New Year, New Beginnings 2012

After a very trying New Year beginning, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Many of you probably know that in October a malignant lump was discovered on my left breast after being cancer-free for almost 23 years. Talk about a whammy diagnosis! After much discussion and contingencies, we decided to travel on to Mesa, AZ for lumpectomy and followup treatment. All of my previous mammograms, sonograms, MRI's and biopsy had to be repeated before surgery. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center wanted to make sure what they were dealing with and then chart out best course of action. Finally had surgery in December with a favorable result, non-invasive ductal cancer, commonly known as DCIS. All of the tumor was removed with good margins and no lymph nodes were affected. Followup treatment has been radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Below is a photo of my radiation team along with me ringing the bell signaling my end of treatment. A certificate was also presented to me for completion that said I completed my full dose, tolerating cold hands, a hard table and holding still. Patients then ring the large bell 3 times well. It's toll to clearly say, my treatment's done, this course is run, and I'm on my way.

As you can see a lot of people were involved in this process. I really liked the techs but can't say as I'm not glad to see them anymore. One of the techs, Caleb, was asent when the photo was taken.

That's enough for now. Will try and keep post more frequent from now on. Just trying to get back to normal time now.

Year End 2011

This has been a year to get finally closed and on to the next 12 months. Our year has had some big "bumps" and "lumps" which we still haven't quite recovered from. In May, while working the summer season at Timber Lake Resort at Mount Carrol, IL our motorhome was damaged by a falling tree limb crashing through the roof and rain leaking in our unit causing water damage to the ceiling upholstery in our kitchen/dining room area. Still haven't had the repairs completed as we are awaiting the RV repair men to come to our unit and replace the upholstery and complete the fiberglass repair on our roof. We will have to vacate the motorhome for about a week while the work is being done.

In October we spent a few extra days in OK City having a tire replaced. We did have a bit of a break while in Childress, TX catching up with friends. Sure enjoyed seeing everyone. When we were all packed up and ready to leave our unit wouldn't start. Problem was the house battery needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, we have had the same problem here in Mesa. Larry purchased a new battery to replace the new battery we had just replaced. Sounds like a circle problem, doesn't it? So far this battery seems to stay charged.

Our RV tech man made about 3 calls to get our air conditioning/heat unit up and running again. We did not have electric heat or air in the motorhome from August until a couple of weeks ago. The thermostat was replaced first and the problem still existed so then a new electrical circuit board was replaced and that seems to have done the trick as the ac/heat unit is working just fine now. With the cooler weather in Mesa this winter we need the heat up and running smoothly.

Many of you already know that in October Dee was diagnosed with breast cancer again after 22 years of being cancer-free. All of this came to light during her annual mammogram. A malignant tumor was identified with an MRI and biopsy in Amarillo, TX. We elected to come to Mesa to schedule lumpectomy and followup care. On Dec. 14th the lumpectomy was done and pathology confirmed non-invasive ductal cancer in SITU (DCIS). None of the lymph nodes were affected. There will 6 weeks of radiation beginning the middle of January and then oral chemotherapy for 3-5 years. We're hoping that this course of action will be as successful as last time and it will be another 22 years before cancer rears it's ugly head again!!

Everyone has been so supportive and caring through all of our medical process and we are ever so grateful for the thoughts and prayers sent our way. It means the world to us.

Now on to the "good stuff". Our daughter Suzy visited with us in November for about 11 days and we had the best time. What fun to have here with us for a while. She seemed to really enjoy the beautiful weather here and am told she even lost about 5 lbs. while she was here. She especially loved being able to pick fresh oranges off the trees next door to us.

We are located at Mesa Regal RV Resort in Mesa, Az until middle of March (on a different site this year though)so neighbors are different. January 1st the resort will fill up as 90 units will be coming in that day. Sure glad I'm not on escort that day as traffic will be heavy getting everyone to their sites and parked.

OH . . . forgot to mention that in late September the hard drive on my computer crashed. Luckily we were in Childress so Dee's former computer guru got everything back up and runing for her - VISTA is gone and Windows 7 is now her operating system. The only hitch was her computer back up flash drive was wiped out the last time her computer was in the shop so she lost 2 years of updates and work. She is still trying to recover the missing 2 years of data.

