So much has happened

Since I last posted on this blog, thousands of people in this part of Colorado lost their homes and all their belongings in a terrible flood.  More than 85% of the mountain roads and the highways in the area just north of us have been damaged or destroyed.  Some of the mountain towns are completely isolated - there is no way to get in or out - other than by helicopter.  Many of the homeowners don't have flood insurance; the regular homeowner's insurance does not cover floods, there is a Federal flood insurance program which actually is very inexpensive.  Before I married Paul I lived in an apartment complex that was not far from a dam, so I inquired about the flood insurance - just in case that 500-year rain came while I was living there. 

In a town about 25 miles from where we live, the trailer parks were completely destroyed.  Living in those trailers were the poorer people, many of them were illegals who had come here to work in the meat packing plants.  I don't know if they can even apply for assistance from FEMA.  Probably they would be afraid to since they don't have documentation and could be deported. 

Our road was flooded one day, so we had to take a detour to get to our place, but that was just a minor inconvenience.

Eight people have lost their lives in the flood, and it's surprising that the number isn't higher.  There was so much water from several days of heavy rains, areas flooded that would normally never be in danger of flooding.  I can't imagine how it must feel to have nothing -- no home, no clothes, none of the things that one holds on too through the years because they have sentimental value. 

The lesson is to not get too attached to things -- they can disappear in an instant.  On one of the TV news programs, they showed people removing their most valuable possessions from their homes as the water came higher and higher.  It was surprising (maybe not?) how many people were carrying out their huge televisions sets. 

Otherwise -- we are going about our daily work, marking time till Paul's surgery.  He was told to take it easy between now and the surgery, but that's like telling the sun not to come up in the morning.  We didn't know his condition was so serious till the cardiac surgeon explained to us what we were seeing when looking at the sonogram pictures.  Lots of people are praying for him, and I'm not worried about the surgery because he's in good hands -- and I don't mean just the surgeon.  His younger son is coming from Nashville to stay with us and help me during Paul's recuperation.  I'm so thankful for that, because I have a difficult time getting around and the pain from the spinal stenosis has gotten worse so I'm worried how I'll be able to cope with it all.  Paul's children and my daughter and her husband have all offered to help in any way.  They will all be at the hospital waiting with me during the 6-hour surgery; we will be having a family reunion in the waiting room while Paul sleeps through the whole thing!

My cleaning gal is here this morning - she is such a blessing!  And such a luxury for me!

signing off for now -
Verlyn

Back Again

I got a new computer!  Now I can post on the blog again - but not tonight.  It's past midnight and I'm tired.....so - maybe tomorrow I'll sit down and bring this thing up to date.

I can't fix the glitz in this software so I'm discontinuing the blog

I'm sitting in our living room, the windows are closed and I'm smelling  the smoke from the wildfires in Idaho.  We've had strong winds from the west all day which explains the smoke.

We'll still be having hot weather this week, but after that we should be enjoying the beautiful weather that makes Colorado so enjoyable.  I do not like hot weather!!

It was a busy week; on Tuesday we had to be at the hospital quite early for Paul to have his heart catheterization.  After he was all hooked up and ready to go, they discovered they hadn't stopped his blood thinners early enough and it was too risky to continue with the procedure, so we came back to return another day.

On Friday, we went to downtown Denver to meet with our attorney and the developer who is disputing our boundary and thinks he owns some of our land.  This disagreement has been going on for more than four years and is getting really tiresome.  Fortunately we have an excellent lawyer...she's little but she's feisty.  A possible compromise is in sight.

My cleaning lady is coming tomorrow -it is such a luxury to such help and I'm very thankful for her.

It's almost bedtime, so this is all for now.

thoughts on a Friday

I just found out I can post using my Samsung tablet, it's a slower process, but the glitch in my computer still isn't letting me post.

It's been a busy week.  On wednesday I had to fight early morning traffic to get to downtown Denver by 8:oo am for an appointment with my neurosurgeon. Paul wasn't able to go with me because he was at another location having a CT scan of his heart as well as some other heart tests.  The traffic was awful, so I left the interstate highway and found some side streets that got me to the medical complex in plenty of time.

After my appointment I hurried back north to attend our monthly  Christian Womens Connection.  After that we met two other couples for dinner, and after that I hurried to my ladies Bible study and potluck dinner.  So it was a very busy day, but very rewarding.

Last night and today my grandchildren here are at our house.  Their mama is in Reno for a two-week course at the National Judicial College.  They are offering interesting classes including safety for judges.

After a few hours of outside play, we'll be going to Chick Filet for lunch; their daddy will pick them up this evening.

Our weather has been perfect lately...I love this time of year.

I lost my cell phone last week somehere in the house or car.  After several days of futile searching, I bought a new one --and then found it the next day...isn't that what usually happens?

Hello again!

I'm at my daughter's house and with their computer, I can post on my blog!  Still don't know why I haven't been able to post on my computer at home, when everything else is working.

