Many Years Ago...

Once upon a long time ago, when I was about two years older than Honor is now, I graduated high school and joined the Army.

That's me in the center of the back row. Why in the world did I look so happy? This was Basic Training! I must have been left out in the sun too long. Nevermind... I enjoyed my service. I liked the work I did, loved the people I worked with, enjoyed traveling, and I could handle the stupid bits. For what it's worth, soldiers didn't get paid enough then, they still don't nowadays, but what's new? There are pros and cons to everything.

One of my favorite posts was Ft. Campbell. I loved the helicopters. I always found flying in military airplanes to be uncomfortable and boring. There's nothing like being strapped in a canvas web seat for hours, freezing your rear off, and no place to put your feet but up on the wheel of the truck tied down - but still bouncing - in front of you. Wheee. Helicopters though, never bothered me. I loved riding in them.

Look. It's me acting a little more professional... 

Before I came along and broke the trend, pretty much all the family were Navy. 

My grandfather (b1893 -  d1971) served in the Navy. 

My father had these photos of his dad's ship and a school photo from 1918. The note on the back identified it as Dunwoody University, College of Technology. And his ship was BB-9, the USS Wisconsin, which I believe he was on in 1918, and was first launched in 1897. It has steam engines and masts too. 

Following in their dad's footsteps, my uncles, my dad's older brothers, also joined the Navy. One went into the Seabees. The other was in Intel. I have a couple of the one with an old airplane, WWII era. 

My dad dropped out of school and tried to lie about his age to go into service, but he looked too young and got caught. He ended up working on a farm, and then in a big kitchen in an area that is now O'hare airport. He eventually joined the Navy too and served at the end of WWII and during the Occupation.

China - during the Occupation

Upper right corner. The one who looks like a kid. 

He enjoyed his time in China and Australia as well. He learned to like warm weather and never moved back to Chicago.

His favorite ship - The USS NAVASOTA  AO-106

So, along comes Honor. She who loves to travel and be in control of things. 

Miss Just-Turned-9yo getting to start the truck for the first time. 

She wants to learn to fly, among other things, and has joined the Civil Air Patrol. So, 21 years after I put my own BDUs away, she gets to wear some of her own. We still need to get the name tapes and all sewn on, but she looks a lot more professional than I did when I first started wearing them! Somewhere I've got photos of her dad in uniform too, from once upon a time, and I'll have to include them in a future post.  

I'm Free!

Well, I'm sorta free...

A little bit free.

I'm allowed out of the wheelchair.

I met with the surgeon on Monday and I've been given leave to gradually start putting weight on the leg. I'm still supposed to wear the boot (bummer) when I walk, but can take it off while sleeping now. It is so much more comfortable!

The good thing is that I'm allowed to use the walker and roam about the house. The bad news is I'm still not putting full weight on it, no stairs, and no driving.

I also have to relearn how to do all the things. Carrying a cup in the wheelchair? Easy! Walker? Not so much. Unloading and reloading the dishwasher was fairly easy in the chair. I'm going to need a new technique with the walker. That's okay. I'll figure it out eventually.

Probably the thing that bugs me most is the boot is so flipping big. It's like walking around on a high heel shoe. ONE high heeled shoe and one flat shoe. Now, I'm not going to put a high heeled shoe on the good leg to balance it out - because that sounds like a dumb way to do physical therapy - but it is tempting. 

A couple of weeks like this and I should be back to walking(-ish) again and then I can probably drive again. I am supposed to use the boot for another 6 weeks though. Ugh. 

Anyway... here's Pixie. Even though she doesn't like the walker as much as she likes riding in the wheelchair, she is still taking care of me... when she doesn't ditch me for Brad...

Okay... okay...!!

Certain individuals in my life have been giving me a hard time recently about not keeping up with my blog. I'm not going to mention any names, but one is my sweet husband, and the other has been known to hang out with questionable individuals of the poultry persuasion...

      

I shall henceforth attempt to be more considerate and write the things.

So, what things should I write about?

Hmm?

What? You thought I was going to do all the work? Oh no! That's not how it works. I must have feedback, suggestions, ideas. I'm sure I'll come up with some random stuff on my own, but I'm listening. Comment and let me hear what you have to say. What do you want?

   - Cats?
   - Chickens?
   - Recipes?
   - Books?
   - Memories?
   - Writing prompts?
   - Serious stuff?
   - .... ??

I guess I should make a note about what I've been up to lately, besides slacking off and not blogging. The biggest issue occupying my time has been dealing with a broken leg.

Mid-January I slipped on the ice and snapped the heck out of my right leg. Broke both the tibia and fibula as well as the ankle. Fortunately Brad and our neighbor were home and they got me over to the hospital where I had surgery to insert a rod through the leg. The doctor did an amazing job with my leg. The break was rather ugly, but when he was done you could barely see where the crack was. I was impressed. Of course, I would have much preferred to NOT have had this happen, but it was cool to see the before and after x-rays and how well it was put back together.

The surgeon told me that if I'd only broken the leg the rod would have allowed me to start walking on it again two weeks after surgery (in a boot), but since I did a number on the ankle too I was not allowed to put weight on the foot for at least six weeks.

It's been a long six weeks...

I had to go to a rehab hospital after my stay at the local hospital where I had the surgery. Now I'm stuck at home in a wheelchair. I can't escape the house. I can't drive. I can't get up or down the stairs or even into some of the rooms on the main floor because this is an old house with small doorways. But that's okay. I keep telling myself it could have been worse. I could have broken my arm too. I could have hit my head - which is, according to my nurses and physical therapists, very common in bad ice falls. This is just a temporary thing and, no matter... Tomorrow I go back to the surgeon for a follow-up. Keep your fingers crossed he sets me free of this no walking restriction!! At least Pixie appreciates the wheelchair...

At least this happened in winter. It would suck to be stuck inside during nice weather. It's snowing again today and I'm happy to be watching it from inside the house.

I'm ready for Spring, but Winter is pretty too. The day I fell, I had taken some close-up photos of tiny ice crystals on weeds in the gravel part of the driveway.

I got some nice photos of the snow a couple of days before too. 

One good thing about having a lot of time on my hands has been the opportunity to work on my writing. I'm working on editing books two and three of my series. I'd just finished writing book three before I fell and although I went through and did a good clean up on it as I put it into ebook format, it will still need work. However, because I've been away from it awhile, I'm now going back through book two to polish it up with fresh eyes.

Writing seems to keep me energized and focused, unlike some other crafts I enjoy. I thought I might use some of this time to work on crochet too, but I usually use crochet to relax and all I've been doing lately is relax! Crochet hasn't happened. I don't need to relax more.

Maybe I'll share some things about my books in future blog posts, but we'll have to see. I made an author page on Facebook and only touch on my writing a little bit. Mostly I use the page for interesting items about writing and grammar, jokes, and things that I find inspiring. 

Anyway, I suppose I ought to wrap this up with some cute cat photos:

Ninja in her sunny spot

Pumpkin needs something. 

           

Pixie - totally content

I have blogged. Keep after me and I'll do my best to blog more, even if it's a story about an old photo. Give me a random date and I'll find something to post and write about. 

Happy now?!