NaBloPoMo

I was recently reminded by Katie at Maylee Beezir that it is NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. My blog has been very inactive lately, so here goes.

So far in November 2011, I have been plagued with illness. My first health concern was an earache that would not quit. After a week of pain in my right ear, I finally went to the doctor on Friday, October 28. MD flushed a bunch of wax from my ear and I left the office with a prescription for ear drops. I was on my way to wellness...so I thought. That afternoon, I developed a low-grade fever which took 4 hours to go down. Fevers in the 100-101 range persisted throughout the weekend and by Sunday, when my temp reached 102.6 accompanied with headache and vomiting, I reached for the phone. I spoke with the on-call physician and he recommended I go to the ER.

At the ER, I received 3 liters of fluid and anti-nausea medicines and then oral Tylenol. They made sure I could keep that down and I was discharged with RX for Amoxicillin and strict instructions to take Tylenol/Advil as needed for fevers and stay hydrated. My parents were willing to stay with us all that week, so I was able to rest. By Wednesday of that week, I developed I cough and returned to MD on Friday, November 4. I was diagnosed with bronchitis and sent on my way with an RX for Augmentin and a steroid. I went through the week, taking meds as directed.

Yesterday (Thursday, Nov 10) my chest was still feeling a bit tight so, I returned to the MD to have my lungs listened to again. MD ordered a chest x-ray STAT and turned out I have "some" pneumonia. Now I'm on yet a different antibiotic (Levaquin), another week of steroids and inhaler.

Geez, what a depressing post. Huh? November has not been all that bad, has it? It was nice to have my parents with us for the week. Our area had a fluke snowstorm on October 29. Due to the storm, my parents had no electricity. They were happy to be in a warm house with electricity. Brad and Dad enjoyed football together. Mom and I had talks, did some knitting together and teamed up on a crossword puzzle or too. Not to mention they always enjoy time with their grandchildren.

Now Mom is sick. I feel horribly guilty. Of course she says she would have been here even if she knew she was going to get sick. I understand that only because I'm a mother. Get well soon, Mom.

Fall Already!

I'm trying to give myself a bit of a kick start here for some more regular posts by writing a brief summary of the past three months:

August 2009 marked the sixth birthday of my oldest daughter and her first day of kindergarten. She did fine; I was in tears.

In September, my younger daughter turned four. Both August and September were filled with parties with friends and families. I attended Knitter's Day Out, taking a course on working on gauge and blocking. I learned a lot and became a believer in doing a gauge swatch. I bought a fun kit for a "Something Sheepy" hat, some sock yarn and a bag of felted balls. I'm hoping that my daughters will enjoy stringing the colorful felted balls to make necklaces. Since KDO, I've finished the sweater and socks in my July 31 post and I'm 90% finished with my "Something Sheepy" hat.

We had a great time in Hillsgrove in early October. My Dad owns a hunting cabin there with a bunch of other guys - nothing fancy. We spent the days walking to the general store, going on short hikes and playing games. It was a wonderful way to welcome fall. Also, in early October, T learned to ride her two-wheeler bike!

A Shore Thing

This past weekend we went to Ocean City.  Fall is one of the best times to visit the Jersey shore. We enjoyed the deserted boardwalk, the view of the rough surf,  dancing with strong winds, playing plenty of cards (Mr. Thurston's Mother's Game), plenty of Mack and Manco pizza and family fun!

Five Spares, Zero Flats

Would you sit in a car four hours out and four hours back in a day to ride your back thirty-two miles?  On Sunday my two brothers, sister, nephew and I rode our bikes from Meyersdale, PA to Cumberland, MD along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP).  This 32-mile ride completed our ride which we started back in May.  Mom and Dad went along to shuttle our vehicles for us, that was a great help.

It was a beautiful day for a ride, clear and a bit windy, but not too cold.  Most of the ride was downhill.  We rode through three tunnels.  One was about a half mile long - that felt long.  You could not see the light at the end of that tunnel.  That one was well-lit, the others were not lit; we used head lamps.  The one tunnel felt like a wind tunnel.  A steam engine travels between Frostburg and Cumberland for weekend riders.  The bike trail follows along it.  At one tunnel, a sign advises "Do not enter tunnel with oncoming train"  duh!

As we got closer to Cumberland, there was a beautiful vista looking over the countryside.  Cumberland looks like a really neat town.  We had a late lunch there at The Crabby Big - a BBQ place along the C&O canal.

Just to log the drive/log.  We left my place at 7:15 AM, started riding at about 11:45 AM from Meyersdale, got to Frostburg at about 2 PM and rode on, arriving in Cumberland at about 4:00 PM.  We left Cumberland at 5:20 PM and were back at my place at about 9:00 PM.

The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania

We spent Columbus Day weekend with friends at a cottage in the Wellsboro area.  The weather could not have been nicer.  The cottage was located near Ansonia, just yards from Pine Creek Trail, a rails-to-trails bike path which paralells Pine Creek in the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  The photo to the left is the view from the front of our cottage. 

Friday night after dinner at the cottage we had enough daylight for a quick bike ride towards Wellsboro. A rode in the bike seat on the back of Hubby's bike and T on the tag-a-long behind my bike. 

Saturday morning we all had breakfast and then headed to Colton Point - lovely vistas (right) and a one-mile loop hike. Later Saturday we all biked to Turkey Falls.  C is an avid cyclist;  he rode on for several hours.  The rest of us headed back to the cottage.  After a quiet dinner we played some games and called it an early night. 

Sunday we cleaned up and packed up for the drive home.  We had a lovely and very relaxing weekend, one of those let's do this again next year weekends!