4th of July

Not sure if I will be back on line before the 4th of July so wanted to say now.....

Weekend over again...

Sunday evening and Joe is off to work. I have just been trying to get a tad bit of laundry done so I can finish packing for our trip. Looks like I packed a lot but I have packed each stage of our trip in smaller bags so we do not have to lug large suitcases :-) Plus since I am the one who normally packs the car it is just easier that way for me.

Joe has to stop at BAMC tomorrow on the way home to do his labwork. I bet he will be glad when July 20th rolls around as he can go off the blood thinners then :-) He also needs to call the NICU lady where he had that interview last week. She was on vacation thru today so he has not been able to. I sure hope she gets him in tomorrow afternoon since we leave first thing Tues. AM. What would be nicer is if she would offer him the job. Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh Katrina just sent me a neat picture. Mitch has been out gearing up for when they go to sea in Jan. They have been gone a few weeks now and just returning tonight. Some day I would love to be there to see a reunion in person but who knows if that will ever happen.


Saw yet another place around here where they had been a fire. This one had gotten close to a house. Yikes! I wish people would wake up and be more careful as I am sure most of the ones along the highway have been started by cigarette butts. :-(

I will try to check in one more time before we leave on Tues. If not I will check in when we get to Branson. Have a great week all!

Friday :-)

Well even with the high prices of gas we have decided to take a summer trip. We will leave next Tues. AM for Arkansas. (first stop) We will be seeing my Dad and Pam for a few days. Our friends the Kinser's are going to stop by on their way to Chicagoland to see us. Man we so wish we were going to Chicagoland with them but just not going to happen this year. Sigh...............
We are going to spend 2 nights in Branson. We have not been there in over 20 yrs! Then on to see my sister, Joe's family and a friend who is now stationed at Ft Riley.
Phew we will be tired by the time we get home.

Joe is just trying to catch a few extra winks right now. He is supposed to work yet again tonight. We shall see though as it seemed like their was quite a few nurses scheduled but not too many patients.

YUCK

YUCK it is so hazy here today. It made my chest just hurt looking at the skyline when we were in San Antonio early.
Supposedly right now there is a big fire in Wilson Co (Co we live in). I could not smell smoke so guess it is a ways from us.

Joe and I went into Brooke Army Hospital again today. (I think we should just move in the parking lot some weeks) We were after medicines again. Finally they got it all straight so we are good to go for a few weeks :-)

Joe got an extra shift tonight (well extra if he works the other 2 this week) Several co workers are leaving soon so this one guy wanted to make sure he took his vacation days instead of losing out. Woo hoo good for us!

Oh my...how is yalls electic bills? OUCH ours was not a pretty site when I opened it. But I know some of the problem was that Joe was welding a lot on this last bill. I sure hope he is just about done welding for a bit! He was telling me a guy at work had a bill that was just under $500. OUCH!

Joe's appt

Joe went to see the cardiologist today :-) All is well. He is good for another 6 months. (unless issues) He will go in Sept. after we get back from Alaska to wear a heart monitor to check to make sure the ablation is working right. If that looks fine then I think he goes 6 months before he has to do it again. He has to be on the blood thinner one more month I think he said :-)


All quiet at my house tonight. Joe is at work. And Christina is at a friends in Floresville :-)

Talked to my sister today. Boy her little boy is growing fast. Yesterday she said he was not too fond of going in the pool. Well today that has changed LOL I think he wants to be big like his big brothers and big sister.

Edna racing

We did end up going to Edna to the races and it did indeed storm. Luckily though the guys were able to get the heat races all done. Joe was in the first heat and took a 3rd :-)
While the races were going on and Joe was socializing I kept a close eye on the storms that were brewing. They were all around us. Big huge dark clouds started heading our way and someone told us 15 mins or so and the storm would be here. I had heard too that there had been some tornado warnings out and heavy rain. Joe and I decided to get the heck out of there and quick. We hoped we could get ahead of the storm so we would not have to drive through rain on the way home. Luckily that is exactly how it worked :-) The lightening was an amazing show. I was just reading one of the track workers had heard there was a funnel spotted not far from the track. Yikes!! Supposedly some of the racers road the storm out at the track...not me not a darn place to take shelter there.


I tried to take videos and pictures while we were driving. For some reason the video will not load but here is a picture.

Joe is napping a bit. He is on stand by I guess for work. I am hoping he can get a few nights in this week since we will be gone in July for about a week and a half. He has another interview tomorrow. He also has a cardiologist appt this week. I am sure it will be a quick one as there should not of been any changes since he was in the hospital this past week.

Fire and Parade

YIKES while we were over in Stockdale there was a fire at the front of the housing area. I am sure it was started by a cigerette :-( Luckily the two houses it was near were not damaged. That is the second one we know of in the last few days. The first one was at one of the postal ladies house and they lost over 130 big round bales of hay. Ouch! It is just so dry around here.


