Corps of Engineers Park, Stephen Foster State Park in Georgia aw well as the Stephen Foster State Park in Florida.  Naturally we had to cancel all of these when I became too sick to do much of anything; however, we left our reservation at St. Joe Peninsula State Park on the books hoping that I would be able to go by then.  And I was!

We were a little disappointed with the campground there.  We had stayed there before in the winter and had written down several camp sites that we thought were preferable; however, the one we were in had palmettos and scrub oaks so close to the front door of the camper that we could not even put out our awning and enjoy sitting outside.  The Florida Parks we have stayed in seem to be going with the “natural” look which basically means they hack out a place for you to park and leave everything else.  That gives you no view, plenty of mosquitoes, and no possibility of a breeze.  On the other hand, the parks in Alabama and Georgia appear to be better “groomed” and spaced out better.  Granted we are just now in our second year of camping, but so far this is what I’ve observed. 

Our first night I fixed tacos for supper.  Since I’ve been sick I cannot get enough tacos.  This is probably the sixth time we’ve had them since June.  I wonder what that craving means?

 We walked down to the beach when we had everything set up at our campsite and the waves rolling in were huge and the red flags were flying.  It was not looking like we were going to get to enjoy the beach very much.  Saturday dawned and we packed up our beach gear and headed down to the beach hoping that it would be better and it was.  The seas had calmed enough that we could swim and cool off and we set up our umbrella and just enjoyed relaxing and swimming every now and then.

Later that day we enjoyed a game of Scrabble in the cool of the trailer and grilled pork chops for supper. That night we watched an old movie that Bubba’s brother, Joe, had recommended.  It was  "The Long, Long Trailer" staring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez.  It was very funny and reminded us of some of the tight spots we were in when we first started camping.

We came home on Sunday so I could rest up on Monday before returning to work on Tuesday.  It is good to be camping again and I’m looking forward to more trips as the weather cools off.

Ballerina Girl

Two weeks before I returned to work, we decided to make the trip to see Amy, Darryl, and mostly Amelia, since it had been nearly two months since I had seen her.  Although Amy and Darryl came while I was in the hospital, Amelia stayed with her Aunt Ashley to avoid exposure to my meningitis.   We also thought this would be a good test of my strength because it is an eight hour drive and it is usually a pretty busy weekend when we visit.  

We were waiting for Amelia when she came in from school.  She looks so cute in her school uniform or “costume” as she calls it.  She was as happy to see us as we were to see her.  During our visit we played Candyland, ran races, and went to a nearby outline mall.  At one point I was alone with Amelia and it was hot and we couldn’t find another quarter for her to ride a little ride she found.  At that point I knew that I would be able to handle work just fine.  

Every time we would get in the car to go somewhere, she would get a paper and pen and assume the role of her teacher.  She wasn’t teaching us our ABC’s or numbers.  Instead, she was writing our names on two sides of her paper and then she would announce “Paw-Paw and Amy… car pool” and “Nana and Darryl… extended care”.  I guess this is how her teacher divides them up at the end of the day.  She appears to be fascinated with the management of a classroom.

We always try to take her a little surprise when we visit.  This time we bought her some ballet shoes, a leotard and a tutu all in pink because I thought she would like to play dress up and dance.  I found out when I got there that this would have a practical use as well since she would be starting ballet lessons   the next week.  She loved the outfit and immediately stripped and put it on.  As we got our cameras she assumed many exaggerated ballet poses.  Picture below is one of the best.  

Saturday night Darryl grilled steaks for us.  I had requested a Darryl steak while I was in the hospital and even though he had just returned home that day from a business trip, he was still gracious enough to cook me the steak I had been craving.  He’s my favorite son-in-law, you know.

We left early due to the impending landfall of Hurricane Issac.  As you all prob ably know it turned and headed another way once we were headed home.  It was a good weekend and we got our much needed Amelia “fix”.  We’re already looking forward to next time.

June Ended on a High Note.

I mentioned earlier that I would post about our summer visit from Amy and Amelia at a later date.  I forgot some things while I had meningitis, but I did not forget the visit we had from our girls prior to getting sick.  Amy and Amelia came for a week long visit at the end of June.  Immediately upon arrival, Amelia noticed the tire swing that Paw-Paw had made her.  She got out of the car and after lots of hugs and kisses, she was ready to swing on what she calls her "hole" swing.

The next day Amy and I took her to the pool at Frank Brown Park in Panama City.  Paw-Paw opted out on this trip.  He is not crazy over the kiddie pool/playground, but he still missed a good time.  

We went to Pier Park the next day to see the movie, "Brave".  Paw-Paw also passed on this trip which is a good thing because he would have had a stroke  after paying for popcorn and drinks for all of us.  We could have had a meal at a nice restaurant for what the movie theater refreshments cost us.  You can tell that I don't go to the movie very often.

