September 26 Update

Yesterday when I first got up, I always wake up before Elizabeth; I had one last job to do related to our recent telecommunication change.  I had to connect a newly delivered router.  This allowed us to cut the cable and use our computer and printer wirelessly.  It was fairly straight forward but there seems to be one problem.  If the printer is idle for too long the network does not recognize it.  I try to print something and I get a communication error.  However if I power up the printer first it seems t work fine.

Saturday is normally our work around the house day.  However this Saturday we did not have a lot of work to do.  I took Candi to the groomer and then came home and had breakfast.  After that I had some errands to run.  This included stops to look at birthday gifts for Elizabeth.  Her birthday is mid October.  When I got home I got Elizabeth and we ran a couple of additional errands.  Then it was home for lunch.  The afternoon was relaxed with both of us talking naps.  Around 4 we started to get ready for church.  For the last few weeks we have been going to 5 PM Mass on Saturday and it has worked well for us. We leave a bit early so we can stop at the old house and collect the mail.  After Mass we stopped at the grocery store which is located near the church.  Then it was home for supper.  Supper on Saturdays are generally less formal than week days.  Usually leftovers or something light and easy.  For example this week I had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a bowl of butternut squash soup.  While easy it was still delicious.  Since they are informal we actually eat while watching television.  We have a number of things we have recorded and would like to watch.

It was dark by the time we finished so there was no walk for Candi.  After supper we finished watching television and called it a day.  Not a very productive day but we all need some down time especially after the week we both had.

Sept 24 Update

I know it has been a while since I updated but this blog has been a low priority. My past week was dominated by two issues. One the same as last week the other new.


The repeat was health or more correctly pain. The steroids worked at first. The pain went away. However, it was a 6 day taper. The first day I took 24 milligrams the next 20 milligrams then 16 and so on until they were gone. Once they were gone the pain came back. Not as bad as before but this it was there. Since I knew Friday (today) was Remicade day I just stuck it out. The pain was inconsistent. One day my wrist would be so sore I could hardly drive. The next the wrist would be fine but my shoulder and neck would hurt. Today before my infusion I felt fine with no real pain at all. Elizabeth has been real strict on the diet and that may be at least part of it.
The other issue is really a good thing. We think we finally have a buyer for our house. YEAH! As Elizabeth posted on her blog it is not our perfect buyer. In fact when we started it was not even on the radar screen. But we are trusting it will work out as it should. We may even come to realize this is better than we originally had thought. We have settled on the price and most of the details. The only thing left is to complete the inspection. There are several “big ticket” items that could pop up. These include foundation, air conditioning and roof. We had the foundation repaired several years ago, the AC was replaced 4 years ago and the roof has been through several tropical storms and hurricanes including Rita and Ike and never showed a drop of leakage. So we are confident the only things the inspector may find are small. Right now we are scheduled to close on Oct 8.

Other than those, life has been pretty routine. I was not able to ride my bike last week end or this one due to inflammation. We are still getting to “know” our new television shows that just started to premiere. Well it is nearly supper time.

By the way there are a couple of other new posts below.

Yummy dog

I know in some cultures dog is considered a delicacy.  Here dogs are more often thought of as members of the family.  But like they say don't knock it until you have tried it.  Today while she was out with a friend running, Elizabeth bought me this treat.  I must say I really like the taste of dog!

Grocery Shopping with Elizabeth

Today I happen to have my camera while at the grocery store. Here are some pictures. First Elizabeth in the produce section.

Here is the Scoops aisle.  They use to put the Scoops on the top self which meant the 5 foot Elizabeth had to climb to reach them.  After the Scoop delivery guy saw that he moved them to a lower shelf.  Elizabeth LOVES scoops

Here is the book and magazine section.  A bookworm like Elizabeth can never stop in this store without a pass through here.

And finally the meat department.  This was taken early in the day just as they were stocking the display case.  Elizabeth has a couple of the meat cutters trained to cut her meat just right.

These are the places you are most likely to find Elizabeth.  On occasion she may venture into other sections but only if there is a specific reason.   I hope you enjoyed this little visit to Elizabeth's world.

