Desert View - Day 64 - Real Friday....

8:11 am - Saturday - January 13th - Grand Canyon - 33º F, 55% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the southwest.....clear blue skies......forecast high for today is 52º......BP 134/80.  It is so nice to sleep in!  I haven't done that for a while.....nice to wake up with the sun for a change.

We are now at the half way mark in our stay here at the Grand Canyon......we've been here for about 9 weeks, and we have about 9 weeks to go.  I confirmed our last work day with Dakota, our manager, at work Friday, so it is now official that on March 19th we will be rolling our wheels once again.  Friday also marked the one week mark since I had gotten my cold, and as of Friday I feel about 98% back to normal.....my energy is returning quickly.

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I had the 'open' shift again Friday, and drove the VW once again (TLE was not working) as the trail is still drying out, but it should be fine again by Monday when I return to work once again.  I anticipated Friday not being very busy, but we had customers within minutes of opening and doors, and it stayed relatively busy for my entire 5 hour shift.  I ended up dropping $219.  Of course, this is the Martin Luther King holiday, and that may explain the amount of foot traffic in the store.  I'm glad I'm not working Saturday, or Sunday as the last thing I need right now is to be exposed to enormous amounts of people who may, or may not be carrying cold germs into the store with them.  We are still selling a lot of over the counter cold remedies.

After working 4 days in a row I was ready for a nap, and that is what I did within minutes of getting home from my shift.....in fact I took two nice naps over the course of the afternoon in addition to reading.....it was a nice, quiet, relaxing afternoon.  TLE continues her recovery from bronchitis, and has two more days to do so before she must return to work.

So, for a change, this Friday was Real Friday for us.....we're off Saturday and Sunday this week, which is a first for us here at the Grand Canyon.  I think I am going to take some time Saturday to just stand outside in the sun, and soak in some vitamin D.....it's been a while.

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Desert View - Day 63 - Revolving door

6:04 am - Friday - January 12th - Grand Canyon - 29º F, humidity 59%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southeast......it will be sunny with a forecast high of 51º F....BP 121/74.

When I woke up Thursday TLE said she would not be able to go to work.....she described having 'this sort of rattle' in her breathing', and couldn't stop coughing.....okay, that's not good.  I was scheduled for the 'close' shift so I suggested I drive her over to the Clinic at the Grand Canyon Village to be checked out.....we don't want her getting pneumonia, right?  We notified the appropriate supervisors at work that TLE would not be working Thursday and left for the Clinic about 8 am.  

The windshield on the VW was encrusted with  a thick sheet of ice that took a while to defrost, but finally we were ready to go.  Now, normally it would take about 35 minutes to drive to the Clinic, but the roads one day removed from our rain/snow storm were very slick at 8 am, so I drove quite slowly for about 20 minutes until the road conditions improved.  We did arrive at the clinic about 8:50 am, and TLE was in the 'little room' by 10 am.  The doctor examined her and determined she did not have pneumonia, but bronchitis.....she had bronchitis about 32 years ago when she was pregnant with our 4th child, Sharon.  Within an hour she had her prescriptions and an note saying she shouldn't work again until Saturday at the earliest (we're off Saturday and Sunday this week, so she won't work again until Monday.....good!).  We stopped by the Marketplace and picked up a few things and were back home by 11 am.  

I sat down to take a brief nap before work, TLE made me a 1/2 tuna sandwich, and I was on my way driving to work by 11:50 am.  I'm not walking right now as the trail through the woods is full of red, slimy mud, and I don't like walking the road all the way to work...dont' like worrying about distracted tourists driving big cars.  The store, if it's possible, was even slower than Wednesday.....I spent most of my 5.5 hour shift stocking shelves, and only dropped about $110 at the end of the day......very, very slow indeed.

I'm glad we made the 50 mile round trip drive to the Village to be sure TLE wasn't getting pneumonia, and got her on the proper medications (inhaler and antibiotics) before things did progress in that direction.  Two other local employees have gotten pneumonia, and have been off work for about 10 days now.  Better to catch things while they are manageable.

