Dogs and Taxes

The last couple of days have been so hectic We have been boondocking in front of Jennifer's house and trying to get on with our trip to Louisiana.  Naturally we will be delayed again.  I don't know what it is that we are missing, but it seems we never get where we are headed. 

I would like to take a moment to thank God for our motorhome.  I know that the debate rages on what is best: bumper tow trailers, 5ers or motorhomes.  My response to that is there is no one perfect RV.  For some it is the trailer, some the 5er and others a motorhome.  We have had a trailer and a motorhome.  We love the motorhome.  It has given us the ability to just stop anywhere and be comfortable.  It does not matter if we have hookups because of the generator and large fresh water tank.  If we do have hookups, it only takes 15 minutes to be set up.  We have sacrificed some room, we only have one slide out and the front 5 feet is the driving area, but even that is not bad because I love the large windows and the view while driving.  I would be interested in hearing about any of your rigs and why you love it (or not).

Tom has spent days working on our taxes.  It is so different from any other year with retirement income, 401k withdrawls, 2 rental properties, self employment and regular employment as gate guards...  can you spell A-U-D-I-T?  So we have delayed a couple of days to meet with an accountant to review Tom's numbers.  Blech!

While Tom does the taxes I am re-loading the MH.  After living in it for 6 months I now know that I don't need about a 1/4 of the stuff I have 'stuffed' into it.  While here we are packing up things we have not used since we loaded it originally and are putting it into Jennifer's attic, if we think we may ever use, or just plain throwing it away.  I don't know why I was hanging on to so much stuff.  We don't need anything except a few clothes, some cooking stuff, our computers and my sewing machine.  If it is not connected with those four categories, away it goes.  I am telling you, folks, things are becoming less and less important, while memories and moments are becoming more and more important.  God is speaking to us every day about that.  I have decided to listen.

I know you all know that we lost our beloved German Shepherd Dieter last November.  It has been real difficult for Tom and me.  I am the one who needs to have a dog in my life and we have been going back and forth on when to get one, what kind to get, etc.  Well, Dieter came to us through Tony, Master Trainer in Corpus Christi, TX.  So I called him and asked if he had any rescues that he was training and would fit into our RV lifestyle.  I told him we were looking in the 40 pound range as a maximum.  He said instead of one at 40 pounds, how about two at 30 pounds maximum.  He offered two little bundles of energy that were so bonded that they needed to stay together. 



Female pug and Male dachshund, Called Mrs and Mr X.

Well I could not resist so I drove to Corpus from Houston and picked up the dogs.  They are about 1 1/2 - 2 years ole and, so sweet and lovable.  We have been looking for names for them.  The little male we are calling Sonny.  The female pug started out to be Cher but has kind of turned into Uggy.  Not sure how that happened.  Anyway, I will fill you in on the process of integrating two little dogs into a RV household used to having a 100 pound big dog.  It is a real change.

I hope you all are enjoying what to us is a wet weekend.  Happy Traills to you!

Cleaning and the Cardinals

Monday, March 5, 2012

Being at Jennifer's house is restful. We are parked out in the street of her cul-de-sac and will sleep in our own bed while we are here. Now it is time for the outside of Flipper - talk about dirty,  ewwww.

The dirt came off as mud.  Tom won the war.

With the cleaning came the need for a nap; had to be rested and ready for the Cardinals opening game of T-Ball.

First game of the season - Go CARDINALS!

Proud mom and an excited Bryce were read to take on the Jays.  Watching those little guys (and gals) play is a hoot.  They just as often listen to the coach as they don't listen to the coach.  Tom told me after the game that he admired the patience showed by the coachs.  I just laughed.  Tom caught the picture below after a long throw to home for the second out.  Bryce, on second base, danced the happy dance.

Two outs, Take that!

It was a great 2 hours.  An exhausted Bryce is hugged by a proud Grampy after the game.  We hope to catch another game on our way back to the valley at the end of the month.

Proud Grampy, Happy Bryce- Cardinals 22 - Jays 11

I am so excited to see the quality of the pictures we are getting from Tom's new camera.  SO different from iPhone pics.  ROFL.  We are planning to stay here an extra day and leave on Thursday for Louisiana.  Tom has to get the taxes done so we can see how much money we have left for the casinos (ugh). 

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Taking a slow day today.  Tom met his old friends at Dresser for lunch today. We are getting some stuff out of the RV to leave in Jen's attic and just general re-arranging that needs to be done.  Laundry and normal stuff preparing for the trip.



