Day 59° partly cloudy this morning then clearing. Highs in the lower 60s. Southwest wind 5 to 10 miles per hour. Night 38° partly cloudy in the morning then cloudy with a chance of showers and drizzle after midnight. Areas of fog after midnight. Not as cool with Lows in the upper 40s. South winds 10 to 15 miles per hour. Chance of rain 40%

Morning Coffee at the Apartments

Getting an Oil Change

–———– ————-

NOT getting all of the medications for which I came.

MEDS that were ordered Wednesday for Ella, the meds that we were told Wednesday that they’d be ready tomorrow – they weren’t. Come back tomorrow (that’s today) they weren’t. They will be ready tomorrow. We’ll see.

Today we were fed lunch by the apartment management

And there was live music.

————- ————-

HERE WE ARE AGAIN! Ella received a text message that her meds are now ready for pickup.

Surprise surprise Ella received a text that her prescription was ready – and it was!

I SERIOUSLY do not like going to Walgreens. They have screwed up too many things in my timeline with them. I don’t trust their accounting. I don’t trust their counting. I’m fearful that they’ll make a mistake in Ella’s medications. That’s why I have my medications from a mail order site and I’m trying and trying and trying to get Ella to do the same thing, so that we can just get out of the grip of Walgreens.

©2023 Thomas E Williams

Thought for the day

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4‭-‬7 NRSV
https://bible.com/bible/2016/php.4.4-7.NRSV

Day 55°. Sunny. Highs in the mid 50s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Night 34°. Clear. Lowe’s in the lower 30s. Southeast winds around mph becoming Southwest after midnight.

We were at Over The Hill Gang from 10:00 to 2:00 today

GARY SPIVEY brought a audio visual presentation about the early history of Liberty Hill Texas

HE really held out attention.

GARY was glad to answer questions and provide more backgrounds

THEN came lunch

AND what a lunch it was. Phill prepared a Lebanese lunch for us

AFTER lunch there was time for just sitting and visiting.

THERE was Scrabble

AND Five Crowns

We were home for a couple of hours from 2:30 to 5:30.

WHILE Ella went up to the community room to call bingo, I went to pickup a used kitchen table and chairs. We had to remove the table legs to get it into my car. That means I had to reassemble it once home. Ella arrived from bingo just as I was done setting it up.

I’M bushed. Goodnight all

©2023 Thomas E Williams

CANASTA was played after the Grandies meeting. Anne, Ella, Sandy, and I.

Day 52°, mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 50s. Northwest wind 10 to 15 miles per hour with gusts up to 25 mph. Night 36° clear. Lowe’s in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

AFTER Grandies we went to Ella’s doctor’s appointment. We were about forty-five minutes early and they were on lunch. It was 12:49 when we arrived and 2:00 when we were done.

SINCE it was well pay lunch time and we had another stop before returning home, we got some fish sandwiches at the McDonald’s drive through in Liberty Hill.

WE have many pounds of pull tabs from aluminum cans. We get these at our once a month collection at Cross Tracks Church. We gather aluminum cans to raise money to support the various ministries of our Grandies group.  If the cans have not been detabbed, Ella and I will do that as we crush the cans.

THE tabs will be given to Ronald McDonald House Charities Central Texas. Over the years, RMHC’s friends and supporters have collected millions of aluminum pull tabs (also known as pop tabs) to support their programs. They simply recycle them for the cost of the aluminum.

THE donated tabs that Grandies collect are taken to “We Are Blood” in Round Rock Texas. We took our tabs there today. Which is when we discovered that they are closed on Wednesdays. 26 miles from Liberty Hill and then 21 miles home made for an unnecessary adventure.

WHEN we returned home around 3:30, we found our grocery delivery was waiting for us. I had arranged delivery from between 3 & 4.

ABOUT 6:30 Ella received a text from Walgreens that the medicine prescribed by the doctor was ready for pick up.

SO off I went to (hopefully) bring my ailing wife some relief.

THAT’S all for today’s adventures. Goodnight and God bless.

©2023 Thomas E Williams

THERE’S a lot of rain, sleet, and snow sliding over Texas today.

SPEAKING of Texas, have you ever noticed how easy it is to make the shape of Texas with your hand?

Day 48°. Showers with a chance of thunderstorms. Highs around 50. East winds 10 to 15 mph becoming Northwest this afternoon. Gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of rain near 100%. Night 38° partly cloudy. Lowe’s in the mid 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph with gas up to 30 mph.

COFFEE time this morning.

BEEF stew for lunch with plenty leftover. Beef, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green beans, carrots, and a tiny amount of cabbage all mixed together with V8 juice and Better Than Bullion vehicle soup starter.

I DID a whole lot of sorting through stuff today. The bathroom has a lot less mess now.

THESE two dresser/storage units are now side-by-side next to the bed. That makes so much more sense than the way they were.

AND though you might not believe it from this photo, this corner is way more orderly than previously.

