Early morning again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Does one and a half hours' more sleep last night count as an improvement? I suppose so, but I wish I could have slept in until after 3 am. Hence yet another blog entry.

Apparently the gas engineer is going to arrive first thing this morning - good luck Jo with the negotiations. She's got a lot on her hands just now - she was working away for over 20 hours yesterday - cleaning, visits to the tip and the store, plus cooking. No ironing however - that's planned for today - if she can find any spare time.

On top of that, there's the downstairs WC project - the sparky arrived last night and wired up the new shower, so all that's needed now is for them to finish off the half cladding on the walls, then get a floor covering down.

Then there's the kitchen, of course. We still have to get some more glass splash-backs and the wooden uprisers - Jo's thinking of using John Lewis, if she can get there tomorrow. Taylor's have the order already for the floor covering, then we'll have to get Davie, our painter, back to do the walls and ceiling. I paid the deposit yesterday on our new kitchen table, so hopefully that's under control now as well.

After the central heating, kitchen and WC are finished, the next project is the utility room. We kept back some of the old units from the previous kitchen and intend to have those fitted. The work is once again being done as a "homer" by Ross' pal Dan and his colleagues, so we'll have to wait for the WC to be finished first. I'm looking forward to eventually getting the house back to some semblance of normality again - we're tripping over everything just now - including a full size drum kit that's in the downstairs computer/games/work room. It takes up a lot of space but hopefully we'll be able to move it on soon.

At least we don't have the old Merc in our driveway now. It's nice that the three of us can all bring our cars in and out without having to do any shuffling around. Jo borrowed Isobel's power washer before we went away, intending to give the driveway a good blast to get rid of the marks left behind by the Merc after - what was it? - 3-4 years, rusting away on our driveway?

So you can see that retirement for Jo is not quite so cosy just now, with all these projects going on!

I'm hoping to have a game of golf again tonight - if I can stay awake until 5 pm. Forecast's not too bad - shorts perhaps? Sadly, after tonight, we only have 3 Wednesdays left of our midweek "Summer Quaich" season - after the end of this month, it's too dark to get a full round in after work.

I've got a lot of golf to catch up with in August. On Saturday, it's down to Johnstone for the Cochrane Castle Invitational with Brian, then, on Tuesday, I've got a corporate invite to Meldrum House, followed on Friday by the 2nd attempt to play our Midsummer Outing at Tarland - the first one got called off half way round when a huge thunder and lightning storm hit us back in June. Brian's going to play with us there too as it's Banchory's Invitational on Saturday and he's coming up for that - hopefully we can squeeze a bed for him OK!

Got a trip to St. Andrews on Tuesday 21st, then 5 consecutive days of golf from 30th August - Glenbervie (corporate), Aboyne, Banchory, Grantown and Boat of Garten. Will I manage it all? Probably not - but that's the programme anyway.

September's busy too - but I won't bore you any further with all the details, save to mention that the middle weekend is our return Hill-walking trip to the Lake District. Now, unlike last year, I haven't managed to do any of the "training" walks at all this year. Will need to try out the knees before then, that's for sure.

Talking about knees, do you want the latest on my various health conditions? No? Well here it is anyway:

1. Dentist next Tuesday to hopefully do something with the tooth I broke on holiday.
2. As we were leaving Grants Pass on Sunday, I tripped down the steps leaving the trailer and sprained my ankle. It's getting better, but it's still very tender - will it affect my golf?
3. My new orthotic wedges were fitted just before we went away and seem to be OK, but, on holiday, I was mostly just wearing flip-flops, so it was quite an adjustment putting proper shoes (with wedges) on again - my calves have been aching since I reverted on Sunday.
4. I lost count of the number of head knocks I got on holiday - going in and out of cars, trailers etc and banging on cupboard corners. I seem to have lost some of my spatial awareness when it comes to bending down - the top of my head is full of scars and broken skin. Is this an age thing or is something else going on?
5. It's my annual health check next Wednesday and we've got a new provider this year - Nuffield Health. So far, they seem to be much more modern and well organised beforehand. I've already filled in an extensive online questionnaire about my medical history and now I've to complete a detailed report of my diet for 4 consecutive days - every meal, drink and snack - quantities/weight, type, cooking method, brand etc. And, of course, there's the horrible ritual of the 3 stool samples to provide as well. My main concern has to be my rising weight and lack of exercise however. Why did I arrange this for just after a long holiday in USA? Answers on a postcard please.
6. Got my 6 monthly check-up with my cardiologist at the end of the month as well.
7. Jo went to the Doctor's and Chemist yesterday  and picked up our regular monthly drug supplies - I'd run out on holiday and had to share some of Jo's beta blockers and statins.

So that's about it - pretty extensive, huh? The product of lack of sleep - I hope I won't be filling in my time with too many blog posts like this one.