New Shoulder for Mike 6/20/2024

 It's time for Mike's LEFT shoulder to be replaced. We arrived at hospital at 7:15 a.m., he went in for surgery around 9:30. Dr Allen checked in with me around 11:45 saying that Mike had done well, they'd had to shave off some really big bone spurs ( no wonder he's had such little range of motion and so much pain!), but he'd come through surgery okay and things looked good.

Mike spent over TWO HOURS in the recovery area. He did NOT want to wake up. His blood pressure was quite low, so they had to address that with some medication from the anesthesiologist...I could hear his nurse speaking to him quite loudly down the hall, and after such a long wait, I was beginning to be concerned.. 

Eventually he made it back to his 'room' ( a cubby with curtains) where we worked really hard to get him really awake enough to go home. 

We were home by 2:45. He went straight to sleep, of course.

Later, I went to get him some prescriptions at Smith's. When I came back, David was here! With Mom. Nice surprise. David is on his way to Reno. He had taken Mom out to have Mexican food, and they went to Sizzler on Friday and David drove on to Reno/Carson City on Saturday. It was fun to see him for a bit. He stayed here.

Mike's nerve block wore off on Saturday. He's done really well with pain management overall. The antibiotic has been rough on his tummy, however. 

He does not like wearing the sling. At all. Seldom does, which is a worry to me. But he is good about icing thw surgical site. No fever, he is taking blood thinner ( baby aspirin) and walking around regularly. He stayed home from church on Sunday.

Now we just need to regulate the sleeping to happen at NIGHT and not during the day. 

Nerve blocks are wonderful.

And I picked peas! I got this many on Sunday morning. Eric and Matt came over for a salmon dinner on Sunday afternoon. My Mom came, too. I made everyone shell peas before I would serve dessert. My thumbs simply cannot handle it. 

And the carrot cake was delicious and worth the labor of love. Even Pam enjoyed the cake when she had a taste on Monday. She brought lunch over on Monday the 24th, sweetheart. KFC. Yummy. And left all the leftovers.

I went over to Janet Seegmiller's on Saturday evening to pick cherries. I picked two full grocery bags. They SEEMED ripe, but Mike won't even eat them. Too tart and not ripe enough, sadly. Plus, his tummy is upset.  I found him some probiotics and bought yogurt for him. He was able to enjoy a chicken leg today, so that's good.

Check out the damage done to the marigolds I planted-- even the NEW ones purchased by the Funke's. Stupid bugs.

June Hike 6/22/2024

 Navajo Lake Loop Trail.

I have never been on that hike before! So pretty!

And it was a loop, but we did NOT loop. I can only do about 5 miles in these old hips, so we walked about 2 1/2 miles down the trail, then came back the same way.

Six women hikers, two dogs. 

June 22, 2024. Pictures to follow.

On the 21st, I attended Susan Christopher 's retirement party at the library. Nice to visit with old friends. They are having to hire a new Circulation Coordinator. Again. Poor folks. Not my monkey, not my circus!

We also had a lovely dinner at our house with Keenan and Jeannine Hart on Wednesday June 19. Mike fixed us some yummy Salmon! We were celebrating Keenan's retirement after 44 years of teaching.

Part of the trail meanders through quaking Aspen, part through pines.

Part of the hike meanders through the lava beds on the end of the lake.

The lake was glassy smooth that morning. 

All the white areas up in the lava rocks are columbine flowers! 

Columbine and elderberry. We also saw a lot of currant bushes that were flowering.

Bluebells!

So many perfect little Christmas Trees.

Few of my wildflower photos turned out good enough to print and make into cards, unfortunately. That was my intention when I took so many! 

There was a trail that led down to the earthen dike. But it (the dike) does not span the entire width of the lake. Apparently they made a concrete causeway/opening of some sort on the other side. It's too wide to step or jump across, unfortunately. Otherwise we could have made the loop by going OVER the lake.

I think Navajo Lake might be spring-fed. These lagoon-looking circles appear to be springs. Maybe?

Three dragonflies on a limb.

Indian Paintbrush.

The two dogs really loved playing in the water for a bit.

The water was so clear!

This is Penny and her dog, Lawrence. Which Disney character does he remind you of?

Day Three

 

Six Chinook salmon, maxing out our limits of Salmon to take home from this trip. One flounder and one black bass. We lost some biggies off the hook, and we tossed back a small ling cod. 

So many"Double-Headers," too. That means that both poles have a bite, so the reelers have to do a bit of a dance to keep lines from becoming entangled, the guide works hard coaching both fisher-people, and hauling in the fish, AND someone has to keep the boat going straight. ( My job😊). It was a fun morning of fishing, though we did lose a few big ones that got away.

Oh, and if we thought yesterday's sea was rough, today surpassed it by a LONG way! Another foot of high seas and waves and our captain would have turned back. Tides turning, storm weather coming or going, plus wind made for a rough passing through one of the Channels. Whew. BIG swells. HUGE splashes. BIG surf. But not scary. At first. I couldn't take any pictures cuz I was hanging on. The first part of the ride out to our spot was smooth...but only that part.  Then it got rough. But where we were trolling was not too bad. We did have to watch the angle of their boat with the swells and waves, but it was okay. Ish

 

It's crazy how quickly things change. The ride back was oh-so-smooth. We saw whales spouting, plenty of birds were hanging about in the fishing area. As were four or five other fishing boats, trolling for Salmon. We saw quite a large number of Sea Otters and they are so cute. It is such rugged country up there in Vancouver Island, BC. 

Through all of this, Jessica never got really really seasick! We were so grateful for that, as she tends to be that way, and we did encounter some very rough seas.

*********

We had the fish processed, drove around town a bit, got our ferry ticket, shopped for some smoked salmon in their shop, picked up the mostly NOT frozen fish, and hit the road.

We drove as far as Issaquah, WA on Wednesday night, found a dumpy hotel at 1 am Thursday, slept, then drove home to Cedar City by about 1:00 am on Friday. 

Long trip.

Friday afternoon,  we divvied up the the fish

The Funke's headed to Salt Lake on Friday morning while we slept in, and returned on Sunday afternoon. We said goodbye to them on Monday. Sunday? I don't know. My days are all a jumble. But it was sure good of them to house sit for us and water the plants.

Tuesday June 11, Fishing in CANADA

 Rough ride out, but a great place to fish for salmon. We got our limits! I got to pilot the boat. We wore many layers. I think I counted twenty pieces of clothing I was wearing today.

We started with a great breakfast, then on to the boat, same guide (Nathan). Good and early day. We were back in our apartment before 1 pm. Relaxed the rest of the day.

Views of Port Hardy Harbor.

The day was SO good. We spotted a variety of wildlife. A bear cub on a beach, bald eagles of course, sea otters and breeching humpback whales!!! So fun. Plus a rainbow.  And we got our limits

 It doesn't get better than that, Folks!!

Me and Mike . Rain gear helped a lot to keep us warmer today.

A double header! Both Ross and I are reeling in salmon.