Cooking , sewing and checking out a neat sight in the Wetlands.

Managed to catch a nice sunrise over the Wetlands the other morning. Have not been walking for over a week, so this is only picture I of have of the area.

On Monday Bill was doing pretty good, eyelid is starting to stay up longer. Sure hope that continues and it is fixed this time. Still swelling and incision is still healing.  So he decided to do some cooking. On Sunday he cooked a bunch of French Toast. Using Brioche bread. Turned out GOOD. Used a whole loaf so lots in freezer for another day. Any way. This day he was cooking chicken Milanesa - lots of it. 

He made the, for lack of a better word, marinade the day before. It is milk, lots of eggs, spices and I don't know what else. Soaks meat in it overnight. 

Getting ready to cook. Goes through a lot of Italian bread crumbs. 

All the meat is breaded, waiting to be cooked. There was another whole pan of it to do. 

Serious job, cooking all of that. He lines the stove top with foil to make clean up easier. 

One batch done. Had another pan full. I package it for the freezer. So we have lots of meals and sandwiches ready when we want them. 

While he was doing that I started to fool around with Easter pillow covers. Just in thinking mode here. I had a lot of pink, yellow and turquoise checked material I thought I'd use up. Found the images on line and printed them on PhotoFabric - a paper backed fabric - I had found a lot of it in one of my sewing drawers so am using it up. After printing the paper backing comes off and you have a piece of fabric with the designs on it. Years and years ago I made a bedspread for the RV using this method. I used photos from all the trips we'd taken. Lot of work, but turned out good. Then I can use fabric glue or fuzing to stick it to the fabric, then I quilt or applique it. 

Found some pictures of the bedspread -find of blurry and faded now but can get an idea of it. 

I happened to look out the back door - was actually checking on how the back yard looked - we have an inspection coming up this week - when I saw this in the wetlands. Probably a 15th birthday girl.

Photographer and whole family out there with her. I had to zoom way in so picture is a little blurry. Dress was beautiful. 

Nice saddle - the horse kept bumping her hat.  

From one oh my to another OH MY. That is me about 30 years ago with my son's BIG snake. It had a home/condo/cage in my backyard. 

Found out today that we have another great grandson. That makes 11 greats, 6 grands from our 5 sons. 

We had a home health care visit last week. Part of the yearly wellness thing for Medicare. We each get a 50 dollar gift card for CVS so "come on out."  And this morning we went out for breakfast then dropped off a big car load of full bags and boxes for Goodwill. Trying to get rid of some stuff so our kids won't hate us too much when we're gone. Figured that at 88 and 86 it was time to start thinking about things like that. 

Rain first time in over 200 days. And more eye problems.

214 days without rain. And then the BIG storm kind of fizzled out, at least where we live. This was earlier in the day our first drops. Patio.

The street out front. 

Of course yesterday was Bill's post op appointment on the other side of town. According to the weather reports the rain was supposed to be bad just about the time of his appointment. So I reserved an Uber. Turns out that was a good choice, but not because of the weather. Our ride there was a hybrid Ford F 150. Boy the pickups now sure aren't my Dad's pickup. Very nice ride. Going home we got a Tesla. And for both rides it WASN'T raining!!! We did get more heavy rain in the evening and most of the night. And today winds. I hope the ground didn't get wet enough that the winds can blow down that big dead pine tree. 

My three Saint Patrick's Day throw pillow covers are done now. Next ones will be for Easter. Looking for ideas.

No blog would be complete without a picture of the Sphere. 

Have not been walking - too cold and windy. 

So about Bill's eye...The doctor came into the room and stopped...he pulled up a chair and sat down. He turned around and looked at me and asked, " Has the eyelid been further up than it is now?"  Ummm...."Well for a few days it seemed to be." He looked back at Bill. Asked him how he could see. Bill told him he could still see his eyelashes. More contemplating. Then doctor asks, Can you wait here for a while, or go home and come back about 5 o'clock. No we can't come back, but we can wait after all it is his sight. Doctor says, Okay, I want to go back in and add a couple more sutures. WHAT?!?!  He was not happy with the lid still drooping. He said I'll just open the incision and add a couple of sutures. You have to sign a consent form. The nurse will get that. Bill and I look at each other. He asks will you put me out. "Oh no," says doctor. I'll just give you a shot to numb eyelid. Bill opens his mouth to say no...We all look at him and he says okay. So doctor leaves, nurse comes in with consent form. Doctor comes back in with syringe full of numer. As soon as Bill signs the doctor reclines the chair and says this might hurt and bang, shot is in. Caught Bill by surprise. About five minutes later the nurse comes back in and tells me she will take me to waiting room and they take him to another room. In less than five minutes they come get me and Bill is in the hallway. All over. WOW impressed. So today his whole eye area is swollen again and it hurts somewhat and we are back to cold packs and antibiotic gel. Sure hope it works this time.  Doctor's office was absolutely great. Talk about service. It took longer to get the Uber ride than the time spent with the doctor. So that is that story. 

