Time flies when you're having fun....and even when you're not.  

I'm doing physical therapy for my lower back issues.  Not much they can do when stenosis, arthritis, degenerative discs are present, but we will give it the old college try.

The first day was all about stretches, exercises to do at home.  That wasn't getting it, so on the second appointment, with a real "hot spot" on my left lower back, I just asked him if he would press on that spot.  I could feel it was swollen and inflammed.

Man--he got right on it.  Deep tissue massage, using his elbow!  It hurt like heck and I kept forgetting to breathe through the pain.  I got up the next morning and could feel the swollen part was "down" and the deep pain was gone.

So...that's how the last two sessions have gone.  I get on the recumbent bike and pedal for 400 steps--the amount of steps it would take me to get up to the corner, a few stretches, then I show him where the pain is and he gets right on it.

I think PT might help--temporarily anyway.
================
Now for some gossip--I try so hard not to gossip, but sometimes it's just too good to not pass on--at least to my blog buddies anyway.

Dar---you remember Dar right?  Hadn't come to visit in weeks, came over and told me that while she was doing her Dad's bedding, she decided to turn the mattress top to bottom and under the mattress--just like a 16 year old boy, her Dad had hidden pornographic magazines!  Her Dad is 96 years old.

She left them there.

"Did you look at them?" I asked.

"Noooooooo!" she answered.

Then she went on with her dusting and for the heck of it, while she was dusting his TV remote, she turned it on.  Up came the last  channel he had watched.  People having sex.

"That's what you get for that expensive 500 channel cable package you have," I laughed.  "Maybe you need to set up some parental controls."
==============
That evening, Dar and her Dad walked in.

"Can we stay here for awhile?"

"Sure.  What's going on?"

"I have a gas leak.  I've called the gas company and they are on their way.  It was making Daddy and I sick and we both have headaches."

20 minutes later the gas company shows up--wouldn't want to hurry.  It's only a gas leak, which could go off and blow up every trailer on that line!

She went out to talk to them, her Dad stayed in with me.  Knowing his predilection for porn, I felt a little creepy.  He just sat and petted Maggie the cat.
YIKES!  Maybe he has a cat fetish?

Dar was back in about 20 minutes.  Not a gas leak.  The underground sewer line is plugged and it decided to pick her house to back-up.

Come to find out, the "cap" that connects house to sewer line had popped off some how, so for the last couple of weeks, every time they flushed, or any water going down the drain has drained out UNDER HER HOUSE--onto the cement slab below and out onto her lawn!
==========================
Men dressed in Hazmat suits came out to inspect.
Other men came out to flush out the under ground sewer lines.
We don't have city water or sewer.  Our "drains" go into lines underground which eventually drain out into a retention pond that is pumped out and carried away in tanker trucks every month.

Thankfully the park is liable for any expense to get this mess cleaned up.

One of the park maintenance guys stopped by yesterday, just to see if everything was working.  He asked her to turn on the water faucets and see if it drained away correctly.

It did not!

So, men came in with hoses, attached to powerful jet-like water and put them down the little sewer pipes that are in the lawns between each house.  In the line between her house and the one to the east of her, they found two large cloth rags.  They have spoken to the people who live in that house, but we have no report if they have been fined or just reprimanded.

Still--she had raw sewage on the cement slab under her house and her lawn.  The park maintenance guys are going to have to clean that up and then spread lime under her house and on the lawn to kill any bad buggies.

Can you imagine what viruses and diseases could result from this mess?  It's like we are living in a 3rd world country.

This park is very nice.  Only manufactured coded homes are in here--no old style mobile homes.  Everything is maintained well, with lovely gardens and the like.

But--who knows what old gas lines, water and sewer lines lie just below the surface.
================
Hey--I'm working on an interesting genealogy and I'd better get back to it.

Life is good--at least on the surface.  LOL

I guess I didn't realize how the whole water heater fiasco was affecting me emotionally.  Stress.

The independent plumber who said he'd do it--did not return 4 of my calls when I told him I was ready.

The bottom rusting and leaking--I kept imagining the whole bottom giving way (as the one did right after I moved in here) and having another 40+ gallon flood in my bedroom.

Knowing the floor underneath, holding up all that weight, could collapse and water heater shift downward, snapping off gas and water lines.

Having to dig through piles of clothes to find something to wear.

Biggest worry about the cost.

I lost 7 pounds in one month.
===================
On Wednesday I went up to Home Depot--having researched and found they sell water heater's for manufactured homes.  They had the one I had found on-line and the salesman and I set down to write up the deal.

However--they could find no plumber contractor's who wanted the job.

After a few calls, the salesman bent toward me and said, "Why don't you just get AAA Service to do it?"

Well--duh!  They put in my new furnace 6 years ago and are very highly recommended in this area.

The salesman called them and let me talk to the receptionist.  Good to go.

The receptionist called my "special daughter" and got her credit card number and I was in business.

It was set-up Friday.  I had attached the hose and drained as much as I could so they wouldn't have to spend time on that.

There was 8" of lime sediment in the bottom of that tank and, come to find out, the one I've had for 13 years, was not made for a manufactured home.  The bottom vent wasn't sealed, so a bit of carbon monoxide has leaked out all these years..whenever the furnace came on and pulled air from the rooms.