We zipped over to Stockdale for the Watermelon Jubilee Parade. Donnie's daughter was in it (she is a cheerleader), his nephew and another kid we know. It was fun to go and also to share it with Donnie's family :-)

Donnie's brother Paul and Joe

Paul, Josh, Joe, Donnie,Colt








I need to go check the weather in Edna. They had some rain yesterday and there is a chance of rain the next week. So better to go check then to start there and find out it was canceled.
HM sure looks like a good possibility we could get wet:

7pm Scattered T-Storms
88°F
93°F 40% 69°F 53% From SSE 13 mph

8pm Scattered T-Storms
85°F
90°F 40% 70°F 61% From SSE 10 mph

Sunset 8:28 pm Airport Impact Forecast Maps

9pm Scattered T-Storms
82°F
87°F 40% 71°F 69% From SSE 8 mph

10pm Scattered T-Storms
79°F
83°F 40% 71°F 76% From SSE 5 mph

11pm Scattered T-Storms
77°F
81°F 40% 71°F 82% From S 5 mph

Sun, June 22 Weather Tools for the Traveler

12am Scattered T-Storms
76°F
80°F 40% 70°F 82% From SSW 4 mph

Not much to say

Not much to say today so will just share some pictures Laura sent. They were on vacation in Branson. They stayed at this hotel that had an indoor waterpark. How FUN!





Joe has the truck all loaded and ready to go to Edna tomorrow. Looks like they had rain today out that way so not too sure if they will race or not. I read too they have a chance of rain there all week. We shall see......

Old friends

I just love to hear from old friends! I have a few that I do not talk to them in months or years but when we call we can talk forever. My friend Rhoda, who lives in KY, we met our first tour of Germany. I met her riding the street car and we have been friends every sense then. I laugh so much when I am on the phone with her. Exciting news this time is she is going to be a grandma again! Her daughter has a cute son and her son & his wife have been trying for a while now and they finally are expecting in Nov. Woo hoo! They found out it is a little girl. They were be such good parents. We are hoping her daughter is pregnant too as they are trying too.


Joe went to work tonight :-) Hopefully he has a good night. He got a call today from a hospital in San Antonio about another interview. He will go Monday and talk to him. We shall see.


Christina also is waiting to hear about a job. It is here in Floresville at the VA Home. She should hear in the next day or so I guess. Will be nice if she gets it since it is just right here in Floresville.




Graphic from:
http://www.karrenkountry.com/graphics/graphics.html

Wed

Hey there!

Joe and I went to BAMC this AM to get appts made and also get the heart monitor. Hm weird he only has to wear it one day this time. BUT We did find out that every 3 months for the next 2 yrs he will have to wear it a week. I guess to make sure the ablation is still working fine ??????
Woo hoo they did not make him do labs since he was in the hospital this week. They went off the results to determine if they needed to add or subtract on what dose he is on. :-) His arms I am sure were happy.


We got a race tape from last weekend but I cannot figure out if we can upload them on line. Joe is working on that......he was thrilled when the annoucer kept saying his name LOL

Here is a few new pictures of Deacon. They went on a quick vacation today so this weekend I should have some new pictures. My Dad and Pam are going to see them tomorrow so there should be some of them too!

Home and update :-)

We got home about 30 or so mins ago. Over all things are just fine. Joe will go in tomorrow though and they are going to put a heart monitor on him for a bit. Not too sure how long he will have to do that. His test all came back fine. And the best thing (well to me LOL) was the DR who treated him almost 7 yrs ago when he had his heart attack is now back at BAMC and is Chief of Cardiology. He remembered Joe and came in to see him. He assured Joe that he had checked everything out that has happened the last few months or so and it all looked fine. We were concerned with the stints maybe needing replaced but he said they looked fine for now. Joe is going to try to start seeing him again when he has to go in. They also put in a referal to go see a GI DR. LOL Never a dull moment with Joe.


Christina went to the DR today too. I need to ask her again what they decide. I know she got some medicines.


Joe is checking out a traveling nurse agent. The lady called today and he talked to her about a contract in Victoria for 13 weeks. We may go check things out there again (have in the past but not everything) and also he wants to find out more. Then we will decide. The good thing is we are still close to here incase I have to run back here and take care of something for Christina. She could probably even find her way to Victoria if she wanted to come too. We shall see.


Hot hot hot here. Have not heard how hot it got but heard it was to be around 100* and heat index of 105*.

ER visit

UGH we went to the ER again yesterday. Joe just had not been feeling right and since we were not for sure what was going on we thought it was best. When I left last night they were not for sure what exactly was going on so they were going to monitor him over night atleast. He "may" have a stress test today sometime, guess it all depends on how he did last night. His stints have been in for almost 7 yrs and they were wondering if maybe they were needing replaced or if something just wasn't right after his heart ablation. His nurse also mentioned that maybe gall bladder since the symptoms kinda memic (guess that is what you would call it) each other. Anyway when I left last night around 9 he had just finally eating something and then was going to try to get some sleep. I will be headed out in a bit to see how he did.


I am so tired this AM as the phone kept ringing last night for Christina. I finally got up and turned the phone ringer off. I hated to do that incase the hospital called but I hoped if they needed me that they would try my cell too as Joe knows when Christina is not here I leave it on at night more nights. Hopefully I can nap later on :-)


Well yall have a good day and I will try to post an update this evening

Monday

Good morning from HOT HOT Texas! I think most of this week we will be around 100*.


Joe, Donnie and I headed to the Houston area Saturday AM so they could race. We stayed at Residence Inn and we were able to hop in the pool when we first got there. Was a nice refreshing cool off. (for a bit LOL) Once another friend got there we all ended up heading to the track. The pits at this track are so nice. They are all paved. :-) Joe WON his heat race!! WOO HOO...of course my camera was in the truck and I did not get a picture of it. :-( In the feature he took a 4th. Poor Donnie though he was really doing GREAT this weekend when at the last lap last turn he was taken out. I think it broke his heart :-( Oh well the drivers were both safe so that is what matters. They are off to Edna next Saturday!!


I think Joe and I are going to catch a movie this AM. We have a free pass that expires later on this week. And who can turn down something free :-) Not sure what we will see. Guess we will decide when we get there. I need to shop for some shorts soon as mine as driving me crazy being a tad bit large. I would like to lose another 5 lbs....we shall see.


I think Christina said something about a job interview today. Who knows.


If yall could say a prayer for my cousins in the St Louis area it would be greatly appreciated. My Uncle is not doing well at all. The poor man has been having such medical problems for months now. Sigh


I am out of here for now. Hope everyones Monday is a good one! More soon :-)

Off to Houston Raceway Park Speedway

Did not know if anyone was interested but:
HRP Speedway

Times:
Gates Open: 4:00pm
Spectator Gates Open: 6:00pm
Drivers Meeting: 6:00pm
Hot Laps: 6:30pm
Racing: 7:00pm

Tickets

Pit Pass: $25
Spectators: $10
Juniors 6-12/Seniors 55+ : $8
Children 5 and under: FREE

Tornado picture and .....

My goodness have yall seen this picture? What an awesume picture but a scary sight!



Nothing exciting going on here. I took Christina to a DR appt this AM and Joe slept most of the day. He is off to work now :-) Tomorrow when he wakes he will get the race cars loaded as we are out the door early Saturday AM for the Houston track :-) Sure hope it is not as hot as it was in Lufkin.

Saw this on Roni's email today LOL

Nightie night

Yawn it is after 10 and I am headed to bed in a few mins.


Man I thought we were going to get a tad bit of rain. When I left around 6 pm sure looked close. Drats I guess it disappeared before it got here as not a drop did we get. Crazy weather!!! My friend in Washington (HI Katrina!)had snow in the mountains. Now that is crazy for June!


Joe worked tonight! Woo hoo! Of course tonight was a night he wanted to stay home with me as our friends the Kinser's called and wanted to meet for dinner at Maverick's. Too sorry off to work he went and I went to dinner. It was nice to see Anna, Pat, Patrick, Jonah and even Anna's dad was there!


Joe's interview went ok. I guess they had a few more to interview after him. Not too sure if they will hire him since it was for a NICU position and he has very little hours in NICU. We shall see. Man that hospital was old. Joe said though that they were renovating areas. I rode along with him when he went and people watched in the cafeteria while he went to the interview. Some people are just NOT meant to wear scrubs. GAG!


Christina is here tonight. She will probably be here a few days and has a pulmonary appt on Thurs for her asthma. The lady she sees is so nice. I see her a lot when I am at BAMC and we always wave.


Phew I am not sure what Jerry was doing with the horses earlier this evening but man it smelled pretty darn horse manurey out there LOL


Well I am off to bed. Hope all had a good Tues.

LOL

LOL this blog and I are not getting along too well lately. Sorry about the two slide shows


Joe and I spent over half the day trying to get the blown tire situation taken care of. We have a new tire finally (after 3 different stores) and now have to file with the tire guard company. What joy as we heard today that they are horrible at paying. It could take 8 weeks for them to let us know one way or another. We are not too pleased right now.


Joe has a job interview tomorrow with a Baptist hospital downtown San Antonio in the NICU. We shall see how it goes. He really wants to get a lot more experience in the NICU.
Christina supposedly had a job interview today but who knows on that one. I guess her boyfriend Jay got a job today with a landscape company.


