Well, I thought this year would be healthier, and instead I decided to get my right knee fixed on January 9th. I needed a partial knee replacement - lining for the knee cap and a metal piece for it to ride on. The surgeon said it was easier than a full replacement and a quicker recovery. And it was a day surgery. Easier for who is what I should have asked. I have learned my lesson on this one - to ask many more questions. It was my fault for hearing what I wanted to hear.
My incision is longer than that of my friends who had full knee replacements. The "day" surgery lasted until 10:30 that night by the time the spinal wore off so they could remove the catheter and I finally got out of there. I was able to walk on it right away, but I cannot bend my knee fully after 4 weeks. I started physical therapy on Feb 1st. and hope to be able to bend it by the 22nd. I've changed my gyno appt. 4 times now and am a month late on that. Oh well....
Friends have once again come to my rescue - walking the dogs and carting me around until I was able to start driving again. I am very lucky to have so many great friends here now.
February 4th was Kara's 47th birthday and we had a nice little party at her and Steve's. We took a photo of my hair. This is how much it has grown since September 30th when I finished chemo. It's slowest growing on top and has come in pretty straight but with a bit more gray. I had hoped to have enough to have a haircut for my birthday in 5 weeks, but I think other than a trim around my ears and neckline, I'll probably have to wait a little longer.
Laura made a wonderful fettucine alfredo with scallops and crab. I made the pineapple upside down cake - first time I ever made that and it came out very well!
My birthday rolled around again and I planned a full day. First off, I had to go to a meeting - not much fun - but from there I met friends at the Rodeo Steakhouse and got my free birthday lunch. These are the gals who have helped me so much the last year and a half - good friends indeed. And, look at my hair - it grew some more in the 5 intervening weeks!
After lunch I went to a piano concert as part of the Community Concert Series. She was an absolutely marvelous musician. She played fairly well known pieces. One piece, a Debussy, was one I had played my senior year in college, but I have to say, it sounded a lot better the way she did it!
Finally, I went to the Egyptian for a sing-a-long version of Grease hosted by this Burlesque group that has been here a couple of times. It was a fun day.
Postscript on the knee: After 10 physical therapy session, my knee is doing quite a bit better. My range of motion is much improved. The only thing that still happens is it occasionally gives out on me - not painful but a bit scary as it could cause a fall. Need to work on one particular muscle for that.
Everyone tells me they really like my short, curly hair. I do too! I think I will keep it fairly short, much like it is now, though I would like my bangs to be about 1/2 an inch longer. They seem to grow the slowest. Various people have said my hair probably won't stay curly which is disappointing as I really like it. Only time will tell but I will enjoy it while I have it.
The weekend of March 17th brought our first ORVW rally of the season. We went to Albany, OR where the group went a few years ago, but Janet and I did not. Our hostess, Pat Lyons, did a superb job as hostess with some fun activities including a hat contest and a necklace contest. There were some cute entries. On Saturday some of us went over to see the progress of a group carving carousel animals. They've been working on it for years and a new building, to house the carousel, is under construction and should be done in early summer. The carvings are gorgeous. What a labor of love by so many people. On Sunday, we went out for our usual dinner, this time at a Mexican restaurant. Amazingly, they served all 20 meals at the same time! While waiting we toasted our friend, Kathy Okay, who was just diagnosed with leukemia and started chemo on Friday.
April came in very wet - and our next RV rally in at Oceanside outside of Charleston rolled with the punches. Early Friday morning we were hit with really strong winds - up to 80mph and the gals that arrived on Thursday were rocking and rolling out there - but no one left. I was the hostess and arrived on Friday with all the breakfast goodies. It rained on and off all weekend, but we still had a chance to go see the new aquarium that is part of the Oceanography Institute and also have a good dinner out.
May found the group at Belknap Hot Springs. By now I thought the weather would have improved, but I actually went through a sleet storm to get there! It's up in the mountains east of Springfield. The hot springs are as hot as 180 degrees so they cool the water to 104 to run it through the two outdoor pools. So it was kind of like using a giant hot tub. In spite of the rain, we found time to go and soak and have fun.
