Bye, bye June!

And, guess what I discovered upon coming downstairs this morning...a picture is worth a thousand words! We had a leaky water heater...which sits on carpet that is in the closet under the stairs...that is in the living room. Old towels came out to sop up the water and the phone calls started! We had to have the utilities board come out to shut off the water (no shut off valve on the water heater itself...and the place next to the house, we can shut off the water is no longer accessible). Then to find a plumber...left a message with the one we used last...when I didn't hear back from him, called again and the recording had changed and they were off till July 5th. The next one I tried said that they could be there in a couple of hours...so...by the time they got there no more water in the tank to leak...most of the water on the carpet had been sopped up. It didn't take him long to fix the leak...AND to add a shut-off valve on the water heater. As much as this wasn't a wanted interruption in our lives, I am just thankful that it didn't happen while we were away at NIH. And, at least it was just a valve leaking and we didn't have to get a new water heater.

I had had plans to go to lunch with a friend...but ended up changing those plans and she came to the house and had lunch and waited for the plumber with me. Misery loves company!!!!!!!!!! We had a nice visit and the plumber came while she was here. But, it is funny trying to fix lunch without water...had to make two trips to Nathan's to borrow their water...one time to fill the tea kettle and one time to wash a tomato!

Woody got up early, went to work, worked, walked at lunch, worked some more, and came home to rest and relax in a house that once again has running water AND hot water if needed. I forgot to mention yesterday that Woody did ask Dr. Holt about the pain he was having in the surgical site on his left scapular area...as to whether he should be having it or not...when it might subside, etc. She said that it wouldn't be unusual at all for pain to last for another month...considering the size of the incision, that muscle had been cut into, etc. She did tell him that it would be ok to start doing some of the exercises that he was doing to increase motion in his upper arm. The surgeon at NIH had told Woody not to exercise his arm to the side for four weeks, but Dr. Holt said that the incision had healed up nicely and it would be ok to resume those exercises.

No word from NIH. I got to thinking that perhaps they will be having their Monday (the 5th) meeting on Friday (2nd) since Monday is a holiday. They met on the Friday before Memorial Day rather than that Monday...so maybe (?) we'll hear something Friday. But...I'm not going to hold my breath!

Our weather is still quite warm...but it seems a little less humid...at least the heat and humidity don't seem to hit you so hard in the face when you open the door to go outside. There was a breeze blowing this afternoon...and in the shade of a tree it actually felt rather pleasant.

And...I finish the blog tonight wondering what July will have in store for us!

Foggy Morn!

But...look what rose up out of the fog over the Duck River and then landed so nicely so I could take its picture...a Great Blue Heron! We were heading Vanderbilt way by 6am. We got there in plenty of time...so we used the valet parking where we would end up after Dr. Holt's appointment. Woody had x-rays taken of his upper left arm and also of it bent at the elbow. Then he saw a resident and a medical student and finally Dr. Holt came in. She is very pleased that everything is the way it should be...no signs of more melanoma in the bone and the plate is securely in place. She has released him from needing to come back at six-month intervals. So at the moment he is pretty much Vanderbilt free...well, sort of...at least no appointments on the books. After seeing Dr. Holt, we walked back through the hospital and down the looooooooong hall...over to Dr. Sosman's clinic area. We made arrangements yesterday to pick up a prescription renewal from him. The research nurse brought it out and talked to us for a few minutes. She commented that Woody looked good...just think...he has had two surgeries since he was last at Vanderbilt.

We were back home by a little before noon. Woody came in, ate a bite of lunch, and headed off to work. He worked several hours and then came home to have supper and to rest and relax. He said that he really didn't start hurting till he was heading home. He thought that was because he hadn't moved around much once he got to work.

Still no word from NIH...but, as Woody told the doctor today...perhaps that is because they don't want to give us the false hope like they gave us the last time...when they told us early that the cells were growing and then they stopped growing.

Last one in the pool is a...

...toad!!!!!!!!! Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther, and Elijah had a fun water day in their backyard. They found this toad last night in their garage and had kept him a cage and wanted to let him out to play in their pool. Kathy told them that he could get in after they were through swimming in the pool! So here is the last of their water play day! They did have fun. I took lots of pictures and then went home and took a nap...too much pool for me...I guess!

Woody got up early, went to work, worked, didn't walk at lunch, worked some more, and then came home to rest and relax. He is still having pain. We DIDN'T hear from NIH again today. I will be emailing the doctor in a couple of days, as it will then be three weeks since the surgery. I went to the grocery store today...really had an enjoyable time as I ran into lots of friends...it took me almost an hour to get out of the produce department! I came home and put groceries away and then went next door for their "pool party." Woody came home from work while I was over there. He took the fresh corn I had bought outside and shucked it. He has been doing crossword puzzles and watching the news.

