Doctor Visits and a Busy Day at Work

Monday, March 30, 2009

Today was the first morning that I woke up in a long while without Gina next to me. Not that she wakes up with me but it feels so nice knowing that she is there. However, I did get to call her and give her a very nice wakeup call. She had to wake up early this morning so she could get all dressed up for her first doctor’s visit. She called me to let me know she was leaving our house and I no sooner hung up the phone and she was calling me back complaining about the traffic on the interstate and how she was just sitting still. I told her to calm down and that it’s just the way traffic is at that time. She was worried that she would be late for her appointment since she was supposed to be there early because she had never seen this doctor before nor did she really know where his office was located. She called me to tell me that she found his office and that she made with a few minutes to spare. I will spare you the details of that visit but she was happy. She then headed back to the house since her next doctor’s appointment wasn’t until 1:45.

I went to work later than normal this morning since I just didn’t want to be there and I was not in any hurry. I knew it was going to be a busy day since I had already received 12 emails on my blackberry by 5 o’clock in the morning and none of them were the nice kind. They all seemed to want me to do something for them as soon as possible. I did finally make it into the office at 7 o’clock and was busy before I even had a chance to sit down in my chair. Gina called me when she got home at 11 o’clock to let me know she made it home. She needed to get to the house so she could get everything prepared for her pokeno ladies that were coming over to eat and play that game. She called me at 3 o’clock to tell me about her second doctor’s visit and again she was happy but she still has some tests to do on Thursday. Hopefully those go just as good. She said, “it sucks getting old” and I told her, “she isn’t old yet” then she said, “it sucks getting older”. I said, ok, I can agree with that. She was now heading back to the house to play hostess for her pokeno group. There are 12 ladies from church that get together once a month. They draw names in December each year to see which month each person gets to play hostess. She has been playing with this group for about 12 years and even though she has not played with them since December because she has been here in Houston with me.

I finished up work and left at 5 o’clock. I couldn’t get out of the office fast enough even though I wasn’t in a hurry to get home. I stopped by HEB to pick up some deli meat and bread, then it was time to get home. I boiled some eggs and made some tuna salad. I didn’t make a sandwich but I did enjoy it with crackers. I was getting a little bored and I couldn’t even call Gina since she was having fun telling her pokeno ladies that she would not be playing anymore. She tried to get our daughter, Nicole to come over so she could give her moral support to tell them. But, Nicole said, “You just tell them”. I decided that I would go to bed early since there didn’t seem to be anything good to watch on TV. I’m not sure what time I fell asleep. But, Gina called me at 10 o’clock and said you weren’t sleeping were you? No, why would I be asleep it’s only 10 o’clock and I get up at 4:30. I didn’t really say that to her but I was thinking it. Anyway, we talked for a little while about her night playing pokeno and she said that she told them she was going to stop playing. She said that they were sorry that she would be leaving their group but that they understood. Not much else to say about today other than, we both still had a wonderful day!! If any of you know Gina and me, you know that we both feel extremely blessed. Regardless of what may come our way, we are humbled by and thankful for all the blessing that Our Father has so freely given to us and we in return give all praise and glory to him for only he is worthy.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

More Garden Work and Driving to Houston

Sunday, March 29, 2009

I apologize before hand for not posting until now. I had a good routine last week but I’m struggling this week. I need my bride here with me so she can keep me on schedule.

Today we woke up early to get outside since I would be leaving later to drive back to Houston. Gina wanted me to help her get all the bigger plants in the ground, so that would be my priority. Gina went back inside and made homemade biscuits and cooked some bacon & eggs around 9 o’clock since Thomas and I were hungry.. Then it was back outside to put more plants in the ground. My goal was to get on the road by 2 o’clock but I didn’t quite make it. Nicole, our daughter stopped by to see me before I left. I spent some time visiting with her until 2:30 and then it was time that I had to go jump in the shower. Loaded up the truck and left the house at 3 o’clock. I did take a few pictures this morning of Gina working and what the new flower bed will look like.

Gina's therapy, I call it work

Gina's new Flower bed taking shape

For all the girls that went shopping while we were in Kerrville and if you remember Gina had bought an eagle. You can now see where it will go in her garden.

Gina's Eagle Watching Over her New Addition

While I was taking pictures before I left, Thomas was goofing around with me and he said I wouldn’t put a picture of him like this on our blog, so this picture is for him.

