On Crutches - Temporarily

The day after my 63rd birthday, I went in to have some minor issues repaired that have been bothering me for two or three years. It was kind of a present to myself, so I could walk without having pain in both my left knee and left foot.
In medical terms I had an Arthroscopic surgery to repair a tear in the meniscus. The cause of the tear is undoubtedly wear and tear of a moderately active older male. A person who will do everything himself rather than pay to have someone else do it or ask for help.  The problem with pain in the knee, making it painful to walk, had been evident off and on for a couple years. It would come on, I would rest and it would go away normally after about a week. About a year ago, during an emergency water heater replacement, I spent a lot of time on my knees working on the floor area of where the water heater sits. The knee pain came on and a month later it was still there. I made an appointment with one of the best Orthopedic Surgeons in Lubbock. Being one of the best surgeons, it took me more than two months to get an appointment. After X-rays and an exam, the Doctor felt that it was a torn meniscus and thought a conservative approach might be the best. This consisted of an injection and orders to slow down on walking, no kneeling for prolong periods of time, or at all, use of an exercise bike and rest. Two months later it was still painful to walk more than a mile, and daily walking, especially over rough terrain just kept the pain at the forefront. Another call to the Doctor and an appointment set two months out. At this appointment it was decided the next step was a MRI which would give a clear picture of what was going on. Results showed a tear in the meniscus. Surgery was scheduled for two months out - February 17.
Now, the toe, left foot. This has been causing discomfort since back in '13. I visited a local Podiatrist, who after x-rays, stated that it was arthritis and that in-soles would give me the best relief. So, after a year with Dr. Scholl's I got an appointment in early '15 with the Orthopedic Surgeon. After x-rays, he agreed that the pain was caused by arthritis, but that surgery was the best way to handle it. In addition, he discovered a genetic deformity in the toe bone that would have to be corrected with a "moberg" procedure. His advice was, keep on with life and when it got so bad I could not stand it, to come see him and he would take care of it.
Well, the stars aligned and after he got done with the meniscus repair, he moved down a little and did a Cheilectomy and the Moberg procedure. I'll let you google both of these so you can read the gory details.
Needless to say, I am on crutches until at least Wednesday, which will be my first follow up. The crutches are to give me "stability" while walking. I have pretty good range of motion in the knee, and it is the toe that is the most painful if moved in the wrong direction. I'll go back to work tomorrow. At least we are in a single story facility that meets all ADA requirements.
So, a very long story to tell you what is going on.
Travel in on hold for a little bit, but we plan a couple trips this year, including a trip to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque.
So long for now -

What is their story?

The other day I made a trip to our local Wrench-A-Part for some parts for a project I am working on. This is the typical junkyard where you find rows and rows of vehicles. As I walked the rows looking for a particular part from a particular vehicle, I wondered about these cars, vans and trucks. What was their story? What event took place to put them in a place where they would be picked over. Where people would scavenge parts and pieces akin to vultures over a road kill. Some appeared to have arrived mostly intact. Others it was apparent the reason for their new purpose in life. Damage to the front end, back end, and so many with the sides caved in. Were they transporting precious cargo when the event took their life or were they the innocent victim. What about the people that may have been in them. No blood evident, but airbags deployed tells a lot of the tale. As I looked through them for the parts, it struck me the condition, not of the vehicle now, because the interiors of most were in various stages of destruction. But, music CDs lying on the floor, cigarette butts in the ash trays, beaded necklaces, like they came here right after their life changing event.
Now they sit on old wheels, waiting for someone to come by and take a part, a piece, maybe a switch, a connector, a motor, drive shaft and the like. Giving what is left of them before the final end comes and they meet the crusher. Then shipped somewhere to maybe become part of another vehicle again.

One interesting thing about this place - I have heard of and seen junkyard dogs, but has anyone heard of junkyard Big Horn Sheep?

Still alive...

Wow, with work and more work, there has not been much time for anything - travel, photography, blogging.... OK, maybe photography. The agency I work for has for the last year had a new building under construction. This building, about 9,980 square feet will house all of our administrative offices, a Data Center, Training Center and storage. The Training Center and Data Center are both constructed to withstand an EF5 Tornado. Only makes sense since we live along Tornado Alley. Part of what I did was every week visited the site and took pictures of the construction progress. With more than 65 GB, yes, 65 gigabytes of photographs, it has been a large undertaking. The photos are filed by date. I am now working on taking a few of those pictures to try and make a time lapse slide show that will give people an idea of the construction process. Not as easy as one would thing.  But, it has been with great joy that we moved into the facility on October 15, 2015. Now we are in the final completion stage, fixing door closers, touching up paint, working bugs out of the telephone and access systems. But, it is ours and we will be here for a lot of years. This rendering is just about spot on as to what the building actually looks like.

