Friday, January 29, through Thursday, February 4, 2016: Another Nice Week:

Friday was an off day---no Flagstaff, no doctors.  So I relaxed in my usual way, reading, doing crossword puzzles, and catching up on emails.  Also, we made arrangements to meet the Wheelers at Murphy's in Prescott for lunch on Saturday.  We haven't seen them since they stayed with us last spring.  It will be great to see them.  We arrived in Prescott early enough so Becky could walk the dogs before lunch.  I spent the extra time at the bar in Murphy's, reading Things That Matter, and having a beer, of course.

The Wheelers arrived right on time, and brought Larry and Claudette Van Dusen with them. 

The Van Dusens, former Xanterra folks we've known for many years, had shown up---unexpectedly---on Friday at the RV park in Congress, Arizona, where the Wheelers are staying.  The six of us had our usual riotous time at lunch.

After lunch we immediately headed back to Williams, not taking advantage of the proximity in Prescott Valley of Trader Joe's and Costco.

The Sunday highlight was a long walk home by Becky and the dogs from Holden Lake, a dry lake bed in town.

On Monday, we received 13 inches of beautiful new snow.  That required our clearing our driveway, and also washing snow off our satellite dish for the third time this winter.

Later in the morning, we got a strange phone call from the Grand Circle Travel folks, advising us that our planned November river trip in France had been cancelled!  We had already paid for the entire package so we were given several choices of what to do with the refund.  After reviewing all the options, we ultimately (on Tuesday) elected another French river trip (in October) and received a $4,000 credit toward the (of course) more expensive cost.

Tuesday was very cold and with the new snow we pretty much stayed inside and mellowed---and considered the cruise options we were given on Monday. 

Wednesday was a busy day.  At 11:00, Paula Walker from Flagstaff Custom Window Coverings arrived to measure for a replacement Venetian blind in one of our guest bedrooms.  We realized after only a year and a half that the existing blind did not close properly.

At 1:00, I had a biopsy in Flagstaff of the lump in my neck that seems to have recently appeared.  The doctor used a needle to collect three tissue samples.  Not a big deal.  After a quick lunch stop at Bashas' we (including Ramsey and Kelsey) headed for Tucson---nearly 300 miles away---to spend the night.  We ran into some rush-hour traffic in Phoenix, and I didn't help by causing Becky to take a wrong turn on the I-17 transition to the I-10.  We stayed at the Quality Inn Flamingo, an old joint in a seedy part of town. 

It was OK, though.  We were so tired by the time we got there (7:00) our dinner was what was left of the sandwiches we bought before leaving Flagstaff.

Thursday morning, we got the truck washed and stopped at Trader Joe's before heading for an 11:00 appointment with Dr. Parminder Singh at the University of Arizona Cancer Center.  We thought he was the "gatekeeper" for the shot treatment we are anticipating.  It turned out the situation is more complicated than that, and we need more time and more information before we can sort things out.  Dr. Singh was very informative and very interesting.  He attended medical school in New Delhi (yes, he is a Sikh) and did his residency in New York City.

After Dr. Singh, we stopped at Costco before heading back to Williams.  We loaded up on the usual things, plus a gigantic bag of salted-in-the-shell peanuts for watching the Super Bowl.  We beat the rush-hour traffic through Phoenix and arrived in Williams at 5:30, thus completing our 600+ mile round trip to Tucson.  We celebrated with some hot-and-sour soup from the new Chinese buffet in town, and assorted goodies from our pantry.  It was an exhausting two days and we crashed early.

Friday, January 22, through Thursday, January 28, 2016: Spring Is Around The Corner (?):

The week started out a little warmer and the snow has started to melt away.  Early Friday afternoon, we went to Dr. Cohen's office in Flagstaff so I could have an echocardiogram.  I thought I had probably had one some time ago, but the procedure was not familiar.  It was no big deal.  I will learn the results in a week or so. 

Saturday morning we woke to a spectacular sunrise, which Becky caught on camera, of course.

That evening, we watched Man On Wire, a documentary of the 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers by Pierre Petit, a very skilled Frenchman.  It was a remarkable piece of filmmaking, chronicling the very extensive planning it took to accomplish this quite illegal feat. 

Sunday was NFL football, of course, the conference championship games.  The Broncos pulled off a narrow victory over the Patriots (Hurray!) mostly due to a crushing defense that knocked Tom Brady all over the place. 

The Cardinals lost big to the Panthers, though.  Carson Palmer had a largely off day for the Cardinals, while Cam Newton was on fire for the Panthers.  Too bad; it would have been fun for my two favorite teams to face off in the Super Bowl.