On Friday, Amy joined a group from her former church in Atlanta for a weekend retreat for youth.  The new leader had an engagement for Friday and Saturday and asked Amy if she would take her place.  Of course Amy was happy to get the opportunity to spend time with the teenage girls she had been leading prior to her move to Baton Rouge.  This also meant that Bubba and I had Amelia all to ourselves which we always enjoy.

We went to the beach one day to a place recommended by Bubba's sister and it was perfect.  There was a sand bar close to the shore that created a pool type area that was free of waves breaking.  This enabled Amelia and me to play "mermaid girls" for hours.  She also enjoyed picking up shells which were plentiful and feeding the sea gulls.

Last year we made a Flag Cake to celebrate the 4th of July and since it is such a good cake for a preschooler to help with, we made one again.  Pictures are below, maybe not in the correct order.  The week ended much too soon, but we enjoyed every minute of it.

July 2012 A Month Lost to Viral Meningitis

On July 3, I completed a productive day at work and happily left the office at 5:00 anticipating a long holiday weekend camping at a Corps of Engineers Park on Lake Seminole.  That night I went to bed and awoke sometime in the middle of the night with chills and a fever of 104 degrees.  I covered up good, took some Tylenol and suffered through the night.  The next morning I felt some better and pushed myself to go to Wal Mart with Bubba to buy our camping groceries for the weekend.  I didn’t hold up too well and when I came home to rest my fever was once again 104 degrees.  I determined that I would see the doctor the next morning.  The night was rough with high temperatures.  My neck and head ached.  It’s a wonder I didn’t die from a drug overdose because I searched the cabinet for anything that might help relieve my pain.  Bubba heated hot compresses for my head that seemed to help some and he massaged my neck until he gave out.

Long story short, I ended up the next day (Thursday) at Sacred Heart Hospital in Port St. Joe.  The doctor there did not seem alarmed by my high temperatures (although I know that I heard once your brain would “boil” if your temperature got too high).  He said that I didn’t need a spinal tap because I could move my head and neck.  I was told I had a virus and to take Tylenol for the fever.

On Saturday, I tried to reach the doctor at Sacred Heart but couldn’t so we decided to go to the Emergency Room at Gulf Coast.  Same story as Sacred Heart – I didn’t need a spinal tap, I had a virus and should take Tylenol for my fever.

The misery continued until Tuesday morning when Bubba called Dr. Barnes who agreed to see me right away.  I believe he saved my life.  He told Bubba that I was going into shock and that he was calling the ambulance and having me admitted at Bay Medical.  Most of that day is a blur, but I do remember that the first thing said by the emergency room doctor was that he was going to do a spinal tap.  I don’t remember anything until I was in my “isolated” room on a bedside toilet and I didn’t have the strength to get up.  A bald headed black man reached around me and said, “Come on, Mama, we’re putting you on that bed.”  And he did.

I began to get antibiotics and other drugs via IV - wonderful medicine that stopped my headache.  After a night of pushing fluids into me, they discovered that I had too much fluid and it had built up around my heart.  I was so swollen.  My fingers were short, fat stubs and my wedding ring felt like it was going to cause the end of my finger to drop off.  Of course, the cure for this was a lot of diuretics and I was put on fluid restrictions.  Also something had happened to the sodium in my blood and I had to take $200 sodium tablets.  I have never craved cold water so much in my life.  Eventually I felt better and began to beg the doctor to let me go home and he did (big mistake).

At home I felt like I was doing okay.  I could get up to go to the bathroom although they did not send me home with anything for my headaches which continued.  The fevers also continued, but I was at home and happy until I got up to go the bathroom and did not have the strength to get up.  Bubba helped me and we decided that we might better go back to see Dr. Barnes the next day.  The next morning on the way out the back door, my legs turned to jelly and I sat down hard on the step and of course Bubba couldn’t get me up.  He called his friend Charles to come help.  He was there e in just a minute.  I put my arm around his big strong shoulders and I’ve got to tell you it sure felt good.  His wife, Helen, asked me if he stunk because he had been working in the garden, but I assured her that he smelled wonderful to me.  Dr. Barnes sent me back to the hospital.  Wow, it took eight hours in the emergency room to get back in.  I was in isolation again, but I was where I needed to be.  That was on a Thursday and I stayed until the following Wednesday.  The doctor had said that I would go to HealthSouth from the hospital because I needed rehab to get my strength back; however, when he came in Wednesday, he pretty much said I was a strong woman to go home.  I asked about my headaches and he pointed upward and said some things only God can heal. 

