First Day of U.S. Open a Blast

Posted on by Mike 2 Comments

I forgot to bring the USB cable for the camera, so I can’t download the photos until I get home. I still have room for 1300 more on the 2GB card in the camera, so you’ll have lots to see then.

Today was loads of fun. We walked the entire course—not in hole order, saw gobs of pros—but not Tiger or Phil 1We did see Vijay, K.J., Trevor, Michael Campbell, Bubba, Zach, to name a few, watched lots of shots, bought some U.S. Open goodies, and generally got sunburned from the long hazy day.

From our hotel, we walk to the trolley station, take the trolley to Qualcomm Stadium, take the shuttle to the golf course. It takes about an hour total, but is very relaxing…we don’t have to drive.

We’re looking forward to our trip to Seal Beach to see Old Dad and Pretty Betty. We’ll spend the whole day and part of the evening. 

Tonight, we’re beat and are heading for the rack right now.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 We did see Vijay, K.J., Trevor, Michael Campbell, Bubba, Zach, to name a few

Mrs. Major Passes The Test

Posted on by Mike 2 Comments

Saturday, I worked all day at the Villages Woodworkers Club Woodshop which gave Mrs. Major a chance to see how she would fare while I was out of town at the U.S. Open. She passed with flying colors. She can completely take care of herself.

She’s enlisted the help of friends and neighbors while we are gone. One is moving the newspaper from the driveway to the front door, another is coming to sit in the house while Mrs. Major takes her shower, others are bringing dinner each night, still another is accompanying her on her nightly walk down the street.

They Came And Took It Away, Hey, Hey

Posted on by Mike 5 Comments
Mrs Major\'s Smiling Face

In a surprise move this morning, Apria Healthcare, Inc., called to say they’d be by this afternoon to pick up the CPM. We both cheered. Cleveland just left with the dreaded machine. Now Mrs. Major is almost independent.

Bonnie asked what is Mrs. Major going to do while Son Major and I go to the U.S. Open. She can pretty much take care of herself, but we’ve got neighbors and friends lined up to do things like move the newspaper from the driveway to the front door each morning, hang around while Mrs. Major takes a shower, bring meals, and be on call in case she needs someone.

We live in a pretty incredible community. We had several neighbors volunteer to help. Charlene also has some women who play cards together and exercise at the pool together who are all over this. In fact, I think they’re kind of glad to see me go so they can spend more time with Mrs. Major. Read more

Getting Ready For The U.S. Open

Posted on by Mike 6 Comments

On Sunday at around 3:30pm, Son Major and The Major will depart for the Tampa airport to make the trek to San Diego and the 2008 U.S. Open Championship. We signed up to be volunteers almost a year and a half ago. We will be working the Thru and Leaderboards during the competition. We have passes for the three practice rounds on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and for the Championship on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If there’s a playoff on Monday, we’ll get to see that too.

The photo is of some of the gear we have. You can see the hat, shirt, parking passes, lunch vouchers (yellow), and of course the volunteer pass that gets us in for all the activities. 1We also received another shirt, water bottle, and jacket

Much to my surprise, cameras will be allowed on the three practice days, so we’ll be snapping lots of photos. I might even get another card for my camera. No cell phones are allowed on any day, and not cameras are allowed on the Championship days. Read more

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 We also received another shirt, water bottle, and jacket

The Dreaded Machine

Posted on by Mike 4 Comments
The torture machine for the knees

As posted earlier, Mrs. Major has a constant physical motion (CPM) machine that flexes and extends her legs. She is supposed to spend six to eight hours a day per knee in the machine. That’s next to impossible.

We call it dreaded because she can’t get in and out of it by herself. Well, actually, she can get out of it if her right leg is in it because she can roll to the left out of the bed lifting her right leg as she rolls. When her left leg is in the machine, she can’t roll to the left 1Her side of the bed is the left side when she’s laying on her back. It’s hard to get into because there’s a furry extension that she must lay on with her butt and it’s nearly impossible to get flat. The wrinkles make her sore: the princess and the pea sort of thing. The photo is an early one (bandages still on) of her leg in the dreaded machine.

She was a little down this morning. She’s getting very tired of not being able to go at it full steam ahead. She’s tired of the achy knees. And she’s tired of not ever being able to get comfortable. 

The great news is that her flexion is 103º in her right leg and 105º in her left. I think she has the dreaded machine cranked up to 109º. I heard great cheering from the other room when the therapist did the measurements.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Her side of the bed is the left side when she’s laying on her back.