July 22

Today is Brian and my 29th wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner at the Inn last night and had prime rib. We are learning to be a couple and are laughing together a lot. Lots of fun.

Brian worked last week and this coming week across the bay in Nanwalek and Port Graham. They are cleaning and painting the teachers' housing for the school district. I think they also are deep cleaning the two little schools over there - neither of them has had a regular custodian for about 3 years. The district flies them over and back every day. We've not been over there too much since we don't have our own boat. He says it is really beautiful - well, if you look at the ocean pictures Alicia posted - it is that coast line, just down on the point - about 3 miles from the pictures.

We finally have harmony between the dog and cat. It took a bit of time on the part of Scruffy, but he will put up with the dog sitting next to the chair he is in and will even allow himself to be sniffed a couple times - he seems to draw the line at 3 times before he strikes out. It is interesting to me that the cat knows exactly where to aim the claws to get the dog's attention (nose). We keep Scruffy's toe nails clipped so he hasn't done any harm yet - but does get the dog's respect.

We are having a pretty nice summer. It is raining today, but it saves us from having to water the garden, so is working out pretty good. We haven't had to water since we had seeds - it keeps raining just when we think we will have to go down and water. Brian got a pretty good bunch of radishes this week - we will have spinach this week, too, and probably some little headlets of broccoli.

I have been going to physical therapy two times a week, for about a month. For many years, the medical advice was to save my energy and not work out, but now we are trying the work out and the coolest thing happened on Friday. We had a friend come over with her babies. 2 year old Mylan would stand on the end of my recliner and jump into my arms and I would catch him with my hands and fly him over my head and he would scream with laughter. We kept doing it over and over and afterwards, I wasn't sore or tired or anything. It was such a blessing to be able to do something like that and not collapse after one or two tries.

Saturday I started scraping the paint on the deck railings - yes, we get to paint the WHOLE house this summer- YUCK. So I started the scraping, still feeling great, and then went to dinner with Brian. When I went to leave the restaurant, I suddenly could barely stand and walk - every part of my body ached and was stiff.... apparently, my old friend, sun-sickness set in. So I stayed in bed a lot today, but am still relishing in the victory of Friday... have to expect these little setbacks. Up to now, I have always quit working out when I got to this point of pain and fatigue, but we are going to keep working this time as long as we can and so far, it is a great success.

Anyway, that's probably enough blabbering. If you want further details of my health, I'll link you to my medical records at the clinic (heheheh - not really). gross.

Check out http://www.couchballoons.com/ to see the pictures of Brian's cousin flying his lawn chair . Love, Charlotte