This month's calendar Archives
March 4, 2011
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
It amazes me how much we plan our lives around the weather, especially this week.
Here I thought spring was just around the corner (so did the daffodils and every other spring flower) and then - BAM - we get hit with snow. Fortunately the weatherman had the forecast right and I was able to cover some of my bushes so they wouldn't feel the brunt of it all. The snow only lasted a few days but Dave still had to drive into Portland a couple of times for Blazer broadcasts and ended up spending most of the week in town because of the weather. He had broadcasts every other day all week long, and for the most part, it just wasn't worth it to drive home in the snow for just a few hours. He did try to come home on Saturday morning because he had a haircut appointment here in Wheeler, but then had to cancel that because the brakes were frozen on the Suburban and he couldn't get out of West Linn. He and Greg did manage to get them thawed and he got home for the night, but the haircut is now scheduled for this week! I had been planning to drive into West Linn after my class on Tuesday evening, but cancelled because I felt uncomfortable driving over the coast range in the dark with snow and ice all over the roads.
Then after the snow left, we got hit with a wind storm with wind gusts over 40 miles an hour. The electricity only went out for a blink, but was enough that I still had to reset all the clocks. You would think I would get used to the wind storms by now but I don't - they still freak me out. Afterwards, I picked up arms full of broken branches in the yard from the storm. I guess you can look at it this way and say it is Mother Nature's way of pruning. All I can say is that it's March and time for all this winter foolishness to end!
The weather didn't keep me from my Master Gardener's class on Tuesday. We learned about pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc. this week. We also spent about four hours looking at various weeds. That was boring and it kind of reminded me of being forced to watch somebody's vacation slides. After a while they all look alike! Still, it was a good class and I am learning so much!
Since the wind storm woke me up at the wee hours on Wednesday morning, I decided to check the road report. Because the temperatures had risen and the highways were bare from snow, I decided to surprise Dave and meet him at the cardiologist's office for his 9:00 a.m. appointment. As I said, I was planning on driving in Tuesday evening after my class so I could be with him, but the roads were still covered with snow up over the summit that evening and Dave didn't want me to risk it. The temperatures had climbed to 45 degrees overnight and the snowplow had out been working all night, so at 7:00 a.m. I headed out on the two hour drive. Dave wasn't expecting me and so it was a pleasant surprise when I met him in the parking lot and he was pleased that I had made the effort to come in. I had never met this doctor before and wanted to be sure to be there for the diagnosis. The doctor went over all of Dave's tests and the diagnosis is that he wasn't getting enough blood to the vessels in his brain because of an elevated cholesterol level, so he upped his medication dosage. He also put him on medicine to control his blood pressure. Hopefully, this will help prevent any further strokes. Between the two pills, we hope that's the answer. He also had an appointment to see the neurologist right after the cardiologist, but she was out sick, so that one has now been bumped to March 17th. We think that one just will be a formality because she's already said she didn't know what caused the stroke, so she'll probably just go with what the cardiologist said.
It looks like all we are going to be getting is rain here in town all this next week, but I don't care because we will be heading to Phoenix, Arizona next Wednesday with our two oldest granddaughters. We'll be gone for a week and I am REALLY looking forward to the break. My sister, Jeanne called me the other day to tell me that the weather down there has been in the 75-80 range and to be sure to bring our swimming suits. As if we could forget!
No pictures this week, but I'm sure that between grandgirls and the Arizona sunshine, there will be plenty of them next time!
