A BETTER DAY

When I went to the rehab hospital today to visit Judy I found her, for the first time, sitting in a wheel chair with a smile on her face.

What a difference from yesterday.

She said she had been having Occupational Therapy today, which is designed to show you how to get around once you're home again.

Things like moving from the bed to the walker to the wheelchair and back.

She said she had much less pain during these exercises though she needed lots of help and can't put hardly any weight on her injured leg.

But she said she felt 75 percent better than yesterday.

What a relief.

So here's the first photo of the Lady.

Yeah, I know, it's not much.

But about her appearance, she's very modest.

This is the area of her forehead which hit the patio deck when she fell.

Friday night she had a huge goose-egg which has receded but the discoloration has spread out from the point of impact.

When she told the OT workers how much better she felt today they told her there would be some days where she would feel like she had backslid, to watch out for them and not to get discouraged.

The BRD returns from her vacation trip to New Orleans tomorrow.

Judy's fall occurred the day the BRD left and I had to answer her triumphant email of "We've Arrived" with the news of her mother's accident.

She wanted to immediately return to help in her mother's care but we both discouraged her from that, telling her there was nothing she could do at that point.

The women in my life are pretty remarkable.

DISASTER

Some of you Gentle Readers who I haven't informed may have been wondering about the absence of Oddball Observations and it's editor Catalyst since last week's Friday Funnies.

So let me tell you what's been going on.

Early Friday afternoon a man came and picked up all the empty boxes and foam and bubble wrap from our move and took it away.

We were elated to get even that much more space in our garage.

About an hour later, Judy took a step out onto our back patio where I was pulling up a sun shade, fell and broke her femur (thighbone).

I called 911 and got paramedics here, who took over, shot her full of some good drugs, loaded her onto a gurney, into an ambulance and took her to our local hospital.

Saturday morning she had surgery which resulted in what she calls a piece of rebar placed into her body.

After 3 nights in the hospital she was transferred yesterday to a rehabilitation hospital where she will reside for a week or two or three.

She is in intense pain whenever she tries to move her right side or put weight on that leg but that does not stop the medicos from putting her through PT (Physical Therapy).

I read on line today that a femur break can take 4 to 6 months or more to heal.

I am trying my best to do what I can, keeping the house running, the cats fed and watered, their litter pans emptied as well as (not a serious problem) feeding myself.

Frankly, Gentle Readers, it is all a pain in the ass.

But not as much pain as my beloved Judy is going through.

So, my friends, that's what has been going on.

Whatever you do as you age, don't fall, don't break any bones, and don't think that you may not do any of that.

I'll be here occasionally, as events allow me.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

The heat is on, Gentle Readers.

The Weather Gods tell us it will be 95 today with the mercury steadily climbing day by day until topping out at 105 next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Now I know this is Arizona and we all here say "but it's a dry heat" but for my area, which is at around a 5,000 foot elevation, that is hot.

I'm just glad I moved back from Phoenix, where it is forecast to reach 121 by Tuesday.

And this is only June!

So with all that in mind let us start this week's edition of the Friday Funnies with this public service announcement from a cooler time.

So, with detente in the picture, we bid adieu to you.

Have an excruciatingly fine and cool weekend and always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Oh, come on, willya . . .)

IT'S THROWBACK THURSDAY!

Earlier this week the prime time Tony Awards show was held and a long-time-ago acquaintance was an honoree and winner.

Television, stage and movie actor Cynthia Nixon won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a play for her work in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.

Frankly until the category came up I didn't even know she'd been nominated.

She's a much-honored performer.

This was her second Tony Award to go along with a couple of Emmy's and a Grammy.

She only has the Oscar yet remaining to give her the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony).

Judy and I are always happy when we read something about Cynthia because we knew her many years ago.

It was during our 4-year sojourn in Mexico when I had met a man who became my best friend down there, the late Walter Nixon.

Walter was Cynthia's father and she used to come to visit him every year or so.

Here's Walter, Judy, Cynthia and I (behind the camera) having lunch one day on one of her visits.

She must have been in her early 20's in those days.

While she had been acting in New York City since she was 12 years old, Sex and the City was far in the future.

She was a quiet girl in those days and very kind to allow a photo with this presumptious friend of her father's.

Walter was very proud of her and so are we.

WELL SAID

"An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us."

--U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan

In the confusion of our move our flag has gone missing, packed away in one box or another.

If you can find yours, fly it proudly today and forget about political animosity.

At least for one day.

WARNING: OLD FOLKS AT LARGE

Yes, once again the ol' Rock Springs Cafe has beckoned to some long-time-ago Channel 12-ers for a reunion lunch.

Seems like each time a get-together is held the crowd varies by one or another of the faces.

Today's gathering included two photographers and two producers.

The organizer of today's fête was the youngest and most recently retired of the group, Steve Torbeck, known to the Gentle Readers of this blog as Baseball Steve; known to others as a hard-working videographer.

On the other end of the age spectrum was a cowboy, rodeo performer, actor, golfer and television producer, the illustrious Karl Kindberg.

A newcomer to this group was another hard-working videographer (I know, we used to call them photographers), as well as holder of a number of other television jobs, Wally Athey.

And then, with apologies for the work behind the camera today, a producer who certainly will not be known as a photographer, your very own Catalyst.

(So enthralled with his companions that he forgot to take his own picture and thus had to snap one once he got home.)

All of us worked at KPNX in Phoenix, at times all at the same time.

All retired now.

All older, grayer, heavier, more wrinkled.

There were many stories of many others we worked with and a number of whom are no longer with us.

Good times.

Good guys.

Good lunch.

Let's do her again.

PROGRESS

We had a plumber here yesterday to fix the last of a handful of problems (that should have been taken care of before we moved in) and Judy finally got the dining table cleared off.

I got my bedroom/den a little more organized.

We have started an area in the garage to place items that will eventually be sold.

Judy has re-arranged the bookcases in the living room, repaired a broken hand that one of our Aztec gods suffered in the move and emptied yet another big box.

The pile of empty boxes and bags of bubble wrap and piles of foam padding is mounting in the garage.

Someone will reap one of these days.

Finally, last night as the Tony broadcast was on the t.v. we enjoyed our first real made-from-scratch meal in our new home.

Tangerine-topped pork chops.

French-cut green beans.

Sauteed apple slices.

All of that and some mashed potatoes and gravy made a meal to bring a smile to the face of a German.

I couldn't eat it all . . . for the first time in memory!