Baby steps

That is truly what it feels is happening. Last week I got the OK from the surgeon to start putting weight on my foot, and begin physical therapy - OUCH!!!! I am so sore that I can barely take anything but small, hobbling steps the next day. If this is progress, it sucks!! Still have to sleep with the other half boot on and that stinks as well. As it is too sore to chance, I have given up yet another fun thing on my fall agenda - the Phoenix NASCAR race(s). I will have to watch them from home and be content to have beer and the bathroom close and easily accessible.



To the left are pictures of the healing foot and new walking boot.

Now back to Caryl....

Well, Caryl got the news she was not wanting to hear this week. After a second opinion concurred, she will need to go through chemo for her breast cancer. This will involve 4 treatments, spaced 3 weeks apart. Sounds like the holidays will be a bit less bright for her this year, but as we both can attest to, getting past it ( and this year from hell for both of us ) is worth it.

As for me, no changes to report. I still cannot put weight on the foot yet, but the external healing is mostly complete, anyway. I have had to cancel 2 trips to Vegas the last 2 weekends due to this, and am not happy about missing the fun I had planned or forfeiting the money on tickets.

that's all for now.........

Back home ............

I was released from the hospital on Wednesday, and have been at home starting the recovery process. It is amazing, and maddening, what formerly simple things are complex, if not impossible, from the confines of a wheelchair. I am now starting to grasp what a slow and painstaking recovery looms ahead. Thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers, calls, and show of friendship and support during this very trying period in my life.

God Bless!!

now bad news for me.....

Well, I am writing this post from the hospital room at John C. Lincoln here in Phoenix. Last Tuesday night as I was riding my motorcycle home from work, some blind jackass decided to pull out in front of me and wrecked both the bike and me. Needless to say, this not only maddens me at morons who cannot seem to understand the simple process of looking for traffic before pulling out to cross the street, it is a huge statement as how EVERYONE needs to look out for motorcycles. I have been riding some 30 years, and work hard to survive other people's negligence. This time there was nothing I could do to avoid the impact, as this guy drove literally into the side of me. While I avoided death, I have had my life put completely on hold, as the impact broke my ankle and gave me numerous cases of road rash. I will require 4 surgeries and 2+ weeks in the hospital, and then continue to need months of physical therapy to get my life back on track.

Please people, pay attention while you are driving, and LOOK OUT FOR MOTORCYCLES!!!!!

Good news for Caryl

A quick update regarding Caryl's breast cancer. This past Monday she went in for additional surgery to determine if the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Final report from the oncologist was a resounding NO - YEAH !!!!! This means she can opt for the short ( 5 day) localized radiation treatment, and be on her way to a full recovery. Thanks to all who have been keeping up with this, and for your support and prayers for Caryl.

July vacation (con't)

The rest of the week was spent hiking on Tuesday and Thursday. plus a day of learning to fly fish in the middle on Wednesday. Caryl even decided to give it a shot, and what a hoot! As you can see, we did not have to go looking for local fauna, as it gave us a number of shots by wandering on the property.

Finally, we had to start back home, and spent a few hours on Friday at the Royal Gorge, home of the world's highest suspension bridge. I HAD to drive over the bridge to complete the experience! After that, it was on to Durango, CO, to spend the night. The next day, we stopped at 4 Corners (aptly named as you can stand in 4 states at once) for our final tourist stop, and a little shopping from the local native Indian artists. We had to fill up with gas in Flagstaff, and got one last taste of cool weather as it was rainy and cool there, much unlike the hot weather that awaited us as we reluctantly exited the truck a couple of hours later in Phoenix!

July vacation

Well, I am a little late getting started on this, but will catch up tonight. It has been a fun adventure so far, and getting out of the AZ heat is good enough. The only downturn so far is that Coco (the dog) seems to have developed a stomach problem, if you will. Hopefully after a vet trip tomorrow, she will be fine until I can get home and look after her.