TONIGHT was out weekly game of Mexican Train in the community room at the apartments. Unfortunately, we completely forgot about a Church Board Meeting at Cross Tracks Church that was also tonight. I didn’t think about until an hour after it had started. Oops! That was too late.

I TOOK some Tylenol and was in bed by eight. So, goodnight and God bless.

©2023 Thomas E Williams

YOU know how parents say that their children are six months old – or eighteen months old, etcetera? Well … I’m 912 months old today!

ELLA did laundry today and that included our sheets and pillow cases. While the bed was stripped down, I took the opportunity to remove the mattress and box springs. We have a handful over under-the-bed storage boxes. Unfortunately, the boxes are too tall to slide under the frame. However with the spring removed, I was able to place a half dozen of those storage boxes under the bed. Yay!

Renewing Car Licence Tag

THE 22 minute drive and the 10 minute wait time was less than half the time it’s spent over a four day attempt to renew online. Lesson learned.

APPARENTLY Monday late morning is a good time to visit the tax department. I was surprised at how few were here ahead of me.

WHILE I was out, I decided to pick-up some groceries that Ella wanted. She wanted a specific brand of frozen cinnamon rolls. Walmart doesn’t sell them. H. E. B. does. Two bags frozen rolls ✓. Three cans of broccoli cheese soup ✓. Sour cream ✓. 3M Command strips to hang picture frames ✓. I wanted bacon and eggs ✓✓.

ONCE home I put away my portion of the laundry that Ella had washed, dried, folded, and stacked on the bed.

I ALSO spent some time going through some of my storage boxes. I’m sorting into KEEP, SELL, and TRASH. This is part of our push to declutter our home and our lives.

GAME night began at 5:00 this evening. We took our Fast Track game to the common area. One of the gals that regularly plays with us was there so I took the opportunity to play Five Crowns instead. Well then the gal that was going to play Fast Track moved to a different table to play a different game. Ella decided she’d rather go home to bed than learn a new game. She’s still not feeling one hundred percent.

Goodnight and God bless

©2023 Thomas E Williams

DAY 58 degrees Sunny. Highs and lower 60s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. NIGHT 36 degrees clear. Lowe’s in the mid-30s. Northeast winds around 5 mph.

Sketches and doodles from 1995

Touch an image to enlarge

Today is the 7th anniversary of my hybrid heart ablation*.

THIS IS A REPOST FROM 7 YEARS AGO

FRIDAY 22, 2016: We arrived at Heart Hospital of Austin at about 5:15 a.m. after a 45 minute drive. I was quickly taken to a room to strip down and gown up. I answered questions to verify that I was me. Did they think somebody would impersonate me to sneak in and have vast portions of their heart nerves destroyed? No I realize that it is a safety measure to assure they are doing the right procedure on the right person.

THEY started an IV, which is a challenge to most people because my veins are tough, they move, and it’s difficult to find one that is straight enough for the needle. It usually takes multiple tries. Oww!

I THINK that it must have been around eight when they wheeled me into the operating room and had me slide myself on to the surgery bed. I said, “I thought that you’d do like on TV and count to three and then everyone lift me onto the bed.” I was told that if I were unconscious they would have but the rest is just TV drama.

I COMMENTED on the huge digital display (4’x6’?) and said, “You’re not kidding me. After I go to sleep, you’re going to change channels and watch the game.” No laughs. Tough crowd.

THE anesthesiologist arrived and asked about any previous surgeries. I told her about them and she wasn’t happy that she hadn’t been given a complete list of my history previously. She was concerned about the surgery on my neck and on my knee. So she put a pillow behind my head and knees. When she started to give me the anesthesia it would not go into the IV. She pulled the IV and started searching for another insertion spot. The doctor came in and took over the IV while the anesthesiologist started doing her prep work. The drugs were finally administered and I remember nothing until sometime mid afternoon.

WHEN I came to, I was in a small room in the ICU. I had four IVs in me; one in my wrist, my forearm, the inside of my elbow and one in my carotid artery. I had bandages and packing on the two groin insertion spots and over the drain tube in my abdomen. The three inch incision on my abdomen was glued shut. My throat was rough from the tube that had been inserted in my throat. And the nurse asked, “How are you feeling?”

WE had a “Birthday Eve” party at my youngest son’s house with ¾ of my biological children in attendance. It was nice to spend time with all of this slice of family. I’m not prejudice at all when I say, “They are all nice people.” I would have said that they are good kids, except they are not kids. They’re not even young adults. They are all adults now. When did that happen? Obviously when I wasn’t watching.

Goodnight and God bless.

©2023 Thomas E Williams

*Hybrid ablation is a minimally invasive treatment for persistent atrial fibrillation that combines surgical and catheter-based techniques. During the procedure, the heart surgeon creates a small incision in the upper abdomen. Using small tools inserted through the incision, the surgeon performs voltage mapping and then ablates (Ablates: To remove body tissue surgically.) on the outside of the heart. An electrophysiologist then uses a catheter and 3-D mapping to ablate the inside of the heart.

