What a bunch of fools!

I got tired of looking at me crossing that stupid creek, which by the way turned out to be unnecessary, so here's one of the Mancebo visit. Ahhh, the good times!!?

Balancing Act

Becky executes another reluctantly perfect saturday morning creek crossing. Somewhere off the Gorge.

Latest on Grandmama

Grandma is still in rehab. Her blood pressure is such that she is unable to do any rehab that requires walking. She is scheduled to go home on Monday but Debbie and Kim said that this is uncertain. At this point she will need 24 hour care when she gets home. Debbie, Kim and Ben are looking at different options. Oh Lord Jesus, my mom. Lead and guide us into the best care for mom and Ben. I will keep you posted.
I love you,
Mom

Grandmama update

A week ago the swallow test showed that Grandma was not swallowing properly. The nursed put a sign at her door, over the bed and by the mirror making it clear, NOTHING BY MOUTH. She had an IV and could have some ice chips. By Sunday evening, she was so weak she could hardly hold her head up; it seemed to be a set back... she slept most of the weekend. Monday evening they put a feeding tube down her nose. Debbie called yesterday to say that she is doing much better. I talked to her on the phone last night. She is weak but looking forward to her therapy so she can go home. It would make her very happy if you all could send a card or a short note. She sends her love to the you all. Her address is Barbara Benningfield, 6 Medical Plaza Drive, Rehabilitation Institute, Roseville, CA 95661. Her number is 916 878-2540. I will keep you posted.
Love,
Mom

Grandma is tired but it's no wonder....

I came home yesterday but just talked to Grandma on the phone. She said she is tired and it's no wonder. She has physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and recreational therapy. They keep her busy... writing checks, working puzzles, walking to the gym, climbing stairs, and much more. They grade her, even on picking up things off the floor, and when she can take care of herself, she will go home. What a great patient she is! They all love her because she does everything they ask her to do. When the therapist told her she would be picking up 8 small cones off the floor, she smiled and said, "Your kidding." then proceeded to follow their directions to pick them all up. Below are some pictures of her in rehab.

Please comment if you read this...

Let me know if you get this. If not, I will make phone calls but this is much easier.
Grandma had a great day. When I arrived this morning her eyes were bright even though she was very tired. They mean business in this resort therapy place. This is her first day here and they had her up early, down to the dining room for breakfast, then to the gym. She had a swallowing therapist do some initial testing and tomorrow she will have the dye swallowing test. She has met 3 new friends (all worse off than her), cleaned her teeth and taken a wheelchair ride in the garden> (SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MY KEYBOARD BUT I wanted to add one more sentence) They took away Mom's walker today and she walked to the sink to take out and brush her own teeth... what a difference a day makes. Mom said I could take a picture of her head and send. I will text it because I can't get it off my camera right now.
She sends her love,
Love,
Mom

Update on Grandmama

Grandma is resting right now but for the most part, while I have been here, she has been very uncomfortable... as to be expected after the surgery that she experienced. She was moved out of ICU yesterday and is being moved again to rehab today. She is really improving but not fast enough for Grandma. She wants to go home but she needs so much help right now. She still has the pick line so that they can continue to monitor her blood work in rehab. The cath was taken out today (for the third time). She does not have an IV but she is not eating anything. She had a BM yesterday and I thought that would help her to be hungry but when the food comes, she always says she is "so full". She sips on Ensure a little. She has been begging for regular water but she still is required to drink thickened water. The swallowing therapist will reevaluate her today and maybe she will be allowed to drink regular water. Her oxygen count is almost 100 every time they test it but she continually says that she is having trouble breathing. She had 2 breathing treatments yesterday and she slept with oxygen last night. We met with one of her doctors today and she said that Grandma was probably having seizures for the last 4 years. She had a grand mall last Thursday (was left unconscious). That was a setback but she is steadily improving now. She sends her love.
I love you all,
Mom

Still don't know..