Sunday night, Becky watched Part 1 of a two-part history of The Eagles, while I watched football.  The Eagles were not part of my history, but were certainly part of Becky's.  And the recent death of Glenn Frey made the film very timely.  Becky enjoyed the film but decided she didn't need to see Part 2.

On Monday, Becky decided to scrape some of the snow off our roof.  I don't know where she gets all this energy. 

The only significant activity on Tuesday was a typically long walk with the dogs from a nearby dry lake bed, which Becky thoroughly enjoys, of course.  And which we assume the dogs enjoy, as well.

On Wednesday, a fellow from Buffalo Fence arrived to replace four fence posts that had rotted bottoms and nearly fallen over.  For no apparent reason he had been given material to replace only three posts, so he will have to return another day to replace the fourth post.  He's a nice young man (his father is a Navajo Sand Painter, by the way) and had to do the very hard work by himself.  He said his "partner" had called in sick and there was no replacement available.  Ouch.   

Thursday was a brief Flagstaff day---to see Dr. Boettcher, my plastic surgeon for the weekly look at my surgery to see how it's healing.  As usual, the verdict was that it's coming along just fine.  We also had further words about the small node in my neck that we can't identify as either bad or good, or even neutral. 

Dr. Boettcher said he would carry on the discussion with Dr. Mathern and get back to me.  On our way home Dr. Boettcher called to say he and Dr. Mathern decided to get a sample (via a needle probe, not surgery) of the node for testing, and that I would hear from the appropriate folks about an appointment to take the sample.  Almost as we arrived home I got a call from the lab folks, setting the appointment for next Wednesday, just before we go to Tucson for a consultation with the University of Arizona Oncology Department.  (They are the people who apparently control the dispensing of the new melanoma treatment drug.)

The sky was clear and the temperature was in the high 50s, really a nice day.  We celebrated by bringing home another Pablo Picasso Mexican Salad from Oregano's for dinner.  Just delightful.

As usual, we decided not to bother watching the Republican debate.  Instead, we watched a documentary that was so boring I don't even remember what it was about.  Thus ended this exciting week.

Friday, January 15, through Thursday, January 21, 2016: Winter Continues:

Friday morning, I met with Dr. Eric Cohen at the Williams clinic.  He's a Cardiologist from Flagstaff who comes to Williams once a month.  I met with him with the expectation that he would become my Cardiologist to replace Dr. Bagheri (in Palm Desert) since I have no idea when we'll return to the southern California desert to spend the winter.  Dr. Cohen turned out to be a fascinating man and, seemingly, a very thorough doctor.  I look forward to working with him.  By the way, he concurred with everything Dr. Bagheri had recommended.

After meeting with Dr. Cohen, Becky headed for Flagstaff to get a facial.  She never made it to the facial.    We had several inches of fresh snow on Friday, enough to completely mess up driving in Flagstaff and to kill our satellite dish.  Becky had to cancel her appointment because the roads were slippery and cars were getting stuck.  Interstate 40 had many cars that slid off the road. 

Since we're now experts at rinsing snow off the dish, Becky did her thing so we restored TV reception after she returned from Flagstaff..

Friday night, we watched I'll Be Me, a documentary about Glen Campbell that traced his farewell tour after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  It was absolutely fabulous---touching, funny, revealing, and well worth watching.  It's a cliché to say there was not a dry eye in the house, but it's true.

Saturday and Sunday were consumed with the NFL playoffs.  There were four great games.  Unlike the previous weekend, when each game was won by the visiting team, all four games were won by the home team this time around---Cardinals, Panthers, Patriots, and Broncos.  I was especially interested in the Cardinals and the Broncos, both of which I like a lot. 

I became a Broncos fan when we lived in Denver, and I've become a Cardinals fan since we've been spending so much time in Arizona.  If they happen to face off in the Super Bowl I will have to root for Arizona.

Monday was my day to get a CT scan in Flagstaff.  It was a no-brainer, over in just a few minutes, and we got out of central Flagstaff without incident but with dinner from Pato Thai. 

Becky's remote control that locks and unlocks the doors on the truck had stopped working on Friday.  I replaced the battery but that didn't help.  On Monday, on the way home from my CT scan, we stopped at Terry Marxen Chevrolet on the outskirts of Flagstaff.  The gizmo failed to respond to reprogramming and we ended up having to buy a new one.  They're actually less expensive now than they used to be, which is good.  All is now well.

Tuesday was my day to relax (with the dogs) while Becky went to Flagstaff for a hair appointment.  While she was gone, my focus was The Collectors, a novel by David Baldacci that I started a couple of days ago.  

