Florida Gopher Tortoise at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont, Florida.

Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont, FL Nov 1 – 15, 2024

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

On Friday, November 1, 2024 we left Wekiva Springs State Park at 1pm for a one-hour drive to Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont, Florida. We were back in site number 2, so that was familiar. We got set up, then quickly showered, grabbed a bite to eat and drove an hour into East Orlando to see our middle granddaughter Abby perform with her high school dance team for their homecoming football game.

It was fun watching Abby perform live. We’ve been able to watch her in videos her mom has sent us while on the road, but it’s a different experience when you’re there in person and we loved every minute of it. I took WAY more photos and videos than you’ll see in this post, but then that’s what grandparents do, right?

We spent Saturday back in Orlando at our storage room going through our stuff and dropping some off to stay, picking some up to take with us and even throwing some out. I lovingly caressed my boxes and boxes of books and told them I have missed them

Sunday we enjoyed hiking through parts of Lake Louisa State Park that we have not been to in a couple of years, and some we’ve never been to at all. Lots and lots of downed trees and standing water (even along the trails) due to Hurricane Milton coming through a month earlier.

Bella

Monday we were happy to have Bella back at her regular veterinarian, Dr. Wolfen, for her annual physical. Dr. Wolfen is the absolute best! She was up to date on all the vet reports we had sent to her while we were traveling and Bella had several blood and urine tests, as well as her annual inoculations while we were at the office. Then Dr. Wolfen spent a solid 30 minutes with us going through all our questions and concerns about Bella’s kidney failure. We have hope that she will remain at Stage 3 for many more months and Dr. Wolfen said that if she didn’t know of Bella’s underlying health issues she would observe that Bella is in very good shape for a dog 14 years of age.

A testament, I think, to the level of love and care we have given Bella over the years.

We have appreciated all the vets we visited with Bella over the past year since her kidney failure diagnosis. But it is SO comforting when you’re able to have your furry family member’s regular vet examine her and talk with you from the perspective of having been her main doctor for most of her life. Stage 4 could come at any time, but as I said earlier, we have hope that our continued care will put that arrival many months away.

Medical Appointments

Thursday was a day full of medical appointments in Orlando for both Cindy and I.

Most of them turned out good but I did get some concerning news from our dermatologist when I had to have a growth on my face biopsied. Won’t know the results for a few days. Meanwhile, I’m spending the time feeling like The Mummy with this huge bandage on my face, lol!

After all our appointments I dropped Cindy off at Amber’s where she’ll be visiting for a few days of mom and daughter time and bachelor status for me.

New Passport

Got my new passport in the mail at Amber’s after only 2 1/2 weeks since I first ordered it online. Cindy got hers about a week earlier because she applied a week earlier. A decade ago it took us 6 to 8 weeks to get it renewed through the regular mail process. These days you can do it all online and it’s very easy. The only thing I would suggest is getting professionally-shot passport photos to speed up the process. We tried taking our own, which they DO allow if the photos meet their requirements, but we just could not get the light and other factors right enough with our cellphone cameras to be accepted. A quick trip to Walgreens got us both the quality photos we needed and it was a simple matter to upload them with the online application.

I spent most of Friday relaxing, other than taking Bella on a walk in the morning and afternoon. The rest of the time I did some reading, some writing and watched “The Departed” all the way through for the first time. I tried watching it years ago but just couldn’t get into it for some reason. This time I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything in its own time, I suppose.

I also watched the six-part Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix. The first two episodes were a nice look back at the beginning of WWE (then WWF) but the last episodes were an ugly look at what the business became and McMahon’s own personal failures. Watching him in the interviews it seemed to me he has become demented these past several years. As I was told once long ago, some people live too long.

Family

On Tuesday our oldest grandson, Mikey, had surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his knee. Cindy and I joined my daughter Ann at the surgical center to be there before and during the surgery. The poor guy tore it several weeks ago and now has several weeks of rehab to go through to get back to walking without the assistance of a walker or wheelchair. But he came through this surgery fine, which made us very happy.

On Wednesday I came back into Orlando to meet Cindy, Amber and Abby for Abby’s birthday dinner after their day at Universal Studios. Abby enjoyed skipping school for that day of fun, lol. Dinner was at one of Abby’s favorite places, Tijuana Flats, and I think she had a good time.

The kids and grandkids just keep getting older and it happens much faster these days. At least it seems like it.

Basal Cell Carcinoma

On Thursday I got the bad news from the dermatologist; it was a Basal Cell Carcinoma on my face. On Wednesday of the following week at 7:55am they’ll start digging into the skin of my cheek with ever deepening and widening excavations in an attempt to remove all the cancerous cells. Wish me luck (though it will be long over by the time you read this). Looks like I’m moving from looking like The Mummy to the Phantom of the Opera before too long.

Or maybe Doctor Phibes.

We’ll be back here in about a month, but Friday it was time to move to our next stop. Thanks for following The Wandering Wetheringtons.

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