Thievary

Well my trip to the dentist was not good. I knew I was going to need a root canal but what I didn't expect was the outrageous price. It would cost over $3500!!! That is insane. So we will be going to Mexico to have my dental work done, whether I like it or not. Many many people go there and now I can see why. The last root canal I had done was $1500 about 3 years ago. And I thought that was crazy, but more fair then the price I got yesterday. Next week Mark has off more days than usual so we will go in to Mexico one day and make an appointment for my dental work. Maybe I will be able to afford an implant where I have a missing tooth. In the US, it would cost anywhere from $2000 to $6000 a tooth

God must have decided that Marks hours were not to be cut just yet. Because after next week we will be back on his 3 and 4 day week. Plus last night he was called into the office and was given a 25¢ raise. God is so good to us. Mark was kind of looking forward to less hours but I guess the timing was not right. God knows best.

It's the time of year for eagles nesting. I've been watching a nest in Decorah Iowa for years now and am enjoying them this year too. It's just amazing how the parents work as a great team. I've recently found a second nest in Decorah as well.
https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-eagles/
https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-north-nest/

On the rise

We are finally on a warming trend. The temps this week will be on a gradual rise with the mid 80's but the beginning of next week. The warmer temps will be so welcome after a colder than normal winter in Yuma. Actually colder in all of AZ.  Next month some of the snowbirds will be leaving which is another nice thing about spring. :)

Marks hours got cut at WM. This week he only works 3 days and then just two days a week. This happens every year at WM's no matter if it's a busy season at one or not. Mark is looking forward to less working time at WM. I hope it gives him time to go some things around here that he enjoys, besides the computer that is. hehehe Like maybe start on our extra room. That can be done little by little so it's more fun than work. He did a great job on our basement at the house but we are older now so it will take a little longer. It's a smaller project so it should be less stressful too. Whatever, he is due for some days of less work. Maybe go and do some sightseeing in the area that we live in now. We haven't done that in a long time and haven't covered much of an area yet either. It seems he is either working or I have laundry to do. With all the people in the park laundry day is a challenge and not always fitting into a time slot we would like.

For the most part the crud has been lifted from me. Just a little cough which is normal living where it's so dry. I doubt Marks cough will ever go away. I'm sure the warmer weather will help us both to some degree.

Last week I started writing mom letters since we can't email or talk on the phone anymore. I kind of forgot about snail mail for communication. Duh. I won't know how she feels or anything but at least she can hear from me. I have to type the letters out on the computer because my penmanship has gotten really bad and my hand tires easily now. I hope that she is getting my letters. No way of knowing that either. But I'll keep sending them. I know she will like hearing from me. I am having a hard time not sending and receiving emails. We have done that for so long that it's just been part of my life. Now that's gone too. Times change and I'm not liking this change one little bit. 😢

This coming week I have to bite the bullet and make a much needed dentist appointment. It's so hard going to a new doctor or dentist when you have had such wonderful ones in the past. The uncertainty is very uncomfortable. The medical profession here stinks, I hope that the dentistry is better. I hope it's cheaper than MN too. Mexico is cheaper but I'm not comfortable with dentistry there yet. I know a lot of people go there, but the area just seems too dirty to me. I won't even eat anything there.

It's about time that I get dressed and get Miss Lola out for her morning duties. Soon it will be a nice warm morning walk. But for now it's still jacket weather and sometimes even a heavy coat and earmuffs. 😮

When will it stop?

Just when I think I'm on the mend, not but 8 hours later the crud/cough is back in full force and sleep is a thing of the past. There is only so much cough medicine that you can take in a day. But night always seems to be the worst. I'm glad I quit smoking 8.5 years ago or it would be a lot worse. So I am thankful I quit smoking for that reason too. Oh heck, what's one more gripe? My left gland is so swollen again and hurts like a bugger. The swelling isn't going down this time which is why it is painful. Maybe once the coughing subsides and I get some much needed rest, that will get better too.

