Kevin and I are kind of past the age of lighting fireworks, but we do like looking at them. Turns out my neighbors brought some friends over and obviously spent hundreds and hundreds on fireworks! This is just a tiny sampling of what we saw sitting on the deck. There were actually lots of fireworks going off all around us, but we chose to just take pictures of these. Pretty, aren’t they?
I was also astonished and pleased that the fireworks really did stop by 10 or 11! Last year they were still going off at 2. This year the police department had put signs up at many intersections in town providing the rules for times the fireworks were allowed (two nights) and the penalties if you violated the rules ($250 fine!). I think a lot of people in past years just didn’t know. For whatever reason, the notices were very effective.
Another big thing was I got some backyard renovation done. The poor honey locust tree on the left is the second tree planted in this location that has done poorly. I blame the nasty clay dirt that surely came from digging the basement, so when the landscapers I hired recommended a drainage system they used on a lot of commercial properties I was all for it.
The drainage project begin with digging a hole twice as big and twice as deep as the tree would be planted. It was filled with some gravel and then weep tile was installed. You can see a bit of it below. The old clay nastiness was taken away, and the tree was planted in compost.
They staked the tree, put trunk wrap on, and installed the new garden bed. That job included removing all the sod, edging with new bullnose edgers, and putting down 4” of mulch. They also removed the old edgers around the elm and put down new mulch for consistency. To maintain the bed, the relocated some sprinklers and installed probably 250-300’ of soaker hose before they put the mulch down. It will be fabulous!
Now on to the transcather aortic valve replacement Kevin had at Mayo in Rochester. We drove up on Sunday (it is only 2 hours), and spent the night at the Even Hotel, 5 minutes or less from St. Mary’s Hospital area where the surgery would be. The room was nice, the bed not quite soft enough, and the recliner didn’t recline enough! Oh, and then they closed the restaurant that night because the cook didn’t show up! We ended up eating out of the vending machine. Add in parking being another $20/night, and I don’t think we will return.
Monday morning bright and early we dropped the car with the valet parking folks and made it to check in before the scheduled 6:30 appointment. They took us to the room Kevin would be staying in before and after the procedure; handy to not have to move around. His surgery was later than planned, and he didn’t leave for that until after 10:00 at which time I went to get some breakfast in the hospital visitor cafeteria. Nice omlette with fruit for $12! It was not quite 2 hours before he came back from the anesthesia recovery area. He was a bit sore because of the HUGE removal pokes they make to push the catheter to the right spot in his heart, but otherwise he was just tired and groggy. We had dinner around 5:00, and the food was great! Pot roast, carrots, bread, drink, and sherbet for him. Salmon, asparagus, roasted potatoes, strawberry shortcake, drink, and a fruit cup for me. I saved the fruit cup for my morning breakfast while Kevin had eggs and turkey sausage. We were cleared to leave a little after 10, 28 hours from when we showed up. We decided we would prefer spending Tuesday night at home instead of the hotel, so we checked out and headed home. I was exhausted, but it was worth it to be home. We both took a well-deserved nap, and I slept like a baby last night!
Mayo Clinic scheduling has actually been pretty good. He goes back middle of August for a bunch of follow-up tests and an appointment with a cardiac NP. He is also scheduled to start cardiac rehab when we get back from our fall trip around Halloween (got to be back to vote in person on 2 November!!!!!). He is just supposed to take it very easy for this week, and then gradually resume activities beginning next week. He feels pretty good, or so he says. Hope everything stays that way.