Sept 17

So this week has been dominated by two issues, the phone, Internet and television provider and health. I will start with the electronic stuff. As I posted before it all started when AT&T and the Hallmark Channel could not come to an agreement on how much AT&T should pay to carry the channels. I think they both carry blame but that is not what this post is about. It is about the impact on us. We decided to switch our television provider to Comcast. For our home phone and Internet we were going to stay with AT&T. Elizabeth worked hard and spent hours on the phone to coordinate having both service guys at the house last Friday and having the services turned on and off so we had a minimum disruption. I should explain since we were going from AT&Ts UVerse service to standard phone and DSL service they had to close one account and open another. In fact we were even going to have to change phone numbers. At about 4 on Thursday afternoon AT&T called to say there were problem with the wires in our area and we would be without Internet or phone service until at least the next Monday. We were not willing to accept that so decide to just keep things as they were for that week end and reassess early the following week. We called and were told the disconnect and service call were cancelled. On Monday Elizabeth woke from her nap to find a guy in our back yard. Then the phone went dead. Needless to say she was scared. After seeing the AT&T truck in front of the house she realized what was happening. He was there to connect our DSL service. Also now we were told all he did was run the service to the outside of the house. Anything required inside would require another visit and a fee. When Elizabeth talked to AT&T she was specifically told, when the service tech leaves you will have Internet service and there is no charge. So she called AT&T and after the normal minimum wait of 20 minutes she got to talk to some one and the phone went dead. She called back on her cell phone and was told that the phone number we had was now disconnected. After a quick call to Comcast we found we could switch everything to them, they could have an installer at the house the next day and it was cheaper. Granted we had the hassle of having to change our phone number and email address but we had to change the number anyways and to us that is a small price to pay to be away from AT&T. Now I know Comcast has its problem and I actually preferred the feature UVerse offered over those from Comcast but none of that is worth putting up with their unbelievably poor service. And this was not the first time we have had service problems. We use to have AT&T cell phone but again their poor service drove us to another provider. As of right now we have all three services you up and running. The only thing we lack is a router so we can use our computer wirelessly. But that has been ordered (free except for a small shipping fee) and should be here next week. Most of the updates with bank, credit card etc are done. Also we were able to find a back door connection to our old SBC email and forward important emails to our new id. It has been a busy week.

On the health front it was a long week. As I mentioned in a previous post my joints were starting to hurt. The strange thing about my condition is those can and do change. One night my ankles hurt so much it was hard to walk. I had trouble getting to sleep. However when I woke the next morning, my ankles were fine but now my wrists hurt. Except the wrist seemed to hurt more than the ankles did. This went on until Thursday. Again it was my wrists and they hurt so much I could not use my left hand to pick up anything heavy like a glass of milk. The Tylenol I took no longer controlled the pain. So we called the Rheumatologist and she prescribed some medicine. I was going to wait until after work to go get it but the power went out in the office so I packed up my computer and came home in mid afternoon. Off we went to the pharmacy. Elizabeth also bought two wrist supports she saw were recommended by the American Arthritis Foundation. Between the wrist supports and the medicine is was like a miracle. Today the pain is almost all gone. The problem is the medicine also causes bone thinning so I cannot take it too much. This is the third or fourth cycle where the Remicade failed near the end. I have an appointment with my doctor in a couple of weeks and we are going to discuss what alternatives are available. I also have an infusion next Friday so I will be able to discuss with my infusion nurse. That is all she does so she really studies it and is a very valuable source of information.

So this will be a quiet week end. Since bike riding puts a lot of stress on the wrists, that is out for this week end and maybe even next. Elizabeth has redoubled her effort to take any inflammation causing food out of my diet. Right now she is napping and I am on my way there too.

I hope who read this have a wonderful week end.

Sept 15 Update

Just a quick post to say I am still here. We have continued to have problems with AT&T. The bottom line is we were without Internet connection for a couple of days. We were without a home phone too. Elizabeth has worked very hard to correct and we think it is all resolved. Right now it is nearly supper time. After supper we plan to our normal Wednesday night routine church and take Candi for a walk.