Dedication and a Holiday Open House are scheduled for Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The Texas Weather ain't as sweet as the Tea

14 degrees with 3.5 inches of snow on the ground and it is still falling. I don't think that this is what we signed up for when we moved here 15 years ago. Of course this is the worst winter in 20 years. Well, for sure it is the worst in the last 15 years.

Backyard at 1PM

Most winters are dry and cold. I think I like that better than cold and wet. Like most places in Texas, Lubbock has few if any snow plows. Snow removal is sun and a chloride mix in the intersections. Our biggest advantage is that the State DOT has snow plows and they keep the Interstate and most of the major roads through the City cleared as they are part of the State Road System.
This weather certainly does not help the construction of our new facility. Still don't have all the concrete poured and they have been working on it since October of 2014.
Well, I'll wait a day and the weather will change. It always does.

Thanksgiving in PEP, Texas

Pep, Texas is a very small town located about 50 miles west of Lubbock, northwest of Levelland, TX. The path to Pep is on State Highway 114 and then Farm to Market 303. On this beautiful Thanksgiving day, with temperatures in the high 30s, we headed out on our journey. Passing through the bounties of this part of Texas, Cotton waiting to be harvested and cotton in big modules, stripped from the plants and waiting to be hauled to the gin, Cattle, Oil and some occasional Sorghum thrown in for a change of color.

Cotton Modules ready to go to the Gin

Cotton Seed Oil Plant

Cotton waiting to be stripped and oil wells

Cotton Module press on the move to another field

Loose Cotton Hauler

 Of course we passed the other parts of Texas in this trip also. The fields of brown grass, sage bush, and mesquite brush, run down and abandon homes, businesses, lone windmills, abandon cattle watering troughs and run down fences.

Abandon Business

This is a land of dreams as big as the Texas skies and dreams that can get dashed into the brown and arid land.
OK, so why are we going to Pep, Texas?

Well, for the last 15 years we have been told to visit Pep on Thanksgiving and partake of the wonderful dinner that is provided by the Catholic Church (St. Philip Neri Hall).

St. Philip Church

 From the Handbook of Texas on-line (William R. Hunt) "The site was part of the Yellow House Ranch of the XIT Ranch. It passed to the Littlefield estate and was then sold by the Yellow House Land Company in 1924. Much of this farmland was sold to Germans interested in establishing a Catholic colony, which they originally named Ledwig for Rev. Francis Ledwig, their pastor. In 1936, reportedly the name Ledwig did not suit the post office department, and Pep was chosen as the town's new name, to reflect an admired characteristic of its residents." Pep had a population of 35 in 2000. Now the population is two (2), and I believe that they both live in a residence at the church. The town consists of a school, Post Office and the church. We were warned to get there early. In a period of three (3) hours (11AM to 2PM) they feed a thousand people or more (about 1,200 in 2014). In addition you can get great German sausage, Breakfast Sausage, home made bread and sauerkraut.  They have been doing this for about 69 years. It started as the annual church Thanksgiving dinner and has emerged as a major fund raiser fr the church.
We were told to arrive early. We did, by arriving at 10:10 A.M. There were already 30 people ahead of us. We passed the time talking to others in line, buying bread, sausage and sauerkraut and trying to stay warm in the mid 30 degree temperature, with a 15 mile an hour wind.

People waiting to enter - 10 minutes before doors open.

The meal is served buffet style, with three serving lines.

Two of the buffet lines

You had a choice of dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, sauerkraut, turkey, German sausage, bread and your choice of about seven different kinds of desserts. A large sign is posted in several places that state "Take as much as you want, but eat everything that you take." The food was terrific and abiding by the signs was very hard to do. If anyone leaves there hungry, it is their own fault.

We did not leave hungry. We left with sausage, bread and sauerkraut and a wonderful memory. Another thing to check off the list. So, if you find yourself on the Plains of Texas on Thanksgiving, be assured that you can get a great Thanksgiving dinner for $10. But, get there early.

Texas Handbook On-line

The Weather Outside is Frightful!

12 degrees with a wind chill of -5 degrees. Snow on top of Ice and still a light snow falling. Weather to be the same into 2015. What a way to end 2014. Thought that when we moved to Texas that I would not have this kind of weather. Guess we didn't move far enough south.

We are still alive

When we last spoke we were on Mt. Lemmon outside of Tucson, AZ. That was like back in November and here it is August and nothing new, nothing, nothing.
Well, since the November 2013 Arizona trip, we have been to the Corpus Christi area, staying at one of our favorite RV Resorts, made a couple trips to Washington State - thanks Southwest - (Happy 95th Birthday back in April to my Mom) been to Amarillo and a long weekend in Caprock Canyon, with the dog. The Caprock Canyon Trip was Annie's (the dog) first RVing adventure. Not quite sure how she liked it.  Think she likes staying at Tipton Pet Hotel better and playing with her dog friends.
We do have another trip planned for later in the year. We will see how that goes. But, this is a stayin' alive post. Will get back into the swing of things later - promise.