It's gotta get better in the New Year. All of you take care and have a Happy Holiday.

Summer Season Just About Over

Just 1 week to go and we are ready to travel on back to Texas, NM and AZ. We leave Timber Lake on the 15th of September and then will have about 6 weeks before we arrive in Mesa, AZ for our winter months. Sure hope that TX is a little cooler by the time we get there as they have been experiencing 3-digit heat for about 3 months now. They also have many, many wildfires going on all over the state. The whole south west and south parts of TX have not had any rain in a long, long time. Even the natural wells in Childress are drying up and every one's lawns are dying out due to water rationing. The hurricanes coming from the gulf coast just do not generate any rain that far inland.

Our address ("snail mail") is still P O Box 195, Childress, TX 79201 if you want to drop us a card or note. When we are in Childress we see our doctors and get all of checkups for eyes, dental and medical. We've been doing very well, just want to stay on top of things.

Our daughter received a very good report from her oncologist-it has been 1 year already since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We just pray that she continues to stay healthy.

We do have good news to report about our great-niece Ashley (Dee's sister Barb's granddaughter). Ashley was in a near fatal accident just outside Boone, IA and has been hospitalized and in rehab center until this week and will be going home within a few days. She still has about another year of intensive rehab to contend with but she's doing much better than expectations

The other good news is our Texas friend's great-granddaughter, Ryanne Self age 5, underwent surgery on August 22nd to receive her new heart. She has been hospitalized since the end of May 2011 awaiting a heart transplant. So far she is doing pretty well. Say an extra prayer for both Ashley and Ryanne as neither of them are out of the woods yet.

We'll be in touch once we reach our Mesa destination.

Mini-Family Reunion Time

August 1-4 two of Dee's cousins and their wives traveled to Timber Lake Resort for a few days to visit us. We had the best time, mainly just being silly along with consuming a few bottles of homemade wine that Skip and Walt brought with them. We went over to Savanna, IL to the infamous "Poopy's Restaurant & Bar" (biker hangout)for breakfast. Food is really very good and we had some laughs shopping in the Harley Davidson gift shop (even though we didn't see the leather thongs we'd heard about!!). You could get tattoos and body piercings if you desired, but none of us were game - wonder why that was?? Needless to say, the menu items are all geared towards the name "Poopy's". Just let your imagination run wild and you'll come up with some of the names. We also went to one of the Timber Lake Playhouse stage productions one night and then another night we grilled Iowa chops and managed to consume some home-grown sweet corn. Sure brought back a lot of memories having the greatest tasting sweetcorn ever.

Another cousin, Nannie Deal, came over to TLR and we spent the afternoon catching up on family. It seems we like we only see each other every couple of years so it's also nice to see her. She usually gets the Deal family reunion put together every year but it seems our family members are dwindling more each year. Nannie lives in Clinton, IA and volunteers a lot at the hospital and historical society in Clinton.






The photo above is of a working Windmill that is located in Fulton, IL along the Mississippi River. Grains ae ground by the wind power that generate the grinding stones to make wheat flour and other grain flour. It's pretty fascinating to actually go inside the windmill and see the mechanics of how one of these operate. We also went through the Museum in Fulton and several made to scale working windmills were on display. Each windmill has a function, about 160 different operations such as grinding spices, sawing wood, etc. We also learned that the top section of each windmill can be rotated so that it faces directly into the wind and the blades can be covered with various types of cloth to pick up the wind better. Of course the only way to cover the blades is by actually climbing up each of the blades and then tie the fabric attached to the blades in place. We were tole that the blades are so sturdy that 3 or 4 men can be on each blade at one time. No one can say those Dutchmen didn't know about harnessing wind power centuries ago. We can probably take a lesson in wind energy from them.

Countryside in Illinois

We just couldn't resist (actually Dee couldn't!) taking some photos of the Queen Anne's Lace plants along the barrow ditches. These delicate blossoms reminds her of the hand crocheted tablecloth Queen Anne's Lace pattern her grandmother Deal made for her graduation present way back in 1959. The tablecloth has been placed in the care of our daughter Susan out in Oregon.

