Well, it has happened!!

Prada Store

As promised, we got married on Sunday, March 30 in Marfa, TX.  Now many of you may not be familiar with the "city" of Marfa, population about 2000, in deep west Texas.  It has become something of an artist destination and a getaway for people wanting to get back to the basics.  In fact it has been featured on NPR and 60 minutes recently.  Check it out, it is pretty interesting.  There is even a Prada store out in the desert outside of town.  Unfortunately, the Playboy Bunny neon sculpture has been moved to Dallas recently and we didn't get a chance to see it.

Anyway, the wedding was at 6:30 pm in the courthouse dome presided by the Justice of the Peace and now Judge Cinderela Guevera. Everything went without a hitch. Because we "eloped" in this way, we had no family or friends at the ceremony which was quite moving and nice.  We all cried!!

The Judge

After the ceremony, we went on to Cibolo Creek Ranch and then to Big Bend National Park. On the way back we stayed at Davis Mountain State Park and went to the McDonald Observatory.  It was all great!!  We are very happy!!  We will spend a week in Paris beginning a week from Saturday.

McDonald Observatory

Casa Grande at Big Bend

 

 

Judge Roy Bean, Law West of the Pecos

Just 2 more weeks

Well, we have only a little over two weeks until Val and I are to be married.  We are going to have a private ceremony in Marfa, TX.  Marfa is a small town in West Texas in the Big Bend area.  We had planned a trip there a year ago and had to postpone it when I had back surgery.  And when we decided to get married, we thought it would be interesting to combine it with the already planned trip to the Big Bend National Park area.  Marfa is an artsy town of about 2000 which you can read about here.  We will be staying in the Hotel Paisano where the film Giant was filmed.  We plan to have the ceremony in the dome of the old courthouse where we will be married by Judge Cinderella (really) Guevera.

Marfa Courthouse

Hotel Paisano and Courthouse in Marfa

We will then drive down to the Big Bend area. The trip will take about a week.

Then at the end of April we plan to spend a week in Paris.  Val has never been and it has been about 35 years since I was there with Sally and the kids.

My CowGirl

Not much else has happened since the last post except that I ordered and received a Tesla automobile.  Tesla is an all electric vehicle made in California with a range of about 250 miles on a charge.  It is fun trying to figure out all the stuff on this futuristic vehicle and it is fun to drive.  We still need our other car for longer trips that are not in the range of chargers.  For now, the Superchargers are available in parts of Texas in in many parts of California and in some other states.  Within a year or so, there are supposed to be many more scattered across the country.  We can get around in the Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio areas by using the Tesla Superchargers.  Other chargers are available also, but I haven't tried them.  We drove up to Fort Worth to show the car to Craig, who is now working there (although he is setting up an office in Solana Beach south of Carlsbad, CA).  We had no problem on that 700 mile trip.

Everything looking good!

Last Friday I went to see the orthopedic surgeon who had operated on my spine a year ago.  I also wanted to check my chest x-ray to determine whether the pleural effusion that was there a month ago was resorbing.  

First, the spine looks very good and the surgeon does not need to see me again unless I request his help.  The bone grafts in the area of L4-L5 appear to have "taken" and so there is likely a good fusion.  There is no evidence that the titanium screws that hold it all together have loosened.  So should be good for another 76 years or so.

Second, the chest x-ray was perfectly clear and looks normal.  You can still see the crack in the rib but I think everything is progressing fine.  It has been six weeks and there is still some pain in the area of the break, but it is gradually improving.  I can sleep on both sides, at least for a while.  I think for a fracture as bad as this one was, it will probably take another couple of weeks.  But I am happy with the progress.

Happy New Year

It is now well into the new year and much of the nation is coming out of the "polar Vortex".  Yesterday we went and saw the film "Frozen" which was pretty good for a cartoon.  But it was kind of like the cold that has been over much of the nation--even down to Houston where we had the first hard freeze for several years.  I wrapped the pipes outside and hoped for the best.  Fortunately, no disasters occurred here.

Now for some good news!  Val and I are going to get married.  We plan to do this around the end of March while we are on a trip to the Big Bend region of Texas.  We will likely get married at the Cibolo Creek Ranch near Marfa, Texas.  We will have a private ceremony and are not inviting anyone to attend.  We may try and have a party after we return to celebrate with family.  At the end of April we are planning a trip to Paris (France not Texas) as a honeymoon.  We are excited by all this.  

My rib is still healing.  I can now sleep pretty well on my right side, but the left side where the fracture is is still tender.  I am scheduled to see my orthopedic surgeon, who operated on my back, for a 1 year followup and will get some followup films for my rib and chest then.  I suspect the pleural effusion will be less or gone and that everything will look ok.  It was a bad break and may take longer than the classical 6 weeks to get entirely well.  I'll let you know on the blog after I see the doctor on Friday.

