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.

Knee Replacement Part 1

Today is exactly 2 weeks since I had total knee replacement on my right knee. I was fortunate to get a very good doctor. He was recommended to me by a couple of ladies from Winton who had their knees replaced. I decided to trust their judgement and made an appointment with Dr. Temnyk in Turlock. Since then, I learned that everyone has high praise for this doctor. Everyone from the hospital staff in Admittance to nurses, physical therapists and everyone else. One person said that after you are in the operating room, the doctor has all the windows and doors sealed so no germs can get in. A nurse said she has known the doctor for 20+ years and has never know a patient to get an infection.
My operation was at 7:30, Wednesday, the 17th of November. I woke up as they were wheeling me to my room in the surgery section. I saw my sisters peeking around the corner, all with smiles on their faces. Everything went well.
Later that evening, I was surprised to see Sandy and Dol stopped in to see me on the way to Merced. They had just flown in to San Francisco; an 11 hour plane ride from Amsterdam. They rented a car for the drive from SF. My sister Carolyn then picked them up at the car rental place in Merced.
The next day, the physical therapists get you out of bed and help you stand up. The scary part was when they helped to lower my right leg to the floor. The muscles are unbelievably tight and sore. And painful. I was hoping for a catheter, knowing that I can't seem to be able to use bed pans. But a catheter would be risky for an infection, so a couple of nurses helped me on the porta-potty next to my bed.
I wanted to sleep on my side, but that is not allowed. It sounded like it would feel better, but in the long run, it would not be in my best interests. They did roll up a pillow and placed it between the bed rail and my back. That helped a lot.
Saturday I was allowed to go home, after walking 100 feet with a walker and someone beside me. I was very happy to get home, but the pain doesn't stop when you leave the hospital. I was allowed 1-2 pain pills every 4 hours. Later they wanted me to stretch it out to 6 hours. I usually only took one pain pill, so if I didn't make the full time, I thought I was still doing O.K.
At home, I couldn't get out of bed by myself for the first couple of days. Sandy took care of me around the clock. The first night I hollered for her 3 times. It was either for a pain pill or to go to the bathroom.
I'm sure we were both glad when I could get out of the bed by myself.
Tomorrow I have my first post-op appointment with the doctor. The plan is to have these staples removed.
More details to be posted tomorrow.