February 1- 15, 2010

Monday, February 1st started off with Rhonda going to work and I worked on the blog to submit the January update. It was a productive day for the both of us. After Rhonda finished work, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. We were at our table ordering the pizza when our friends, Dave and Clair called to let us know they were on the road and heading to the “valley” (southern part of Texas). They were a couple of hours out of Sikeston, MO, and planning on stopping for the night and grabbing a bite to eat at Lambert’s Café (the home of the roll throwing cafe), before they moved further south.


Sadie goes to the vets for her operation today, the 2nd of February. She has what I hope is a fatty-tissue on her chest which is going to be removed today. It broke my heart to leave her because I’m sure she doesn’t understand what’s going on. Her little eyes looked at me as if pleading to me to not leave her there. I’m saying a little prayer for her now as I write this. I wonder if she knew something was going on? The doctor called around 1:25 pm informing me that everything went okay with Sadie’s surgery. This night was very quiet and empty without Sadie in the motor home.

The morning of February 3rd found us having anxious feelings as the time to pickup Sadie neared. We stopped at McDonald’s for a quick breakfast since it’s right down the road from the vet’s office. Our doctor told us we could pick her up between 9 and 9:30 am. We arrived a couple of minutes before 9 am. Once inside the doctor explained to us the procedures needed to take care of her once we brought her home. She heard our voices when we were talking to the doctor; she started barking up a storm, almost pleading with us to get her out of there. Christi the assistant brought her out to us. She was so excited she almost jumped out of her arms. She had a funnel collar over her head. It looked like a white little bonnet was adorning her head. She had a couple draining tubes; each probably 1 to 2 inches in length. We were given antibiotics and some pain pills for her. She looks so cute with her bonnet on. The incision on her chest was larger than what I’d expected. She really was a trooper. We need to go back for follow-up with the doctor on Saturday. We brought her home let her potty outside and then come inside to take it easy. After a couple of hours we gave her the medications, her appetite was good and the house became a home again. Now all I had to do was try to get Rhonda feeling better.

The next couple of days we just took it easy around the motor home and let Sadie re-coup. Rhonda was still feeling under the weather but she continued to keep on going like the Ever-ready Bunny. Friday she cleaned around the motor home, did the laundry, went to Wal-Mart and she even went to the tanning salon trying to kill two-birds with one tanning bed; getting a tan and sweating out the cold & cough she has been fighting. I on the other-hand was fighting with the Federal government; okay fighting might be a strong word. I was doing our taxes online since we finally received our W-2’s. Once those were completed we found ourselves watching a couple of movies on TNT. The first movie was, A Time to Kill and the second was, The Client, by my favorite fiction author John Grisham.

Saturday morning, the 6th of February was the target day for taking Sadie back to the vet’s. This is the day to remove the tubes in her chest. We took her inside the office and immediately she started shaking like a leaf in autumn time. I was mistaken; thinking she was having the funnel collar removed today – it didn’t happen. We have to go back in 7-9 days have her stitches removed; then the funnel collar can come off too.

BIG - BIG - BIG Day, Super Bowl Sunday. Today the Indianapolis Colts play the New Orleans Saints for the title of Super Bowl Champions. While Rhonda started cleaning up around M/H, I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items to enjoy watching the game. Needless to say there wasn’t much enjoyment in the snack foods after the second quarter. The Colts started off pretty good getting a 10-0 lead, but everything went downhill from there. They lost to the Saints 31-17. It’s sad in one respect on a personal note, but in another way of looking at it, it becomes a Cinderella Story for the Saints and the city of New Orleans. If we had to lose the Super Bowl, this is the team I would have picked to do it. And of course they did.



Monday, the day after brings a little depression and reality that the Colts lost to a very good Saints team. One positive spin on it is there were 30 other teams in the NFL that didn’t make it as far as they did. This whole week had Rhonda working every day except Wednesday. If it wasn’t raining all day & night, we were watching the weather drop down to the freezing mark, making this a miserable week weather-wise. By Saturday the weather was starting to get a little warmer at least in the daylight hours, but still requiring a light jacket. Rhonda went to bank to cash her paycheck before we left for Livingston to pick up our mail and have a nice lunch. We stopped by what’s known as Trade Days at Pedigo Park where there are vendors selling their wares. It was like visiting a ghost town, there were very few vendors. I did get to see a friend of mine, Paul Vail whom I had met a couple of years back when Rhonda and I were vendors too. He brought back a book I’d loaned him, Quiet Strength, by Tony Dungy. We had a nice talk while Rhonda and Sadie walked around the park. We came home to a relaxing evening picking up a couple of Subway sandwiches and we watched TV before retiring for a good night’s rest.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday (Valentine’s Day) now becomes Heart Day, Heart Day, Heart Day. I woke up finding a Valentine card on the kitchen table from Rhonda. I put out a couple of Valentine cards I had made for her too. Left the first one in the bathroom sink (the water was off) and the second one on top of milk (the lid was on) in the refrigerator. When I woke up this morning my throat was really sore, could it be Rhonda is contagious? I could barely swallow but as the day progressed I started feeling better.

The first half of this month hasn’t been very eventful. We sort of went into a hibernation mode, just like a bear does in the wintertime. Rhonda has stayed more active than I have, since she is going to work and I’m staying home being a kept man. Oh the hard life I live. But like I said somebody has to do it, might as well be me.