ottahand7

@Cruising-along Thank you for sharing the photo of charming Pepper. A very cute pup! I had a brief visit with DB. Thankfully I was there when the doctor came in and his PT lady. He looks great but is griping about PT. Doctor not concerned about heart rate and BP is now normal. He is on an additional oral antibiotic but I didn't note what it was. He would have spent the night in the hospital if they had a bed for him, so he had a late ride back to rehab around 8:30. I told him to do his therapy. I will return to see him tomorrow. I have my lard, butter and flour out for pie crust. Now just need to find my food processor in the basement. No cod for dinner tonight, DF has cabin fever so we are going out somewhere. Have a great day! Nancy

Good morning. I am getting ready to go back to the rehab this morning. My DSIL texted me last night at 2:30 am that he is back at the rehab. She said his return was delayed, probably waiting for transport. His BP is normal HR still elevated and they put him on a new antibiotic. They both must be exhausted. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports! I never had freckles when I was young or my skin was thick enough that they didn't show. Now I have massive ones all over. I went until I was 60 before I had to use foundation, now it is a necessity. My Thanksgiving cranberry relish is already made. I used 2 bags of cranberries, a large jar of Smucker's orange marmalade, a bit of sugar and threw in a large handful of dried cherries. It will be good on Thursday. I will be going for a ride down the highway to visit DB. I will pass on the squash and lentils, wait on the drink and would try the vino. Never have been to Topolambo. Prayers for all on our care list and for the people of Ukraine. Thank you for your messages and prayers about my DB. A photo DF sent me this morning to brighten my day, I hope it does you too. A Rose Breasted Grosbeak at my jelly feeder last spring. Have a good day! Nancy

@1ANGELCAT Happy Birthday!!

Good afternoon! We started early to beat the rush. We had the can return room to ourselves and were able to get $32 for our cans that were taking over the garage. John shopped while I turned the can receipts into $5 bill for tips for our cruise. We will need a lot more than that, I used to buy scratcher lottery tickets and I like the tips Idea better. Then I picked up a prescription and then took a side road down to dear brother's rehab. The side roads are covered with very thick packed snow and ice. They were slippery and very bumpy. Thankfully we took the highway home. I had a nice visit with my DB while DF went to Costco a choice he regretted. I am glad he went though because he picked up a case of Kirkland Malbec for $7 a bottle. It passed the taste test and the migraine test. He said they were almost out so everyone loves a good tasting bargain. DB was sitting in his wheel chair when I got there which is a real positive sign. Both of his legs are really swollen. We visited for a while and then a new nurse came in and said she is concerned about his BP and his heart rate. BP low HR high. She also was worried about the swelling around his pic line. I asked her if she was there before and she said no she was just there for a meeting today. I told her it looked like that the last time I saw him on Wednesday. Due to those issues he has to take a ride to the hospital on the far side of town to have his pic line put in his right arm and to decide what to do about his blood pressure and HR issues. Then they tried to check his temperature and 2 different thermometers showed his temperature at 94. They said they were defective???? Meanwhile he was moved back to bed to get his IV and then he started shivering. I called his wife and said come down so she can ride along to hospital. After the nurses left my brother said "I could die from this". I agreed and said he could have an amputation if the infection can't clear. He said his surgeon mentioned that but said he is healing well when he had his staples removed. Looks good on the outside but maybe not deep down in the bone where he has his infection. So frustrating and I am sure he is getting to the end of his rope. Thankfully he has a couple of aides who are gems. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports @richwmn while having no power. So glad it is back on. I love to make Gingerbread cookies for Christmas but we are not decorating or baking for Christmas. Ginger cookies make the house smell like Christmas. So does butternut squash they way I bake it with butter and a dusting of cinnamon and Penzey's Northwoods seasoning. TV is important here. Will be running the TV late tonight with MNF from Mexico. Ravens won, Vikings were thumped by the Cowboys. I will pass on the curry dish but the cocktail and the vino look great. The port in Norway looks like a very interesting place to visit. Thanks Lenda for your photos and for sharing Sandi's. Prayers for all on our care list and for the people of Ukraine. A beautiful sunrise today.

