Another year almost gone.

Well Christmas is over and I never did get the boxes of decorations out of the shed. Guess when I said every year "I just wish we'd be home for Christmas 'cause I want to put the the decorations up just one more time." I didn't really mean it. It just seemed like so much work.  

Looks like we will be getting out of here at the right time. Weather is finally going to turn cold. Nights will be below freezing. 

About a week ago I got Bill to take a walk with me in The Wetlands. We went up to the Nature Center and back. About one and a half miles. He did fine, no tiredness or fatigue. Fingers crossed the end of long covid is in sight. 

He is looking at all the white salt  coming up from the ground. 

Sunrise on Christmas Day. Sure was pretty and lasted for a long time. 

Our walking group hadn't walked for a week, until yesterday morning. And it was cold out.  Even I got cold. The heron who is usually sitting on a rock in the middle of the river was huddled back in the bushes where he was out of the old wind. 

Even a little snow on the mountains from some wet weather last week. 

It was a cold and dreary day but we did get in three miles again. Felt good to come  back inside. 

Bill has been keeping me busy setting up his phone and a new tablet. Putting new apps on them. No I don't know what I am talking about but seemed to have got most of it done. He can now ask both tablet and phone to find him news and music. (I hope)  Been having a terrible time getting one of his prescriptions filled. There is now a generic and no one stocks the brand name. I could have driven to Boulder City to get one months supply. - . Took me four hours on the phone and computer to finally find a pharmacy that took our insurance and that had at least 60 of the pills in stock and will deliver to house. (This with much help from our doctors office.) Then discovered sometime in the last 10 years we'd lost his prescription ID card. Took a while to straighten that out - great customer service from LAUSD benefit package. So hopefully today I get a confirmation  that the pills are being mailed to us.  Thirty pills less than usual and fifty dollars more than a full 90 day prescription. But we will take what we can get. (And another 45 minutes on line this morning  OOPS - they didn't have our complete address - needed to edit that. Hopefully every thing is okay, got email says they will be delivered tomorrow...) Every one I talked to was very nice and very helpful. From Doctor's office, to pharmacy and benefits package people. Thank goodness for that.

65 years old and still being used.

Been in kind of a melancholy mood the last few days. This highchair is 65 years old. My mom gave it to me and my first born, Dennis, his first Christmas. He was six months old. It was used by every one of my five baby boys. Some time after Gil grew out of it the white plastic tray disappeared. It has been used for many things, especially a step stool when painting, wallpapering or reaching up high. For years I could sit in it, no long fit any more. It has been recovered so many times I've lost count. Different colors to match kitchen decor or just because it needed it. The last time it was recovered was just after we moved here. Also use chrome paint on the metal parts.  Some how it just doesn't seem right it and I are still here when Dennis and John are already gone. But I will never give it away and will always keep it looking good. 

I continue walking with my friends, we are walking later in the morning now - kind of waiting until it warms up some. This day it was sunny enough for the turtles to be out on the big rock. 

Maintenance people have been cleaning a lot of the reeds out of the ponds. Didn't realise this one was so big. And it continues back behind the reeds. 

Up on the river the mallards are showing up. First only one pair, now there are about 10 pair.

Just some of them. 

I finished another Diamond Painting. It is really cute and colorful. It is still not flat, but will be fine when I frame it. Not a good picture, colors are more vibrant and lots of sparkle when in right light. This is the first of a set of six all colorful and with nice sayings. 

Slowly getting things together for our trip.  Bill is way ahead of me on getting things done.

Will it all fit???

Trying to learn all the do and don'ts for flying now. Last time either of us flew was over 20 years ago. 

Bill's "Real" ID Card came in the mail, so one thing I don't have to worry about now. Also have ordered Pesos, not a very good exchange rate any more. Also trying to get all our prescriptions filled. A couple have to be special ordered - this seems to be happening more often now that the old pharmacist is gone. And one of Bill's takes forever to get. (Took over four weeks last time.) He feels that his eye is getting better with the new injection. Hope so. He will have one more injection before we leave. 

Got our Covid shots the other day, no reaction for me, he felt sleepy for a day - then fine. I hope he is one of the 30 - 40% that has improvement from long covid. Not the 3 -8 % that get worse after the shot. Last night was the first time in months that when he went into the bedroom he was walking at a normal pace instead of dragging. And he had a busy day yesterday, even took a walk. So good to see that. 

Going to Mazatlan

A bit of fall color from The Wetlands. 

Baring any unforeseen circumstances we will be spending a month (31 days) in Mazatlan after all. Part of January and part of February. Booked the flight and the hotel room and a friend of a friend will drive us any where we need or want to go. OR if we can we might rent a car for a few days. I'd have to drive. But being as old as we are, might not find a rental place that will rent to us. 

Hotel is right on main road through town where there is all kinds of public transportation available. One block from beach, all kinds of restaurants within walking distance. 

