The below was written last Saturday a.m. before it got cold again and snowy. We have gotten about 3 more inches and should get more this weekend. I am sick of winter!

It is a balmy 45 degrees out today. :-) After the single digits at night and all the snow this seems like spring. The local weather guy said we have had the worst winter stats since the mid 70s. I hope it stays as we have an unheated crawl space so our hardwood and tiles floors are really cold. Sophie has the sneezes and my feet freeze even with my L.L. Bean lined slippers. They are the most wonderful slippers ever and I am on my third pair now - been wearing them since the 1970s when we moved to Alaska. Only thing that really keeps my feet warm. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/23777?from=SR&feat=sr

It has been a really weird couple of weeks with what I think was a stomach bug. I think I picked it up at the new orthopedic surgeon's office. Took all day for the appointment. First I met with the Worker's Comp. rep. who has had 21 years of experience with Lexington area docs so I feel I am good hands as far as she and the new knee doc as this guy works with the UK athletes. Then we met with the nurse, then the physician's assistant, and then finally the actual doctor. After moving my knee around and looking at films of my knee before and after the the first surgery he thinks a second surgery may not be necessary. :-) He gave me a shot in the knee that hurt like Hades going in but it was worth it. My knee was numb for days! :-) Then we met with the tech who fitted my knee brace - not much fun to wear as it pushes against my kneecap, pulls on muscles and tendons that are not happy about it as well as makes everything ache as it changes the way I walk. I see him again next Tuesday to determine if there has been any improvement. I have all my digits crossed as the last surgery really made the fibro symptoms go into over drive.

Sadly - the Tuesday appointment indicates one, and possibly two, more surgeries on my knee to fix it so I can start using it again. I hope so - I'm tired of not being able to go for a walk in the neighborhood even. But, he won't schedule it until we get an okay from the neurologist I see later today. A trip to the ER on Monday when we thought I was having a stroke resulted in a CT Scan. No indication of a major stroke but there is some nerve damage to my right side. The CT Scan also showed what appear to be lesions on my skull. I think it is scar tissue from my brothers dropping me on my head as a baby! Easier to joke about it than think of what it could mean.

I finished up David Klass's The Caretaker Trilogy, Book 3, Timelock. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Timelock/David-Klass/e/9780374323097/?itm=1&USRI=timelock+klass which has very cool cover art. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know I do not put cover art up as I haven't requested copyright permission to do so. I know a lot of blogs and other sites so do but I feel I should set an example for my LS students as I don't allow them to add cover shots on their assignments either, unless they have actual publisher permission and that takes times. Anyway - the cover of Timelock shows Jack, the "beacon of hope" for the future of the earth, with his futuristic scimitar that glows blue in front of a huge polar bear. The setting for the final showdown with the Dark Lord is the Arctic. Again, Klass weaves ecological information into this adventure tale. The Caretaker Trilogy addresses what generations of humans have done to the Earth, from the oceans in Book 1, Firestorm http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Firestorm/David-Klass/e/9780374323073/?itm=6 which introduces Jack, a senior in high school whose focus is sports and his girl P.J. That is until he discovers that his parents are not his own and that he was sent back in time from the future to help save the earth. Jack escapes the Dark Lord's soldiers sent to kill him. And now it is time to become a warrior himself. A wisecracking dog, Gismo, who talks to Jack telepathically, along with a "Ninja Babe" from the future, Eko, who is also destined to be his mate, help Jack stop the destruction of the oceans from accelerated global warming. The ecological focus is on the impact of trawler fishing on the ocean's reefs. The second book, Whirlwind http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Whirlwind/David-Klass/e/9780312384296/?itm=4&USRI=david+klass is set in the Amazon. Klass clearly has a message about what we are doing to to the rainforest and the Earth's ability to breathe when the trees are cut down but it is weaved into Jack's race to find P.J. as the Dark Lord has kidnapped her. Of course, Gismo and Eko are there to help him, along with a shaman. Klass uses short sentences and phrases, which may irritate some readers, but it adds to the frantic pace of this time sensitive quest to save Earth from becoming a barren planet. This series is not going to win literary awards, but I still love these books. And, the fact that this is the only set of YA novels Greenpeace has ever sanctioned on its web site supports the accuracy of the ecological information weaves into the story.

That's it for now - need to get some grading done before going to the doc's.