I hear thunder in the distance at the moment. We will be getting up early and heading to Vanderbilt in the morning. Woody has a follow-up appointment with Dr. Holt. She is the doctor who removed the melanoma tumor from his upper left arm bone back in January of 2009. He goes back to see her every six months. So we will be going back to familiar territory tomorrow.

Sunny Sunday

Woody got up this morning and decided to take advantage of the "coolest" part of the day and took a short walk...around our block. We both went to Sunday School. Woody taught his class. Shortly after we got home, I decided to walk around our garden and managed to see this cabbage butterfly on our white butterfly bush...the first time that I have managed to catch a butterfly enjoying the butterfly bushes. After I took a few pictures, I went in to make our lunch...one of our favorite pasta sauces...marinara sauce...it calls for basil...I have some that we dried from our fresh, but sort of wanted fresh since we have an abundance in our backyard at the moment...but was too lazy to go out to get some and then remembered that I had frozen some fresh to see how it would work...it worked great...and saved me or Woody some steps! I cleaned up the kitchen and by that time I was ready for a nap! I did manage a short nap...guess we will call it a "power nap"...at first I didn't think that it was long enough...but after I finally woke up I did feel refreshed. Woody has taken it easy this afternoon. He has had some pain.

I hope that we hear from NIH tomorrow. (Almost afraid to say it...last time I said that I thought that they would call, they didn't!).

Showers in Midst of Sunshine

All of a sudden this afternoon I heard something clicking at the windows and even though it was bright and sunny...it was raining...and it rained fairly hard for quite a while considering there was so much sunshine all around. I am sure that there was a rainbow some where. I looked...but with all our trees there is a very limited view. I walked out on the front porch shortly after the rain started...and wow...what humidity! It was so humid that it fogged up my camera lens.

Woody slept in a bit later than usual this morning since it was Saturday. He made his usual Saturday trip to the library. He also stopped at the fruit market and bought some tomatoes. I have continued working on the top that I'm making for myself. Not long after Woody got back from the library, Graham came over. Woody put in one of the DVDs that he had gotten at the library and it got both Graham's and my attention...Wizard of Oz...so we sat down and watched it. When it was almost over, Abigail, Elijah and Kathy joined us. After lunch Graham and Abigail came back over. They had gone home when we had our surprise rain shower.

Woody has taken it easy today. He has had some pain. He has kept occupied with crossword puzzles and DVD's. He wanted to watch the soccer game, but our TV didn't cooperate.

Turtle Art!

I was showing Graham some of the pictures that I took of his turtle, Paint, earlier this week. When I pulled this one up, I said that it looked like a painting on the top of the water...and then a real turtle below the water surface..."Turtle Art!"

Woody got up early, went to work, worked, walked at lunch (he said: "It were warm."), worked some more, then came home to rest and relax and begin his weekend. I asked how he would describe his pain tonight and he said: "under control." He has been working crossword puzzles and watching news on TV.

At the moment we have a thunderstorm rolling through. We had rain late this afternoon with only a few rumbles...this one seems a bit more intense. It has been another hot steamy day. I had an enjoyable lunch with friends and then came home to do some more sewing. I was going to go back to my sewing after I blogged...but will now wait for the thunderstorm to pass. I guess I'll go help Woody plug in a few words on his crossword puzzle instead.

Two weeks since surgery

Today marks two weeks since Woody's most recent surgery. I was hoping that I could come in and say that his pain is receding...and, perhaps it has...but he had a pretty rough time of it a couple of hours ago...but...he hadn't taken any pain medication since last night at 6pm...so definitely a lot longer between doses. He was hoping that the pain was getting better so he didn't take any pain medicine when he got home from work...but about an hour after he got home, he wished that he had taken it sooner. Woody got up early this morning, went to work, worked, too hot to walk at lunch, worked some more, and then came home to rest and relax.

It has been another hot day here in Middle TN. I made a salad for our supper and sewed some today...but once again...it just seemed too hot to do much of anything.

Tonight's blog pictures are courtesy of our daughter. Wade, Melany, Erin, and Alex went last week to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit at Cheekwood Museum and Botanical Gardens in Nashville. He is a glass blower extraordinaire! It takes teams to do the glass sculptures that he creates. His creations range from chandeliers inside to being parts of the gardens, ponds, etc. outside. This exhibit will be at Cheekwood until the end of October. Melany went back by herself yesterday and said that she sat by this pond and "chased" dragonflies. She managed to get a picture of a dragonfly perching on one of the Chihuly sculptures. Melany sent these pictures via email and I wasn't sure at first if these were real dragonflies or part of the sculpture...but when I increased the picture size enough I could see the hairs on them...a little too realistic for them to be made from glass!