Aren't the blossoms gorgeous? The ditches and roadsides are covered with the blooming plants. Don't know if they are classified as flowers or weeds, but Dee sure likes them.

The photo below is easily recognized (we think of it as Iowa CORN) but picture was snapped in Illinois. When we arrived at Timber Lake Resort, the corn was only about 4" tall and just getting started. Now as they've said in one of the old songs "the corn is as high as an elephant's eye". People in the southwest laugh at us when we say we can hear corn grow, but you really can!!!

Fresh grown sweetcorn is being sold all over the area and it tastes great. We've been able to get organically home grown vegetables and fruits just about any time we're out and about.

The weather has been unbearably hot his week, extremely high humidity along with it. Luckily we've been off work Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday so that helps. Hate to think about tomorrow when we are back on duty. We did have high winds, 70 mph, last week but no damage to our motorhome or car this time around. Many farmers had acres of corn that was twisted and lying flat on the ground. It made a very strange sight.

On the 1st of August two of Dee's cousins and their wives are coming to Timberlake to visit for a few days. We've taken the week off so we can spend time with them while they are here. It's been about 2 years since we've seen them so we are really looking forward to being with them.

June Adventures

Monday, June 13th (our anniversary, incidentally) we decided to drive over to LeClaire, IA which is the home of the History Channel's American Pickers, Mike and Frank. These 2 guys travel all over the USA looking for unusual and varied antiques that they resell. Their roots began in this small Iowa town along the Mississippi River in a garage - photos of the Picker's van and the Garage are below.

We did not get to meet either of the TV Picker's but Larry did sell six of his Big-Little Comic books to Mike's brother. Not a real big profit for Larry (he's had these comics for about 50 years now!!!) but at least they were interested enough to buy them from him.

The photo to the right shows Mike's brother purchasing the comic books from Larry.

Both Larry and I have been ill this week with summer colds and sore throats, probably due to rain, rain and more rain along with cooler temperatures. Since we spend most of our time in the southwest, we're just not used to rainy weather. Wish we could send some of this moisture to our friends in Texas, NM and AZ since these 3 states are in a severe drought. No moisture in west TX for over 1 year and wildfires continue to plague them.

The RV Resort continues to be full every weekend and also stays very busy during the week with seasonal families. We're still learning many phases of work that we do. One of the fun things Dee assists with every Friday night is Marguerita night Trivia. There are 6-10 teams that compete against each other and some of the answers are quite humerous. Everyone has a good time.

Summertime Has Arrived

We are still training on various jobs here at the Resort in Illinois. Neither one of us has reached that "Now I Know That Job" yet but we're working on it. Before the Memorial Day weekend, everyone was in crunch mode to get the Resort ready for the holiday weekend because every available camp site was full.

Amid all of the training and getting our feel of the area, a tornado watch loomed one weekend. No tornado, thank goodness, but sustained high winds caused a tree branch to fall on the front portion of our motor home causing damage enough for an adjuster to come out and assess the damage. During the storm, water was leaking into the unit above the dashboard area so we spent an hour or so catching water and emptying containers. There was also water damage around the kitchen area Fantastic Fan - water stains on an upholstered ceiling is not very attractive. Anyway, Larry was up on the roof several times getting a repair patch put on the 2" x 8" wide rip in the fiberglass. We've had one rain since and no water leaked in. As soon as we locate an rv center that can do fiberglass repairs, we'll make arrangements to take our unit in for repairs.

The Summer Playhouse just completed it's first production of the season "Sunset Boulevard". We both worked on the weekends so weren't able to go see the show. However we were able to go see the Beatles and Elvis impersonators that performed at a fundraiser for the Playhouse. The Elvis performer spray painted a 4'x6' white canvas of Elvis's image that was auctioned off for $1,400. He painted the mural while he was singing. Quite a remarkable likeness using a spray can of black paint. Impressed the heck out of everyone.

Weather has been very hot and of course humidity is high but we are slowly getting conditioned to it some. Only wish the tiny little bugs would go away as they especially like to be around your eyes and mouth. We've met a lot of nice people already and enjoy being around their families. Many of the rv'ers are seasonal so they are here every weekend during the summer months.

That's all for now. Will try and update quicker the next time.