I admit that I have fallen down on my commitment to send out a “Blog” from time to time and let you know where we are and what we are doing. These were frequently spawned by an “event” that usually started with me muttering under my breath, “I feel a blog coming on.”
So here is a short synopsis of 2021: We traveled north to Washington State in late April 2021. We visited Holly in Newman Lake, Washington, Took in a single Bluegrass Festival in early June, 2021. Visited some friends on the way through and arrived at our Son and Daughter-in-laws’ place in Seabeck, Washington on July 18, 2021. We spent some time looking for property in Washington, but the housing balloon was growing fiercely and we couldn’t make any headway. We spent a week on Audrey II, Glen and Barbs’ 37.5 foot Hunter, sail boat from July 27 2021 to August 6, 2021. The rest of the summer was spent between Sequim,WA., Seabeck, WA. And the Portland, OR area visiting friends and relatives. (1)
In early November we put the rig on the road to Texas once again. We arrived on October 15, 2021. We are mostly hiding out from the “Co-Vid 19” Pandemic for a year and a half.
(1) Genaveve Starr and Karl Stokke, in Sequim, Wa; Ed and Sarah Daugherty, Sue and Phil Owen, Mel and Charley Stowell in the Portland OR. Area; Camped with Dave and Adriene Schilling at Silver Falls State Park; and bid, “Bon Voyage” to Bill and Kitty Bates as they sold their farm in Grand Ronde OR, and started the “Wandering Lifestyle”.
Gary and Judy enjoy hiking in Silver Falls State Park. 
Gary contemplates a Maple Bar Man at the Poulsboe Bakery.
That catches us up to January 2022.
December and January were busy months for us. I did two Physical Therapy series. One to address my increasing struggle with Parkinson’s disease with posture, stiffness, tremor and dyskinesia, which makes me look like I am struggling with some invisible Python. The other was to address my soft fuzzy voice. We replaced Judy’s hearing aids but that wasn’t much help. I learned to “Speak with Intensity.”
“God willin’ and the creeks don’t rise, I will go under the Brain Surgeons scalpel, or maybe more like a Dremmel tool, to rasp a pair of holes in my skull. I will get a pair of electrodes and a control module much like a heart pace-maker under my clavicle bone in my left shoulder. We are hoping to get better control of Parky and reduce the 30 or so pills I take daily. This operation is called “Deep Brain Stimulation,” “DBS.”
I will be following in the footsteps of Louis Wu of the Larry Niven Science Fiction Novels, “Ringworld”, (1970)” and “Ringworld Engineers” (1979). I consider these two books to be tra;ning manuals for me. The principle character in the two novels is Louis Wu, a 200 year old “Spacer” at the start of “Ringworld.” Nine years later we meet Louis Wu” again as a “Wirehead” in “Ringworld Engineers.” If you haven’t the time, or inclination to read the books you can get an idea what they are about in Wikipedia,org.
Right now I need to quit this, and book another doctor’s appointment, for next week.
Good job, Gary! I’m glad to get your info…we’re all hoping for good results.
As we are freezing here in the minuses, we think of you preparing your tiny house so as to not have a repeat of last year. So glad!!
Stay warm & cozy,
Love from the Micmacs.
Thanks for the update, Gary, and wish for you the best possible outcome from the DBS surgery. It sounds very promising. Enjoyed the pictures of you and Judy–and always enjoy seeing you when you come through St. Helens.
Gary & Judy— so good to see your blog again! Your quote good lord willing & creeks don’t rise made us both snicker as it is a quote my father often said. We will be watching for your promising surgery. I was going blind in my right eye because of a macular pucker & a retina specialist said “ I can fix that by putting 2 hollow needles in your eyeball and pulling out the wrinkle”. The video of the surgery was amazing & now 3 months later I have MUCH better vision. Amazing what new medical procedures can do. Take care. Travel easy.
Hi you guys, glad to hear from you. All is well here. Still hunkering down so no exciting news. Hi Judy good to see you in the pic. You look fit and sassy.
Gary I am praying for you all the way. Stay well.
luana
So good to hear from you. I love your blogs of adventure and sharing. More. . more. . . It is so exciting when science fiction lines up with reality, though I’ve heard about DBS for some time. As I recall. . . . note: I do not have MD behind my name. . . I believe the patient is awake somehow and participates with electrode placement. Being the engineer type person, that you are, I see you being quite able to handle such things. Maybe even requesting a video of the event! You can do it! Go for it!
Hope you and Judy are keeping warm this winter, with no power outages. Every time a big storm crosses mid-Texas, I think of all of you. Keep your wool socks handy and shake your fist at the storm.
We will be in the Port Townsend area around Father’s Day for a wedding. Maybe you will be within shouting distance
Bye for now. Sorry, no Christmas cards or letters this past year. I think next year will be much better.
Love,
Sue and Phil
Oh Gary..it was wonderful to see you and Judy when you were i St. Helens last year. I pray for success with the medical procedure.
Gary’s Reply:
Hey friends; I am just soaking up the love that is radiating from your responses. Often we internalize
emotional feelings. We greet people with “Hi, How are you?” but we never answer the same question directed at ourselves with an honest answer.study Paarkinson,s
I get it,..I do get it, . You don’t want to bore people with a long description of your “Rheumatism” or “Guy Lumbago…” Apparently, however, when you are fighting the battle against one of the big killers like cancer, stroke, diabetes or heart disease you get a license to talk about you battle. The rapid growth of technology t gives us the promise of improving the lives of persons with Parkinson’s diseases.
I think we have developed an expectation that our technology can cope with anything. We can get Covid 19 in retreat after two years. With the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Parkinson’s Foundation, Parkinson’s Alliance and many others giving out grants to search for cures to this disease, we can certainly expect a breakthrough any day. At the Symposium for Parkinson’s 2016 one of the presenters declared that alpha-seneuclean a suspect but perhaps holds a key to solving the mystery. It is also suspected that it may be involved not only in PD, but also in other neurodegenerative conditions, termed synucleinopathies. Msrk my words, you saw it predicted right here.
(I haven’t a clue what I just said in that last sentence.)
Like I tell all my RV’ing friends, “Keep the rubber side down.”
Gary