Nan's lemons make the day

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a day of bouncing back. 1st good event, walk with Ken around the lake without incident, 2nd special moment was deciding to pick the lemons from Nan's special tree. Nan had wanted the tree, loved lemons, thought the tree got frozen out and last year it came roaring back to life with blossoms and then fruit, well it has been calling to me, come pick the lemons and today I answered the call. I'm trying to find ways to get more pure water into this stubborn body, well I picked the lemons and cut one in two pieces, juice sprayed everywhere on the counter. Then I squeezed a half of the lemon into a huge glass of water. It was amazing, tasted great and went down smoothly, so much so that I'm having another glass right now. It felt like Nan had supplied just the right taste to get me drinking water again. I've included a picture of the lemons I picked from her little tree this afternoon. Quite amazing and a happy moment of remembering how she loved that little tree.
Then this afternoon in talking to Nikki I was reminded that this was the evening that Keanna goes to tumbling classes so it gave me a nice excuse to break the routine of sitting in this chair. I've included a couple photos of her in action. She still tires easily after her week of fever and flu but she had a great time. Toward the end of the session Steve came and we all went to dinner at El Camino, a local Mexican place that is pretty good and has been in our family history for many many years. Steve related a very sad story at the table, one of his buddies was riding a dirt bike and misjudged a jump, ended up with internal injuries and died. Boy that makes you stop and consider for a minute, a time to just be relieved that you have one more day to see family, let them know how much they mean to you.
I've also included a photo of a portion of the family room in its cleaner state. What a difference from how it has been for several months. I enjoy relaxing there for a few minutes each day.
I've also appreciated the comments, emails and calls from friends re: yesterdays visit with the doctor. As I've thought it over I've come to realize that he has no history with me, all he knew is what he saw when I walked in yesterday so his evaluation has to be based on what he saw and on the January blood test results. Those tests reveal a pretty confusing puzzle. Here is a summary: on the matter of cholesterol my TC, total was 107 which is amazingly good, my HDL (good cholesterol) was 35 when it should be above 50 so that is a very high risk factor, the LDL (bad cholesterol) is 24 and below 70 is highly desirable so that is sort of good news maybe, the Triglycerides were 242 which places me in the moderate risk area with below 150 as most desirable. Strange results to say the least. So in response to these numbers he took away Zetia and added Coreg. I made those changes today.
For lunch today I had brown rice, salad, fresh tomato, V8 juice and a small amount of cottage cheese. It felt just about right and for breakfast a banana, 1/2 cup of oatmeal with no salt, no honey, skim milk and a whole wheat English muffin with a small amount of peanut butter, for dinner tonight one bean burrito and brown rice. What has helped a lot today was getting enough water, thank you Nan for your lemon tree help!
I had a call today from a man who I almost immediately knew was going to be a bit difficult. He had been referred by a friend and had already turned down three appraisers because he did not like the way they talked on the phone. So I turned on what charm I have left, cut him a deal for cod payment, listened as he spoke of his custom built home and ended up with an order and an appointment to see the home tomorrow at noon. Sometimes it comes in handy to just listen and try to be a problem solver. I look forward to seeing his home in Benicia which happens to be a great little town.
My angel, Jean, has been writing appraisals all day long and must be bone tired by now tonight. She has done excellent work and together we've gotten several to the lenders where they belong. Loree is with her family enjoying the snow since the girls are out of school. I've been multi tasking today, while I work I have the washer and dryer running continually catching up with a couple weeks of laundry. The dogs have been keeping excellent company with an occasional bark or dogie perfume (treats are the reason I think). I had to start the day off with an infusion of money for the greedy bank, they actually want funds to cover checks and online payments. Jim our wonder working computer tech wizard has the receptionist desk computer working again. He did it all from his office over the Internet. We truly live in amazing times. He is like the absolute nicest person and has helped me out so many times when the computers act up. Over the past two years his help has literally kept us up and running no matter what the problem. If you ever need computer help and you live in this area, he's your man. I'll help you make the connections to him.
So in light of yesterday and its discouraging setbacks and sobering moments today has provided some shafts of light and hope. Lemons, Keanna, Jean, blessings are there for the picking.
Thank you for your encouragement today especially the call from Pastor Jim. He always seems to know just when to call and what to say to get me back on track again. Thank you Jim.
So I'm sending my love and appreciation to all of you.

love

tim
ps little blessings do happen, the spell checker is working again this evening for this blog, its about time!