Today was a big ZERO. We worked around the house but didn’t leave the premises. Mary fixed a magnificent “Egg McMommy,” and after that, we watched Dalton Abbey and did some washing.
In the afternoon, I crashed for three hours, still trying to wear off the last procedure.
I worked on Donna and Bob’s vacation pictures from today. We will be happy to see them again!!
We visited Jeff and came home to crash!
Robin stayed the night, and we spent the morning catching up with everything. We called Colleen, and all is well on the East Coast. Robin took off around 11:00 am, and we went to the Post Office (to mail our quarterly taxes) and then shopped for a while before returning home.
We called Lexus and then AAA, and another technician came out; this time it was a young man who knew his stuff. He replaced the battery, and we are up and running again.
Replacement needed!
In the afternoon, Mary did some chores, and I checked for light leaks in my eyes by taking a two-hour nap. I am getting ready for next week’s operation.
I put together some photos of yesterday’s Celebration of Life for Irene.
In the afternoon, we watched some TV and then got ready to go to the Elks to hear Jerome Dean sing and have dinner.
They had oysters on the menu, and Iris’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree! Mary and I ordered two dozen. They disappeared instantly.
Why don’t oysters ever share their pearls? Because they’re a little shellfish.
Iris finished off two dozen oysters!
Jerome Dean was great tonight. We played a waltz, and we were up and moving. Bill and Sandee took to the floor also!
Bill and Sandee are dancing.
After the dust had settled, we headed for home.
Good night, yard!
We crashed as soon as we got home!
We were up and running at a normal time. Today we had the funeral of our great friend Irene Kosmetatos. After a quarter century of having her in our lives, this day was going to be tough.
Robin rode with us to Green Hills Cemetery, where we met up with Michele.
The service began at 11:30 am and was in a Greek Orthodox format.
As expected, Irene was on the 50-yard line – she loved her sports!
We were surprised when we got invited to light a candle during the ceremony. We were honored to be part of the ceremony.
Lighting a candle in a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral signifies honoring the departed soul, symbolizing Christ’s victory over death, and expressing hope in the resurrection and eternal life for the deceased. The candle’s light represents the soul’s infinite light and serves as a focal point for prayer, remembrance, and the worshippers’ expression of love and faith for God and the departed.
Where the candle lighting ceremony took place.
There was a video running that showed 80 slides of Irene’s life beginning at age one and going until her deathbed. Even Scout got his picture in the show.
One of the family!
After the ceremony, we went to Old Ranch for a reception. When we arrived, they had a projector, but no computer to drive it. In days gone by, I would have run home, but now that was 20 miles away. Ta Dah! Michele, using her computer skills, examined the dilemma and drove home to get her laptop! She saved the day!
Mochele saved the day; she brought her laptop
We had a lovely luncheon thanks to the great coordinating effort of Vicky Kuhn!
Some of our favorite photos were on the cake.
When Irene would say goodbye to a group, she always threw up her hands and blew kisses. It was her way; always remembering everyone.
Irene’s last-minute goodbye saying.
Mary and I wore black, and I did not speak at the funeral, but I had a few choice words with Iris when she recalled that she and Irene had been friends for forty years (Iris needed some assistance at the podium).
We were the hosts of the reception.
We returned home, and I found my beloved Silver Fox dead! We called the AAA, and they started it, but while it was running, it died again! So tomorrow we will contact the Lexus dealer, and hey, haul the car into your shop!
Mary, Robin, and I watched “The Jazz Singer” movie in the TV room. We were tired from an emotional day, so we crashed around 10:00 pm!
I am so blessed to have Dr. Mary in my life.
Scout and I managed to go outside while Mary’s coffee was being made. We talk and get ready for the day!
Mary says Scout and I are getting to act just alike!
Today we are firing on all eight! Massive good news and success! We were up early to get to our cardiologist’s office at 10:00 am for a pre-op consultation with Dr. Lee. He walked into the office and said, “What a magnificent specimen!” Unfortunately, he was looking at the TV and not at me.
When we made eye contact, he shuddered and probably thought, “Oh no, another one!” We, with Dr. Mary’s magnificent assistance, had a good conversation as he explained how the head transplant procedure was going to work. He even had pictures of my new look! Not too far from the truth, I thought to myself!
We told him about our upcoming family adventure in the Caribbean, and he said it was a go, provided I had the operation within the next four days and saw him two weeks after that. We agreed, and he put us on the priority list!
So, I am now scheduled for the cardiac ablation on the 9th at noon. By six in the evening, assuming all goes well, I will be allowed to go home. The ablation on the 9th will allow me to do the carotid post-op session on the 8th and the head-transplant (heart ablation) post-op session on the 26th, meaning we can go sailing on the 27th!
