Where did March go?

Time is flying by so fast, we cannot keep up. It has been 12 weeks since the knee replacement and, although it seems slow to me sometimes. overall we are doing pretty well. Today, we went to the Saytona Beach Flea market which is quite large, and I walked a lot of it, about 1-1/2 hours as well as later in Big lots, and harbor Freight and Alfies. We took a wheel chair in case I had to be rescued, but it was unneccessary. Overall the surgery is going well. I do my stretching and repetive exercises, and ride the stationary bike every day, sometimes twice. Some days it is hard to fit them in. I have not taken a pain pill for about 8 weeks, nor have I used crutches, cane or walker for about the same time. The knee swells up by the end of the day and is usually sore by bedtime. It sometimes aches during the night, but no pain pills. My sleeping has improved although I wake up 4-5 times each night. getting back to sleep is no problem. When I have been sitting for a while, it takes a little time to get moving, but it sure feels great to move around without crutches, and knowing that it wii continue to get better. We had a little bout with pneumonia which is pretty much over, and I can do things again. It really "winded" me and and greatly slowed down the walking part of my rehab. I did have to take a lung capacity test, which the young lady operator indicated that I did not seem to have any serious problems, but we will be informed officially on Thursday, when we see the Doctor. We talked to Heidi and Kat a while on Skype, and it nice to actually see them as well as to hear them. Anybody else wants to talk to us on Skype, let us know. Our weather has been beautiful, running in the low 80's, and mid 50's, with lots of sunshine and very little rain (although rain is needed) resulting in numerous forest fires all around us. Jerry and Shirley Burkley went home the 19th of March leaving us with Lester and Sue. We went to the putnam County Fair, which puts on a great Senior program with a free meal and numerous gifts from local grocery stores, etc. Thursday we went to the local electrical supplier picnic where they have a chicken dinner, their official annual meeting and then, about 105 give a way prizes, including 3 large screen tvs. They also give away one of their pick up trucks as a grand prize. Lester and Sue won this truck, which is a 2003 Chevy S-10, with 103,000 miles , but in excellent condition. Their winning number ticket was 5222 and our ticket number was 5224, so for a short while it was interesting. We have a number of excellent musicians, who play old time, bluegrass, etc and we have been invited to their homes for "jam" sessions, which combined with the Friday afternoon senior center is keeping us busy with music. At this time, we are not sure when we are headed North. It will probably be the first week of May. It will depend upon the weather in both locations, plus there are some projects we are hoping to gain some headway to make up for the lost time. We plan to go to Busch Gardens on Tuesday, The Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Casino, then to Seaworld on Wednesday. This will be a criket trip, because they are so big. While I have been writing this Laura has been talking to Heidi on Skype. I will try to keep up a little better. Regards to everyone.

Sent from my iPhone.
Sorry for any typos.

Where did February go?

Wow, where did February go. Right now it is gone, and the summary is: Really nice weather(finally) Mostly 70-80 degrees with lots of sun. We deserve it, as December was cold. Continued improvement with the knee. I wal all the time, except for the longer stretches such as flea markets. The knee is gettting stronger all the time. I have done my own PT and the knee is reasonably straight and flexible. It is still stiff, and we have to work the kinks out, but time and use will do that. It seems so strange to remember that I had to use crutches, etc for so long(from Dec 2008 through Feb 2010).

Last week, while exercise walking, we noticed that I was extremely short of breath after a very short time. A visit to the Dr, and a chest x-ray showed I had pneumonia. After 7 days of strong anti-biotics, use of a vaporizer, and more inactivity, things are better. I can breath much better, and can do limited work. We have another x-ray scheduled for this coming Friday, but I think we basically have this licked. So now I can resume the walking part of my therapy.

Within our group we had company from the North, so we have enjoyed some boat rides, with a lot of fairly large alligators being spotted. We went to Ormond beach to Alfies and to watch the shuttle go off. Unfortunately, we lost it in the clouds, but our visitors enjoyed it. Norma and Buford joined us there for this event.

I almost forgot, went to the 7th annual Palatka Bluegrass Festival and for the first time had decent weather. The motorhome had its first (and probably only) outing for a year. Gas is abundently available, all you want, no waiting in line, and is roughly averaging only $3.43/gal.

Monday is going to be our annual Florida garbage can turkey event for the local musicians, and soon we have to get to Seaworld and Busch Gardens. More later.