Debbie Wilson and Tom outside Dresser, Inc.



Not much else happening today.  We wish you all well and Happy Traills to you!

Busy travel day

Donna, Tom, Jay, Shalmir

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Whew! What a busy day yesterday was.  We started out in Canyon Lake, TX saying good bye to my awesome brother and his wonderful wife.  We had a great time with them even though it was fragmented.  We had so much to do.  My arms are sore from scrubbing the baseboards and cleaning the RV of the dirt we accumulated during our stay at the ranch.  In some places it turned into mud. Yech.  Tom was busy fixing little things and cleaning the outside compartments.



Jay, Shalmir and Bernie at the ranch

 While there we got a call from the couple that are renting our house in Katy, TX (outside Houston) saying they had bought a house and would be leaving by April 15th.  That was not really good news because they were great renters and took very good care of the house.  Hmmmmm, now what?
Once things were buttoned up, we headed to San Antonio and our daughter Kimberly's house.  We decided to leave the car with Kim and Julius while we head east.  We went to lunch with them then headed to Houston.

It was the first time I had spent any time in the motorhome while it was moving.  I have always driven the car.  It was really nice to be able to look out the giant windows and see everything we passed.  Another great thing was being able to log into the internet to find a real estate agent while we were moving.  Using the Verizon MiFi, I just used my iPad and searched for realtors in Katy, TX.  I found the phone number and called. It worked out great!  After making an appointment for two hours later with the agent, I went to the bedroom and took a nap while Tom drove.  I really love the motorhome.

The meeting went very well and we are pleased with the agent God led us to.  He is knowledgable and very personable.  He agreed with the price point we were looking for and we signed the papers.  Now we all need to pray for a quick sale.  The market has improved so much in the past 18 months, we are encouraged that we can sell and get that off our shoulders.

By this time it was 8:30pm and we were tired, hungry and out of gas. We filled up the motorhome - $200 - grabbed a Whataburger and headed to Jennifer's house.  We will be staying with her a couple of days (really Grandpa will be staying with Bryce hehe).  Our bed was calling and we crawled in about 9:30 and crashed.  It was a good day.  Thank you my Lord Jesus.

Happy Traill's to you.

The best laid plans...

The beauty of being retired is that when outside forces interfere with your plans you can just make new ones!  After leaving the ranch last week, Tom and I went to the St Anthony Hotel in downtown San Antonio for a couple of days.  It was really wonderful to be able to relax and just not hear the 'ding' of the bell saying someone was coming or going from the gate.  We ate, slept and shopped.  And we laughed.  That was the best part, we were able to just enjoy ourselves being responsible for nothing.

Tom lost 41 pounds while we were at the ranch.  He is looking pretty good!  We bought clothes 5 sizes smaller for him while shopping in San Antonio.  He even went down a shoe size.  Pretty kewl. I, of course, did not lose any, but instead found some of the pounds he lost.  There is just no justice in that.

When we left San Antonio and arrived at Live Oak Ranch, my brother's place on the Guadalupe River we continued the do nothing attitude.  A lot of time was spent thinking about where we were going to go for March. We had planned to go visit a couple of states west - New Mexico and Arizona with a short jaunt into Nevada for Las Vegas.  Being Texan born and bred, we did not consider that March was still winter.  Soooooo.....

Tom said lets go east to Louisiana and Mississippi. That is what we are going to do.  We are leaving tomorrow to go to Katy and sign up a realtor to list our house there.  The couple that was leasing it bought a house and will be moving April 15th.  We will list to sell or lease. Pray for a sale... it would be nice to not have that responsibility hanging over us.  Anyway, after we take care of that we will spend a couple of days with Jennifer and Bryce.  He is starting shortstop of his T-Ball team with the first game Monday night.  Rah rah for the Cardinals.  Grampy will be there with his new camera to record the game for posterity, win or lose.

Speaking of new cameras, Tom got a Canon Rebel t2 something or nother Digital SLR for his birthday.  Hopefully we will be adding some great pictures to the blog. And speaking of birthdays, today would have been Dieter's birthday - 9 years old.  Hope he is celebrating in doggie heaven. I miss you, big dog.

We will be updating frequently now that we are doing something other than gate guarding or sleeping.  Stick with us and we will try to amuse and entertain you.

Happy Traills to you.

