Let the Repairs Begin!

We made it home this afternoon in time for me to go to my knitting group.  It was very nice of Gary to get up earlier than usual so we could get home in time.

Our alternate title could have been Blowing in the Wind. It was very windy all the way home. The good news is that it was a tailwind so we got a lot better gas mileage than usual.  At one time, coasting downhill with the wind at our back, we got 41 mpg!  We averaged a bit over 10 mpg, 7-8 is our usual mpg.  Our trip north was against a headwind so we only got 5 mpg.  We really enjoyed seeing the grass blowing in the wind. Can you tell in the photo that it is blowing?  Those are ripples as the breeze blows over the grasses.

As soon as we got home, both dogs went in the pool.  They acted so happy as they got out, soaking wet.  I guess we are not officially home until they have a swim.

Home Sweet Home--it is great to be back.

Peterson's Moving and Hauling, Part 2

We are back in the hauling business. Britta bought two chairs at a garage sale when we were in Seattle for Kathleen's wedding.  They are filling up the sofa bed in the RV all the way home.

We had a great time in Salem this morning. We met PLU friends for breakfast at the Original Pancake House. Doreen was my maid of honor.  Lots of fun catching up on old friends.  Unfortunately, I was having so much fun hearing about everyone that I forgot to take any photos.

We then worked our way South--went past the colorful truck place--I love all those bright colored trucks.

Just below Yreka we drove  past a farm with about 100 alpaca--I was drooling over all that yummy yarn on the hoof.  All those sheep we drove past on our way up are now naked.  Think of all those happy spinners in Oregon.

Mt. Shasta was especially gorgeous today.

Home tomorrow, then Wednesday is surgery to remove a growth on Elsie--poor baby.

Heading Toward Home

Last night we had a wonderful time celebrating our niece's 40th birthday with the Peterson side of the family.  What a fun bunch!  Gary and his brother spent a lot of time talking.

The dogs seem to know we are on our way home.  They'll miss the horse and goats and the huge space to run, but there's no place like home.

Mom is amazing.  Today the PT had her using a rowing machine and she walked the whole length of the hall.  She loves the food, even sent compliments to the chef.  She said the pain is much better. I suspect the fact that they are making her take the pain pills is making a big difference.  I suspect she will be home in 4 weeks or less.  She is one tough lady.





The clouds were gorgeous as we headed south around Portland.

The different shades of green are my favorite part of spring.  Nowhere is it more beautiful than in the Pacific NW.

Last Day at Their Favorite Dog Park

Mom's house is the dogs' Disneyland.  They both have had a ball here.  The goats now come running to see Elsie and Tule wants to try to keep up, too. She has been doing a much better job than we thought she could.

Yes, the baby goats look like unicorns--only one horn has come in on each one.

Mom's yard is full of color.

Today Mom felt a lot better. She looks great and is loving all the attention.  Wherever she goes people won't believe her age.  The dr. today told her she needed to write a book. She said, "oh my granddaughter is doing that--she's making a movie of my life."  Britta is working on a DVD for her 99th birthday (I hope it can be finished by then).  They let family members bring pets in, so we took Elsie over to see her (Tule would not have been able to stand up on those slippery floors).  I forgot to take a photo, but Mom loved having Elsie come and her roommate enjoyed a few pats, too.  And Elsie behaved perfectly, like she knew she was on a special mission.  Good dog!


We didn't think Tule would be able to climb the steps here, but we were wrong.  Here she is going up the long steps for the second time in a few minutes--had to visit the goats and horse.


The evening was fun, too, but that blog will wait for tomorrow night.

Who is That Guy?

I have barely seen Gary this week. He has been doing errands to make Mom's life easier while I sit with her at the hospital and answer questions from hospital staff.








Mom had a coupon, so we went out to a nice dinner at Arnie's on the waterfront in Edmonds tonight.  The view of the ferry and the sunset and the Olympics and all the sailboats stored in the breakwater was amazing.  I love sitting and looking at the water.

I've commented on the goats in Mom's pasture.  Here is a photo of how the horse has figured out a way to eat when the goats climb in the manger to eat more than their share of the hay.  He grabs some hay, plops it on the back of the closest goat and nibbles on it from the goats' back.  These animals are so entertaining.  Elsie spends hours each day just standing and staring thru the fence at them.  They seem to like her attention.  Lyric is the name of the horse.

Tomorrow is the day Mom enters rehab.  She is walking better, just has a LOT of pain when trying to sit up in the bed.  She has a long rough road ahead, I'm afraid.

Whew!

Who would think Mom could be a slave driver from the hospital.  The woman does NOT slow down.  she had me bring her checkbooks and tax papers so she could go over them when she is not having PT.  I spent several hours trying to find everything she wanted. Then a new list was made today. I got home and hit the ground running trying to find everything she wants.  We are certainly getting organized with mail and newspaper and bank, etc.