As for us, it has been a neat adventure so far. We left AZ on Friday and go to take in the upper Salt River Canyon, with it's cool streams and desert flora. Caryl was oh-so-happy to be able to dip her feet into a cool mountain stream! then we stopped at the VLA (Very Large Array) outside of Socorro, NM, to take in the sites of one of the world's larges radio astronomy sites. There are some very smart people doing this stuff ! After that it was a little dinner and on to Albuquerque for the night. The cool morning weather the next day made it difficult to leave, but we knew we had to press on! All that driving was worth it, as we made our way late on Saturday into the little mountain town of Estes Park, CO.

Sunday brought a relaxing day of walking their little downtown area, and we were not alone. The summer weekends bring herds of people to get out of the heat and play in the mountains.


On Monday, we set out for a ride through the Rocky Mountain National Forest, truly a site not to be missed. Not only did we get to see magnificent mountain ranges, but got to see some local fauna in the form of elk and marmot. No moose yet, but we are still hoping!

Happy 4th of July!

Well another July 4 is here, and I hope this finds everyone out there well, and enjoying a good day of BBQ and fireworks. I was supposed to have to work today, but that got moved back to yesterday, so I get the day off to enjoy as well. It will be spent watching racing and a little BBQ here as well. If the monsoon storms do not rain it out, we will try to catch some evening fireworks here in the valley.


Last weekend was my only 2 days off in a row this month, so I did some catching up on the 'to do list' around the house. Then Saturday Caryl and I went to an ice cream social sponsored by my local Mustang club - yum yum ! This was followed by us taking some chairs and going to an outdoor shopping mall a mile from the house and listening to some live music by the Groove Merchants. It was a nice, albeit hot night, but we settled in with a bottle of wine, and the breeze after dark made it easily bearable. As this band is one of Caryl's favorites, she was quite happy to put up with the heat for a few hours outdoors!

Speaking of Caryl, a note concerning her. She went in for a lumpectomy 2 weeks ago, and this week we found out it was, in fact, cancerous. The good news it was only stage 1-2, so with some radiation therapy she will hopefully be good as new in several months. I will continue to update as we know more.

June happenings

June has been a little bit slower month for things, as I have worked quite a bit of overtime, resulting in only 3 days off thus far. However, the last 2 Saturday nights have provided a little fun, as both have had parties. The first was to celebrate my friend Brian's passing the half-century mark. Welcome to the club, buddy!

On the following Thursday night, seeing as how the weather was still amazingly cool this time of year, I got the bike out and headed to a Thursday night bike gathering on the west side of Phoenix near the Cardinals' football stadium. The shopping/dining complex is called Westgate, and they have a real nice Thursday night happy hour, if you will. As I forgot my camera this night, photos are courtesy of Cyclerides.com, and you can access them via this link: http://www.cyclerides.com/ridephotos/westgatebikenight/wgbn041609/index.htm

Then this past Saturday night, it was the annual luau party at Shayne & Susan's house. They have a great backyard with sand and a palapa hut, plus the sounds of Alonzo, a talented musician who plays island music, plus all the dance stuff your could ever want to hear.

Susan's mom even got in on the party fun, as she offered up vodka-spiked watermelon - muy delicioso !!!

Memorial Day vacation

Well, as usual, I took off the week of Memorial Day, and went back to the Lake of the Ozarks to play. This trip held a little anticipation, as I had the interior of my boat redone over last winter, and had not seen it except in pictures. I was happy with the result- it looks like a brand new boat! The weather was as forecast - warm and sunny the first part of the weekend, which made for some fun boating, and hanging out with friends in the cove. Sunday we tripped down the lake to a couple of bars on the water, and enjoyed some adult libations.


Then, as you can see by the picture, Monday (unfortunately) was as forecast as well. It rained most of the day and night, but that allowed for some grilling out and relaxing, as my parents made a trip to the lake house to visit. We even had time to watch the also-very-wet NASCAR race from Charlotte. Tuesday was back home, but the nice part is I still have the rest of the week off to relax and catch up on some stuff!

On Thursday, being somewhat caught up with errands, I took the day off to head to Lake Pleasant and hang with some friends on their boat. It sure was nice to relax and leave the driving to someone else!