My energy level Wednesday was better than it had been in a couple of weeks......I've been through a lot in that time and my body was just worn out.  Things seem to be stable blood pressure wise, I'm maintaining my weight loss, and I'm moving past this cold in record time.  Looking forward to getting back to hiking!

On a side note, I got a call from a good friend who worked with us at Tahoe Valley Campground a couple of years ago.  He said everyone (manager, maintenance manager, office manager, store manager, etc.) had just been fired and the only man left standing is the assistant manager, Victor, so the revolving manager door continues to whirl at TVC....they will now be looking for their 7th manager in less than 4 years......WOW, just WOW!

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Desert View - Day 62 - Snow day

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6:02 am - Thursday - January 11th - Grand Canyon - 28º F, 75% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the south.....forecast high is 47º F with clear blue skies once again!  I feel about 97%  again this morning, and feel pretty good at this early hour. TLE on the other hand is not doing as well.....she has had a little bit of a setback with her cough.....BP 127/72.

We half expected to awake to snow on the ground Wednesday morning, and that is exactly what we did......

.....I had the 'open' shift so, initially, I had planned to have TLE drive me to work so she would have the car to drive to work at noon, but this is how we found our VW at 7:15 am......

.....I thought I had a window scraper in the back of the car (TLE is going to look for it in this picture), but, alas, I did not, so I decided I would walk to work.....it wasn't that cold, and there was no breeze, so I set off down the road to work leaving TLE behind to bask in the warmth of the Newell interior.....

.....because it had rained for a couple of hours before it began to snow there was essentially ice under the snow, so walking was a little tricky, nevertheless, I made it to work in about 15 minutes without taking a spill.

From 8 am until after 1 pm I had a total of 5 customers......very very slow.  TLE was not feeling 100% so I told her to wait to come in until 2:30 and just work the last 3 hours, which would be pretty slow.  Between 1 pm and 2:30 pm it got very busy, and then it quieted back down just after TLE arrived......the temp was about 40º and the snow had begun to melt.  I ended up dropping $233 for the 7 hours I worked, and TLE about $30 for the last 3 hours.

I walked home to leave the car with TLE......took me a little over 10 minutes with no ice to worry about.  I changed into my pajamas and took an hour nap.  Although I was tired my energy level Wednesday was much higher than Tuesday.  By the time TLE arrived home just before 5:30 pm I was feeling pretty good, and continued to do so into the evening. TLE, however, coughed a lot, and ended up sleeping in her recliner for the night.

So, now we have had our second minor snow storm of the season....I think we got about an inch of snow.....not sure how much rain came before that.   We're getting used to cold weather, and snow on the ground, but this is only the 3rd day we have had snow on the ground in over 60 days, so we'll see how we feel when there is snow on the ground day after day.

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Desert View - Day 61 - Back to work

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5:57 am - Wednesday - January 10th - Grand Canyon - 29º F, 99% humidity (yup, that is correct!), wind 9 mph out of the west by southwest.....rained last night, then snowed, and and is still snowing this morning.  I've got the 'open' shift this morning......ugggh!

6:31 am, Wednesday

Thankfully, I had the 'close' shift on Tuesday, my first day back at work after being sick since Friday afternoon.  Now, the 'close' shift has been busy until recently, and I was not up to being too busy.  My energy level was not high, and I had spent very little time on my feet during the last 4 days.  I saw TLE off to work about 7:15 am.....she opted to walk so I could drive the car.....what a sweetheart.....I would have walked, but gladly accepted her offer.

The only thing I needed to do was dump the black tank, but I waited until mid morning when it was a little warmer, and the breeze had died down.  Once the tank was dumped I went inside to take one last nap before it was time to get ready to go to work.

I arrived at the General Store just before noon time, and quickly punched the clock.....the store was as quiet as a library.....TLE had done just $67 in cash sales all morning.....that was encouraging.  She stayed on until about 12:45 to be sure I was going to be okay....again, what a sweetheart!  By that time I sort of had my 'sea legs' back, and was beginning to get into the flow of the day, which began slowly, and stayed slow all afternoon.  I dropped just $70 in cash for my 'close' shift.  Not that I want the store to do badly, but my first day back it was nice to have a slow afternoon.

