Lee and other stuff

Life has certainly been interesting again. Lee had been making good progress after kyphoplasty. Unfortunately Sunday he caused another compression fracture in a vertebrae above the first one. Mike mentioned last night that there are 5 vertebrae prone to this and we can probably look forward to 4 more kyphoplasties before recovery. Yippee! What a pain! So, he will be going in for an x-ray today. We all really wish they could just jump to the MRI, but no… they have to follow procedures set up by evil insurance companies. Take your calcium so it doesn’t happen to you! Osteoporosis sucks.

I’ve almost completed painting out rental #6. Mike, Shannon, Kim & Dave all chipped in and helped on Sunday. One more day should take care of it. Then it’s on to cleaning the bathroom & kitchen and fix problems in those zones. It might be delayed due to Lee’s current condition, but that’s just how it goes. Kim needs to work. We can’t rely on her for all the home care. She has taken on quite a bit already by living there and we so appreciate it!! We all keep thinking about going to Yachats, but I think we’ll be making yet another trip to Riverbend instead.

I’ll let you know what becomes of Lee’s back saga.

she project 2010

The phrase I received this year: She advocates for peace.

What I came up with….

Peace symbols are cut paper stitched together and hanging from a top bar inside the frame, acting like a quilt. Background is watercolor and pencil.  Same frame as last year.

Reception is on Thursday June 3 at the Corvallis public library main meeting room from 5:30-7:30pm.  Humm… I have to work that night… oh well!

Kauai Trip: Po’ipu hike

Along the southern edge of Kauai is a 2+ mile trail that travels along the shoreline to a beach. The Maha’ulepu coast trail starts next to the Hyatt Regency Resort at Shipwreck beach and heads east. It snakes along the shoreline over Makawehi bluff, traverses part of the golf course, through an ancient heiau, over Punahoa Pt. to Maha’ulepu Beach. I found after making the trip I took very few photos along the way. Hopefully Mike & Shannon have more.

If you take the journey please remember to take plenty of water and lots of sun protection! There is very little shade on the trail.

A local encouraged us to park at the Hyatt Regency Resort and walk through their facilities. Stop at the concierge desk to pick up a map with key points of interest. It took us quite a while to navigate our way out to the beach. HR sure has a lot of amenities for their guests!

Before entering the facility, there is a koi pond was well stocked with healthy fish and black swans. I used to keep fish and had a koi pond for a while until the great blue heron ate all my fish one morning…. Maybe someday in the future I’ll have more.

This is a shot towards Makahu’ena Point, the southern most point of Kauai.

All the shots are rather bright. We were out in the noon day sun… (something about only mad dogs and Englishmen?)

The craggy spires below were interesting.

Unfortunately, that was all I took for this hike. We did spend several hours swimming in the ocean (Kim, Dave & I), until Dave cut his hand on coral. Kim & I stayed in and bobbed like plump corks in the crashing waves. Lots of fun! We  eventually headed back and by the time we reached the parking we had received an overdose of sun. Break out the aloe and more water!

Next up: Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge and Moloa’a Bay

Kauai Trip: Spouting Horn

One of the mornings Kim, Dave & I took a mile+ walk out to Spouting Horn.

Sunshine had yet to reach Kukui’ula Harbor.

Spouting Horn is located at the end of Lawa’i road on the south shore of Kauai, just outside of Koloa.

One thing I wish we had brought along was a sound recording device. The air and water pushing up through the main vent and a smaller back vent sounded like a roar. I think there is a story about that point being protected by a dragon or some creature.

Ironwood trees are in the foreground. They are originally from Australia.

My big sister Kim & Dave.

Kim looking east. There were several sea turtles grazing on rocks off the shelf below. That was the first time Kim has ever seen a sea turtle.

Looking east towards Po’ipu.

Next: Po’ipu hike

shingles: apparently they are not just for houses!