Wednesday was doctor day in Flagstaff.  We met with Dr. Mathern first.  He allowed that the CT scan had shown nothing, so we talked again about the new shot regimen for melanoma---and scheduled it to begin next Tuesday (later kicked back a week due to processing glitches).  He also told us the lab had reported that one of the flecks Dr. Boettcher had taken the week before had shown positive for melanoma---but it was tiny and needed only watching for the time being.  Dr. Boettcher later reported the same thing, and again said the December surgery site was healing quite nicely due to the magic cream that Becky administers daily.

On the way home, we picked up a Pablo Picasso Mexican Salad from Oregano's, and enjoyed it immensely.  It's fabulous.

Thursday, I relaxed with the dogs while Becky went to Flagstaff for a facial.  Early in the morning, I finished The Collectors, and immediately dove into Things That Matter, a compendium of articles written by Charles Krauthammer over the years.  I had read it when it first came out in 2013, but it's well-worth re-reading from time to time.  Charles has such a fine mind and such a readable writing style that it's a pleasure to read his stuff whether or not you agree with him.     

Friday, January 8, through Thursday, January 14, 2016: Another Week in the Snow Belt:

After two days of no TV reception, panic set in and we tackled the problem for real on Friday.  After clearing our driveway again with the snow blower (Becky really enjoys doing that),

Becky got up on our ladder and was able to rinse the snow off the dish with a different hose setup.  Yea!  We have TV again.  Otherwise, Friday was not memorable---except that the nearly 12 inches of accumulated snow is truly beautiful.

The "check engine" light on our truck came on Saturday.  According to the gizmo Becky gave me a couple of years ago, the problem was in the transmission.  It was too late in the day to talk to a dealer, so I tabled the matter until Monday.  The transmission was not acting up, so I felt fairly safe in not going into a panic mode. 

Saturday and Sunday was the first playoff weekend for the NFL, and there were some terrific games.  The Bengals lost a heartbreaker to the Steelers, but it was caused by a total breakdown of discipline on the part of the Bengals. They had the game won in the last minute, then gave it away with some stupid penalties. 

Then the Vikings lost to the Packers on a missed last-second field goal.  The Vikings kicker had already made three of them in the game and the last one was the shortest of the four. 

Monday was, of course, the national championship game between Alabama and Clemson.  I so dislike Alabama that I rooted for Clemson for no other reason.  Naturally, Alabama won, but it was a terrific game nonetheless.

Becky has also now signed up for Netflix to mail us DVDs every few days, so she is taken care of in that regard.  We don't have a land-based phone line so we can't sign up for any of the state-of-the-art methods of getting the latest films.

Over the weekend, we had a total of nearly two feet of snow.  Just beautiful.

Tuesday morning I finally finished Once In/Never Out, by Dan Mahoney.  It's a long, complicated novel involving the IRA, Iceland, and the NYPD.  Maybe it's too complicated;  I didn't like it much, except for the incredible amount of detail the author put into it.  Very informative.

Tuesday afternoon, we went to Flagstaff for my weekly follow-up with my surgeon.  He thinks the skin grafts are now doing very well, thanks in large part to the magic cream we've been applying for the past few weeks. 

Tuesday night we avoided watching the State of the Union address by watching Pawn Sacrifice, a docudrama about the life of Bobby Fisher, the chess phenom.  Sad but very interesting.

Wednesday morning, we dropped off the dogs at the GC Railway kennel and went to Flagstaff for two reasons.  First was my periodic meeting with Dr. Mathern to plot my next steps regarding my melanoma situation. 

For technical reasons, we decided to pass on another immediate PET scan and instead have a CT scan---probably next week---followed by starting the new shot therapy we had discussed a few weeks ago. 

After seeing Dr. Mathern, we dropped off the truck at Flagstaff GMC/Buick to work on the transmission problem.  In the past few days, the transmission had started doing strange things and we could no longer avoid the issue.  (We had to drive to Flagstaff on Wednesday in a lower gear than optimal, which limited our speed and ruined our fuel mileage. Wednesday was the earliest we could get an appointment with the dealer.) 

After sitting for several hours killing time, we received the news: There were three electrical components that needed to be replaced, only two of which were available locally, so the truck could not be fixed until Thursday.  And, while the quoted repair cost was not cheap by any means, it was only a fraction of what transmission repairs can run to.  Apparently, the great reputation of the Allison transmission is well-deserved.  We rented the last car Enterprise Rent-A-Car had available---a Camaro convertible. 

Becky was very dashing driving it.  But she said it felt weird being in such a small car after driving the truck for 13 years.  She stopped at the kennel so she could walk the dogs home, while I took the car home.  It's so low I could barely climb out of it.  I want our truck back.