I was home by 5:30, and in my pajamas relaxing a few minutes later.  About 9 pm it began to rain steadily, and it continued raining until about 11 pm.  Sometime during the early morning hours it began to snow, and as I write this morning it is still snowing lightly.

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Desert View - Day 60 - 'About nothing'

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7:29 am - Tuesday - January 9th - Grand Canyon - 41º F, 60% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the southeast.....cloudy with a 50% chance of rain.....looks like we could have snow by tomorrow morning.  I'm feeling pretty good today, and will probably go back to work (noon) today.....BP 114/70.

TLE went back to work Monday afternoon......she's a better 'man' than I.....:-)  I was glad I decided to wait one more day as I was still weak, and had no appetite whatsoever.....I ate a little because I knew I should.....before I can take two of my pills I need to eat first.  

When you are sick, and you don't do anything but sleep and watch TV (reading hurts my eyes right now), there is not much about which one might write.  And so, here I sit, trying to write about nothing.  Hmmmmm.....well the skies the last three days have been very threatening, but have not yielded any moisture so far.  I only know what I am observing out the windows, because my body has not ventured outside since Friday.  I've been sort of living in the Newell cocoon for 4 days where time loses much of its context.  Thankfully I am content to spend time inside our tiny home, and I never feel like I'm getting 'cabin fever', if you know what I mean.

When you want to lose weight having NO APPETITE really helps a lot, and for the last 4 days I have had NO APPETITE.  On Friday, when I began getting sick, I weighed 198 even.  After 4 days of eating very little I am down to 193.4.  My goal is 187, for the short term.  Why 187?  Well, that was my weight after emerging from my double hernia surgery 3 years ago.  Clothes I had not worn in 3 years suddenly fit me once again, and I looked good!  Then we took off traveling again, and before long I was back into the mid 190's, and at one point hit my all time high of 215 about one year ago after my last cold.  TLE was up in weight too, so we pledged to each other to lose weight.  Over the course of the next 6 months I got down to 202, but TLE got down to a weight she had not seen for 25 years, and she has held that weight for the last six months.....I am very proud of her.  On the other hand, I could not seem to break the 200 barrier, and that was where I found myself just 11 days ago when I was being transported to Flagstaff Medical Center via ambulance with very high blood pressure.  

With the advent of my low sodium diet beginning with my hospital stay I am no longer retaining water and my weight immediately dropped to 198.8!  I stayed there until last Friday when I began to get sick and weighed in at 198 even.  Then along came the COLD, and NO APPETITE, and I have dropped down to 193.4! Obviously, now that I am on the mend and my appetite is returning I foresee a short period of weight stabilization, but I am within view of my weight goal......just 6.4 more pounds!

Maintaining, or losing weight while living as nomads is always a difficult proposition, and it is the continual topic of discussion wherever nomads may gather.  It is difficult to maintain an exercise regime, and there are food temptations everywhere.....micro breweries, pub food....you name it.  My recent diagnosis of hypertension has renewed my determination to be more diligent regarding good intake, and exercise.  It's easy to get complacent....sometimes it takes a health scare to get one more focused on what is really important!

Well, there you go.....a blog mostly about nothing.....thanks for stopping by!

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Desert View - Day 59 - Anatomy of a cold

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7:25 am - Monday - January 8th - Grand Canyon - 28º F, humidity 67%, wind 1 mph out of the southeast....cloudy today with a 40% change of rain.....forecast high is 50º F.

The last few days have been a blur......I started getting sick Friday morning, and by Friday night had a full blown cold.  Usually my colds come on slowly, and last for about 10 days, and that was not something to which I was looking forward.  By Saturday I was wondering if I was going to die I was so sick.  I would be overtaken by these violent coughing spasms wondering if I would be able to catch my breath before I passed out.....serious!  My chest hurt from all the coughing.  Then about mid afternoon things began to turn around.....TLE had brought home some Benadryl (I can't use most of the over the counter cold remedies as they react badly with blood pressure medication, but my doctor said Benadryl was okay).  I took a single Benadryl pill, and within an hour my cough stopped, and I began to feel better.  By Sunday morning I was feeling much better, but as weak as a newborn baby.  