On a happier note, well the end part is. hehe Mark lost his phone the other day. We looked all over, I even looked in the fridge,freeze, garbage, and the cupboards. If you know Mark, you can understand why I looked in the most odd places. Luckily we still had my old Motorola phone for him to use. So yesterday we headed to AT&T to have them set up this phone to our account. Just after lunch we got to talking about if the phones were waterproof, when Mark remembered that he took the phone out of his pocket when he went to the bathroom at work so it wouldn't fall into the toilet. Well, after he got to work yesterday he checked at the service counter to see if by some chance someone found it and turned it in there. Low and behold some honest person did just that. Mark had to describe his phone and then it was returned to him. That being said, my faith in people was somewhat restored. He is going to continue using the Motorola and see if he likes it better than his Samsung. He is not real fond of the purple case it's in though. 😅 I do not like the Samsung phone and wish we had changed providers rather than phones. Now we have a more reliable provider so the Motorola should work much better. T-Mobile does not work here in the foothills and Verizon is horribly overpriced. IF he goes back to his Samsung I may use my Motorola again.

This morning it was a cold 36º when I got up at 8. Just a few more days of this 60º stuff and we will be in more pleasant 70º weather. Then I can open the doors and windows to air out all the germs and enjoy some outside time. We all need a good blast of some warmth and sunshine. 😎 Our northern family and friends will agree with that I'm sure. 😊

Wind and Rain

Sometime during the night it rained and has been raining most of the day. The wind has gotten absolutely wild so no walking outside today. Well, the only walks will be to take Lola our for her duties. With both Mark and I coping with sore throats and a cough, we don't need to spend much time out in the elements. Sorry Lola, I'll make it up to you later.

This afternoon I really heated up the place by making a pumpkin pie for Mark. It got so warm in here that Mark has been in the shed most all day. Mid week he worked on making his shed a "mancave". Nice new workbench and put a tv in there as well. He even cleared out some of the shelves from a cabinet on the porch for me to add some of my larger kitchen tools.  It sure makes it easier for me to get at them now. No more bending and lifting to get them off of a lower shelf.

Our Valentine dinner will be here at home where it's a whole lot less crowded, better price and still good eats. I'm making Mark his favorite parmesan garlic shrimp scampi. 

Not sure what I'll be eating, I'm not a fan of shrimp and too wet and windy to make a steak on the grill. My throat hurts too much for much of anything really. I'll just enjoy watching Mark enjoy his meal  while I have some soup.

Thank you Mexico and Canada

Thanks to these two countries my heart will keep me alive until God is ready for me. These two countries are where I can afford to buy my heart pills. Medicare will not help pay for the pills which cost $400 for 30 days. Where as in Mexico I can buy said pill at $8 for 100 pills. Canada can provide me with my other heart pills at a very similar price. Screw the US pharmaceutical companies. I need to take these pills for the rest of my life and have no other option on what I can take. We live close enough to Mexico now so I don't have to worry about running out. That is unless the stupid, jackass US president screws everyone over some more.  But I still have Canada as my other option.

We went to Mexico today with our dear friends Uncle James and Auntie Bettie. And as always we had a lot of fun. Mark and James sat and had coffee while Bettie and I shopped. Well, Bettie shopped and I followed very close behind. She has the most amazing sense of direction, I on the other hand have none and would have been lost in Los Algodones without her. She really scored on some good deals, she can really talk them down in price. Amazing.

It was and still is cold. By the time we got home I was froze to my toes. 😬Turning on the little propane heater when we got home, warmed me up nicely. The heavy sweatshirt helped too. 😀 The rest of this week into next will be unusually cold so I won't be doing much on the porch or craft area. I'll just stay inside and bake or bask in the heat of the heater. 😃

Happy

While our family and friends are dealing with horrible sub zero temps we have been enjoying some very nice 75º weather. A few days in there it has been pretty windy but for the most part it was great to be able to be outside without a jacket. Today Mark is talking about going to the pool. Not me though, it needs to be warmer and not so peoply. As much as I don't want to wish the great winter weather away, I can so looking forward to the snowbirds leaving this spring. My tomato plant is starting to get tomatoes on it now too. I was so happy to see the first one yesterday.

