A Day in the Life of a Desert Rat

It is supposed to be 74 here tomorrow - another beautiful day in the desert.  Ed is going out with friends four wheeling while I take myself to the doctor...its hard being 600 miles away from your own doctor.  I will be glad when I am finally on Medicare in May so I can go to any doctor anywhere and not have to call HAFB for permission.  Anyway, I have a boil on my right shoulder that has gotten bigger and uglier and more painful every day for the last week.  I am going to try to get in to the medical clinic here in Quartzsite tomorrow - if its not overcrowded (or if it is even open on Wednesdays!)  If I can't then I will drive 30 miles to Parker to the hospital that has an insta-care facility in its ER.

I didn't think I would ever be so excited to have someone put a big needle in my shoulder and cut me open with a knife but there you go.

My knee is at a standstill.  I still have full range of motion with it but I can't walk more than 20 steps without using my crutches.  I have a small brace that I wear a lot of the time...if I am not going to be going anywhere I will take the brace off and let the knee rest...and the ankle swelling because of the brace, go down.  I am so thankful I have my jewelry....it keeps me busy when I can't go out walking every day.

The days are pretty lazy.  We get up about 8:30 or 9...Ed will usually get up a little earlier and turn on the catalytic heater so the temp is warmer in the trailer.  We eat breakfast and I wash the few dishes and set them to dry in the drainer.  A couple of times a week I clean the toilet and sinks, vacuum the rugs in the trailer and sweep the floor.  Making my bed is the only thing I do every single day.  One day a week we usually go into Quartzsite and do laundry - a couple days a week we go on nice long 60-70 mile ATV rides with friends.  By the time we get back in the Razor my knee feels pretty shook up but I just ice it and take some Arthritis Acetaminophen and I feel good enough to fix dinner.

About 10:30 you can find me laying on the chaise lounge outside.  As soon as the temp gets up to 55 outside I go.  Ed has built a wind break along the Northwest/West side of the trailer so you can sit outside and enjoy the sun without the cool wind hitting you.  Most days the wind is only about 5-10 mph but that can feel cool at 55 degrees.  Now with the wind break we actually can only sit outside for maybe 45 minutes before we get HOT.  So its back in the trailer and that's when I work on my jewelry.  Then and in the middle of the night when my knee gets to aching (and my shoulder too).  Then I quietly get out of bed, shut the little cloth door to the bedroom, get out a warm robe (we turn the temp down to 60 at night to save on propane) and make pretties.

There are several ladies out here who make jewelry daily too so we have lots of ideas to share around.  I am hoping that I can be back out here in the desert by 1 pm tomorrow as that is our weekly Wedn craft day....sometimes someone teaches us something new, sometimes I have taught a class also.  Sometimes we all bring our own projects and work on them together---knitting, crocheting, quilting, beadwork, beading, cutting t shirts to make darling blouses.  I got busy tonight while watching the news on TV and laid out the beads I need for my turquoise pair of foot bracelets.  We are having a dinner and party for Marty Gras Saturday night at the tent and I brought along my Halloween costume with the long turquoise sari to wear.  I don't know if the guys are dressing in costume for Mardi Gras but most of the ladies are.  The days that we aren't out on an ATV ride, or off to Parker or Blythe for fun then we meet at the tent at 4 pm for happy hour with our soda's or water.  Ed fell in love with Diet Coke with Lime in it and was drinking three or four of them every day.  So its back to Sams Club Cola for him.  I have found that I can almost enjoy the new diet coke with Splenda...the diet flavor isn't quite as strong.  I still have one pepsi a day - then I will either have a Splenda coke or water.  We are drinking cases of water...which is much better for us.

I do miss the walks...if I want to go over to visit neighbors (our trailers are pretty spread out) I have to crutch it or hop in the Razor.  When we get home I will go up to the clinic and get a referral for a good orthopedic doctor and figure out first of all WHAT I did to my knee and then next, how do I fix it.   I elevate it, I use my crutches and brace regularly, and I ice pack it.  and it healed to a certain point and STOPPED!  However I took an ibuprofen last night because I was aching all over and when I woke up this morning both my shoulder and my knee felt better.  The doctor wants me to continue taking ibuprofen for the next few days to keep the swelling down in my boil area.  YAY!!