Redding, California

I've spent today with my sister-in-law, Barb, helping her prepare for colon surgery tomorrow.  The pre-op prep is rather arduous.  Barb is 79 years old and has a little problem with 'recent memory' loss.  Her surgery was originally scheduled for last week, but had to be cancelled because she had forgotten to do the day-before prep.  So, along comes nurse Mary-Pat!  I accompanied her and her husband,
Fred, to her family doctor last Friday.  Dr. Dillon asked that I spend today with Barb to make sure that the pre-op preparation is done properly.

I arrived here at 7:45 this morning, and have been badgering Barb ever since to make sure that all steps of the prep are carried out per the doctor's orders.  It's safe to say that I'm not very popular with Barb right now; she may even think I'm a sadist!!!  We have about 2 more hours of Barb drinking a nasty-tasting large volume of fluids; then, she can try to get some sleep before her early-morning wake up alarm.

Barb is the widow of my ex-husband's brother, who died many years ago at a very young age.  It was Barb and Fred who first introduced me to RV-ing.  They've been long-time RV-ers, beginning with a Eurovan, a Chalet, and now a Jayco Grayhawk.  Most of their RV-ing has been in the western states and Mexico; even though they aren't any longer taking long trips, they still head from Redding to the California coast several times a year, often to escape the heat of this area in the hot months, which can be from late March into November!  Thankfully, today was mild, the thermometer not even reaching 80F.  Yippee!

Just dug out this photo of Barb (right) with her best
friend, Ann, at a Halloween party we went to last
year. 

Great-grandson, Daniel, giving G.G.
(great grandma) a kiss this afternoon

Great Granddaughter, Dakota, 11 ½ months - absolutely
adorable and such a happy little girl.  Mom Kristi and
dad, Doug (my grand-nephew) are
expecting baby #3 in about 3 weeks.  It's another
girl; her name will be Shay.

And finally, I dug out this old photo of my daughter,
Kari and her first three kids with Mimi (that's me!).
The photo was taken about 20 years ago.  Quinn was
about 8, Addison 3 ½ and Holland about 11
months.  Quinn is close to 28, Addison almost 24, and
will be 22 in April.

Hello From Redding, California

Welcome to Redding, CA - a big little city
right off I-5 in Northern California

Redding City Hall

Need I apologize for not posting?  If so, here it is - I'm sorry I've kind of gotten myself wrapped up with family and friends and haven't been keeping up on writing / reading posts.  I hope all my readers are well and happy this summer of 2014.

A sunrise shot taken earlier this year by a 
Redding resident - notice the Spring green and 
flowers - it's golden brown now!

Because of recovery from my knew surgery - it's 3 months ago this week - and family commitments and fun, I've not been spending much time on my computer for any reason at all.  I'd given myself lots of recovery time, which, thank you Lord, I haven't needed.  After having done lots of total knees during my many years working in the operating room, I thought I knew all there was to know.  Not!!!  Yes, I knew about the surgical procedure, but really very little about the recovery.  So, when I met with the surgeon and physical therapists before surgery I took  their advice and didn't plan anything for this [about] six-month post op period.  Well, what I've found is that this total knee surgery has been a piece of cake!  I cannot believe how easy (and pain-free to boot) this experience has been.  

Currently I'm in Redding house-sitting for my sister-in-law, Barb, and her partner, who are out on their first RV trip in their new (to them) RV.  It's a Class C, but a few feet longer than their previous rig.  They went from here to Santa Cruz for over a week; now they're in the Monterey area.  They asked if I'd stay in the house, so I left my RV at my son's house and am living in their stix and stone house with Lacy, Eleanor and their kitty, Mr. Tibbs.  

Floribunda parked at Jeff's house in Cottonwood, CA (about
25 miles south of Redding)

I started walking for exercise about a month ago and have not had a twinge of discomfort.  Since I'm going to be here for at least a few more weeks, I joined the Shasta Family YMCA and have made it there almost every single day for walking on the treadmill, riding a bike,rowing a little and swimming in one of their two pools - one is indoors and is great for summer in this heat!  As I've often repeated, I'd had such a bad time with my bum knee I'd completely stopped exercising for most of the past three years; and, once I started again, I am just loving it.  Barb made sure I met some of her exercise buddies, so we have coffee almost everyday after getting our aerobic work done for the day.  It's been lots of fun to meet new and interesting people and to get back on the path of some kind of healthy shape at the same time.

Barb and Fred have a great Sony flat screen TV I thought I'd really love after not having watched TV for more than a few minutes since I retired and started traveling three years ago.  Well, I've surfed through channels at several different times of the day and have decided that reading, cooking, exercising - even doing chores in the house - are all more beneficial than spending time watching TV.  Maybe it's just me but it seems like there are hunions of channels with no more selection than I had when there were three - ABC, NBC and CBS!  The bottom line is I'm not going to bother getting my solar up and running in Floribunda - unless I come across several programs I just can't live without, and that doesn't seem likely.  I did watch some of the  'Futból' World Cup from Brazil; I have to say it's nice to see that the US is catching up with the most popular sport in the World.  When I lived in Antigua, Guatemala it was impressive to see literally hundreds of people crowding the streets and sidewalks outside the local Sports Bar to watch futból.  Only the fans right outside the door (lots of folks can't afford to go into the bar) could see any action, but the play-by-play news rallied through the crowd - and everybody was happy to be a part of the excitement.

As the heat and dry conditions continue in this part of the country, we are, of course, having a rash of forest fires.  In this area the Bully fire (in Igo-Ono) was ignited on July 11th by a marajuana grower who was driving a pickup truck load of supplies to his remote growing patch and started large grass fire.  At this time it's about 95% contained - having had tons of equipment and over 2200 firefighters working constantly for 12 days now.  My nephew and his family live in Igo, fortunately not too close to the fire area, but the smoke-laden skies, high winds and thunder and lightening strikes have certainly worried them.  It's bad enough when weather and natural disasters start forest fires; but, when it's human error / carelessness it's even worse.  Many of my blog-writing and reading friends are so concerned with the natural wonders of our homeland.  

Let's all be extra careful this year - and always!