Well, I’ve been at home four days.  Bubba is taking very good care of me.  I’m making myself get dressed every day and walk as much inside as I can and a lap outside also.  I am getting stronger and I do love being at home. 

We saw Dr. Barnes again who gave me my headache pills.  He said that the headache would go away when the swelling around my brain subsided.  He also said that getting well was going to take time and I should just try to do a little more everyday  He also said that it might be Thanksgiving until I’m back to normal, but I feel like I’m on the right track.

You may think that I’m writing too much about this experience, but I’m 63 years old and have never experienced anything like this before.  I truly feel for the people suffering from cancer and the other debilitating diseases that are out there.  I feel like a baby next to them, but this wasted a whole month and maybe more from my life.  I don’t want to forget it so I’m really writing this for me.  There are a lot of things/events I don’t want to ever forget.

1.       The way Bubba has taken care of me.  He has definitely passed the “in sickness and in health” vow.

2.       Amy and Darryl’s response to my illness.  Darryl was boarding an airplane when Bubba called and told him they were taking me to the hospital.  He cancelled his flight, picked up Amy and Amelia and headed to the hospital.

3.       All of Bubba’ brothers and his sister came to the hospital to be with him.

4.       While Amy was here, I would doze off and I would wake up and see here sitting on the couch reading – just watching over me.

5.       It always made me smile when Darryl came in the room.  He would have on his mask and would pull on his latex gloves and snap them like he was going to do surgery.  He has a flair for the dramatic.

6.       I received so many phone calls.  I felt so loved.  Many of the people I work with called me on a regular basis.  Both prison chaplains called or came by.  My boss has called me nearly every day and visited the hospital twice.

7.       I don’t want to forget how well I was treated at the hospital.  Everyone from the custodian to the RNs were so nice and attentive (except the one nurse from h-e-l-l), but I only had him once.

8.       I don’t want to forget the nurse who was concerned because the permanent IV they had left on my hand was hurting me.  It burned like fire when they flushed it out, but they have to leave it just in case they need it again.  She said that she was going to call the doctor early the next morning to get permission to take it out.  I kind of thought, “Yeah right”, but the next morning at 7:00 just as she was finishing her shift, she came in and took that hateful thing out.  I thought of her every time I tucked my hand under my cheek to sleep.

9.       I don’t want to forget the nurse who talked to the doctor about increasing my headache medication.  She got him to change it to every four hours instead of every six.  The nurses knew that if they got it to me on time, I would not have a headache and they were always there with it on time.  (Except the nurse from h-e-l-l who was three hours late.)

10.   I don’t want to forget the nice man from Food Service.  Somehow I got entered in the computer for a diet that was “non mechanical”, which I think meant no teeth.  Everything I got was something pulverized beyond recognition and served on mashed potatoes.  It seemed that no one was a high enough authority to change the entry in the computer.  Dr. Compton, my kidney doctor, tried twice to fix it.  I got a real pork chop and a baked potato that night and I was so excited.  I almost sucked the bone, but alas, the next morning the pulverized stuff returned.  Apparently the computer caught the mistake.  When Amy came back (surprise!) the second time she took matters into her own hands.  On Monday night she went and got us some Mexican food for supper.  I savored and smiled over every single bite.  I kind of felt bad when the man picked up my tray, but he said he understood that he would have done the same thing.

The next night we had Pizza Hut pizza supreme.  Once again each bite was a delight.  You would think that all this spicy food would not agree with me after a week of eating bland pulverized food, rest assured that it did not bother me one bit.

The next day the nice food service man came to see me and asked me if I would want a cheeseburger for lunch.  I assured him that he would be my hero if he could accomplish that.  It seems that the computer allows that for a “non mechanical” diet because of the ground beef.  He was so proud when he delivered it and I assure you that I enjoyed every bite.  On my last day, right before I was released he came in to tell me that I had finally been corrected in the computer to a “regular diet” and with great excitement he informed me that tonight was FRIED CHICKEN NIGHT.  I sadly informed him that I was going home and going to regret missing the fried chicken, but I did thank him for all the personal attention he gave trying to please me.

UPDATE:

I have now been at home since Wednesday, July 25.  I feel like I’m getting stronger every day.  Last Thursday I went to an eye doctor appointment, a drug store, ate lunch at Golden  Corral (with Bubba fixing my plate), and got to go back by the prison for a short visit.  It was my best day so far.

Saturday was our 46^th Wedding Anniversary and I felt like going out for lunch.  We made the hour long scenic drive to East Point where we ate at Captain Snook’s.  It was delicious.  Bubba has really proven himself as an excellent care giver over this past month.  I’m very blessed.  This is it on my health until I am able to go back to work.  I hope that it won’t be too much longer.