The Winter Wind 2001

Cripple's Progress

This year has been spent mostly recuperating from my broken femur (which occurred in October 2000 see www.greatmaine.com/winterwind2000). I had another operation (#3) in May to put in lots of hardware since the minimalist couple of screws approach did not work -- part of the bone collapsed because of the French surgeons' incorrect procedure where they bored out too much bone. Improvement is seen month to month ... not day to day. As of the last 2 weeks I do not use a crutch or other aid if I only have to walk a few hundred feet. I have been exercising the leg regularly and going to a lovely new YMCA for swimming, hot tub, sauna, and some stationary biking. This has helped a lot. I doubt if I will be skiing this season ... but maybe next ;-) ...

Activities

I have been doing a little computer consulting work and taking care of my apartments (anything physical now takes 4 X as long --- have you ever tried to carry an extension ladder on crutches, let alone use it?). I built a new ramp to go to my float so that I could put my boat in the water and hence go more easily to the Island ... the old ramp would no longer hold the dog, let alone me. I did that on one crutch ... with which it is difficult to carry and cut a 16 foot 2x6 ... friends helped move it into place. I did a little kayaking including a 15 mile trip around Southport Island and made a couple of trips to the Island (again the help of friends was most invaluable). I started doing a little bicycling beginning in late August (you do not need to put full body weight on the pedals to bike) ... the problem was getting on the bike and stopping (I tried not to stop). I was beating the intermediates but could no longer keep up with the Big Boys. Foolish I might well be, stubborn certainly, but it was good to do some of my old activities.

(click on pictures to enlarge)

One Dog's Life

Mother Wobblier

My mother (Magn -- the maker of the world’s best Swedish coffee bread ... and other claims to fame) is now 93 years old. Toward the end of this year she became more wobbly than before. I remind her to use her cane and walker and cross my fingers that she doesn't fall and hurt herself. Her minor disk fractures from last year have mended and she doesn't have any other problems now. I sadly think that most of her traveling days are behind her. Her mind remains sharp as a tack ... she remembers what I forget and finds things for me.

I did make progress in one area with her this year. I cooked a pork roast and made chocolate chip cookies (almost simultaneously) but not according to her recipe or her timetable ... so she hovered over my shoulder and predicted imminent doom ... thankfully everything turned out delicious ... so now I am given just a little more latitude in the kitchen.

Sam the Dog
Samantha is doing well (~ 9 years old now). In the above picture I set a bed up on the end of the Point just to try another way of camping out. Sam came along and gave her 100% approval of its superior comfort rating. By the way, I recommend that everyone camp out in this manner -- put a mosquito net over it if its is buggy ... its the only way to go, though you have to have a strong back if you are a backpacker.

Meteors

I hope you had a chance to see the Leonid meteor shower November 18th ... I slept out on the end of the point (great view of the East, South, West sky) with some friends and we had the best meteor show of my life between 4 and 7 AM (hundreds of them). This was payback for many other nights where I did things like spending the night in a canoe in the middle of the New Meadows River watching for meteors with little to show for it other than bruises.

The Winter Wind 2001 Page 2

Moved Into the Point House

I moved into the Point House

with Paula late in the year! We decided that we had better get smart sometime before we die. And darn but we are HAPPY. This doesn't mean that we have mastered Relationships 101 ... there are, of course, the trials and tribulations ... four days before Paula moved in she called it off, grabbed her belongings, and roared out in a rage with eyes blazing. This was the result of a deep conflict over the best method for removing contact paper from a kitchen drawer. Murder probably would have resulted if it was a more meaningful issue. (Of course Paula maintains that that was just representative of deeper issues.) Thankfully, a day later sanity returned and we were on again and the move came off on schedule. Two long-time-independent willful ornery people is a dangerous combination. I will suffer a lifetime of lessons ... since humans are far more complex than theoretical physics (which can be mastered in only a decade of study). Actually, I doubt that I will make much progress, but I will bumble along and try, try, try .

Meanwhile we are working on getting the Point House fixed up. We painted, redid the floors, and now are attending auctions. We haven't left an auction yet with fewer than 2 oriental rugs ... (thankfully we have only been to 3 auctions). It seems there is a glut of oriental rugs on the auction circuit and ones that would be $2-5 K in commercial establishments are going for $200-500. Soon we may open our own rug store if we don't get a grip ...

pssst ... Want a good deal on a rug? ;-)

Many Things on Hold
But ...

Needless to say, many things are in limbo. My idea of taking time off for some travel and adventures got stopped on the first adventure with the broken femur. The cottage on the Island remains a thought though I did build a 1/12 scale model of my current idea (I could carry the model even on crutches).
But I nonetheless moved into the Point House (primarily because Paula kept pushing despite my skepticism over my disability). I got a chance to be a little quieter and do a lot more reading. So the obvious moral is ... play the cards you are dealt (you don't have a choice) and make the best of it. And you might as well be cheerful about it -- it probably could be worse.

Pictures:

Mother's 93rd Birthday

Paula on Wood Island

Paula, Steve, and Sunset from Wood Island

Sunset from the Point

Come visit : directions: http://www.greatmaine.com/steve/stevedirections.html

Merry Christmas!
Best Wishes for a Very Happy New Year!
Don't forget to enjoy!
Send me your email address!

Steve Winter
845 Foster Point Road
West Bath, Maine 04530

email: swinter@blazenetme.net

(note that the above regular mail address was new last year -- I have not moved but the houses all along the road were renumbered.)