Warming Trend

Zephyrhills, Fl   (hi  77, low 55)

We awoke yesterday morning to a temperature of 25 degrees….which as it turns out, is the temperature our heat pumps quit working!

We were told the heat pumps didn’t  work in temps lower than 40 degrees,  but that turned out to be false.   They have kept us nice an warm, until it got down to 25 degrees. This was the first time they shut down.  We sure are glad to have heat pumps this year, verses the propane furnace we used last year.  Once the heat pumps quit, we fired up the propane furnace.  It kicked right on and warmed things up but was a little stinky from not being run for so long.  It was also a little noisier and it frightened poor little Baxter.

I went to my eye appointment yesterday morning and the ophthalmologist confirmed what the optometrist found.   I do have “narrow angles” which causes the pressure inside my eyes to build up.  He gave me a good exam and scheduled me for the   iridectomy procedure next Tuesday.  He is only doing the right eye, then I will have to go back to get the left eye done.  I would have preferred to get them both done the same week, but he prefers to do one eye at a time.    He’s a great doctor and has quite an impressive wall of degrees and awards.  If anyone needs a good Ophthalmologist in the Tampa Bay area, Dr. Leonard Cortelli is the guy to see.

 

Blogger friends Sherry and David from  In The Direction of Our Dreams, are facing some tough times.  If you haven’t already, perhaps you could send them some positive thoughts.

 

Who is Paul McCartney?  I’ll be you all know!  Evidently when he sang on the Grammy’s the other night, Twitter lit up with people asking who he was!  Makes you feel old, doesn’t it?  They were asking if he was somebody new?

 

We’ve not done any kayaking or hiking lately, so I have no new pictures to post.  I didn’t think anyone would want to see picture of sweaty people working out at the gym!

Here is a picture from a past “fun day.”

It’s Been a Long Few Days

Zephyrhills, Florida   (hi 55, low 31)

Well a real cold front finally arrived here in central Florida.  It’s okay though, since it’s only going to last two days and then we’ll be back into the 70’s.  You gotta have some cold weather so that you can look forward to spring.

Nothing fun has been going on, but a lot has been happening.

On Thursday I went to the eye doctor to get a new prescription for contacts.  The optometrist discovered that I have “narrow angles.”  He said it could lead to an acute narrow angle glaucoma event, and referred me to an ophthalmologist.  I’ve done some reading on this and it’s fairly common, especially in women as they age.  The treatment is to place a hole in the iris to allow pressure to escape.  The “narrow angle”  blocks this natural release.  It’s done with a laser and from what I gather is simple and painless.   I have an appointment tomorrow.  I hope he can do the procedure then and not have to make me come back another day. 

On Friday, we ended up taking my brother to the ER thinking he may have had a mini stroke.  He was kept overnight and given a bunch of tests.  They concluded that he didn’t have a stroke, but that his blood pressure was high.  Hopefully he will smarten up and start taking better care of himself.  Of course the first thing he did when he left the hospital was grab a cigarette.  You can’t help someone who won’t help  himself.  Just ask the family of Whitney Houston!

We have been trying to get to the gym most every day, but two days spent at the hospital have kept us from it the last few days.  We plan on going this morning and hopefully it won’t be crowded.  After the gym, I think the rest of the day will be spent lounging around the house.  We just finished watching the first (and only) season of the series, Homeland.  What a good series.  I can’t wait for the new season. 

We have gotten several things sold from our  Craig's list add.  Carolyn bought our little ice-maker and last night our great little rv freezer went to a new home.  We sure hated to see it go, but we just don’t want to have to drag it around.  We also sold our Roadmaster brake buddy and a utility trailer.  We need to go through things in the shed and see what else we can dispose of.  We kept too much “stuff” when we sold the house.  We just ran out of time and energy!  Al bought a few new shirts and we were good…we tossed out the same number of old ones!  We’re trying to follow the one in, out rule!

Baxter has been a little stinker lately.  We changed their food again.  We think we may stick with Royal Canin brand.  He loves their kitten food (and so do the others).  I don’t know if it’s the new food, or the fact that we got the fleas under control, but he’s feeling like a million dollars and tearing around like a crazy cat!

He really enjoyed Margie and Carolyn's visit the other day.  He  likes to show off for company.

He has his own “bowls” that he loves to lay in.  We’ve had to purchase new ones as he grows.  The other night, he found this one.

In the above picture, you can see the blue bowl which was the first one he played in when he was just a baby.

He was real tiny when he first started playing in that bowl.

The next picture is when he was outgrowing the blue bowl.

Then we had to go buy the orange one when he outgrew the blue one. 

Then we had to buy the red one.

Then he found this new one on his own. It’s a container that holds 16 ounces of baby spinach…….

which he converted to a bowl for 9 plus pounds of baby kitten!

 

 

 

That Baxter….we sure do love the little devil.