Stay Inside Sunday (Well, for most of the day)

Slept in late this morning. Decided since I’m supposed to be resting according to doctor’s orders that I was not going to doing anything but veg out today.

That crazy bird that was flying up against my bedroom window yesterday was back early this morning. Hiker and I started hearing the tapping around 6 am. Don’t know why the bird seems so determined to try to fly through my window pane.

Made some pancakes for breakfast and then decided to walk Hiker down to the park. Didn’t walk fast or very far. Just needed to get out of the house. I felt Hiker needed a walk because she is getting bored and starting to dig in the backyard. I also wanted to see how my vision was outside. It worked out pretty well.

Was a beautiful morning. Sunny and clear and a little breezy.

While walking around the park, I realized that my problem with focusing since my surgery is kind of like when I was a kid. I started wearing eyeglasses when I was 11 years old. Every 2 years I’d have to get new eyeglasses because my eyes were changing so quickly. Every time I’d go to the eye doctor my prescription would get stronger. The focusing issues I’m having now reminds me of back then. It would take 2 or 3 days for my eyes to adjust to the stronger prescription. I remember the floor would look like it was tilting when I’d put on a new pair of eyeglasses. Only now, I have that same feeling every morning.

After lunch, I put Hiker in the car and actually drove down to the liquor store to get my lottery tickets. Even though I’m still “out of focus” my eyes were much clearer than when I was driving around with that cataract in my eye.

Spent the afternoon watching Hallmark Christmas movies again.

Me wearing my “old-fart sunglasses” – they are huge!

Still Out Of Focus

Sure hope that when I’m finally able to get to the optometrist in a few weeks and get my contact lens for my left eye that it will make it easier for my brain to focus by eyes equally. Each morning I never know if my eyes are going to focus or not. I keep telling myself that my doctor said my vision is going to fluctuate for several weeks.

The hard part is that with my right eye (the one I had the surgery on) I cannot see anything up close. My left eye cannot see distance without me wearing my eyeglasses. I actually feel as if I’m inside my head looking out. Like I’m inside a box or something. Makes me feel light-headed all of the time.

Today my focus is so bad, I don’t think I’d be able to drive if I had to.

I was in my bathroom this morning and I kept hearing a tapping at my bedroom window. I looked out and there was a bird that kept sitting on the fence and every now and then, it would fly up to the window and hit it with its feet. I don’t know if it was just learning how to fly or if it was trying to find a place to perch out of the wind. It was tapping on the window for a long time and driving Hiker crazy.

My right eye felt very dry today. Was the same feeling I remember when I used to wear contact lenses and my eyes would get very dry.

Another windy day here today, so that could be one of the reasons my eyes feel dry. Other than the wind, it was beautiful outside. Bright and sunny.

I keep forgetting to put on my sunglasses before I go outside. I’ve worn transition lenses in my eyeglasses for so many years that I’ve never had to think about sunglasses. I’m using the big “over-the-eyeglasses” sunglasses they gave to me after my surgery. Ben used to refer to them as “old fart sunglasses”. Once I get my contact lens, I’ll get some nicer looking sunglasses.

Resting After Yesterday's Surgery

So I had to take the eye shield off yesterday after a while, even though my instructions said to leave it on for the first 24 hours except when I had to remove it to apply my eye drops. Since the surgery to the right eye, it is now pretty clear. I still have the distortion in the right eye because of my retinal problems in that eye but it is much clearer than it was with the cataract. My left eye, which does not have a cataract, still needs either eyeglasses or a contact lens because it is very nearsighted. When wearing the shield, I cannot wear my eyeglasses. My eyes were fighting each other so much to focus that I got a really bad headache, became dizzy and was starting to feel nauseated. Finally said to heck with the 24-hour rule.

I took the right lens out of my eyeglasses so my eyes could focus as much as possible.

The shield is mostly there to prevent me from rubbing my eye. I did put it back on last night when I went to bed, but had to take it off again when I got up this morning because I once again was having problems focusing.

I cannot believe how the colors seen through my right eye are so much more vibrant. Everyone told me they would be, but it is remarkable how much different the brightness is now between my right eye and my left eye.

Followed up with my surgeon this morning. He said my vision is going to fluctuate for several weeks and until I get the contact lenses for my left eye that it will be hard for my brain to adjust the focus. He said that he may give me the OK to call Kaiser’s Panorama City Optometry office next Friday when he sees me so I can make an appointment to get the contacts. He said everything looks good in the eye that he removed the cataract from yesterday and that my vision in that eye is now 20/40 without corrective lenses. I mentioned to him that I still have the distortion in the right eye and he said unfortunately I will continue to have that problem due to the medical condition I have with my retina.

He also told me to make sure I take it easy for about a week. No strenuous activity so won’t be doing dog walks or the dog park with my neighbor Jean for a while.

Was really warm here today. Our high temp was 92° but 92° this time of year does not feel as hot as 92° in the summer.

Surgery Day

Didn’t get much sleep last night. Didn’t go to bed until 11 pm and didn’t fall asleep until about midnight. Woke up a little after 2 am and had trouble falling back to sleep, but I did. Was planning on getting up at 5:45 am but woke up around 5 am and got up to start putting my eye drops into my eyes and got dressed around 5:30.

