Ticks And Pallets

Terry had a follow up visit at Pickens County Primary Care yesterday morning to go over all of the tests they ran on her when she was so sick and to check on her status now. While she is feeling much better, she still tires easily, and she has a loose cough that she says feels like she is getting over a cold, though she never had one.

According to the people there, based upon the type of antibiotics that finally cleared things up for her, they think it was some kind of a tick related illness. Terry doesn’t remember ever being bitten by a tick, but we certainly have them around here, so I guess it’s possible.

And though she hasn’t been seen by a rheumatologist yet because it takes months to get an appointment, indications are that she also has rheumatoid arthritis. I guess we won’t actually get that confirmed until she does see a rheumatologist, whenever that is. The next step is an ultrasound of her thyroid in a couple of weeks. I’m just glad that she’s feeling better than she was. It scared everyone, from the medical people to us to all of our friends and family.

Speaking of family, our son Travis loves making things from old pallets, and some of his rustic creations are pretty cool, like this bench he made for their yard, or this plant stand for inside the house.

I really like this star he made, and he’s received an order from one of Geli’s coworkers for one for a gift for her husband.

There was a time when pallets were pretty easy to come by, but these days everybody seems to want to build something with them and they are getting harder to find. So when a co-worker told Geli about a sign she saw that said free pallets, and a big pile of them, Travis asked if we could go and check it out. After Terry’s appointment yesterday we hooked the cargo trailer to the pickup and drove about 30 miles to where they were located. At first we thought someone had beat us to them, because the supply seemed a lot smaller than when Geli had driven by a couple of days before. But once we parked and got out, Travis found a bunch of them further back off the road. They were all kinds of oddball shapes and sizes, so stacking them in the trailer was a real challenge. But by the time we got done we had crammed 70 pallets in.

I think Travis was as happy as a kid on Christmas morning when we got them all unloaded in his pole barn. I’m looking forward to seeing what he makes out of them.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a hardcover edition of an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for campground reviews, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day.

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. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 90 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Whenever I am sad I go to my favorite place… the refrigerator.