Surgery Update

I must be one of the luckiest people.  This is something I've always suspected.  I found Wayne while on vacation visiting my mother's family in Newfoundland,  I ended up landing him a job at a great company while being a temp office worker when I was unexpectedly expecting, both my births were relatively easy, both my children are wonderfully complicated and decent human beings, when money was tight a solution eventually unfolded, my relationship with my husband rolls with the changes and gets better all the time, and I never broke a bone or had surgery.  I'm sure I could go on and on, and while my life, like everyone else's, has been filled with challenges I've always felt that the winds of luck have always been there at just the right time for me for some unknown reason.  Enter Lady Luck once again.

I went in for my surgery on Thursday for a SLAP procedure.  This injury is basically to the lining of the socket of the shoulder joint, and can also include damage to the area where the bicep tendon attaches. The details of how extensive the damage was were murky, much like my MRI.  How bad were the tears? How many?  Stitches or anchors? Would I react badly to the anesthesia? 6 weeks or physical therapy and a sling...or longer? 

My lucky streak shows itself yet again.  While the "block" didn't take and I woke up crying in pain, the news was actually fantastic.  No tears.  One area of slight fraying that was easily seen to, lots of adhesions from the "frozen shoulder" that were debrided and Pam is done.  Surgery downgraded from SLAP to Arthroscopic Capsular Release. Amazingly, what this means is that I was out of the sling and moving my arm freely, THE SAME DAY.  I'm still kind of in shock.  I'll be back to work in less than 2 weeks, full recovery just around the corner.  Here are the images Dr. Ricci gave me, full of yucky adhesions.  My joint is now shiny and new looking, and will hopefully stay that way a long time now.

But, back to that pesky "block" that didn't work again.  Due to that setback I was in so much pain that it was excruciating to lift my arm, while most patients are moving their arm to keep the shoulder from freezing up again.  I went to physical therapy the day after surgery and my therapist was shocked at how stiff I was and called my condition "exceptionally poor".  Hey, you can't be 100 percent lucky, right?  There has to be some sacrifices, I'll take the unexpected pain and stiffness in exchange for the easier surgery and faster recovery time!

Today it's much looser and the pain is half as bad as yesterday, the contraption I was supposed to be strapped to 3 times a day was picked up by the medical equipment company, and I feel like a kid on the first day of summer vacation.  Today's therapist upgraded me from "exceptionally poor" to "fair".  Pretty sweet improvement in 24 hours, I'll take it!

Southport Light, Kenosha

Katrina and I had some errands to run in Kenosha last Saturday so we decided to make an outing of it and went to check out the Southport Light Museum on the lakefront.

Built in 1866, the lighthouse is located on Simmons Island overlooking the shore of Lake Michigan.  This is one of three government lighthouses that were constructed at this site.  It was functional until 1906.  The tower is 55 feet high and could be seen for 12 miles on the lake.

A new fact I learned from the brochure is that lighthouses are round because they would be stronger that way in high winds.  The tower has 72 steps and the lantern used to be lit with kerosene oil.  Imagine carrying a bucket of that up these stairs!

Virginia was on hand to give us a quick tour of the few items in the light keeper's house.  I liked this wood stove whose kettle actually went inside the burner.  I've seen a lot of wood stove accessories in my day, but that was a neat trick!  Touring the house is free, but you have to pay to climb the tower.

Kenosha didn't used to be the booming city it is now.  This painting shows the area as it was in 1847.  I also loved the beautiful old map, but I neglected to note what year it represented.

I have some other things to show from our outing in Kenosha, but it'll have to wait because I'm leaving now for my surgery, so you won't hear from me for a few days probably.  TTFN!

Historic Mayville

In Mayville there is a museum in an old carriage factory that I thought we should take a look at while we were just a few miles away on Sunday past.  I was hoping that meant it was full of carriages...but it was an eclectic mix of donated items from area residents.  As museums go it wasn't very exciting, but it had a few items we found interesting, and you couldn't argue with free admission!

carriages

printing press

Mayville was originally settled in the mid 1800's by German immigrants, and of course the native American Potawotami, Fox and Ho-Chunk tribes. Wayne enjoyed the collection of insulators, having once collected them himself.  I downsized when we moved from the farm, those things are heavy to pack and move, and they certainly would have no place in an RV when we retire!

We donated five dollars on our way out, and stopped into the old Brunke Cigar Factory from the late 1800's also on site to see what they had on display.  The cigar rolling equipment was kind of neat, but my favorite thing was Mayville's first TV.

The size of the screen was barely larger than my hand.  Can you imagine watching TV on that thing?  And the picture reception was awful on top of being so small!  Happy to be around in the twenty-first century when it comes to entertainment options.  Speaking of entertainment, Mayville hosts "Audubon Days" the first weekend in October and one of the events is bed races.  Cool!

Even though I'll be out of commission due to my surgery tomorrow I have a few posts in reserve and if I'm able to type in a few weeks I'll start getting to some posts about our wanderings in Wyoming in 2009.  I've been behind in reading everyone else's posts, but it seems like posting in general has been fairly light so I assume everyone is out enjoying their summer travels and lots of details are soon to come.

The Herons of La Crosse

Like many other towns La Crosse has their own version of painted mascots to promote the arts and tourism.  The Herons celebrated the 30th Anniversary of The Pump House Regional Arts Center, and The Pump House is selling notecard sets and t-shirts featuring the herons.  If you're interested in one of the birds themselves, they were up for auction but I am not aware if there are still any available. For now there are a few around town for vistors to enjoy, these 3 are behind The Pump House, and there were 4 more upstairs in storage, so those might be for sale.  Enjoy these, and check out some other public art on Mural Monday if you like.

