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Owie is Minnesota-speak for injury. Usually said in one of those sugary-sweet tones of voice adults sometimes use to children as in, “Do you have an owie?”

Yes, I certainly do.

I’m not sure exactly what the doctor said. It was something like, “inflammation of the Achilles bursa.” Which basically means sharp pain in the back of the heel.

Does mine hurt? No. Not, if I don’t move. Trying to walk, however, is very painful.

So, the doctor gave me stretching exercises to do. That’s right. If it hurts to move, the treatment is to move it. Not just to move it but to stretch and hold the sore part of your body. As odd as that sounds it works. When I stretch that tendon before I get up, it hurts less to walk.

The other part of the bad news is the doctor said healing is measured in weeks not days.

So much for my exercise program.

The good news is I’ve now lost 10.4 pounds in spite of how little I exercise.

And things are still going better for me than they are for this guy. Check out his license plate.

TTYL,

Linda

Today is the official day for celebrating our nation’s independence. This is often done by shooting off fireworks which most people have long forgotten are a symbol of the battles we fought to gain our freedom.

The people across the river have been setting off fireworks all week but they’ve been the kind that make lots of noise without lots of beauty. Since we’ve been hearing these all week we weren’t surprised to hear even more of them last night.

That’s too bad because we missed what was apparently a beautiful display. Dave discovered that only when he was going to bed.

He heard voices outside our bedroom window so he looked out and discovered neighbors sitting at our newly refurbished picnic table watching the display across the river. Before we could get clothes and shoes to go join them, it was all over and our neighbors were clapping and cheering.

I wonder if there will be a repeat tonight?

TTYL,

Linda

We finally met more neighbors. We are spending the evening at the clubhouse taking shelter from passing storms. So far all the damaging storms have indeed passed–just west of us. Close enough to see them and to get some wind and rain but no damage here. Now we are in a lull before one more is due through. Several people are taking advantage of this lull to go grab a quick supper. But, we were just finishing eating when our weather alert radio went off so we’ll just stay here until the next round passes, too. It is on track for a more direct hit and the warnings have included advice to leave mobile homes since the first one recorded 80 mph winds. In the meantime this is a much more comfortable place to shelter than the park bathroom in which we spent time our first summer.

TTYL,

Linda

Ps. The storms have moved on so we are safely home again.

I function best if I sleep nine hours a night. But I am a night owl. So, if I stay up until two o’clock like I did this morning that means I will have my best day if I sleep until eleven o’clock. But…

A day or two ago Dave asked a neighbor about the process of getting propane here. Do they deliver to motorhomes or do we need to drive somewhere? I had seen a propane truck driving through the park but Dave doubted we could just flag him down. But, Paul said yes we could. We could also call to schedule a delivery but there’s an extra charge for that. Well, Paul must have told the driver we inquired because about nine-thirty this morning: boom, boom, boom. The propane guy was at our door wanting to know if we wanted some. So Dave bought propane and I went back to sleep.

Less than an hour later I was awakened by people talking right outside my bedroom window. Then our front door slammed again. So, I got up and inquired. There are people out there surveying the lot lines.

So, I surrendered. I am up. But I am not awake.

TTYL,

Linda

ps. Just as I was posting that the Schwan’s truck driver stopped to see if we wanted anything even though we hadn’t ordered for today’s delivery. No one understands us night owls need to sleep in. But, we now have steaks and wild Alaskan salmon filets in our freezer so at least there’s some payoff for not being allowed to finish sleeping this morning.

The other day I had to give a delivery driver instructions on how to find our site in the park. Fortunately, I had already been thinking about how to tell friends and family how to find us so he got here just fine. It doesn’t always work that way, though.

I once had a friend give me directions to her house but she forgot to tell me I needed to jog left at one point to end up on her street. She was thrilled when I actually arrived. Because I had been up that street before to a different destination I automatically took that jog. It doesn’t always work that way, either.

My favorite story about giving directions happen to a bunch of computer programmers. They participated in a team building exercise where they were to write direction for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They were told the table held a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, a plate, and a knife.

We could all do that, right? Try it. I’ll wait for you.

Hmm. Hmm.

La la.

Dum diddly dum.

Ready? Let’s see what happened.

One employee was chosen to pretend to be a computer and follow the directions exactly as written.

One set said remove two slices of bread from the loaf. The computer could not do it. The loaf had no opening through which to remove the bread.

Another set got the bread open OK and put the slices on a plate. Then it said to pick up the jar of peanut butter and open it then pick up the knife. Couldn’t do it. Jar in one hand, lid in the other, no hand available to pick up the knife.

Another set gave all the correct instructions right up through spreading the peanut butter on the bread and setting everything down. Then it said repeat the steps that gave instructions for the peanut butter except using the jelly. So the computer picked up the jelly, opened it, put the lid down, picked up the knife, used the knife to get some jelly, spread it on the bread and set everything down. Then it picked up the jelly and stopped. It was trying to repeat the directions from the peanut butter section but there was no lid to remove. Every computer programmer will tell you a repeat command needs to be followed by a stop command.

So how did you do with your instructions?

What else would you like to give us directions for doing?

TTYL,

Linda