Approaching Spring

It's been a while since my last blog post, but really not too much has changed - a few minor health issues (i.e. catching a cold from every little kid that walks past me and the progressively worse back pain that comes from aging).  I actually like Indiana Jones' line: "It's not the years Sweetheart, it's the miles". But life still goes on, whether I drag myself out of bed early or late, or even at all.


I did see some posts on Facebook from an old friend I had not heard from in about a year, but since she has made it rather plain she does not want any contact with me I left it alone. It hurts to have lost this person as a friend, and especially so since I do not even know what it was I did to hurt her or make her so angry that she completely closed me out of her life, but I wish her well and I will continue to include her in my prayers.

Most of my projects have been on hold for one reason or another, and a couple only need a few things done to finish them; I just need the energy to get moving and get them done. The lawn side of the driveway is ready for the red lava rock, and I am about ready to form and pour the footings for the retaining wall on the other side of the driveway. I have the flytying desk ready for the final coat of lacquer and hope to finish it this week. Then maybe I can get a couple of flies tied before heading to the Keys next Thursday.

Projects and Progress

I am finally making some progress on some of my larger projects, well, one of them anyway. Back in September I got the permit to build a storage shed in the back yard, on the opposite side of the pool from the house, but up close to the screenroom wall (about six inches way). I’d had the concrete pad poured two and a half years ago when the pool went in. It seemed like from that time forward, every time I could get some progress on it something would come up, either we had to make a trip to the west coast (Pacific coast, not the west coast of Florida), someone would get sick or injured, or we’d have visitors or bad weather.

First Wall Framing

The first wall to be framed needed to be the wall next to the screenroom, and because of the proximity it needed to be framed, sided, nailed off, and painted before it could be raised. Progress has been really slow; back in November my son, Joey, helped me finish nailing off the siding on the first wall, then I got a chest cold, or two or three- finally a friend of mine from Virginia came to visit and although we all had colds, including my friend Larry, with his help two coats of paint were put on that first wall. OK, actually Larry did most of the work, while I coughed.

Then, two weeks ago, just as I felt I was finally kicking this series of coulds, while getting ready for church, I had a sharp, stabbing pain in my lower back. And, I spent most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on the living room floor with my lower legs up on the footstool. After Bishopric I asked Bishop Pedraza, Kenny Rider and Mike Kremkau to give me a blessing, and it eased the pain a lot, but I still had to be careful how I stood up, and reaching or bending over needed to be avoided. My back is still tender, and now, knowing that the problem is multiple degenerating discs, arthritis and some bone spurs all in the same place, I have resigned myself to moving carefully. However -

Now, warmer weather and just a slight breeze convinced me that I should be able to raise the first wall, and begin framing the second and subsequent walls.



First Wall Raised



Tomorrow I'll start framing the second 26-foot wall.

Missionary Moments



Papas con Chorizo



The second Tuesday of each month I have the full-time missionaries over for dinner and afterwards we go on splits. One of the dishes I fixed this evening is a common Mexican cold salad; Black Bean, Cilantro and Sweet Pea Rice. It makes a nice tangy counterpoint to the Papas con Chorizo I served as the main dish.

The Missionaries in our Ward are not Latinos, one is from California, and one is from Utah, but are both learning/teaching in Spanish. There are several Latino members in our Ward and quite a few Latino families within our Ward boundaries. But, I have noticed that although there is a large population of Latinos in Florida, very few are Mexican, many come from Guatemala, Argentina, El Salvador, Columbia and Panama as well as Puerto Rico and Cuba. 

Black Bean, Cilantro and Sweet Pea Rice



Sunday before last (5th Sunday in January) our Ward Theme was on missionary work, and the Ward Missionaries were the Speakers in Sacrament meeting, with Full-time Missionaries giving the opening and closing prayers. The youth speaker and the 2nd and 3rd speakers gave their talks in English. Our Ward Mission Leader (a Guatemalan) recently acquired US citizenship and his wife is going through the process now. His wife was our first adult speaker and gave her talk in both English and Spanish. He was the concluding speaker and gave his talk entirely in Spanish. I know some of our other members did not understand his words, but the spirit carried his talk to all in the chapel. The Full-time Missionaries had an investigator family in the meeting, both Latino, who expressed surprise and some amazement that our church would have Spanish speakers. So, the missionary 5th Sunday talks probably helped the missionary work in the Ward; now if we can just figure out a way to get all of the brothers to do their Home Teaching . . .

looking for better weather

Tough time getting out of bed this morning; not that I didn’t want to, rather that my lower back is once again acting up. I’ve been to the doctor before about it- diagnosis was multiple degenerating disks, several bone spurs and some arthritis. I’ve been on Celebrex for years for the arthritis, and as I checked online today, it seems the procedure for repairing the disks is still not available, and often surgery doesn't even help – maybe it’s time to see if having the bone spurs removed will help enough to let me get mobile again. Still, it seems like it only bothers me when the weather is cold (relatively speaking, we’ve been down into the 40s this past week in south Florida, the rest of the country has had much worse cold). Maybe I need to move farther south, like Panama or Guatemala or Belize – the lower the latitude the better the attitude?

Aspirations for the New Year

It would be nice not to start out the New Year heavier than this year, and then start a serious exercise routine. I’m thinking weights on Monday mornings, Tuesday evenings, Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings or evenings. That would give me four workouts a week, and I want to get on the treadmill or the strider the rest of the days- really would not hurt to do the treadmill M, W, F, and the strider on T, TH, S. That would work with the Bishop’s schedule for Bishopric on Wednesday nights and leave all of Sunday open. Even if I only do twenty minutes at a time, I need to get started, just watching my diet is not doing enough, I need to raise my activity level enough to get back in shape and weights are an easy way to start. Ideally would be to do the weights on the schedule, and get on the strider or treadmill a couple of times each day.