The Honda gets a bath

The amount of pollen had nearly turned our red Honda into an orange car... with all the other things going on, we decided to go ahead and get it washed at a car wash instead of trying to do it ourselves...

It was a rather "alarming" experience -- literally! as the car's collision avoidance system was hard pressed to deal with all the things coming at it!

Thankfully nothing crashed into us! And... before we got out of the car wash, I finally figured out how to silence the alarms!

 

Dedicated volunteers

Our community, Venture Out, is successful because of the large number of volunteers who help out around the community. 

Our two primary line dance instructions, Deb and Kay (on the stage) were recognized with gifts for their contributions through the season by those of us who have appreciated their teaching so much!

Side note: I am just starting to help with review sessions for the absolute beginner line dancers.

The golf cart returns!

I have written about the problems that we have had with our golf cart -- they stared on New Year's Eve (in the morning) when it would no longer go into reverse (and ultimately wouldn't go into gear at all -- previous posts: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/01/more-golf-cart-challenges.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/01/what-are-they-doing.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/03/off-for-repair.html). After Carl and Al had done diagnostics on it, they figured that it was the controller. Carl called a golf cart repair person that a neighbor, Don, had recommended, and the repair person picked it up earlier in March.

The repair person confirmed that the controller needed to be replaced. He also found some other issues with the golf cart. We confirmed for him to go ahead and replace the controller and the rear-end which was evidently hanging on only by a thread... 

The repair guy wanted us to come by and test drive the cart before he brought it back to us -- it turns out that the new controller in combination with the older motor makes some interesting sounds, and he wanted us to know that before he brought it back. We actually stopped by there on our way home from the hospital, noticed the odd noise, had it explained to us, and indicated that we were okay with the repair.

He returned it on March 18...

Our golf cart returneth!

We had tried to see the new rear end when we stopped by the repair shop, but it was easier to see with the cart up on the trailer.

We have enjoyed having our golf cart back!

St Patrick's Day

Carl was discharged from the hospital on late morning of St Patrick's Day. He wanted me to dance with the line dance group in the St Patrick's Day parade within Venture Out -- I had missed participating in the annual Line Dance Fiesta while he was in the hospital, so he wanted me to be able to participate in this event. Unfortunately, the day was very warm (98F), so (fortunately) the decision had been made that we would only dance at two locations in the park. Carl and I drove over to the nearest corner to our house and I got to participate with the dancers...

Gathering up to dance -- the other dancers were part of the golf cart parade, so we waited for them to arrive. 

At the beginning of the dance -- if you'd like to see a video of a part of the dance, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/2ode4hvbCvg 

Unfortunately, we weren't as practiced as we have been in previous years... just lots of conflicts that prevented us (as a group) from spending much time preparing.

There were a lot of creatively decorated golf carts in the parade!

After Carl's momentous week, both he and Miss Kitty needed a nap! *Everyone* is glad that Carl is home!

Observations on the hospital floor - part 2

More observations from the inpatient floor...

Carl continued to work with his incentive spirometer.

As we were walking the halls, different monitors would be alarming -- as we passed this one, it indicated that Carl's room had requested water! We didn't even know that we could request water via the patient call device. 

We *did* notice that it did not seem that they were very speedy about responding to calls -- most of the times that Carl would call for the nurse, it was because she had asked him to press the call button when his IV was complete. He would, but it would be 20-30 minutes before anyone would respond. At one point, he noticed that his IV was leaking. He pressed the call button, and no one responded. We knew how to pause the IV, so we hit the pause button, and then I went out to try to find the nurse. All the nurses appeared to be in other patients' rooms. I found a PCA (personal care assistant, not the one assigned to Carl, but another one) and asked her if it was okay that I paused the IV. She interrupted a nurse going into another room, and the nurse said that was okay. 

Eventually, another nurse came in and confirmed that Carl's IV had "blown out" and they would have to place a new one. Unfortunately, they sent a trainee nurse to try to place an IV in his other arm. There was a reason why they didn't initially put the IV into that arm... the vein at his elbow is just not as accessible. She tried to insert the needle causing significant pain but without success. Then she was checking his forearm, mentioning that his veins were deep in his arm and they may have to use a sonogram to place an IV on that arm. By this time, Carl was tired of being a guinea pig. The trainee nurse eventually placed the IV in his hand/wrist area, also very painfully, but he had a working IV port again. 