My appointment was 9:45 am but I had to be there to check in at 8:15. We got there around 8:10 and I was told that my doctor was about 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Found out it was because 2 patients were “no shows”. How can you forget to show up for surgery? But that made it better for me. Sat in the waiting room for about 15 minutes before they called me into the pre-op room. I was in there for about 20 minutes before my doctor came in to talk to me, then we went into the operating room. Was in there for about 10 minutes. Did not feel a thing and all I saw was lights and colors. Went into recovery room and they signed me out after about 15 minutes, so everything took about 45 minutes and I was in Jean’s car heading home 5 minutes before my actual appointment time.

Before I left, my doctor told me to continue putting the eye drops into my eyes as soon as I got home, but the discharge nurse told me to not put them in until after I see the doctor tomorrow morning. My discharge paperwork told me to continue using he drops as soon as I got home. About 30 minutes after I was home, my phone rang and it was the discharge nurse telling me that she had told me wrong and that I was supposed to use them today. Luckily, because my doctor and my paperwork told me that, I had already put the drops in right after I got home.

Now my problem is I have to wear this eye shield for 24 hours. Can only take it off to put my eye drops in. After the 24 hours (and after my follow-up with my doctor tomorrow), I still have to wear it at night when I sleep. My glasses won’t fit over the shield so it is hard to watch TV. I took the lens out of the right side of my glasses so when I don’t have to wear the shield.

I’ll be glad when the dilation goes down in my right eye. The vision in the right eye (the one I had the lens replacement in) is somewhat better than it was, but so far, not as good as I expected. Hopefully it is just adjusting and will be better. Right now there is still a lot of distortion which may still be caused from the retinal problems I have. Was really hoping that the distortion would go away. I do notice that I can see more light and the colors are brighter.

Day Before Eye Surgery

Woke up around 5 am this morning but didn’t get up until about 7 am. Put my eye drops into my right eye and then made some breakfast for me and Hiker.

Ran my scans on my computers while I was cleaning my guest bathroom, so got the housework I wanted to do out of the way. Any other housework will just have to wait until my doctor tells me I can got back to doing everything “normal”.

I’m a little nervous about tomorrow, but also excited to get the surgery done so I can see again when I’m driving. I just hope my B/P is not up like it always is when I’m in a medical building. My primary doctor knows I have white coat syndrome and he even has it written in my medical records. They will be giving me an intravenous sedative, so hopefully everything will be OK.

So I don’t know when or if I’ll be online tomorrow. I’m assuming I will be in the afternoon and evening, so I will let everyone know how my surgery went.

Got My Surgery Time

Normally on Tuesdays, I meet my widowed friends for lunch and we had planned on meeting today at the Egg Plantation over in Newhall, but one of them was having a washer and dryer delivered today, another was having her sprinkler guy come by and another said it’s been so cold lately that she just wanted to stay home inside her warm house. So that left 3 of us. I contacted them and they said since half of the group could not come, why don’t we just cancel lunch this week and meet up at the Egg Plantation next Tuesday.

Hiker and I got up just before 7:30 am and I put my 3 eye drops into my eyes before having a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I have to put the drops in 4 times a day so to help me remember, I do it at breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime. Since I have to wait 5 minutes in between each drop, it was almost 8 pm before I was done.

After breakfast, I went over to Wal-Mart. I was thinking about getting one of those little, round Butterball boneless turkeys for Thanksgiving. I used to get those when Ben was alive and I’d cook it in my crock pot all day. We’d have it for Thanksgiving dinner and then have sandwiches for a few days.

Well, Wal-Mart didn’t have any. They had a bunch of big turkeys, but didn’t need that much for just me and Hiker. Then I got to thinking that I really didn’t need a turkey on Thanksgiving. I actually like mac and cheese so much better than turkey that I decided that is what I’ll make instead. If I change my mind, I’ll try another store early next week.

When I got back home, I finally got around to my dusting that I’ve been putting off forever. After lunch, I did my vacuuming and tomorrow I need to clean my guest bathroom. Everything else will have to wait until my doctor tells me I can once again do my “normal” stuff.

Right as I was finishing my vacuuming, my brother Ron called me so we talked for about 20 minutes or so.

Around 2:30 pm the phone rang and it was the surgical facility. My surgery appointment is set for 9:45 am on Thursday, November 19^th. I have to check in at 8:15 am. I called Jean right away to give her the information since she will be driving me. I called the surgical facility back a while ago because I noticed that the check-in time is an hour and a half before the surgery time and I thought maybe I wrote it down wrong but they assured me that I had the correct time because it takes over an hour to prep me for the surgery.

So I’m all set now. I’m a little nervous but I’m also glad I’m getting it over because it’s getting scary when I drive and cannot see very well.

Still Have Not Done My Housework

We got up early for our dog walk with Jean and her dogs. The wind howled all night here. I called Jean around 6:15 am to ask her if she thought it was too windy to walk the dogs, but she wanted to try. By the time we got out for our walk, it was more breezy than windy.

Had to start using my eye drops today to prepare for my surgery this Thursday. One of the stings some, but not bad.

Today was my day to water my lawn. The sprinklers came on at 7 am and when they did, Hiker started to bark like crazy. I went to look why she was barking and I saw that one of the sprinklers was gushing like a geyser. Looks like the sprinkler head had gotten cut off by my gardener’s lawn mower over the weekend. So Hiker heard the noise of the water gushing and she let me know something was wrong. Glad she did, otherwise, I never would have noticed it and a lot of water would have been wasted. I changed the sprinkler, but it’s still not working right so I need to remember to have my gardener check it out.

