Sharp's Travels

It was a good news bad news day. I was awake around 4:00 am and got up at 4:45 am. Cheri I was awake very early and was up at 4:30 am which means we both had a bad night. We have been sleeping different bedrooms since June 6 because of Cheri’s eye and now because of my catheter. Good news I had an 8:45 am appointment to get the catheter out. After getting the catheter out I received more good news. The 12 biopsies from my prostrate all came back benign. The nurse said to hang around the hospital and drink some coffee or soda to make sure I could pee before returning home. While we were waiting we received a call from Pam and Mike. Pam had an appointment this morning for her tooth and they were just up the road from us so we met them at Steak and Shake for a late breakfast. We didn’t know that Steak and Shake did breakfast and was pretty good. After breakfast Mike and Pam headed out shopping on their way home. Cheri and I went to Lowe’s to pick up some more drawer and door pulls. I still hadn’t peed and this was close to the hospital. Well around 1:00 pm I decided to go back to the doctor. Bad news they had to put the catheter back in. Well I did have a couple of hours of freedom. I am not sure how long it is going to be, nurse is going to call me tomorrow to let me know what is next. When we got back to town we had to stop at Wal-Mart so Cheri could get Grandma’s medicine and groceries. We also drove through a couple of hard rains getting to Wal-Mart and then home. I just checked the rain gauge and we received 1 1/2 of rain.

    

It was another day of depression for us. We are both down and today was the worst. We got a call that Grandma’s prescription was ready to be picked up so we headed out this morning to pick it up and take it to Wal-Mart to be filled. It is hard to do anything as Cheri is still having problems seeing and me having to carry a bag wherever I go. So it was good to get that done and back home. Cheri did get her laundry done and that was all she did today. I did do some more playing with the new VHS to Video software and got a couple of the tapes down loaded into the computer. We did some Bible study and the rest of the day was spent reading and watching TV. Hang in there with us as tomorrow is going to be a better day as I go to have my catheter removed and Cheri is patiently waiting for the bubble disappear in her eye.   

Cheri was busy getting her Tuesday house work done and my job was to say out of her way. Once she was done with that we sat down and did some Bible study. Cheri ordered a new quilt pattern so as soon as the bubble disappears in her eye she will have a new quilt project to work on. Although I do see she has something else laid out in the sewing room. I continued to read the Blood Moons book. I had ordered some software and an interface cable to transfer VHS to DVD. It came this afternoon so I played around with it until I was pretty frustrated and called it quits for the day. It rain again today nothing very hard just enough to stay put, like I was going somewhere. Everything I eat as a really bad taste which is from the medicine I am taking. So I can’t even enjoy my meals. Hopefully in another two day things can get back to normal in the Sharps house. Some prayers to help us get back to normal would be wonderful.   

Today wasn’t nearly as boring as the last few days. We got an e-mail that Grandma was out of medicine. So we headed over to her place to see what it was she needed and she also needed some groceries. Our first stop was at the doctor’s office to get new prescriptions. One of her medications is a drug and there wasn’t any doctor until Wednesday, so no luck on that one and will have to wait. Then we headed to Wal-Mart so Cheri could get Grandma’s groceries. Cheri isn’t allowed to drive because of her eye. So I did the driving but stayed in the car with the pee bag. We dropped off Grandma’s groceries and headed home. After lunch Cheri had an eye appointment. I just sit in the car and wait. While I have been waiting I started reading a new book called Blood Moons by Mark Biltz. It is very interesting and almost too deep for me. I am already about one third of the way through it. Cheri got a very good report from the eye doctor, she has no more restrictions which made her very happy although she still has the bubble in her eye and was told that it should disappear in a few days. She has another appointment in seven weeks. Pam called this afternoon to check on Cheri and wanted to know if we wanted to meet them at Jersey Mike’s as it is their customer appreciation week and all subs are only $3.99. So I slipped my jogging pants over my pee bag and we headed to Jersey Mike’s. We had a good sandwich and a nice visit with Mike and Pam until it got so noisy that I could hear anymore. All of the above things made our day go a little faster. Oh yes we did get a rain shower again today.   