Thomas showing off his RedNeck ways

We really got a lot done this weekend but Gina and Thomas still have a lot more to do. I had to stop and fill up with diesel since it had been over four weeks since I last put diesel in the truck. So after 140 gallons and 294 dollars later she was full again. Not great fuel economy but the ride is worth the 8.9 mpg. That was for both towing the camper and solo driving. I normally get 7 mpg towing and 10.4 solo if anyone is curious. I was having a really good drive until just before Baytown, Texas. There was a six car wreck on top of the Trinity River Bridge. That only delayed me 20 minutes but then the interstate was shutdown at the San Jacinto River for construction so I decided that I would just head north and come in on Hwy 90. When I turned on Hwy 90 there was a train stopped on the tracks and it wasn’t moving. So I did a U-Turn in the middle of the highway and headed east for about a mile and decided that I would just go through a lot of towns and red lights. I was only about 40 miles from the campground. For a trip that normally takes 4 and a half to five hours took 6 hours today. I finally arrived at the campground at 9 o’clock and by the time I unloaded and connected power to the truck and fixed something to eat it was 10 o’clock. I called Gina and talked to her for a little while. She did say that they got everything in the ground except the bedding plants which she will do on Tuesday. I told her that I would give her a wakeup call since her doctor’s appointment is for 8:45 and it will take her over an hour to get there. Well, I said goodbye to her and headed to bed wishing that she was there with me. I really miss her but I know she really needs to see these doctors this week and it's not like it is a long time. We will only be apart for four days and that is nothing compared to 274 days that we were apart in 1985. We just don't like being apart from each other anymore.

Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Garden Work, Baby Ducks, Good-bye Christmas

I Woke up early this morning and got coffee going then hoped in the shower. Fixed both us a cup of coffee and discussed our day. I left and went to get my hair cut and was back home by 8:30 only to find Gina already out in her Garden. I had to take a few pictures because I just knew she was going to fall in the pond but somehow she managed to get the pond cleaned up without falling in.

Gina Cleaning out the Pond

Gina Streching to Prune Plants in the Pond

I needed to get on the computer so I could write our blog entry. Gina came in and fried some bacon and put some crescent rolls in the oven. This was our brunch. This has been our normal routine for as long as I remember we have always done brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. I finished up the blog and headed outside with Gina. The hardest part for Gina was deciding which flowers to leave in the ground and which one to pull up. This is where I just sit back and wait for instructions. She finally made her decisions and a lot of flowers got pulled up that I thought looked good but she said they would eventually die once summer got here. Something about they were winter flowers. I just said ok. Our children’s adopted grandparents (Jack & Sue) stopped by and Gina had to give them a visual of where her new flower beds were going and how it would look by the end of this week.

Gina is showing where her new Plants will go

We had to leave and go pick up some special dog food that you can only get at the veterinarian. After that we stopped at guess what, another plant nursery.

Gina Shopping for more Plants

She was looking for some kind of tall tropical plant to fill a whole. She finally found some kind of palm tree along with another bush. We then headed for Home Depot to look for an outdoor lamp that you could mount on a pole. Yesterday when my dad and uncle stopped by Gina had asked them if they could make her a portable lamp that she could put outside of our home on wheels. Well they said sure bring us a light and we’ll do the rest. Now, this is not going to be just any run of the mill lamp post but she wants to hang a sign with our names on it and on the other side she wants to hang a bird feeder and on those arms she wants some eagles welded on it too. I will post pictures when it’s finish. We did find a lamp and then we headed back to our house to continue working in the garden. Gina had decided that she wanted all the beds ready for planting so she could get started first thing this morning.

Flower Beds ready for Planting

We were both getting hungry so we decided that I would grill hamburgers. We decided to eat outside by the waterfall and just enjoy the sound for a few minutes since Gina was getting tired but she still had a lot more to do.

Thomas drove up with some baby mallard ducks. Gina has wanted ducks in our big pond since we moved here over thirteen years ago but we have always been scared to get them. So with Thomas bringing them home it really made her day.

One week old Baby Ducks

This is our pond & will be where the Ducks will live

Gina fnished preparing her flower beds and then moved on to determining where her new flowers would go. While she doing this I was trying to get all our tiki torches (all 25 of them) filled with oil and lit. I thought it would be nice to sit and relax on our swing enjoying the nice weather and the cool breeze blowing. I tried to take a picture. But it didn't come out great but you can at least see what it looks like at night. We sat outside for awhile until we were getting tired and we knew our day was still not over. We both went inside and jump in the tub to get cleaned up. (not at the same time)

At Night in our Garden

We have only spent a few days at our house since Christmas and guess what our Christmas tree was still up in our living room. We started removing all the decorations so I could disassemble the tree. We finally finished up a little after 10 o’clock and we both sat on the couch to relax for a few minutes before we went to bed. We are both extremely happy that we accomplished all the tasks that we had planned. This is where we wanted to end the day. Another wonderful day.

Good Bye Christmas 2008

Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.