It really turned out to be a nice day outside once the wind died down and it warmed up a little. My brother Ron who lives in northern California said he is seeing snow in the Sierras which is a very good thing for California.

I’ve got to stop putting off that last minute housework I need to do before my surgery. I’ll probably end up doing it on Wednesday.

Simple Sunday

Got up around 7 am. Jean wanted me to go to a Holiday Craft Fair with her over at Old Orchard Park in Valencia. I thought maybe it would be raining this morning, but when Hiker went outside at 6 am, the sky was totally clear. When we left to go to the craft fair around 9:45, we saw clouds out over the San Fernando Valley that appeared to be heading our way. We were done looking around the craft fair within 30 minutes. Not a lot of sellers showed up because they heard it might rain. Anyway, by the time we got back home, the clouds were over the Santa Clarita Valley and it started getting a little breezy.

It got very dark outside around noon, it stated to rain a little. I thought it would be a nice day to put a log in the fireplace and have a fire. So that’s exactly what I did, then I went into my front bedroom/office to pay a couple of bills. By the time I got done, the clouds had pulled back and the sun came out and no more rain. So there I sat on the sofa in front of a nice blazing fire. Kind of killed the mood.
Since I have housework to do before I have my eye surgery, I need to stay home most of the week and get it done. Will go to buy my lottery tickets Monday morning after our dog walk and then drive up to Sam’s Club to fill the car up with gas. I’ll still meet my widowed friends for lunch on Tuesday, but other than that, I’ll stay home.

Sleepy Saturday

Stayed in bed about an extra hour this morning. It was chilly and it felt good to be under the blankets.

Got up and made some pancakes for breakfast and then I mopped my floors. They have needed it for a long time, but I’m getting to where I put things off more and more these days.

Nice day here today, but they are saying we might get some rain tomorrow. That will be fine with me because we need it so much. They even said the snow level will be down to around 2500 feet. That would put snow on the top of the mountains around our valley.

Spent most of my day watching Hallmark Christmas Movies again. I have not had much energy to get out much since I’ve had to stop taking all of my vitamins in preparation of my eye surgery. I can really tell the difference in how I feel when I’m taking them and when I’m not. I feel very sluggish. I’ll be glad when I can start taking them again next weekend.

Friday The 13th

Up early for a dog walk with Jean and her dogs. We didn’t go to the dog park today. Hiker doesn’t really like going there because the other dogs frighten her, so I wanted to just do a walk like we used to.

After the walk, we let the dogs play in my back yard or awhile then we went over to Jean’s house so Jean could groom Hiker.

Was a really beautiful day here but Hiker and I decided to stay home since I’ve been running around all week. It was nice to just relax.

Just Another Thursday

Stayed in bed until almost 7:30 this morning. After all of the craziness of yesterday, I was exhausted. I think I’m tired because I have not taken my vitamins/minerals or herb supplements for a week now because I had to stop taking them 14 days prior to my surgery.

I made some breakfast for me and Hiker and then I called Jean to see if all of her electricity was back on yet. At the time it wasn’t. She called me a little while later and said that she saw Javier (the foreman of our community workers) next door so she mentioned to him that she still had sockets that were not working. He reset all of her breakers by turning them all off and then back on and then all of her electricity was back up.

I headed over to Sam’s Club to pick up a few things. When I got home, she came over and got all of her food out of my freezer and fridge that we had put in there yesterday evening because my electricity was working when hers wasn’t.

It was a beautiful day here. Pretty windy, but otherwise really nice. After lunch, I had to go to the post office to mail some empty ink cartridges back to HP so they could recycle them, so I took Hiker with me and then we went over to Canyon Country Park.

When I got home and picked up my mail, I was surprised to find a check from a settled class action law suit against Lockheed’s employee savings plan. Since I was a member of the plan, I was eligible to receive a settlement. I will say I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a lot more than what I had expected to receive, especially at this time of year when I have so many large bills to pay. It was actually enough to cover my homeowner’s insurance and my earthquake insurance. Nice!

What A Day!

I was startled awake this morning by a beeping noise at 3 am. I knew it wasn’t my alarm clock, but could not figure out what it was. It stopped beeping but about 15 minutes later, it did it again. I finally figured out that it was my weather station console which sits on my dresser in my bedroom. The station has alarms on it if the outside temperature gets to certain levels. I thought I had them turned off, but I guess I only turned off the one for the heat. Our outside temp dipped below 32° this morning and that was why the alarm kept going off. I finally realized what it was, turned it off and went back to sleep.

I got out of bed at 6 am because I was taking my car over to the dealer to have it serviced and I had to be there by 8:30 am.

We had been warned by our community office that they were going to do electrical maintenance in our community today and that the power would be off and on sporadically between 8 am and 3 pm, so we were expecting the electricity to possibly go out at 8 am, but while I was on my computer, the power went out just before 7:30 am. This sucked, because my car was still inside the garage, so I had to disconnect my electric garage door so I could manually pull it up to get the car out.

Jean and I had planned for her to come pick me up at the dealer and then we’d go to breakfast and we were planning on going to the L.A. Zoo so we wouldn’t have to be home without power.

Then we found out that the power went off not because our guys who were going to do the maintenance turned it off. We found out that 3 major fuses or breakers exploded on the 2 poles just outside of our community gate. SoCal Edison had to come to fix it, but it took them awhile to figure out where the explosions had happened. Once they found it, they had to wait for more workers to come so they could repair it.

