Maybe It's Time???

Couple posts back I stated I failed my vision test for my drivers license renewal. I failed the distant part of the exam. I was referred to my eye doctor for an eye exam for possible glasses that might improve my distance vision. I stated then that I wasn't ready to give up my independence just yet. As some of you know I don't drive that much anymore anyway due to a torn retina in my right eye that did not get any better after surgery. Sandy does all of our driving in the MH and Jeep. Around here I drive a little like to the local food places, hardware store and smaller towns near our area.

I'm not real comfortable driving in larger cities with a lot of traffic congestion. My peripheral vision just isn't that good when changing lanes etc. So, I try to stay away from that and much as possible. Oh yea, I will drive in those cases where I have no other driver choice. When I do I place myself in the right lane and do not get out of it. Like yesterday I drove myself to the eye doctor in Longview for my vision test. Had no problems got in the right lane and stayed there to and from.

My doctor said my vision in my right eye was 20/80 and my left 20/40. The 20/40 was good enough to get my drivers license renewed but there would be restrictions. He also said that he didn't think glasses would improve my vision that much. So, he signs the form and records my vision test results.

Today Sandy drove me to the Texas DPS to get my drivers license renewed. I presented the form to the lady behind the counter and she said "you known with the vision you have we will only renew your license with restrictions are you sure glasses wouldn't bring your vision up to a least 20/25". My eye doctor said glasses wouldn't help so just what will my restrictions be with the 20/40. She said the restrictions would be:
1) no night time driving. I don't do this anyway no big deal.
2) no expressway driving again I don't do this unless in the case of an emergency.
3) and the biggie no driving any faster than 45mph. I said mam driving at 45mph on our highways that are 60-70mph will get you run over. She said sorry that is the law.
Here is where it states what she said:
The standards for one eye vision are as follows:
(A) without corrective lenses, 20/25 or better in best eye: no visual restriction;
(B) without corrective lenses, worse than 20/25 in best eye: refer to specialist;
(C) on all other case scores: use two-eyed vision standards;
And this is where the 20/40 places me in the 45mph category.

She said I might get the 45mph taken off if my doctor would sign a form that my 20/40 was considered safe. No doctor in his right mind would agree on doing this. I'm scheduled for a laser treatment on my left eye next month and this just may get me back to the 20/25. If not I'll drive the 45mph and hope I don't get run over. Around here that probably won't be a problem anyway. Or just maybe it might be time to just hang the keys up.

Oh......guess what we've had our first measurable rain fall in quiet awhile starting sometime last night and it has rained most of the day. So far we have nearly 2" and it's still a coming down. THANK YOU LORD! We really need the rain.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Remembering

Twelve years ago to today Sandy and I were having breakfast at the Flying J in Green La. We were taking our then 2000 Dutch Star for a wheel alignment to a truck alignment shop in Shreveport. Our waitress came to our table and said "Did you hear about the plane that had crashed into the Twin Towers in NYC."

Our first reaction was where was the punch line and you must be kidding. Then we walked over to a TV and in disbelief…..froze in horror. Like every American we could not believe this was happening on our own soil. With the details still being sketchy we decided it would be best to call first to see if they were still wanting to do the alignment.They said come on in we will get to your alignment.

Upon arrival the entire shop was in their waiting room watching the events of that day on their small TV. The owner came over took our keys and moved the motorhome to their alignment bay. He came back and we set there most of the morning watching the events before they finally went back to work. Every few minutes the workers would drift back into the waiting room for any updates.

We were their through lunch but because of the events of the day were in no hurry to leave. We learned that President Bush's Air Force One had been diverted to Barksdale AFB there in Bossier City. The owner of the shop said we might be able to see it fly near the area where the shop was located which we never did.

Finally they finished the alignment but we were so glued to the TV we were in no hurry to head back to base. We finally arrived back at base around 3pm and immediately turned the TV on and watched until late into the night.

