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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Did you miss me? Did you know I was gone?



Wow! So my knee hurt and I got a new one. It is a match for the other one and now I am symmetrical again. At least as symmetrical as I ever was. Physically. Eight weeks after surgery, according to my Fitbit, I did well over 10,000 steps yesterday which is about five miles. That was just a normal Saturday, so I guess I am cured now.


I know this might sound like an old geezer thing, but I got a metal detector to look around the old farm house and a few old sites in the neighborhood. Now I always used to picture Richard Milhous Nixon walking on the beach at San Clemente with his big ol’ shorts on, humming to himself out of tune, and swinging a metal detector. I’ll do my best not to look like that. I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting. The farmhouse is 100 years old this year and is in rough shape, but the roof doesn't leak. Well maybe a little around the chimney.
UPDATE:

I have done three searches on the ground in that picture and have come up with at least one coin each time. However, Most of what I find is junk or garbage, especially the old aluminum pull tabs from beer cans. They must be the scourge of detectors everywhere. I can discriminate them out with the detector, but I hate them enough to want to see them gone. I think it will be a losing battle. They were around in the 1960's and 1970's mostly. I have found at least two dozen.
I have found coin(s) each time I search, but they are all modern. The residents of this farm have always been of modest means or less so I don't expect much in that department.

Meanwhile, Spring has sprung. It went from this:
 To this:
 To this:
in just a few weeks.

The neighbors got their feeder pigs. Another sure sign of spring.


 

I think a lot of things have happened, but I never write them down and forget most of them. I need to change that habit because, you won't believe this, I sometimes have good ideas. They just don't last very long.

It was our anniversary a couple of weeks ago and the Cooker made a lovely card for me. She removed the gray from my beard and I really don't own a blue suit, but otherwise it is me. Sort of.
Yesterday was somewhat eventful. It was garage sale opener (the fishing opener was last weekend) and I just had to go see if there was anything I couldn't live without or flip to feed my own hobby habits. I spent a buck, so it was a bit of a letdown. OTOH I didn't have much more $ to spend anyway, sigh. It was, however, a beautiful sunny day on the farm. When I got down by the lake (2 miles and a 600 foot loss in elevation) I found this:
taken from about the same place as picture #5 of the harbor.

Later in the day I was cleaning up my mess in the garage and I heard Stitch call my name. She had been furiously gardening and was about to transfer some tomato plants into the ground (risky this early in the season). She had tripped and fallen. Apparently, the landing wasn't so good as she landed on a piece of cement block used for anchoring things in the wind. The Cooker took her to the local Emergency Room to do what they could for her broken wrist and cracked ribs. As much as she loves to garden, I think she should maybe look for a safer sport. Gardening and growing food has some built in dangers that shouldn't be taken lightly. Since she is good with horses maybe rodeo is something she should look into.

A new statement I picked up from a forum I follow. Something to keep in mind should you get a bit frustrated.
 
“A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.”


27 comments:

  1. It may be presumptuous to say this but you ahve a nice package

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  2. Welcome back! Congrats on the new knee. And thanks for the lovely pictures - also the mental ones. I'm going to have that image of Nixon with the metal detector in my head for a long time.

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  3. John, from you I take that as a well deserved compliment! (Or, "That's what SHE said!")

    Donna,I have had that picture of him for decades, which always causes a little smirk at the mention of his name.

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  4. Jono--You WERE missed. Welcome back to the blogosphere.

    And thanks for the pictures. They're lovely, except for the one of Nixon, that will make me try to gouge my eyes out later on. (I remembered it, but had managed to shove it to the back of my memory until you brought it up.)

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  5. Do you make that noise the Bionic Man used to make when you jump now?

    The pictures are great. You live in a much more picturesque place than I do.

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  6. Glad you are back, and wow on the 10,000 steps! The husband of a friend of mine had knee replacement surgery about six months ago, and he's not nearly as recovered as you are.

    Good luck with the metal detecting. Do you think you might find enough of those aluminum tabs to recycle them for money to maybe pay for a 1/100th of the cost of the detector? ;-)

    Hope all goes well for Stitch...broken wrists and cracked ribs are a pain!

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  7. Sioux, Tricky Dick did have that effect on most people, I think.

    Katy, I expect to be able to accelerate onto an on ramp and blend into traffic like nobody's business!