Did I ever tell the story of why he is almost blind in the other eye. About four years ago he started having problems with his left eye. It was about a year after his cataract surgery. So he went back to that doctor who told him he was experiencing the beginning of macular degeneration. So he referred him to at retina doctor. We got to the doctor's office for his appointment at 10:45. The waiting room was full (this was around covid time) Also the office was freezing. Even I was cold. We waited and waited and waited. Finally his name was called about 3:30. The retina doctors have a routine. First you see a nurse for all kinds of eye tests, then you get pictures taken then you go to another waiting room. Which was standing room only. Every one was very abrupt and unfriendly. Finally at 5:30 -YES 5:30 IN THE AFTERNOON he was called in to see the doctor. She was a witch, very unfriendly boarding on nasty. Then she told him he needed a shot in  the eye. We had no idea that was coming. He questioned her. She left the room. Finally she came back in and asked you want it or not. He agreed to it. So she jabbed him in eye. Told him he'd have to have shots every four weeks rest of his life.  No information on how to care for eye etc. By then not only were we freezing we were starving. Mentioned that to nurse her reply was, "Well you should have worn a jacket and brought some snacks." WHAT!!! He refused to make another appointment. We got out of there just after 6 o'clock. I didn't blame him. So that is why his eye left eye is no good. It was the most horrible experience we've ever had with a doctor's office. He only has peripheral vision in it. If we had gone to a different doctor he might still have eyesight in that eye. It was a bad decision for him. If we'd gone to another doctor's office things might be different now. 

NASCAR is back. My favorite driver still has a POS car. He should just retire and enjoy life. 

Things are moving on.

This was a week or so ago, before the eyelid surgery. He could see good enough to cook. Love the apple fritters. He bought himself an apron to keep from getting grease on his shirts. 

Showing off. 

When he makes them he makes a whole bunch. So we have lots in the freezer. 

Our son came over the other and and we got talking about IA - he was showing me how to use Chapgpt to get pictures. I told it to make me a picture of Monument Valley at sunrise. This is what I got. WOW! I can see myself playing around with it a lot in the future.   

He had his eyelid surgery on Wednesday, it went well. Still pretty swollen and the surrounding area somewhat black. Each day it gets somewhat better. He is still putting cold packs on it during the day. (We have a home wellness visit on Saturday, (hope he eye looks better then or they might wonder about elder abuse.) His post-op is on Thursday, the only day in 218 days that we will have rain. So guess will use Uber again. 

Still working on Saint Patrick's Day throw pillow covers. Finally using up some fabric. This one is the last one, not sure how it will turn out yet. 

The two that are done. 

Sewing, working on diamond art and walking keeping me busy. The weather has been warmer than usual but with some very windy days. But still nice to walk out there. Looks like they are reinforcing the banks of the river. They've shut off the water flow from the bridge to this part. 

Still water on other side of bridge. Hiding in the weeds. 

See the brown bridge. There are gates under it to cut down or shut off the water flow. Strange to see all the rocks on the bottom without the water. 

One of the smaller paths we walk. 

Just interesting. Hard to believe this area was once under water.

Just another picture of Sphere.

Another day of walking. We are not walking as often as we used to. Seems one of us is always going to a doctor. But the weather is perfect now. Guess they all like each other, the rock is big. 

We were watching him for awhile, he had his head down and was flying across the water. Then would dive down and come up with something to eat. 

Why do people do this. Written on the railing on the bridge. 

Just like the looks of this. Everything is brown or golden this time of year. Soon it will be turning green.

So things are going pretty good here.