A Totally Random 13
1. Can I count the picture? It’s a random shot from the window of the bus while on my trip to Indonesia nearly two years ago.
Suzie’s House 495 : Scream
“Not like that Emma. More like… “ Lisa let the camera fall to her side. Her brow twisted in consternation or maybe puzzlement. Or maybe both.
Emma kind of thought it was both. No matter what it meant that Emma wasn’t delivering whatever Lisa wanted for this video. Just that she was so sure she got it. What was wrong?
Buggy
Desmond slipped the electronic surveillance device under the dashboard while the perp run into the convenience store. As soon as the guy hopped in the driver’s seat, Desmond took up the conversation where they’d left off.
“So, did you kill this one too?”
“What? The clerk? Nah. Didn’t have to. Walked right past him with the goods in hand. It’s cause I’ve got the devil’s own luck.”
“But that other guy?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I killed him.”
He had him! A couple of hours later Desmond collected the bug. Nothing but static and the rumble of the engine.
The Challenge: Write a story of 100 words based on a photo
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Photo credit: Shaktiki Sharma
Diet
I’ve gained weight. It’s not all swelling in the legs. Maybe I should go back on my diet. 13 things I’ve eaten today:
1. broccoli – fresh crowns
2. chocolate
3. pork chop
4. yam
5. cereal
6. chocolate
7. peanuts
8. tea
9. bread
10. peach jam
11. banana
12. chicken soup
13. chocolate
Yep, the only old food allergy still bothering me is pineapple. If I don’t get a grip, they’ll be back.
Suzie’s House 494 : Family Reunion
Emma had friends? Since when did Emma have friends? Jim sat in the van and stared.
He did vaguely recall meeting some guy who had been walking her home one night, but certainly not any girls and certainly not so many people over all. And the way they treated her – like she was the main thing. Like she was popular.
Like Jim would ever let something like that happen!
Post Op Week 4
I’m doing fine. Still not real comfortable sitting at my desk for long periods of time, and no where near ready to crawl around on the floor for craft projects, but sleeping through the night and not hurting much.
I find it a bit ironic that my handicap parking permit should arrive just as I’m reaching the point where I’m fairly confident about shopping on my own two feet. Pr-op, when I could barely stand to stand because of all the pain I had to walk the extra distance because I didn’t have the permit.
in physical therapy I’m doing stuff like several minutes of sidesteps while trying to keep my hips level. I stood on one leg in a particular position until I started shaking. I did deep knee bends while holding a balance bar. And I rode the exercise bicycle for ten minutes. Go me!
After an extensive search, I gave up on the trekking poles. At least temporarily. I went for a walk around the block. Only did it once, but I’m counting it as a break through. Yesterday it snowed again, leaving the pavement slick; so it will probably be a while before I try it again.
I’ve got parts for a couple of exercise oriented projects, and the green light to use my Norktrak. Now it’s just a matter of using them.
Totally Random Picture – Western Montana on the way to Yellowstone.
13 Things
My desk is upstairs in an office with no comfortable places to rest. I’m just not spending much time there right now. Instead, I’ve taken over a corner of the living room with the recliner. Here’s what’s accumulated
1. A comforter that covers me most of the time.
2. A trash can
3. A bottle of water
4. A jug of water for refills
5. My cell phone
6. A borrowed book – half read
7. A laptop
8. Another laptop
9. A tablet that I planned on setting up but haven’t finished yet
10. My wallet
11. A basket full of bottles of pills
12. A basket of snacks
12. A basket for dirty dishes
Mostly Random Picture – from the Jack and Jill archives. They’re in a recliner.
Suzie’s House 493 : A Free Ride
Sonoma lay flat on her back in a nest of blankets with her head wedged between the van’s driver’s seat and the front passenger seat so she could hear the conversation between Trent and “Big Jim”. She’d slept through an hour of the trip from Minneapolis and Madison, but didn’t feel very refreshed.
“How you doing, Darling? Back any better?” He reached down from the passenger seat and gave her hand a squeeze.
It (the Edgar Allen University fight song) wasn’t upbeat and confident like any other song Neil heard at games. This was a dark and heavy tune, an intimidating message of death and domination. The Ravens took their image seriously. Neil guessed they had a lot of intensive counseling in their futures.Post Hip Replacement – Week 3
So, did I mention I’m learning to walk again? Or so my physical therapist thinks. Frankly, I could limp along just fine the day after surgery. I haven’t bothered with a cane for over a week. If I leave the house, I bring it with me just in case I have to walk on snow or ice, but I don’t even pretend to use it. I just carry it in my hand like a baton.
The physicians assistant and the physical therapist and the nurses in the hospital all said the best thing to do to recuperate is to walk. However, they are quite clear that just any old ambulation isn’t going to cut it. I have to walk with good poster.
I haven’t bothered with good poster in years! I like to limp. I limp and gimp and sidle and anything else it takes to get from one place to another with as little pain as possible. It makes for some very bad habits.
So the physical therapist has me doing “pre-walking exercise.” This involves shifting weight from side to side and from front to back. We aren’t even up to a waddle, but it’s fun to do.
I’m thinking I’d like to rev it up a bit. Like maybe make a mini teeter totter for the side to side thing. Seems like that might be more fun. As for the front and back thing…. Well as soon as I find my treking poles I’m going to just go walking. I’d do without, but it’s still icy around here.
Totally Random Picture – Uluwatu Cliffside Temple in Indonesia
The Door Into Summer
There were 32 doors in Ruth’s house. She knew for sure because she’d counted them when her cat, Sargent Pepper, insisted on trying each and every one.
The first door she opened let out on a snowbank. Sargent Pepper gave her such a pitiful yowl, as though the cold and wet might be a personal insult.
This was followed by a tour of every room, and every closet until at last they returned to the back door, where, of course, the snow remained.
“I promise someday this door really will let out into summer,” she told him. “Just not today.”
The Challenge: Write a story of 100 words based on a photo
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Photo credit: Sarah Potter
Hip Precautions
Until the muscles and tendons around my new, mechanical hip have mellowed out, I’m supposed to be very careful to avoid certain positions. Those positions are, specifically, never let the chest and knee get closer than ninety degrees. Never point the toes inward. Never let the knees get close, let alone cross. And never twist the hips around to look behind you.
1. 90 Degrees? Piece of cake. The arthritis hasn’t let me get my knee up any higher than that in years. Or so I thought. I went past it just by lifting my knee while reclining in the recliner. I really had no idea it would be such a sharp angle. I no longer feel the jab of pain in the front. It’s more a sense of strain and impending disaster in the back.
2. I’ve broken the pigeon toe precaution nearly every morning since the surgery. I wake up to find my foot has been flopped over that direction for who knows how long. It seems to be a natural position. But I can feel the strain in my hip.
3. Walking to the bathroom is treacherous. It takes five turns to get there, each one a chance to go pigeon toed.
Suzie’s House 492 : Blanking the Slate
“Hey! Whatcha doing?” The old geezer shouted his question as he walked across the Walmart parking lot. He had crusty jeans, but a fresh plaid shirt over a faded but clean tie-dye T-shirt. His long, gray hair was pulled back in a frizzy, puny ponytail.
Great. Probably another refugee from the Hippie generation. Jim ignored him.
“You really wanna be doing that? Seams like a real waste.”