                                                 

I checked the rain gauge this morning when I went out to get the morning paper and see that we had gotten 2 inches over the last four days. It did rain a lot in those four days and was surprised that we didn’t get more. We did get a little shower today. We did not go to church this morning figured it wouldn’t be a good thing to be out and about with a pee bag. We did streamed Dr. Larry Oillison’s church service which was excellent. It was on how do we as Christians deal with sin in the world. Mike and Pam dropped off a DVD from their church on healing which was excellent. Along with some Bible study we had a good day. Health wise we are no better than we were yesterday. Tomorrow Cheri has her eye appointment and praying for a good report. Cheri warmed up the casserole that Ron and Sandy brought over. It was very good and enough for a couple more meals.

This is going to be short as there isn’t much news. Cheri is no better than last week, still has the bubble in her, we thought that it should have been gone over week ago. She has a doctor appointment Monday to see what may be the next step to good vision. I had a good or as good as it could be dragging around a pee bag. So as you can see we both are pretty depressed and it rained most of the day which didn’t help either. I tried to do a couple of things but my mind wasn’t in it. This afternoon Ron and Sandy dropped off a casserole for us, so nice to have such good friends. We also got a call from Larry and Denise to see how we were doing. They told us about the trip they took to the east coast and had a good time. I started out sleeping in the recliner but felt like I needed to lie down so went the spare bedroom to sleep. It took me awhile get settled in but did finally drift off to sleep.

   

It wasn’t a good night as I have been up since midnight. I have that feeling I need to pass water and having a hard time doing it. So this morning I have been drinking a lot of coffee, water, and soda to see if I could push things through. By 1:30 pm I decided it was time to go to the emergency to get drained. By the time we got to the emergency I was having sever pain with all the pressure from the full bladder. They inserted another catheter and within a minute I was feeling better, Ten minutes later I was fine and no pain and ready to go back home. Actually I felt the best I had felt since yesterday afternoon. I had to stop at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up some antibiotics and something to reduce bladder spasms. Shortly after we got home Mike and Pam came to deliver some homemade soup that she made for us. We had some of it for supper as we missed lunch. Thanks to Mike and Pam for being there for us in our time of need. It wasn’t a good day to be out as it rained most of the day. Haven’t been able to get out seeing how much we have received.   

   

I did sleep in the recliner and that went pretty good woke up at 2:00 am but went back to sleep until 3:00 am and finally got up at 4:00 am. Cheri was also up early. Actually I was feeling pretty good today, as much as you can with a catheter. Cheri did laundry and took good care of me today. We spent 99 percent of the day in recliners. We watch the six hour miniseries of King Tut along with some other movies we had recorded. All was good until around supper time when my catheter started leaking so I took it out. It was supposed to stay in until 7:00 am tomorrow. We got a lot of calls from friends checking to see how I was doing. Cheri fixed us pork chops for supper. I stayed in all day and Cheri was out only long enough to put out the garbage. We got our usual summer rain that didn’t amount to much.

   

Cheri and I were up a little before 3:00 am. Mike came and picked us up as I had to be at the VA hospital in Tampa at 5:45 am. I am having surgery this morning to have a stone removed from my bladder and needed someone to drive me home. Cheri couldn’t drive because of her eye so Mike was our volunteer driver. The surgery was only a half hour long so I figured I would be back home by 11:00 am at the latest. When I woke up I had some pain around a seven level. They gave me a shot of morphine which I forgot to tell them that it gives me a bad headache and sick to my stomach. I couldn’t leave until the pain level was down to a two or three. Long story short I didn’t get out of the hospital until around 1:00 pm and yes I did had a terrible headache and was sick on the way home. Oh and one more thing I came home with a catheter which I didn’t know I would have. I made it to the recliner and slept for about an hour and a half before feeling much better and was ready for something to eat as I hadn’t had anything all day. I made it to the table and had some soup and toast which made me feel better for a while. About two hours later I was feeling sick again but in a couple more hours I was feeling better. I tried to watch some TV but could stay awake, finally I had enough and so did Cheri as she was very tired and hadn’t slept well the night before. Being I had the catheter I decided that it would be best if I slept in the recliner. Yes the surgery was a success and I will be getting rid of the catheter on Friday morning. 