Time to Move

We made the decision yesterday to move on down the road. Working at the Rocking 5 Ranch as gate guards for the past 5 months has been great, terrible, restful, stressful and exhausting. The past couple of months have been mostly exhausting for Tom and he is really burned out.  My crusty curmudgeon needs some rest!

We don't have long term plans yet but have been thinking about what we want to do this summer. Our first stop on Tuesday (02/28/2012) will be Eagle Pass, TX.  It is not too far from here and has an Indian Casino. We thought we would check it out and do a little shopping before going to Canyon Lake and Live Oak Ranch for a couple of days.  We will decide then what, when, where and who.

I have been neglectful of the blog because there has been nothing to report. The weather is getting better every day and we see the beginnings of the wild flowers that are so beautiful in March and April in Texas. Hopefully the rain we have seen lately will cause an explosion of color along out highways and biways. I love Texas in the Spring. God Bless Texas!

Will write again soon,  Happy Traills

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Good Morning from South Texas, 13 miles from the Rio Grande river and the Mexican border. Today has started out cold, overcast, windy, and basically gloomy. Even the sun was having a problem peeking through.

The vehicle traffic is up and down but averaging about 75 a day. There has been a lot of time for me to mope around and be bored. It's a good thing that I have recently taken up 'reading' fiction books. My daughters bought me a Nook for Christmas and I am loving it. So far I have managed to read through some Tom Clancy, a lot of W.E.B. Griffin, and now am on 3rd book from Vince Flynn.

Sunday, January 15, 2012
A couple of nights ago, the ranch owner came down and walked into the 'bush' about 125 yds. from the gate and 10 minutes later he took down a nice 10-point buck. He took it back to his ranch house, skinned it, and brought back some nice tenderloins for us to BBQ.

This is Mr. S. tending to the delicious steaks and Jenn (my helping relief guard) helping him by fanning some air into the coals.

Friday, January 13, 2012
This past Friday we were blessed with a new granddaughter. Her name is Kayla Rose and she was 7-1/2 lbs. and 19" long. Mom had to have a C-section and everything went very well. Momma and baby are back home now. This is my DW (grammy) holding Kayla when she was only 10 minutes old. Donna has been with Kim and family since ?? and I am sure missing her but she won't be back with me until the 28th. Miss you Boo...143.

This is a family picture of Julius, Kimberly, Evelyn, and newborn Kayla on Saturday. Everyone is doing well.

Well, that's about it from here, for now. I hope that you all have a wonderful day and that God is blessing you daily.

Happy 2012

Wow! We got a great New Year's Surprise when our daughter Jennifer braved the roads on Friday and came to see us at the ranch site. Tom was totally speachless when he saw her at the gate.  She said he was just staring and then shaking his head to stare some more.  I was sleeping so they had a nice visit till it was time to wake me.  She came in the room and rubbed my feet to wake me up, but when she spoke and I heard her voice I was like a Jack-in-the-Box and came up out of the bed so fast. 

The hardest part of this job is being away from our children and grandchildren.  We have always been a close family and missing the holidays with them was tough.  Having Jennifer here for a couple of days has been wonderful. She is going home today, time to get back in the grind, but God bless her for her visit and protect her on the way home.

It has been very slow at the gate over the holidays and we have enjoyed the respite.  I believe it will pick up now that everyone is back to work. We will see.

Tom and I wish you all the Happiest of New Years and blessings in the months to come.

'Tis CHRISTmas 2011

This is Tom and my first attempt at making a post here. Be gentle with me...LOL.

Christmas Eve, December 24th - This afternoon and evening turned out to be trying, at best. We still have winds, rain, and cold temperatures.

 The day? Woke up to only 40 gallons of diesel left for the generator and 20 gallons of water left in the big tank. I called 2 days ago asking for refills before the holidays. Our 'field supervisor' dropped the ball, as usual, so I had to call the company man on the rig. Within 2 hours I had 550 gallons of water and 200 gallons of diesel fuel...PTL.

• A little later the main water pump went out so I switched over to our pump and 100 gallons of onboard water. Tech came out around 7 pm and got the pump working with a new pressure switch.
• At 10:15pm the main generator just shuts down. Say what? I called the tech and he said check the oil. Dip stick says NO oil, just black, runny residue. I got lucky and found a new case of diesel engine oil on the trailer so added 3 quarts just to get a mid-level stick reading. After tromping around in the mud some more I tried to start the generator and it started...back to 115vac on their nickel.