Sunday I spent the day just relaxing, taking one nap after another........the kind of naps from which it is hard to awake.  I'm not 100% by any means......maybe 85%.......but it appears this cold may be one of the shorter lived ones I have had over the years.  I'm going to take it easy at least one more day before going back to work.  As I sit here typing Monday morning my nose has stopped running, I'm getting my appetite back (lost 3 lbs. over three days), and still coughing about once every two hours, and even then not very much.

So, for the present, I am on the mend much more quickly than is the norm for me....I will be cautious and take it one day at a time until I'm sure it is safe to return to work.  TLE missed one day of work due to her cold....she rarely ever gets sick, and when she does it doesn't last very long.

The weather outlook for the next two weeks is for temps mostly in the 50's once again.....maybe two, or three days in the 40's, but generally warmer than normal weather for this time of year.....

.....so we've got that going for us.

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Desert View - Day 58 - WOW!

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6:16 pm - Sunday - January 7th - Grand Canyon - 36º F, 54% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the east by northeast.  I don't know what the high was, or how the weather was, because I didn't go outside all day long for the second day in a row.

Sorry for not blogging first thing this morning as I always do, but the cold I have has really kicked my butt.  I have been sleeping in my recliner to keep from coughing, but finally early this morning I went back to bed....my cough had mostly gone, but I was completely wasted.....not enough sleep for two nights in a row, and feeling like I would never get better.  Now, as I write, I am feeling much better.....surprisingly better.

Saturday I called in sick, and just sat in my recliner all day coughing so much my chest hurt, and my throat felt like it must be close to hemhorraging.  I had no appetite, but ate some grapefruit just to get something into my stomach.  Being on blood pressure medicine, and blood thinners rules out a lot of the usual over the counter cold remedies.  The doctor said I could take Benadryl, so TLE brought some home from work, and when I took that I my nose stopped running, and my cough began to abate.

At any rate, I am feeling better.....maybe another day off work and I'll be ready to go once again.  

By the way, my doctor's appointment on Friday went well.  The doctor is pleased with my lowered  blood pressure, and I my next appointment is in one month.

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Desert View - Day 57 - Cold

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5:51 am - Saturday - January 6th - Grand Canyon - 25º F, 72% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the south.....forecast high for today is 56º F with partly cloudy skies.....BP 132/87....last night was one for the books......very sick with a bad cough....had to sleep in my recliner most of the night to minimize the coughing fits.  To quote a good friend....."I feel like I have been drug through a knothole backwards", and "my mouth feels like the inside of a trash can".   What's the other well known quip?  "At first I thought I was going to die.....then, as the night went on, I became afraid I might not die"......all these apply to me this morning.  I guess it was inevitable.....everyone else around me has gotten sick in the last two weeks, including about 1/2 of our customers coming through the checkout line.

I woke up Friday feeling like I was getting a cold, and as the day wore on it became more obvious that I was, indeed, getting sick.  I had the 'open' shift which meant I had to be at work by 7:30 am......I normally walk to work, but on this day TLE suggested I drive since it was so cold, and I was not feeling well.  Additionally, I had a followup appointment at the Grand Canyon Clinic at 2:30 pm to check on my high blood pressure status.  My doctor at Flagstaff Medical Center made the appointment on my behalf.

As the morning progressed I felt worse and worse, and by the time TLE arrived at 12 noon I was ready to count down my drawer and get home to rest for a little bit before I had to make the 25 mile drive over to the clinic.  Fortunately I made it over the clinic and back by 4 pm, and then collapsed in my recliner to rest some more, slowly feeling worse and worse.

TLE arrived home from work just before 5:30......she had taken out a nice filet for me to grill, so I had turned the Sea-B-Que on just before she arrived home.  Grilling that steak will probably the last time I do that for a week, or two while I fight my way through my annual cold.  It was an extra thick steak so I left it on the BBQ for about 16 minutes to get it to that favored medium/rare status.  It was probably one of the best steaks I have grilled.....ever.