Today I'm recovering from a quick trip to my home town for my 60th high school class reunion; my school - Freeman Academy - has an alumni banquet each year, and our class was honored on our 50th year and again this year.  It was so good to see quite a number of my classmates and catch up on each one's life and family.  The only downside was that the speaker at the banquet gave a very long and very boring speech, and the meat - while very delicious, was very tough.  It was "Applejack Pork" and I don't know why it was so tough, because usually pork is quite tender.  I was sad to see that some of my classmates are in very bad physical shape, suffering from Parkinson's, or similar diseases.

I also spent time with my cousin Goldie and her sister Diann and husband Arlen, we had a very good visit together.  Goldie and I decided that in two years - when we have our 80th birthdays, we have to do something special together.  She is only 25 days older than I am, and we always make a big deal about how much younger I am than she is.

I have to make a confession.  I felt sad coming home, for several reasons.  First of all, I may never see some of those friends again.  But also, the thought kept coming to me that if I had stayed around my home town and settled down there, I would have been spared so much heartache and suffering, but unfortunately, there are no do-overs.  I made choices that seemed good at the time but turned out badly and caused consequences that still linger today.

Tomorrow I see the spine surgeon to find out what his recommendations are.  In the meantime we have learned that Paul needs to have his aortic valve replaced, but he wants to wait and have me taken care of first, while I think he should go first, after all, mine isn't life-threatening.

We've been having beautiful weather the last few weeks, except that it's been terribly humid; some days the humidity has been as high as 93% and I HATE IT!  The doors stick, drawers stick, my hair doesn't dry after shampooing, etc.  But lately it's been getting better and pretty much back to normal.

The previous weekend, my grandchildren stayed with us over Saturday and Sunday.  Carly is so helpful; after dinner on Saturday, she washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen so I could sit down and rest.  So Joey and I watched a video "Dumbo, the Flying Elephant"....it brought back memories because it was the first movie I ever saw in a theater.  That was back in the mid 1940's; all the rural schools were invited to the county seat for the annual spelling bee and track contests, and afterwards all the children were taken to a theater to see the Dumbo movie and another cartoon, "The Whale that sang at the Met".  Back then, my church taught that going to movies in theaters was a sin - so during that whole movie I was nervous that Jesus might come back and find me in a theater and not take me up to heaven with Him!!!!  Well, times have changed -- movies are not sin anymore and I'm still waiting for Jesus to come back!

It's funny the things one remembers.....

Venting

I have a need to vent this morning.
Maybe I shouldn't do this on a public forum,
But I will....

My daughter's grandmother died yesterday.  She was in her late 90's and had lived a long and remarkable life, and was looking forward to go to be with Jesus.  She suffered a lot in the last few weeks.  She was born in Germany, married a Russian man and then when World War II happened, was no longer welcome in Russia and with her two small children fled Russia trying to get back to Germany.  It all is a fascinating story of survival during a terrible time; also interesting is how she finally was able to come to Canada, but I'm not going to write about that today.

She was my former mother-in-law.
My daughter is going to funeral which is a long distance from here.
Her father will be there of course.

I know he will take the credit for her becoming a judge, when the truth is that she achieved her goal in spite of him.
He stopped paying child support very early after our divorce; our daughter was 3 1/2 years old when we separated.  He never paid a dime toward any medical expenses, clothing expenses, educational expenses. 
He never remembered her birthday unless I sent him a letter reminding him that his daughter was having a birthday.  Even now in her adult years, he doesn't acknowledge her on her birthday - not even with a short email.  She has learned not to expect anything from him.
Actually this started even before our divorce.  On her first birthday, he didn't come home till 2:00 in the morning.  No happy first birthday in our home!!!

Except this year he just might remember -- because her birthday is the day of the funeral.
The financial cost of her education was paid entirely by her scholarships and out of my income.  It was very difficult for us.  He never even once offered to help.

I didn't see any way that she could go through law school, but she got a full-ride scholarship at a private university; I helped whenever I could, but most of her living expenses during that time came from student loans which she's still repaying.  Nothing from her father.

During the first five years of our marriage, I worked so he could get his Ph.D. degree.  During those years, we never bought any furniture or a house nor did I spend money on myself, but I did it gladly because it was our joint goal.  Then, after his graduation, we divorced because, in his words, "he grew but I didn't".  Duh - yes, I was busy making a living and wasn't able to go back to school to "grow".  Actually the reason I divorced him was because of his constant and open infidelity.  Since then he has had a wonderful career making lots of money.  Truthfully -- it made me bitter, but I have mostly learned to let it go, but whenever I  see his self-centeredness wounding our daughter, it makes me angry! 

But today I'm venting -- forgive me please.  I very seldom write such a personal post, but this morning -- I really need to do that.

Just a picture

Paul and I, at Bill's 50th birthday party; it was a beautiful evening, complete with delicious barbecue, bluegrass band and lots of people, all in the backyard of their house.  My daughter had planned the party and it was a great success.

When I have more time, I'll write a bit about our medical challenges; we both are facing major surgery soon, but other than that -- God is good!