Thursday, July 5, 2018

Three Beautiful Things 07-04-18: Christy's Progress, Relaxing at Radio, The 4th Makes Charly Tremble

1.  Over the last few days, I've become accustomed to Christy sending me a text message around 7 a.m. telling me she's ready for some ice machine therapy. This morning the text didn't come. And then it didn't come some more. I decided to assume the best: Christy was stacking some much needed Z's.  I was correct. So, today, Christy did her two sessions of exercise and had me ice her knee later in the day. In addition, she took a stroll out in her back yard with her camera and snapped some floral shots and, as darkness fell, she and Everett sat in lawn chairs in their front yard and watched fireworks.  This means that Christy went up and down some steps, got some fresh air, and, even though the garden stroll tired her out some, gave her new knee an elementary walking test and it passed.

Here's another encouraging development. For several days, it was difficult for Christy to lift her leg to help me slide the ice machine bladder and towel under her knee.  In the last day or two, she been able to lift her leg without assistance. It's these seemingly small bits of progress that are very encouraging.

2. I probably write this same tired old thing every year on or around July 4th: it's one of my least favorite holidays, not for what it stands for, but for how it's celebrated. Even before dogs came into my life, I could hardly wait for the 4th of July and the days surrounding it to end so that I wouldn't hear the noise of fireworks and firecrackers any longer.  The Deke and I are alike in this, so, this afternoon, to try to make the day go a little faster and to be in a relaxing place, we went up to Radio Brewing and I enjoyed sipping on some Hoppy Pilsner and we shared a platter of Mediterranean snacks.

One loud drunk guy was at Radio for a while ("You know, I've been this drunk before! I know what I'm doing!"), but before long he was ready to leave and one of Radio's workers gave him a ride home and things quieted down and I enjoyed the 80s pop music playing on the house sound system and really enjoyed the beer I ordered and the hummus and pita bread wedges and grilled eggplant and other snacks on the platter.

3. Back home, our twelve year old corgi, Charly, continued to tremble because of firecracker and fireworks noise around the neighborhood and the heavy fireworks display over at the resort parking lot hadn't even started yet. So, while the Deke sat on the deck and drank Prairie gin and watched The Godfather on her Chromebook, I sequestered myself in the bedroom with the dogs for about three and a half hours and, in time, Charly stopped trembling. By about 11 o'clock or so, the bangs, booms, and pops mercifully ended. I don't think my prayers for no noise today and tonight will be answered. We'll see.

No comments: