PrunePicker: April 2013

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Heparin needle.

I have been getting heparin shots in my belly twice a day for a month. The last week I have been doing it. It does not hurt but I hate doing it. Heparin is a anti clot medicine and a blood thinner. I am glad that I only have enough for a few more days.

I hope I do not have use a needle again.

Kittens, goldfish, and old black dog.

Lots of critters around this place.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Shelley. Physical therapy expert.

Shelley is with Carroll Home Health. She really knows her stuff.

A walk to the corner of HWY 544 and Spring Creek.

About a mile walk.

We live in an area with lots of busy intersections.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Joy is 40 years old.

The young lady in this picture is my grand daughter Joy with most of her family. So young and pretty!

I take nine Prescription Medicines at this time.

How can I die with so much medicine working on me? I went for a little walk this morning (thinking about immortality). Sure was good to get back. I carried a little camp chair so I could stop and rest. I can not go for a drive until I am cleared to drive my car.

When I got home I made a list of the medicines I take now. Thursday I have an appointment to review them with Dr Carter, my VA Doctor in Monroe.

Can you think of any thing I am missing?

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Death in the air.

Death and sadness is in the air. Look at Bangladesh and Boston. These things are in the news and in my mind and I realize that I will die soon. This the sad truth. Yet I realize that I live in very fortunate circumstances. I should spend much more time counting my blessings than I do thinking negative thoughts.

I am trying.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Needle in the belly and new gravel on the driveway.

First day at home was exciting. John gave a me a shot of Heparin in the belly and then got a new coating of gravel on his driveway.

What a pretty driveway,

Thursday, April 25, 2013

First Day Home.

A few last pics of my old friends at Ruston Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. They are all so nice.

A very nice place.

They tried to teach me how to talk.

Nice lady.

My Sweetheart.

Home Sweet Home. That is the Adam's house in my backyard.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Lunch at Jefferson Corner.

Jefferson Corner sure looked good. I had not been there since the Friday before my brain surgery. That was a month ago. Rhonda picked me up and the Colman's brought me back to Ruston Rehab.

Cookie with the smiling face.

Pork chops and cheesy chicken spaghetti.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I had several guests while at Ruston Rehab.

They were so nice to take time out of their busy lives to come see me.

I did not get pictures of them all.

I missed getting pictures of Skip Russell, JD Harper, John Matthews, Rosa Blakley, Joy Newberry, Kerry Adams, John Adams,

Monday, April 22, 2013

I am a star of Rehab!

John came in this morning and said that they are sending me home on Thursday. It is going to be exciting to get home, It will be good to see Midnight, Felix, and the new kittens. It will be exciting to have something to blog about instead of just brain surgery.

I thought that I was a natural at rehab.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Transient ischemic attack.

I had my third TIA yesterday. Some call it a mini stroke. It can last a few minutes to several minutes, The effect on me is two fold, My right hand will not respond correctly and I will not be able to say what I want to say.

I have had three TIAs. On April 3, April 5, and April 20.

I am hoping for no more,

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Rehab is a six day a week job..

I am keeping busy.

My niche in the Blogosphere.

My blog is about me, my family, my interests, my opinions, and my daily activities. My name is Chuck Monson. I am a native born Californian. I worked in the oil exploration and production business and am now retired and living in Ruston, Louisiana. I am a 91 year old widower. I blog because I really enjoy it. Posting gives me a schedule and is a wonderful make work project. I like pictures, both the taking and looking at them. I really like old historic pictures. I enjoy a good photograph. I like putting pictures and text together in a way that is hopefully interesting to others and that will be interesting to me in the future. I like to be silly now and then. It is also putting my memories down on paper. My blog serves as a diary. I have used it for a reference quite a few times.

I do mix it up. Some of my blogs are “what I had for breakfast”, some are just pictures, some are items of genealogical nature, and there are items from my family history. I have a history of the Munson/Monsons in America. The study of this history has led me to the discovery of much American history that had previously been unknown by me.

