Quick PT update

I don't know if anyone cares but I did PT again today. I was sick all day Sat and again Sun night. I blame it on overdoing PT. So Greg and I had a little chat. I told him that I would like to know what he would like to do each session before I begin. That way I can pace myself. He said that that was fair. Today we went back to the exercises I was doing with the old PT. I was able to increase the bike from 3 min to 5 min. I'm tired, but don't expect that I will get sick. Guess I'll see.

I didn't turn on the AC at all today. What perfect weather!! It won't be long until Mike will have to get us a wood pile going.

Vacation Tuesday

Tuesday, we decided to take a trip to Salem. It was about 1/2 hour away. Molly had to stay home and work. As it turned out she was probably better off staying home anyway. We had to take 2 cars. Mike, Isaac and Mark in one car and Lance, Nathan, me and the GPS in the other.
We started out looking for a camera shop for Lance. The farther we got out of the city, the closer we got to our address. There were fields on both sides of the road, dotted with houses along the way. We saw no sign or indication of a camera shop so we decided to skip that stop.

Our next stop was lunch. We were much more successful finding Wendy's than we were with the camera shop. Isaac ate his chicken nuggets and most of Mark's and some fries. Mark and Nathan ate fries. Then it was off to the pet store which was across the street.

I wanted to look at exercise equipment and try to decide what I want to buy for my house. The GPS said that there was a Sports Authority near by. We turned at the McDonald's and started looking. We could not find it. Mike said that when they drove by McDonald's, Isaac said, "Is dad still hungry?" Then we ended up back at the Wendy's where we ate. Again Isaac commented if dad was still hungry. We went back to where we had been and once again when Isaac saw the McDonald's he asked if dad was still hungry. We finally found the store around to the back of where we had been. As it turned out, they didn't have much equipment and no one wanted to help us. I was too tired to care anyway. We had talked of going to the state capitol building, but I had already had too much fun for one day and suggested we head for home.

Mike missed a turn that we made so we waited for him in a parking lot. A nice man pulled up beside us and told us that we had a low tire. We were lucky to have a service station close by and headed to it. Lance put air in the tire, but the tire was so wasted that it leaked out almost as fast as Lance put the air in. I felt blessed that we were able to change the tire at the gas station instead of along the side of the freeway. By now I had certainly had enough fun for one day and was very glad to get back to Lance's house.

Poor Nathan felt left out because he was stuck with dad and grandma instead of grandpa. Then when he saw his big brothers and grandpa going into the store, and he was stuck with g-ma, he really was NOT happy. He kept calling for g-pa. Poor picked on little guy.

PT

I got brave and went back to PT today. I did just about the same that I did last time, but felt much better today. This new PT DPT might be a good thing for me. I looked up all the letters he is supposed to have behind his name and added them to give him full credit. His name is Greg. He reminds me that Greg is a 4 letter word and I am free to use it in vain as I see fit.

My poor car

Don't get any ideas that you are done hearing about my grandsons. Nothing would be farther from the truth. I have been busy resting and taking care of a bunch of cub scout stuff with still more cub scout stuff to get taken care of. I still have lots of stories to tell.

I wanted to tell you about my poor car. Besides feeling a little on the sick side, (Dr Mike is trying to figure out the diagnosis), I took it out this afternoon. Only long enough for it to get good and wet with a little storm that passed through. Then I went through a very small area where the wind was kicking up the dust like crazy. Visibility was like zero. It wasn't just dirt, but it was gritty. My poor, sad car really needs a shower. But it is feeling pretty big and bad like the 4-wheeling truck.  

I got beat up today

I have a new physical therapist. I go to the same place but there has been a change in the PT. (I'm sure there are supposed to be more letters but I don't know what they are.) I did my usual workout but did push my work-out some. I did 5 min on the bike instead of my usual 3 and I did my squats on level 3 instead of level 4 which made them more difficult. I was pleased with myself for a good workout. Oh, the assistant was helping me while he was working on someone else. I thought I was done and ready to go home, when the PT told me he had something else for me to try. He wanted me to work out doing steps. My legs were already tired and he wanted me to do my hardest exercise. I did 5 on each leg with rests in betweeen. He then said that we would probably add a new exercise each day. I said, "We'll see about that." I think I will do my regular work out and he can add 1 new thing if he wants to. My poor little legs are feeling pretty beat up right now.

Exercise and swimming

The 2 older boys are "house broken." They just wear pull-ups at bedtime. But I am happy to report that Isaac is doing very good in that department and wore underwear to bed most the time we were there.

I was determined to keep up on my excersises while I was on vacation. This was my 2nd night and my last workout. I got enough of a work out just trying to keep up with everyone. The boys helped me out. It was very deflating when I pulled out my 1 lb weights and the boys used 3 and 5 lb weights. Even Nathan took my 1 lb weights and flung them around like they were nothing.

This was going up a little trail to a waterfall. I'm not sure how many people are crazy enough to take a walker up a trail. But it was a fun adventure.  Molly really was a good helper. She pulled me up a couple of hills and kept me from going too fast down some down hills.

I was tired and not sure if I could finish the hike. It was only 2 tenths of a mile up. We came to a pretty good sized uphill. I was ready to quit. Lance told me that all I had to do was get up this hill and I would be to the bridge where I could see the waterfall. Molly pulled and Lance and Nathan pushed and I made it.

This is what we saw. And yes, it was worth it.

When we got back to the bottom of the trail, grandpa had Isaac and Mark down playing in the creek. Nathan joined them and they all waded along the shore for quite a while. Isaac and Molly ventured all the way across the creek on the big rocks behing Nathan and Molly in this picture. I watched from the bridge. Then Mark decided that he "had" to throw a big stick into the water and Nathan decided that he "had" to have that big stick. Nathan took off into the creek. We could all see what was going to happen. Molly got there quick, but not quite in time to prevent it. I have to admit that I was laughing and Lance was ready with the camera and after a few minutes of tears, Nathan was ok too. About that time, we decided to take 3 wet boys and one wet mom home.

Friendly Oregon Welcome

Our vacation was uneventful until the 2nd day. An Oregon Highway Patrolman noticed our out of state license plates and wanted to give us an official welcome to the state of Oregon. He also told Mike that he needed to slow down and have a front license plate. We have been driving the car like this for 3 yrs and no one cared, oh well. And as far as speeding. The speed limit was 55. I'm not sure that our cruise control will even set at that slow. He just gave Mike a warning. Then we were in Lebanon looking for Lance's home and the Linn County Sheriff wanted to give Mike an official welcome to Linn County. I've never seen such friendly officers before. I thought he was going to help us find Lance, but after we stopped, we saw Lance and his family about 2 houses away, watching the whole thing. It seems that as we were looking for their apartment, Mike stopped at a stop sign and then crossed the street. Mike told me that he pulled out in front of a car, but he didn't tell me that it was a sheriff's car. He got off with another warning. I let Mike drive back to Lance's and then the was grounded for the rest of the day.

After that, every time the boys saw a police car, they would say, "They are looking for grandpa."

freeze warning

We are supposed to get down to 35 degrees tonight. So that means my house will be a few degrees cooler. I will pick a zucchini or 2 this afternoon. I don't think I will lose it, but it will get nipped. I probably won't get even 1 tomato this year. OH well. I didn't put much effort into the garden anyway. And once it's gone, I don't have to mess with it anymore.