Week 16

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  Spring continues to be the theme around here and I'm not sorry about that.  It's been so nice not having rain for a few weeks now and oddly strange since we were so conditioned to expect it the past few months. Now it's time to make sure my sprinklers are in working order before it gets too hot around here.

Take a look at last week's pictures:

Day 107- Monday, 4/17/23

Walking into work before dawn this morning I could here a turkey somewhere but couldn't see it until I was almost in the building.  Not sure how or why it ended up on the roof but there it is--crazy bird!  Inside one of the first things I do in the lab each morning is pop the media in a water bath so it's ready when I need it to feed cultures.

 Day 108- Tuesday, 4/18/23

It's good to see Rusty reunited with his fish.  The boys want me to send them a video of him playing with it but as soon as I turn the camera on him he stops playing and just stares off into a void.  I guess they'll just have to come home if they want to see him play.  Later John helped me find our old house paint cans in the garage so we can match colors to have the exterior of our house repainted.  First week in May that is happening!

Day 109- Wednesday, 4/19/23

The front yard is in perfect bloom right now looking so spring like, and in the back the pool guys are here cleaning our pool tile.  It's nice to see that white water mark almost gone and the brown tones in the blue tile shine through again.

 

Day 110- Thursday, 4/20/21

Today was a busy day at work with many clinical samples to run and a lot of meetings to attend.  All the students are getting ready for summer research projects so most of the meeting centered around planning for those.  Back at home, this afternoon, Rusty was following me around upstairs as I was opening windows to allow the cool air in.  He's stretching first and then planning to hop up and sit in one of those windows.  He likes the fresh air and the chirping birds he can hear.

Day 111- Friday, 4/21/22

Look at him!  He now regularly walks in and out of PT as well as in and out of other places if the distance isn't too far or if there are good stopping and resting points along the way.  His therapy team is happy to see him ditch the chair.  Mostly he only uses it at home now.  As for me, I just opened the upstairs windows for today and sure enough I have my shadow following me around again while I get the job done. TGIF!

Day112- Saturday, 4/22/23

Happy Earth Day!  I put a nice spring shirt on and spent the day in the backyard weeding and pruning and enjoying the new blooms.  The weather was absolutely perfect for work outside.

Day 113- Sunday, 4/23/23

I had to have my windshield replaced when a small ding I got from a rock kicked up on the freeway spread to into a huge crack after a few hours in the warm sun.  At least it could be done at the house.  Meanwhile, inside, John is a happy boy because the Warriors win their second game playing at home against the Kings.  That's 2 for the Kings and 2 for the Warriors.  Next game is back in Sacramento so hopefully the Kings can win again--I'm rooting for them.  Just after the game we had Tyler over for Sunday dinner and enjoyed a nice spaghetti meal together.  Unfortunately Lupe couldn't make it this time but next week we get to have Sunday dinner at her family's house for her birthday.

 

That wraps up another week in April and before you know it May will be here.  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 15

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  This past week was very spring like and that will be evident in my pictures.  It was a full week of no rain and it felt so good to be outside enjoying the sunshine and seeing nature come back to life.  I even looked forward to getting some yard work done so I could be more present in the goodness of spring.  We need to enjoy it while it last because our springs here are fleeting and you can bet I'll be complaining about the excessive heat in no time.

Take a look at last week's images:

Day 100- Monday, 4/10/23

It was such a good sunny start to our week and we have a lot of new things blooming in beautiful color.  Today I noticed our geranium plant showing off its pretty red flowers in the backyard.  I wasn't sure after the watering fiasco during the excessive heat last summer if this plant was going to survive and come back, but it looks better than ever.  At PT I took advantage of the nice day and went for a walk outside while John did his thing in the gym.

Day 101- Tuesday, 4/11/23

We had the pool filters cleaned today to get our pool sweep moving again which means the pool is looking good and I'm happy to see our backyard coming alive.  Not only is there a lot of greenery and flowers but many birds are singing and squirrels are running the fence-line or climbing the trees.  Also if there must be weeds in the grass at least they are of the pretty kind.

Day 102- Wednesday, 4/12/23

Laser mouse doesn't work so well in the daylight so John tied one of the tiny mice Rusty usually loses under the couch to a string and created a new favorite toy to play with before dark sets in. This kitty boy is a huge fan and it's great to see him want to play more these days since I know that helps keep him in a healthy.  He's prone to bladder infections when stressed so if more play helps Rusty avoid stress we're all about that.

Day 103- Thursday, 4/13/23

These Easter flowers are almost done so I googled it and turns out they can be planted in the yard as long as I put them outside to acclimate first.  Hopefully I can get them in the ground this weekend so they can bloom again for us over the next few years.  In other news, one great perk to having no kids at home currently is the abundance of leftovers especially when it means more cake for us.  Yum!

Day 104- Friday, 4/14/23

While out on a walk during another one of John's PT session today I found many new blooming flowers and enjoyed the fresh air.  Later Justin sent me this picture of him walking creek beds today while on another wildlife field trip.  It looks like a beautiful day there too and a great way to spend a Friday at school.

Day 105- Saturday, 4/15/23

This great weather has me wanting to spend more time in the yard pruning and weeding and get it all set up for summer activities.  Today was also a fun day for Sacramento.  The Kings basketball team ended a 17 year dry spell by making it to the playoffs and then also winning their first game against the previous champions.  It was a packed house and everyone in the city was more than excited to see them light the beam except for John who is a diehard Warriors fan.

Day 106- Sunday, 4/16/23

It's a mellow Sunday with a slow start and then mostly us doing chores before the week starts.  John was able to play around with his music while enjoying coffee this morning and then spent the rest of the day out in the garage tinkering around and trying to tidy up a bit.  Also Rusty was watching me clean house from his favorite surveying spot where he can see all. He likes to make sure all his favorites toys are kept here as well.  We actually just found his beloved grey and green fish which had gone missing for months so now it's back where it belongs on "his" landing with the rest of his treasured toys.

That's all folks.  See you next week as we continue to enjoy a nice gentle spring while it lasts.

Week 14

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone had a great Easter.  We lucked out and actually had beautiful sunny weather with temps near 80--finally!!  It's amazing what kind of mood booster that can be.  Last week was super busy but all good.

 Here are those pictures:

Day 93- Monday, 4/3/23

I was scrambling to get a lot of stuff done at work this morning since I'll be out the next 2 days and on top of the usual stuff I started a professional development program for One Health core competencies which went live today.  At least it's asynchronous and I have until June to get all the course work done at my own pace.  Later, at PT, John is working on games and exercises that help him with his balance which still is really not quite there.

 

Day 94- Tuesday, 4/4/23

We're in San Francisco for the next 2 days for more doctor appointments and thankfully it's a wonderful day out and we have an amazing view from our hotel looking right at the bay and Coit Tower.  I also drove all the way in as a practice run for when I'll need to do it for the transplant.  The freeway stuff I can handle no problem but the city streets here are insane! They had me on edge the whole way to the hospital but I did it and feel more confident about future drives there. To relax and have some fun after we went out to dinner with all these wonder friends that live here and have been our rocks through this whole process helping in so many different ways to support us. Ending the day with one last city view back at our hotel where it's lit up at night.

 

Day 95- Wednesday, 4/5/23

Rise and shine for another nice weather day.  Too bad we spent most of it at the hospital for a rt heart catheter procedure to test pressures.  At least all looks good.  The only unsettling thing was that an EKG that showed a recent spot of damage to the heart's septum.  Supposedly not it's not too concerning but something to keep an eye on.  Tyler sent us an early morning picture of him playing laser tag with Rusty before feeding him for us and then when we got home this afternoon he was not letting us out of his sight and happy to settle down by me for a good, long nap.

