Fruit Trees are Here ~

The last 5 fruit trees came in that I special ordered, so after the fog lifted a bit, I drove to Turlock to pick them up. I am so excited to have all my favorite fruit trees here. I thought that was something I would have to give up when I sold my house, but lucky me, they are growing in my yard again.
In the picture is Tilton apricot, Flavor Crest peach, Fantasia nectarine and Sun Crest peach, this is in the backyard, looking towards the road. It may be 3 years before I get any fruit from them. But in 3 years, I'll be glad I planted them.
On the side yard, next to the road is where the 3 dwarf cherry trees will be planted, the Bing, Rainier and Stella. I am expecting Joe to show up tomorrow to dig the holes for the cherry trees. I hope he doesn't find any hard-pan. Cherry trees need good drainage. These trees were all grown by Dave Wilson Nursery.
Also today I bought 2 citrus trees, one dwarf Washington Navel with 3 oranges on it and a semi-dwarf Satsuma Mandarin, both in 5 gallon cans. These won't be planted right away. I have two orange trees now, one in the front and one in the backyard, but the oranges are not very sweet. The trees will be taken out and the ones I bought today will be planted in their place.
All the fruit trees I bought from The Greenery Nursery in Turlock are the same varieties that we had in Merced, so I know they are good.

Celebrating

I've been doing a little celebrating lately. First my sisters took me to lunch at Nagame's last Thursday, then my granddaughter came to visit this weekend and she took me out to dinner last night at my favorite restaurant!!
You guessed it - Nagame's.
I took a picture of Mandy and Taylor, our server. We've been going to Nagame's since Taylor was a little 4-year old kid. Her mother has been working there all these years.
The big celebration? My 74th birthday. It's time to just ignore them.

I have another little cause for celebration. The Winton Centennial recipe book is finally at the publisher's. I am so glad to be done with that project. We gave everyone a whole year to submit their favorite recipes. Then the committee members typed them online. It took quite a while to type and proof-read 650 recipes. Then we had to pick out 9 pictures of Winton to include in the book. Four of the pictures were also in the "Memories of Winton 1911-1950" history book; 2 have been on the cover of the "Winton Hometown News" newsletter and 3 have not been in either publication.
Deciding what to have on the 4 personal pages took some thought and it seemed like the last minute details dragged on. But, it's finally done and we should get the final product between March 7 and March 14. I can hardly wait to see it. I'll be sure to let everyone know when the Winton Centennial recipe books are available.

Planting Rose Bushes

Joe planted 8 rose bushes today. One rose bush is in the middle and that will give me room to plant other little plants in and around the roses. It should be colorful this spring.
The local stores still haven't received their Jackson and Perkins rose order yet, Lowe's said they are expecting the next shipment of bare root roses on January 10th.
I won't have room for more than four more bushes. Three roses are new to me: Cherry Parfait, Rainbow Sorbet and Pink Promise. The pictures on the packages of course are beautiful.
I'll probably plant annuals in around the roses.
Can't wait for spring to arrive!

Roses and Things

Little by little changes are taking place in my yard. All the rose bushes were so old that I had Joe dig them out, all except the two tree roses. The picture shows two rose bushes that were later dug out today. I purchased 10 new bare root roses so far, but the stores have not received their orders from Jackson & Perkins yet. Those are usually the best ones with a good selection of the newer varieties. I hope there will be enough room for the others on my list.
Joe weeded the yard today. That was a job that I thought I would do myself, but that won't happen for quite a while. I'm still taking pain pills for my knee.
It won't be long before the special order fruit trees will arrive at The Greenery.
I'm anxious to have them planted, but also nervous that I may have hard-pan and then what? Will Joe be able to break through that hard dirt? I sure hope the trees do well.
Here's a picture of Joe; he just finished weeding the Iris garden and is now pulling weeds from the narrow flower bed in back of my mobile. The flower bed will be made wider this spring and I will plant tomatoes here. The Irises planted here will probably be given away because they are duplicates.
I still haven't found a place for everything I wanted to keep and I am sure the papers in boxes on the porch are deteriorating. What to do - what to do.

I CAN DRIVE!!!

Two significant things happened today and I didn't expect either one.
When the physical therapist was here today for the last time, I mentioned that I haven't walked up or down my steps yet, but only used the ramp a few times. He said he would help me, with me using the cane instead of the walker.
It was a piece of cake! I could've done it before, but I was afraid of falling.
The therapist even walked me down the street a ways, using my cane.
I am right-handed, so I always used the cane with my right hand.
That is wrong. The cane is used on the side of the normal,strong leg.
The therapist also said he thought I would be driving before long. So, later this afternoon, I tried it; drove around the MH park. No problem.
So, now I can drive myself to Anberry for physical therapy and to the grocery store.
Not bad. The total knee replacement surgery was only 3 weeks and 2 days ago.

Doin' O.K.

Today my sister picked me up and we went to the Winton Historical Society's meeting. We sat there for about 2 hours and that was long enough for now. That machine that slowly moves my leg was supposed to be here for 3 weeks, which would be this coming Saturday. Someone is coming to pick it up tomorrow morning.
The physical therapist who has been coming here 3 times a week will be here for the last time this Friday. Next week I will start with physical therapy at Anberry.
SO, I must be doing good!!!
Progress is always good. I'm looking forward to using the equipment at Anberry. I can't drive yet, so I'm sure they will pick me up. I know of one other resident here in the MH park that they pick up for physical therapy.
Sandy and Dol left last Saturday(December 4), so now it's just Maggie and me again.
John and Mandy came down Friday night, we all went out to dinner at Nagame's. We always enjoy that.
The next morning, Dol checked online and saw that their 3 p.m. flight back to Amsterdam was cancelled. There was a storm going over Holland and the airport was closed. So, John and Mandy took them to San Francisco on Saturday morning so they could check in and get vouchers for a hotel room for Saturday night and fly home one day late. I hated to see them go, but that's the way it is.
Now to get my knee back to normal. I'll sure be glad when I can drive again.
Carolyn and I have appointments with Miguel Thursday. I hope it won't hurt too much, but I have this pinched nerve in my hip. Not comfortable.
Sorry I don't have a picture. I wish I had taken one of the four of them when they were here.
Maggie misses them too, she looked in every room and finally gave up and took a nap in her cat tree.

Knee Replacement Part 2

Here is the machine they put your leg in right after surgery. It very slowly moves your leg back and forth and up and down. It was on a 45 degree angle from the very beginning. Every day the degree of the angle is raised until you reach 90. I am on 87 degrees now. The machine came home with me and someone will pick it up when my 3 weeks is up. I'm supposed to be on it for 6 hours a day, 2 hours at a time. I'm always glad to get on the machine because it loosens the muscles somewhat. Usually I'm ready to get off before the two hours are up. After getting off, you ice the knee to keep the swelling down, 20 minutes on top of the knee and 20 minutes under.
I learned the weakest muscles in the body are behind the knee. Those have been the most sore and most painful. Part of the time anyway. Other muscles, tendons, around the knee are painful and sore when moving the knee. I never once though said I wish I hadn't done this.
Two weeks and I have made such good progress! Being able to walk around the MH park one day still seems like a dream come true. I hope it happens sooner, rather than later.
Oh, I had the staples removed this morning. My doctor is very happy about how my knee is coming along. It probably won't be long until the physical therapist will stop coming to my house and I will start going to Anberry in Atwater for therapy. I think it will be a while before I can drive though.
Here is Sandy's blog and what she wrote about my knee surgery.