I got some sad (though not unexpected) news this morning.  Mom's 'fella' Ted, who hasn't been doing well lately, died this morning.  He was quite a nice guy, and will be missed by all who knew him.

 

I saw the doctor this morning about my troublesome thumb joint (and lately the involvement seems to have spread to my wrist.)  He gave me some meds which will hopefully help until I see the orthopedist on the 23rd.  I'm also going to have an x-ray taken, probably tomorrow, to see just how advanced the arthritis is.

Arthritis at the base of the thumb is one of the most common locations and can be very disabling. Because the strength and motion of the thumb is required for nearly every activity - whether writing, opening a jar, or buttoning a shirt - pain from this condition may impede the most basic everyday tasks.

The rest of today was taken up working on my book challenge quilt.  Wanda came over as scheduled and was a tremendous help.  (We did take a break around noon and lunched at the Wildflower with Jeannie and Cynthia, who will be taking over the AQG Membership position.)  By the time Wanda left my quilt was looking much more complete.  Plus she gave me a suggestion that is a big improvement over what I was originally planning in one section.

 

Tom has been busy getting ready for his big trip to cooler climes in Northern California, centered around the Davis Creek knap-in/rock collecting venue.  This year he'll have a bed inside the camper shell; last year he slept outside on a cot - and woke up dusted in snow one morning.  (Yesterday morning the low there was 38, which doesn't sound a whole lot more appealing than our triple-digit degree temps!)

  

Here the forecast for the next seven days is 106 or above each day so Tom has moved up his departure day to escape some of our heat.  (And he just told me why I can't reach Teresa at home: he spoke with Kaye earlier, and because of the heat they also moved up their departure date and are already in Colorado.) 

 

Tom surprised me and got his hair cut today - a LOT!  Of course it made quite a drastic change in his looks.  His hair had gotten long, but now he looks really scalped.   He says it hasn't been this short since he was in the Army - obviously all that hair was just too much in this heat.   So much for the hippie-hair pony-tail he promised Lisa for our visit to Haight-Asbury in August.