We’ve been in Fort Lauderdale for the past week. It’s just a quick visit because we leave today to get to Daytona for the Good Sam Rally. Both Jim and I flew home (here) once during the summer to visit with Jim’s Dad and my Mom. Other than that, we’ve been gone since April. Both Mom and Dad are doing well. Jim visited with his Dad a couple times. I took Mom to the dentist, doctor, and memory clinic – then we took her and her brother John out for a nice lunch at a restaurant on the New River.
It was a bit windy due to hurricane Sandy, but otherwise a beautiful day – boy are we lucky! Sandy’s track took her directly over Long Beach Island – the place where Jim grew up and we visit most every year. From pictures on the news we can see that the entire island is devastated. This local news article says it will be 10 days before they even let people back on the island. They were all evacuated before the storm and the one and only bridge was closed. Now there’s no power, no phone, no roads because it’s all flooded. The only good news is that we hear there were no serious injuries on the island, so we can assume that the people we know are OK. For the first night, we were able to keep up with lots of Facebook posts, but then they stopped. I can only assume that it’s because they have no power. Today is Wednesday – the storm hit Monday night. We keep checking Facebook to hear news from our friends. Aha! I see one post now that power is back on for someone on the mainland.
Here’s a local TV news clip I found that shows LBI specifically:
Wow! This is a life-changing event for anyone living there. Here’s another website devoted to pictures from LBI after the storm.
Meanwhile, back in Fort Lauderdale – Jim and I also got ourselves in for a long overdue Doctor visit. Our regular doctor disappeared – really! disconnected phone, locked doors – several years ago and we never found another. Also I’ve been struggling to find affordable health insurance for several years. So, between those two factors – and the fact that we’ve been healthy – neither of us have visited a doctor. So, with new insurance and a doctor recommendation from a friend, we finally made an appointment. Guess what he told us? Lose weight. Yeah – like we don’t know that But, maybe with the doctor’s orders, we might get motivated. They also took several pints of blood (at least that’s what it looked like) and we’ll go back for followup in a few weeks.
I’ve also been worried about Odie – he’s 14 and I even thought it may be time to make that final decision – but his Vet (who didn’t disappear and has been seeing Odie for 12 years) convinced me to spend $500 for all sorts of heart tests. Based on the results, he prescribed a once-a-day tiny pill (Lotensin Benazapril) and Odie seems to be bouncing back! Jim thinks Odie overheard us talking about putting him down … the next thing we know he’s skipping along saying, “Look at me, I’m feeling great! Oh yea, life is good and I’m feelin’ fine!” We love our Odie.