Diagnostics, poor returns, bad storms

I had my ultrasound Friday afternoon at a location in Alliance. I went well, I suppose. There is no real way of telling until I get news on the results, which may still be a couple days away. I had hoped to get the results to the surgeon’s office as quickly as I could after the test, but Mama went to the appointment with me, and we ate a late lunch – I had been fasting until then – and spent some time at WinCo and Costco. It was time well spent. I do not regret the delay, if in fact it was a delay. I do know the surgeon’s office will get the written report early this morning, and we will deliver the disk with the images for him to view this morning as well, if they are in the office today. Since today is a banking holiday, I am not sure the surgeon’s office will be open so all our interactions may have to wait until tomorrow. I would sure like some relief, but I dread the cost of receiving that relief.

Saturday, I helped Mama get set up for her day at Trade Day’s. We were there and set up early, well before 8 am.  Mama had a table dedicated to her crafts and a table dedicated to Color Street. Gracie, Cheyenne and Aubrey were there with her. It was a beautiful day. A bit windy and a little warm, but the combination of those two conditions made for a nice day. Mama tells me there were a lot of people there but there were few buyers. Some of the other sellers around her were somewhat upset at the lack of actual buyers among the throng of lookers, but you cannot compel people to buy.

Mama sold a few of her little crafts and a few sets of nails. She got a very good prospect for a party and a potential stylist, but she walked away with less than $40 net for the day. I looked about briefly and noticed some crafters with items similar to Mama’s but the quality of those crafts in both materials and workmanship were very poor compared to Mama’s wares. Based on that short comparison, I am certain now that Mama tends to sell her crafts too cheaply, but she is always afraid to ask more than she does. All in all, we ended up in the negative for the day since a tank of gas we bought for the Sequoia cost us $58.

Sunday was great. We had very good services - especially good song services. Sunday morning, Mama and I were the last ones to leave the church. We dropped the girls off at their grandma’s house so they could meet with a friend that afternoon and we came home to eat. We had a relaxing afternoon, but that night a violent storm rolled through the area. High winds, large hail and heavy rain. Typical for the type of storms this time of year, it was over quickly, but it was a little frightening while it battered us. Since the men were staying at church to play basketball, Mama and I took Alissa and Alysa Burns home. It was on the drive to their house that the storm hit. The winds, which had to be over 50 mph, shifted quickly from the north to the west and then back again as the storm neared. What we could see of the sky when the lightening flashed looked like it could certainly turn more dangerous. Since there were tornado advisories out for our area, Mama offered to take our passengers home with us to wait out the storm.

With that set, Alissa and Alysa got changed at their house and were to follow us to our house so they could leave for home after the storm passed. Mama and I got home and were looking for Alissa when we got the call that she was on our road and a branch had fallen across the road, blocking the entire road. They had to turn around and go back home. So much for staying with us. So, I changed and took the truck and looked at the fallen branch. It was just at the start of our road, not twenty yards off the larger road it intersects. It was far larger than I could do manually. IT was a medium sized tree that had collapsed onto our road. It would require the tractor to get it out of the road and since the rain had stopped, I got on the tractor and did the best I could in the dark to move the fallen tree from the road. I will survey the position of the deadfall this afternoon and see what more I can do to ensure the roadway is fully open, but Victoria got through this morning on her way to work and it is not like we need to accommodate a large amount of traffic on our road. If one vehicle can navigate through the obstruction, that will work temporarily. The blessings of rain overshadowed the minor damage from the storm – at least from our perspective. I am sure there were others that suffered far worse than we did, but we will take what we get.

All my classes this week have been cancelled. That is what makes this week a perfect opportunity to have the gallbladder removal surgery if that is the recommended course of action. We will see how all that works out.