Sunday: A Day of Rest and Grilling

This morning I sat down where I usually do, look at my laptop, and the diminutive fellow again. Except that now he's moved.

I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but it did strike me that it looks like he's trying to get around the screen to get at something. Or someone?

Nah. I just didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all. It's just a little Dare Devil action figure. Holding an improvised quarterstaff.

On a more reasonable and realistic note, my father-in-law, the deacon, was back at his usual post in Our Lady of the Angels church this morning. He's been back at deaconing since sometime last week, but I hadn't noticed.

That's good news. His recovery seems to be going quite well.

After getting home from church, my wife showed me the spatula. Time to grill. That's something I enjoy doing on most weekends. For an only slightly-interminable account of my grilling experience, there's Sunday: Not So Much About Grilling, as About the Experience of Grilling, today's post from my "Easy Griller" blog.

My wife and one of our daughters had been at the horse show this morning: helping with the food service. The local Soo Bahk Do group runs the food concession at that show each year, as a fund-raiser. (I don't know if I'm going to be able to start learning Soo Bahk Do again. The replacement hips are pretty good, but not quite up to the specs of original equipment. I have to be careful about subjecting them to impact stress: which means running is inadvisable, and so are the usual forms of Soo Bahk Do.)

An afternoon of kicking back and relaxing, an evening of pretty much the same, and I'm up to the present. Good night, all.

Knee Surgery and the Fast Father-in-Law

Fast at recovering, that is. Compared to me, anyway.

My father-in-law abandoned his walker, and has driven around town, as of a day or so ago.

Not bad: at this point, I was working at getting out of bed by myself. Of course, we're comparing hips and knees, but I'm impressed.

Father-in-Law is on His Feet and Outside

Good news from the other side of Main, here in Sauk Centre. My father-in-law's recovery from double knee replacement is moving along.

And so is he.

I heard that he took a walk with a friend today, in the alley behind his place. Good news!

The recovery process brought a contingent from part of the extended family up to Sauk Centre. It's been a good chance for my wife and the kids to be with kinfolk.

I got asked how he was doing at Mass this evening, and realized that I hadn't updated this "Through One Dad's Eye." I still don't know whether he's still using a walker.

Chiggers, the Sequel

To date, my son seems to be chigger-free.

In all the excitement of this week, and last, I'd neglected to get back to the tale of the lake, the boy, and the tiny pests.

Meanwhile, my father-in-law's recovery from double knee replacement is proceeding. He's got a contingent from another part of the family looking after him 24/7, and representatives from my family over during the day, minding the store. And, of course, visiting with kinfolk.

Cousins, Convalescence, and Transitions

Over in Glenwood, about 20 miles west of here, it got up to 98. I'm glad to have stayed inside today. Except for grilling lunch. For that, I've been known to go out when a thunderstorm is coming.

My father-in-law's recovery brought a contingent of cousins up to Sauk Centre. The bulk of them will be leaving in a few days, but one will stay here to help. (The "cousins" here are actually a subset of my nieces and nephews, but since they socialize mostly with our kids, this family calls them "cousins".)

I'll say it now, if I haven't already: I married into a great family. There's enough expertise and manpower among my wife's six siblings and their progeny to handle most situations. And, at least as important, the willingness to help. ('Manpower?' I know - but people power? person power? hesheitpower? forget it.)

Folks coming and going, thinking about Independence Day, and a task or three, kept me away from this blog for the last few days.

Meanwhile, over in the Red River Valley, my father is making preparations to move into an assisted living center in town. He and my mother moved to her childhood home when he retired. Now, decades later, she has long since required a nursing home's care. I'm proud of my father's good sense and practicality, and the care he's taking to help prepare the family for the generational transitions that will come.

Recovery From Knee Surgery: Determination and Family Help

My father-in-law is back home, having gotten both knees replaced on Tuesday. I understand that he was scheduled to come back Saturday, but was doing well enough to return Friday.

He's not about to dance around, but he's doing quite well, given the circumstances.

I think two factors are at work here: the sort of determination that I'm more inclined to expect in those born a few decades before me than those born more recently; and a large, loving, and cooperative family.

My wife and kids helped out by minding the shop in his absence, and now much of his home care is being done by a the kids of one of my sisters-in-law. Others in the family are either living farther away now, don't have children of an age to be able to help, or a combination of the two.

Large, cohesive families weren't part of the culture I grew up in, but I'm very glad to be in a family where my kids are part of an annual "cousins" photo in which the kids fill most of the branches of a large oak tree.