Sept 13

Right now it is a few minutes after 5. It is a normal Monday morning and I will be getting ready for work soon. This is certainly different than the situation was two years ago. Two years ago we were waking up in a hotel on the west side of Houston. Well we were not exactly waking since we never really got any sleep. It was two years ago that hurricane Ike roared through southeast Texas. You can get more details from my posts for Sept 2008.

September 12, 2010 was a very good day. After doing some computer work and eating a snack I went for a bike ride. Typically I ride about 2 hours. Yesterday it was a bit longer since I took a long cut. Long cuts are those new routes we try thinking they will be a short cut but it does not work out. Anyways after I got home I showered and had breakfast. After breakfast we were going to take Candi to the park but it was already too hot and humid so we decided to not go. We did have a few errands to run but mostly it was a rest and relax day at home. We both took naps in the afternoon. I had some computer work to do as did Elizabeth. This work included cleaning up this blog. I deleted some old comments that did not get deleted when I removed the post. Elizabeth was watching me and did not realize these were old outdated comments. She thought she would update her blog also thus the lost comments. We also had a couple of episodes of a show titled The Glades to watch. We only recently discovered this show. I am not sure how Elizabeth discovered it. Someone may have recommended it to her. In any event we have watched some episodes and really like it. That is probably the death sentence for the show. Usually when we find a show we really like, it gets removed. In any event we will enjoy while we can. For supper I had a bar b qued chicken sandwich and French fries. It was very good. Just before sunset it had cooled enough for us to take Candi for her walk.

The only negative for the day was I was not feeling very good. I ache in several spots including my shoulder and wrist. I am not sure if it from all the yard work I did on Friday or it is my condition flaring up. I hope it is not a flare up as I am still two weeks from my next infusion. It will be a very long two weeks if that is the case. I took a couple of Tylenol and went to bed early. Today I feel better but still a little sore.

Sept 11

WOW! I had 5 comments! I do not think I ever got 5 comments before. Thank you all.

Today was a work around the house day. I got up early and did some computer work and had my coffee. Weekends I indulge in decaf coffee. After that I had my morning snack. I had some chocolate milk, a banana and breakfast cake. Then I was off for a ride. Since I had lots to do I cut it a bit short and was home by 8:30. Since I was going to work and get all sweaty I did not shower after my ride. I am sure the people I interacted with loved that. I took Candi to the groomer and on the way home stopped to get the car fixed. I walked to the house Elizabeth is watching and took his truck to get home. This actually served two purposed as the owner asked us to start and drive his truck each weekend. When I got home we ate breakfast. I had a bagel with PB & J.

Then it was time to get to work. Elizabeth had some flower she wanted planted in front of the house. Once those were in the ground I edged and then mowed the lawn. Today’s high temperature was in the upper 90’s by the way. So it is definitely not fall here even if the candy corns are out. After that I showered and got some clean clothes on and we had lunch. I had a steak and baked potato. YUM it was wonderful. Saturday is typically the only day of the week I eat beef. After lunch the car was done and Candi was ready. The car repair was no cost. The tire repair was under warrantee and after checking more closely they did not need to install the shim to get the alignment correct.

I got home around 2:30 and all of us rested. Right now it is nearly four and I need to get Elizabeth up so we can get ready for church tonight. They are going to have a guest singer who will perform for about 15 minutes before the actual service starts.

First Sign of Fall

Today while we were running errands one of our stops was at Wal Green’s . There Elizabeth got some candy corns. To her these are the first sign of fall. I guess it did not matter that today’s high temperature was in the 90’s. With candy corn in the candy jar, it is fall to Elizabeth. She asked me what the first sign of fall was to me. After some thought I realized I really do not think of fall since I live in Texas. Since I grew up in upstate New York, for me fall includes weather getting cooler, leaves changing color, apple cider fresh from the orchard and huge flocks of geese flying overhead. In fact in the south we really do not have the four season that people experience up north. Here we have two seasons, pleasant and unpleasant. The unpleasant one runs from mid May to about now. The days are typically so hot and humid you do all you can to minimize time spent outside. The rest of the year is actually quite nice. On rare occasion it will actually get cold, one year we actually woke to a white Christmas. The snow was gone soon after the sun rose but it was nice. In fact you get into a different mind set. A year and a half ago my Dad died at the end of Jan. I returned to upstate New York for the ceremony. I kept going out of the house without getting my coat and gloves and hat. Down here even in the middle of “winter” I rarely wear them. So for me autumn is about the things I mentioned above. I guess the sure sign of fall down here is seeing Christmas decorations already being sold in the stores.