We watched a couple of recorded programs before slipping off to bed before 10:30......because of my deteriorating condition, I didn't really get to sleep until after 2 pm....too much coughing....finally I moved out to the recliner and finally was able to sleep 90 minutes at a time the rest of the night.

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Desert View - Day 56 - ROKU

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5:54 am - Friday - January 5th - Grand Canyon - 30º F, 31% humidity, wind 1 mph of of the east.....forecast high for today is 56º F with partly cloudy skies.....BP 126/73.  Just received sad news that another good friend of 50+ years has passed......another gone too soon.....RIP Scott Smith!

I was off Thursday, and TLE had the 'close' shift.  My big goal for the day was to install the new 32" LED TV we purchased in Flagstaff back on Tuesday.  It is slightly bigger than our old Phillips LED TV which I believe was 31".....at least that was the diagonal measurement of the casing.  The brand on this new TV is TCL - ROKU TV.....I have never heard of TCL before, but it was the only 32" SMART TV they had at Walmart on Thursday, and it was on sale for $135.  I remember my first color TV was a 17" JVC and it cost almost $500 back in 1972.....the TV's today are so inexpensive they are almost like throw away TV's.  No one seems to get TV's repaired anymore.....it's cheaper just to buy a new one......

.....at any rate, with TLE's help I was able to lift the new TV into place, and then plug all the HDMI cables into it.  I will probably have to remove it next week on a day off to drill new holes for the wall bracket so I can lower it about 2"......right now it is hitting the ceiling of the Newell.....for now it's fine, but it will need to be lower when we begin to roll our wheels again in March so it can be properly stowed and secured.

I wasn't feeling a 100% Thursday.....I think I'm getting a cold, and that really disappoints me.  After installing the new TV I downloaded the ROKU programming, and within minutes was able to watch TV.  The advantage of ROKU TV is that you can watch a lot of streaming TV if you wish.....right now we watch Netflix, Hulu and Vudu using 'streaming TV, but not any network channels.  If we felt comfortable 'cutting the cord' and let DirecTV go we would be able to pretty much watch all TV via streaming.  What keeps me from doing that is even though I have unlimited data from Verizon, I am limited to 15 gigabytes  when using the hotspot on my phone, and I must in order to connect the TV to the internet.  If I was stationary and had hardwired internet, then I would 'cut the cord' tomorrow.

The rest of the day I just pretty much rested, except for one 30 minute stretch when I rode my stationary bike to exercise.  As I sit here this morning (Friday) I am definitely getting a cold.....my throat has a tickle in it, and I am developing a cough.....😕

TLE was home just before 5:35 pm and quickly set about preparing hard shell tacos for dinner, so at least I had that going for me as I slowly slip into 'COLD' status.

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Desert View - Day 55 - Mice?

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8:13 am - Thursday - January 4th - Grand Canyon - 20º F, 42% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the north by northeast.....forecast high is 54º F with clear blue skies......BP at 126/81.......sweet!

Now that I'm one week into my post stroke life my blood pressure has stabilized, my weight has stabilized.....no retention of water anymore.....I weigh exactly the same thing every single day.....now I need to get back into a workout mode to begin losing weight again.  It was so frustrating when my weight continually went up and down from day to day  I had no idea I was retaining water, and that it was the reason my weight would fluctuate from day to day.  I didn't think I was taking in too much salt, but apparently I was.  I rarely add salt to anything I eat, but I usually do add pepper.  It really came down, I guess, to TLE changing the way she cooks for me.....she needs more salt than I do.  Since she altered her cooking style I still think my food has plenty of taste, but now I am officially on a 'low sodium' diet.  I still get tired pretty easily, but that is also improving on a daily basis.  

For the first time in over a year we discovered we had an unwelcome tenant in our Newell.....when we got home Tuesday night from our day in Flagstaff TLE discovered some mouse droppings in our large pan drawer under the oven....there had been none the day before, so this mousy intruder had only just arrived.  I washed all the mouse traps (we have 4), and then added new 'attractant' to each one.....first thing Wednesday morning I checked all the traps, checking under the pan drawer last, and there I found the mouse.....dead as a door nail.  Whenever we have suspected we had a mouse in the past, and have deployed the mouse traps, we have always scored the very next morning.....it has never failed.  On Thursday, when I have my next day off work I will empty out the storage bays to see if there are any other unwanted tenants.....I'm hoping this doesn't mean we have mice, only a singular mouse....we shall see.