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to post a few pictures of our new PING PONG TABLE! it has been providing hours of fun (and screaming) times. Had a party here a couple of nights ago and Mike introduced Round Robin to everyone. Oh my goodness, what glorious chaos that was. We had 10 adults VERY in to it! We had a lovely hike on the Homestead trail on my birthday and I'll post a pic or two from that also. We still have no idea what is going on with an assignment for Miller Childrens. Last word was that there are no assignments at this time but the nursing house supervisor says she "still has hope". We've never found out this late! We are going to hold out a few more weeks, but then we will start looking at other options.... There is a definitely something drawing us to staying here for the winter, but at the same time we sure both love getting to see family and enjoy the warm sunshine and bike everywhere and eat yummy food and go to the thrift store... stop me anytime! Either way it will be awesome! We will keep you posted. Hope everyone is well and enjoying fall! Love you guys!

Some salvaged pictures

Hi Everybody.

I bought us a cheap digital camera to replace the waterlogged one I ruined and when I plugged in the memory card, it still had the old pictures on it! So here are a couple.

These two are from Sparks Lake up in the Cascades Lake region outside of Bend. The mountains are South Sister. This was from early summer, before the mosquitoes were terrible, although they were still bad. We are looking forward to some autumnal canoein now that the skeeters are down.

This one of me and dave was from the fateful canoe trip that got us all wet and ruined the camera. This was the lunch break we had such a good time at that I forgot to secure the camera in the drybag. Ahh, the hard learned lessons!

Go Dodgers!

This is Dave working in his shop. Here he is shaping one of those beautiful rattles that he makes.

Hope everyone is doing well. School has started here for me so the beginning of another 10 week cycle. Already looking forward to winter break! Love you guys, becky

Happy Birthday to Caroline! Happy Birthday to You!

We love you and are looking forward to dinner together! Enjoy your day!

Happy Anniversary Mike and Carol

We love you!

When it won't stop raining and the fishing has slowed down, things like this start to happen

Dave and Becky's visit AK 2009!

Well, we once again had a blast hanging out together. It was so awesome to have them finally see our place and the Bluebird and just be hanging out together in general. We miss them already. Many dreams and plans and clubs were hatched as usual! Hope everyone is doing well! oh and P.S Who's fish do you think is bigger?

Look what I caught!

Mike and I went out on the bluebird yesterday and caught 4 halibut and 5 salmon. It was an awesome day. Saw a whale breaching multiple times, sunny and calm. A perfect day. Can't wait to share it with D and B! Love you guys!!

More summer fun

Had a couple of friends visit again last week and had a lovely time..REALLY looking forward to David and Beckys visit next week! As far as the Thanksgiving gathering, we'll have to figure that out later on in the season as we are totally unsure of when, where or even IF we'll be travel nursing this winter. Love you guys!

HI all!

We had a great visit with dad and mom! They just took off this morning for Kansas... or something like that. Sounds like they had an awesome trip and are dreaming of moving out of smoggy, crowded SoCal. :) I'm hoping they head anywhere in the middle.

I talked with them and with Becky M. and we are hoping to have a little family Thanksgiving two days before Thanksgiving... on the Tuesday before. Anyone who wants is welcome to join us in Urbana, IL for the date! :) Come one, come all!.... just be sure to fly home for the actual Thanksgiving date, because we are leaving town Thursday morning...... :)

Hope everyone is well. Love to all!
Billy and Tami

From Laramie

Can't seem to get Pops upright. Enjoy!

Long Beach Visit!

Tony, Elizabeth, Darren and Travis visited this week and it was AWESOME! Had a great time. On the Bluebird every day of their visit, caught lots of halibut, had halibut fish fry, hiked, had camp fires, played a ton of Bocce(even lost a bocce ball in the frenzied extreme Bocce game), barely got any sleep, and got sore throats and bellies from laughing so much. Great to spend time with good friends... The weather cooperated completely and fun was had by all!

a few pictures from Portland

Dave and Becky with canoe in the background

Bison in Yellowstone! Yikes!

Time with Sacramento family

Dad and I spent a couple of days in Sacramento area to see the family. I can't believe that we didn't get pictures of Brian and Becky with Kansas and Zoolander... what a family! We also had breakfast with Brian's parents and lunch with Grandpa Ben.

Johnny and Danny are engaged and will be married next summer.
Kim and Dave came for dinner at the club house where Mom and Ben live.

Debbie and Bob at the clubhouse family dinner.

Mom and McKenzie.

Notice Becky at the far end of the table and Ben's head in the foreground.