Early Thursday afternoon, we returned to Flagstaff to pick up the truck and return the Camaro.  All is well.  After returning home, Becky sneaked off to Kicks on Route 66 and picked up a great dinner for us---a combination of a la carte items:  French Dip sandwiches, Jalapeno poppers, Onion rings, and a Lettuce "wedge" (with Romaine lettuce for a variation).  Just delicious.  

Friday, January 1, through Thursday, January 7, 2016: The New Year:

Friday, New Year's Day, was a relaxed day.  I started with an Ebbert Fizz, of course, followed by phone calls to Donna and Rick, and to our friends John and Nancy McCrady (a tradition going back to the '70s), and from our friends the Wheelers and Van Dusens who are spending time together at the Pio Pico Thousand Trails preserve near San Diego.  Then the football started, of course.  In the afternoon, Stanford thumped Iowa in the Rose Bowl, which pleased me greatly but also surprised me a bit. 

We had a delicious filet mignon dinner prepared by my darling, of course, then relaxed for the rest of the evening.  It was a nice beginning to a year that we hope will be better health-wise than last year.  On a personal level, it cannot be any better than last year; 2015 was wonderful from that standpoint.

Saturday there were a few more bowl games, of course, which I enjoyed.  Becky took the dogs for a walk at the Escalante development.  It is a new, gated community in Williams.  We've been talking about taking a look at it for a long time and never seemed to get there.  So this was Becky's chance to see it up close.  The three of them somehow breached the gate and discovered that there are only a few (short) paved streets and only a few houses.  Becky was not impressed at all. 

Becky also watched Bone Tomahawk, a redbox movie which she pronounced to be awful---which is too bad because it starred Kurt Russell, who is one of our favorite actors.  Sunday there was the final week of the NFL regular season and, because some of the teams were already set for the playoffs and didn't want their players hurt, some of the games were a little weird.  But those that weren't were very competitive.  This time Becky watched War Room, another redbox movie that Becky pronounced to be good.

Monday, Ramsey's new collar arrived.  His old one (also red in color) was very faded. 

Also arriving were some old photos of Becky's ancestors which some lady in Washington somehow dug up.  Becky was a little suspicious of their validity until she saw them.  She was very impressed.  Tuesday, we started taking down the Christmas decorations.  It turned out to be a multi-day affair.  And kind of depressing since it signaled the end of my favorite season.  But, we move on. 

Wednesday, in the late morning, we headed for Flagstaff for my weekly meeting with my plastic surgeon.  We had started receiving some snow overnight but the roads were just fine.  We ran some errands.

Dr. Boettcher (who had shaved off his Van Dyke for New Year) was a little more comfortable with the progress of my healing from the last surgery.  That's good, but I'm still wearing a gauze bandage around my head to protect the area on which Becky smears the magic cream every day.

The snow had kept coming so after returning from Flagstaff we fired up the snow blower for real  I started the project, but then Becky finished it.

The next day was a big dump of snow.  Becky cleared the entire driveway. 

I offered to help but she was having so much fun she wouldn't give it up.  The snow accumulated a bit on our satellite dish, just enough to shut down the reception.  I tried to hose it off, but the dish is so far up our roof that the eater wouldn't reach.  We had a Plan B or two, but decided to leave it alone for a day or two, to see what happens.  In the late afternoon, Becky went to the local clinic to meet Dr. Richard Gibula, the new Primary Care doctor there.  We have decided to establish a working medical relationship at the clinic since our usual primary care doctors are in other states and we're spending more time here in Arizona.  Becky's first appointment was on Wednesday; mine will be on Thursday.  Becky reported that Dr. Gibula was a nice man but very talkative.  It took nearly two hours to get through the process.

Wednesday afternoon, the UPS man delivered a package from our friend Beverly Newhouse.  She has decided to downsize and sent us a lithograph she wanted us to have.  It's called "The Diagnosis" and shows a bunch of doctors haggling over a problem.  It's quite cute.  The best part is one of the doctors flipping a coin.  Each time we look at it, we will remember Beverly's deceased husband, "Dr. Bob," who was a wonderful man and a wonderful doctor.

Thursday afternoon was my turn with Dr. Gibula.  He was fine and it was a productive visit.  But he is a talker!  Becky came with me and we left the dogs loose in the house.  Big mistake.  We came home to a destroyed cloth cover on Ramsey's crate, a missing section of a family heirloom quilt, and a bunch of torn up paper and other items---some of them related to our Christmas decorations. 

With two dogs, of course, you can't be sure which one did the damage, but we think it was Kelsey.  If she didn't do all of it, at least she was the ringleader.  Or so we concluded.  Becky ordered a new cover for Ramsey's crate and I re-activated his old Vari-Kennel for the duration.  The snow had really started coming down on Thursday, and the dish was completely covered, so we suffered through another TV-less evening.