I'm back in the saddle again

Well, not really. But I am today feeling much more like the old me. It is a lovely day here, temp in the 60's this morning. I took Charlie for a walk, left her in the back yard, and walked some more to the local grocery store, and as a reward had a scoop of hokey pokey icecream. I have a few aches and pains, but my surgery went well and blessedly I don't have to go pee nearly as often. Let's see: I had laser surgery on my eye to close up a small retinal tear, then on my bladder to demolish a bladder stone (wonder how they did that ? I don't see any scars) so I guess next will be one or the other foot - maybe to wipe out a virulent foot fungus? Oh, well. Here is a family update: Charlie recently went to the vet for a sore on her nose - it seems to be clearing up, hooray. Emily has her first clarinet lesson at school today. She has lost/misplaced her uniform hat so we will probably need to buy another. Joseph has more homework by far than last year. Carrie is still not having to teach - classes start in March, but is very busy with research and with departmental matters. You have already heard enough about me. There are lots of peppers on our raised-bed pepper plants. We had some burly guys come and take out all the junk vegetation (privet hedges, grass, miscellaneous green things) so right now, today, our flower/plant beds look swell - I will really try to keep up with removing unwanted things from the beds from now on out. Rhubarb plants are very interesting - huge leaves, and you don't eat them, do you. Our strawberry plants have pretty much stopped making strawberries. Our tomato plants would, if we let them, take over the world, so it is snick, snick, snick to their unwanted branches. Marigolds have done well. Something is eating holes in the recently planted broccoli plants. Charlie is digging holes in the yard here and there. We will soon be putting down more bark in the beds. We are having pasta and homemade by Carrie tomato sauce and garlic bread tonight. Energy companies here are discouraging baths - one ad shows a bird on the edge of a plastic small pool, with the text "baths are for birds. Have a shower instead." Our nice big phillips lcd tv has been intermittently going blank though the sound remains on, so we have left it at a local repair shop for diagnosis and possible treatment. We had a sweet Valentines day, and hope you did, too. More later, hot potater.

When the examiner starts calling you "sir" you know

Welcome to my story page. Every year I have to take a driving test, with a driving instructor and an occupational therapist giving me their attention as I ferry them around in my car under varous conditions (country driving vs. city) for which I pay them a couple of hundred bucks. Well we started off on not so good a footing - after a short time I was asked to pull over and was told I needed to look in the rear view mirror more often, keep more to the center of the street or road and scan upcoming cross streets for possible intruders (well, something like that). I did those things better and did fine at speed (up to an exciting 60 miles an hour, or 100 kilometers per hour), then I was so happy that the test was almost over that I forgot some of the things I was supposed to do (like signal a left turn when going through a traffic circle and continuing on straight) and did not watch my speed so went a little fast in traffic and the instructor said something that included the term "sir" which I realized was a sign of displeasure. Sure enough my lack of defensive driver got commented on, but they are still letting me drive. Whew. I need to keep drivig to get Emily to and from her new school. Enough of that. Except as I watch other drivers I think they would get zapped more than me - as they cruise into the bicycle lane, fail to signal when they should, etc. Ah, well. For some reason I became rather brain dead, or developed writer's block, after our South Island trip, and life has not been a barrel of laughs - I had a bladder stone and could not get it taken out for no charge at the local hospital for at least six months, more or less, because they don't have enough docs and suites to meet the general populaces needs - so paid for having it done privately, in secret, far away from the prying eyes of the hospital. Apparently I did not recover consciousness in the recovery room, but in the post recovery room. And I was out from a cocktail of various drugs that worked quickly. I am much improved in the bladder department so I guess I will stop wearing diapers (just kidding). But enough about me. We are thrilled to think we will be seeing old friends during our upcoming April visit to the states. I will have more to say tomorrow. I want to post this before I erase it. Manford