I am in the desert

I left Thursday afternoon for Omaha.  Landed at Matt's around 4:30 pm.  He was working but returned home around 6.  He took me and a friend (Kailie, sorry if I am not spelling it right)  to Anthony's steak house.  Very, VERY good meal.  We had a great time there and then back to Matt's home.  I hit bed early because of a 12 hour drive the next morning to Tucumcari, NM.  The drive went without a hitch, so that was a plus!

I left Tucumcari at 6 am New Mexico time.  That would be 7 am Iowa time and 5 am Arizona time.  Needless to say, with the 2 hour time difference I made it into Phoenix early on Saturday, around 1:45 pm.  That left me plenty of time to grocery shop, start getting rid of the AZ dust and just relax.  I still do not like the drive down the mountains from Flagstaff to Phoenix.  I cannot imagine doing that road in the winter.  Yikes!

Yesterday I spent most of the day preparing our little lawn for seeding.  Thank goodness it is "little" because it took a lot of hard work, bending over, lifting 8 big bags of top cover, etc.  It is worth it in the end but I am stiff this morning!  I was going to go on a hike today but that can wait another day.  :-)

I was very disappointed in my rose bush garden.  I lost every single one.  They were so beautiful when I left last April and the watering system was working so I don't understand what happened!  It was a long and very hot summer here so I am thinking that I didn't have the water on long enough for them to survive.  Live and learn!  We enjoyed their color so much that I am going to replant them but if they die again next summer then cacti are going into that spot!!!  Hard to kill a cactus out here.  Ha!

No video today.  :-(  I will have to rely on Megan to keep us updated as to what Drew and Kayley are up to these days!

Mexican Palm upon arrival was in desperate need of a trimming!!!

Mexican Palm after trimming it...immediately!!

Date Palm was also looking very shaggy!

Date Palm looking clean shaven!

Mark's cactus was overtaken by grass while we were gone.  He is going to have to deal with this.  I am not getting near that cactus!

This once was my beautiful rose garden.  Upon arrival it looked like the yard of a foreclosed home!

This is what my rose garden looked like when I left last May.  Must have really been a long hot summer in the Valley!

Home, but not for long (updated with a video)

 I returned from two weeks in Peoria last Friday night.  Kayley was well on her way to being healed after her tonsillectomy/adenoid surgery.  She was finally about 99% the last couple of days I was there and we knew she could start back to preschool again.  It was very hard to leave knowing that I will be heading to Arizona soon.  I will miss those two little ones so much!  I do have a plane ticket already purchased to fly to Peoria for Thanksgiving, though, so that thought helps me some!

Mark almost has the harvest finished.  He ran into combine problems this afternoon so he may not be finishing tomorrow as planned.  Hopefully he can get that old machine up and running again to be done for the season!  Wish him luck!  Jan Miller is still hauling grain for him and the last two days I have been riding with her and the time spent visiting has been fun!  I don't get to see her as often as I used to so this has been very nice.

My plans are to leave this Thursday for Matt's home in Omaha and spend the night.  I like getting up early from his house and hit the road for about a 12+ hour drive to Tucumcari, NM.  I wouldn't be able to get that far without that extra 3 hours provided by leaving from Omaha!  That should put me in Phoenix by early afternoon on Saturday.  I am not looking forward to the cleaning that will face me after all those dust storms this summer.  I imagine it will be bad.  :-(  Oh well, it's a small house!!!

The next time I post I will be in the desert.  I am anxious to get back there and do some hiking!  Mark will join me when he gets the fall field work done.

Some pictures and a video from my stay in Peoria....

 

Kayley writing on her whiteboard when she started feeling better.

She is in the process of drawing a "pretty rainbow"!

Kayley wanted to go to the park and have a Burger King picnic one day.  She wasn't quite ready for that, though.  Four fries into it she started cyring and said her mouth hurt.  :-(  We went home and had scrambled eggs and cottage cheese and she was a happy camper!

Daddy said he would buy her a fish when she started taking her medicine without his "assistance".

Kayley said these were not pajamas and insisted on wearing them all day.  I thought they looked like pajamas and Megan confirmed....they are pajamas.  Oh well, she was very comfortable all day!

Grandparents Day at Preschool

Lucky for me,  the kids' preschool held Grandparents Day while I was actually here!  Yay!   Unfortunately, Kayley of course could not attend but Megan came home from work to watch her so I could attend for Drew.  I had such a great time and I think he was very glad someone was there for him.  There were lots of old folks in the building today.  :-)  I was feeling sad that Mark couldn't attend so I made sure to make some videos for him.

Kayley had a so-so day.  She was constantly saying she was hungry but no matter what I offered her that she said she wanted it was unsuccessful when it came to putting it into her mouth.  Just softly cried and said her mouth hurt.  I can only imagine!  She did take liquids all day so that was the main goal.  I finally did get two bowls of ice cream down her.  I look forward to the day the little gal is back to herself!


Some random pics and videos of Drew's program:

Drew and Kayley with the pumpkins mommy bought for them

Drew and his best friend Sam playing outside after the program

Getting ready to perform for the old folks

Kayley at home feeling good at the moment!

Some videos from Grandparents Day:

Kayley's surgery

Kayley had tonsil/adenoid surgery scheduled for Monday so Saturday I left for Peoria to lend a hand in her recovery.  The surgery went well but the recovery, not so much.  The doctor said her tonsils were the size of ping pong balls and the adenoids half that size.  Those were some super big tonsils for such a little mouth and head! She had the surgery at around 10:30 on Monday and they said she could go home as soon as she drank 4 ounces.  By late afternoon/early evening it was obvious she was not going to do it.  She had drunk 0 ounces.  :-(  There was no choice but to admit her and get an IV started so she would not become dehydrated.  All day Tuesday we worked on getting her to drink.  By that evening she had taken around 10 ounces of various liquids.  (We had a VAST array of choices for her!!)  I would not call them "easy" ounces.  We all worked hard for those few sips!  Wednesday she was feeling a bit better and they decided to release her as they think she will do better at home.  Since we have been home, she has been sipping but taking her meds is a nightmare, and this from a little gal that always took medicine without complaint.  I am sure the feeling in her throat is not helping.  Andy's been given the task of administering her meds.  Lucky Dad, but he is the only one strong enough to get them down her!  Megan and Andy were told it is about a 2 week recovery.  I never realized it was such a major surgery, at least the recovery period anyway.  Oh well, we are praying Kayley keeps properly hydrated.

Update:  Today Kayley was....remarkable!  She took her meds in a cup on her own.  Big advancement!  She had scrambled eggs for lunch and cottage cheese for a "snack", along with black olives.  Thank goodness Kayley likes foods like that because they are soft! 


Some pics and one video:

Looking happy, happy before leaving for the hospital!

Still looking good in pre-op

A bit out of it following surgery

Forcing a smile in the hospital....still not drinking any liquids, though.

Working on drinking...anything!

YAY!!!!

This is her position when Andy said "time for your meds"!

Having fun decorating a pumpkin in the play room

The look we got when we said "drink Kayley"!!!!

Happy we are leaving her alone!

Super glad to have brother Drew visit

Ah, laying in bed watching Mickey Mouse.  Life is good!!!

This shows how we tried to get her to drink!  :-)