We didn’t have any real plans today so we took our time getting around; Cheri said that she didn’t have good night so she needed a nap this afternoon. We had rain on and off most of the day and received another ½ inch today. This forenoon we made a trip to Home Depot to buy a battery powered hedge and grass trimmer, needed something for the flowers and shrubs. Stopped on the way and visited with our fiend Betsy Strickland, she runs a Postal service near the Home Depot. We stopped at Winn Dixie on the way home for some groceries. Cheri did get her Tuesday house work done and I did some computer work and Bible study. The rest of the day was spent in the recliners watching TV and napping. This evening we got a call from Darren checking in to see how Cheri was doing with her eye. She hasn’t had any change the last week with the gas bubble disappearing.   

Cheri and I were up early this morning as we had to be on the road by 7:00 am for an appointment I had in Tampa and were back home by 11:00 am. Cheri spent the afternoon in the sewing room working with some material that she bought the other day at Old Time Pottery. She said something about making something for the table in the sunroom. I worked on making a new power cord for the GPS that I use on the motorcycle. I did get it installed on the motorcycle but still have to put things back together. This afternoon they were laying the new asphalt on the street in front of our house. I went out to take pictures and was just about ready to come back in when it started to rain and I got caught under the neighbor’s carport. It put a stop to the asphalt laying but only lasted about half an hour. We had plans to go out for dinner with Mike and Pam and decided we should leave early or we might not get out because of the asphalt laying. So we drove down to the Club house and waited there. Mike and Pam came about 5:00 pm and then we headed to Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse in Plant City. Pam and I had gotten a Groupon where we would get thirty dollars worth of food for twelve dollars. It was a great deal and the food was also very good. It was close to 8:00 pm when we got home. We were tired and didn’t last long watching TV. We got just about a ½ inch of rain from the half hour rain.   

It was a normal Sunday for us; we picked up Grandma and took her to church with us. Pastor Randy had another good message: What’s the Difference? Romans 5:15-21. The air conditioner wasn’t working in the house where we have Sunday school so we had it in the church fellowship hall. It was hard to hear with all the other classes going on around us. Charlie did his best to speak over the competition. The lesson was The Promise Fulfilled from Luke 24:19-35. We eat lunch with Mel and Jan at ABC Pizza. Mel and Jan paid for our lunch because I installed their new entry door, nice of them to do that. While we were eating it started to rain and continued to rain until we got about half way home and drove out of it. We did get a little shower late this afternoon, just enough to get things wet. I watched the NASCAR race this afternoon. We found a new show called North Woods Law. It is about game wardens from Maine. It is pretty interesting and there were several shows so I recorded them. I think Cheri enjoyed them being she was born and raised in Maine until I came along and took her to Wisconsin. We also watched a new series called Cedar Cove which looks like it might be pretty good.     

I went outside to work this morning before it got too hot but was already 86 degrees. I sprayed for weeds at our neighbors and around our place also cut more seed pods out of the neighbors palm trees. With that done I was ready to quit my outside work but decided to have a glass of water and see if I could do some more. I have wanted to get the power washer out and run it as it has been while since I have used it. First I had to go and get some gas for it and the generator. As long as I had it running I power washed the stains off the driveway where the water come out of the down spouts. Then it was time to get the generator out as it has been over a year since it was last run. I plugged the fan in the generator to exercise generator and set it by the motor cycle so I could have a breeze while fixing the shift linkage that broke in early this year, had been using a cable tie to hold it together. I also took the headlight out so I could repair the power cord to the GPS. I just got the generator and power washer put away when it started to rain. After lunch I went back out and unloaded the tools from the car that I had used at Mel and Jan’s. It was around 1:30 pm when I was done outside and ready for a shower to get cleaned up. Cheri was busy in the sewing room and got her summer wreath done, sure looks nice. She also made some chocolate chip cookies or I should say white chip because she was out of the chocolate chips. I was ready for one as soon as they came out of the oven, so good. We both worked on our Sunday school lesson and then I made a trip uptown to the NAPA store to see if they had the air filter for the car and they did so I now have that in and ready for another 15,000 miles. It rained off and on all afternoon and we received just under a ½ inch.

