Tuesday, November 12, 2019

I had not been in the water since mid-September! No wonder my nerves are jangled! Last week I got in three times in four days.

First, I snorkeled at Crashboat. I've known for a long time there was a sunken sugar barge somewhere in the area but I didn't know exactly where it was. How could I not know?!? Part of it actually sticks up above the surface.

It looks like jagged dragon's teeth. In fairness (to myself at least) the sticky-up parts blend in with the rocks around it, especially from a distance.

The wreck is bigger than I expected it to be. It is right up against the shore in very shallow water. All wrecks have some inherent dangers. The biggest issue with the barge is waves and surge knocking you into something you'd rather not bang into.

On Saturday I took Paola (one of our Horses of Hope volunteers) to Wishing Well. Shed had a tough week and (like me) needed a little Vitamin Sea therapy. It was only her third time snorkeling and we saw a turtle. She loved it! I'm guessing she'll be back.

On Sunday Carole and her niece Caroline and I tried to snorkel at Playa Borinquen. Well, we did snorkel, just not for very long. The in and out were a little sketchy and visibility was pretty bad so we cut the swim short. But we did see a turtle!

 Waves are back up so it will be a few days before we can get back in the water.


Update on our friend Chris: He is now awake and talking (as best he can). He is off the ventilator. He is feisty and itching to get out of the hospital. The internal issues they were concerned about - gall bladder, fluid in his lungs - have resolved themselves without further intervention or surgery. He needs one more surgery on his leg but then hopefully he will be moved out of ICU and into a room. Keep thinking good thoughts!

Monday, November 11, 2019 Veteran's Day

A lot of people are posting "thank you for your service" messages today. I truly hope those same people are out doing something to help veterans. It is disgraceful how little support we give veterans. An average of 17 veterans a day commit suicide. That is a national disgrace! It is so wrong. According to the House Budget Committee, nearly half of all veterans - roughly 9.4 million - depend on Medicare for health care. Cuts to the Medicare budget have left many veterans and their families stranded.

Don't we owe veterans better than this? Why are the people we send out to kill and possibly be killed not the best-taken care of people in the country? Why isn't the V.A. the best health-care provider in the world? Why isn't health care free for life for veterans like it is for Congress? Oh yeah. Congress gets to decide that.

While you're thanking vets for their service today, do something for them. Write your Congressperson. for Everybody's sake, vote! Volunteer to help. Do something beyond lip-service thank yous.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

I am just wrung out, physically but especially emotionally. Surviving Maria had nothing on this.

I think you know about our nephew Ben's lymphoma. Twice a week we leave Aguadilla at 5:00 AM to drive to San Juan for treatment. Other days, depending on the week, there are other trips to local laboratories and doctors. There are some issues peripheral to the cancer that are causing him a lot of problems. We've been trying to get these dealt with but the whole "gotta have a Primary Care Physician who will sign off on this" thing - whatever the thing is, an X-ray, MRI, prescription, whatever - has stymied us. He was assigned a PCP when he first got insurance but we've never been able to talk to her. She's two towns over so it's almost as bad as going to San Juan (not really; nothing here is as bad as driving to San Juan in the morning). It took us a month to get a new PCP. Now we're trying to get her up to speed on all that's going on. We're also trying to transfer Ben's care to an oncologist in Aguadilla so we don't have that drive twice a week. Guess what! You need a PCP to request the transfer! It's been frustrating for all of us, including his doctors in San Juan.

One of the on-going issues is a really painful swollen knee. We've been trying to get an MRI of the knee for two months. Guess what! We need the orders to come from the PCP which we didn't have until a week ago if we want insurance to pay for it. We could pay out of pocket but that ain't happenin'. Because at this point no one knows what's causing the swelling, his doctors cannot rule out that it is related to the cancer.  Tired of waiting on the PCP merry-go-round, yesterday after his treatment they admitted him to the hospital. Now he's under their care, their treatment. They can order whatever tests they want and don't need a PCP to sign off. He will finally get the MRI he's waited two months for. He may have to wait three more days: it's the weekend and Monday is a holiday so ain't nothin' gonna happen 'til Tuesday.

If anybody says, "oh that's healthcare in Puerto Rico" I will smack them. This is all base on U.S. healthcare and insurance models.

