Columbus OH

Wow! Two months. My face is red. My profound apologies to everyone for leaving you up in the air for so long a period. The details for the past two months are these:

First, as to the care and feeding of the Airstream. We picked up our tow vehicle the next day (that is, 23 September), as promised -- though the Chevie agency still had to make two last minute changes. But it certainly was good to have it back -- Lew felt almost triumphant, With the van in hand we now could proceed to the next step in preparing to travel again -- taking the Airstream back to the factory for it's regular semi-annual servicing.

We got an appointment for the 13th of October, took the coach to Jackson Center two days before, and picked it up again on the 28th. At last we were equipped for travel, but meanwhile a string of crises once again interferred with our ability to actually get out of town.

First there were work commitments (or choices). Bobbi continued to work Sundays and Mondays as a chaplain in the correctional hospital, despite the fact that the state had cancelled her contract. Then on Thursdays she went down to Jackson with her sister in order to sort through her mothers's property. Lew in his stead held five Deaf clinics in Dayton and Columbus during October, then saw an additional private patient.

And there were medical crises:

• Lew saw his cardiologist on 30 September for a semi-annual checkup; this was not really a crisis because the doc gave Lew a clean bill of health. On the other hand Bobbi had to continue physical therapy for her neck and a collapsed vertebral disc at L3-4. And then she injured her foot so had to have additional PT.
  
  
• Rob blew his right knee in the middle of September, and had surgery on Oct 14th. Although he has not lived in Bobbi's house for several years, he immediately became another dependent, conning Bobbi into nursing him and supporting him, since he could not work while convalescing.
  
  
• And finally, our priest-friend had extensive foot surgery on 7 November, so Bobbi and Lew have been attending him rather regularly since.
  
  

Bobbi's combination of work and medical commitments conspired to leave us with no consecutive uncommited days when we could get away from Columbus even for so slight a break as to go to a nearby campground. And when she did go down to Jackson, she refuse to take the dogs and myself to stay overnight.

Lew's maternal uncle and aunt (Julius and Elisabeth) who had been housesitting grandma Holm's house in New Braunfels for the past 30 years or so were persuaded to enter assisted living in Austin. However, another cousin with domestic trouble has moved in to replace them, so we still have a housesitter.