LAST DAY!!! Yee Haw!!

Today is the last treatment of radiation for Richard. He has awoken with a headache, so will do his workout later today. Right now, he is at his computer waiting for the Tylenol to kick in. Richard has astounded his doctor at M.S.T.I. by not showing any, or little, side effects from the radiation. Hair is all there (what there was to start with), no sun burn, not extremely tired, to name a few of the after effects they warned us of. He was in very good physical shape at the start, and continues to walk almost every day on the treadmill. I think this has helped alot. Maintained his weight at about 218. Back to the gym in January! Yeah!!! At times, it seem that this day would never come, yet it is here now, and I find myself wondering how the rest of our lives will be affected. After this treatment, I hope to entice him into a bit of a celebration. Possibly lunch at the Blue Ribbon. We'll see. Next appointment will be the end of January, a blood test, and we will go from there.

Read an article in the paper yesterday while we were waiting for treatment. It was about the "baby boomers." Starting January 1, over 10,000 people a DAY will turn 65 years old and this will continue for 19 YEARS!!! Kind of a startling statistic isn't it? Do the math. Our parents and their friends were really busy after the war. Make that wars. WWII, Korea, Vietnam, just to name a few. Food for thought.

It is raining and blowing now and has been raining and blowing all night. I keep have nightmares about the amount of rain we are getting, and the amount of snow that may turn to runoff in the mountains. Shades of that New Years' evening that we were evacuated due to the flooding. Then, the rain was coming down literally like buckets on the car windshield when we got your mother and left the valley to go over the hill to relative safety. Now, we have the added worry about the sewer ponds. Then, it wasn't our problem. Now it is.

Our makeshift drain pipe is flowing with water from the yard. The ditch is full and running well, well it is running anyway. Hope the house doesn't float away or get blown away. Dogs wouldn't like that at all. They are rather stuck in their habits. New thought! We can load up the dogs and get the flock out of here in our 5th wheel! Yeah!!! An escape!. May do that anyway, just to get away from the area for awhile. Don't know where we would go, weather sucks most everywhere right now. But Rich will find something, I'm sure. He says we could go to Cascade and watch the shit float down the river.
CB

Garth Brooks and other nonsense

Day after Christmas and we are playing on the computers and singing along with Garth. We have a 5 disc set and have had a great time (not in tune) singing at the top of our voices. Not really. we are singing though. Rich likes to change the words to something he feels is more interesting.

Had a great time at Heather's. Heather, Ben, Lacey and Whitnee, Mom and Dad, us, my youngest brother and his two kids and Ben's mom and sister and niece. Full house. The kids were being kids, playing games and running around.

Heather has a yellow lab named Sandy. Just before Halloween, Sandy delivered her second litter. 11 puppies!!! 5 girls and 6 boys all yellow. They all were gone by yesterday but for two. One is sold, just waiting for the new owners to come get him. The other is still waiting. He is such a cuddle bug, that it will be hard to keep him from being a lap dog as he gets bigger.

Hope you had a nice Christmas. Happy New Year!!!
CB

p.s. Rich has 3 days left!!! Cause for celebrating.

And to all a good night.

Merry Christmas to all.

The Letha Berglunds

Richard

Cathy

Lucy

Minnie

and Emmy

Water, Water Everywhere

This is what the place looked like right after the snow melted, with more rain and snow on the way.

We almost have our own lake.

So we dug a ditch, installed a pipe, covered it up to keep it in place, and made little channels from the "lake" in order to drain the water. That worked really well and now the water is in the ditch in front, waiting for us to dig parts of the ditch deeper so ALL the water can go to the slough. You will notice the larger pipe in the background. It was put in by the crazy lady who used to live in the school. She put in the pipe when Rich explained to her that her fence she started would block the drain ditch on the school side of the fence, and then she promtly covered the other end so no water could go through. Sure glad she is gone, I think. Now we have to go over to the school and clean out all the stuff she left, and the stuff that Worthington left.

Yes, we are having fun. Cathy

Update on "Microwaving"

Well folks, Richard has 7 days of radiation left. 4 days next week and 3 the week after. We were discussing this on the way over to Nampa on Thursday, and just after he got checked in, here comes this counselor to talk to him. We all know Richard has an aversion to counselors, but he surprised me and agreed to speak with the nice man. Richard blew the guy away with his great attitude. "I haven't thought of and don't think of myself in the terms you are using." Things like "Cancer Survivor." He is being treated for "elevated PSA levels", that is all as far as he is concerned. Richard has the greatest way of looking at things. He will "do what it takes to continue our life together. We are going camping." I got all teary eyed and such, cause that meant so much to me. Richard works out almost every morning. He has had very little side effects from the radiation. We are convinced that it is because of his workouts and he was in such good shape before the radiation started. The only thing he is grouchy about is having to travel to Nampa daily.

Lecture Time. (You are warned)

I have heard that Richard had not told "you" that he had these "situations" arising. But, yes he did. He called all of you and told you what was going on and why. That was in 2007. It has been our blog many times since then. He will not call just to talk about medical things or himself usually, but he will answer questions if you ask him. So, ASK HIM. He won't lie to you. He is very blunt, and straight forward. We all know this about him. Lecture over.

We are looking forward to Christmas. Going to Heather's for dinner on Christmas day. Our present to each other was the Greystone, and won't fit in the house, so our tree only has presents for the kids and Mom and Dad. That is plenty, as I feel I am getting the best present ever. My husband.

You all have a good Christmas, Love to all.

CB

Breakfast

This is for all you early morning people who like a little more than a jolt of fresh brewed to start your day. the calorie count on this little goodie will rock your world. People that don't care about how tight their Levi's are, well read on. But for all others you have had your warning. Wait for it! Wait for it! YES !!!!!! EggNog French toast, see there, now you know. OK OK now for the recipe : One 1/2 gallon of eggnog with the recipe on the side of the carton. Hot syrup of your choice, a little dab of butter, and dig in. That's American for Bon Api Tite and don't knock the spelling it's supposed to be funny. I would have taken a picture, but it didn't last long enough. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Later
RB

Time goes on, for some.

Had a good Thanksgiving day feast. Mom and Dad and us. Drove them home and returned home for a day, then back to MH to babysit a friend's mom. While I am there, I got the call no one wants to get. A family member had died.

My aunt was a great lady. Just was a year older than Richard, and more like a big sister than an aunt. Francie lived with us in Sparks Nevada for a year. I was maybe 10 years old. I watched her do the teenager stuff and learned a lot. She was outgoing, caring and had a great time. She and her best friend Rosie, taught me how to dance to American Bandstand. (You all should remember that show!) She had three kids later in life than most, but was a very loving mom because it took her so long to get the kids. Two boys and a girl. The family lived in Layton Utah these last few years. Her husband, Ron, retired from the Air Force and actually worked at Area 51. I think. (family secret...?) Francie passed from Cancer. The start? Being diagnosed with breast cancer in July of this year, and after a double mastectomy, (on her birthday) they found the cancer had spread to one lung, her liver, one leg and her back. Not much hope from there on. She tried to do the chemo and radiation, but it was not successful and she passed on December 1. Ron decided to bring Francie home to Idaho. A very selfless thing to do. All of us are grateful for the thoughtfulness he has shown. The body she left behind was not the way I want to remember her. She was brave and tried not to let on how bad things were. She didn't tell my mom until she had to, just to spare mom the worry.

The reason I am posting this, is that the both of us were feeling a little depressed with life's little twists and turns, and after Fran died, we realized how incredibly blessed we are to have found each other and to have the family we do. Thank you all for being family.
CB