The morning coffee was well attended.

JENNY came here today with two box shelving units of 16 cubby’s each. Her and I assembled them (think IKEA furniture) and stood them in place. Then she and Ella began filling them. As they moved things around, they actually opened up storage in our Lawyers bookcase (also known as Barrister bookcases) and a chest of drawers wherein we had kept lots of board games.

Much sorting ensued with the shelving and shifting of things. Some things were saved, some tossed out, some donated, and some to be sold.

I FEEL very accomplished about today. And also very tired. We two old people were in bed before 6:30 tonight.

Goodnight all

©2023 Thomas E Williams

I ATTEMPTED to sleep in today. I was awake by 8 but didn’t get up and stay up until nearly 10 o’clock.

ONCE up I started the coffee and bacon. While that was happening, I shredded and cubed some potatoes, shredded a carrot, thinly sliced some celery, and added it to the instapot along with water, bits of bacon, and chicken soup starter. That was pressure cooked for 9 minutes. After the pressure cooking I set it to slow cook and added some milk.

Day 53° cloudy with a 20% chance of showers. Cooler with highs in the mid 50s. East wind 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. Night 47° cloudy. Lowe’s in the mid-40s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.

THE soup turned out good and we ate about 1:30. Which was about right convicting how late we ate breakfast.

WE played three games of Fast Track after lunch. I won once and came in second on the other two.

©2023 Thomas E Williams

I HAD the oven going for a dessert to take to Over The Hill Gang. Since I had it preheated, I decided to bake our breakfast also. Shredded potatoes and carrots, and pieces of deli ham all stirred together with four eggs in a cast iron skillet.

Day 65°, mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 miles per hour becoming North this afternoon. Night 47° partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lowe’s in the lower 40s. Northeast winds around 5 mph.

I HAD already used a previous photograph for the Tom and Ella Journal masthead when I took the above photo. I may use it tomorrow.

WE played a couple of games of Fast Track before I left for the OTHG meeting and lunch. Ella decided to once again stay home.

ELLA had a prescription ready for pick up. Do I did. Running counter to pay experienced with this Walgreens, everyone went smoothly and I came away without the usual frustration and stress. This is a good day.

THERE was a goodly number of folks already at Over The Hill when I arrived at 10:40. Most were guys that had been here much earlier for the men’s meeting. This makes me feel proud of the work this club and its board has done since June of 2022.

OTHG was nearly a victim of Covid. Out of fear of endangering the lives of our members, we had shut down in mid 2020. After 14 months of inactivity we opened back up only to once again shut down again in the fall of 2021.

THE spring of 2022 filled us with hope and we began again with a handful of people coming for coffee and some games. However, it was only to have the city take over the building as a voting place.

THE OTHG board made plans to reopen in June of that year, we began advertising on local social media. And people responded. We now run plus or minus 30 regularly. And that’s just for our Thursday luncheons. We also have activities on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We have a ways-to-go to reach the 70-80 attendance that we had in our glory days. However we have a solid core on which to build.

DONNA WHEELER gave us information about the Williamson County Community Resource Centers with special emphasis on the Liberty Hill location. Types of services to which they can connect those in need:. children, food pantry, health care, mental health, affordable housing, employment, transportation, older adult, education, and family crisis.

BINGO, Five Crowns, and canasta we’re played today. Evidently the players of 42 and Scrabble played other games today.

IT was pizza day at Over The Hill today. Unfortunately for me the only one that had no onions was the pepperoni. I’m not a fan of pepperoni but I ate it and was glad of the food.

AND there were desserts aplenty.

I stayed and helped with dishes. And also to play canasta until nearly two o’clock.

FROM OTHG I drove to O’Reilly’s auto parts and doesn’t about eight bucks on a set of blindspot mirrors. I particularly needed one on the passenger side. I have some limited range of motion turning my head that direction.

THE next stop was back to QualTech to get and pass the state mandated inspection. I can now get the car’s licence renewed for 2023.

ONCE home, I took a short nap before going to the community community room and calling bingo for an hour.

Goodnight and God bless

©2023 Thomas E Williams

Day 50% chance of rain. 71° Partly cloudy with a chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning then sunny this afternoon. Hi is in the mid-70s West winds 15 to 20 mph with gust up to 30 mph. Night 48° clear. Much cooler with Lows in the lower 40s. West winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.

AT one o’clock I had a TelaMed conference with a nurse from the obviously radiology department. They wanted to make sure I am aware of my responsibility during pre procedure, procedure, and post procedure. I believe I’m as prepared as I can be

AFTER the meeting we played canasta until about 12:30.

IT was a slow afternoon with only two games of Fast Track played.

ELLA is feeling some better today. She did go to Grandies. However she’s already decided she will not go to Over the Hill Gang tomorrow. That’s just too many people. She did rest in bed most of the afternoon. I also took a short nap.

©2023 Thomas E Williams