Little by little I added some of my crafts stuff to the back room. I have things covered in towels, when I'm not working out there, to keep the dirt off of everything. Nothing of great value is out there, just the small stuff. It made us realize that the room really isn't going to work for both  us. It will need to made bigger if/when we make it a permanent room. Lincoln gave a security camera for Christmas and we have that mounted out there. It works great. We can see and hear what is going out in that area whether we are at home or not. In fact it works so well that we ordered another one. 😀

Yesterday it was laundry day, and then we went out for lunch with our dear friends James and Bettie, from Utah. As usual we never run out of things to talk or laugh about. After lunch Mark helped James fix a leak in his propane line. That left Bettie and I to do some serious chatthing. 😉 She is so easy to talk to and never judges you, but gives you good advice and support. She is my closest  friend here. And when they leave in March, we will miss them terribly. They aren't just friends, they are family to us. Uncle James and Auntie Bettie. 😍

Last night Mark and I finally talked about staying here staying here. He is a fly by the seat of his pants person and I am a planner. I needed some answers. We  agreed we are not moving back to MN. The cost of living there is way too high, the summers too humid and the winters too cold. So that being said, we will be bringing our stored items back with us when we go to MN for Lincoln's wedding. By then we will either have a bigger place, or added on to here and have a larger shed. We can then go through our things and decide what can go and what will be used and stay. Kind of hard to do that when everything is not here. Mark is very anxious to get his motorcycle here. I'm debating on keeping my Helix or selling. And it will be nice to have some of our personal items "home".

Time now to write out the last check to Lisa for the storage unit.

A sickly January.

The new year started out a little rocky for us or should I say sickly. Just before Christmas Mark came down the horrible bug that had been going around. We did manage to get to the wonderful candle light service at our church and had a nice quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  The park has a Christmas dinner for all at the park. Each person brings a dish to share. But I enjoy cooking so we had a nice ham dinner at home. Mark, not feeling well, spent the afternoon resting and I watched Christmas shows on Hallmark.

It was several weeks until Mark felt better. Even though he wasn’t feeling well he still went to work. That is until his cough was so bad that they sent him home from work. He rested for the several days he had off and back to work he went. The cough was still with him but it not as bad as it had been. He is a wonderful provider, husband and father. He never lets his family down and works through a lot of tough times.

Not but two weeks later I was the unwilling recipient of a bad cold. My job is to keep things running at home, so I still have work to do too. We made it to church Sunday and on Monday knowing that I would feel worse for some days to come, I did the laundry. Meals still got made and lunches packed, but other than that I’ve rested as best as I can and did only what I had to do. Mark made sure that I had plenty of filled propane tanks for the little propane heater in the house. So I was plenty warm all nestled in my recliner with Lola on my lap to help keep me in the chair. hehehe Instead of using the furnace, which is electric, we use the propane space heater whenever we can. It kept me nice and toasty. Lola enjoyed having me sitting and willingly kept me grounded to my recliner. 

Someone messed up the scheduling where Mark works so he ended up with 6 days off in a row. He never complained so he enjoyed having some much needed down time. Tuesday was his first day back and he said it was very busy and he was shot when he got home. With all the winter visitors here in Yuma, most days are very busy and he comes home quite tired. I do my best to stay up until he gets home no matter how tired I may be. If he can work all night the least I can do is wait up for him. That also means making him some eggs and toast each night.  That guy sure loves eggs. hehehe

It has been another cool week and the wind has been horrific as well. But it’s still better weather than our family and friends have in the winter. With luck I’ll feel well enough to go out and get milk on the warmer day of the week, which won’t be for a few days. Not sure the milk will last that long though. So Mark may have to bring some home or I grab the tissues and just do what needs to be done. I sure hope next month is healthier than January has been.