In March, Kat and her mother, Jude, drove to Las Vegas for a conference. We lucked out with the weather and had a lovely 4 days. Afterward, Jude went to California to see friends, & Kat headed for home by way of Tucson (to see dear friend, Dorothea) and Phoenix (to visit Elaine Schneider Deines). The desert, in March was blooming-gorgeous! While in Tucson, Kat went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which really topped off a great trip. On the way home, Kat stopped in at Mountain Home, Idaho to visit best friend, Kay. Crossing the Blues, early spring finally caught up–drove through snow from Baker City to the top of Cabbage Hill, outside of Pendleton. Not satisfied with 1
visit to Las Vegas, 3 weeks later, Kat & Roger drove back to Las Vegas to
Niece, Victoria, spent a couple of days at the Thompson house, in
early August, where she got a sewing lesson. She made a lovely elastic-waist
skirt, with Kat giving her pointers and talking her through it from design to
finished product. Both Victoria and Kat are proud of that skirt! Roger spent a fair portion of the year traveling to/from & staying in Duluth, MN—in hospitals, care facilities, & his mother’s apartment. Helen spent a lot of time in the hospital this year, for a variety of reasons, but mostly due to poor circulation in her feet, necessitating the amputation of 2 toes on her right foot. While she recovered, Roger spent the days in the hospital with her and his brothers, helping take care of things, talking to Drs & nursing staff, and generally helping out. In all, he spent part of Jan/Feb and from mid-June to the beginning of September in Duluth. While Roger whiled away his time in Duluth, Kat decided to grow a small garden. There was zucchini (which behaved itself), tomatoes (which DID NOT—pounds & pounds!), lettuce, & an attempt at carrots (didn’t work). The tomatoes (2 plants) grew like weeds, soon overwhelmed the tomato cages, & started producing fruit in August. In mid-Nov, when we pulled out the plants, the silly things were still blooming and making baby tomatoes. We were able to ripen most of the green tomatoes in the house - those that refused to change, Kat made into green tomato spice bread. Also planted a new rosemary (winter killed the other one), zinnias, ceanothus, new escallonias (winter kill), and giant sunflowers (which the juncos are loving!). In late October, Roger & Kat fell in love...with an Electrolux oven. It does nearly everything—except wash the dishes. The cook top has 8 different cooking circles from 5” to 12”, plus a warming spot (for Kat’s teapot!), and there are 2 ovens in it. An ICD check in August revealed some issues with Roger’s heart. He was still fairly healthy, but there had been some changes in his heart function. After many Dr appointments, he had a bi-ventricular device implanted on 1 Dec (the Cadillac of ICDs). The improvement has been phenomenal—he has more energy, better color, and feels better over all. Since his surgery, Roger’s been walking at the golf course and finishing 4 miles with energy to spare, exercising on his elliptical, and chasing Kat around the house. Yahoo!
Kat’s been trying out new bread recipes, using the bread proofing cycle on the oven—way cool. Roger is actually getting all the fresh bread he wants for a change. In late Nov, Kat started interferon treatment for Hepatitis C. At the 2-wk check, all looks good. Side effects were minimal for the first 2 weeks, but starting week 3, the most common nasties have suddenly reared their heads: nausea, tiredness, chills, headache...did we mention tiredness? The good news is there is a pretty good chance the virus will not survive the treatment. Just 5 1/2 more months to go. We hope 2009 was a good one for you, and wish you the best in 2010. Happy Holidays, however you choose to celebrate them Kat Roger
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