Sixty-five is the last useful milestone in the getting older process--it is when you are fully Medicared and Social Securitied. The next stop, is according to Mom who will be 91 this December, reaching 100 years old and having one last big wing-ding of a party.
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| Three sister-in-laws Sheila, Margo and Connie who married three Handsome brothres |
It was a very low key day for us. Normally we hit the restaurant for a big evening out. I even let Margo order off of the regular menu instead of the $1 value menu. But, for a whole week, Margo has been ailing. She started with an upset stomach and then to general achy-ness and then back and leg pains. She was OK at the Memorial Day picnic on Sunday, but hasn't been able to shake the symptoms all week and finally decided to make an appointment Monday to see her doctor in Rochester. She had several ticks (the big ones) on her the week before and some kind of a bite on her stomach that isn't healing, so maybe a spider bit or something like that. I offered to take some of Dad's old veterinary penicillin and give her a shot, but she was worried about the 1986 expiration date. I am still doing appointments too, with a couple on Tuesday. The pyridostigmine for the Myasthenia Gravis helps a little, but still leaves me with double vision and as Jimmy Carter might say, "malaise." I continue to read up on MG on the internet where it says that prednisone is pretty much required to get it under control. My close up vision is a little more normal and so I can use the computer sometimes almost normally, and then it gets fuzzy.
Scott and I fixed his Poulan chainsaw, a gift from his Grandpa Wilkens when Grandpa moved into town. It is an inexpensive machine, but for a little yard cutting and trimming is very handy. The gas line from the primer button to the gas tank had broken off in the tank--letting the gas leak out. We had previously studied the problem on the Internet--where we found a wonderful do-it-yourself video on how to take out the old lines (which everyone agreed were made of plastic tubing that deteriorated in gasoline), buy new decent tubing and then remove and rethread the new ones into the tank.
You can watch the same video we did at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrXpU70Hmi0
The tricky part was getting the new gas line plastic tubing through the holes in the gas tank and into the tank where the filter and plug had to be put back on. The video said to get a long forceps like a doctor uses and to trim the gas line to a thin pointed strip that you could poke through the hole, catch with the forceps and then drag it in through--all this being done working through the gas cap down into the tank.
Following the instructions exactly, Scott got it all apart, new lines put in, and back together and then cut a few offending trees and branches to prove it all worked fine! It took about an hour--and used $5 worth of gas line tubing. I think the saw probably cost about $129 and to have it repaired might have cost about that amount too! Anyway we were quite proud of our accomplishment.
The biggest news in the Hanson family was that Niece Amanda and hubby Bill had a new baby boy, their first boy and second child. Edward William, an E-Bill! He was born June 1st, missing his great aunt Margo's birthday by 2 days.