After a single day off Tuesday I was back at work Wednesday working the 'close' shift.....TLE had two days off in a row.....I relieved Ian at the register about 12:15 pm after clocking in and counting my money into my cash drawer.  As soon as I put in my drawer it became busy, and stayed busy all the way to 5 pm.....I ended up dropping almost $800 which is a pretty busy day for just 4 hours and 45 minutes at the register.  I think I sold close to 30 t-shirts during my shift which is a  lot.....usually I might sell 5-6 per shift.

Right at the end of my shift our manager, Dakota, came in to buy a frozen pizza and a frozen TV dinner.....while I was ringing him up I forgot to give him the 20% discount for employees.  When I went to reverse it, which is usually a simple process, my computer hung up, and it took over 30 minutes for me to complete the reversal of the initial transaction, and then scan the items again and give the discount, so by the time I went to count down my cash drawer it was already 5:40 pm.....I'm usually home by that time.  I did finally clock out around 5:56, and was home by 6:05.  By the end of my shift I was feeling less tired, and more energized, which was a good sign.  We watched the first episode of the 30th season of the 'Amazing Race', and were in bed shortly after that.

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Desert View - Day 54 - The Last Jedi

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7:58 am - Wednesday - January 3rd - Grand Canyon - 34º F, humidity 18%, wind 5 mph out of the east by southeast......partly cloudy with a forecast high of 53º F......today's BP is 126/81!!

Tuesday was a shared day off for TLE and I.....she is off again on Wednesday, and I on Thursday.  I needed a haircut in the worst way possible, we needed to do some shopping and we wanted to have lunch with TLE's sister Phyllis and niece Christina......what better day to see the latest Star Wars installment: The Last Jedi!  We invited our friend Art along for the ride, and left our home around 8:45 am hoping to be in Flagstaff in time for the 10:10 am showing at the Harkins Theater off Marketplace.  We arrived at the theater at exactly 10 am, and were in our seats at 10:10 am just as the movie trailers began......

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

......the running time for the movie was listed at 2.5 hours....it didn't seem like that long to me.....the movie was totally engrossing, and one of my favorites to date.  Good to see Mark Hamill reprising his role as Luke Skywalker, and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, even though she has been deceased over a year now.  IMDB gives this latest Star Wars chapter 4 stars out of 5, and Rotten Tomatoes a 4.5 out of 5.....that is about right for us.

We were out of the movie theater and in our VW by 12:50 pm, and parking at the Lumberyard by 1:03 pm.  We met Phyllis and Christina there, and had a wonderful lunch.....the food and beer there is exceptional.....once again TLE and I had their Pumphouse Porter.

Next up was a haircut for moi at the local Supercuts, which is right across the street from the local Fry's Supermarket, so TLE and Art dropped me off and headed over to the store to do some shopping.  I was able to sit right down within two minutes of entering the Supercuts, and was exiting with lowered ears 15 minutes later.  I joined TLE and Art finishing up their shopping, and helped them put the groceries, etc. away in the car.  Next up was Walmart where TLE needed to buy her paper goods.....TP, paper towels, Kleenex, etc., and while we were at it I bough a new LCD flat screen TV.....our Phillips Smart TV, which we love, has begun to have some issues after 4 years.....the new 32" Smart TV only cost us $135.....amazing!

By the time we finished at Walmart, and then took on 8 gallons of premium gasoline it was 3:45 pm and time to head for home......we pulled into our site by 5:05 pm, just before sundown.....perfect!  It was a great day in Flagstaff, and the entire trip was without event, or uneventful as most would say.  I'm feeling like my old self, and happy to be above ground and still enjoying life.

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Desert View - Day 53 - Happy New Year!