In mid October Elaine's cousin Monica found out she had a brain tumor. A little over a week after her diagnosis she had brain surgery. Needless to say, it was a shock to everyone, especially Monica! Monica has been the senior health reporter for WKYC TV in Cleveland for more than 20 years. She started reporting on her diagnosis, treatment, surgery, and recovery from day one. She is recovering. Her spirit is truly incredible. She is in pain but has stopped taking any kind of opioid. As she said, as the reporter who broke the story of how bad the opioid crisis is in northeast Ohio, it would not do for her to get hooked. She still has problems with her vision (part of the tumor was attached to her optical nerve and could not be removed) but with help, she gets out and walks every day.

Two weeks ago tomorrow a very dear friend of ours was in a horrific motorcycle accident here. Chris is a champion rider and horse- and people-trainer. He is also an Army EOD (Explosive Ordinance Demolition) tech. That means for fun he takes apart bombs. As a result of the accident, doctors had to amputate his right arm (yes, he is right-handed). I saw him yesterday. He has a long long road ahead but he will be back riding and training. He is strong and tough.

So all of you - please please be careful. Stay well and healthy. I can't take much more of this.

There is good news though. Our son Jason and his wife are expecting a new baby this week. We can't wait for the news of our new grandson! And we found out last night our daughter Sara and her new bride are expecting. After all the stories they've heard, they didn't expect the IVF to take the first time but apparently it did. We are so incredibly happy for Jason, Hannah, Sara, and Katie! And us!

Sunday, October 20, 2019 a music rabbit hole

As long as I'm gong down a music rabbit hole, I read that Ginger Baker died last week. Baker was the drummer for Cream and then Blind Faith. He was the first great rock-n-roll drummer I really got to know and was the first "superstar" drummer  He was the first drmmeri saw use two kick bass drums. He could do more with his feet than a lot of drummers could do with their hands. 

He had a pretty ragged tough life. I think a lot of people were surprised he lived as long as he did. So another one from that era gone. 

Saturday, October19, 2019 A Hurricane memory

I'm not sure why this popped up now. but it did so...

A while back I wrote that with no Internet, no electricity, no radio, one of the things we all craved was music. Even when stores like Wal-mart opened again, there wero little portable battery-operated CD/radios available. I finally ordered one from Amazon.

When it came, Elaine was still in the States, I was here taking care of the animals and getting whatever work done I could. This was the first song I played on my new CD player. And I played it over and over and over. I just need that reminder that There wer epeoplewho had it worse than I did and that we all need to help each other. There was so much good that surrounded us after the hurricane. This was both a reminder to pass it on and to be grateful. As if I needed reminders for either.

The other things I wanted to hear right away were the orginal cast albums of Les Miz and Phantom of the Opera.

Then I stared playing my "Waiting for the Hurricane" mix CDs. Boy, did those have new meanings!

The past few weeks have been largely full of our nephew Ben, driving back and forth to San Juan. Some day soon I will post the saga of our adventure on Tuesday. For now, you'll just have to wait for it.

Thanks for reading.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Mother Ocean has been beautiful this week. Hope the surfers are having fun.

The colors have been incretible!

I have a couple of days with limited morning commitments. May a request a few days without waves so I can go dive or at least snorkel?

Saturday, October 5, 2019 Sara and Katie's wedding

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Last weekend we made a flying trip to Michigan for our daughter Sara's wedding. (That's Sara on the right with her bride Katie.}

It was everything a wedding should be: fun, joyous, people coming together, full of laughter and love!

Aside from the beautiful wedding, the best thing for me was having all our kids together in one place  for the first time since our oldest, John David, graduated from high school. (he turned 40 earlier this week so you can do the math.)

 (Three important people are missing from this photo: the other bride, who was off doing something important, and William and Kai who were off playing and couldn't be bothered.)

Siblings were together for the first time in years.

Cousins met cousins they didn't know they had.

Kids (Kai and Kennedy) met uncles (Jason) and aunts (Hannah) they've never seen. And, we finally got to meet Hannah, our other soon-to-be daughter-in-law and soon-to-be mother of our newest grandchild.

Between travel, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, the wedding, reception, and more travel, we manage short visits with our good friends Nancy and Gwen

and our "adopted" daughter Katie, her wife Elizabeth, and out "grandaughter" Emmory.

We missed so many people we'd hoped to see. Our original plan was to go to Cincinnati for my 50th high school reunion then on to Cleveland for a visit with Amy and the grands, then a leisurely tip to Michigan with lots of time for visits and finally a relaxed weekend at the wedding. That whole plan fell apart and turned into a flying five-day trip, with two of those being travel days. To all those we messed, we are so sorry. We'll try again next time.