As we were walking the halls, we also saw the monitoring station. Carl had a number of monitors stuck to his body and they could monitor them from the nurses station. In the Observation area, he was attached to the monitor in his cubicle and it had to be disconnected for him to walk around.

On the floor, the monitoring was done "wirelessly" -- he had wires that ran to this device that he had to carry with him, but he didn't have to disconnect it to walk around.

Carl took pictures around his room as we were waiting for his discharge to occur...

The IV pole and control device for IVs, nurse's control station which is to ensure that the correct patient gets the correct medication at the correct time and at the correct dosage.

The hospital room - Carl enjoyed sitting up in the chair in the far corner of the room. He could move the IV pole over there and sit more comfortably than in the bed.

The toilet room and shower room

On Tuesday late morning, they finally processed the orders for Carl to be discharged. We came home with two oral antibiotics and directions to follow up with Carl's primary care doctor and pulmonary care doctor. We have since followed up with both of them, and he has referrals for another chest x-ray in two weeks, another round of blood work to make sure that he still does not test positive for Valley Fever, and to follow up on a dark spot on a lymph note that was discovered during the CT scan in his initial ER visit.

Our social life has been upended with medical appointments! 

Observtions on the hospital floor

Some pictures from the hospital floor where Carl was moved after being admitted to the hospital...

As we were doing our laps around the hallway, we saw these "Med Sleds" on the wall of the hallway outside the stairwell. We asked one of the techs on the hall and I think she said that they would enable just two workers to be able to get a non-ambulatory patient down the steps safely. (https://www.medsled.com/)

A framed photograph displayed in the hallway of a crested saguaro cactus in bloom - so pretty!

Carl getting his steps in... note that he has grey socks, indicating that he is allowed to get around on his own.

There was a walking map on the hallway wall letting us know how far we would walk in a lap! The nurse asked that we not leave the area in this wing of the hallway as it was possible that Carl's wireless monitors would not be able to continue to monitor him. We figured that 3 laps was less than 1/4 mile.

When I got home, I took a picture of Miss Kitty to send to Carl -- she was missing him and he was missing her, but not her waking him up at 4am... that was taken care of by the people taking vitals and administering IVs and taking blood for lab tests or taking x-rays -- yes, at 4am, or 3am, or 2am, or whatever time of the day or night!

Spirometer progress

One of the doctors told Carl that improvement on the spirometer was his "ticket to leave", so he definitely worked on it!

Here is a video of him using it: https://youtu.be/hrRRegsM_8k 

Note that he is breathing *in* (sucking in) to do the measurement. One thing he learned was to blow all air out before starting so he had more lung capacity to breathe in.

Up to 1750!

Carl kept on asking, "Where do I turn this in so I can get my ticket to leave?!?!?"

Moving upstairs

Late Saturday evening, Carl was transferred to an inpatient room upstairs in the hospital...

A much bigger room...

... and private! It had a door between the room and the hallway! Imagine the luxury!

And even an ice bucket thoughtfully provided in the bathroom! (well, maybe not...)

 

Improving breathing

On Friday in the Observation area, a respiratory therapist brought Carl an "incentive spirometer". 

Carl had been saying, "I can only take about 1/2 a breath," or, "Now it feels like I can take about 3/4 of a breath." The respiratory therapist wanted Carl to work on improving that...

On Friday, Carl could only get the spirometer up to about 750. The therapist wanted him to get it up to 1500 -- so, indeed, he was at about 1/2 a breath.

By Saturday, with his pain controlled, Carl was able to get the spirometer up to 1500!!!

At this point, we were thinking that we might be able to head home, but, unfortunately, the medical staff were concerned that his infection would not be addressed by oral antibiotics, so they wanted to admit him to the hospital.

While we were waiting for a room to be assigned (many hours),  

... an imaging tech came by and did a sonogram of his lungs.

Observations in the Observation area

In the Observation area of the Emergency department...

... there were these signs outside some rooms cautioning that the resident was a high fall risk...

... or, when the sign was flipped over, that the resident was just a normal fall risk. We didn't realize when we were in the observation area, but the socks that they give to the patients reflect whether they are a fall risk or not -- yellow socks = fall risk, grey socks = able to transfer and walk unassisted. (Carl had grey socks.)

The Observation area was not a very restful place. While there were walls between the areas where the beds were located, there were only curtains between the rooms and the hallways. Carl's room was right near the doors that led into the Observation area from the regular emergency room so people were being brought in all hours of the day and night and the doors were opening and closing, which was very disruptive.

