Speaking of therapists, I was discharged from physical therapy near the end of July. I still see the hand therapist and do all sorts of exercises. My grip is getting stronger and I can do most things I need to do, except shuffle cards.
We did get out on the boat briefly in July. We went to nearby Hunter Bay (Lopez Island) to help others in the yacht club catch crab for a steak and crab night. Between the three boats we caught more than enough Dungeness crabs.
David decided that if we were staying home for the summer, he may as well paint the outside of the house. His rational is that he isn't getting any younger. He did engineer a quite long pole so that he minimized the amount of ladder climbing he had to do. As you can see, he used himself to wipe on quite often. One of the benefits of thrift store clothing - you can toss it at the end of the job.
Fate stepped in at the end of July and we bought the RV that had belonged to our friend Rita. Some of you may remember our driving trip in 2011 with Rita up the Alcan highway to Alaska. The RV named "Amazing Grace" is now a part of our happy household. If you need a nice two person tent, we have one for sale. I think our tenting days are over.
What, you might ask, are we going to do with an RV? That is a good question. We will have to find a balance between boating, RV-ing, using our timeshares and staying home. We decided now that I am back to near normal it was time to get David fixed. My neighbor warned me about that language. She said, "it sounds like he is a dog. and you are taking him to the vet." For some time he has had Dupuytrens contracture - manifested in his pinky finger that wouldn't straighten. He also has a related problem on his feet - Ledderhose disease. This manifests as bumps that do make walking somewhat painful. A procedure called needle aponeurotomy done at the University of Washington medical center straightened the finger.
Once the finger was straight, he was ready for radiation treatment on his hands and feet. Think of those bumps as benign tumors. Mon-Fri for two weeks in Aug he got his radiation treatments. They didn't hurt at all. This was done at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, WA. We took the RV down to The Trailer Inn RV park and made it a vacation of sorts.
August wasn't all medical and no fun. We were visited by a former Rohm and Haas colleague and his wife. I had actually hired him 20 years ago and then gave him my job when I retired. After picking them up in Vancouver we took the opportunity to visit another former colleague in Pt. Roberts. For those of you not familiar with Pt. Roberts, it is the only town in the US that you have to cross into Canada to get to. And yes, the Pt. Roberts couple have two Icelandic ponies.
We also had a very pleasant visit with Ulyana & Steve from Baltimore. We gave them a taste of boating in the San Juans by taking them to Friday Harbor (San Juan Is.) and Fisherman's Bay (Lopez Is.) on our boat.
All in all it has been a good summer. We could have used a bit more rain, but who's complaining.
September holds a drive across the USA, but we will be home most of October. Until next time!