I took my car to the dealer, Jean picked me up and then we went to Crazy Otto’s to have breakfast, but because we forgot it was a holiday, there was a line outside the door, so we went to IHOP for breakfast instead.

While eating, we got to thinking that because of the holiday, kids would be out of school and that the zoo would be very crowded. So instead, we decided to go to the San Fernando Mission and go on their self-guided tour.

I got a call that they serviced my car, but while servicing it, they found that the battery was leaking. It was still under warranty, so they put a new one in. Then they said I needed an alignment because my care is 2 ½ years old and they recommend re-alignments ever 2 years. I knew that if the car is out of alignment, it wears the tires faster, so I told them to go ahead and do it.

We went to a few stores to waste time and then went to pick up my car. When we got home, the power was still out. Edison said they would have it fixed in about 2 hours, and around 4:30 pm, it finally came back on.

I had noticed about an hour before it came back on that my food my freezer was starting to defrost, so I got my generator out connected my garage refrigerator and big freezer to it so the food would not go bad. I moved all of my perishable food from the house refrigerator into the garage refrigerator. About 20 or 30 minutes later, the power came back on, but I decided not to move anything back into the house yet because they still have to do the community maintenance on the electricity and I might have to use the generator again.

Jean called me and said her house still only has power in have of it and some of the neighbors on her street were having the same problem. Since we have manufactured homes, we can have one half with power and one half without if there is a problem. I told Jean to take here perishables out of her refrigerator and freezer and bring it over to my house so we could put it into my big freezer. So we just finished doing that.

What a day!

Beautiful Weather

Had some errands to run this morning. Went by the post office to mail some bills and then headed over to the Kaiser Pharmacy to pick up my Lipitor.

About the bills, it’s weird. I was able to find a place online to pay for my homeowner’s insurance but even though my earthquake insurance is through the same company, there is nowhere to pay it online. Thinking it’s because it is associated with the CEA (California Earthquake Authority). Plus, the homeowner’s insurance requires me to sign a form that I agree to their terms, the form has to be mailed to a different address so you cannot include it in with the homeowner’s envelope. Figured since I had to go to the post office anyway, I’d just go ahead and pay everything with checks instead of doing one on line and one with a check.

I like to get to the Kaiser Pharmacy early because the open at 8 am and I get there around 8:30 and there is not a line to stand in.

Met my widowed friends at Crazy Otto’s for lunch. Fun as usual. Missed a couple of ladies who could not make it to lunch.

Tomorrow they are doing electrical maintenance in our community so our power will be sporadic between 8 am and 3 pm. This means I won’t be on the computer much, but I probably won’t be home much because I have to drop my car off at the dealer for service and my neighbor Jean wants to pick me up there and go out to breakfast and then head down to the Los Angeles Zoo. Our power will be sporadic on Thursday also. Guess that day I will go and get my car washed and then come home and get Hiker and maybe go for a hike or a day trip with her.

Beautiful day here today. In the low 70’s all day with blue sky and big fluffy clouds.

Rained A Little Today

We got up at 6 am so we could go to the dog park with Jean. Hiker does not particularly like the dog park. She is not at ease with strange dogs especially the other day when Keith and I took her there and those 2 big dogs scared her and chased her.

She was all right when we first got there. It was just her and Jean’s dogs and Hiker even wandered away from me, but then other dogs started coming in and just like before, Hiker was like Velcro to me. I also noticed that when she ran, she was doing a little hop with her left back leg. I had not noticed it before, but Jean said she noticed it last Friday at the dog park.

I worry about Hiker hurting herself because she jumps off my bed which is about 2 ½ feet high and when she goes outside, she doesn’t walk down the steps, she flies through the air and comes down on the cement patio. Her breed gets hip dysplasia, so I give her Glucosamine tables every morning.

It was getting really cold at the dog park and then it started to rain a little, so we left and came home. OK with me that we didn’t stay long because I needed to get my grocery shopping done.

I guess it rained pretty good while I was inside the grocery store because when I came out, my car was all wet and it wasn’t when I went into the store.

Didn’t do much today. The only rain we got (so far) was the little bit this morning. Right now, the sky is bright blue with a few big, white, fluffy clouds.

I did get some bills paid. This time of year I get my homeowner’s insurance, earthquake insurance, car insurance and property taxes.

Sure will be glad when I get my eye surgery done. Some days my vision is so bad.

Morning Hike At Vasquez

Up at 6 am this morning. I wanted to take Hiker up to Vasquez Rocks for a morning hike. Was going to meet up with my friend Robyn there, but she was not feeling well this morning and didn’t get much sleep last night, so she didn’t go.

There were not very many people there this morning, which is strange for a weekend day. We only hiked about a mile and a quarter. I love to hike, but now days, it’s harder for me. It’s not just my bad eye, which will be fixed in less than 2 weeks, but I also have the plantar fasciitis on my left foot and my right knee is not what it used to be. I can no longer hike some of the terrain I used to hike because I’m worried I will fall if my knee goes out.

Sucks getting older.

Came back home and did some stretches for my bad foot and then put some laundry into the washer.

After lunch, I sent Hiker out to the patio so I could vacuum. She hates the vacuum cleaner, so she always goes outside when I’m using it.

The instructions from the pre-cataract surgery class told us to stop taking all vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements 14 days prior to our surgery. We are only supposed to be taking our regular meds, like my B/P and Cholesterol meds and my low-dose aspirin. I can really tell that I’m not taking the other stuff. My hands are hurting me, mostly in my joints, because I’m not taking my Calcium and Glucosamine. Hope my poor bones and the rest of my body can make it until I get back to using all of my vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements.

