Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Very quiet on this thread, reminding me that Jackie aka Illinois Lady posted every day.

It's sunny this morning but was low 50's when I got up. We're relying on the heat pump to warm up the 5th wheel in its noisy fashion. The day is supposed to warm up to about 75 but still be windy. DH will be heading to the golf course and I will be driving to town to the gym. As nearly always, I have a list of items for the supermarket. Plus a trip to the bank and the liquor store.

I'm looking forward to enjoying the deck again with some MN summer that isn't hot or cold and windy. I know my poor blooming plants in pots on the deck haven't been happy. Still, I'm thankful that we didn't get the huge hail that battered a town to the south of us a few days ago. It broke windows in houses and windshields on vehicles.

Happy Monday to all.

Awaiting mulch delivery today after 2 failed attempts to deliver it. First time they got 1/2 way up the driveway only to discover the mulch was not on the truck and the second delivery was also a case of no mulch on the truck which they discovered early. So today was the new date and they claim it is on the truck.

DH's birthday is tomorrow, but we had a family party yesterday so all could attend. We went to the Bonefish Grill for dinner and had reserved their private room several months ago. Everyone was permitted to order off the menu and DGS wanted to know if he could order a lobster tail extra to go with his rainbow trout. When I mentioned he had said he wanted the twin lobster tails he said he changed his mind and was "saving me money" which amounted to a whole dollar, lol. So everyone enjoyed the Bang Bang shrimp and Blackened chicken egg rolls as appetizers and their meals. Dessert was mostly Key Lime pie, or Drunken coconut pie for most. So it was DS's family, DD and her DH, and my DB and DSIL who were the surprise guests. They live an hour away and I was so happy they were able to make it.

Bonefish had done a nice job decorating the table with a long Happy Birthday decoration and small vases of flowers. DD and DSIL made a special trip to Five Below to buy additional decorations including balloons, a birthday hat which he actually put on so we could get a photo, and boxes of mixed candies including Hershey's kisses, peanut butter cups and the small Hershey's bard and Kit Kats. DH was dreading this party, but he seemed to have a good time.

Everyone cam back to the house afterwards and stayed for a longer visit. we gave DS's family the gifts we had brought them back from Ireland. I had also gotten DGD some items at Five Below and she was pleased with them.

DGD is in a boot for what was initially dx as a bad sprain and later dx as a bone chip on a growth plate so she will be in this for most of the summer. She is forbidden to go in her GM's pool and it looks like she will be unable to attend the annual trip to Wildwood for a week. She can't take the boot off except to get a quick shower and must sleep in it as well. DS has been displeased with poor communication by the Orthopedic docs who say one thing and later call with a change in plans. I encouraged him to get a second opinion at this point. She had been discharged from the boot at an appointment and several hours later (post-x-ray which should have been available at appointment) and told to get the boot back on ASAP. No need to wear to bed, and then a call hours later, saying boot on 24 hours/day. She's only 10 so getting this healed it critical for the future growth of that leg. DDIL is also concerned that her heel is turning white from being confined in the hot boot.

DD had given DH gifts from the PGA which was held here and DS will do some new fencing chores that DH needs assistance with plus he got him (and me) a Nothing Bundt cakes for tomorrow. DH wanted a new Italian leather to replace the one he bought when we were in Florence and was able to find one online so that was my gift to him i addition to the party.

I was able to spend some time printing out individual and family group sheets for parents, and as many grandparents as I had information on. I organized them in one new binder for the present, but my intention is to create a binder for each family that I have written a history about. I also purchased clear archival pages to store the documents I have on each family such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc. I have so many records gathered during research that I need to sort through and just keep those that are my direct family. I'm not sure what I will do with those that bear the same surname, but turned out not to be related though. I hate to just toss them, but am not sure if some historical society would accept them since so many do online research today and don't want paper records.

Massive thunderstorms rolled through last night and thankfully watered my wilting patio flowers. The claps of thunder were exceptionally loud and flash flood warnings came through on my phone. We needed the rain and it came in a downpour that lasted for hours.

It is sunny, warm and looks to be a lovely day. Hoping all of you have a wonderful day and waving "hi" to everyone.

I agree with carole, so many of you who have not posted lately are missed and we need to hear from you. It's been very quiet here.

Last Tuesday I had 2 gfs visit. We hung in the screen house and had a gab fest. I might have already told you . 🤷‍♀️

Thursday I left on a girls trip. We went to Greenwood Lake - a place on the lake rented thru VBRO. But it was 91 and humid to boot! The place says it had a beach but was truly a spit of dirt with 2 lounge chairs. I went out on the dock, other ladies screaming - they saw a snake in the water. Hiking all around but at the high temperatures we did none. So no swimming & no hiking.
Fri: We went to a movie but it was Sci-Fi which I hate. But I figured go with an open mind. After 30-45 minutes I left and sat in the lobby. I was able to catch up on emails, texts, etc. All good.
Saturday: the town had a street fair, full of vendors. We had an enjoyable time. Spent some money, then headed out to lunch. Restaurant was great, the food was very good too. And they offered a boat tour of the lake. So after eating we took a 1.5 hr tour. It was very informative, beautiful scenery and heard the history to it all.
Sunday we packed, cleaned up and hit the road.

