Beginning the last quarter year the way the third quarter ended: still using the walker, still keeping most weight of the left leg. I went to see the Doctor yesterday, new x-ray done. The bone is healing, the pins are where they are supposed to be, all looks good, but there is still a hairline crack showing, so keeping weight off for another month, he said. I complained that my shoulder is getting sore from keeping the weight off when walking, he is so funny, he said "oh, I can fix that after you get off the walker", I told him I�d rather not. I had the choice of having the pinning procedure or a hip replacement, and had I had that done, I�d be ambulatory, but would have lost quite a bit of mobility. Dr. B. said my bones are in such good shape, that it�s worthwhile to keep my own hip.

Good thing we are going toward the rainy season, outdoor stuff will cease and the garden can go dormant and stay untidy until spring,, it actually has not done too poorly, considering this is the second season of neglect - there was a water shortage the year before, so this was going to be the season to get things back in shape.

Joann is the hero in this whole enterprise, though. She takes care of the chickens and the goats, puts Gussie to bed at night and lets her out in the morning. She handles the compost and the trash, vacuums and does little things not possible for me to do. All that and taking care of her house and be Ron�s Advocate and care-taker, going to his appointments with him, seeing that he eats enough when he is on Chemo. So far the treatments have kept the cancer from getting ahead, but it is a holding action, most likely can�t be more than that.

I had just about decided to forgo the firewood order and use the money instead to budget for the propane I�d need for the furnace, but both Joann and Ron convinced me to get the firewood, because the radiant heat is so much more comfortable than the forced air furnace - Joann will help me managing the wood-stove, I think by the time the stove is in steady use I shall be more ambulatory anyway.

Daughter Linda volunteered her son Trevor and perhaps a couple of his friends for the wood-stacking chore, that will be interesting.

So here I am, practicing patience, learning to get very organized, learning to sit on the bar-stool when I prep for my dinner, learning that sitting down to do things is practical, baskets with handles are good to move more than one thing at the time from one place to the other, learning to overlook things that are not done, to set priorities.

Perhaps now I will find the time to scan and sort the huge quantity of photos, clean out the old paperwork and cull the book-case. And then, maybe not.

Promise to do more posting on the GP.