 I had to endure all of this in the rain and mud...I need a shower just as soon as Donna gets up, which is almost NOW. It's been a trying day but I kept my cools, if anyone can believe that. It's CHRISTmas eve, for only another 38 minutes, and then we celebrate the birth day of our saviour Jesus Christ, so to ALL a wonderful day of celebrations. I love and miss you all...special hugs and kisses to my wonderful children and grandchildren. :)

Christmas Day, December 25th - I woke up this morning at 10 am to sunshine, a beautiful blue sky, and 15-20 mph winds. You can see my 'streamer' in the picture here, blowing straight out of the north. The temperature right now is 39°F. with a mighty windchill...brrrrrr, it's cold.

 The awning is tied down really well so the frame doesn't move an inch. My concerns are always with the awning material itself, whipping around, even with 2 straps on each side. I have found that unless the NOAA weatherman predicts 25 mph winds I don't need to worry about it. Our Gate Guard Services field tech, David, was busy working on the generator, doing oil and filter changes as well as releveling the trailer after the tongue support cratered with the soft earth underneath plus they had just added said diesel and water mentioned above (lots of weight there).
  Use local materials laying around but get it Level!! Mission accomplished. He's a great guy with morals and a conscious. He didn't feel comfortable leaving things undone that could cause a bigger problem in a short time. So, he did what he felt was right and he came out to do the service work and repairs. My hat is off to him today.

 He also replaced about 75 feet of the air hose, for the incoming traffic, which is for the pressure bell that lets us know that someone is coming in or out. The previous length of hose was in really bad shape and sometimes it didn't signal us at all.

 Traffic is very slow today and it actually gave Donna and I some quiet chat time. I made my world famous waffles and eggs for breakfast/brunch. It is now 2:30pm and she has gone to bed to read herself to sleep since she comes back on shift at midnight.

  DW was able to have a video conference with all the kids and grandkids on SKYPE before I got up this morning. She commented on how much fun it was to watch them open their gifts even if it was on an intermittent streaming video.

  We hope that you all have had a wonderful Christmas or as best as you could under whatever your situation is currently. We miss our family and this is the first Christmas in 42 years that we have not been around any family for the holidays...it's sad but acceptable at this point in our adventure. So, to you all, Merry CHRISTmas and I wish you all a very healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year in 2012.

Until again, Happy Traill's to you all.

Requiem to a German Shepherd



Our beautiful BigDog

It is day five since Dieter left this world and left Tom and I.  There are no words to express the sorrow we feel. The last few days have been filled with tears at inappropriate moments and dreams of the event while sleeping.  Tom and I compared notes yesterday and discovered both of us have been seeing the same things.  Going out the motor home door and seeing him across the street, ears up, listening for the coyotes; signing in a service truck, looking for him to be sleeping across the road; coming in the MH door and looking to see him under my desk. Yesterday I even apologized to him out loud when my chair caught on the rug and I thought I ran over his tail. Those things are making me crazy.


Long tail makes great propeller

 On the other hand, I can look down the road and see him running flat out barking at the wild pigs that live there. When he was running with purpose, his tail went round and round like a propeller and Tom and I would laugh at his silliness. Dieter really loved this ranch.  He could sleep in the sun, bark at the animals, protect us from all evils, real and perceived.



Waiting for waffles

 He always knew when it was Sunday because he would not go outside until Tom took him a waffle outside to feed him.  He would lay on the floor and stare at Tom while he cooked. His eyes never left Tom as he waited somewhat impatiently for the treat he knew was coming. 

And then there was Thanksgiving a few years ago when he decided to herd the ducks.  Of course, the ducks took to the water and Dieter followed them in.  It took 6 people and our beloved son-in-law, Chris, getting in the water also, freezing his butt off for 45 minutes to get him out.



Dieter with Jonathan and baby Bryce

 Dieter loved his family. He never growled or snapped at the little ones no matter what they did. He would just get up and move when he was tired of them laying on him.  He was a gentle giant.

He will be loved and remembered for a long time.

I have had many pets over the years.  We always had a dog when we were growing up and have had one most of our married life.  Dieter is my one in a lifetime.  If you have had one of these, please share it with me and tell me how you made it through. I am already looking at dogs online because of the emptiness I feel.