Cove Castle - restaurant, boat tour, even a wedding venue. They had a band at 5:30, and at 8:30 they were putting on the Knicks - giant screen set up outside.

Derek Jeter and his sister redid this place. It recently sold for $6 million. There is a mini Statue of Liberty; infinity pool, and so much more.

This home has marble pillars- it’s where Babe Ruth stayed. I can’t remember if he owned it or rented it.
The lakes history goes back to it having a 3 story ice house, where they’d store the ice cut from the frozen lake - 2’ thick. Then 8 or 9 large resorts would pick up passengers by boat from a train stop - rich and famous vacationed. Further along many boxer’s trained there; major music venue where big names played; when NY drinking was 18 and NJ was 21, I believe he said there were 70+ bars and clubs along the lake, and I assume near by, for all those NJ youths coming to drink in NY.

That’s where I’ve been. I did stay up, when everyone went to bed at 8:30 to read, to watch the Knicks. Nite owl can’t phantom going to bed at 8:30, and the Knicks did not disappoint. I don’t normally watch basketball but I felt vested in it because it being NY. Not proud of the actions of the few fans destroying property and/or beating on Spurs fans - unacceptable. I hope all are caught and prosecuted.

Today I spent an hour scraping the char off the side of the garage. Face mask KN95, gloves, glasses and black shorts & shirt. It’s WORK. I sent a text to a guy who does vinyl siding. I hope to get an estimate to side it. I don’t even care what color, as it faces the neighbors who nearly burnt it down. I’d like Cape Cod gray to match everything, but if the contractor has leftovers from a previous job and can give me a $ break, I’ll go with whatever. I showered & did laundry as soon as I got in the house. I also drained inches of water out of the pool from downpours last night.

I did about 6 boards and I think it still needs a palm sander to go over it all. Fingers crossed the siding guy can give me a deal. I have no idea what it costs; we haven’t sided anything in 30+ years.

That’s it. We’re headed out to dinner at 5 with another couple. Tomorrow I have a follow up on my shoulder. I’ve been doing PT at home and I think I’ve avoided getting a cortisone shot.

Intolight, ((hugs)) to you in treatment.
taco, glad your knee is healing well!
Carol, it sounds like you’re doing well.
Chris, I’m passing on your info for ancestry.
Betrayal, you’re busy as always.

Anyone I’ve missed, apologies, I didn’t take notes. Good wishes to all!

Even though people may be well known, they hold in their hearts the emotions of a simple person for the moments that are the most important of those we know on earth: birth, marriage and death.

Jackie Kennedy

Following along but I haven’t taken notes so my apologies if I miss anyone.

Intolight - I hope your treatment day went okay. Sending hugs your way

Cindy - I second (or third) Chris’s suggestion for red/orange stripes of siding on the garage wall facing your neighbors. The uglier, the better. Scraping the charred siding must have been quite the workout.

Taco - glad the knee is getting better. I’m impressed you can walk two miles!

Carole - we are also having cooler weather in the Chicago area. I’m much happier with the cooler weather but severe storms are forecasted for tomorrow. Last week storms moved through our area but we just got rain. Others that were south and north of us got tornadoes and significant wind damage. Today is high 60’s and I have all the windows open to air out the house.

Betrayal - what a fantastic birthday celebration for DH. I’m sure he knows how much he is loved.

Weekend before last was busy. On Saturday I drove 5 hours RT to Wisconsin for my grandniece’s bridal shower. My side of the family is very small so while there were 30 women in attendance, only my nephew’s wife and I were from my niece’s side of the family. I also know that my niece and her younger daughter do not care for large gatherings (same with me) and that hosting this gathering was difficult. The bride to be is very extroverted and has lots of friends. All this to say that it was a lovely shower.

On Sunday, DH and I drove 6 hours RT to a different part of Wisconsin for a family get together on his side of the family. This was the first time in three years that all five siblings were together. One of his nephew’s is moving to England this week for a three year stay as part of his job. I know DH’s sister is sad that her only grandchild will be thousand of miles away.

Both gatherings were wonderful but I was exhausted. We’ve cancelled our March 2027 cruise from Buenos Aires to Barcelona as we are focusing more on land trips right now. I’d still like to do this cruise but we feel we have a longer time horizon for cruises and that we should do the more difficult land trips now. Maybe we will go back to SE Asia but that is dependent on airfares and the world.

