A Gray And Pink Morning Sky

7:06

7:19

7:20

7:23

7:23

I woke to vast horizontal, cloud banks hanging in the eastern sky, then slowly pink began to appear and spread above the horizon yet the sun had yet to rise.  At the moment, it's 7:23, the sky is turning orange, the sun should rise in maybe ten minutes.  Not much waterfowl this morning as I set out in clouds, paddled home in the sun.

Kayak Morning

Mallard Male

8:07

Yesterday was a long day since we drove to the Cleveland Clinic for Evie's pre op.  We left at 8:15, just to make sure we would get there on time.  It's a good thing we were not going today since Trump will be in Erie, PA and Interstate # 90 is likely to be closed.  Anyways, we got there an hour early, parked, again, on the parking garage roof, the only space left.  We spent the next hour with Evie's neurosurgeon's PA and nurse, explaining how to prepare for the operation, what to expect after for the next four to six weeks.  They were thorough and nice, answered all of our questions.  The most interesting part for me was the prep the night before the operation, which cuts down the possibility of an infection.  They gave Evie an antiseptic lotion to apply to her body the night before the operation, let it sit for 3 minutes, then wash it off.  Then, the next morning, she was given wipes, to wipe off her entire body once again. Things like this have cut their infection rate from 6% to below 1% according to the nurse. We then waited forever for the next two tests, an EKG and blood test before finally ending up at pre-registration to finish our day at 3:45.

We had quite a bit of traffic on #90, through Cleveland and the eastern suburbs but it lightened up after Painesville.  By the time we arrived at the PA line, we stopped for gas and Evie mentioned our friends, Linda and Ron, had wondered if we wanted to go to Steener's Pub for their steak special.  It sounded good to Evie since we had nothing to eat at home, so I called them and told them we would go straight to Steeners, meeting them just after 6:00.  We found seats at the bar, Linda and Ron arrived soon after us, and we had our favorite bartender, Serena.  We, of course, ordered the steaks and fries and they were great, just what the doctor ordered to perk up Evie's spirits on a depressing, long day.

We were home by 8:15, exhausted from the day so we both put on something comfortable and collapsed in the TV room.  We watched another episode of A Place To Call Home but Evie fell asleep midway and went up to bed around 9:00.  I soon followed, also wiped out.