Was in the 40’s here this morning but got up into the low 80’s this afternoon.

Beautiful Day For An Afternoon Hike

I really hate this time change back to Standard Time. I hate it when it starts getting dark outside before 5 pm. It makes me feel sad. I actually had tears in my eyes when it started getting dark last night.

Ben used to really like Standard Time because he was a home body and he loved to settle down early, sit in his big chair and watch TV. I always preferred Daylight Saving Time even though I too am a home body, but I feel so “closed in” when it gets dark early.

Last night a little after 8 pm, Jean called and asked if my water was off. I checked and it was. She and 2 neighbors on her street didn’t have any water either and we eventually found out that the entire community was out due to a main water break. I guessed they worked on it all night because when I got up at 3 am to go to the bathroom, it was back on.

I had been sitting on the couch watching the Hallmark Christmas movies like I do every year. After a while, I had to stop. Just about every one of the movies has a widow or widower in it and I was starting to feel sad and I was starting to cry while watching the movies. This will be my 5^th Christmas without Ben and it still hurts. But I’ll get through it just as I have in the past.

Took Hiker over to Whitney Canyon to do an afternoon hike. It was a little windy and I could hear the wind blowing through the tops of the trees. It spooked Hiker a little. Several of the big trees have succumbed to the drought. Back in July of 2004, there was a huge brush fire that went through Whitney Canyon and burned a lot of trees. The drought has caused those burned trees to dry out and rot and the winds we’ve been having has blown a lot of the trees down. There were several lying across the trails.

About a mile or so into the canyon, I heard some rustling in the brush and there were two female deer staring at me and Hiker. Hiker suddenly saw them and she wanted to run at them, but I had her leash around my wrist and she didn’t get very far.

It was in the mid-80’s here today. It’s crazy. In the mornings I have to turn the furnace on to get the chill off the house because it’s in the 30’s or 40’s outside and then in the afternoon, it’s in the 80s. This morning it was is the high 50’s at 6 am because of the Santa Ana Winds.

Really A Beautiful Day In So Cal

37° here at 6 am this morning. The Santa Ana Winds were kicking up, so it was a tad warmer than yesterday.

Jean and I took Hiker over to the dog park again today. Hiker was doing fine until a guy came in with a gigantic white dog named Wiley. I think he was a Samoyed. He was only 11 months old, but I’ll bet he weighed 50 to 60 lbs. He just wanted to play, but Hiker was so afraid of him. When he came near her she’d curl her lips and bare her teeth and she was drooling like crazy.

Once I was able to “sneak” away from her some and hid. Wanted to see what she would do. She went running over to Jean because she didn’t know where I was and the entire time, she was looking around for me. I was about 100 feet away from her and she finally saw me. She came running over to me and tried to jump into my arms and almost knocked me down. After that, no matter where I was, she was sitting right next to me, leaning against me to make sure she could “feel” me. When I would start to walk, she got right between my legs and almost tripped me.

I don’t know if she had been attacked by a big dog when she was on the streets before the shelter found her or what, but she sure does not like them. She is fine with Jean’s dogs now because she knows them, but she was afraid of them when she first met them and now she is still shy around strange dogs.

When we got home, there was a flyer on my door from the community office telling us that next Wednesday and Thursday, there is going to be electrical maintenance done in the community so our electricity will be off and on sporadically those 2 days between 8 am and 3 pm. I hate it when they do that because then I have no computer and no TV. Plus, when they are done, I have to reset clocks that are not automatic or battery. I’m getting my car serviced next Wednesday, but won’t be gone more than a couple of hours. I’m taking Hiker with me, so she and I may have to go to the park or something after the car is done.

After lunch, Hiker and I went over to Canyon Country Park for a nice afternoon walk. It was beautiful outside today. It was 80°, clear blue sky and windy. Very typical fall day in SoCal.

I sure do like my Kaiser primary doctor. He is so good about answering email. If I send him one, he replies within 24 hours, even on weekends. I had not seen a test result for my CBC test from the other day and I needed that one to be complete for my eye surgery, so I emailed my doctor. He emailed back and said the CBC was normal and he sent me the numbers on it. I was getting worried about it since it was not showing up in my medical records on the Kaiser website.

I'm Loving This Weather

Was 33.3° this morning at 6 am. Once again, when Hiker came back inside from going potty, she went right back to bed and burrowed under the blankets, and once again, I joined her.

We were under a freeze warning. I turned on the furnace and pulled the blankets up to my chin and Hiker and I stayed in bed until 8 am watching TV.

After breakfast, Hiker and I got into the car and went to buy my lottery tickets, then we drove down to the building where the surgical center I’ll be going to in 2 weeks is located. I wanted to make sure where I’ll have to check in. On the way back home, we stopped at Sam’s Club and filled the car with gas.

After we got home, I went outside to check the tape I have wrapped around my main water pipes. Wanted to make sure they were covered well so they won’t freeze. Many years ago, when Ben and I first moved here, we had a really cold winter and our pipes froze, so after that we started wrapping them.

I also covered up my A/C unit out behind the house, and since Keith was here when we changed from daylight saving time to standard time, I had not changed my batteries in my smoke alarms and my CO alarms, so I did that also.

After lunch, I took Hiker over to Central Park. It was a beautiful afternoon. In the high 70’s.