    

I went over to Mel and Jan’s to finish the entry door. Hard to believe it took me around 13 hours just change out a door. It did turn out to be a bigger job than I thought it would be but in the end it came out very well and Mel and Jan are very happy. I also cleaned out some of their rain gutters down spouts that were plugged with leaves. I got back home around 11:30 am. Cheri had been doing her Friday laundry and was working in the sewing room on the new wreath she is making for our front door. After I got my shower done we had some lunch and  then went to the bank as we had receive a letter in the mail that our house insurance was going to be canceled because they hadn’t received payment. Being we have the house loan through the bank they make the payment. Long story short the payment had been made and the insurance company jumped the gun. While we were out I filled the car with gas and then was going to stop by the insurance office to pay my motorcycle insurance but it is closed during the noon hour so headed back home and paid it on line. Cheri went back to work on her wreath and I took Grandma to the doctor for her B-12 shot. I got back home around 2:00 pm. I did some more computer work and then did some Bible study. By 4:00 pm Cheri and I were both done for the day.

    

Cheri and I headed over to Mel and Jan’s this morning. Cheri and Jan went shopping while I finished installing the entry door. I still had to do some more modifications for door latch and dead bolt. Also some changes to the door closers as there wasn’t much to fasten them to. The project is done except for putting in about a half dozen screws which I need to get. I got done at 1:00 pm and we headed home. Cheri fixed us a salad for a late lunch while I was showering. We didn’t have much time before Mike and Pam picked us up at 2:00 pm. We headed to Brandon to do a little shopping. Pam wanted to check out some shoes at a special shoe store but didn’t find any that fit her. From there we went to the LifeWay Christian store. This is the store where Pam and Mike get most of their reading and Bible study material. Pam had talked about the store before but we had never been there before. What a wonderful experience it was, already looking forward to going back and spending a lot of time just browsing searching for material to help us in our walk with God. Mike and Pam have been a great help in our walk. Then we went to the mall to have dinner at Bahama Breeze, once again we just ordered appetizers which works out to be plenty of food and half price during Happy Hour. Pam and Cheri wanted to stop at Old Time Pottery so while they were shopping Mike and I went to Home Depot which was almost next door. I wasn’t able to get the dark brown screws I needed for Mel and Jan’s door but bought some screws and dark brown paint. We got home around 8:00 pm, watched a little TV and called it a night.   

Cheri was busy with her Wednesday house work along with some window washing and cleaning the sun room. I left a little before 9:00 am and headed to Mel and Jan’s to put in a new entry door to their Florida room which is also the entry into the house. I knew it was going to be big job as it was going to be tight fit. Well the existing opening wasn’t square, being the opening was all aluminum it took a lot of cutting and shimming. Normally it would only take about two or three hours to install the door. Well I worked on it from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm and it still isn’t done. I have about two more hours of work and will do that tomorrow. I was really tired when I got home and was ready for a hot shower. Needless to say I had trouble staying awake to watch any TV this evening went to bed at 9:00 pm.   

 Cheri did her Tuesday house work and I went out and cleaned out the rain gutters. I was surprised as I thought there would be more leaves to remove but still enough to plug up the down spouts. After I got showered and cleaned up Cheri and I headed to Lowe’s down in New Tampa to return the can lights I bought because the light they produced wasn’t white enough for me. The lady at the return desk gave me a lesson in how to find out how white the light is on LED bulbs, just goes to show you are never too old to learn something new. While we were there we bought all of the cabinet knobs they had, still need more but have plenty of time to pick them up. We stopped and checked Larry and Denise’s house and found everything in good shape. When we got home we had a very late lunch. I went out and got the tools I will need for the door project tomorrow and got them into the car. I had bought new air filters for the car and decide to change them this afternoon, no problem with the cabin filter but the engine filter didn’t fit. I had bought them at Wal-Mart. I checked on line and according to that it was supposed to be the right filter. So I headed off to Wal-Mart to return it and look again but no luck so I went to two other car part stores and no luck. I may end up having to get it from the Honda dealership and know it will cost me a lot more. We had a rain shower come though this afternoon and receive just over a ¼ inch.