The second night in the Observation area, the lady in the room next to Carl's got a phone call after 11pm (quiet times were 10pm-6am). She was talking quite loudly... Carl thought, "maybe a few minutes", but after 20 minutes he loudly said, "It is quiet time, please get off your phone!" The lady didn't get off the phone, but talked more quietly for another hour or more... Needless to say, Carl didn't get very good rest. There was no accommodation for a guest in the Observation area, so I went home and took care of (or was taken care of by) Miss Kitty.

Back to the hospital

Thursday (a week ago) found us returning to Banner Gateway hospital... Carl's pain had ramped up and we could not get it controlled at home, so we returned to the Emergency Room. The nurse doing triage was one who had attended Carl on Sunday when we were at the ER.

This time, they did more testing and eventually decided to keep Carl in the Observation area -- also part of the Emergency Department, where they could monitor him more closely and see if the antibiotic and pain management therapies were working for him.

Settled in for the night in the Observation area

Breakfast Friday morning -- when Carl's pain was managed, he really felt amazingly well -- not able to get a full breath, but able to walk around and sit up and enjoy eating.

The status board in the Observation area let us know that he could be discharged at any time.

Lunch -- meatloaf with potatoes and gravy and broccoli -- that was a huge serving of meatloaf and about half a crown of broccoli!

While in Observation, they were able to administer a couple of broad spectrum IV antibiotics which had a better chance of addressing the infection that Carl had. They could also administer pain medications via IV. It took a little while to get the right combination going, but after about 36 hours, Carl's pain was under control and his breathing was becoming easier.

Sinclair fuel stations

When we were out-and-about on Wednesday (we had gone to see Carl's pulmonary care doctor as a follow-up to the Sunday ER visit and were heading home), we saw a Sinclair fuel station.

Carl took a picture to share with his brother -- they used to have one near their house in Elmhurst and would go there to get air for their bike tires.

We have seen other Sinclair stations around our area of Mesa. I don't think we ever had Sinclair stations in Virginia, though I remember their dinosaur logo. I thought that they might be out of business. But it appears they are still active in the southwest and mountain states (https://stations.sinclairoil.com/).

Venture Out Swing Band

On Monday March 9, we enjoyed the talents of several of our neighbors here at Venture Out as the Swing Band presented their annual performance:

They are quite impressive!

If you'd like to hear a 40 second snippet of their performance, check out Carl's video here: https://youtu.be/wiULV9Ki2ok 

We are always amazed by the talent that surrounds us in our community!

Subway's Million Meatball Monday

Subway sandwich stores regularly have "Meatball Monday" where they have a special price on their 6" meatball sub. On Monday, March 9, Meatball Monday coincided with National Meatball Day, so they decided to run a promotion to serve a million meatballs in one day. Carl had gotten the promotion information (you could get a foot-long meatball sub for the special price on the 6", but you had to ask for it at the store, it wasn't advertised -- also, participating locations only). https://newsroom.subway.com/2026-03-05-Subway-R-Seeks-to-Serve-1-Million-Meatballs-on-National-Meatball-Day-with-Free-Footlong-Upgrades

So, we headed out to a nearby Subway... we asked if they were a participating location, they were not. We headed to another one -- initially they said that they were participating, but then they said they were not... so we left. By this point, it was a quest, so, before heading to a third location (they are all within 5 miles of where we live), I called and the manager there said, "Yes! We are participating!"

At the Subway

Carl's footlong meatball sub (and my 6" Chicken Teriyaki Onion sub) 

Cheap seniors, trying to save money, spending all their savings in fuel!

A detour on Sunday

On Sunday early morning (overnight), Carl woke up with pain in his side. He thought that maybe he had slept wrong, but he was having difficulty getting a full breath. After getting up, he got on his computer and had some coffee, and thought that things were okay, or at least, not as bad as overnight. We got ready and were driving to church when he said that he didn't think he was going to be able to be comfortable sitting in church, and maybe we should go to the emergency room instead. 

We headed to Banner Gateway ER and they took him in pretty quickly...

The ER has different "zones" -- he was initially placed in the Green Zone...

... you notice that he is in nice slacks... we were definitely overdressed for the ER. The Green Zone room was a regular room, with glass sliding doors covered by curtains separating patients from the other parts of the Green Zone activity.

A sign in the room indicated that we would probably be moved to a test results waiting area before discharge, and, indeed, they did move him...

... to the Red Zone. In this area, there were just curtains around each area...