Thanks for taking us along and thanks for sharing your misfortune with your Kindle. I have a new one due on our front porch tonight. Our next will be too long for no Kindle and my addicting Word game like Scrabble. Will follow your World Cruise while we are going round SA. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Welcome home Jacqui and thank you for the beautiful photos of Madeira. I am sorry for your assist issues in Miami. Rome is no prize either. I was coming back from a Konigsdam cruise with my friend who had macular degeneration and was sight impaired. Her wheelchair was there waiting at Dulles, Amsterdam and back at Dulles but Alitalia was a no show. Thankfully she was ambulatory. We waited 20 minutes and I said we should walk to the gate lest we miss our flight. Rome airport is a mess and it took forever to find our gate. Once we started to board there was a long flight of stairs down and then climbing stairs to board the plane. Thankfully a passenger saw our plight and carried DFs carry-on for her while I helped her up those stairs. Alitalia is like the airport - a mess. @kaz@kazuI hope your luggage has been delivered.

All of us Flatlanders who want to make it to NY or New England usually drive through Michigan through Ontario and then re enter the US at Niagara Falls. Slow highway speeds but less hassle. @JazzyVI hope you feel better soon and ready to go on your trip! I love your King Penguin avatar. I hope to see them in the L Falkland Islands and there is also a small colony on the SA mainland not far from Ushuia I am hoping for a double dose. Thanks for your concern for DB. DSIL texted today he is doing twice daily PT. @Quartzsite Cruiserso happy Steve's BP issues are doing better, I hope the pain meds are the key! Nancy

Good Sunday morning! @richwmnThanks for the Fleet, Daily and Cares reports!! I will pass on the fudge, peanut butter fudge was never a favorite. I will pass on the mole' enchiladas and again I will take my Basil Hayden neat. We visited there several years ago driving down to Tampa to catch the Rotterdam. I also visited Hartford Court in Sonoma many years ago. I remember the winery was on a beautiful wooded back street. They make good wines. I haven't been to today's port and am looking forward to the photos. @dfish thanks for the recipes and at least if they left 300 litter pails they must have kept the boxes tidy or you never would have bought the house. @kazuJacqui I am glad you are safely home and your neighbors provisioned you with breakfast. Sometimes lost suitcases on the way home isn't so bad other than the long wait to report them missing. @rafinmdsafe travels back to the Auto Train. Thanks for taking us along on the Eurodam. Prayers for all on our care list and for the people of Ukraine. Shout out to all on board ships and those about to board! I finished the last of the shoveling this morning. All my shoveling clothes are in the washer now. Ready for football for the rest of the afternoon, my Ravens game at one and DF's Vikings at 4:30. We will get some thawing so I will resume visits to my DB tomorrow. My DS visited my brother yesterday after she went to my cousin's memorial service that went forward despite the bad weather. She said DB is looking more alert and said he is doing his PT. 🙏 A few pictures of our snow, glad that work is behind us. Our snowy chiminea and the trail to feed the birds. Nancy

Bon Voyage @GTVCRUISER! 🍾

It took a long time. Passport number, Driver's License and I had to reset my Password. I was working last time I applied and I had to change that. Thankfully it is done.

@StLouisCruisersand @summer slope you started our day with the sturm and drang about yellow fever shots begin again in our house. I got a waiver from my doctor because I take Enbrel. It was unsigned so yesterday I sent it back to him asking for his signature on it. SASE included. We have time. Thankfully DF John has a Wellness exam Wednesday and he will have to demand one from his doctor. He is 72 and has no desire to get off at Devil's Island. We had another 12--15" dump of snow in the last 18 hours with more due with strong winds starting around noon today. I got both bird feeding areas shoveled out and I will go shovel in front of the garage in a while. The snow has been such that it isn't overwhelming the plows. John can't shovel because he had a heart attack in 2016 and has a untreated widow maker at the back side of his heart. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet Reports Rich! An unusual port for the day unless it is a riverboat port because I think Fairbanks is landlocked. Nearest I got there was Denali. I will appreciate my DF John today. He can go out and climb a ladder and use our long snow rake to bump the snow off from the dish. Three times so far and I am sure more today. It was a massive task for me when I lived here alone. I will pass on the meal and I will take my Knob Creek neat. I have never heard of Applegate Valley before a new viticultural area for me. Wine sounds nice @cat shepard. No news on my DB, I am leaving my DSIL alone as it is probably all she can do at home to keep DB's bird feeders filled and then driving to the rehab. There was going to be a memorial service for my cousin who died earlier this month but the church website says it is closed so I am sure it will be rescheduled. Prayers for all on our care list and for the people of Ukraine. @rafinmd thanks for keeping the lists and for sharing your voyage on the Eurodam. Today I will try to get my Thanksgiving prep started. Turkey moved to the fridge yesterday. I will roast the turkey legs for stock and maybe make the cranberries today too. I have an article I have to write for the Michigan Garden Clubs website on invasive plants perhaps I will get motivated today since shoveling is probably not as bad as yesterday. I took advantage of the Black Friday sale to book a B2B on the Eurodam for 2024. I was able to get a veranda cabin with a bath tub and DF will have his favorite Tamarind available too. Have a wonderful Saturday!! Nancy

@StLouisCruisers and @summer slopeBon Voyage!!