The nicest part of her hospital stay is her view. Those are the Cascade Mts you can see behind the trees if you squint.  The staff has been great, too.

I spent the morning sorting thru stuff Britta wanted and checking with her by text photos and messages about what was what.  Technology is fantastic.

We had to clean out the front clothes closet due to mold issues.  I found my jr. hi coat in there--I guess it was time to clean it out.  That is definitely a blue and black plaid.

When I got home, the owner of the horse and goats came to feed them.  Elsie knows her and was sooo glad to see her.    She is totally confident in Mom's ability to heal. Pretty amazing when you think Mom is 98 and people are so confident that she will be just fine.  The whole family feels that way, too. And she sure is confident this is just a bump in the road.   My Mom is definitley incredible.

Another Day

Busy day--went to the kidney disease class--very interesting and educational.  Mom's counts have improved by her drinking water so the dr. says she can eat almost anything except salt. She was much happier about that.

In spite of her injuries, she has been having fun in the hospital.  You can imagine when the nurses and doctors read her age, they don't expect what they see.  So lots of compliments are coming her way.  She is in amazing shape for 98 even with the injuries.  The PT came today and she did far better than he expected.

The upshot is that she will have to move to rehab in a few days and stay there until she can get out of bed by herself-- the first estimate was 6-8 weeks, but after the PT worked with her, he revised that down to maybe 4 weeks.

Last night's doctor remembered Mom from a few years ago when she was in for a fractured pelvis.  She was off duty tonight, but came by to check on Mom anyway--wasn't that sweet?

The drive from this morning's class to the hospital was along the waterfront.  All the mountains were out--hard to take photos while driving, so missed Mt. Rainier, but got a pretty good shot of the Olympics.

Not a Great Day

The good news is I had lots of time to knit.  It is a short sock,

for those who are wondering.

The bad news is Mom fell and fractured her tail bone, her sacroiliac and tore a muscle in her gluteus maximus.  She was rushing in the kitchen as we were leaving for her dr. appt.  He sent us to the emergency room for xrays, a CT scan and an MRI, which took about 8 hours.

Yes, she can still smile thru all this and not on pain meds, but it only hurts when she tries to walk.  She will be in the hospital for a few days.  This is not the way the trip was supposed to go.  The good news is her kidney levels are back to normal because of all the water she's been drinking. 

Cute story--when she finally got into her room after hours in the emergency room, the doctor came in to see her and said "I know you. Do you recognize me?"  This dr. treated her the first time she broke her pelvis a few years ago and remembered her because she was so impressed with Mom's good health for her age.  She was even more impressed now because in spite of her injury,  Mom is still in very good health and obviously even older.  That had Mom smiling from ear to ear.  The dr. said, "I thought you were incredible then and I think you are incredible now." Got her lots of points.  

Meanwhile, Gary and the dogs were enjoying nice weather in Mom's back yard while he waited for news.

Family Time with the Petersons

Our morning began with church.  One of Mom's friends was there, so it made for a special morning.  Not too many people she knows left--in church or anywhere.

We got the dogs out for a walk and again Tule chose not to heel.  Here she is dragging Gary along her route.







Alan and Karen and two of their daughters and their families came today. Alan is Gary's brother.  We had such a good time.  The goats cooperated and played "King of the Hill" for them.

Elsie spent most of the afternoon down at the fence staring at the goats.  Arissa and Abby enjoyed the scene.

Tule decided it was time to visit the horse in the barn.





Little Abby learned how to blow bubbles today.  It was so much fun listening to her giggle every time it worked and the bubbles flew.

The Beginning of the Adventure at Mom's

We began our adventure at Mom's with her washing machine
breaking with the first load we washed.  It is almost 18 years old, so we convinced her she really needed a new one.  Then we started discovering the problems with buying a new washer and dryer now that they make them all bigger. Her utility room was designed around her existing washer and dryer.  There is no way the new ones will fit in the same space.  We finally stopped at Sear's Outlet and lo and behold! There was one set small enough to fit in her space.  It wasn't what she wanted, but nothing she wanted would fit in the space. She would have had to remake the doorway, cut down the door to size, etc.  Major expense. When you are 98 years old you don't want to spend a lot of money to get new appliances.  I am happy to announce that the job is done--the new set will be delivered Wednesday.

Mom's yard is beautiful--everything is blooming. Her tulips are gorgeous!

The Peterson branch of the family all live in the Seattle area now, so several of them are coming out tomorrow.  It is kind of like going to the farm for the city kids.  I have to say the goats are a hoot.  We had some salt fish  left from Christmas, so today Gary made pickled fish.  Petersons love pickled fish (salmon, not herring), so they will be thrilled to see a jar each to take home.

Tule is having a hard time on Mom's hardwood floors--just too slippery.  She gets her feet all tangled up, but manages to extricate herself each time.  We have been trying to keep her from going down the stairs to the back yard and barn, thinking it is too much exertion for her.  Today she got disgusted with our efforts and just blazed a trail down the bank full of bushes and flowers--it is a very steep bank.  Gary says she is just like my Mom--stubborn and nobody is going to tell her she can't do something when she thinks she can.  hahaha!  He is right!

We took the dogs for a walk around Dogwood Lane this afternoon (beautiful) and our wonderful dog that usually heels perfectly decided she should drag me all the way. Where does Tule get her strength at age 13?  At home she moves fairly slowly. Maybe the drizzle and cooler weather is more her style--not too cold, just right.  (Hmmmm, sounds like me.)  Both dogs had a ball sniffing all the wonderful new smells.

Heading to Grandma's House

We started the morning with a mini-family reunion.  Our niece Kristina and her two children were in Astoria to tour Fort Clatsop and other area sights (Anders had studied Lewis and Clark in school this year) and we all met for breakfast at the Pig N Pan--our favorite Astoria restaurant.  We felt so bad for them that it was raining, but decided that meant for an experience to match what Lewis and Clark had when they wintered over outside Astoria.

After breakfast we headed toward Seattle with stops at our favorite spots--Home Bakery (so many Scandinavian treats to choose from) and The Berry Patch where we bought Mom's traditional marionberry pie.  Yummmmm.


Traffic was the pits from Olympia on.  Lots of stop and go--but I have to admit it was better to be going the direction we were most of the time.  This photo shows traffic going the opposite way--except it wasn't "going",  it was standing still.









At the exit to Edmonds, Elsie started to realize where we were headed. By the time we got to Westgate she had awakened Tule and they both were on the alert, getting more excited every block we passed.  It is so cute to see how much they enjoy coming here.  We went down to meet the 5 new goats who moved in since we were last here--a mom and 4 babies who are more like teenagers.  They just stared at us and the horse came over to say "hi".  I wish I had taken the camera.  Maybe tomorrow if there is no rain.

Yarn on the Hoof!

As we drove away from Medford this morning, Gary couldn't resist this pose--no wind today.  It made for much easier driving and I certainly was a more relaxed passenger.  Weather was great, until . . . but I'll save that for later.








Gary says to tell you that all the lumber mills along I-5 are producing lumber again which tells him the building industry is coming back.  The logging trucks were busy hauling lumber-to-be.







This area is home to lots of sheep.  I couldn't help but think of the yummy yarn that will be coming our way from these gorgeous creatures.






So the weather was sunny all the way to Portland, then the clouds found us.  By the time we got to Astoria, drizzle was with us.  I love the drizzle, but it made the ramp slippery for poor Tule.  So I finally found a negative side of rain.  We went out to dinner with Gary's cousin, Mike and his wife Julie, then came back to really cold icy-feeling rain.  Of course I needed to take the dogs for their last potty walk of the night in this icy cold heavy drizzle.  That little tan box in the bottom right side of the photo is a heater.  Both dogs are trying to hog it. Elsie keeps trying to move Tule out of the way, but Gary won't let her, so she is stuck with the second tier seating in the bed.

It was a fun evening with cousins and so nice to be cool at bedtime.  Tomorrow we get to enjoy breakfast with one niece and her two children.

Blowing in the Wind

Whooooeeee!  Gary got a workout driving the RV in this wind.  As we neared Truxel Road, Gary decided this would be a good day to drive up Hwy 99 instead of I-5.  It is definitely the scenic route.  We went thru places like Live Oak, Gridley and Biggs and saw lots of "baby calves" to quote Judy Fisher. Evidently when Gary goes duck hunting, the guys eat out at a variety of places along this stretch because he was able to point out many restaraunts and knew what they serve and how good they are as we got close to Oroville.  

Poor Elsie had to endure a lot of "rumble bumps" because of the wind. That means she spent most of the trip trying to scoot under my legs. We really don't both fit in that space, but she made it happen.

We went past his duck club,which sure doesn't look like much, but provides them with plenty of ducks (and one broken leg a couple years back).

Our traditional stop in Corning at the Olive Pit allowed the dogs a chance to get out and stretch their legs.  A strawberry patch is next door, so I got 6 baskets of yummy, red, juicy strawberries.  

We drove thru road construction most of the way once we got on I-5.  

At one point this wide load truck decided to change lanes without looking and we nearly nailed him.  Thank the Lord for Gary's skillful driving and good latches on our cupboards.  

The first mishap of the trip happened before we even left home.  As I put the last load in the freezer, I broke the freezer latch.  So we're keep it closed by using a bunjy cord to hold it securely with the frig door.  One more repair when we get home.  

Gary came up with the perfect way for Tule to enter the RV without stressing her poor hind legs.  The chiropractic adjustments and accupuncture have done wonders for making her stronger, but the ramp makes us feel better as we know she isn't overdoing. At 13, she is doing amazingly well.

For the first day out and all the wind we endured, it still was a very nice day.  Tomorrow we are heading on to Astoria.