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6:50 am - Tuesday - January 2nd - Grand Canyon - 25º F, 36% humidity, wind - CALM....forecast high for today is 51º F with partly cloudy skies....heading into Flagstaff today on our day off work!  Today's BP is 138/83.

Can't believe it is 2018......in one month we will celebrate the beginning of our 7th year on the road, and 8 years living in the Newell.....none of that seems possible, but here we are, nonetheless!  We began the year with me being sick with a bad case of a chest cold......I hacked and coughed my way into January 2017.  In all I was sick for 10 days....I think I caught whatever I had when we were home visiting our kids for Christmas, because within days I had the same thing they did.....seems like I have a health emergency about once a year.  At any rate I will recap our 2017 in a separate post.

I had the 'open' shift Monday morning which was good for me as the important college football games were in the afternoon after I would be off work, so that worked out well.   New Year's Day began with a whimper, but ended with a lot of foot traffic....TLE reports she dropped over $600 for her Noon to 5 pm shift.  I dropped about $177, so it was a pretty busy day in the General Store.  We are told that once we are past New Year's day things will slow dramatically until the Presidents Day weekend in February.....that will be fine with me

I was home by 12:45 pm and in front of the TV watching the end of the Notre Dame vs. LSU game, which Notre Dame won on a dramatic last second touchdown.  The Oklahoma vs. Georgia game was a barn burner which saw the final score at 54-48 in double overtime with Georgia winning the game to advance to the National Championship game.  The final game of the day pitted Clemson against Alabama.  Alabama won easily, 24-6, so they will also be in the National Championship game next Monday vs. Georgia.  'Breaking Bad' is running a New Year marathon so I watched a number of episodes going to bed finally around 10:30 pm.....of course there were a couple of luxurious naps interspersed throughout the afternoon.

One thing I have noticed since my stroke episode last Wednesday is I am sleeping a lot better at night.  Before I slept okay most nights, but would have one, or two nights a week where I would wake up around 2 am and not go back to sleep for a couple of hours.....now I am sleeping right through the night.....maybe the problem was high blood pressure.....I don't know for sure, but it's a nice change.

Another thing that is different is I have weighed the exact same thing every morning since I got back from Flagstaff Medical Center.....198.8....that never happens!  I'm happy to stay under 200, that's for sure, but usually my weight varies from day to day by .5 to 1 pound.  Now that I am on a low sodium diet maybe I'm not retaining water now which has stabilized my weight from day to day.  These are interesting changes to me, but I will only begin to understand them when more time has elapsed and I can see a trend really developing.  For now, these are all nice changes.  My BP, which I recorded above, seems to be settling in the 130's (high) and 80's (resting), but again I am just 4-5 days along taking the blood pressure medication.  

We are off, in about an hour, to Flagstaff (Tuesday) for the day to do some shopping, visit with my sister-in-law, and niece, and see Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  Art Young is going to ride into town with us, so I am looking forward to a nice relaxing day spent with friends and family!

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Desert View - Day 52 - The Eve

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6:02 am - Monday - January 1st - Grand Canyon - Happy New Year! - 20º F, humidity 37%, wind 2 mph out of the east....sunny with a forecast high of 55º F......BP 133/88.....my best so far since getting home Friday night.

It had been four days since I last worked on Tuesday, and Sunday it was time to get back to it.  I was a little concerned about my endurance, but that was largely a none issue.  Originally I was scheduled to begin working at 10:30 am, and work until 5:30 pm, but that seemed like a long time, so I asked if I could come in at 12 pm and was given permission by our assistant manager, Wayne, to do just that.

Before I went to work I needed to attend to one main duty and that was to dump the black tank.  I waited until about 10 am to begin the process, and by that time the temps had warmed up into the 40's.  By the time I was done with that it was time to begin getting ready for work.

I reported for work just before Noon time, and quickly slipped back into my routine.  It was beginning to get busy.  TLE had agreed to work her full shift (ended at 3 pm) just to be sure I was good to go.  It was comforting to know she was there in case I ran out of gas, but in the end I was fine.  I just took my time, and by the time she clocked out I only had two hours to go before I counted down my cash drawer.

