The month of October began with warm temperatures.  In an attempt to get to know neighbors better, we “hosted” an happy hour at the ramp next door to the house, and had several neighbors show up.  Seemed like everyone had a good time.  Perhaps this is something we can continue when weather and schedules allow. 

September 23 through October 21 is birthday month for our family, beginning with Kay on September 23, Karyn on October 6, Jenny on October 13, Kayden on October 16, and Ridge on October 21—whew!

In early October, I had a second spinal injection, and followed up with high dose flue and pneumonia injections—not a fun day—and I overdid it as usual, resulting in “quiet” time for the next few days.  And then, remember the motorhome issue with the brakes?  We finally made arrangements to have it towed to the nearest Ford, and the humongous tow truck hauled it away on October 7.  The next day, I was fitted for a new CPAP mask.

Ridge and baby sister Aker visited us for an overnight stay early in the month.  We sure enjoy them, and getting on the floor to play is a piece of cake; it is the getting up that is becoming harder and harder!

On October 13 we traveled to Memphis to celebrate Jenny’s birthday, and of course, visit with Harper.  She was quite animated, and her vocabulary is increasing everyday.  

While there, we went to Costco to shop and have my hearing aids adjusted, and lo and behold if the guy didn’t change receivers, and completely screw up my ability to hear with the hearing aids.  I kept telling him that I couldn’t hear out of my left ear, but he seemed not to hear me.  We will wait until we get back in the Rio GrandeValley and get them re-adjusted.

When we last posted, we were spending our last evening in Prague, Czech Republic.  The plane was delayed in arriving and leaving Prague for the US, and to make a long story short, we ended up spending the night in New York City, courtesy of Delta Airlines.  Suffice to say, they are not even close to being our favorite company, and we will look for other airlines in the future.  We arrived home Tuesday, a few hours later than originally planned, tired from the air travel and lack of sleep in New York.  And, on Wednesday, we quietly celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  We had house guests—Jenny, Harper, Brian, and Brian’s parents—over Labor Day weekend, but we were poor hosts, too tired to do much of anything except cook and do dishes.  Anyway, they all seemed to have a good time, but we missed getting to spend quality time with Harper.  On Sunday, Karyn, Ridge, Aker, and Matt came for lunch, and we had all the little ones together for the first time in a couple of years.  How good is that!  The rest of the month sort of got away from us as we settled into a non-routine routine engaging in some of the many social activities in the Village, catching up with old friends, attending a myriad of medical appointments, and taking care of personal business.

We did have a bit of a harrowing experience while “exercising” the motorhome.  After filling up with gasoline at the Walmart on the west side of the Village, we began smelling something burning, like electrical wires, clutch, or brakes near the RV storage facility.  We stopped the motorhome outside the storage building, and noted smoke coming from the front passenger wheel.  Upon further examination, the bottom part of the wheel was glowing red and a small flame was observed.  I put out the fire, and felt the other front wheel, and it too was very hot and smoking.  We backed the motorhome back into its space, and allowed the wheels to cool.  Because the chassis is a Ford, I phoned their motorhome number, relayed the story, and will now make arrangements to have it towed to the nearest dealer with a lift large enough to handle a 35 foot, 24,000 pound motorhome.  Ain’t life fun?  Harry is right in that the more toys one has, the more work there is to do!