It's nearly Christmas

This is a short post to let you know that I have posted pictures and a slideshow of our Galapagos trip to Picasa, if you want to see more than I had on the last post.  Also to let you know that my rib is gradually feeling better.  It is 2 weeks out since the accident and I still can't sleep well since I can't move off my back due to the pain.  But I am getting around pretty well during the day.  I went to a doctor last week and had an x-ray.  The fracture is in the 6th rib on the right.  There is also a large pleural effusion (fluid surrounding the lung) on the right.  The doctor thinks it is probably blood from the injured lung when the rib fractured.  We decided to let nature heal the problem.  It may take a month or more for the x-ray to normalize, but there is no compelling reason to be more aggressive as long as my breathing is ok--which it is.  I hope to be nearly well when I next visit this site.

Finally Home

We got back from Florida and had a couple weeks that included a trip to Austin with Lorrie and John and Thanksgiving at both Val's family get-together and at Lorrie's.  Hard to watch the diet during the holidays, particularly with duplicated dinners and especially deserts.

On the Equator

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we took off for Quito, Ecuador via Miami.  We spent a day and two nights in Quito (altitude ~9300 feet) seeing the historic city, visiting the equator so we could stand in both hemispheres at one time and sampling the local food. We traveled with my brother Ken and Mo.

Val and Mo

Val with a Giant Tortoise

Val with a Nazca (masked) booby

Blue Footed Booby

             Tuesday we flew to Baltra Island in the Galapagos and boarded our home for the next week, the Galaven.  The group was 20 people, mostly from one town in Maryland.  Over the next week we visited about one island a day.  Each island is different with different flora and fauna. Everything that you have read about the Galapagos is true.  We were constantly amazed and stunned by the diversity of the wildlife. Animal and birds have no fear of man and so you can get up close and personal.  And there really are Blue Footed Boobies as well as Red Footed and Masked boobies.  

Red Footed Booby

 We never found out the advantage of the different colors of feet, but they were amazing to us.

Galapagos Penquine

There were sea lions and seals everywhere.  And Galapagos even has a species of penguin that swam with us when we were snorkeling.  Imagine a penguin on the equator!!  There were also hundreds of iguanas, both marine and land type and the giant tortoise that is several hundred pounds and lives to 150 years or so.  We even saw turtles mating as well as the tortoises mating.  This was exciting to those of us about the same age as the creatures.

I decided not to shave for a week so on our way back I took a selfie. (I had never heard that term until a couple of weeks ago and now it seems to be everywhere.)

Unfortunately, the trip was not entirely smooth.  On the next to last night on the boat we were cruising to another island and the seas were a little rough.  While in the bathroom, a big roll occurred and I fell into the shower skinning my arm and breaking a rib.  The trip the the hospital on San Cristobal was pretty interesting, though.  We went to the emergency room that was just a room with a chair.  The doctor spoke no English and my spanish is nil.  While she was examining me, a dog walked in to see what was happening--no one seemed to notice.  Apparently the rib had punctured the lung and there was air that had escaped into the subcutaneous tissue.  If you pressed on the skin, it was a little like popping bubble wrap.  Because of that we had an x-ray in another small room.  The film was not great quality, but it appeared that the lung had not collapsed and there was not a pneumothorax.  So after the arm was dressed and I got some pain pills, I went back to the boat.  I missed the next morning's hike where the group saw the Galapagos albatross doing their "goodbye dance".  They mate in the spring and say goodbye at this time of year.  For each they have a special dance that lasts about 20 minutes.  Oh well, maybe on my next trip to the Galapagos.

At home now about a week after the injury.  Ribs take about 6 weeks to heal and it still hurts a lot.  Just don't make me laugh.

In Panama City Beach

We got home from our Utah-Arizona trip to Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon (North Rim) and Lake Powell on the Teigen's houseboat.  It was all really great.  We loved being on the houseboat with the "Friends and Family" cruise.  It is beautiful on the lake and the boat can accommodate 14 people easily.  We made new friends and renewed old acquaintances. Three of us were classmates in the Orange High School class of 1955--seen here.

Gale & Don Sturdevant, Nancy and Cap'n Terry Teigen, Val Fogal and me

While we were on the lake, the government shut down, meaning that all the National Parks were closed.  They did allow us to stay until the end of the week but did not allow the next group that was to meet the Teigens to come into the park.  I particularly feel sorry for all the tourists from all over the world who had planned their year to visit the parks.  So unnecessary!!

After we got home, Jimmy and Teresa Goode visited us on their way to Florida and we followed them a few days later. We are now here in the rental condo I have in Sally's estate.  I think of it as Sally's condo.  There are always some chores to do when we visit and this year was no exception.  But the weather is great, the crowds are sparse this time of year, and the water is still pretty warm in mid 70's. We will return in about a week and get ready for our next adventure in the Galapagos Islands on December 1.  

Turned out to be a busy year after all.