Horicon Marsh Sunday Hike

We needed something to do today before I'm stuck at home after my surgery later than this week. (More on that soon, I promise!)  We scoured the Wisconsin map for a suitable adventure within an hour and a half drive and settled on Horicon.  Horicon Marsh is a great place to check out the wildlife, and the visitor center was nice too with lots of stuffed animals to help you identify the critters outside.  They did not have binoculars for free use like the National Wildlife Refuges tend to do, however.

The amount of Canada Geese lingering near the visitor center trails was almost obscene.

We almost had to turn back, but eventually the crowd coming down the trail moved off to let us pass.

Isn't that almost too much cute to handle?  Here's the video version.

The boardwalk was really nice...but not finished so we had to backtrack to the gravel trail.

I was glad we did when we spotted this Kildeer.  She tried to trick us away from her egg by pretending to be hurt.  We tricked her in return by pretending to move away and then watching to see where she returned to.

Not very nice, I know, but we left her egg untouched in the middle of the trail and left her in peace.  What are those dumb birds thinking when they lay them there?  Bird brain, indeed. We almost stepped on it!

Back on dry land and on our way home we spied this crane having a snack.  We were hungry too, but not hungry enough to eat whatever that is!  Any guesses what the snack is?

Superhero of Her Own Life

The main reason for our recent camping trip was to see our daughter Katrina graduate from UW Eau Claire.  She majored in Women's Studies and minored in Sociology.  She's been applying to various non-profit organizations but her dream job would be to work in some capacity for Planned Parenthood and she's been applying all over the country.  This week she even had a preliminary interview for a job with them out of Appleton....her Daddy is hoping she gets that one!

I'll admit that my attention wandered during the commencement speech, but the one thing I remember is the speaker encouraging the graduates to "show up" .

 "While this commencement is a celebration of results you've attained, to me and to the world, it is not a finish line, but a starting block. A starting block for you, the class of 2013, to explode out of and race into the world with gusto. Constantly be superheroes of your own life and never, ever forget to show up."

Good advice for all of us, no matter what stage of life we're currently experiencing. 

Not Just Bikes and Berries

Monroe County in Wisconsin is promoting themselves as the place to go for "Bikes & Berries", but there is more here than cranberry farms and bike trails.  Don't get me wrong, we loved the bike trail and we've enjoyed driving past the cranberry fields and speculating on how it's all accomplished.  There is a Cranberry Discovery Center here in downtown Warrens, but they charge $4 each to go in and acquire that information, so I headed onto the trusty internet for some research instead. Thanks to www.wisconsinhistory.org for this information.

Cranberry Farming in Wisconsin

Cranberries have always been a vital part of our state's agricultural economy. Wisconsin provides more than half of the nation's total cranberry crop from 18,000 acres of beds. Another 160,000 acres are given to adjacent wetlands, woodlands, and uplands, and huge networks of ditches, dikes, dams and reservoirs are a common sight in our state.
Wild cranberries are native to the marshlands of central Wisconsin, and Native Americans harvested them for centuries. Local Ho-Chunk Indians carried on a large trade for them with early settlers of Juneau County in 1849. Commercial production in Wisconsin began near Berlin in Green Lake County in the early 1850s. The center of the industry later moved to marshes around Tomah, Warrens and Wisconsin Rapids.

Harvesting Cranberries

For hundreds of years cranberry harvesters picked the wild berries by hand. Starting in the 19th century, the cranberry rake— a hand-held tool with a large comb at one end and a basket at the other — increased production. The rake allowed leaves and stems to pass through the tines of the comb while collecting the berries in the basket.
During harvest the marshes were flooded with 6 to 10 inches of water to make the berries float to the surface, where seasonal workers wielding cranberry rakes collected them. Each fall, large bunkhouses in Tomah and Wisconsin Rapids filled with migrant workers. Native American workers would set up camp on the grounds of some of the larger marshes to work as pickers. Workers were paid 75 cents per bushel, and in 1875 pickers averaged two bushels per day.
The berries were then brought to a warehouse for cleaning, grading for quality and storage. At the end of a long day of picking berries, workers might look forward to dancing and music before retiring early to prepare for another day's labor.
During the 1945 season, German prisoners of war confined in Wisconsin worked in the cranberry bogs near Wisconsin Rapids. The prisoners worked in the marshes all summer, weeding the beds, digging drainage ditches and assisting with the harvest.
Around 1950 harvesting began to be mechanized. In 1949, 96 percent of Wisconsin cranberries were harvested with hand rakes, but by 1956 two-thirds were harvested mechanically. Today almost all berries are harvested by machine.

cranberry pickers, 1905

harvesting cranberries, 1950

cranberry harvesting today

 I also ran across this article about the local cranberry price crisis, which I thought interesting.  Canada is now a cranberry contender and squeezing their way in.  As always I'm torn on which side to support as I'm thrilled when Canadians succeed in the worldwide marketplace.
http://lacrossetribune.com/jacksoncochronicle/news/local/cranberry-prices-squeezing-area-growers/article_e6e9144c-bd9b-11e2-808c-0019bb2963f4.html

But, as I started out saying, Monroe County isn't all berries and bikes, as you all have seen from my recent posts about the area.  Now that I've filled you in on the berries and the bikes, here's a few odds & ends to tide you over until you make your way out to central Wisconsin yourself.

Careful on the roads, Amish buggies share the road, especially in the town of Cashton

Susan Renae Sampson is an artist who painted 2 of these signs about Historic Warrens, and many more similar signs in Black River Falls as well. 

We went for a walk around Castle Rock at the campground every evening.

But I saved the best for last, every time we drove into Warrens we had to pass this scarecrow.  They take their vegetable gardening pretty seriously out this way.  We've seen a lot of deer...but still!