A pain attack in the middle of the night woke me in the middle of the night. 🙁   Sunday morning, my foot was all red and puffy.  It was not a good day.

Today, I saw Dr Dave and he says it looks like gout.  The X-ray images show that the foot is healing nicely.  But those images won’t show gout or infection.  I’m now taking an antibiotic and an anti-gout med.

It was around 3 PM when the power went out today.  A few moments later the generator kicked in.  We waited for the power to be restored.  Around 4 PM I looked out the window toward the barn and saw this:

This is where the power comes to our house. What is wrong with this picture?

A short had developed and had started a fire on the pole.  A crew of two arrived by 6 PM.  They disconnected us from the main line and restored power to the neighborhood.

By 7 PM the guys had rearranged the power entrance components on the pole and shortly after had us back in business.  It has been an eventful day.

Last Saturday, Sylvia held a sledding party for the children in her Sunday School class.  Fresh snow had blanketed the hill and the kids had a great time with the sleds.

Fun rules on the hill beside our house.

A couple of moms had brought children and we watched the merriment through the windows.  They enjoyed themselves immensely–both kids and moms.

Nelly watches her older sisters as the play in the snow.

Among the observers was one-year-old Nelly.  She enjoyed watching her two older sisters frolic on the slope.

In case you are wondering, she did not meet Nellie (aka Kittie).  Our Nellie was nowhere to be found until long after the visitors had departed.

After the kids came in, having had their outdoor fun, Sylvia gave them cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows and a scoop of ice cream.  (That was a big hit!)

I played the movie, Narnia — The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  That was fun too.  Some of the children watched for the first time while others would quote lines in sync with the actors.

We all had a fun day.  Afterward, I had a nap.  Another one may be coming soon.  Aaahh. 🙂

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Last night, we had wind and snow.  This was done to the tune of a “bang-bang” symphony.  That symphony was orchestrated by plastic siding (corrugated) on the barn that had been blown loose and which was flapping in the wind.

Neighbor Meghan even commented on it.  It was annoying and frustrating because I’m not able to go do anything about it thanks to my foot.

This morning I called my friend Cliff who farms with his dad here in the neighborhood.  I was fortunate to reach him before he left his house.  He agreed to stop by and survey the situation before going to his dad’s farm.

He was able to patch things back together in less than an hour.  Meghan and her hubby should be able to sleep better on windy nights.  I know Sylvia and I will.

I saw the podiatrist, Doctor Dave, on Tuesday.  As we were being escorted to the examination room, Nettie (doctor’s assistant) met us in the hallway.  She greeted our guide and then asked her, “Do you know what this guy (indicating me) called me on his last visit here?”

I was hoping she had forgotten about that.  Really, I was.

The guide shrugged.  Nettie responded, “He called me ‘Naughty Nettie!’  That’s what my dad always used to call me.”  Then she flashed me a huge smile.

Later, Nettie removed the stitches while Dr Dave looked on.  I am now able to walk around without the crutches . . . if I wear the boot, which provides support to the foot and ankle.

I need to go elevate that foot now.  It helps a lot to do that.

On Saturday, Sylvia started painting walls in the guest room.  This involved painting around the edges where she had to use a brush.  On Monday, she would get out the roller and paint the rest of the walls.  In her preparation, she removed the two doors in the guest room.

Sylvia woke up around 2 AM on Sunday when Nellie hopped up on the bed with her.  With no doors to keep her in the basement, kitty was up exploring the upstairs (people) portion of the house during her active time.  Nellie woke Sylvia several times that night.

On Sunday, we reinstalled the door between the guest room and the living room.  Later, we retired for the evening and about 15 minutes later I heard Nellie talking as she crossed the living room.  I got up and followed her back to that door.  Nellie went through and I closed it and went back to bed.

Two hours later, I heard Nellie talking as she came toward me again.  What?  Once again, I secured the door.

The door in question.

I was on the other side of the door in the picture.  This time I gave a test push.  The door opened.  It would not latch securely.

A length of light rope secured the door for the night.  Monday morning I went to investigate.  This is what I saw:

There is something wrong here! The bolt is backward.

The bolt was backward.  Has it been there for the 13 years that we’ve lived here?  Why had we never noticed it before?

Have you ever seen such a thing?

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Nellie isn’t hiding from us as much, but she has yet to venture upstairs. 🙁   Unfortunately I’m not ready to venture down the stairs.  So Sylvia captured an image for me. 🙂   Wasn’t that nice of her?  Low light conditions down there, so the results are not professional, but this gives you a better idea of what our gal looks like.We expected her to be shy and she has been a bit.  Nevertheless, she loves to have her ears rubbed.  Is this stretching the Family Friday theme too far?  I hope not.  I’d say she’s like one of the family, but I know some of you who ask in return, “Which one?”  I invite you to participate in Family Friday when you can.  You can register your participation on the linky on this page or on the Family Friday blog.

My feet have bothered me for many years.  They were bad enough that they were having a severe negative impact on the activities in which I participate–or don’t participate in lately.  I’ve written about seeing the podiatrist, Dr Dave.  Yesterday, he worked on my right foot.

My foot before surgery.

Yesterday, Dr Dave performed a bunionectomy on my right foot.  The surgery had originally been scheduled for 2 PM.  The hospital called a few days ago to say that the time had been moved to 1:30.  Excellent.

Sylvia took me to the hospital and we arrived at 11:30 as we were instructed to do.  After a bit of paperwork, we were directed to the waiting room while they prepped a room in out-patient surgery for me.  Twenty minutes later we were taken to the room by a short nurse with a heavy accent.  I asked about the accent.

She replied, “What do you think it is?”  “Spanish,” I answered.

She literally froze in her tracks and her mouth dropped open.  “You are the first to correctly identify it.”  She is originally from Columbia and married a missionary from the USA.  She was astonished that we speak Spanish and had lived in Ecuador.  The rest of our business with Marta was conducted in Spanish.

Lesley was the next nurse to visit us and started by telling us how excited Marta was that we speak Spanish.  This led to a lot more talk of languages.  Lesley has a German immigrant grandfather.

After that Nurse Deb came by.  She has to be Lin’s sister by a different mother.  The way she talked, looked, did her hair and a killer sense of humor gave it away.  She delighted in teasing me about being on a pre-surgery fast.

The anesthesiologist stopped by to confirm his paperwork.  A bit later Dr Dave stopped in and reported that the hospital was behind schedule.  (No doubt someone had some complications and it took longer than the estimated time.)

It was after 3 PM by the time the OR was ready and they came to wheel me away.  Next thing that I knew I was back in the room.  I don’t remember being in recovery.  When I asked Sylvia a question she smiled and answered.  I said, “I asked that before, didn’t I?”  She confirmed that I had and that we had been talking together for about 20 minutes.  I don’t remember that either.

I finally was able to put my own clothes back on in prep for leaving.  They put a protective boot on my foot.

Ready for soccer practice. NOT.

At home, Sylvia helped me remove the boot so we could apply an ice pack.  Here’s the after shot.

The bleeding is normal and has now stopped.

Even through the dressing you can see the big toe has been straightened and the huge [sidecar] bump is missing.

In three weeks I should be able to walk around in my shoes.  That’s going to be nice.