Off The Road & On "The Farm", With Larry & Teddy

There comes a time in  every full-time RVer's life when he/she must give in to the revenges of age, claim a spot on this planet and hang his hat there.
The physical demands and the cost of travel have finally convinced us that we must now bite the bullet and stay here in Leelanau County, Michigan year around on the Schlueter family cherry farm. Teddy's brother, John owns the farm but has his own home and as the farmhouse was standing vacant since the passing of Teddy's parents, John has given us a life lease on it in lieu of Teddy's share of the farm. We have named the house "The Farm" and I am changing the title of our blog to "On The Farm With Larry & Teddy" to be more indicative of our current life style. In the past three summers we have had some badly needed major upgrades done and are now finally finished with the remodeling. I really enjoy being here and am thinking that I might even enjoy looking out at the snow covered fields this winter, knowing that I don't actually have to go outdoors to shovel snow as John will plow us out and I don't have a job to go to anyway. So Teddy and I will just stay indoors, drink hot chocolate, read books and watch the birds on the feeders.
We have made many lifelong friends during our six years if RVing and treasure their friendship. We are hopeful that some them as well as our Wisconsin friends might, visit us here on "The Farm" winter and/or summer. There are many things to see and do here in the Grand Traverse region of Michigan and it is truly one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

CPAP

As I mentioned in my blog of June 13 We decided to establish local doctors and dentists here in Traverse City. Well one of the upshots of that resulted in my new cardiologist, Dr. Michael Lauer putting me through a pretty through physical examination. I've had blood tests, a chemical stress test, had funny machines whirl around my body probing my insides with mysterious rays, underwent  a cardiac catheterization where they run a probe up the artery in my groin to my heart and then squirt a dye into my blood stream and watch it on a TV which is mysteriously looking at my insides. Then he had a self administered test kit sent to me where I hooked myself up to some kind of a computer, slept through the night with it and then mailed it back for analysis.  Results were that I supposedly need more oxygen at night so I was sent to a gas man (Harbor Oxygen) to get an oxygen machine to wear nights. But hold on, Dr. Lauer wasn't done with me yet; On Tuesday night July 12, I had to go to a "Sleep Center": where I slept in a room with about a hundred wires attached to my body & head, with a "Darth Vader" mask over my nose and a voyeur watching me on CCTV all night. The voyeur, was apparently disappointed that he failed to catch me in some kind of self-abusel activity, and to get even, he diagnosed me with sleep apnea. So on Thursday the 14th, back I went to the gas man to get hooked up with a CPAP machine.
To use the machine you have to wear a "Darth Vader" mask which covers your body's air input ports and supplies you with a constant positive air pressure when you inhale. There are several types of masks available, some that cover your entire face, some that only cover your mouth & nose, some that only cover your nose, and some, called nasal pillows, that seal directly to your nostrils. I went with the Swift FX Nasal Pillow mask as it seemed less invasive. Well...that night I lasted about two hours with that CCRAP machine. It made the inside of my nostrils very sore. Torquemada could have used one during the Spanish Inquisition. So Friday morning I packed it all up and back to Harbor Oxygen. They then sent me back home with a nasal mask made by Drive Medical.

Here I am pretending to sleep in my second mask all ready for SCUBA diving. I wore this one thru Friday night but it makes the bridge of my nose quite sore so Monday it goes back for a third try. If I'm gonna do this then I hafta get it right or I won't wear it.

You will notice that Nazzie appears to be a bit skeptical of the whole thing. ;-)

Reflections on turning seventy-four

Reflections on turning seventy-four

Tomorrow, July 4, 2011 I attaine the ripe old age of 74. In truth I don't feel much different mentally than when I was 24. It's just that the old body starts to break down like an old Buick.

It brings to mind the old adage, " if I had known that I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."

Here are 15 good things and 15 bad things about being 74 years old in the modern world. I'm sure that those of you who are seniors can add some more of your own.

GOOD THINGS:

1. Senior coffee at McDonalds.

2. Can flirt with young girls as they just dismiss you as a harmless old coot.  (men only)

3. Can drive at 55 as have nowhere that you have to be any way.

4. No longer a slave to fashion; i.e., Can buy your clothes at Goodwill.

5. Can take a nap whenever you want.

6. Don't understand popular music, nor care to.

7. Food you used to not care for is now delicious.

8. Get to wear your cap with the bill facing forward.

9. Men talk to you while looking directly at your face instead of staring at your boobs. (women only)

10. Don't have to worry about gall stones as have no gall bladder.

11. Don't have to shovel snow.

12. No more periods. (women only)

13. No longer get a "stiffy" every time you see a hot girl. (men only

14. Don't have to pay income tax as income is not high enough.

15. The knowledge that you aren't going to die young.

BAD THINGS:

1. Decaf coffee.

2. Remembering how much things used to cost.

3. All your friends are old people too.

4. Have to take a whole lotta' pills every day & don't know what most of them are for.

5. Your feet hurt, your back hurts, your knees hurt...everything hurts.

6. Don't understand popular music, nor care to.

7. Hot flashes. (women only)

8. Food that you used to like doesn't taste quite so good.

9. Insomnia.

10. Anti-insomnia i.e., fall asleep at inopportune moments during the day. Like in the middle of a movie or when talking to wife. (men only, could be a good thing too)

11. Getting up to pee two or three times in the night.

12. Going into the next room to get or do something and then forgetting what it was.

13. Have to wear suspenders to keep your pants up. (men only)

14. What used to be your cute perky breasts now are not cute and definitely not perky. (women only)

15. Most of the time you can;t find your glasses.

BEST THINGS ABOUT HAVING A BIRTHDAY ON THE FOURTH OF JULY:

1. Strawberry shortcake.

2. Burgers & Dawgs on the grill.

3. Get lots of cards & greetings as folks usually remember your B'Day when it's on the 4th.

4. Fireworks on your birthday. How great is that?

5. Never have to work on your birthday as it's a holiday. (What, never? Well,...hardly ever)

BAD THINGS ABOUT HAVING A BIRTHDAY ON THE FOURTH OF JULY:

1. NONE