Here and gone again

Tucson, still

Jenn was here last weekend and it went by so fast I am not sure she was really here or I dreamt (is that really a word?) it.  She arrived in Phoenix on Friday afternoon and after the required stop at In n Out (what??  She is my daughter-- all my daughters have this affliction) we headed to Tucson.  Friday just went by in a blur.

Saturday she woke up saying she wasn't feeling up to par. The days plans were to go see the shooting memorials at Safeway and at University Hospital. We headed off around 10:00, going to the hospital first. Very moving and impressive memorial to the victims of the shooting. Incidentally, this was the day after Gabby Giffords was moved to Houston.


Memorials at University Hospital, Tucson

Saturday evening we had the usual suspects here for BBQ ribs and to visit with Jenn...18 in all.  Niece Claudia and husband Larry drove over from Casa Grande; friends Jack and Suzi from Rio Rico and the local Tucson family was here.  And I must say my ribs turned out very good.  First time I had done them by baking them first and then BBQing them. 

Sunday we were up and on our way to Tubac.  Jeannette went with us and we met Suzi there.  I could tell Jenn wasn't feeling up to par....she wasn't taking a gabillion pictures like she usually does.  We wandered around the town and finally had to leave as it was stinkin' cold and windy.  That evening Jenn was really feeling lousy, running a low grade temp as well.  She went to be early.  About 9:00 p.m. Al got up to go to bed and promptly fell.  He got dizzy and down he went.  Another call to the local fire department, which I might add is great and I have them on speed dial now!  Off to the ER we go to make sure he was okay, which he was, thank goodness.

Jenn to the airport early on Monday .. I was running on 3 hours of sleep.  Not good.  I got home and crashed.  Jenn called me on Tuesday from the back of an ambulance...she had driven herself to urgent care having difficulty breathing and they threw he in the ambulance and promptly took her to the hospital for tests.  Thankfully no blood clots or pulmonary embolism; so they sent her home to rest.  Still don't know the reason for shortness of breath-- they think she might have burst a blood vessel in her lung.  That scared me more.  She is following up with her doc.  I talked to her tonight and she is feeling much better.

Congratulations are in order for Ron and Melanie-- they are first time home owners.  They (well the bank) are the proud owners of a house and acreage in Canby, OR.  Now the horses and family can all be in the same place!!  Very happy for them.

This week has been a blur as well.  I keep wondering why I don't get more done during the day, then I realized I spend 80% of it caring for AL.   With his arm in a sling he really can't do much.  He saw the surgeon this week and the sling has to remain for at least 3 more weeks.

I also saw the neurosurgeon for my back this week and got some good news.  He doesn't feel surgery is in order for now; so I am on the Physical Therapy program and I am to walk 3 times a week and build up to a mile a walk.  However, I already have been doing a mile plus, so I am just continuing to do that.  Finding the time is the problem, see above. 

Weather has been great here...in the low 70's during the day and in the 30's at night.  Just absolutely perfect.  However, rain is forecast for early next week, which will be welcomed.  So glad not to have to battle the cold and all the snow! 

That's all the news for now...so until next time, keep smiling.

It's been a little over a week

It's been a little over a week since the shootings in Tucson.  Unless you are living under a rock, you know what I mean.  We have had every news agency in the world here.  For a while I couldn't drive down Oracle without seeing more than I wanted to see of the news vans.  But alas, it has started to die down and now we are left with moving on.  I say we as in TUCSON.  As I said in my previous blog, when it happens elsewhere you mourn for that city and the people in it; however, when it happens in YOUR town it can really affect you.  I didn't expect it to be as bad as it is for me.  I mean, I didn't personally know any of the victims.  However, THAT IS MY SAFEWAY STORE that I shop in.  Kinda' hit me in the gut! 