Busy Day At Kaiser

It was 35.6° this morning at 6 am when Hiker went outside to potty. She came back in and got right back into bed and burrowed under the covers, so I joined her.
We got up at 7 am because I had an appointment this morning with my primary doctor.
Had to have some blood tests run and an EKG prior to my eye surgery. Doctor said my EKG was very good and I’m slowly getting the results from the blood tests and so far, so good.
Also gave my advanced health directive to them. I was planning on giving it to them next time I had a physical, but decided to take it to them today.
Came back home and watched Y&R and had some lunch, then I had to head over to our local Kaiser medical building to attend a class. They gave us information about the eye surgery, explaining the 2 procedures of cataract surgery and told us which one Kaiser does. The also gave us information about what we need to do before and right after surgery. They have 2 surgeons and they both have different ideas about when we should stop taking any vitamins, minerals, herb supplements and blood thinners. My surgeon said 5 days is soon enough, but the other doctor said 14 days prior to surgery. There were about 12 to 15 people there who are scheduled for surgery. It was informative and actually interesting.
Now all I have to do is sit back and wait until I hear from the surgical facility about what time I need to check-in on November 19th.

Cloudy Day

So last night was the first time in months that I slept under my blanket all night. I even got Hiker’s blanket out for her and she slept under hers all night too. When she went outside at 6 am this morning, it was 41° on my patio.

I actually had to turn on my furnace to get the chill out of house.

I’m loving it!

Keith was trying to decide if he wanted to go to lunch with me and the widow girls at Rattler’s today, but then he decided he’d just head for home around noon because he didn’t want to leave later and get stuck in the traffic. The freeways he takes home get crowded with people who work in L.A. head home in the afternoon.

Had fun with the girls at lunch. While I was waiting for them outside of the restaurant, I felt a few rain drops.

I have my pre-op appointment with my primary doctor tomorrow morning and then in the afternoon, I have to attend that pre-cataract surgery class over at Kaiser.

Strange Day

Hiker woke me up at 5 am again this morning instead of at 6 am. I’ll be glad when she gets her mind and body adjusted to standard time.

We were supposed to go to the dog park with Jean and her dogs, but I got a call from Jean this morning. She had put her dogs into the car and was going to come pick us up, but she didn’t wait for her automatic garage door to open all the way and she backed into it, crinkling it all up and then it got jammed and she could not get her car out of the garage.

She didn’t want to leave her garage open as now the door would not go up or down, so we didn’t go anywhere with the dogs.

Instead, Keith and I headed over to the new Crazy Otto’s Diner that opened last week a few blocks from my home and had breakfast. They give you an extremely large amount of food. I didn’t quite finish mine, which is strange for me because I usually don’t have that problem. Keith brought some of his home to eat later. He had their huge Spanish omelet and I had ham steak and eggs.

We left there and stopped by home so Keith could put his left overs in my fridge.

Keith helped me check my rain gutters to see if they needed cleaning. They were OK, so then we went over to Wal-Mart for something Keith needed to pick up then we came back and picked up Hiker and took her over to the dog park. We had thought about taking her out for a hike maybe to Vasquez Rocks, but the weather took a turn and it became very cloudy and we didn’t want to get stuck in a down-pour.

While at the dog park, there were 2 big dogs that came in after us and they both bounded towards Hiker and that scared her. She screamed and the kept hiding behind me. She really needs to learn how to play with other dogs and not just Jean’s dogs. So we came back home.

It got very cloudy and the wind started to kick up. I know my brother Ron had rain in northern California last night and we are supposed to get some here tonight.

We drove over to where the new Papa Murphy’s Pizza is supposed to be, but they are still getting it ready to open, so we went across the street to Wal-Mart and picked up a “take-n-bake” pizza from their deli for dinner.

Fun Day

Since we changed the time list night, Hiker woke me up around 5 am wanting to go outside, I told her she had to wait and go out at 6 am because I want her to get used to the time change. Once I was awake, I could not go back to sleep so we got up around 5:45.

Keith was still asleep, but he heard us moving around so he got up. Around 8 am, we put Hiker in the car and headed over to the trail head for the Elsmere Open Space which is on Sierra Highway in Newhall. We had never hiked there before so we were interested in trying it. Well we were disappointed because there really wasn’t much to see in the area we hiked, but I’m sure if we had gone up the steep trail and over the ridge and down into the canyon, it would have been more interesting. We did 2 miles and then headed home.

Keith wanted to go over to Big Lots to buy some coffee, so we did that and then he and I went over to Red Robyn to have some lunch.

When we got back home, my plantar fasciitis in my left foot was killing me. I’m sure it was from the hike because there was a lot of loose sand we had to walk through.

Last evening we sat out on my front porch and handed out candy. Keith estimated that we had about 75 kids come by. Around 7:30 pm, we decided to come back into the house and watch some TV. Keith said he heard someone come up to the door and knock even though we had turned off the porch light and didn’t have any lights on inside the house. When we were kids, our mom told use to never go to a house to trick-or-treat unless the porch light was turned on.

Halloween

Got up around 7:30 to a beautiful fall morning. Went out and snapped a photo of the moon in the western sky.

At 9:30, Jean and I headed over to the Hyatt Hotel for the 3rd annual Golden Years Expo. Didn’t have as many booths this year as it has in the past. We were only there about 45 minutes. Then we headed over to the Green Thumb Nursery because Jean wanted to pick up a couple of rose bushes that were on sale for 50% off.

Got back home a little after 11 am and Hiker and I waited for Keith to arrive.

