Dental days

It's Wednesday morning here in Oregon - on the brink of the England - Croatia World Cup semi-final, but all I can think of is my poor teeth and gums which have been taking a pounding the last two days. My toothache was reviewed by Lucy's dentist on Monday morning and his analysis of the situation was that, to relieve the pain I was experiencing, either extraction or root canal work was required.

Extraction would create difficulties given where the problem tooth is and its key role in chewing and the fact that it would leave the adjacent tooth exposed and unsupported, so I opted for his recommendation of root canal work.

The dentist re-organised his daily schedule and started work later on Monday morning. He had to have three attempts at numbing me up and then I spent another couple of hours in his chair as he worked away on the root canals. He put in a temporary filling overnight and I was to come back first thing on Tuesday morning to have the rest done.

Tuesday brought more of the same - this time it took him 4 attempts to get my mouth sufficiently numb for him to start work. By now, I reckoned he must have injected me with Novocaine (or equivalent) more than 30 times in all. My gums must have seemed like a pin cushion.

Anyway, the root canal work was finished on Tuesday but I have to go back tomorrow (Thursday) morning to have the fitting for a crown. The results will then go to the lab and the completed crown should be back in a week or so.

Goodness knows what all this is going to cost - and our travel insurer has already refused to pay for it all - apparently all I'm entitled to is emergency pain relief. I'll keep arguing my case.

With all this going on, our plans to have some away days this week have been scuppered for the time being. I'm still popping Tylenol for pain relief, but hope to be better by the end of the week.

Sorry - nothing much else to report for now.

First full week at GP

It's Sunday morning here in Grants Pass and I'm feeling sorry for myself - I've got toothache and it looks like I'll have to go to the local dentist in the morning - bummer.

Anyway, here's what we've been up to since my last blog post:

Did I forget to show you the Lesinas' new BBQ - a Traeger?

It got its first serious outing on Wednesday - US Independence Day. It operates more like an oven and cooks using wood pellets, creating smoke. Scott's Mum and Dad, and sister Laramie and her partner Rick all came over for dinner, but we had to wait a bit for our pulled pork as it was a huge portion and took 10 hours to cook, but it was well worth the wait.

Once it was dark, we went to the front of the house and the boys let off the fireworks in the middle of the street:

It looks like the neighbourhood was aflame in this photo - but it was all under control.

On Wednesday morning, Jo and I had taken a short walk in Reinhart Volunteer Park, and on Thursday, with everyone back at work, we took a longer one, driving down to Rogue River to try out the relatively recently completed stretch of the Rogue River Greenway, which eventually is planned to go all the way from Grants Pass to Medford. This section is 4 miles long and it was out and back for us, so 8 miles in all - not bad in the heat of the midday sun. Here we are at the start, crossing the Rogue River bridge:

Friday was a quiet day for us - just some local shopping - but on Saturday we all went to the Farmers' market and then climbed up Dollar Mountain. Despite her fears, Jo managed fine:

We went to Judy's to pick blueberries after this and we now have 6 pounds of them in the fridge!

Temperatures picking up this week: