The past couple of months have been a chaotic nightmare in many ways.   Firstly, we were ready to move into the Octagon on The Hill as of the first of the year, so I got given the job of moving everything from the Rental to the new house.   Lisa, who has had increasingly bothersome amounts of pain and disability from her left hip, was not really able to help that much.  She managed a couple of sessions of a half hour or so each, of putting stuff in boxes, but, that was it.   The entire burden fell on me.   In addition, when we told the landlord that we were finally heading out, they turned around and found someone to rent the place who wanted to move in almost the day after we exited!   Of course that was not going to happen, as there was cleaning that needed to be done, and, some repair items that had been pending because I was too nice a guy to make an issue of it with them.   However, they needed us out by the end of February.   I made it, by pushing myself too hard, and, through the kind aid of several of my friends, who came out one day and helped me get four truckloads of possessions out of the Rental and into the Octagon – including the heavy stuff of the appliances and some other furniture.   I cannot express how thankful I am that they came through for me, and, would not even let me feed them dinner in return!   I will get them later with the dinner thing, but, I did not push it then. 

     Then, to add to the fun…At the first of February, Lisa went to an appointment with her medical group, and, finally mentioned to them during the examination that she was having a lot of pain from her hip.   They took an x-ray, and, a few minutes later popped into the examination room to say she was scheduled for an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon on the next Tuesday.   She felt that it was probably not good news simply because one does not get an appointment that quick for a consult, or double-check.  Indeed, the surgeon, Dr. Oros, looked at her scans and scheduled her for hip replacement surgery 10 days later!   While things went very well, indeed, she did have to stay in hospital for several days, and, I, of course, spent much of that time there too – which meant that nothing got moved from the Rental.   It has now been four and a half weeks since the operation, and, from my point of view, she is doing very well indeed.   She has been very good at doing the physical therapy exercises we were shown in Joint Class,   and continues to push the envelope.   She discarded the walker almost completely after Dr. Oros said she could try walking with a cane a little bit, and has hardly used it since.   She is back to work, at least for half days until the NEXT appointment, where with luck, she will be cleared for full time again.   she is driving herself fairly well.   And, her quality of walking has improved greatly.   Now, for example, she is getting good, normal movement out of her left leg – after using it for little more than a crutch that she moved by swiveling her hips for a couple of years.   She is quite steady, and has had NO falls, even when negotiating stairs.    Finally, her uses of the cane is evolving.   She was putting weight on it when she first started using it, but, now, it is more for balance and steadiness.   So…that is good, but, since I was the caretaker during this time,  it did complicate trying to get other things done.

     Finally, once everything was packed into the Octagon, that still left a somewhat overwhelming number of boxes to empty out and sort out the contents to their final location.   That has proceeded apace, though, and while it is still pretty chaotic here, it is easier to find things, and the paths are MUCH wider.

     As for the Art and Cats part of the title….that has to do with the move too.   The cats are really taking to their new environment well.   They enjoy the fact that they can run long distances now, and, have several big windows where they and Mr. Sunbeam can get together.    They are also enjoying exploring the main part of the Octagon, and, really want to get up into the tower (which has been off limits because they could have escaped into the garage)  and have managed to get into it a couple of times already.  Since I covered the open risers of the stairs with wood paneling, I have no problem with them going into it now.

     So…we are in the Octagon.    It is a MUCH better house than we have lived in for some time, and, if we can keep it is going to be a great place for parties, and life in general.   Keep your fingers crossed!