Pam and Ann played hostesses with the mostest and there was plenty for all of us to eat. We never go hungry at these events! And as usual, dinner out on Sunday was a lot of fun.
In June, we went to Warrenton. Surely by now the rain would be over. Nope! It rained on and off during the weekend here too, but not enough to dampen our spirits. Warrenton is close to Astoria and there's lots to do in Astoria. Several of us went to a glass blowing shop and made our very own glass globes. Each process was slightly different so it was great fun to watch each project take shape. On Sunday we went to the Sunday market and walked around as well as checking out the Pride Parade. Sunday we also picked up our finished glass projects.
Also in June, I went to the Tall Ships Festival at the Mill with a new friend, Debb Montclair. There were 4 or 5 ships this year as opposed to only 2. We had a nice time there and then went out for lunch and down to Shore Acres to see what there was to see. It was a fun day.
I also made the annual trek up to Reedsport for the Chainsaw Carving Contest. I went up on Sunday, just before they stopped carving. Had I gone half an hour later, I could have gotten in for free!. I was not as impressed with the carvings this year as in some years past, but there were some interesting pieces.
Sadly, in June I had to put my 10 year old terrier, Sandy, to sleep. He developed anal sack cancer and in the short period of only 4 weeks the tumor had grown three-fold. He was having some pain and also bleeding from the rectum so I took him to the vet and we helped him cross the Rainbow Bridge. He was a good little guy and much loved by both Janet and me.
Near the end of June, Jim and Sherry arrived for a visit and were kind enough to tile the one remaining counter area that we missed last year. It was a small job by comparison to last year, but they were pooped at the end.
After Jim and Sherry left, I started a project to paint my kitchen counters to resemble marble. I'd had the kit for some months and decided that now was the time! It took me a little over a week with drying times, but I'm very pleased with the end result.
My next RV rally was to Kimball Creek which is about 12 miles east of Gold Beach on the north side of the river. It's a very rustic setting right on the river and for the first time this year, we had beautiful weather. I finally got a ride on Patti Knight's Spyder. We headed for Agness which would have been about a 30 mile ride but when we discovered it didn't go along the river once we crossed the bridge, we headed back. As it turned out, that was a good thing because a couple of days later I was as sore as I was the last time I went horseback riding. If we'd gone the whole way, I don't think I would have been walking at all the next day!
The weekend was fabulous and we all had a great time sitting under the trees and just enjoying the beautiful weather. Maggie started out being shy and wanting to be in my lap every minute on Friday, but by Sunday afternoon she had turned into quite the gad about.
Sunday, along with a weenie roast and marshmallows, we had a sing a long that even our neighbors seemed to enjoy.
The following week Debb and I headed off on another adventure to the wildlife park south of Bandon.
The Wildlife Park is always fun - petting exotic baby animals - what's not to like? This time we got to pet a bobcat, a lynx and a tiger. We passed on the bear cub though he was also cute. It seems like they have culled their herd of goats down as there weren't as many babies or pregnant goats. There also were not as many peacocks. We got to watch a male ostrich hump a female - that was quite a display.
We also headed south to Langlois to try out their world famous hot-dog. Sad to say, I was under impressed.
From there we headed down to the Cape Blanco lighthouse. The last time I remember being there, it was surrounded by scaffolding. It was a beautiful day and we could see for miles. And it wasn't as windy as it might have been.
Heading north again, we stopped at the jams and jelly store and found some treats to take home. Then on to Facerock Creamery for an ice cream cone. I wanted a small and the small was enormous - no dinner for me.
Our last stop was at the Coquille Lighthouse where Deb found a couple of small pieces of driftwood to see if that would be a good decor in her house. All in we had a great, fun day.
In August, I went to Barb Pace's place to view the Great Eclipse. She and her mom were in the path of totality. I went almost a week early to avoid the traffic they were expecting. It was an easy though long drive with my GPS taking me over back roads from Sisters. They were a bit bumpy but there was little to no traffic.