It took me a while to remember to wish each of our customers a 'Happy New Year'......it just didn't feel like New Year's Eve. Usually TLE and I try to stay up until midnight to welcome in the New Year, but I knew since I had to go to work at 7:30 am Monday I would be in bed by 9:30, or 10.....I guess that is part of the reason it didn't feel like New Year's Eve.  In past years we have not been working a job on New Year's Eve.....I think last year we binged watched a big chunk of 'Breaking Bad' on New Year's Eve.....no binge watching this New Year's Eve!

We were busy right up until 5 pm so I wasn't able to begin my 'CLOSE' procedure until that time (checking the cooler/freezer temps, fronting all the beverage coolers, vacuuming the four rugs in the entrance area, and turning off all the cooler/freezer lighting), but I was able to do all that and still get my cash drawer counted down to $400, and be out the door by 5:28 pm.....I ended up dropping must shy of $500.....a pretty busy 5 hours at the register!

TLE was right at the door to welcome me home, and had dinner for me a few minutes later.  I was a little tired, but I'm always a little tired at the end of a work shift, so it is all good.  As we begin the New Year I have a little different take on life.....there is a little more intensity knowing I almost didn't make it.  My blood pressure is under control, and I am taking life a little more deliberately.  Life is good, and I am grateful to still begin each day writing about the day before.

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Desert View - Day 51 - The eve of the EVE

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6:21 am - Sunday - December 31st - Grand Canyon - New Year's Eve - 26º F, humidity 28%, wind 1 mph out of the east by northeast...partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 55º F.....BP 145/86....even better than Saturday morning!

You appreciate waking up in your own bed so much more when you wake up in a hospital bed even one time....much, much more!  And that was how I felt Saturday morning.....very appreciative to be in my own bed, in my own home with no wires attached, and no one poking and prodding me relentlessly.....no waking up every 45 minutes to an hour all night long.

Since our boss was so kind as to take us off the Saturday work schedule I had time to re-acclimate to life at Desert View before plunging back into the workaday life.  I had a few minor chores I wished to do, and a few delicious naps to take.  The day began with a light breeze, and ended with winds in the 10-12 mph range.....just enough to make being outside unpleasant, but outside I was.

First up was to organize all my paperwork from my hospital visit, get my pills organized.....I take three in the morning (BP pill, baby aspirin, and for 90 days only a blood thinner), and one in the evening just before I go to bed (statin....to reduce cholesterol.....I'm at 78, which is normal, but since I have had the stroke they recommend getting it down to 70.....I'm not sold on this as my cholesterol has never been an issue.  If I don't see a significant reduction after 30 days I think I will discontinue as I don't like the side effect issues).  Next I moved a few things back out to the trailer including the Christmas tree....had to make room for the blood pressure monitor......very, very important in my life now.

Next I cleaned out the car, and vacuumed it......haven't vacuumed it for at least a month and there were a lot of small pebbles, and large gravel pieces on the floor mats, and everything was dusty....looks a lot better now.

Finally, I had received the hose bibb heated tape to apply to the two connections on either end of the heated hose which is where I suspect the freezing issue has occurred. Right now it is not getting that cold at night (high teens to mid 20's), and freezing is an issue, but good to get ahead of the curve and not wait for it to become an issue.  I hope this additional heat tape does the trick.....only time will tell.  I have no doubt we will see, at some point, temps back in the single digits, and maybe even sub zero weather, and that will be the real test.

There were several college Bowl games on Saturday and I had them playing in the background most of the day.  My USC Trojans played Friday night against Ohio State, and played miserably losing 24-7....in fact there is only one PAC-12 team which has won a bowl game so far....not a good year for the PAC-12.

My last task of the day was to turn on the Sea-B-Que to grill a lean filet TLE had bought a few weeks ago when we were in Flagstaff. When it is breezy it makes it difficult to get the BBQ up to the temperature I prefer, but all I do is add a minute, or two the grill time to get it to the desired medium rare status.

By the end of the day I was feeling pleasantly tired....no doubt some of the tiredness was  the residual of my 30 hour hospital stay.  I was in bed by 9:30 pm and thinking how nice is was to be in MY bed once again!

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