Surgery for Ken

I took a Personal Day yesterday so I could go with Ken to the VA in Billings.  He  (finally) was getting surgery on his thumb.  Almost two years ago, Ken was cleaning a revolver, and he got the cleaning brush, with all of its nasty contents, underneath his nail.  He was cut really badly, and I feared that the contents were going to stay there. So, since he is male and refused to have his nail cut to deal with the problem, he would get a gnarly infection every few months where he would whine and complain about the pain, push on it - all the while grunting and making "I'm in SO much pain" noises, and then the infection would clear up and he would be fine.....until the next infection.

Finally, he went to see someone about the problem, and another x-ray was taken.  Can you believe it? He had some cysts growing there because, well, gee whiz, there was a ton of foreign debris under his nail.  After the last infection, I seriously MADE Ken call for the surgical appointment, and he was scheduled.  

Sadly, Ken got an infection again a few weeks ago, and he "dealt" with it.  He then contemplated cancelling the surgery.  I put my foot down, and off we went yesterday.  It took just under and hour, but they cut the nail and cleaned it out.  There was still quite a bit of debris under his nail, but now it's all done and over with.  Yay!!

Ken didn't want me to take his picture at the VA, but we went straight to Scheel's while he was still numb to take care of some shopping, and he let me get this picture of his boo-boo:

It's good to see that his sense of humor is still intact.  I also had fun getting a picture with the bear:

Scheel's is THE sporting goods place. They have everything from hunting to fishing to sports to athletic wear to jewelry to clothing to shoes - all kinds of shoes!  The store is ginormous and has a ferris wheel in the center of it.  My favorite is the aquarium, though.

Yes, those are animatronics of different presidents who speak while you sit there.  (The one of James Madison is there on the left of the Ferris Wheel.)

When we got home, I was exhausted!!  For taking a Personal Day, I was sadly forced to get up an extra hour and a half early rather than being able to sleep in.  I enjoyed a local favorite during the evening, a Dirty Girl.

This is made with Orphan Girl, which is made in Butte, Montana.  It is a Bourbon cream, and you add two parts of root beer for every 1 part Orphan Girl over ice.  Tastes like a root beer float, and I never feel the alcohol.  Very nice!!

Ken was really beat from the surgery.  The pain wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, and he didn't have to deal with the after-effects of anesthesia since they didn't do anything but numb it.  He did have to take two Tylenol 3 and some Advil over the day, and he ended up in my chair with the blankie.

As for today, I was determined to not let anything bother me.  The stress of work is starting to get to me, and I have no idea how I'm going to make it through the next 87 days of school with only two - three day weekends to tide me over.  I did find this little gem, and I so wish we could use it as Intervention for ELA:

I truly think students would better understand the concepts if we could use real world application.

The up-side for today was 1) my boss was still out so no one was monitoring the hallways and asking for "explanations" and 2) I had to leave Crow early for a testing meeting at the District.  The meeting itself was painful, but we were done really early, and I took the advice of the lady running the meeting to finish the day "working from home."  Oh yeah, I bolted home early - seriously two hours early. I hid out in the house, and then Ken and I went to coffee when I would normally be off from work (it is a small town).  

However, when I returned home, where did I find Ken?  Yep, in his reloading room working on bullets and cleaning a rifle.  So much for resting his thumb.

We had to go pick up Mandy and Jordan from school.  Mandy has Book Club on Wednesdays, and she needed help getting her Industrial Tech project home for Ken.  Jordan was practicing for the basketball team, and she was done at the same time.  Ken was worried that the present Mandy had made wouldn't be very nice, but he was so surprised!!  

Mandy did a great job on her present for Ken.  It's a gun rack, which I found incredibly awesome that she could make it at school.  In So Cal, I wasn't allowed to make a gun rack in Woodshop.  I had to make a keychain and an end table.  Totally useless and lost over time.  This was done really well, and there was a storage box at the bottom.  Ken is going to stain it and hang it downstairs.
 

For the evening, Ken grilled up the duck he had shot over the weekend, and we enjoyed every bite!

I am almost tempted to say that the duck was better than the quail he would make, but it was different and just as tasty!

The rest of the evening was spent with me stitching (well, and updating this blog).  I have to say, since I have worked on keeping calm and not stressing over things I can't control at work, I have been feeling better.  I am anxiously awaiting my next orthopedic appointment so I can schedule my shoulder surgery, but other than that - everything is going well.  

I will add some of my latest "Montana Firsts"

• When there's a berm on your street, it's important to drive around the block (can't make that left turn)
• Having to stop driving on a street to allow a snowball fight between two boys and two men (the boys won).
• Tucking your pants into the Mucks is a great idea but a royal pain in the ass!