…and not for a fun reason, but because he just had outpatient surgery today and i talked to him earlier this evening but then he called me back just now and wasn’t sure if we’d talked and i assured him we had plus i once again said AND YOU’RE ALIVE! bcause when is operated on, he feels that he is going to die.
i can’t say how i’d feel about being operated on, because i never have been. i don’t think i’d care for it so much.
here’s a picture of randy on a happier day, out on the boat with the dogs. randy always brings them treats, and so they ALWAYS WANT THE TREATS from randy.
yes, we’ve finally gone out on the newly-refurbished boat, and it’s mighty fine. that photo plus these other were all taken with my new cell phone. i love the quality of the photos that the phone takes, and didn’t even know how good they were till tonight when i finally managed to send them to my e-mail.
the clouds were spectacular on another evening.
this cloud was so cool that amy called me from her cell phone driving home from work to tell me about it. but by that time i’d already documented it on the boat. you know, i think maybe the cell phone takes better pictures than the digital camera. maybe it’s time for a new camera (THIS IS NOT A HINT TO KEVIN IN ANY WAY.) sometimes if i even mention something like that in passing, BOOM, there is a new one.
the only problem with the camera phone is that it doesn’t zoom. i haven’t been able to make it zoom, anyway, but i haven’t actually read the instructions.
this is rather historic because mollie and shadow were actually touching. mollie is trying to avoid the whole thing, though.
here’s last night, the first night of the tomb ceremony this season. i got another one of the guys in the 114th to take our picture but kevin looks blurry. i’m wearing one of my new “flight of the conchords” t-shirts that kevin gave me for my birthday. my hair is in braids which amy says is copying off of her, but actually i think there’s a photo over there on the scrolling photos of my with my hair in braids when i was little, so really, she is copying off me.
my hair was in braids because we started the day with a 21-mile bike ride. mom joined us for the last hour of it. it was a good ride, and we’re very happy because it’s one exercise that doesn’t cause kevin knee pain. as opposed to walking, running, and fencing.
after the bike ride we took yet another motorcycle ride. this time we had to go pick up kevin’s car in litchfield which was there because it broke down after he went to his shooting event last weekend. he had also ordered a new motorcycle battery in litchfield, so we drove the motorcycle down to litchfield to pick up the car and get the battery.
we stopped at wayne’s house and he drove on his motorcycle with us. it was a nice day, but hot. and of course on a motorcycle it was INCREDIBLY VERY VERY RIDICULOUSLY WINDY and once again i was pretty sure that my NECK WAS GOING TO SNAP OFF and my glasses were DEFINITELY GOING TO FALL OFF.
we took back roads to litchfield, instead of going 70 mph on the highway. it’s about a 45-minute ride on the highway.
at first i thought I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS. THEY COULD DROP ME OFF HERE IN A FIELD AND I COULD JUST REST TILL THEY GET BACK.
but of course then there would be nobody to drive the car back to spfld. so i thought YOU CAN DO THIS GRACE, YOU BIG WIMP. at least i figured that all i had to do was get to litchfield; after that i was free of the motorcycle.
i know that somehow it must be fun and exhilirating and liberating and all of that, but i’m not there yet. it wasn’t so bad if we were going 40-50, and it was fun to drive through all the little towns (even though we never stopped at any dairy queens)…but once we hit 60, i thought OK I’VE HAD ENOUGH.
also motorcycles seem to definitely be for people who prefer silence instead of talking. and who don’t care about having a drink of something or anything while riding.
this trip took an hour and 20 minutes. almost twice as long as the highway. early on i realized it was going to be much slower and thought about suggesting that we get on the highway but then i thought I REALLY CAN’T BEAR THE THOUGHT OF THAT.
we finally got to carlinville, and then over to litchfield, and stopped at the car dealership to pick up the car…and there were bugs on my sunglasses. at least they didn’t fall off. it felt like there were things all over my face, but then i realized that it was tingling. kevin assured me that it was supposed to feel like that, and he thought it was kind of cool.
hmm. at least it wasn’t bugs all over my face.
we picked up the car, i followed him to the motorcycle shop, and kevin replaced his battery. i staggered around and was very warm and tired and i sat down on the curb and took a picture of him at work in the hot sun. i would have gotten closer but i had no energy.
and then i took this art photo.
then we went to ruby tuesdays and had the most delicious bison burgers i’ve ever eaten. this probably has something to do with the fact that i had been starving since 12:30, and it was now 3:00.
wayne didn’t join us for lunch because he was going to a baseball game. he also said it might rain. by the time we left the restaurant it had started to rain and thunder and we went back to the motorcycle shop and the woman there looked it up on her computer and there was a big storm rolling in.
so we left the motorcycle there in litchfield and kevin drove us home in the rain.
this morning we again headed to litchfield in the car to pick up the cycle even though it was raining. but no thunder or lightning.
we took the dogs with us, and here’s an incredibly cute photo of shadow in his car seat/seatbelt apparatus that amy and jim bought for him a long time ago.
so yesterday was very very busy with cycles and motorcycles and cars and shooting civil was rifles and stuff like that.
oh yeah, and here’s a couple photos of the tomb ceremony. last summer (kevin’s first summer of doing this), the tomb was under construction, and now it’s much better. this is the large number of people milling around but there were many more by the time it started even though it was rainy and cold.
ok then, BOY that’s a lot of different photos…
mrs. grace hughes.