Finally heard how Joe's labwork was last week. They sure are not good at letting us know. His levels are fine and he does not have to go back til next week for more bloodwork. He has a follow up appointment too so hopefully we will hear a good report from them :) Besides a migraine he has felt real good :-)

grrr

Home and grrrrrrrr

We are home!


Grrrrrrrrrrr I had a long ole post typed out and then the website did something and goodbye :-( So I will try again :-)


It was nice seeing our NASCAR friends this weekend! We had a pretty good campsite and things were really quiet this weekend. Guess since there was not as many people it is quieter :-)
Never boring when we take the RV out. We get there and our propane tank was empty :-( We "thought" we have 2 tanks as that is what we see on the dash deal but we cannot figure it out. That is ok though as we did not need the propane..we worked around that issue :-)
On the way home we had a tire blow out. Luckily no damage was done and we were not too far from Camping World so we left the RV there for the night. We will go tomorrow and deal with it. We took some tire guard deal out when we bought the RV and we think it covers a new tire :-) What a good deal that $$ was as I am sure we will use it again!


It was interesting seeing the Indy car race as it was our first one. Man those babies can go FAST!


Joe has a few job interviews this week. One is with a NICU in a hospital downtown. He did some clinicals there when he was in school so knows the hospital already. The other is a long term care place. I guess a friend of his is a boss there or something???? We shall see. With the way it has been going at his present hospital he sure needs to get something that helps a bit more with the bills. The patient count has been so low in both the ICU and NICU. Hm????


I am going to save this post and then see if I can upload some pictures to share :-) Hope all had a good weekend!

On the road again

Tomorrow sometime we are on the road again

We are headed to

We are anxious to see our friends Dallas, Robynn, Bill, Mary, Lloyd , Kelly (sit by her)and whoever else stops by :-) They always have friends and family stopping by the campsite or tailgate site. Our campsites are right next to each other this weekend! Saturday's menu is bar b que ribs, twice baked potatoes and ?? Always good food and good company! Next year our friends the Kinser's are talking about going with us. Woo hoo they are always fun to be around!

We had a nice day today. Had to make a quick trip to HEB then we met Anna and Pat Kinser at Longhorn for lunch. It was so nice to see them. We zipped over to their house for a few minutes too to see what new fancy things they have put on their Harley. It looked real nice (always does) as it is all shiny ready for their ride they are going on Friday. They and others are headed to Hot Springs area.

Tonight Joe is at work. SHOCK! Guess since they called the last 2 nights that he was not needed they figured they needed to keep him working tonight. My checkbook is happy about that :-) Next week he is going to look around to see what else is out there so he can get some more hours in since his hospital is so low on patients right now. (or maybe it is just poor management by the nursing supervisor or whoever it is who does the schedules and hiring?)

Catch yall either Sunday night or Monday sometime :-) And of course I will have pictures to share :-)

New baby next door

2 weeks late but he finally arrived over night on Sunday

It's hot hot hot here....


We had a nice time at the races this past Saturday :-) In the heat race Joe and another guy kinda got together and Joe ended up with a valve stem coming right out causing a flat tire :-( While he did not come in last he was next to last but was able to finish the race.
In the feature he started in the back and came up through the cars. Woo hoo go Joe go! He did get spun 2 times and but yet still got up to battle with the leader Andrew. The last two laps about did me in. I feel bad for the others in the stands next to me as I sure was not quiet nor still. It came down to the very inch at the flag stand. From my view I just knew Joe won. And a lot of others in the stands thought the same thing and were totally shocked when they announced that Andrew won :-( I even had a few people come over and ask me what happened. LOL Ya got me but we are thrilled with the second place. Nice to finally win a tad bit more money to cover our cost of driving there, entry fee and sometimes a hotel over night. Who knows what the next race will bring but for now we are just tickled he did so well. I will never get him to quit racing if he always does good. LOL Next race for him is June 14th I think in Houston!


UGH we came h0me to water in our family room and kitchen. What a mess! I guess the toilet stuck when Christina had stopped by. I hate to see the water bill! We have the house all opened up now and trying to dry it out. Last night Joe and I had the steam cleaner and a wet/dry shop vac cleaning up the water. Atleast I will have a nice clean carpet in there now :-) The kitchen is going to take more work as the rug that I had under the kitchen table leaked maroon dye in some of the grout. UGH! I read on line to get some oxiclean and see if I can get it out. If not I am not sure what the next step to try will be. I am in no hurry though to do that as I know it won't get any worse.


We finally have a colt next door. I guess she was born over night as when we all went to check this AM there she was. I need to get Joe to go over there and take a picture. I have just seen her from a far as I did not feel like climbing the fence.


Joe is supposed to work tonight. I sure hope so!!!