Dang it's been a long time since I updated this! 09/15/2011 - 11/20/2011 Catarina, TX

Hello you all!  Thought I would take a little time and update you on our status.  We have been gate guarding in Catarina, TX since September 15th. This is a great site and we have been treated really well by the managing company. When we first got here, was only one rig and the processing facility.  It was real easy to get into a rhythm. Since then we have had up to 4 rigs and anywhere from 200-300 incoming vehicles a day.  Tom checked out the logs and figured out that we have logged over 8,000 semi's. trucks and cars in 2 months. For each of those incoming is an outgoing.  So that is more than 16,000.  We were both really surprised by that.  We will be back to only one rig after Thanksgiving and I bet we will be really bored!

This is me in my security vest and windblown hair.  

This is Tom actually reading a book while eating breakfast. He has lost a lot of weight since we have been here and learned how to read.  I remember all those years with him complaining about me reading at the table.  ROFL  Note the security vest and skull dew rag!

We work shifts, me from midnight to noon and Tom from noon to midnight.  We don't have time off together because the gate has to be manned 24/7.  This is the worst part of the job. The best part is the paycheck.  We are planning to stay through January 20 and then will go to San Antonio to be there when grandbaby #6 arrives. 

We wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  May memories, family, friends and good food surround you this year. 

Happy Traills to you.

Waco Lake - Sunday 8/07/2011

When thinking about full-time Rving I was picturing waking up to a beautiful view out the windows and a feeling of peace and happiness.  Today is the first day that dream came true.  This is the view out the front windows.

We are on a little peninsula with two coves around us.  Walking about 50 feet from our front door puts us on a beach for swimming or fishing.  Tom had to wet a line last night.

We only moved 37 miles yesterday but it was worth it.  We will be here for 6 nights.  The heat will be intense 105-108 this week but the mornings are really breezy and comfortable.  Going outside now. 

Happy Traills...You All

Just a Swimming - Lake Whitney State Park 08/05-06/2011

Nothing much going on for the past couple of days.  It was great to just hang out at the park and go swimming when the mood struck. It has been too hot to do stuff in the afternoons so we got some silly computer games we could play to pass the time.  We have no television service here so it is really quiet in Flipper. 

I thought we would be really bored without television, but I don't even miss it.  There are very few shows worth watching so I find myself reading or computing most of the time.  Who knew?

We spent a full afternoon deciding where to go for the rest of the month.  It was really fun researching the areas in and around Austin-San Antonio.  Our family reunion is at Potters Creek Park (Army Corps of Engineers Park) on Canyon Lake Labor Day Weekend.  We have four weeks to get there, and it is only about 150 miles, so we are taking the scenic route.  Waco Lake, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Granger Lake and Lake Somerville, each for about 6 days before heading to Canyon Lake.  Lots of lakes to see and fish.

This is short because we are traveling today.  Hope you have a blessed Sunday.

Happy Traills...you all

Did you say real Dr Pepper? Dublin, TX 08/04/2011

It is too hot to go outside so Tom and I decided to go day tripping yesterday. We drove up to Granbury in the north central part of Texas.

The visitors center there had a lot of information on things to see and do in Texas and we loaded up.  It is interesting to see the diversity of our beloved state.

The drive there took about an hour and a half.  I have to admit that is was very depressing to see everything burned and dried out.  The drought has devistated the scenery.

Granbury has a great town square around its courthouse with shops and restaurants all over the place.  It is a pretty little town along the Brazos River.  Nice place to visit.

We decided to stop in Dublin, TX on the way back.  This little place has the distinction of being the only place in the world to get original Dr Pepper.  That means it is made without the sweeteners used today, corn syrup, etc.  It is made with Imperial Pure Cane Sugar from the plant in Sugar Land, TX.  They can distribute only 24 miles in diameter from the plant so if you want to know what REAL Dr Pepper tastes like you have to come to Dublin.

They have tours of the factory and a soda shop for you to buy it in. It was a great stopping place.

I loved this sand sculpture just outside the factory.

We were really tired when we got home but it was a great day.  We will see what tomorrow brings.

Happy Traills ... You All

Relaxing in Lake Whitney State Park - Whitney, TX

Hi friends, long time no talk to!  I feel bad about that but you gotta give me a break. To be honest, I just plain did not want to post.  We have had SO many trials in the past 6 weeks that it was just too depressing. We had medical issues, breakdown issues, work issues, issue issues and it was DID.  Even after I healed from the surgeries, I was just too tired. But I am feeling a lot better now and decided to just skip over those things I don't want to think about.  Just like Scarlett - I'll think about it tomorrow, or the next day, or the next...