We had to wait a while for all the dates to be finalized with the surgical coordinator, but the stars were in alignment, and we are ready to go!
It’s a shocking experience, but I will mess it, I will be asleep (hopefully)
From the doctor’s office, we went to Girls Night Out at the Elks, and I celebrated with a hockey puck for lunch. There are four of us gents ordering a hamburger without any fixings, just the burger. I do use a little A1.
We all laughed and giggled for 90 minutes. George was there to get his Thursday beating. Capps was present so we could coordinate the weekend activities. We took roll, and Iris and Will were present and accounted for.
From the Elks, we went to the Nephrologist (fancy new name for kidney doctor – a subspecialty of internal medicine). She went through the last set of blood tests and announced that nothing had changed, and she expected the heart procedure to improve my numbers even further.
We drove home on the side streets since it was close to 5:00 pm.
Decisions decisions! Do I try to outrun the train??
The train moved before Hot Rod Mary hit the gas!
After returning home, we watched Downton Abbey for a while, and then I moved to the office to finish off Irene’s video, which we will show tomorrow at the ceremonies.
We crashed about 11:00 pm.
After a very short pick and collect in the garden, we returned to the office to drink our coffee and attempt to find the bottom of the bottomless piles of papers! Computer geeks have called for a paperless society. Be Serious (BS for short). If my Mom and Dad saw the paper we collect every day, they would keel over!
We worked until 3:00 pm with a short break for lunch. We accomplished a lot of things, including finalizing the insurance for the trip cancellation, paying our quarterly taxes, posting Bob & Donna’s latest pictures, and cleaning up the office.
After Domi arrived, we took a box of goodies, including a watercolor, that Becky wanted to the UPS. We dropped off a box of veggies at the gym and then headed home.
Dianne stopped by and joined us for dinner. She brought Italian Penicillin soup for dinner, and Mary made bruschetta.
Dianne departed around 7:00 pm, and we watched Downton Abbey until 10:45 pm, at which time we went to bed.
Good news, we have an appointment for a pre-operative consultation about the heart ablation scheduled for tomorrow.
Mary slept in this morning and was not up until almost 8:00 am! I worked on Bob and Donna’s vacation pages and am now caught up to date! We sent the images to the mortuary, and they will put them into a slide show for Irene’s services on Friday.
We worked around the house a bit, walked in the garden, and made a bat-phone call to Colleen. We lit every smelly candle we could find to get rid of the burnt zucchini-garlic smell from last night’s disaster. The whole-house fan ran until 3:00 pm, when the heat outside was beginning to affect the inside temperature..
At noon, Mary got ready to go to her watercolor class AFTER I promised not to do anything but breathe. She returned about 3:30 pm with a new masterpiece!
She gets better every week!
Mary fixed a super dinner, and we watched Downton Abbey until 10:00 pm!
Mary got a call from the doctor’s office, and they said I could have the heart ablation operation as soon as we could get a date and determine if I have a heart! I need the operation because I have Atrial fibrillation.
Heart ablation uses heat (radiofrequency) or cold (cryoablation) energy delivered by a catheter to destroy abnormal heart tissue, correcting irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias) by blocking faulty electrical signals. Common reasons for ablation include atrial fibrillation, where the top heart chambers quiver erratically. Trivia includes that the procedure, often minimally invasive, takes a few hours with a short recovery period. Still, complete healing takes about three months, and success depends on the specific arrhythmia and the experience of the medical center.
Atrial fibrillation (AFib): A common type of arrhythmia where the heart’s upper chambers quiver, causing an abnormal rhythm.
Minimally Invasive: Heart ablation is typically performed with catheters inserted through blood vessels, making it a minimally invasive procedure.
By 10:15 pm, we were sawing logs!
I am blessed to have Dr. Mary in my life!!!
Another day of recuperation, so we did not even leave the house. Mary fixed a small breakfast and brought me my hearing aids.
I saw two hearing aids, and after putting in the right one, the left one disappeared. I panicked and called Mary. We were both searching the floor, trying to locate the missing hearing aid. After 30 minutes, I gave up and scratched my left ear, only to find I had already put it in! Dummy Award #1 of the day goes to Paul!
Oops!!
We worked in the garden for a brief time, removing the tomatoes that had grown into the berry patch. Mary told and retold the “Saga of Super Squirrel” and how she singlehandedly ridded the neighborhood of this perilous creature! Mary is even thinking about going into business with Colleen as her partner (Colleen determined the right mix of fruits and nuts to use as bait).
Mary’s new company logo!
While there, I trimmed the tops of the basil plants, deciding to make Basil Blossom Tea! For twenty years, I cut the blossoms off and threw them away!
Now they are most useful!!
To make basil blossom tea, you can create a simple hot or iced infusion by steeping fresh or dried basil flowers in hot water. The flavor is often milder and more floral than that of basil leaves, and some find it best enjoyed with the addition of a sweetener and lemon.
