Catching Up

[K&GB]

Got 3 days off this past weekend. (Just finished up our big fall exercise, so no more working weekends til spring.)

Gave me a chance to survey the yard and take stock of the damage from summer's heat. Replaced three hibiscus (high bisquits) shrubs, two bougainvilla, a few lantannas, and a carissa that had died. (Everything in pots died, so no more potted plants) Started replacing the dripper heads (clogged with hard water deposits) on the water works and discovered the source of my last huge water bill,

several lines broken and running free underground.
Gina's mom and step dad are visiting. They'rea God send. Gina's been pretty ill, and they drove out from TX when she got out of the hospital so I could go back to work. But she seems to be on the mend and actually got out to help in the back yard a bit yesterday. Her stepdad, Ron,has been playing handyman all over the house since he arrived. We sunk some posts in the front yard yesterday to brace our fledgling jackaranda tree, and now we're contemplating installation of screen doors so we can open up the house in the cooler weather.


Ron and I started blueberry wine together on Saturday, and Gina's mom has been following its progress faithfully. She's a big fan of our home made reisling and viognier.

Semi-annual PFT is just a couple weeks away, so it's time for the dreaded morning run.

Sure is chilly outside in the mornings (58-62). Hard to believe it'll be up in the 80s this afternoon.


KenEdited by: K&GB

 

[NorthernWinos]

Chilly????
46° here this morning....That's going to be the high tomorrow....Rain changing into snow.....

 

[grapeman]

Glad you guys are getting caught up some. I'm even more glad that Gina is doing better! It is so hard on you when your spouse is ill- more emotionally but also physically.


You call that cold Ken? This morning's low was balmy at 38° after 5 days in the low 20's. Highs have been struggling in the 30's. Today is supposed to be well into the 60's so that will be nice.

 

[8761darlene]

I think I wouldn't run if it's just 38° outside, way too cold for me.

 

[K&GB]

Yeah, I know. Looks like I've lost what little cold tolerance I had.

 

[K&GB]

I hope the weather up North isn't too bad yet. Gina and I have this notion we might like to settle in the Pacific Northwest when I retire from the Marine Corps, but I've never spent a winter up there. Furthest north I've lived is North Carolina. Born and raised inTexas, over the past 23 years I've been mostly stationed in mild weather climates like Hawaii and Southern California. There's probably some good job opportunities for me back home in Texas, but I'm reluctant to return there.Guess I'm spoiled. Mountains, trees, and ocean (with blue water, not brown) are very appealing. Just gotta learn to deal with that whole winter thing....Edited by: K&GB

 

[Wade E]

And high costs of everything up here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[K&GB]

Gina's folks are leaving today.They've been here nearly a month and need to get back to Texas. We've really enjoyed their company and we'll miss them.

Gina's much better but still not well. Guess I never mentioned the problem before. She started having seizures near the beginning of October and was hospitalized for 6 days. Of course, before the seizures started, there were months of other symptoms that in hindsight are clearly related. Anyway, she was originally admitted to the hospital where she works, but was later transferred to a bigger place in San Diego. They did a bunch of tests and tried a bunch of drugs, but all they managed to do was rule out epilepsy. Once they did that, they sent her home, still having roughly 6 seizures per day.


The day after we got back to Yuma, they called to say it was a vitamin deficiency and recommended she follow up with her local doctor and take vitamin shots. Well, that process didn't go so well, and she was back in the local hospital in Yuma after a few days. But they released her the same day, and she finally got to see her regular doctor- a week after coming home from San Diego. It took almost a month, but she's finally following up with a neurologist, and her vitamin shots have definitely made an improvement. She hasn't had a seizure in several days!!

We're not sure what the future holds. She's still so dizzy she has trouble getting around, and because she had seizures, she won't be able to drive for quite a while.Since her job is 75 miles away, she probably won't be going back to work there. But who knows.


When this happened, Ihad just started my semi-annual Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course at work, which involves 6 weeks of 12-14 hour days with only an occasional Sunday off. I missed 10 days of work before Gina's parents showed up, but my bosses were understanding and things went on without me. Guess I'm not as indispensible as I thought

But WTI is over now, and I have much more time off. The holidays are coming, and if need be, we can ask Gina's dad and step mom to come out and stay for a while too.


Today is the USMC birthday. Born 10 November, 1775in Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Happy birthday Marines!!!

 

[Scott]

Thanks for the update, glad to hear she is doing better. All that and you still find time to make wine

.


Thoughts and prayers are with you both.

 

[RkyMtnWine]

Sorry to hear about Gina's medical issue Ken. Our prayers are certainly with her. USMC.. Interesting. Recently returned from my nieces wedding held in Lake Placid, NY. She works for the CIA and he is a Major in the USMC .. soon to be Colonel. He had some rather interesting combat stories.... quite a different situation from what I experienced in my 2 years in Vietnam.. Right now he is going to the war college so he will be around at least until the end of the year. Take care Ken and wish Gina the best.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Sorry to hear about Gina's problems...

Those unexplained illnesses are scarier than having something diagnosed....You just become pretty scared and nervous, which doesn't improve the situation.

I hope you are both able to relax, let time and medicine improve the situation. Hopefully it will go away as mysteriously as it showed up.

Thoughts and prayers are with you.....And a big hug

Thanks for sharing.

 

[K&GB]

Thanks for the well wishes and the hug.

Here's a pic of Gina, her mother Jean, and step dad Ron.

Yep, that's the cab in the primary next to them. I let Jean stir it one more time before they left this morning.I think she's hooked.I know exactly what to get her for Christmas now!

 

[grapeman]

I hope everything with Gina works out well and she continues to improve.


Be sure to get her Mom a starter kit!

 

[grapeman]

RkyMtnWine,
What on earth was the CIA and Marines doing in Lake Placid? I hope they just liked the location and there isn't trouble brewing there! You were in my Neck of the Woods since it is only 45 miles away. Hope you enjoyed your stay.

 

[hannabarn]

WOW! Ken, that is really scary! Hope everything goes well for you & Gina!
We used to spend our winters in AZ but Betty has asthma and she was advised not to return to AZ at least in the Valley area due to "Valley Fever"! I kind of pooh poohed the idea until a friend of ours got it and passed away! Kind of made a believer out of me>Our prayers are with you.

 

[RkyMtnWine]

Hey appleman


If you check out the chit hat forum "wonder fall" I slipped in a picture of mirror lake.. lake placid in background. Our flight took us into Albany..rented a car and headed NE to the coast, skirted up to Bar Harbor stayed a couple nights and headed west to lake placid, about a ten hour drive. Fortunate to hit the colors at peak. Beautiful country.. for some reason I had the mind set that the whole east coast was wall to wall city. boy was I mistaken. Wish we had more time. Talking about making the trip again next fall but this time spend a couple weeks. would be fun to stop for a short visit with everyone from that area that are members here.


Have a great day.

 

[grapeman]

Rky,
You should have popped in on your way by. I was still picking grapes then. Boy did you take a detour- only about 2 hours to Albany, but you had a nice time for looking at the leaves.

 

[RkyMtnWine]

The trip was awesome... other than the plane ride. And the Lobster was yummy.

 

[K&GB]

Gina's asleep on the couch where she's spent most of the weekend. The doctor gave her something called anti-vert for her dizzyness, and it really knocks her out. She has a huge bruise on her forehead where she fell and banged into an outside corner. She's been unable to get around, just inside the house,by herself for almost a week now, and she's had several nasty falls in the past few days. She's had seizures the past couple of days also, this after going several days without them. When her mom left, we thought she was getting better, but she's definitely had a setback since then. Her dad was planning to come out the first week of Dec so I could attend a work-related conference, but I've asked him to come as soon as possible. He'll be here Thursday, and I'm very thankful for his help. It's hard to go to work and leave Gina here alone, even though I come home to check on her at lunch every day.


I'm not sure why I'm posting this on a wine forum, but I feel like many of you have become my friends and I guess I just needed to talk about this.


I've been practicing "wine therapy" this weekend. No, not drinking wine, though I have done a fair share of that, but making it and doing various wine chores. I ordered several kits from George and some Better Bottles because I was running out of carboy space. Yesterday, I racked several wines into the Better Bottles and learned two valuable lesssons. The better bottles are smaller than my glass carboys, so I overflowed some of my Pinot Noir. Then I learned the hard way that they're also very flexible. As I pushed the full bottle into its spot under my wine table in the garage, I forced more wine out the top through the airlock. Yikes!


I cleaned combined two 3-gal carboys of Pinot Grigio into a 6-gal carboy and then cleaned out all theempty glass carboys I had. I was storing them full of water, but our water is very hard here and full of minerals. These tend to collect on the sides and bottom as the water evaporates. So I scrubbed them all clean again and stored them empty with plastic bogs over the top held on by rubber bands.


I've started an RJS EP Cab, which is in secondary, but I also have a CC Argentinian Malbec and a WE South African Chenin Blanc waiting to start. Not sure why I didn't break out one of those this weekend. Instead, I started a Black Cherry Melomel from store bought juice and honey. I guess I'm used to having Gina around to watch and help with the kits.

 

[Wade E]

Hope she feels better soon, what have they found is actually wrong?