One of the lobbies of the hotel. It is very small and pretty basic.And owned by a friend of ours. 

The room, has AC - not sure about heat! bed, table with two chairs. Window leads to balcony big enough to put chairs on. 

Small refrigerator. Bathroom with shower. 

TV and WiFi. A small kitchenette with two burner stove, sink and coffee pot. Some pots and pans and dishes and silverware. Pretty basic. We stayed here years ago when we got the Jeep painted for a little over a week. 

Should be interesting. Hope we remember to pack every thing we'll need. So used to having RV with every thing in it. 

Got our Covid shot yesterday. Bothering Bill some today, no reaction for me - so far. I've read that people with long covid who get the new shot about 30 -50% get rid of long covid. 4 - 10% get it worse and rest have no changes. Sure hope Bill is one of the 30 - 50 % or the middle group where nothing changes. 

Neither of us has been on a plane for over 22 years. Kind of apprehensive that I'll forget something or do something wrong. We have requested assistance because of Bill's seeing problems. It has been confirmed. Hopefully he will have his new "Real" ID Card before too long. He will get another shot in his eye a few days before we leave and next appointment will be after we get back. He thinks the news injection is working, as he can see a little better. Should have it by end of this week. Fingers crossed.

So that's our exciting news for today. 

The days keep moving along, my lists keep getting longer

The header looks just how it came out of the camera. The light was just perfect to take the picture.

We have had a couple of really cool nights and days lately. These temperatures actually showed higher than it really was. Saturday when we walked at ten o'clock it was still in the 40's with a really, really, cold wind. Even I got cold...The higher parts of town on the west side got below freezing. 

This morning at 7:30  

On some of the holidays the Wetlands do a special walking area. This is for Christmas. Not too much in way of decorations but a lot of cute signs with poems on them about the wildlife. 

Can kind of read it. 

You never know what you might find in The Wetlands. Probably is a dog toy that got left behind. Though dogs aren't supposed to be in this area. 

Looking north up the river. Never noticed the houses before. 

Just liked the look of the tree up against the very blue sky. 

Son sent the cleaning ladies again On Tuesday, he also took us to a great restaurant for breakfast. It is great but makes me feel kind of useless - weird. 

Didn't walk Monday, none of us felt like it. So have to walk twice as far Wednesday - NOT. We did walk  three miles, so I've got my 100 miles in. 

Look what we just got delivered. 

More news to come next time. 

Not much news yet...

Wrote this a couple of days ago and forgot to post it. We will walk again tomorrow so depending on how far we walk will be within a few miles of 100 mark. They added up quicker than I thought they would. We did walk on Saturday and I'm up to 98.5 miles. Today we would usually walk, but none of us feel like it. Quite cold out and we, Bill and I, have errands to do. 

There are mallards staying here now. Sure pretty colors. 

And he was around strutting his stuff. Don't see him all the time like we used to. Must have found a spot he likes better. 

No idea what he is but he/she usually has their wings spread out. Cooling down? Drying off? Showing off? No idea. 

More illegal fishermen in the river. And they were catching a fish every time they threw their lines into the water. Seemed to be throwing them back though. 

The art exhibit is still up and this is the third configuration of this particular piece. Reminds me of an octopus. ( The art exhibit was gone when we walked Saturday.)

Bill has been having a bunch of good days lately - fingers crossed - Keeping busy and getting in some short walks. Yesterday we went to the DMV to get his "Real" Identification Card, he had to give up his driver's license. He already had a "Real" driver's license so I was told he only had to turn it in and would get the ID card. Imagine our surprise when the clerk asked for his Passport...Luckily I had wondered about that so had it in my purse. Thank goodness. I guess it is because he was born in Argentina and they wanted proof he is a US citizen. But we'd already shown all that stuff when he got his driver's license. 

So far but only four days since last shot but no real difference in his sight out of that eye. Still hoping for the best. He gets his next shot on January the 10th. He can still read his Nook and look things up on the computer with the help of a magnifying glass. So we are thinking about getting out of the house sometime after his January shot. Before his February shot. Where should we go. 

Had to get gasoline in my car yesterday - While Bill was in the store giving the credit card info a maintenance guy came by and taped off the pump???  Luckily he was still there when Bill came out ready to pump the gas. Maintenance guy untaped pump and let us fill up. Gasoline here is still high $4.15 yesterday. In and out of the DMV in under an hour. Sure like their appointment system. 

My phone did an update the other day, what a mess to get things back the way I want them. It added a whole bunch of new apps - games and stuff I'd never use. Grrr. And I got a notice they improved the camera that told a bunch of stuff they "improved and added to it". Didn't understand most of it. So just ignoring it. Don't use the phone camera a lot anyway. 

Making lists for our trip. 

Well what can I say...

I continue with my walking. This morning got in three miles again. I am up to 94 miles since I joined the Wetlands Walkers. Only two walks away from 100 miles the next award point. 