(11:30pm) Before going to sleep, Bush writes in his diary, The Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today….We think its Osama bin Laden.” Washington Post, 1/27/02)

Yes, it's a time to remember and reflect. This country has and will never be the same… which we have witness these past twelve years. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost love ones that day as well as those who serve our country. May God continue to bless this great nation of ours.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

A Sign That Things Are Getting Better

The best medicine for someone that’s an avid deer hunter is for deer season to start approaching. There's something about the air that makes a guys neck swell  and I can testify that it has effected BIL James in a way that no doctor nor pill form can do. It wont be long …..yep things are better. It's been nearly five weeks since James had his quadruple bypass heart surgery.

He's come a long ways. He still has to go to therapy and won't officially be released until the third week in September. With fall approaching its time for the guys on the deer lease in West Texas to get things done before the official opening day of deer season.
So, this weekend they travel to the lease. Some of the make ready preparations is to place a new deer stand on the lease as well as do some food plots by planting clover and other forage plants. The Kubota is being used to load, unload and set the deer stand. It also has a tiller and front end bucket for tilling and clearing the land where they plan to put their food plots.

Before they started the loading procedure I asked James was he going to be able to put all this onto the trailer. His reply was it will all fit watch and see. Sure enough they got it all loaded and secured down. This trailer is only 25ft long and as you can see no room to spare. Here are some of the loading photos:

Deer stand loaded:

Deer Stand was next:

Kubota next:

All loaded and ready to travel:

The loading took a little more than four hours. James did no physical activity only supervision. Yes, he took water breaks now and then but for the most part was on the job. Welcome back James hope you continue in your recovery.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

A Little Set Back

James called last night and advised, Bev his wife wanted to drive him to Tyler for the doctor visit to have his staples removed. He asked after they had finished if we wouldn't mind meeting her in Longview where she works and drive him home. 

Sandy left a little earlier than needed as she wanted to do some shopping. About 11am James called very frustrated and said they would probably not be home real soon and for her to go on home. While at the doctors office they found his blood pressure to be high, a Irregular heart beat, a minor infection in his leg and wanted him to go to the ER for further test.

After about five hours of waiting and testing they released him to come home. They gave him a antibiotic shot for the infection he had in his leg where they took veins for his bypass. They said with the type surgery he had  it wasn't that unusual for the irregular heart beat. Also put him on Warfarin to thin his blood.  They say he shouldn't be on this  long. Hope not as I've been on it for over four years now and have to have a IRN blood test every month. I also bruise a lot easier which looks awful on the arms and hands. I've even had people ask me....."What happened to you". Believe it or not they say Warfarin is a form of rat poison. 

We are very thankful that it was no more than this and he didn't have to stay in the hospital. Sandy said when she talked to him he sounded real excited over the phone that he wasn't having to spend the night. There's nothing like your own bed.

On another note I must apologize for not posting those of you that have commented on some of my blog posts. For some reason I was under the impression  they posted automatically. Dumb me......just fat and happy I guess. Speaking of happy Sandy and I have become big Duck Dynasty fans. Really enjoyed their kick off of Season 4 show last Wednesday night.

Till next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Uh Oh Kubota Broke

We went to move the fallen tree that fell across our drive the other day and discovered the Kubota was gone. It was in the shop. Sandy would normally pick up the tree limbs with the fork on front of the Kubota and have the task done in no time.

So, instead we started to use our Jeep Liberty to drag some of the larger limbs off to one side. Before we could get started Sandy's Sister Pam and her husband Mike showed up on there Gold Wing Honda motorcycle. Before you could say let's wait tell the Kubota gets back, they were out rolling the larger limbs off to one side. We hand carried the smaller limbs and laid them on the pile. We will either burn them there or when we get the Kubota back move them to the burn pile.

Friday was our day to drive BIL James around to handle some of his manager duties for the oil lease he's responsible for. We drove over 150 mikes and I'm proud to say he handled it quite well. The Jeep is not the most comfortable ride around but not only did he handled the rough ride he handled Sandy's driving as well (I need to be careful here). The type surgery he had requires him to ride in the back seat and there were times you could tell he was having a difficult time bearing the jostling.

We ate lunch and was back home about 1:30pm. I know he crashed and burned when he got in his big recliner. We probably will take him to Tyler next Tuesday to have the staples removed. After that he'll have about two weeks before he can drive again. I know he is looking forward to that day. Besides with fall approaching his neck is beginning to swell as deer season is not far away.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers