Just Hanging Out

Terry is still in the recovery stage from her Medtronics implant and doing well overall. She only took one or two pain pills in the first day or two after the surgery, and since then unless she moves wrong or bumps into something, or more likely me bumping into her, things aren’t too bad. But a few times she has let out a yelp of pain when she moved the wrong way or shifted in her chair or rolled over in bed.

Due to that, along with some bad weather passing through the area, we have pretty much just been hanging out at home, with the exception of Thursday. I have an upcoming appointment at the VA Medical Center in Daytona Beach on January 7 and needed to get some blood work done at the lab. With them operating on a shorter holiday schedule, I wanted to be sure to get it out of the way in time. We went there Thursday afternoon, and I expected there would be a long wait. As it turned out, I was wrong. It took longer to walk in from our car to the lab than it did to get called inside and get the blood draws done. I was in and out in less than five minutes.

On the way home we stopped at Blue Mule Deli to have a couple of their delicious Cuban sandwiches for lunch. Then we made a quick stop at Publix and came home.

A while back I ordered a NESCO Snackmaster Pro food dehydrator because I want to make jerky, as well as dried fruit. While we were at the grocery store, I got some bananas, apples, pears, strawberries, kiwi, and mangoes.

Yesterday we cut them up, gave them a quick rinse in lemon juice, and laid them out on the processor trays. This is our first attempt, so wish us well. If this works out, I’ll probably try making some jerky next.

When we had everything in the dehydrator, I spent some time working on my new Big Lake book. While I did that, Terry made a delicious deep dish chicken pot pie for dinner. All from scratch, of course, because that’s how she does things. No cutting corners for that lady!

And that’s about all that’s been going on here. I did get my first printed copies of Dead Romeos the other day. A couple people have requested autographed copies, and they will be on their way to you right after Christmas. Between now and then, I plan to stay away from the crowds at the post office.

After ten hours in the dehydrator at 135 degrees we checked things out. The bananas and strawberries still needed some more time, but everything else was ready and delicious. But you sure don’t get back as much as you put into the dehydrator!

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Iron 13, Bullet Books Speed Reads #2 by Manning Wolfe and Billy Kring. It’s the story of a hunt for the MS-13 terrorist group to stop their sinister plan to assassinate both the American and Russian presidents. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – One minute you are young and wild, and the next minute you get excited by crock pots and air fryers.