The tea did require a bit of sugar, but was quite refreshing.
The remaining part of the day, I worked on Irene’s Celebration of Life video, scanning old photos dating back almost 90 years.
I lost track of time, and Mary finally came to the office and begged me to join her for dinner. We had chicken drumsticks, homemade beans, eggplant parmesan, and canned peaches.
Then it happened, we smelled smoke and the microwave burst forth with a fragrance fit for only a hyena or Smokey the Bear!
Mary burnt the zucchini-garlic balls; when I said ‘burnt,’ I mean something like crispy critters, charcoal, or black rocks, etc.
I took the remains outside and considered burying them, but I was afraid it might kill the plants. I left it on the patio to see if it would have any effect on the mosquitoes. We then turned on the whole-house fan to remove the smoke, and I swear I heard the fan gasp for air and sneeze twice. Dummy Award #2 of the day goes to Mary!
If Mary offers her special “Charcoal Zuchinni-Garlic Bites”, I recommend a strong NO!
We watched Downton Abbey until 10:00 pm and then hit the sack.
I am feeling much better and hopefully will be mostly recovered tomorrow. I still cannot drink or drive for eight more days!
This is a day we always hate because Colleen, our youngest daughter, is heading home and we will again be alone, no maid service, no chauffeur, no “Dunkin’ Runs, etc. On the bright side, we will be with her and her family again in about three weeks when we go exploring the Caribbean with them.
Amy came over to drive Colleen to the airport! Before she departed, Colleen and Mary set a trap for the infamous Liles’ Varmint. We suspected a tree squirrel and provided it with a tasty treat of apples, watermelon, and shelled unsalted peanuts.
Guess what? We got him!
He was hysterical, especially when we offered him some water!
Later in the afternoon, Bob and Robin dropped by to check in on us, and we have Bob’s job! Deliver the little fellow somewhere else and remind him he is NOT welcome in the Liles’ garden!
Bob had to pour him out of the trap!
We sat around with Bob and Robin for a couple of hours and then hit the sack. We had not eaten all day, and after two small glasses of wine, Mary got a bit tipsy, and we sent her to bed.
We were in the sack by 8:30 pm, resting for another full-filled day around the ranch, knowing the giant five-foot-tall varmint was well away from the property.
Things were pretty quiet in the morning hours. We walked in the garden and visited everyone. Colleen did a “Dunkin’ Run” so we had our morning iced latte. With Mary’s assistance, I got back in the shower and cleaned up for the visitors.
Mary tried to take a selfie in the shower, but it was too blurry. She has selfie steam issues.
Mr. Connor was first to arrive, and we spent almost two hours catching up. Connor is approaching 30 years old rapidly, I may add. Grandsons are so lovely to have around. We laughed and giggled, repeating stories of yore. He departed around 3:00 pm as he had an appointment.
Around 6:00 pm, Joe, Amy, and the varmints came to visit. I cannot believe that Charlie is now 18 years old, and Alex is sixteen and almost ready to drive. We are getting old.
We ordered a pizza, Mary made deviled eggs, and we ordered pizza!
Charlier goes after the spicy poke!
We talked for a couple of hours, laughing most of the time!
Amazing, Joe did NOT poke his eye out this time with the chopsticks!
I wolfed down two pieces of pizza, which were really good!
The kids departed right about 8:00 pm, and we crashed. I am still recovering from the anesthesia.
I woke up at home, but I was still quite woozy. Mary helped me out of bed and got me presentable; I was not allowed to wear my fur.
Mary kept trying to feed me, but I wasn’t hungry since I had already had a latte from Dunkin’, courtesy of Colleen.
Colleen went to visit the family since she was out here, and I found out something a bout Mary. When she gets worried, she cooks! Did I say “cooks”? The woman becomes a culinary artist, pastry chef, and a sophisticate, among other terms related to a chef.
She got out all the machinery and notified the neighbors that there might be a brief power outage once her cooling appliances started up. First, the grinder was used to make itty-bitty pieces out of an overly large zucchini.
The zucchini-garlic creation was a work of art, and in fact, I filled up on them and only had a taste of the eggplant parmesan.
Double Yummey!
Next came the eggplant, and Mary used a recipe that Paul sent her. It was a load of work, but the results were terrific.
The water had to be removed, and then the eggplant was breaded.
Everything is ready to go into oven to make sure the eggplants arre toasted1
The dryness helps the eggplant absorb the sauce.
Into the oven for about half an hour and voila, bubbling cheese eggplant parmesan!
It looked too good to eat!!
Colleen was out and about most of the day, visiting family, including her mom, over in La Mirada.
We had dinner, and then I needed some rest, so we went to sleep. This operation took a lot more out of me than I had anticipated.
