Nothing like a good right arm

What do we expect from our right arm (or our arm of dominance) anyway? I expect strength and control, and I’m finally getting it.

A long time ago I fell into a rocky creek and fractured the bones of my right wrist in many pieces. Almost nine months ago, to be exact. A month ago I went back to my hand specialist, Clark Robinson MD, for corrective surgery. Both of us are delighted with the results.

Today the cast came off, and it’s wonderful having my right arm, wrist, and hand back! All except the brace he wants me to wear for four weeks. “You can take it off three or four times a day,” he said. Yeah.

Housecleaning, lawn mowing, piano playing, and so much more are all on the agenda for late spring and summer for me now that I have my right wrist back.

Will the apricots freeze this year?

Look closely, and you’ll see the pink and white blossoms that just today opened their petals on my main apricot tree in the south lawn. I wonder if freezing temperatures will wipe out our crop this year. Highly likely because it’s way too early for us to stay above freezing from March 27 until the hard green fruit forms on the branches.

It’s been a wonderful week. Spent some quality time with our bro Ben visiting us from Georgia, and niece Emily visiting us from Portland, Oregon. Ben left yesterday, and Emily leaves Sunday. I hope Ben remembers to share photos with us because he got some good ones. Emily is talking about “our” trip to Europe. I wish.

My family is small

I’m not always able to shoot my human family and show them on the screen, but since I have a new camera, I’ll try. Meanwhile, here’s my dog Rusty making her debut.

She’s three years old, not terribly well trained, but she does know what “No” means and generally comes when I call, goes out when I open the door, and hops onto the floor when I say, “Down!”

 

This is my “other dog,” nameless but trouble free.

And our “friend dog,” Leo, who lives with my bro and his wife a few short blocks away. Leo is a miniature greyhound, cute in his own strange way. He runs and leaps so fast it’s hard to get a picture of him, but this is most of Leo.

Dogs are superior to people in some ways, and vastly superior to some people in important ways such as loyalty, cheerfulness, and never-failing watchfulness.

By the way, since you’re here already, why not visit me at the blog for my business, Griffith Publishing, and see what’s going on there?

Easter week end

Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. Right? A beautiful full moon tonight, and Easter is this Sunday.

Come join our little choir and the more professional choir at Boone Memorial Presbyterian church for a special Easter program at our Adventist church tomorrow and at the Presbyterian church on Sunday.

I bought myself a Leica digital camera, and it arrived about 4:30 this afternoon. I should be able to illustrate my blogs better from here on. I hope to get some pictures at our service tomorrow and/or Sunday so I can share them with y’all.

Is this little item cute or what? It’s 2 inches tall, 3 1/2 wide, and 3/4 inch deep.

Preparing for the end

Since I don’t have any heirs to share my wealth, I’ve decided to divide my assets at the end as follows:

A chunk to Lora in appreciation for taking care of me when I need help (if I ever do)

Another chunk to the Idaho Conference to use for evangelism or other worthy causes

A big chunk to ADRA, AWR, Gem State Academy, or other worthy causes.

As far as my finances now are concerned, I will make as large a mortgage payment as I possibly can next month and then just hope for enough business to keep knocking that mortgage down. My priorities are as follows:

1. Kill the mortgage
2. Fix up the house
3. Buy a pickup with a compact camper

I’d need about a quarter of a million bucks to do all of that, but just in case I get rich, that’s where the money would go!

Blisters on my brain

I put in a heroic day yesterday and even worked a couple of hours Saturday night and a regular full day today. Result: I have “transcribed” all of my notes for the book by Roy Stanley, corrected the file for Jason O’Connor’s book, and sent the Frost Mortgage cover off to Lia for her to deal with.

When I work hard like that, I always end up ready to collapse. It’s like I have blisters from using my brain too much. I’m not trying to get any more work done tonight but will hit BeWell full speed in the morning if I can get some good sleep tonight.  I’m going to see Don Klinger tomorrow about my will. That should be fun. I want to get all of my paperwork in order so Lora knows what she has to do when she has to do it.

Dreaming along

It is possible that I can finish paying for my house and buy a new Toyota pickup with a super-small camper van. Possible. But not likely any time soon.

So I’ve decided to put reason ahead of desire and am rolling my plans for a get-away vehicle onto a high shelf.

I am very happy to have documentation that $5,000 of my income taxes have already been paid! Maybe I can actually pay all of my taxes on time this year. The pre-payment happened with a deduction from the General Conference from my retirement funds. Hmm. I wonder if they’re going to pay it every year. Or maybe it’s only for my hospital work. Oh, well. Every little bit helps.

Enjoyed lunch at Jeanne Purvis’s little apartment a few blocks from the church. Also there were Steve and what’s-her-name and Martin and Kay Hamilton. We had wonderful food and a great time visiting. I should have those people over here one of these days.

jg

Riding into the future

I’ve thought and thought and thought…Finally, with the help of my bro Dave, I’ve decided what I want to do for my next vehicle and my plans to spent a lot of time in the mountains. Here’s a rough view of how it might look inside: I’ll provide the accessories, thank you.

This is NOT the Toyota I’ll buy, but it is a Toyota. Stay tuned! More later. Meanwhile I’m dreaming of parking from Wednesday through Sunday at a quiet campground in the mountains of Idaho or Oregon and working on a book or other writing project with frequent breaks for walks in the forest with my dog Rusty.

JG

Another cast for me

I’m sure there are scores of orthopedic surgeons specializing in hand surgery who could manage my broken wrist as well as Clark Robinson MD did, but he did all the right things as far as I’m concerned.

That’s a long introduction. All I want to say is that I now have a small cast on my right wrist that leaves my elbow and all of my fingers free to operate the keys on the computer and do other necessary things. Even better news…I’ll get the cast removed on March 28, and after that and a few physical therapy sessions I’ll be almost as good as new.

The difference between now with the small cast and yesterday with the heavy bandaged-wrapped arm is the absence of about an extra pound of plaster holding my wrist down.

Oh, yes, here’s my diagnosis: I experienced a closed Colles fracture followed by malunion of the radial and ulnar bones, requiring the implanting of a metal plate to restore better wrist rotation and function. Something like that. He also cut off the little bone on the outside of the wrist joint. Said it wasn’t connected, just floating around. So he snipped it off.

I wish all broken relationships could be healed as well.