Good Friday morning! Well my garden club was cancelled last minute last evening, great idea. I think we have gotten 18" of snow and more is due. We will have to get the snow rake out and stand in the back of our pickup to try knock snow off from our Direct TV dish. We don't get the local channels and and we can get the others in low resolution. Not too bad but it always interesting to see the traffic woes when we get this horrible weather. Since I did not drive the truck last night we neglected to put it in the garage so when the plow man came it was still sitting out. We will work on cleaning it off shortly. I got a phone call from DB yesterday, he was asking about a news story so I am hoping he is beginning to turn the corner. This morning before shoveling I renewed my Global Pass, a long process and sent our PCC a request for a couple of B2Bs for early 2024 listed in the Black Friday Sale. I am heading back out to shovel again but a wish for safe travels for @StLouisCruisers and @summer slope! A few time lapses from our storm. The final one is when we had done a wee bit of shoveling.

Good morning! I saw my DB yesterday briefly. He is back on his IV antibiotic and it appears that the rash is still receding so that is great news. My DS visited yesterday afternoon and reported he did do his PT which is great. Today he goes to the surgeon's office to have his staples removed. I told him to do everything possible to do his OT and PT. I told him I wouldn't see him until Sunday at the earliest because we are going to get a huge, extended dump of lake effect snow. We were in balmy New Buffalo a week ago. In the last 2 days they got over a foot of snow, timing is everything and we lucked out. An interesting group of days. The Great American Smoke Out was a big thing for us when I was working for several years. One of our obscure anti-depressants was found to help with smokers' cravings and the company got it FDA approved. Always a big sales push in November through January peak times for people pledging to stop smoking. The only international student I remember at my school was 5th grade and I recall the boy was from Cuba. That was post Cuban missile crisis and he spoke no English. His name was Raul. I love Baklava, I had friends from Pakistan when I lived in Ohio and she made rolled Baklava and it was more crisp than sticky and syrupy. I have friends and family probably in both Heaven and Hell, I will go with my family in Heaven. OW quote is his view. The panzanella looked good, I have a couple of squash my DS grew and I will be cooking a part of a large butternut tonight. The cocktail looks really good, enough to take a photo of it for future drinking on a BHB. The wine looks great too, Bordeaux has had a good run of vintages. @Quartzsite Cruiserthanks for the photos of today's port. I have already been out shoveling to get to my bird feeders and also pushing the heavy recycling bin to the curb for tomorrow's pickup. I am glad I didn't wait any longer. It was difficult pushing it through wet snow that built up on the wheels. I will have to shovel again when I go feed the birds again. I have garden club tonight and I am really hoping that they have the wisdom to cancel it. Usually when schools are closed is the guide. I think the local schools are doing conferences so they probably won't close early because it was happening anyway. I am providing food and doing a brief talk so there is no way I can bail out if they go forward. Prayers for all on our care report and the people of Ukraine. Thinking of all of you on cruises and preparing to go one one! Have a great day!

DF and I had a discussion and about this and a new Kindle is on my Christmas wish list for sure. You made me make up my mind for sure.

If one's team is in the playoff hunt or the playoffs there is great interest. I hope to be bringing my Ravens swag on the Grand SA.

That must be confounding about your Kindle. I use mine offline for books and for their ersatz Scrabble game. We are heading to South America so I guess I had better throw in a couple of actual books. My Kindle is a 10 year old model.... Thanks for the heads up! Enjoy the rest of your journey!

Good Wednesday morning. We have 6-8" of snow in the forecast for tomorrow through Friday. Therefore we are going to make another visit with my DB today since I hate driving in snow. I see yesterday's snow melting off the trees. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports @richwmn. I used to play the clarinet and I especially remember the Principal clarinetist in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He looked like our neighbor who died of leukemia but he was a master of the clarinet. Amazing I can remember him after all those years. Tolerance is so important and an interesting story on the news today is that the Church of Latter Day Saints is supporting the gay marriage bill in the Senate now, walking the walk. I brought a large bag of buttons from all my years wearing business clothes to the Salvation Army when I moved away from MD. I have a small collection building again. Has anyone here done the button factory visit in Manta Ecuador? @dfishthanks for the photo of your beautiful street but I will take a pass on the potato soup. @summer slopeThanks for the coconut spritz recipe, it looks really good, I love coconut. @cat shepardthanks for your daily search for our wines of the day, I think I will pass on Greek wine. @Quartzsite Cruiserthanks for the photos of Kiritimati. It looks like a beautiful island. So glad Steve is doing better. @StLouisCruisersI know your Covid test will come back negative. @rafinmdRoy thanks for sharing your dining choices on the Eurodam. I hope you are having a great cruise with great weather. Thanks for our care and celebration lists. Prayers for all on our care list and for the people of Ukraine. Have a great Wednesday. Hopefully no bad news for my DB today and that he is doing his PT. Nancy