He got here around 12:30. Hiker was so excited to see him. He and I left to go have lunch. We ate at Everest and they were really crowded.

Came back home and did a load of laundry.

Tonight, we will be sitting outside on the front porch handing candy out to the trick-or-treaters.

Community Halloween Party Day

This morning, Jean and I took the dogs back over to the new dog park to play. There were a lot of people and a lot of dogs there. Hiker had fun last time when it was just her and Jean’s dogs, but today, the other dogs scared her so she was stuck to me like glue and would not run and play. She is always very shy with any dogs she does not know. Hopefully she will get to know them and play with them soon. Around 10:30 am, me, Jean and our other neighbor Christine headed down to the community rec room to help them get everything ready for tonight’s Halloween party. The weather was beautiful today. Started out cool and windy. We even had to wear light jackets to the dog park because the wind was cold. It warmed up around 9 am and was a typical fall day here in SoCal. Spent about 2 hours or so over at the rec room making mummy dogs while some of the other girls decorated cookies. We will be going back at 5 pm. The party starts at 5:30 and goes until about 8 pm. If I see any really great kids in costume, I’ll take pictures. Finally got the forms from Kaiser that that were supposed to send me 2 weeks ago. Had to fill out some of the information to take with me to the surgical center the day of my surgery. Also had a form for me to take to my primary doctor during my pre-op so he knows what labs and tests they want him to do. One of them is an EKG. I hope they can do that one at my doctor’s office instead of me having to go over to the main Kaiser building. I’ll have to go over there the same day of my pre-op for the pre-cataract class.

Sally and Jean making mummy dogs.

Beautiful Weather Today

I didn’t get out of bed until 8 am this morning. When Hiker went outside at 6 am, I had a “sinus-like” headache around my eyes, so I took a Tylenol and went back to sleep.

During the night, I kept waking up because my nose kept clogging up and I could not breathe, so I think that had something to do with it.

Just before I woke up at 8:00, I was dreaming that I was at a mall somewhere with one of my friends. Couldn’t really see the friend’s face, so I have no idea who it was. We had Hiker with us, which is odd since only service dogs are allowed inside of malls. Anyway, we were in a store and were getting ready to move on. I had my purse and my camera with me, so my friend said she would take Hiker’s leash. I turned around and they were gone, so I went out the door to look for them and did not see them there anywhere. I was panicked because I thought my friend had dognapped Hiker. That’s when I woke up.

After breakfast, I took Hiker with me to get my lottery tickets for Saturday. When we got back home, the weather was so nice. I got her leash and we walked around inside of our community. Wanted to see what people had out for Halloween decorations.

Was a beautiful day all day. Not too hot…nice breeze.

Giant spider in our neighborhood

Peaceful Wednesday

Up just before 7 am this morning. Had some breakfast and then headed out to fill the car with gas and go to Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. Spent way more than I had wanted to, but that’s what happens.

Was overcast again this morning but felt warm due to the humidity. The sun tried to peek out around noon, but didn’t really show up until around 1:30 pm. They are saying we are going to be warm this weekend and have Santa Ana Winds.

I mixed the ingredients for a meatloaf for tomorrow night’s dinner. I like to always mix it a day ahead and let it sit in the fridge and mingle the flavors.

My plantar fasciitis has really been bothering me for the past 5 days so I tried to stay off my feet most of today.

Was in the low 90’s here today. When the heck is summer going to die? It’s almost November!

Lunch At Olive Garden

Hiker and I went to bed around 9:30 last night. I feel asleep within 30 minutes but at 12:04, Hiker woke me up with a half bark/half yip sound. I think she must have been dreaming. She was at the foot of the bed and she didn’t move. I reached for her and it seemed to wake her up. She went right back to sleep after that. Took me about 15 minutes to go back to sleep.

It was another chilly morning when we got up. I like it because it is finally feeling more like fall. Better late than never.

Met some of the widowed ladies at the Olive Garden for lunch today. Olive Garden has some really good lunch deals and they are very reasonably priced.

It was overcast all day here today but still warm…in the high 80’s.

Cool Morning/Hot Afternoon

Didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. But then I’m like that every morning. My old brother picks on me because I say I’m tired all of the time. I used to get up early when I worked and even after I first retired, I’d get up around 5 or 6 am to start my day. But I’ve gotten to where if I don’t have anything to do that day, I’d rather stay in bed, even if I don’t go back to sleep after Hiker comes back in after potty. As it is, I only average 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night. I go to bed between 9 and 11 pm, but I turn on the TV and watch it until I fall asleep. Sometimes that is not until midnight or later. Then Hiker wakes me up at 6 am every morning to go outside. We did our Monday dog walk with Jean and her dogs this morning. It was “nippy” out there while on our walk. Was actually down to 46°. We get cool mornings, but then it warms way up in the afternoon. Got a call from Marcie at our community office. Jean and I volunteered to help them with the Halloween party prep, plus we are always judges for the kid’s costume contests. The party is this Friday evening, but we will go over early in the day to help them get things ready. I got the call-back I was waiting for from my eye surgeon’s scheduler. She told me that she had not sent out the package last week with the form in it. That she had waited until today to send it out because she was waiting to get my post-op appointment with my eye surgeon set up. So hopefully I will receive the package by the weekend. My pre-op with my regular doctors is Wednesday, November 4th. My surgery will be on Thursday, November 19th. Then I have a post-op with my surgeon on Friday, November 20th. Then I have an office visit with him again on Friday, November 27th. I had promised Hiker this morning that I’d take her for a ride in the car and maybe to the park for a short walk this afternoon, but by 12:30 it was already in the mid-90’s and I didn’t want to walk her because she’d burn her little feet on the hot pavement. So I put her in the car and took her for a 20-minute car ride. She was perfectly happy with that. She loves riding in the car.