Day 96- Thursday, 4/6/23

It's California Poppy Day!  Luckily we have them all over campus.  These beauties line the walkway from the parking lot to my work building.  They are such a cheerful looking flower adding a great pop of color to all kinds of landscapes in this state.  I planted some seeds in my yard and am hoping I'll eventually have them at home too.  Later for dinner it was spaghetti night paired with a drink inspired by the poppy color.

 

 

Day 97- Friday, 4/7/23

Happy birthday to John! We hit up PT 1st and then dinner out to celebrate.  He didn't get to celebrate his birthday last year and at that time we weren't sure there would be another birthday.  Thank goodness he's a fighter and overcame some really tough setbacks to still be here with us today. We are hopeful and ready to celebrate many more birthdays to come.

 

 

Day 98- Saturday, 4/8/23

Today we are our having Easter ham dinner and John's birthday cake so we can celebrate with Tyler and Lupe.  They'll be at her family's place tomorrow and couldn't join us for dinner last night so today it is!  I found them this cute chocolate bunny basket that reminds me of their young love, and John was happy to have them around to watch him open gifts and share a yummy Cold Stone ice-cream cake.  Sadly, we're missing the college boys, but they sent birthday gifts and I sent them Easter care packages so at least we were on each other's minds.

 

  

Day 99-Sunday, 4/9/23

 Happy Easter!!  There may just be the two of us but I still made our traditional Easter brunch--Yum! And those flowers I bought over week ago really came into perfect bloom for today.  Since they are bulbs I'm hoping to get them planted in the backyard so they bloom for many more Easters to come.  This was the first week in months where we had over 5 days of warm spring weather without rain and it felt so good.

That will do it.  See you back next week.

 

Week 13

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  I'm posting late because we were in San  Francisco the past two days to see the transplant team for more tests which need to happen periodically until a new heart becomes available.  Thankfully the weather was good so it was beautiful here in the city and all went well.  Last week though was pretty stormy as you will see.  

Here are last week's pictures:

Day 86- Monday, 3/27/23

We started the week on a good weather note with interesting cloud patterns and sunshine lighting up the campus.  It felt good for me to be able to walk between buildings in good conditions for a change but sadly this is the calm before another big storm series.  Later, John was feeling the pain at PT with his stretches.  If you look close enough you can see his face grimace.  That left hip is a lot stronger now but still tender and stiff when stretched.

Day 87- Tuesday, 3/28/23

And today starts the new storm series.  It was awful out with high winds and tons of rain--a good day to take in a movie with our college kid.  He's a big fan of the Scream movies so we saw the new one just released in theaters and then went out to dinner.

Day 88- Wednesday, 3/29/23

Another miserable rainy day in the books!  Here is some rain at home in the morning and some rain at PT in the afternoon.  At least the raindrops are pretty to look at in different settings.

Day 89- Thursday, 3/30/23

Thankfully the rain only lasted a couple days this week.  Today was still cold but otherwise nice out.  Brandon needed a haircut before heading back to school so we ventured out to do that this afternoon and he drove.  It's really something he misses being away at school with no car and is usually one of the first things he asks to do upon his return. He flies back to school tomorrow.

Day 90- Friday, 3/31/23

I had to get a mustard filed picture in on this last day of March because it wouldn't be March around here without them.  We have fields and fields that look like a sea of yellow all over right now.  Today is also Justin's 22nd birthday and he had a blast celebrated with friends back at school especially since it was a school holiday for Caesar Chavez--a California migrant worker's rights warrior.

Day 91- Saturday, 4/1/23

Happy April! I picked up these nice spring flowers today that should be in perfect bloom by the time Easter hits end of next week.  It's supposed to be a nice clear and really warm one--we can all use that!

Day 92- Sunday, 4/2/23

John made us some pancakes this morning to start us off on a good note.  Otherwise it was pretty much just a chore day, and was also pretty quiet with all the boys gone again.

That's it!  See you next week.