I can’t believe it has….
Been a year since I first got diagnosed with having a bad heart valve that needed fairly timely replacement. That first getting diagnosed thing happened in early August, 2021 and the reason I was reminded of all that was because I started looking at pictures I had taken last year. I was mainly trying to see how this year compared to last year with regards to plants and flowers that are blooming (seems a lot of things bloomed and consequently were gone a bit earlier this year, although some of said blooms that had gone away are making a comeback, like re-blooming, so that’s kind of cool). Anyway, in the picture progression, we went from Lazy Susans, Yellow Goldfinches, the Pulp Patio and a big Deer in the driveway to a series of sunset shots taken from a 5th floor hospital room, the quick reminder that I had spent 5 days there getting diagnosed and then pretty much getting placed into lockdown mode awaiting the upcoming surgery that would replace that defective heart valve and eventually get me back to where I am today, working on the Pulp Porch. That was a long sentence for sure but while the year has passed seemingly very quickly, not sure my mind has completely caught up to it in the way that you look back on events that have happened and almost think it was some kind of dream. Of course I do have a very nice scar to remind me that it was 100 percent real, just saying I think I may have put a bunch of those memories deep into the vault (Seinfeld reference) and the pictures were a quick reminder that a lot has gone down in this last year, maybe that’s why it seems like it went by so fast, you know, tough to keep up with!
Another week to go until the one year anniversary of the actual surgery so I’ll have to wait and see if I start having some sympathy pains or whatnot! I can tell you that I don’t think I have fully recovered from both that and the ankle break back in late 2019 so not sure if maybe a dose of Covid got thrown in there or not (I never had a recorded positive test) but I do seem to have a few of what they call “long term” Covid effects…or I am just plain getting old! And I pretty much refuse to believe I am getting old so that’s all I have to say about that (Forrest Gump reference). Anyway, I can’t seem to run on a treadmill for more than 5 consecutive minutes just yet, something I could do two years ago, so just doing the math I’d say, I am not back to full capacity but I can for sure swing a hammer and do construction type things so at least I got that going for me!
Speaking of which, we are going to town on the new Pulp Porch project and ready have our first frame and window in! Progress pics are on the New Pulp and Pulp Improvement pages so have a look when you can. Design has changed a few times now but I believe we now have it locked in and can only hope the local Lowe’s can keep up with the window supply (nearest one is down to two and we’ll need another six after that to complete). Seems the replenishment supply chain is still a bit behind but there are a couple more Lowe’s in the area to drop in on if push comes to shove. Kind of putting an internal deadline of first week in October to complete this one (we have out of town guests coming) so stay tuned and hope to make that date.
Time to get back out there (okay, time to go to Lowe’s first and get more supplies) and get busy. All for now!