All in all it was an amazing wonderful love-filled weekend. We are so grateful.

Congratulations Sara and Katie!

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Is this a great place to live or what?

For the last week, Mama Ocean has been in a mood, roiling, throwing wave after wave against the coast.

Last night we felt a M6.3 earthquake that was followed by M5.1, M4.7 and M4.5 aftershocks. In fact, according to earthquaketrack.com, we have had 33 earthquakes, ranging from M2.7, M3.2, M3.3 up to the M6.3, in the last 24 hours alone.

If that weren't enough, Tropical Storm Karen is about to hit the island. All indications are that Karen is pretty much a non-event as tropical storms go. Some wind - maybe 30 mph on the east end of the island, some rain -a couple of inches, again on the east side. The forecast for our side is 10 mph winds and scattered thunderstorms this afternoon.

I mean really - how many places can you get a magnitude 6+ earthquake and a tropical storm all in the same day?

And this morning Mama Ocean was the cleanest and calmest she's been in days. Coda and I went for our morning walk at Shacks Beach and it was flat enough to snorkel.

Go figure. It probably won't last long. Once Karen get past the island tonight she'll make some waves. The surfers will be happ.

Friday, September 20 2019 The second anniversary

Two years ago we were hunkered down riding out the first part of Hurricane Maria. We survived both the storm and its aftermath.

A couple of updates since the hurricane: Trump continues to lie about how much money was appropriated and sent to Puerto Rico to aid recovery. He continues to lie about what a great job FEMA did. You may have read that an assistant FEMA administrator and several other FEMA employees were indicted on corruption and bribery charges in connection with a $1.8 billion contract for the reconstruction of the island's electric grid. What you may not have read is that FEMA sent out letters to pretty much everyone who applied for Individual Assistance with FEMA since 2008 that they incorrectly shared personal addresses of 2.5 million people with private contractors. Of those 2.5 million, 1.8 million also had personal banking information shard with contractors. So pretty much everybody in Puerto Rico post-Maria has had their information shared. We applied for FEMA assistance. When we first applied, we didn't hear anything for a couple of months. We went to check on our application and were told they had no record of us ever applying. So, we applied all over again. (In a way this turned out to be a good thing because that's how we found out about the Small Business Administration's post disaster loans.) Several weeks later we received a letter telling us we were eligible for "Transitional Sheltering Assistance" (in a hotel in San Juan) because our house was damaged. One day later we received another letter from FEMA telling us our house was habitable and therefore we weren't eligible for any assistance. These are not uncommon stories.Yep, cheeto-in-chief, FEMA did a great job in Puerto Rico.

Today is calm, quiet, hot, a bit muggy, and very still. Except for the ocean. The ocean is rockin' and churnin'! These were taken at Playa Pastillo yesterday.

It's bigger today. There are high surf, coastal flooding, and strong rip tide advisories up for today all along the coast.

Hurricane Jerry is spinning around out there almost due east of us in the Atlantic. It shouldn't be a problem; it is tracking well north of us and should pass us during the day tomorrow. We may get some rain - and more waves - but that should be it.

We are supposed to be in Ohio right now for my 50th (!) high school reunion. Between our nephew Ben still in the hospital in San Juan (many trips back and forth), ailing horses (nothing serious!), my sister and niece being here to be with Ben and no one available to care for the animals this weekend, we are sitting this one out. Maybe I will make the next one. (I've said that since the 40th). We will be in Michigan next weekend for our daughter's wedding though!

Unless there is a hurricane of course.

Sunday, September 8, 2019 A mixed bag

First back to Dorian: We are incredibly grateful that Hurricane Dorian missed us completely and only glanced off the Florida coast. That said, I can't even begin to talk about the destruction and heartbreak in the Bahamas. All I can say is I hope the Brits treat the Bahamas better than our government treated us. And last night Dorian moved on to Canada! One hundred mph hurricane winds hit Halifax.

It's been a pretty rocky week. Our nephew Ben was hospitalized in San Juan with what they originally thought was a badly infected abscessed tooth. After a over a week of ups-and-downs, it turns out it's not an abscessed tooth with a huge bacterial infection swelling. Nope. He has lymphoma. As of now we don't know exactly what kind or what stage. We will find that out later this week. So for the past week I've been driving back and forth to San Juan a lot. Ben's mother and sister - my sister and niece - are coming into San Juan tonight so I suspect I will be there even more this week.