I loosened up on the NS last February when they took off the mask mandate for part 2 of our B2b. Handwashing and avoiding touching surfaces are something I did including using the towel to open the public bathroom door. As people loosen their guard the norovirus will begin to rear its' ugly head. That makes you wish you would die..... I will be masking on our upcoming Grand SA unless they give us the all clear that the crew is not required to wear them. I still will avoid crowds.

NS in February played the Super Bowl in the Main Stage. On the old Rotterdam we found our game in the bar off from the casino.

I think I remember that upstairs area one time. I think there was lemonade and cookies.

I did get to see DB today and he looked much brighter today and his rash is fading somewhat. The doctor was in and he said he thought the rash was due to the anti-fungal he was on so they are re-starting the cefazolin. I told DSIL to look at a spot free place on his arm and watch it once they restart the meds. If she sees a change call the nurse. He travels to the surgeon in the next couple days to get his staples removed. I hope he doesn't cheat out of his OT today. Nancy

Linda thanks for the heads up on that. I am glad I didn't wait on my luggage shipment after I read you had done yours. I did write on my itinerary the nights that I had guessed would be "special nights" based on lack of ability to book the specialty restaurants. I guess I will throw in something black and gold and something orange in case they decide to call those events. Specialty restaurants blocked. January 12, January 18, January 25, February 6, February 10, February 14 after those dates I quit looking to prebook dinners. I haven't had time to look on roll call or our page on FB so thanks again! Kind of takes some of the excitement out of the preparation.

Good morning, the system snow is coming down and it is 32 degrees. We are heading down to see DB in about 30 minutes. An interesting group of days. Thanks @richwmnand @rafinmdfor our daily updates! I like Bundt cakes and while rummaging around for pie pans I came across a Bundt pan that DF brought when he moved in. We both do Atkins for the most part though. I will be cleaning out the fridge as it is recycling in two days and I see a jar of marinara that is past its' prime. Our recycling is once monthly. Sometimes it is so heavy I have a hard time picking it up to roll it. But last month the wind blew it over. This month it is full with the usual wine bottles but also the cardboard and pulp packaging for the bottles. @Quartzsite CruiserLenda I agree with you comment on Marilyn Monroe. She was defined by others. She allowed it though. Pass on the cauliflower and kale, kryptonite for me. The cocktail looks a little too fussy for me. We have 2 bottles of Chateau Lafite 1998 in our cellar. One a gift from my DH and another from a hostess/host gift from one of our over the top wine dinners. Lenda and Sandi thank you for the photos of Broome! Prayers for all on our Care List. Prayers for those cleaning up from the hurricanes and the people of Ukraine. Thanks to all here who research our daily events, it makes this group so interesting to start the day with! Nancy

Good afternoon. I am very late because of a day of running around. Nurse Practitioner and also a flu shot, a cholesterol and thyroid blood draw then a pedicure and then Walmart. By the time I got home DF wanted to go somewhere for lunch. It was Mexican and disappointing so we will cross that restaurant off our list. Not a lot to choose from on a Monday. DSIL has been keeping me posted on my DB. Yesterday they suggested him going back to the hospital due to his continuing pain and a general rash all over him not reduced by Benadryl and then something higher strength. I urged them to go back to hospital but he wanted to wait for the Infectious Disease doctor who is due today, not yet. He was able to do 15 minutes of out of bed PT today and then since his brace slid down they allowed him do PT sitting in bed. He told my sister to leave yesterday and no more visitors because he is so tired. I asked DSIL if he feels like me visiting tomorrow. His WBC count is up and he is off antibiotics. Prayers for all on our care list and a shout out to all on cruises! Thanks for the photos of Cobh, it looks like a beautiful port. @HAL Sailer and @Quartzsite Cruiser I hope your husbands do better soon. Prayers for the people of Ukraine. Have a nice day.