I have had a lifelong interest in history, archeology, philosophy, religion, politics, architecture, technical subjects, music, food, and sports. I spend time every day reading blogs and posting to my blog. I do not pontificate on religion or politics because I do not consider myself wise enough to try to persuade others to my beliefs. My beliefs are quite nebulous anyway.

I was started on blogging by my late son, Christopher David Monson. Chris wrote the blog "snaggletoothie of the Loyal Opposition" There is a link to his blog above. I look at Chris's blog often. I have read most of his posts.

My adult years.

I married Jackie Lois Ireton in 1944 in San Luis Obispo, California. I met her on a blind date when I was taking amphibious training at Moro Bay. We have been blessed with four children, nine grand children, and nine great grandchildren. They are an exceptional group. I love them and I am proud of them.

I was an army combat engineer (infantry with shovels) during World War II. I served in the Pacific. I was wounded on Peleliu Island helping the marines on Bloody Nose Ridge. I was shot in both legs just above the knees. The wound locations indicate that I was not running away.

I received a BSME in 1950 from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. Jackie received a PHT. (pushing husband through.) I retired from oilfield work in 1985. Jackie and I moved into a fifth wheel trailer and enjoyed the RV lifestyle until Jackie's health failed. We traveled across the continent 3 1/2 times. We spent a summer as volunteers at Acadia National Park. For 17 years we helped build an Escapee RV park in Chimacum, Washington. Jackie passed away in 2007. We had been married 63 years. We were married on June 3, 1944. I still live in our fifth wheel trailer. It is parked in the yard of my daughter Kerry's home in Ruston, Louisiana. It is by far the nicest RV park that I have ever lived in.

My teen age years.

I was born in 1925 in Pomona, California. Pomona is on the east edge of Los Angeles County. It is halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernardino and halfway between the mountains and the beach. I thought that it was great to be an hour from snow covered mountains and an hour from the ocean surf.

In my days of growing up, Pomona was completely surrounded by orchards and truck farms. Oranges, lemons, grapefruit, peaches, apricots, olives, persimmons, and walnuts. Watermelons and strawberries. During the depression I had many meals from the orchards.

They say that you cannot go back home. That is true of the Pomona Valley of my youth. Because it is no longer there. Most of it is now covered with asphalt and stucco buildings.

My ancestors.

I am getting more and more into genealogy. I have a trove of information on the Munsons/Monsons. My father is buried in California. His father by adoption (He was an uncle.) is buried in Kansas. His natural father is buried in Kentucky. So I have two grandfathers. I have a grandfather and four great grandfathers buried in Kentucky, one great buried in New Jersey, and three greats buried in Connecticut. I have two greats buried in Rattlesden, Suffolk, England. I have been led to believe that my ancestors before that came from Denmark and Normandy.

Captain Thomas Munson was the first Munson to move to America. He was baptized in Rattlesden, England in 1612. The baptismal font is still in use. He served in the militia in the Pequot Indian Wars in 1637. He served in the militia all his life and reached the status of Captain. His signature is on the founding document for New Haven, Connecticut.

In 2011 I visited New Haven and took pictures of his gravestone. In May 2012 my oldest daughter Nancy Ann escorted me to England and France. We visited Rattlesden and I took some pictures of the Captain's baptismal font.

Why is the old prune picker living in Ruston, Louisiana?

In 2006 my wife Jackie was in poor health. Jackie had kidney failure and was on dialysis. She had heart problems for some time with A-fib. She had fallen and broken her hip. She had broken ribs and vertebra just moving around normally. My family thought that I needed help caring for Jackie. My daughter Kerry and her husband John offered to park our trailer in their backyard in Ruston and help. Jackie and I accepted their kind offer. My daughter Nancy accompanied Jackie in an airplane flight from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington to Ruston. My son Mike took time off to help me pull our trailer for five long days to our new home. We were and are grateful. We enjoyed our new home very much.

Unfortunately and sadly, Jackie passed away in six months. I had sold our truck and was permanently parked. I was ready to give up full time RVing anyway. It is very pleasant in Ruston and I am close to family. So that is why I have been living in Ruston, Louisiana since October 2006.