Power Outage

We were without power from 7:50p.m. Thursday (5th) to 2:00a.m. Monday (9th).  Made for an interesting weekend.  Apparently the strong, wild winds blew down some power poles on Sage Creek in the Hoodoo area somewhere.  I don't know if a tree blew on the wire or if it just snapped a pole and the rest dominoed.  There were reports of anywhere from 18 to 13 poles down.  The person I talked to for Rocky Mountain Power said 13.  At any rate they had to get new poles from Powder River at Casper.  That was on Friday, then getting them up and running took the rest of the time.  They brought in extra crews and equipment, but the mud and muck, plus more strong winds made it very difficult.  The first time I called the recorded report said 1800 homes were without power.  Next time I called it was 800 without power and the last time I called it was 180.  So they were making progress.  I can only imagine what a nightmare that must have been putting up those poles and stringing wire in all that mess, bogging down in the mud and battling strong winds at the same time.  I am grateful that there are people that do that sort of work though. 

We were fine here.  Gma has a nice little propane heating stove which kept her house warm and comfy.  Just no fan to circulate the air.  She told me I could run around a circulate it.  Then she had me find the kerosene lamps.  They actually had kerosene in them.  We also had a drawer full of candles and a drawer full of flashlight batteries for the six flashlights I found.  So we were pretty well off.  Larry Rankine came by to tell us to be very conservative with the water and the water plant was also our of power.  I filled some jugs with water for drinking and cooking, just in case, but we didn't need them as we had pressure for the duration.  I did take all our refrigerator and freezer stuff to the Town House and made several trips back and forth for that kind of food.  Gma has an electric cook stove as well as a gas one.  So we used the gas one.  She is well prepared.  She has been through power outages before.  Come to think of it she lived at a time before power. 

Joe and Joy stopped to see us Friday on their way to Cody.  They arrived just as Larry was leaving so Joe had a good visit with him.  At that same time I had a phone call from the Chocolatier.  He had goodies for me for my birthday from the Hawaii Steeles.  Then Ed called and I cut him short.  Then Steve Willis called about some pictures he had sent me on a disc.  I cut him short too, but he found out what he needed to know.  Sheesh!  It's all or nothing.

Pat came for her Gma fix on Saturday so she got in on some of this pioneer living.  She stayed at the Town House overnight.  We also had Church Saturday evening with a carry in dinner and brief Parish Meeting.  Pat got in on that too.  Sunday was relatively quiet and peaceful even though we still didn't have power.  Pat left about 1:00p.m.  Said the wind wasn't as bad that day as when she came down on Sat.  Then when we woke up Monday morning we had power again.  After Senior lunch I brought back all the stuff from the Town House.

Many of the ranchers up river had generators for power, but lots had to haul water for their livestock.  I'm glad we don't have livestock.

Some of our friends in town were really concerned about Gma and wanted to help move her to town, but she wouldn't go.  The temps were rather warm - in the 40s so we were fine.  If it had been sub-zero temps I might have moved her whether she wanted to go or not, but as it was she didn't need to go. She was rather  vocal about it too.  She really would have a more difficult time in the Town House.  Its all unfamiliar territory and there are threshholds in every doorway that she would have to lift her walker over.  It wouldn't be too convenient for her anyway.  Better she could stay in her own home.
 

Groundhog Day

MY Groundhog saw all kinds of shadows everywhere as the sun was very big and shiny.  In the shade of the hill, however, he stepped in the snow which made his toes cold, so he just hopped back in his hole and snuggled down for another six weeks nap.

I had a very nice day.  Didn't do anything exciting.  Gma sang "Happy Birthday" to me at breakfast and we did our usual chores and had coffee break before I left for town to attend John Hogg's funeral service.  It was entirely conducted by the family and was very nice.  Julie did an awesome job.

Then I went to Senior lunch and as I walked in the door they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me.  That was a pleasant surprise.  I joked with the cooks about having a groundhog on the Feb birthday cake and they said they'd try.  WOW!  They are so good to me.  Gma bought me 10 lunch tickets for my birthday, then she bought my dinner today at the ElkHorn.  Had a shrimp dinner which I brought home and we shared.  Neither one of us can eat a whole dinner anymore.  It was sure good though and a nice change.

After lunch I met my friend at the town house as she had taken a couple of pictures I had and framed them for me.  She wanted to return them for my birthday.  They are beautiful now! Here's the before and after.

Check up time

Gma had her 2 week check up from her hospital stay.  She is fine.  She had the doctor and nurse in stitches (laughing). He asked what they told her at the hospital and she said they didn't tell her anything.  They just talked to me and ignored her. She said they checked out her heart and had her hooked up to all kinds of things all over, but it wasn't her heart. It was a pain down her side. They didn't pay any attention. He asked if she was afraid of dying or if that bothered her at all.  She said, No, of course not.  Everybody dies sooner or later so no need to worry about it. I think they might have thought she was depressed.  That seems to be a big thing right now. 

She did get another shot in her leg as it still bothers her.  Last time she was getting sharp pains down her leg and he gave her a shot which helped a little. Also prescribed some anti inflammatory cream to rub on it, which she said didn't help.  The pain was still there, but not the sharp shooting ones.  She wasn't sure if she could have another shot yet or not, and he said she could.  It might not help, but it wouldn't hurt either.  So she got one and today said her leg didn't hurt much at all, so maybe this one worked.  He did tell her it was Iliotibial Band Syndrome and gave us a paper with exercises on it to stretch it.  He wasn't sure if she could do any of them as they require some exertion, but there was one which might help if she can lean on a chair or couch and lean over.  But her stability isn't all that great, so we might have to improvise.  She did do her other leg exercises today.  She probably does need to do more moving around than what she has been doing lately.