Things have been busy here in the park. Starting early this morning workers where grinding down some of the old payment getting ready to put new asphalt on most of the streets in the park. Don’t know if it is going to hinder us from getting in and out of the park. This morning Cheri and I went to the doctor’s office as Grandma’s doctor is leaving the clinic and had to get her set up with a new doctor. Then a quick stop at the bank to get some papers notarized. When we got home I had some computer work to do and Cheri went to the sewing room. Mel and Jan had ordered a new entry door from Lowe’s and it was in so this afternoon I asked Mike if he would use his van so we could pick up the door and take it to Mel and Jan’s. I made arrangements with them to remove the old door and put the new one in on Wednesday. When Mike and I got back to his park he showed me two new homes that were brought in this forenoon. I guess they will be bringing in two more as we could see where they were going to be put. It was after 2:30 pm when I got home. We had a pretty good rain come through early this evening and I just checked our new rain gauge and we received just over ½ inch, wouldn’t have to water flowers in the morning.  

It was just Cheri and I for church this morning. Grandma wanted to spend the day with her friend Carol as today was her birthday. Pastor Randy delivered a very good message: Why Do We Die from Romans 5:12-14. Sunday school was also very good our lesson today was The Promise Fulfilled from Luke 24:19-35. We eat at ABC Pizza with Mel and Jan. When we went in there were Grandma and Carol eating. Shortly after we got there Pam called and wanted to know where we were as their church went over and had an excellent guest speaker (Wynne Goss) she wanted to tell us about so they came and sat in the booth behind us. After we eat we had to stop by Mel and Jan’s to pick up some paper work for a door that they had ordered from Lowes. Then we met Mike and Pam at Walgreens to drop off our car and ride with them to visit Ron and Sandy. Ron is having a lot of pain in his back along with the knee replacement. On the way there Pam was telling us about the guest speaker they had in church this morning and said that he was speaking again this evening and they were going to go. We visited about an hour with Ron and Sandy. It was around 3:30 pm when we arrived home. We were ready for a little relaxation and for me to watch the NASCAR race that I had recorded. Cheri and I got to talking and decided to go to Mike and Pam’s church this evening to hear the guest speaker Wynne Goss. He was very good and easy to understand the message he delivered. To learn more about him you can go to his web site at http://www.wynnegoss.com/.  

We didn’t have any plans to go anywhere today, just a day to get a few things done around the house. Cheri spent a little time in the sewing room and also looking at quilting magazines; think she is looking for her next project. The new fence is all done; all that is left is to haul away the old one as they have piles of it all along in the back yards. I haven’t been doing any outside work because it has been so hot, so what do I do I go out and work on the hottest day we have had so far this summer. I went out and put the rock garden back together, watered the flowers, cleaned the bird bath, and put up the rain gauge. After I got it up I decided I need a new as this one is so cloudy that it is hard to see the rain in it. I took the seats off the motorcycle and bought them in so I could clean them. After all was said and done I was ready for a shower. After lunch we went to Wal-Mart to get Grandma’s medicine and a new rain gauge. I did some computer work after we got home and then settled in for a relaxing afternoon and evening. I was watching the NASCAR race this evening but couldn’t stay awake for the finish so I have recorded it and will watch the rest of it tomorrow. 

We had an exciting day as Pam and Mike invited us down to Madeira Beach where they are spending a week with their family. It also gave us a chance to see their daughter Jenny and grandson Mason who we thought that had left early this morning to go back to Tennessee, what a nice surprise. Christmas was the last time we got to see them. Pam fixed us lunch and had a nice visit before Pam and Cheri went shopping. Mike and I visited and got most of the world problems solved and then took a long walk on the beach. We got back to the resort about the same time as Pam and Cheri. Then it was time for a game of cards before we headed out for dinner. We had a great meal, Cheri had fish and chips and the rest of us had frog legs and fries. Jenny wasn’t hungry so she ordered something to take back to the resort.  When we got back we played a game of Phase Ten and then it was time to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset and I have uploaded a few pictures. It was a very relaxing day, thanks Pam and Mike for inviting us and showing us a wonderful time.