It was supposed to be two weeks of rest and relaxation, but it didn't turn out that way.  I'm back from California where I spent most of my time attending to some of my dad's medical issues. He fell and broke his hip early in June, and he's progressing well from that. There were some other things that popped up almost as soon as I arrived to spend time with him.

Whether or not they were related to the fall we're not sure, but there were some angry red spots that began appearing all over his lower legs. He claimed they didn't hurt, but they continued to grow each day.  He was being checked every couple of days by a visiting nurse and a rehab therapist and finally they recommended he visit his family physician.  Well, he ended up in the emergency room for over eight hours as specialists converged trying to figure out what the problem was.

Since my dad is deaf, I was the designated interpreter the whole time, and I couldn't leave his side for a moment because so many doctors and specialists were coming by and every one of them had questions. They did all kinds of tests but couldn't come up with a definitive answer to the problem. Other than what was going on with his legs, he's in pretty good shape.  And over the last few days the condition has been clearing up.

So basically that's what I was doing for two weeks, helping out my dad with medical issues.  But there was more....his hot water tank began leaking and that had to be replaced.  That took another day.

And a bird apparently stole one of my shoes.  That's the only explanation I have.  I washed a pair of shoes after a day of hiking and put them in my dad's fenced in back yard to dry in the sun.  Hours later one of the shoes was gone and nowhere to be found.  I'm thinking a large bird...maybe a hawk thought the shoe was a small animal, grabbed it and flew off.  Any other ideas?

One cool thing I did get to do while I was in the Bay Area was to witness a major league baseball near no-hitter.  San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner had a perfect game going into the seventh inning against Arizona on Sunday.  An error spoiled the perfect game and then he lost the no hitter on a hit in the eighth.  Bumgarner settled for a one-hit, complete game shutout.  I don't get to see too many major league baseball games, so it was exciting to be a part of that.

So basically that was it.  Two weird weeks in California.  It's great to be back home.

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