Gayle Barnett came for a visit this morning and brought a really good chocolate treat.  It is more like bars and has chocolate chips and raisins.  I made real coffee for our coffee break and visit. 

We had a skiff of snow last night, so got a bit of manual labor in today as I had to sweep the ramps and my town steps.  Didn't get the sidewalk done today.  Maybe tomorrow.  Just the deer use the sidewalk anyway.

Town House

Finally took down my Christmas decorations.  One day I boxed up all the scene things and took everything off the tree.  The next day I took the branches off the tree and put it away, then boxed the decorations in their proper boxes.  The third day I took everything back out to the garage.  Used my new little red wagon to haul it all.  Only took three trips that way.  Worked very well.  I kinda missed the thunk thunk of the tires on the old wagon though. 

Next time I work in the Town House I'll hang more pictures.  Have lots to put up, just can't decide where I want them.  I'm not so reluctant to put holes in the walls as I was.  I'm getting used to the fact that this is "my house".  I can do it "my way".  Such a satisfying feeling.  I love it!

West Park Hilton

Friday Gma said she was having chest pains.  One was quite sharp and strong around 5:00pm, but after that they were just little tweaks.  And they weren't really in her chest, more to the left and her upper side.  She said they weren't like heart chest pains.  We decided she'd better go to the ER in Cody just to be sure as we didn't want to have to wake up in the middle of the night and have to go.  So off we went.  They checked her all out and couldn't really find anything.  She did have a couple of tweaks there, but they weren't long enough for them to get a handle on it.  They took blood, did vitals, chest x-ray and all that good stuff.  Waited for results from all that and then decided that she could either have an MRI or stay overnight for observation to see if anything more happened.  The MRI would involve iodine being injected into her system which could or could not cause other problems, especially with her liver.  So we opted for the overnight stay.  They got her admitted to the hospital and there we stayed.  They took vitals quite often in the night and blood that night and in the morning.  She did have a couple of tweaks, but again not long or sharp.  Got breakfast in the morning - scrambled eggs and a big danish roll, coffee, juice, and oatmeal.  Gma ate all her roll and a bite of egg, drank all her coffee.  Pretty good for her.  I ate everything, but the oatmeal.  Doctor finally came about 11:00am and said she could go home.  They didn't find anything going on with her.  He thought the pain could be a muscle at the rib cage.  Said to take tylenol for pain and it would probably go away.  All her vital signs were good, her blood was good, heart good.  They called it atypical chest pain. Anyway we could stay for lunch since it was coming in about 10 minutes, then we could go home.  So we did.  Gma had ordered a half chicken salad sandwich and a cup of tomato soup, with chocolate ice cream for dessert.  They brought a bowl of soup, but she ate half of it and the sandwich and ice cream.  I got  roast pork, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower-broccoli  veggies, and rice krispie bar for dessert. She doesn't have to take any medication except her baby aspirin as usual, but she has to have a follow up appointment with her regular doctor in two weeks.  We are to keep track of the pains.  She told me twice that she had one and I wrote it down, but she hasn't told me of any more and I can't tell unless she jumps or something.  When I ask she just says she doesn't think so at least not so you could tell as they go so fast she isn't sure.

Gma sure starts these years off with a bang. 

New Year - 2015

I started out last year doing pretty well with posts.  Then Gma fell down and ended up in the hospital and I just never got around to doing any more.  Don't know why,  I just didn't.

So I'll give it another go this year.

First off we got a New Year's Baby.  Not "THE" New Year's baby, but "OUR" New Year's Baby.  Little Martin Elliot Dwyer was born at 5:05 am January 1, 2015.  Whooooeeeee!  Congratulations Katie and Andrew.

There are four little 5th generation boys running around now.  That's awesome!

Busy, Busy

The day after my last post the plowers did plow the entrance to my driveway.  Nice!!!

I had a call from Jean Fendt the other day and they are packing up for their move to Michigan. She had a Larry Edgar print that she wanted to give me as a house warming gift.  WOW!!!!  So I went to Cody Tuesday and picked it up among other things I needed there.  I had a choice between "The Woman in Blue" and "Papyo Butte" .  These were ones from the Meeteetse area.  After Gma told me about the Butte I chose that one.  Papyo Butte is just up the road from here.  I'm really thrilled with this gift.  It will fit nicely with the decor.  She also sent some baskets with artificial wildflowers with me.  They look very nice in my town house, and don't require much care.

Got my hair cut that day as well.  Did some shopping for groceries that are hard to fit on the bus.  Went to the Church office to get a Mass card for our Cody friend that was killed in a car accident last Friday.  They were on their way back from a trip when a vehicle veered off the road and overcorrected getting back.  Ended up crossing lanes and hitting our friends head on.  He was killed and she had to be extricated and life flighted to Casper.  The guy out of control was released from hospital the next day.  They were on South Pass somewhere.  The guy was cited for being in the wrong lane, driving with a suspended license, no insurance.  Now he will have vehicular homicide added to the charges.  He was from Apache Junction, AZ.

Jerry's funeral is tomorrow and I will go with another couple from Mtse.  It's a very sad affair.

There were nine of us on the Senior bus today.  Fun! 

Found out the next movie at the Rec Center will be Feb 8th.  Don't know what it is, but will probably go anyway.  Ann likes to go, too.  I'll pick her up and she will probably talk Millie and Yvonne into going with us.

Always something happening here.