It took them an extra hour to modify and get it in place.  They didn't charge extra.  The total price was the same as the original quote.  The guys were great.  They let me watch and explained things along the way.
=====================
I left the door on the closet and the water heater open all Friday night to dry out, although the guys tested the floor and it was stable.

Saturday, I closed up the door on the water heater space and hauled all my clothes, that had been lying in piles all over my bedroom floor, back in the closet--spring and summer clothes toward the front.

Then I vacuumed up everything and decided to mop the hallway and kitchen, which hadn't been mopped since before Christmas.  Cleaned up the kitchen.

Today, I can barely walk!!  

I keep forgetting that everything is okay now and even taking my shower this morning, I kept waiting for the hot water to run out.

It's all going to be all right now.

My son's "numbers" are going back up again.  If you have or know someone with cancer, you know the numbers are critical to watch.  However, tests revealed that none of his tumors are growing.  He did have to have a large Melanoma removed under his arm.   7 hours after they removed the stitches, the whole wound reopened and his girlfriend had to rush him back to the hospital.  I feel sorry for his girlfriend.  She is a rather odd duck, and drinks a bit more than I care for, but I'm sure glad he has her there with him.
===================
Wednesday I went to the new Doc.  A Psyiatrist.  Fizz-i-ah-trist.  Never heard of that kind of Doc. He doesn't just use one method to deal with the back pain/shoulder pain/ whatever pain people have.  He has many methods to try.  Oral steroids, steroid injections, physical therapy, traction, manipulation, or referral to a surgeon.

He has started me out on oral steroid and physical therapy.  He knows I've been the whole injections route and don't want to go there again and he knows I will not have surgery.

I was impressed with the young man and his carefulness in starting with the lowest way to help, instead of rushing into something.

Thankfully, even though I can't take anti-inflammatories because of the blood thinner, I can take Prednisone with no ill effects.  Personally, I love Prednisone..it makes me feel so good and gives me energy.  I hope it works the same this time.  
=================== 
Saturday-----I just can't believe it.  After taking one day's worth of the steroid, I woke up with no back pain.  Just amazing.

Oh--did I tell you the water heater is leaking?
Oh--did I tell you the plumber, who promised to call Thursday or Friday to set up the install appointment, hasn't called?

Trying to find out when he can get to work before I set up my physical therapy appointments.

I think I will just watch the Master's Golf tourney today and Sunday for forget about the problems of the world!!!!!!

Well, it's been fun around here lately.

My water heater went out, AGAIN, on Friday and I didn't notice that I had no hot water until I tried to take a shower Saturday morning--in preparation for grand daughter Madeleine's wedding shower.
Heated up water on the stove to do a wash up of important parts of this old body.  Tried to wash my hair in the kitchen sink, which didn't work out too well, so I just rinsed it in cold water.  I read somewhere it's good for the hair to rinse with cold water.  That very well may be, but it sure isn't good for the head.  Br-rr.
I have to get a new heater--which the repair guy told me last month, but I was hoping for a miraculous cure.
That put me in a bit of a panic, but I couldn't do anything about it then, so............
I did manage to get Maddie's wedding cross stitch done in time and got it framed Friday.  I had a 70% off coupon for framing at Michael's, but of course it was for a "custom" frame and mine was just an ordinary frame, so..................

I got an e-mail from Maddie's older brother Stephen, Friday night, that he and his girl friend Carolyn just got engaged.  They will marry June 6, 2020.  So Grandson Marcus got married last June, Maddie will marry the end of May and Stephen next June.  I already have the pattern for Stephen and Carolyn's wedding cross stitch.  Get them grandkids married off so I can get more great grand babies.  LOL
==================
There were a lot of people at Maddie's shower.  Daughter Karen held it at her home.  Might as well.  Her living room is as big as any hall and much nicer.

So many people and so much noise, it wore me out.  I'm good for about 4 hours in this kind of situation, then...I just droop.  Nice to get home to the silence.

I watched my Spartans lose in the Final Four.  When I watched the Texas Tech team take out the other Michigan basketball team, I worried that we'd have to play against them.  Such was the case.
=================
Sunday, I emptied out my bedroom closet in preparation for the water heater guy to come and check things out.

All my clothes are piled in a corner of my bedroom.  Shoe rack and other things stored on that floor, are also adorning my bedroom floor.  

I had finished up my office of all unwanted, un-needed items and it feels good to have my Swedish Death Cleaning project done.  Now to Spring cleaning with the washing of windows and curtains and the pulling out of furniture to vacuum and dust.  

And of course, my back is giving me all sorts of pain.  I go in this week to a new doc.  A Psyiatrist.  Never heard of that kind of Doc.  They specialize in problems with the spine, muscles, skeletal structure.  I can't see that he will be able to do much for my L2 and L3 degeneration, but I will give it a try.

At least one worry has been taken away.  My Dear Daughter from another mother told me she would take care of paying for the heater.  

I have a roof that is only 6 years old, as is the furnace.  A 2 year old refrigerator and an appliance service plan that takes care of the other appliances.  Once I get the new water heater, I "think" I will be good to go for the rest of my life.  Nothing else in this house should have to be replaced.  
====================
I decided to make a small pillow for great grand daughter Della.  She loves Elmo.  Now, you all know what Elmo looks like.  You all know what color he is.  Picture tiny cross stitch after tiny cross stitch, row after row, of the same color.

I may go blind before I'm done with this!!!