Yesterday we went strawberry picking. A perfect day - 70, sunny and light breeze. We picked two quarts as it’s only the 2 of us and I’m not a baker. We did freeze some of the berries. We may return to this farm next month for blueberry picking.

Waving ‘hello’.

I am older than many of you "older folks" .

I was diagnosed May 2026 at the age of 74.

jerimanelle, 

Welcome to the thread. 🙂

carolehalston,

I believe Amazon scans label on the box to give you credit for returned item.

Whoever opens the box may arrange for the other 3 items to be processed.

Did some laundry today and have 2 loads for tomorrow. Finally got a good night's sleep over sleepless night before. I don't know why they happen and do try to figure out why they happen, but so far unable to determine cause. I just know they are happening more frequently now.

Tomorrow night I will get together with some nursing school friends at one's house about 30 minutes from here. She has moved since the last one I was able to attend so I am looking forward to seeing her new home and to see her again. She sold her condo and moved in with a daughter. Her daughter's ex sold the house she had been living in so she had to find a new place and my friend decided to go with her. It's probably a wise move since she was widowed and living alone. I'm looking forward to seeing who all will be there. It seems the group shifts by who's available at the time.

The mulch I ordered from Amazon finally showed up today and the brave truck driver backed up the driveway to in front of our garage, However, the driveway slopes towards my neighbor's and trying to remove a full pallet of 80 bags of mulch with a pallet mover wasn't going to work. So DH proposed plan B which was to remove half the bags and then get the pallet off. So DH helped stack the bags in front of the one garage door and when they got it down to just 40 bags, the driver was able to maneuver the pallet around to get it off the truck. Thank goodness he was younger than the first driver was, but it took great effort on his part and he was sweating by the time he finished I offered him cold bottled water to drink and one to go and he took both. I did tip him because he worked so hard to finally accomplish a mulch delivery which was tried last Wednesday when it wasn't on the truck, rescheduled for Friday and they were a "no-show" and then another reschedule for Monday when again they were a "no-show" . Seems they are subcontractors and 2 of their trucks broke their gate lifts trying to delivery these pallets which weigh about 2,400 lb. They were down to their last truck according to the company, but the truck they came with today was not one of theirs. I'm just happy it finally got here so I can start to prep the areas that need to be mulched. I don't have enough bags to do all the areas, but it is a start.

Finally was able to make an appointment to get ears pierced again. After having the torn lobes repaired I had to wait for 3 months for them to heal, then I didn't want to deal with newly pierced ears while in Ireland, and the appointments she had offered were in conflict with my social schedule. We don't do much socializing, but both times she offered, I was busy. She's going on vacation so I have an appointment the weekend she returns. I miss wearing earrings and had even bought 4 pairs while in Ireland. So once these heal and I can insert my own, I'll be happy and will be able to wear earrings on our October cruise.

Will seem funny to have to pay someone to do this. When we were student nurse's we "borrowed" 18 gauge needles from the hospital and using alcohol cotton balls and ice cubes for numbing, pierced each other's ears. Of course, we bought gold studs to use while they healed. We weren't allowed to wear earrings, even studs, in clinical so we covered them with band-aids. I am sure our instructors realized what we were doing since if they looked they would have been able to see the earring backs, but they luckily chose to ignore it. I even pierced 2 of my brothers ears. One classmate fainted after her first ear, so the student piercing her ear quickly pierced the other, thinking she might change her mind once she regained consciousness. I didn't like the popping sensation caused by an earlobe that was somewhat frozen so I just told them to skip the ice for the second ear. Surprisingly we were pretty accurate with making sure they were even. She uses a needle that inserts the earring at the time of piercing so hopefully she can get them even, too.

Last few days have been warm, but humidity has been low. DH has been puttering around the yard doing some sprucing up down by the road. He'll move the mulch for me and I'll do the actual placement so we both get a workout. DS and DGS are going to come help, but with this weekend being Father's day I don't think it will be this weekend. DGS is only 15 so getting a summer job has not proven to be happening and he needs money for when they go to the shore in July. He'll come work for me to get some.

DGD has a fracture on a growth plate, is in a boot and cannot go to the shore because she can't go in a pool or in the ocean. She is a really good swimmer now and was looking forward to this vacation. If she goes, she will just make life miserable for everyone else, so DS might just stay home with her. I would take her, but she would be bored and would drive me crazy with her whining. I could take her for a day, but not for the full week.

Chris, in my thoughts as you face this challenge.

Taco, so glad you are able to resume golf. Sorry you can't go on the girl's trip.

harley07, where would you like to go in Asia next? I would have loved to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but we waited too long to travel to Asia. The air flight is too long for me now. Our longest flights were to South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Tanzania, but they were shorter that one to Asia. I do not have any regrets about my African trips, they were well worth it.

jerimanelle, welcome to this forum and I encourage you to reach out to us with any questions you have and any support you need.

Hope everyone had a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.