Oh, there is a Safeway closer to home.  However, I LIKE the Safeway at Ina and Oracle.  I LIKE that shopping center.  Of all my "go to" if I can't find it, I go to that store.  It has almond paste, which I can't find at any of the stores up here, I like their meat department better, and produce.  Okay, it might be all in my head, but it is in MY head and I listen a lot to my head!  (Sometimes the voices get a little confusing, but that is another blog all together!!)  So why can't I go back to my Safeway????  It opened on Sunday.  And for some unknown reason, I can't go back there.  I have been to Beyond Bread, which is in the same shopping center, so why can't I go to my favorite store?  I am planning on making a try for it this weekend...Jenn will be here to help (drag) me.

AND, that Safeway paid all of it's workers for the time they would have worked while the store was closed.  I thought that was very commendable.  Safeway as a company donated $100,000 to the victims fund.  WAY TO GO SAFEWAY!  We as people of Tucson have been donating as well and to other charities.  Our food bank is over flowing; Red Cross has more volunteers than they ever have had.  We  as a city/town are trying to start down the long road to recovery.  Our prayers are with the victims, and we watch an pray for Gabby's recovery.  She is a very strong woman and we all pray she will recover completely.  But we also pray for peace for the shooters parents.  They didn't ask for this; they didn't know their adult son was this disturbed.  They are victims as well and we need to have compassion for them.

On other non TUCSON TRAGEDY notes, Al had another surgery on his shoulder on 1/11.  A piece of bone had dislodged and the doc went in to repair that.  Poor Al has had his share of hospitals in the last few months.  He was in the hospital for 2 days, then transferred to Oro Valley Hospital Rehab, which is only 5.4 miles from home.   Yes, I measured the mileage.  After driving the 17.7 miles to Health South for 3+ weeks this is a breeze for me.  He is doing very well and the plan is to release him to come home tomorrow.  In a few minutes I have to go to "training" on how to care for him....as if I haven't been doing this for the last few years?  Oh well, anything to please the rehab staff. 

Jenn is coming down for the weekend.  I can hardly wait.............

Senseless Violence

The events that have happened today with the shooting of our Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords  here in Tucson shakes me to my core.  So many questions come to mind, but namely why?  Why would anyone resort to such a cowardice way of handling things by shooting 19 innocent people; 6 died, the rest are fighting for their lives.  WHY?  What purpose did this serve?  What has our country came to?  Outlawing guns isn't the answer.  Outlawing people's demented minds perhaps?  I wasn't a true supporter of Giffords, however, I wasn't against her either. She has her good and bad points as all politicians do.  But to shoot her?  I go back to WHY?  This type of random violence makes absolutely no sense to me.  I can't seem to wrap my mind around this.  And you never expect it to happen here...where you live.  A larger city, perhaps, but Tucson???  Still has me reeling.

Yes, I know this shopping center well.  Matter-of-fact, I frequent the Safeway Store where it happened.  I go to the other stores in the shopping center as well.  One of my favorite places to eat is in this shopping center.  I could have been there this morning...I had planned on going to get my favorite bread at Beyond Bread, but decided I didn't feel like driving this morning...it's about a 15 minute drive from our house.  Holly was heading there as well....she had called Beyond Bread to give them a "go" order, only to find out they were closed, she asked why and was told there had been a shooting at the Safeway.  She knows me so well that she called me to make sure I was okay and NOT at the Safeway.  It is one of my regular haunts.  Scary to think about what could have been.   Now I am not sure I want to leave my house anytime soon.  I could get real paranoid over this.  I need some milk, will someone go to the store for me?

Back to my original question...WHY?  I just don't understand what motivates a person do such a horrendous act of violence.  What are they thinking?  Is this what our country has come to?  Is this going to become the "norm" for us?  I certainly hope not.  We all know that violence is on the increase everywhere...but there again I have to ask WHY?  Have we, as adults, raised these individuals to become violent?  Is it because of all the violence on TV and the movies that has warped these minds into thinking this is the normal?  Are these types of people living in this type of make believe fog that makes it okay?  And most importantly, what can we do as citizens to stop it?  Why did an innocent 9 year old girl have to die?  What was the purpose of that?  Why did Judge Roll have to die?  Why did four others have to die and 13 others be fighting for their lives?  Just what purpose did this serve?  WHY???????