On a totally different note yesterday was one of the best days in the young life of Elaine's non-profit Horses of Hope/Caballos de Esperanza.

Frank Perez, the president of the Puerto Rico Association for the Blind came to HoH to ride a horse!

Elaine met Frank several weeks ago at an event to showcase services for the blind island-wide. A friend of ours from a therapeutic riding center on the other side of the island was also presenting at the event and arranged for another mutual friend to bring a horse. At that event Frank touched a horse for the first time and admitted his life long dream was to ride a horse.

Elaine said, "We can make that happen!"

It took a couple of weeks and several contact to get him past his initial anxiety and to actually get him here to ride. Yesterday was the day.

Elaine had a brilliant lesson plan designed to introduce Frank step by step and to guide him through the process. His class, as do all classes, began with being introduced to "his" horse (in this case Chocolate) by grooming.

The last step is grooming usually cleaning the hooves. Elaine thought this would be just a cursory introduction. Frank was fascinated by Choco's hooves, how hard they are, the shape, the feel and the pattern of the underside of the hoof around the frog.

The next step was tacking up Chocolate, putting on his saddle and reins. Frank was more involved in the process than many of our other clients!

From there, with the aid of our volunteers Chris, Paola, and Michael, Elaine had Frank walk with Chocolate around the riding arena so he could get a sense of its size and shape.

Then (drumroll please) they all moved to the mounting block. Again, Elaine had Frank feel the block, its size and shape and height. She also had him feel how tall Chocolate was compared to the mounting block. He immediately understood that he would stand on the block to get on the horse.

With Elaine's guidance - and with a bit of rising anxiety - Frank climbed the stairs. With help from Elaine and his volunteers Frank got on a horse for the first time in his life.

After that, there was nothing to do but ride!

After his first ride this man who had been so anxious, so flat-out scared, realized he can ride! It is a possibility for him. Now he wants to take lessons. His new goal is to ride independently with no side walkers holding him, with the horse leader's lead rope unclipped. This is very realistic, very possible. We can make this happen!

Our whole team, starting with Chocolate and including our rockstar volunteers Chris, Paola, Michel, Eslyn, Gladys, and of course Elaine, created a calm, safe, secure atmosphere to help alleviate Frank's fears and made this dream come true. Now on to the next one!

Follow Horses of Hope/Caballos de Esperanza on Facebook and on our website. 

Wednesday, August 28, 2019 TS Dorian

These were the clouds this morning as we began the day waiting for TS Dorian. Overnight, the predicted track changed for going south then west of us through the Mona Passage to going right across the island, aiming right at us. By this afternoon, when Dorian should have made landfall, the track had shifted again farther east and north. Dorian just clipped the very eastern edge of the island. The eye is now north and east of San Juan, almost due north of Fajardo. There is still some lingering light rain and we could get a little rain later tonight as Dorian spins but we're pretty much out of danger.

Whew! Dodged another one!

Dorian appears to have intensified into a Cat 1 hurricane just as it passed Puerto Rico. Now it looks like it's on the Bahamas Express and is forecast to be a Cat 3 when a passes over the Bahamas on its way to Florida. It could even cross Florida into the Gulf of Mexico and threaten the Gulf coast.

This is sunset tonight at the end of what was supposed to be a hurricane day:

Those of you still in Dorian's path in the Bahamas and Florida, please be safe.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019 Tropical Storm Dorian

So here we go. Dorian took a little turn to the north and is heading right at us. The National Hurricane Center actually shows the worst of Dorian passing east and north of us before turning west and heading for the Bahamas and Florida. Until this morning all the tracks show the storm going a little south and west, then up through the Mona Passage (the passage from the Atlantic to the Caribbean between Puerto Rico and Hispanola). Some reports are saying maybe a weak Cat 1 hurricane but most likely still a tropical storm With winds under 74 mph, probably in the 40-50  mph range for us.

So what does this all mean? We are going to get strong winds starting this afternoon or early evening. There are predictions of 4"-6" of rain, especially on south facing slopes. (Fortunately, we're on the north side.) That could be devastating because so many areas are still unstable since the loss of trees in Maria.

Dorian is a small-ish compact storm which apparently makes it track more difficult to predict. Puerto Rico is a smallish island, The difference of a few miles either way can make a huge difference the impact. We're as prepared as we can be for whatever comes. If the electric goes out - which is likely - we'll get back on to let y'all know we're safe. Til then, we got this.

(The twitter-in-chief is already bitching about recovery aid to Puerto Rico!)