Jan & Feb

Covid Positive

Always to “home” for the holidays and this was no exception – well except for the not being able to socialize and party with friends and family; we happily settled to just party with family and it actually turned out to be pretty darn fun!  That is a positive for Covid.

Ty and I spent all the first 3 weeks of January seeing a couple friends – not many as everyone is still hunkered down; doctors/dentist/eye/dermatologist/ortho PLUS we also got on BCH list for the vaccine. So that was a positive for Covid.

Another positive for Covid is that I now really love how the “waiting room” process has evolved. No more showing up for appointments only to wait 20 minutes or more, filling out forms, and reading stale magazines. Now you arrive for your appointment, while still in car you call the receptionist who registers you in, fills out the forms for you and calls you when it is your turn to be seen which is usually no more than 10 minutes (unless of course your phone is on vibrate and you don’t feel it so you wait 45 minutes before making a call back to them only to discover that they have called 4 times and left voicemails each time wondering where I am). Then you go in and usually the doctor is waiting for you!

Snow View from hotel Koty Tessa Sing Ty any similarities Mother and Daughter

Lodging

We stayed with Amy until the beginning of January and really that was plenty of together time. Scotty and Amy have taken in Scotty’s niece for North Carolina, Dakota. A very lovely young 19-year-old woman who is going to nursing school online and working giving care to neighbor with Parkinson. She is a delight. However, that means that the household at any given time can have up to 5 hormonal teenagers. Let me tell you if you never have experienced 5 teenagers at one time, it can be a lot of noise, action, tears, shouting, dishes, food and high energy even during our sleeping hours.  We decided that getting a hotel room was in order. Found one in Westminster, but when we arrived it was pretty questionable. The aroma of marijuana (legal in Colorado) was so strong that we did not have to light our own joint to feel the effects. We decided this was not for us. Finally landed on Home2 by Hilton in Longmont. Place is in a nice location, is only 2 years old and best of all only $52 a day! Covid price. So we stayed here until end of February.

Pain Reliever

Surgeries

Ty had carpel tunnel surgery and what a difference that has made for him. No more tingling fingers and he was able to ditch the brace he had to wear at night. Simple surgery and simple recovery.

I had surgery on my right hip labrum. It was repaired in 2018, but it failed so this time they just removed it. What a relief I have from hip pain. Recovery is long as I spent 3 weeks with no weight bearing so I hobbled to the bathroom on crutches then either back to bed or the couch where I could be in the prone position. 21 days in the hotel room, only time to escape was to see PT and occasionally over to Amy’s, rest of the time I laid around watching “Love It or List It” and “Chopped”. I did get back into some beading, made a few earrings and bracelets, goodness knows what I will do with them as on the road I don’t wear jewelry. Also crochet a shrug and a hat, both of which didn’t fit so now are back as balls of yarn.

Since I couldn’t put any weight on my hip Ty did it all – cooking, laundry, making me coffee and serving me. He even mastered the Insta Pot since we only had a microwave and didn’t want to do too many carry out meals. I married the right guy!

Weather

Thoughts

Lying around waiting for the temperature to warm up a bit,  one has the tendencies to think a lot about nothing; here are some of my most profound:

• When driving in the car did you ever notice how when one person makes a move to adjust the temperature the other one “eyes” it? And then a few minutes later, the other one then makes a different adjustment? All this is done silently of course. So I have resolved this issue by just wearing socks and I have a blanket because no matter what the temperature is, I am always too cold.
• Here’s another one: you decide that you would like this “thing (doesn’t matter what it is)” right here. The next thing you know, it’s gone. So, you ask “what did you do with that thing?” and the response is that they put it someplace else. Now I have pondered over this a long time and wondered, if I moved it in the first place how come it got moved again? Then you realized it is all a matter of conversing about the “thing” and why it should be moved.  Duh!!
• And…you say something like “sure wish it would warm up a bit” and you get the reply “well it’s not that cold” “it is -6 degrees” “could be colder”.  This can go on forever until one sighs and turns the heat up..

That’s how I spent my recovery time.

Time to “Get Outta Dodge“

After 10 days with Amy (although never enough) and 52 in a hotel we needed to move on once I got the ok from Ortho Doc that I could travel. Besides, it is time to WARM UP.

Had a beautiful 2 day ride to Phoenix, saw quite of few wild horses as we drove thru Payson and the Tonto Apache Reservation area; we decided to meander on our way to pick up Wanda from storage. Highways 260 and 87 through the Tonto National Forest is one of the most prettiest areas that we have been in. Didn’t spend anytime in Phoenix and headed straight for Desert Hot Springs where we will spend entire month of March.

Till the next installment – stay safe everyone, don’t let your guard down with wearing masks and washing up. Think we are still in this for awhile.