Fall?

Despite the fact that today’s forecast high temperature is 106F, Elizabeth is ready for fall.  Actually I think we all are ready.  She has been busy getting the house to look like fall has arrived.  It does not technically get here until 5:05 AM on September 23.  Here is a little table in the breakfast area.

 

And the shelf between the two front rooms.  The statue with its back turned is Saint Francis.

 

And of course, no fall decoration is complete without candy corn.

Thank you Claudia

One thing I have always found fascinating is how people come in and out of our lives all the time.  They stay for varying lengths of time and have varying impact on our lives.  I guess typically for most people parents are part of our lives the longest and have the greatest impact on our lives but after them, those who are part of outlives the longest do not always have the greatest impact.  Since both my parents died over the past few years, that leaves only my older sister Sue who has been part of my live for my whole life so far.  Some people can be a part of part lives for only a brief period but have a major impact.  One of those people for me was Claudia.  Claudia was my infusion nurse for two years.  Every 4 weeks I would go to get my Remicade infusion.  I came to look forward to these as many times I was starting to feel the inflammation in my joints. Since Claudia did the infusion I guess I came to associate her with making me feel better.  While the infusion took hours to complete we did not spend that time together.  She would have paper work to do and I would read or watch a DVD or just nap.  But I did get to know some things about her.  For example, I know she is one of those people (nuts) who hit the stores at 3 AM on Black Friday.  Well yesterday was an infusion day and it was the last that my doctor will use that particular company.  Due to a number of reasons my doctor has decided to do the infusions in house.  For some reason, I had a different infusion nurse yesterday and back in July.  Elizabeth and I did stop to see Claudia when I went for my colonoscopy as they were both in the same building.  I did not realize the last time I saw her would be the last time I would see her.

Thank you Claudia for two years of your kindness and dedication.  I hope all the best for you where ever life takes you.  I hope my new infusion nurse is as compassionate and as professional as you were.



August 26

I know.  It has been over a month so it is about time I posted a blog update.  What have we been doing all this time?  First we have been dealing with hot and dry.  I know other parts of the country have bad weather but in southeast Texas it has been hot and dry.  In fact it has been so dry,  people are actually hoping we will get a tropical storm soon.  If you have ever lived through a hurricane or even tropical storm, you know they are not things you typically look forward to.  I do not know the “official” number but we must be over 2 FEET behind normal rain fall.  And it is more than an inconvenience.  The farmers and ranchers are really suffering.  Almost every city has started water rationing in some form.  As I have mentioned before the soil here is clay and when it dries out it actually contracts.  This movement can damage foundation and roads.  When I was riding last week end I noticed a lot more roads have big cracks in them than I remember.  The other day, Wednesday I think, it rained nearly two inches.  It was so nice.

The other weather issue is the heat.  Due to the rain, Wednesday’s high temperature was “only” 95 F.  That was the first day in August that the high temperature was not 100 F or more.  I do not know how many new record highs we have set this month.

Health wise things are wait and see.  I am still tapering down on my medicine.  It will be almost another month before we know if the colitis has gone back into remission.  We have been on this fight since April so it is getting old.

Other than that things are just moving along.