One of our walks last week. A couple of guys fishing in the river. Big NO FISHING signs all over the place. Had their unleashed dog with them too. Second time we've seen guys fishing in this part of the river. 

And what's with this guy? He is half under the bridge. And sound asleep.

A little bit of fall colors, some yellows and a little orange that didn't really show up. Beautiful day though. 

Just liked the reflection of the bridge below the waterfall. 

Kind of looks like a light snowfall. But it is salt coming up out of the ground.

Had our first Uber experiences on Monday.  Bill's retina doctor appointment was at 2:15 way across town in Henderson. I've driven there before but...we are always in that facility for hours for his appointments. One time over 6 hours. So I didn't dare to drive because it gets dark here at 4:30. Just can't drive in the dark any more. I was nervous about using Uber as I wanted to make sure we got to appointment on time. So I order the ride about two hours before the time I wanted them to pick us up. Well then I wasn't sure I'd done it right so called our son to tell him what I did. He ended up getting us on Facetime and looking at my phone to try to figure out what I'd done. Interesting - never did facetime before. Any way conclusion was I should be okay, BUT, if I didn't hear from Uber about 15 minutes before I thought we should be picked up to call son and he would come get us. It all turned out fine, heard from Uber, he picked us up a little early and flew up the freeway to the office. We got there 30 minutes early - oh well. Better than late. And we got to see doctor quickly and were ready to leave at 4:00 - I could have driven ... So called Uber for ride home, picked us up in 5 minutes and we were home before 4:30. Very good experience.

Have had a couple of real pretty sunrises lately. A couple of different days. 

Change in weather too, yesterday it got up to 72 and today is supposed to be the same. Still cold in the morning though.

Back to doctor's appointment. Bill got the new injection, but the doctor is not too encouraging about it. Says Bill has a lot of scar tissue that the injection does not treat. His eyesight might or might not improve. Not what we wanted to hear. He also told Bill he is now considered legally blind. Not what we wanted to hear. Time to make some decisions. 

Went up to see the manager of where we live, manufactured home community, about the damage the flood did to under our home. Got a lot of well, umm, err...about what I expected. So now he has two visits from me and lots of documentation. He will forward to corporate...oh goody. 

And more time has gone by.

 Got some catching up to do I see. Been trying to keep busy with various things. Bill was working out in garage for a few days. He was building this. There is wood under the tiles. 

Finished product. The black bags have drones in them. He put them up there with just a thin piece of wood in front of them. A couple of times I heard something fall. It was one of the bigger bags. Not good to fall and hit the floor. So he built this to hold them up there. We had the tiles - bought them in Mazatlan years ago when he built the window boxes out front. 

Weather has been what I like lately. Very cool at night and in high 50's to 60's during the day. Also some clouds for pretty sunrises. Looking out over the Wetlands. 

Got out some Christmas decoration. The placemats I made are finally done and on table. Had the flowers and small Santas. 

The first time in 15 years these stained glass sun catchers have been out of the trunk where I keep my stained glass holiday sun catchers. Have a few more Christmas ones, but haven't decided where to put them yet. 

Have not yet gone out into the shed to get out the  BOXES of decorations we've drug to Indiana and then back to here. I kept saying "I just want to put all the decorations up one more time." Now that one more time is here ... If I go out there and get started I'm sure my enthusiasm will come back. Maybe.

The Jeep is back in it's parking place. Will start driving my car again. 

Drove it Friday when Bill went to a new eye doctor for a 2nd opinion. He pretty much said what the regular doctor has said. The new injection - Vabysmo might help him regain some of his sight. But no guarantee. If it does he might be able to go longer between shots, might! He also told Bill that he is now legally blind, could have gone all day and not said that. But he did tell us about maybe going to a "Low Vision" ophthalmologist That they might help with his ability to read and see computer better.  But to wait until shots don't work any more. Only one in town and I don't think they take insurance. We'll cross that bridge when we need to. Click here to see what they can do - including helping a person be able to drive again!!??  Tomorrow we go back to see his original doctor, hopefully for new injection. But we will have to take an Uber to go there as we will not be out before dark. I can't drive in the dark any more. So will be first time for Uber experience. Hope I don't screw it up.

Another Christmas decoration out. I made this about six years ago and it has just been sitting in a chest. That was when my embroidery machine was still working. All the white rectangles have embroidered figures in them. 

Just a close up of a few of them. Debating about getting the machine fixed, really do enjoy the embroidery feature. 

Didn't know where to put it so just hanging over the back of the loveseat. 

I also finished the last bead painting that came in a set. Another things I don't know what to do with. 

I hurried to finish it because I have a new set of six that I really like. Very colorful and look like they will be fun to do. They all have lots of flowers, birds and sayings on them.  It is a little wrinkled still from package. 

Been cooking a little. Made Shepard's pie and baked some bread and cookies. Feels good to have the oven on. Son sent two of his ladies over to clean the house, says they will be coming every other week now. Hey! I'm not that old. But it is nice.