First, to answer some questions, we won’t know about the car for a couple days … but the prognosis is “not good.” Cars can be fixed and I’m just glad the evening had a happy ending. I have the Jeep Wrangler to drive for now.
Back to Lou. He had a very productive day. He has walked quite a bit, including down the corridor and back, and even did some steps. I was there this morning for one of his shorter walks:
He finally got to eat his breakfast – the staff is very attentive and he had someone in his room all morning. He did eat sitting up, which was good:
Later in the morning, he had a visit from Theo … the hospital therapy dog. Theo tried to climb up on the bed with Lou. They were a good match … big guys!
I came home for awhile at noon, then took a drive to pick up an extra tall walker for Lou, so he would have it tomorrow. He will probably come home tomorrow. He was proud of his physical therapy in the afternoon … walking down the corridor and back, and also practiced on stairs.
I dropped the walker off and visited for awhile, but left him to get a short nap before dinner (him, not me). He said I just missed the doctor, who came by and took off the big ace bandage and said his leg looked good. Hopefully he will have a good night and get some sleep.
It’s been ages since I was driven home in the back of a Sheriff’s car. In fact, maybe this was the first time ever.
No, I did not go tie one on after visiting Lou in the hospital last night. Driving home, the oil light went on and the dashboard lit up “Stop driving immediately.”
I pulled over as soon as I could … the car died and it wasn’t looking good. I am on US Route one in the dark, in a snow storm and it was 13 degrees outside. Not knowing what to do, I called Lou in a moment of panic. Of course, what can he do sitting in a hospital? He gave me the number of a friend who helps us with the house. Roland wasn’t home …
It occurred to me to call the local police station. The dispatcher was very nice and connected me to Dan’s Towing. Dan arrived within 30 minutes and towed me to the local garage in Belfast. Whew, I did not make the headlines … “frozen woman found on the side of The road near Northport.” This isn’t a great photo, but it’s taken by me in the front seat of our Denali while the tow truck backed up to it …
As we were getting close to Belfast, Dan called the taxi company for me. Uh oh, they were closed … and Uber wasn’t answering either. Dan called the sherriff’s office, and a nice officer picked me up and drove me home.
I was rescued by both the local police and sheriff … can’t beat that service. Sometimes living in a small town has its advantages.
Update on Lou: he is still doing very well and I will load some photos later to show him up and about
Knee replacement surgery went well today. We started out early, needing to be to the hospital by 6am. It was snowing when we left the house.
Lou walks towards the light…
They were ready for him, starting right in with pre surgery prep and 100 questions:
I fell asleep in the waiting room. And snored. I’m sure. He was in surgery for 2.5 hours. The doctor said he did well. It took a little longer than usual because his knee and bones were bigger than the average bear.
By noon, he was in his private room, able to look out at the snowstorm. He seemed to be feeling good, not in much pain.
I left after he was settled. Teresa had stayed with the pups, but I wanted to take a nap. . Lou was able to get up during the afternoon, and was still feeling good when I went back at 5pm. He even ate all of his dinner -chicken, mashed potatoes, and beets.
Many have asked how my cooking is going. I did make another meal … Meatloaf Burgers. And they were really good. I think I will be getting more practice in the coming weeks!
Note … this is a stock photo. No time for photos while cooking this meal!
We are enjoying this Monday evening before getting an early start tomorrow morning. Lou goes into the hospital for his knee replacement surgery. I don’t think he is too excited. I will report back tomorrow after surgery.
Hi Friends and Family. We have been quiet for awhile. Big news coming up here. I mean, REALLY BIG.
As many of you know, Lou is going into surgery next Tuesday for Knee Replacement. Although he keeps waffling, that is the plan as of now. He was concerned. Very concerned, that he might starve while he was temporarily unable to get around the kitchen. I do good takeout, but that isn’t readily available in Northport, Maine.
Unbeknownst to me, he placed an order with Hello Fresh – one of those prepackaged food thingies. Yep. He expected me to actually cook. (I thought just his knee was bothering him, but maybe I should have his mental health evaluated as well).
We came back from errands, and there was a box in plastic wrap unceremoniously thrown in the snow by the mailbox (no pic, sorry). Not off to a very good start – this was our first shipment of 3 meals – complete meals – to be cooked by – are you sitting down – ME !!! The expression “LOL” is over used, but feel free to think LOL, LMAO, OMG, or any other one you can think of.
The box:
Someone has a sense of humor:
First look into the box:
Easy Peasy !!! Take the stuff out of the bag and pop it in the microwave. My kinda cooking!
Each meal comes with instructions and photos:
This looks so easy, even I can probably do it !!!
Disclaimer – my Mother did teach me to cook. I also took several years of 4-H cooking class (taught by Mom) and home ec in High School. However, since meeting Lou, I have not been allowed to cook anything other than brownies and chocolate chip cookies.
OMG – it is time! I actually have to cook. Okay, I know how to use a microwave.
We decided we would start with the Parmesan Rosemary Panko Encrusted Pork Chops. With Almond Couscous and Carrots. Easy Enough:
Let’s open the bag and get ready to nuke:
WTH??? (That is short for What the Heck, of course). What is all this fresh stuff? I mean, Hello Fresh — didn’t have to mean send me fresh stuff, just taste Fresh!!! Hmmnnnn. Okay, regrouping and checking the directions:
Yeah, this is cooking. I can do this. Note – Lou is conspicuously absent, watching Lester Holt in the other room. So, I needed some encouragement, and poured a glass of wine:
I’m following the instructions … only takes 10 minutes to prep. Yeah, I guess they didn’t think anyone would have to look up how to “zest.” But, I did it. I had to peel carrots and cut them too! Plus wash the parsley and rosemary and all that stuff. Geesh.
Let’s compare to the prep card:
I’m on a roll. I had preheated the oven and cooked the damn carrots (I mean, you can buy a bag of these from the Jolly Green Giant):
OK … things start to get dicey here. I have to mix the panko, parmesan, and coat the Pork Chops. At this point, photography took a back seat. I also had to get the couscous ready – which meant pouring it into a bowl, adding some water, covering it with plastic wrap and nuking for a couple minutes (I did that very well !!!).
Those pork chops look a LOT better than they did in the plastic packaging. I put some oil in the pan and heated it up, but I will confess, I called Lou in to supervise this part. I am DEADLY afraid of cooking meat. I mean, you can really mess everything up. But, I coated the chops, threw them in the pan when it was hot and Sizzle …
Wow … not going too badly. Lou even showed me how to use a meat thermometer. Who knew???
Soooooo … Lou went back to the News and I finished up. I had to “Plate” the dinners and all that nonsense. I forgot to mention – there was also a sour cream based drizzle that I had to prepare …
So yeah … that is it. The first complete meal I have cooked in over 40 years. It was actually quite good! I think we were both amazed. But kudos to Hello Fresh – the flavor was quite good.
The directions were reasonably easy to follow, even for a non-co0k, altho it was unclear what to do with the sour cream drizzle. They said 10 minutes prep time and 30 minutes to cook. LMAO … it took me 2 hours to put this together, but then … that was for a novice cook.
A pic of the end …a bit of a mess, but not terrible… I didn’t even drink my wine.
But, my absolute favorite photo of the night. They were totally gobsmacked, could not figure out what I was doing in the kitchen –
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