We are at Lake Whitney State Park just south of Fort Worth, TX. It is 108 deg. this afternoon so we are inside. The mornings are really nice here. Temperature is mid 90's and a breeze off the lake makes it pretty nice.  Very low humidity so getting under a tree is helpful.  We spent about an hour and a half just sitting in the lake this morning.  I will take pictures tomorrow.  Dieter just loved the water and went in immediately.  We were shocked because other than one memorable Thanksgiving Day swim he has stayed away from the water. 

Took a picture of Flipper and Pumpkin that will be a favorite I think:

What a difference it has made since we started driving the coach instead of our little trailer.  While we both miss our big truck we are happy to have the room this one gives us.  And I love everything about it. It is old - 1998 National Dolphin, with one slide and 58,000 miles on it, and we know repairs will be coming up all the time, it was a good deal that we just couldn't pass up.

We are going to make some day trips around here and will be taking 4 weeks to get to Canyon Lake in San Antonio for our family reunion Labor Day weekend.  It will be the first relaxed time we have had since March 18, when we decided to do this.  I am looking forward to the stress free time. 

Until next time,  Happy Traills to you!



Back in San Antonio. TX

When we last heard from the Happy Traills they had just had a wonderful weekend at Goliad State Park, Goliad TX.  Time to get back to New Braunfels for a new generator.  A lot has happened since then. It is hard to decide what may be of interest and what would be just too much information. Here goes.

We got back to New Braunfels and (#1) had to wait an additional 2 days for the generator to get in and when it did, we took a hotel room till the generator was changed out. All this time we had been talking to a company that does gate guarding for oil drilling sites. It is a couples job and they hire RVers to man the gates.  They had been calling and calling all during this time to see if we could go to work. We decided to take a job for a month or two to replenish the bank account after so many unexpected expenses.

When the generator was done, (#2) off we went to Carrizo Springs, TX:  also knows as Rattlesnake Flats, Scorpion Heaven and on the underground railroad for illegals coming in from Mexico.  We took over officially at 8:00 pm on  Friday night. (#3) At 3:30 am on Saturday morning I woke up with a Kidney Stone. I have never had one but Tom was sure that was what it was, having had two.  By 8:00 I was in such pain I was throwing up. I called another gatekeeper couple and asked if one of them could man the gate while Tom took me to the hospital.  Doctor ordered a CAT Scan and sure enough there was a big stone. He said drink lots of water and check back in a couple of days and gave me pain pills.

On Tuesday I went back to hospital hoping they would remove it. I did not know that Carrizo Springs did not have a urologist. They don't do surgery.  I was going to have to go to Laredo, San Antonio or Corpus Christi. (#4) I picked San Antonio because the kids are there. They shot me full of pain killers and I made the drive to San Antonio in about 2 1/2 hours, a very long drive for me. Tom had to stay on the gate.

It took them a while to get to me in the ER, but Kimberly came and got them on the case.  They admitted me for a procedure on Wednesday. I did not even know what procedure. On (#5) Wednesday they put in a Stent from kidney to help relieve the blockage that had developed. I went to Kim's on Thursday and spent the weekend with her.  On Monday (#6) I went back to the doctor to find out what was next. I finally got a plan from him.

At this point I wanted Tom to come back.  All this time he had been working in 110 deg heat on 16 hour shifts getting very little sleep and less food, no time to cook.  It had been Hell week for him. This is a whole other tale. I just said come back, I don't care if the gate is guarded or not. So he came back in time for surgery #2.

Seems the stone, about the size of his fingernail, was stuck real high up and was causing a blockage. This had really agitated the kidney and it was too inflamed to mess with.  He put in the Stent to give it time to rest and heal. (#7) This led to second surgery to remove the stone yesterday.  YAYAYA they got it all. He had to blast it apart and it took quite a while but that part is done.  He left in the Stent and will remove it (#8) on Tuesday 7/5/11 if I have no complications.

So that is the Saga of the Stone. I am praying for no complications.  We have parked in a very nice RV park and will be staying a month. I want to be completely healed and Tom wants to piddle around the coach, doing stuff for a while.  It has been a very hard month and we just need down time. Hopefully I will have good tidings when next we meet.

Happy Traills to you.