Overcast Day

I stayed up late last night watching “The Good Witch Halloween”, so I was tired this morning.

Got up around 7:30 am. Jean was coming by at 9:30 to pick me up to go over to the Crafty Ladies Boutique in Granada Hills. We got there early and hardly anyone was there. I didn’t buy anything this time. Didn’t see anything “I couldn’t do without”. It’s a very small craft fair in a school auditorium. I think in the 3 times I’ve been there, I’ve only bought something 1 time.

It was totally overcast this morning. The sun finally peeked out around 2 pm.

When I got home, didn’t really do much. I baked a small cake, just the right size for me to have 4 good slabs of it. Made lemon cake with creamy lemon frosting.

Figured out my menu for next week then sat down and watched “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on one of the Encore channels. Have always loved that movie. Paul Newman and Robert Redford were so handsome in that movie. I think they looked better in that movie than in any other movies. I just saw that Katherine Ross and Sam Elliott have been together for 31 years. Good to hear that someone in Hollywood stayed married to the same person.

Getting Warm Again

Woke up in the middle of the night and then had trouble going back to sleep, so I turned on the TV. Thought we’d sleep in this morning, but I turned the TV on at 6 am when Hiker came back in from going potty and I didn’t go back to sleep, but instead I laid there watching the TV until 8:00.

Got up and made some breakfast, put a load of laundry in the washer, sorted my meds and supplements for next week then settled down to watch some TV. So it’s been another lazy Saturday.

I had to do 2 loads of laundry today because I normally wash my sheets and towels on Sunday, but tomorrow Jean and I are going over to Granada Hills to the Crafty Ladies Craft Boutique.

I’ve been waiting to receive a packet in the mail from Kaiser. I was told I’d get some forms that I needed to take to my doctor when I go for my pre-op on November 4th, but I have never gotten it. I did get an email from Kaiser last week telling me to go onto their website to my “Personal Medical Action Plan” and fill out a form about my medications and any other supplements I take and to print it out and take it to my doctor when I go for my pre-op. So now I’m thinking maybe that is the form I was told would be coming in the mail. I called the eye surgeon’s scheduler and got her voicemail and asked her it’s possible they sent me the form via email instead of snail mail. Hopefully she will get back to me on Monday.

Was pretty warm here again today. Got up into the high 90s. Had to turn on the A/C today which I have not done in over a week.

Was Out Shopping All Day

I’M POOPED!

I had trouble falling asleep last night and then I didn’t sleep well because I was dreaming all night. Got up at 5:45 to get ready to meet up with Jean so we could take the dogs over to the new dog park.

The dogs loved it over there. There ran all over the place. We were there for about an hour and then we headed home.

I fixed Hiker a poached egg and then Jean came over at 9:30 and we headed out to have a shopping day and go to lunch.

We hit all of the Dollar Tree stores, all of the Ross, TJ Maxx and Marshall’s stores. Had lunch at The Alamo Mexican Café and then stopped by Sam’s Club on the way home so I could pick up some Halloween candy. Keith told me he is coming for a visit Halloween weekend and we are going to sit out in the front of the house and hand out candy.

I bought a soft pair of slippers at TJ Maxx for this winter and I bought Hiker a stuffed fox toy there too. She loved it when I gave it to her when I got home.

Didn’t get home until 2:30 so she was alone for 5 hours. She was glad to see me when I got home.

It got up to 88° here today.

Just A Regular Thursday

It stays dark until about 7 am here now, so Hiker and I have been staying in bed until 7:30.

We went out and got my lottery tickets for Saturday’s draw and when we got back home, I finally got around to doing that housework I’ve been putting off all week.

Another nice fall morning here. Was 47° on my patio when Hiker went outside at 6 am. The afternoons are still a little warm, but not as bad as they were a few weeks ago.

This afternoon, Hiker and I did a walk down through Discovery Park and along the dry riverbed. Was in the 80’s but there was a nice breeze so it wasn’t too hot for the walk.

Tomorrow, Jean and I are going to take the dogs over to the new dog park at Golden Valley Park instead of taking them for our normal walk. Then after we take the dogs back home, she and I are going to go out and do some shopping and have lunch. I owe her a lunch from the last time she took me to my eye doctor.

Pretty Day In SoCal

Hiker and I got up around 7:30 this morning. I made us some poached eggs for breakfast then I went online and paid the first installment of my property taxes. The last 3 months of each year are always “costly”. Have to pay my property taxes, my homeowner’s insurance, my earthquake insurance and my car insurance. When Ben was alive and we had our other 2 vehicles, our registrations also came due at the end of each year, but since I traded those in for my 1 vehicle, I pay that in August. Plus this year in November, I will be having my eye surgery, so I’ll have to pay my co-pay for that.

Beautiful morning here. Clear and sunny with a nice breeze. Hiker spent a while out in the yard, sniffing everything.

After lunch, I took Hiker over to Bridgeport Lake and we did a short walk along the lake. It was warmer outside than I thought it would be, so we didn’t stay as long as we normally would.

Still didn’t get to the housework I was supposed to do. Oh well, it will still be there tomorrow.