It's good to be green

Aug. 29-Sept. 14, 2013 Jennifer's Driveway - Bozeman, MT

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HEALTH WOES:
As Mr. Kermit the Frog would say, "It's good to be green."
Huh?
It has been 10 days since I sprained my ankle. It has gone from being useless and swollen, to black & blue and swollen, to yellow and somewhat swollen, to now green and just a touch swollen. So green or yellow green is good. I'm healing.

Be forewarned, I have never had a pedicure. Isn't my foot a lovely shade? Really gross.

The first 3 days were horrible. I could not use the foot and ankle at all. Scott had to play nursemaid. He wrapped my foot and ankle, he'd bring me aspirin and water. Scott has also had to take over the care of the dogs. He did all the walking and feeding.


See how swollen I am on the left?

Then I was able to balance with the tips of my toes, which was a huge help. I then started doing rehab exercises one of which was to trace the alphabet with my big toe. That forced me to move my ankle. At the one week mark, I was able to put my foot flat and put weight on it. I only needed one crutch. Yippee! What a sense of freedom! I could at least let the dogs out if it was an emergency.

On the sixth day, I attempted hobbling around without any crutches. Yes, I was sort of walking. Wow, I thought this would take a lot longer to heal. Well, I thought prematurely. I took back the morning walk responsibility and while Scott was out doing errands, I attempted to do the afternoon dog walk. Geeze, I didn't realize I was walking so slowly. The poor dogs would take a couple of steps and stop to wait for me. They were very good about not pulling on the lease. Oh my gosh! What an effort just to walk 50 feet! Oh, my foot is killing me!

I rest up overnight and again attempt the morning walk with the aid of one crutch. Again, I barely make 50 feet and I've just got to stop. Luckily Scott was awake and came to my rescue. Well, I think I over did it. My foot and ankle are really achy and I have it wrapped and raised again. I'm quite bummed about the set back.
I have been able to take over the feeding of the dogs, but Scott will have to continue to walk them.




Carla of Cozy Be Gone suggested Arniflora, to help with the swelling.

Arnica

 Arniflora comes from the Arnica flower. It is thought to reduce swelling, reduce joint pain, and help speed the bruising process. So sweet hubby, Scott went out and brought Arniflora back for me. I don't know if it helped, but it didn't hurt and was inexpensive.





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TRUCK WOES:
When your vehicle is essential to your quality of life, you really can't let things go. It seems every 6 months, we've been dishing out more than chump change for our truck. I think it's not so much that it was a bad purchase or poor quality truck, I think it is just the major cost of maintaining a diesel truck. Scott noticed that while going from a low speed to a higher, the truck chugs until we get up to speed. He thinks it is the fuel injectors. We can't get an appointment until Tuesday, the 17th. So in the meantime, Scott has changed the fuel filters and put some kind of gunk into the gas to help clean the injectors. No computer code has come up. But it's still not running right.
Since we need the truck to pull 14,000 pounds of RV, we really need to make sure all is working properly.
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RV LIFE:
The RV is getting quite messy and it's really starting to drive me crazy. I just have to just clean a little at a time. It's difficult to put things away high up in cabinets or low into cabinets, so what little flat surfaces we have are being piled with things to put away.  The floor has major dust bunnies sliding around. Nope, I can't take this anymore. I've got to get to cleaning a little bit at a time.

Yesterday, I was able to clean both the bird cage and the Ratkins cage. One chore complete.

We were only going to be here in Bozeman, MT in our friend's driveway for 4-7 days. It has now been over TWO WEEKS! We've got a beautiful "campsite" and the price is great (free), but we are now feeling like squatters and taking advantage of our friend's hospitality.
We are supposed to be in Custer, SD on Monday. We need an overnight stop to get there. We should be leaving on Sunday, but since our truck appointment isn't until Tuesday, that's not gonna' happen! This is the first time we've had to adjust reservations. Grrrrr.

I know, I know, I'm complaining way too much. If I look at the big picture...
I am thankful my ankle isn't broken
I am thankful I have a great husband to help me out when needed
I am thankful we have the money to fix/maintain our truck.
I am thankful that we have a place to stay for rehab of me and repair of truck.
And things can't be all that bad when all I have to do is look outside and see this...

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PETS:
Devin is still not normal. Some really gross poopies, still throwing up much of his food, not drinking as much as usual. We are back to rice and chicken with a little pumpkin. His appetite is good, his attitude is good. He's still bouncing around and wanting to play. He is obsessed with eating grass. We can't put him out on a tether because he'll just eat too much grass. No more letting him loose because we can't control the grass eating. That's really too bad. This is the perfect place to practice his recall. Sigh.
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SIGHTS:
Hyalite Reservoir - Bozeman, MT
Scott took the short drive to this reservoir to look for some geocaches. I, of course, was stuck in the RV with my ankle raised.
We were hoping to take our Eagle inflatable kayak out on the reservoir, but not gonna happen this time. Sigh.
From the photos Scott took, this looks like a great recreation area for fishing, boating and hiking.

While he was exploring the reservoir area, he came upon Hood Creek Campground. If you don't mind boon docking, this is a nice campground, right on the water with sites large enough to handle big rigs.

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BOOK REVIEW:
Live Wire (Myron Bolitar #10) by Harlan Coben
My rating 4 out of 5 stars
I almost stopped reading this. Oh no, another Myron Bolitar book. But of course I got sucked into the dark humor and sarcasm, as usual. Very good double mystery.
The end of an era. This is the last Myron and Win book, I think. Sad.
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WHERE WE'RE GOING:

Sept. 19-30, 2013 Wheels West RV Park, Custer, SD

south for the Winter of 2013/214