The next day (Thursday) we watched the news to find that people were already pouring into Prineville and Madras. The big crowds never did show up on the coast. I suppose that was because you can never be sure if it will be cloudy or clear.
While waiting for the big day, I had a great time learning about Crooked River Ranch and visiting with Barb and Mom. We played games every day, sat on their front and back porches in the morning or evening to enjoy the views and generally had a very relaxing time. The day of the eclipse was a bit smoky in the distance from the Milli fire near Sisters, but we had no trouble viewing the sun. It was an amazing thing to see.
Maggie enjoyed her time there too as she got to run around the whole time off leash. Mostly she stayed pretty close to us, but on the one occasion when she started to wander down the drive, she was a good girl and came back when called.
This was smoke from the Milli fire as I was driving to Barb's House over the Santiam pass.
Barb took Maggie and I out on the Gator to get a look at the whole 10 acres of the property.
Ordinarily, they have a beautiful view of the three Sisters, Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson and even Mt. Hood. Most of the time, the Sisters were obscured by the fire and at night we could actually see the glow from the burning trees on the mountains.
There is a large canyon that the Crooked River has cut out of the land. At the bottom of it there is a beautiful golf course, RV park, restaurant, administration buildings and swimming pool. I was astounded to find out that 5000 people live in this area. With 1, 5 and 10 acre plots you really don't see how many homes there are.
A sunset created by the smoke. Mt. Jefferson is in vies on the right. The last 2 days I was there, I would not have known there were any mountains to the west if I hadn't already seen them. That's how thick the smoke was.
I must confess to stealing this off the Internet, but I couldn't write about the eclipse and not include a photo.
The rest of the summer flew on by along with fall. I hosted a Thanksgiving potluck again, but didn't take any photos. A bit before Christmas, I was over at Laura and Kara's and decorated Christmas cookies for the first time in my life. At least I don't remember ever decorating cookies before. I tried to post a photo, but it kept coming in on its side so I gave up.
Instead of being home for Christmas this year, I went with Linda and Tully on a three week trip to Seal Beach for Christmas (at Tully's brother's), Las Vegas for New Year's and Death Valley on the way home.
We stopped in Paso Robles on the way south and went to Hearst Castle for the evening Christmas tour. Talk about bringing back memories! I took a photo of the piano I got to play for Christmas tours the year I guided there.
We stayed at an RV park on the beach just south of where Pat and Jan live. The first night we were there, I thought someone was shooting off fireworks and then realized it was a rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base which isn't too far from there. It was quite spectacular!
Christmas Eve we were at Pat and Jan's. Christmas Day we were at Jan's sister's. There was lots of good food and conversation both days. Then we went on to Joshua Tree to visit friends of Tully's as we headed towards Las Vegas.
Here I am under a giant Joshua Tree! I visited this area back in 2016 with friends Terry and Kae, but I don't think we saw any trees that were this big!
Shortly after this photo was taken I took a misstep outside the visitor's center and landed on the back of my head. Other than a huge lump and tender spot for about a week, I was fine. It hit me when I was lying there that what the other people standing there saw was an old lady who fell. They were scared to death! All I wanted was to get up and get the hell out of there!
On to Death Valley.
Actually, I skipped over our time in Las Vegas. We went to a magician's show that a friend of Pat's recommended to us. He was very entertaining. We also did a little gambling and quite a bit of eating. And, we all got sick. Linda recovered the fastest so she was able to get her poker playing in. Tully and I didn't feel as good so we laid low on New Year's Eve and just listened to the fireworks. We had all been to Vegas before so it wasn't a big disappointment to miss out on some things.
From there we headed to Death Valley which was actually on our way home. It was a good time to be there as you can see by the temperature. It is very desolate, but also very beautiful though I cannot imagine going there in the summer months. The visitor center was 190 feet below sea level. In another area we were 238 feet below sea level. They may have to update their signs in a few years as global warming continues to raise sea level.
And so, 2017 came to a close. On to more adventures in 2018.