    PP, I really am feeling good about this new part. Less swelling this time, but a more noticeable scar. At this age I really don't care what I look like at the beach. The price of metal is down, so it will take a while, but I bought it used. She should heal pretty well as she is pretty tough.

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  8. Welcome back. You HAVE been missed. Congratulations on all those steps. Going really well.
    Love that card.
    And hope that the gardening injuries heal quickly. As I know to my cost, gardening IS a blood sport.

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  9. oh no..hope she's going to be ok...I keep telling all the oldies here at apt. complex that we are all a trip and fall in the bathroom from a nursing home.

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  10. Welcome back! I love the card, but maybe next year the Cooker should throw in the metal detector. Does it beep when it gets close to your knees?

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  11. Trust John Grey......
    Glad it all went well, somewhat during the same time I had a touch up on my cardiac side, couple stents.
    Do your rehab.

    Cheers
    Mike

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  12. I'm glad that you have a new knee and that you're symmetrical again.

    I'm sorry to hear about Stitch's injury. Who knew that gardening was a contact sport?

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  13. EC,thanks! At least I could still read yours and others.

    JACKIESUE, you always keep me thinking and laughing. Both are still important.

    Agi T, I haven't tried it yet, but will the next time I go out. Maybe I'll find the shallow grave of someone with joint replacements. Sounds like a good mystery!

    Mike, John Gray's chickens have more personality than a lot of people I have known.

    Ahab, When you physically throw yourself into any sport or hobby there is an inherent risk. Even golf and bowling if you think about it and let your imagination loose.

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  14. Hey, congrats on the new knee! And I laughed at your final quotation -- right on!

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  15. You need to carry a notebook. :-)

    Glad to hear about the new hardware -- and to hear that you are now symmetrical.

    Pearl

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  16. Welcome back! Funny, I was just thinking about you yesterday and hoping you were okay since you hadn't posted for a while.

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  17. Ah, the old 60s era poptops. Our local high school drinking society claimed that if you put the tab back in the can you would never get caught drinking.

    Worked for me!

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  18. Debra, sometimes computers need to remember their place in our lives.

    Pearl, A notebook is a great idea, but now I need to remember to do it. Therein lies the challenge. I am patiently waiting for your return, also.

    Diane, When I finished number nine of your Spy series I wanted to get #10. I didn't realize it was in progress and am patiently waiting for it.

    Batty, I put them back in the can because I didn't want them in my pocket or in the ashtrays. I still look forward to your Friday posts.

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  19. I did notice your absence. Glad the 2nd time around went well. Happy Anniversary!! I am so, so ready for summer. Should be up your way in July. You should be hopping around well by that time.

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  20. Hey I missed you! Glad the new knee works. Over here we sell drink pulls for cash. Great final quote-joke!

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  21. You were missed. I checked in on you a week or so ago just in case. Nice bunch of pigs. Sorry about Stitch's accident. Gardening will have to wait. And a friend of mine who teaches at a rough stock riding school (saddle and bareback bronc) says females are more than welcome on the rodeo circuit in events other than barrel racing but there are very very few of them.

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  22. Welcome back! My FIL just had his knee replaced too, and you are doing much better than he is. However, he is 83. So there's that.
    Love the fog shot.
    Been kicking around getting a metal detector for my hub. I think he'd like it.

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  23. Thanks, Jono! I just hit the 50% mark on Book 10 this week so I'll keep plugging! :-)

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  24. You know I missed you.

    I'm glad the surgery went smoothly and that you're walking 5 miles only 8 wks afterwards. That's pretty impressive!

    Isn't "feeder pig" a redundant term?

    Happy Anniversary to you and the Cooker. Is that your nice package or are you happy to see me/her?

    Smiles 'n hugs.

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  25. Glad you're back! And glad your new knee matches t'other one, and is working well.

    Nice shot of the foggy lakeside. I have a weakness for fog.

    I think the thrill of a metal detector is the hope, not the actual finds. You just never know what might turn up.

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  26. Hey, welcome back! Maybe I'm just old too, but searching an old place with a metal detector sounds fun.

    Also, regarding your quote at the end there... I feel like I should mention that the combination of those two things, chessboxing, is a real thing. And it's every bit as fantastic as it is idiotic.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK5TQSKmS3o

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  27. I have good ideas occasionally, too, but don't write them down, don't remember them. For example, I think I should see the knee surgeon, but I never seem to think of it during his business hours.

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