What is your first sign of fall

Sept 9

Today was to be a busy day. Since it was suppose to start around 7:30 I did not ride my bike. First I was going to take Candi to the groomer. It would actually serve two purposes. First she needed a good bath and to get her fur trimmed. Second she would be out of the house for the rest of the work to be done. Our TV provider is AT&T UVerse. We like the service but they recently stopped carrying the Hallmark Channel. Since this is one of our favorite channels and with the new season set to start we did not want to be without. So Elizabeth had scheduled then to come and disconnect our UVerse and switch us the DSL. We were also to have Comcast connect our television to cable. We have had Comcast before. While I was not excited about having to go back to their service, I was looking forward to getting both the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel. With AT&T we did not get the movie channel. Well last night after normal business hours we got a voice message saying they could not connect the DSL until Monday at the earliest. It was not clear if the service guy would still come to the house or not.

This morning at the appointed time I got up and took Candi. As we pulled up in front of the groomer, the lights were off and the “Closed” sign was in the window. So back home we went. You have to understand, Candi HATES to ride in the car. Taking her anywhere is a real chore. And to do it fro no reason is all the worse. When I got back home Elizabeth was on the phone with AT&T. It seems there is now a problem with the main lines in our area. So no service guy was coming and we faced to prospect of being without a phone or television all week end. While AT&T and UVerse are the same company they apparently do not talk to each other. So basically we put a halt to everything. We will check on Monday and if the main line is fixed we will try again next Friday. While this is frustrating, it really is not surprising from AT&T. We have never had good service from them.

I should also mention that last night we were out and I noticed the left front tire was very soft. We came right home and I pumped it up. I mean I really pumped it up using my hand driven bike pump. Today it was down a bit so we must have a slow leak. I will take it to the tire store tomorrow.


After we got the TV, phone situation on hold, it ended up being a good day. We ran a few errands and did a little work around the house. Tonight after a supper of green salad with chicken I will go to my meeting.

Sept 6

It has been an up and down week end. It has had high points and low points. It actually started on a low. Friday would have been my Mom’s 80th birthday. She was looking forward to a big celebration. But she did not make it. After a rainy start which kept me from riding my bike, Friday was a day to run errands. After a sad start the day got better but not great. Our television provider is AT&T UVerse. While I really like the features they no longer carry the Hallmark Channel. That is one of our favorite channels. We decided to switch to Comcast cable. We have had Comcast before and I know they have about the worst customer service in the world but they do carry the most of the channel we like to watch. I sure wish we could just select they channels we wanted.

Saturday was our work around the house day. First I got to go for a bike ride. For me it was mow the lawn day. I still have not mastered this yard yet. We have several trees in the front yard that have to be worked around. The back yard is simple. However this time I found a couple of ant mounds that needed attention. These are fire ants and there is a reason they are called fire ants. They are tiny ants but their bite can be painful. Late Saturday afternoon we went to Mass. We are still trying to find the right service for us. After supper we watched a movie we had rented, Julie and Julia. It was good but we did have a small problem. When it started the movie was in black and white. After some investigation I discovered the DVD player was not connected to the TV correctly. I guess this was the first we had used it since we had moved.

Sunday was a great day. A cold front came through the area. Cold front may be technically correct but it really was not cold. It just was not so hot and less humid. I got up early and went for a ride. At one point while riding a truck pulled out in front of me. It was spraying the area for mosquitoes. There is nothing like the smell of pesticide in the morning. Luckily the wind was from a favorable direction.

In any event, later we took Candi to the park and let her run and chase the birds. She really loved it. Then we sat in the pavilion and had something to eat and drink. Candi would not eat as she was far too busy.

After a while we came home and had lunch. The afternoon was a relaxed one. After supper we watched another movie we had rented, Young Victoria. It was good but we made the mistake of starting it while the dishwasher was running. It made it a bit hard to hear and which the English accent a bit harder to understand.

So all in all a good weekend even it if did have some low points.