Last week I was served a virus that happened to have a side order of rash (on my shoulder). Can you tell it’s lunch time? Little did I realize it was something special! On late Saturday I let my fingers do some searching via google and everything kept pointing towards shingles. What a pain, quite literally!  So I had the folks at immediate care check it out Monday morning and yep, its shingles! Should be interesting to witness how the nerve endings react at my age. Hopefully better than getting it at 60+.

Apparently I also ordered some hypertension as well. Oh, the joys of stress and no exercise for quite some time!

Kauai Trip: waterfalls and sunset

Our mornings were pretty laid back, enjoying the sunrise, watching the turtle & surfer population, and drinking coffee. On this day our plan was to head east to view two waterfalls: Wailua &  Opaeka’a Falls.

Morning on the lanai…

Mike & Shannon getting ready for the day. Surfers already out enjoying the morning waves.

First fall was Wailua. Not having looked at maps or guide books, I kind of thought we would have to do some hiking to it’s location. Not so! You drive up to a dead end parking, several spots taken up by vendors hawking a variety of wares (palm frond hats to jewelry), and the fall is right there!  According to the guide book it is about 173ft. drop over the fall’s precipice and the pool below is only 33ft deep.  No cannon balling for us! Apparently there were two short trails to better observatory areas but we didn’t look for them.  Still it was a beautiful spot in the noon day sunshine.

This is a shot downstream from the pool. Just liked the lush feeling of it.

Next stop was Opaeka’a Falls north of Wailua. It falls 151 ft. Couldn’t see the pool below. Again it is a easy drive with plenty of parking.

Across the road from the falls is the Wailua River observation area complete with a historical marker.

After touring the waterfalls, we headed into Kapa’a  for late lunch and some food poisoning. Kim & I both had the same meal and almost the same reaction, which wasn’t good! One other thing that kept showing up in a variety of food was hair. Four different restaurants liked serving strands mixed among the salad or other dishes. Oh so tasty!

On the way home we stopped off at a quilt shop for Kim. Outside, I discovered a beautiful zigzag spider among the plumeria tree branches.

Sunset was beautiful that evening. The catamaran cruise was out enjoying it. I felt fortunate to catch parts of it before collapsing into bed.

Boogie boarder still catching late waves in foreground.

Next up: Spouting horn

Lee’s progress

Slowly but surely Lee is gathering steam and pulling him self out pain. Yesterday he took a much needed shower. His pain med stretches are extending out to 4 hrs between doses (much better than the 1.5-2 hr stretches). Wow, there is light at the end of the tunnel!
I seem to have some virus that is affecting my inner ear. A little better today… just takes time. I’ve experienced this same thing about 3-4 years ago. Nothing the doctors could do except recommend taking motion sickness pills.
Kauai images to come when I can get to the other computer!
Thanks for your patience! 🙂

The eagle (Lee) has landed!

Yesterday Lee made the monumental journey back home with assistance from both daughters. We are currently known as “the wicked witch of the east & the wicked witch of the west”. Things are still getting figured out but he seems to be in less pain than yesterday. He is certainly happier to be home than getting poked and prodded at the hospital!

Last night there was the “ant problem”. There have always been ants residing in the Eugene house. You squish them, spray them, fumigate… and they just keep coming back. Unfortunately, when Lee was going to bed we discovered the ants were having a party in his bedroom. After 1.5 hrs of spraying, smushing, vacuuming, spraying more and wiping down things seemed safe. Nothing like a ceiling teeming with ants to make one think twice about returning home. I’m hoping today will be less eventful. 🙂

Lee’s Procedure

Lee finally went through his “procedure” Saturday morning. They rolled his bed out at 9am and he returned by 10:30am. The physical therapist said that it might take up to a couple of weeks for everything to settle down. Today, Sunday, he will start finding out how much it has helped with assistance from the pt.
One little goldfinch came and sat near the window right after he returned to the room. He hasn’t seen any other bird come to the terrace area outside his room. Maybe it was Evelyn checking in!
Rental #5 is almost done. Signs go up today! Then I move on to Rental #6. Eeww!!! It’s the icky one!