Each area had a lounge-type chair, and some of them had a side chair. Some of the areas were only large enough for the lounge chair, and right next to you was a curtain and on the other side of the curtain was another patient in their lounge chair, sometimes talking on the phone, sometimes coughing... it was pretty uncomfortable.

Most of the other people in the Red zone were there for just a short time; the nurse would come to give them their discharge instructions and they would be on their way. 

We had been in the green zone for about two hours when Carl was moved to the red zone. Then we waited for test results. The "provider" (they aren't called "doctors" because they might be nurse practitioners, or physician assistants, or MDs) came and gave a preliminary result of pneumonia, but he wanted to do a CT with contrast for further results. We waited for 1.5+ hours for the young lady to come to transfer him for the CT scan. 

Carl in the red zone

Ultimately, we were at the ER for about 7 hours, and went home with prescriptions for 2 antibiotics and a pain med. 

A new toy at the Bocce ball courts

When we played Bocce Friday a week ago, we had the opportunity to use a new device that they have for the bocce ball courts -- a laser measure. 

The game of bocce has each team try to get their balls as close as possible to the palina. Determining which ball is closest is used in determining which team throws their ball next, and which team scores. Sometimes it is easy to determine which ball is closest just by looking, but sometimes it is not. We have had tape measures that are mounted on top of a cylinder that fits over the palina -- we pull out the tape measure and check the distance to "ball 1" and then "ball 2" to see which is closer (ball 1 would belong to one team, and ball 2 to the other team). 

In this case, the two balls in question were more than 2' away from the palina, and using the tape measure they appeared to be equi-distance. But recently, the courts had received laser measuring devices, and this was the first time either of the two teams that were playing had the opportunity to try it out... The balls that were being measured had been thrown from our end of the court -- generally the team members at the other end of the court do the evaluation, and generally only two people (one from each team) do the evaluation. In this case, because there was interest in the new device, the bench emptied, even a guy from our end of the court went along with a fellow from the next door lane who had used the laser measuring device previously -- I didn't go, so I got the pictures...

A great confab on the bocce ball court as everyone watched one fellow use the new laser measuring device...

"Blue has the closest ball!" (not our team, but you can see the celebration as it was determined!)

Our matches are really just for fun (and maybe bragging rights), so before having the laser measuring device, we would have just said that it was a tie and gone on to the next "end" without changing the score. In this case, the laser measuring device determined that the balls were within 0.02' of each other (about 1/3"). And... it is always fun to have a new tool to play with!

Tennis rummage sale

Twice during the winter season, the Tennis club at Venture Out sponsors and runs a rummage sale. They take donations from residents on Thursday, and on Friday, they run the sale.

The furniture is displayed on the patio outside the tennis courts. Two tennis courts are set up with all the non-furniture items that are available for sale. There is quite a line up in the minutes before the gates to the courts open as people prepare to find their treasures in the sale!

We don't usually get there before the gates open, but we did last Friday so joined the line pretty much at the end. We found a few things that we could use - some duplicates of items that we have in the rig so we don't have to move things back and forth from our "summer home" (Gracie) to our "winter home" (the park model).

The proceeds from the sale go back to the Social Board and serve to fund projects for any of the clubs in the park. They may go to projects that the tennis club has, but they may also go for another club -- glass arts, woodworking, electronics, bocce ball, horseshoes, etc. Each club identifies its needs and wants to the Social Board and the Board decides how the funding gets spent. It means that shopping helps out Venture Out, so we're actually serving our community by shopping! Yeah, right, that's why we do it!!!

A visit to American Discount Foods

A couple of friends had suggested that a visit to American Discount Foods might be an enjoyable outing for us, so, we were in the neighborhood and decided to check it out...

The store was *huge*. I think they get items when the items are close to their "best buy" date or "expiration" date. It isn't a place where you can do all of your grocery shopping, and I doubt that the products they have are the same from one visit to the next, but it definitely is an "experience"!

Carl just took a few photos...

The bulk frozen food was accessed through the back area storage area where the employees were getting the products on pallets to stock the dry goods.

5 pounds of venison medallions

The checkout area (when we came in to the store, we were way over in another corner of the store and we weren't initially sure where the checkout registers were located)

There were sayings on the walls (here a portion of the pledge of allegiance) and Bible verses on the backs of the tee-shirts that the employees were wearing.

Another picture of a quote from the Declaration of Independence

A product that we saw -- we didn't get this... but we'd never heard of "Spicy Cajun Crawtators"!

It was an experience, and we're glad we went. There is another location that is closer to Venture Out that we'll need to check out at some point...