Back in the Saddle again

Today I rode my bicycle... for the first time in over 3 months!
It was great to get outside on a bike again. And, so far, I feel pretty good physically. But I guess the real test will be how I feel tomorrow.
To be conservative, I rode the roads, but on my mountain bike instead of my road bike. I sit more upright on the mtb so there is less stress on the shoulder.
We road 32 miles today, which was more than I bargained for, but I made it without event!
So far, so good....

Pulling up roots...

Literally! Pulling up roots that are criss-crossing the front flower bed. There is a yaupon tree in the front flowerbed next to the house that was sprouting from its roots as far as 10 feet away from the trunk. So I went in to trim out the sprouting shrubs and uncovered a vast network of roots chiking the flowerbed.

A large cluster of roots was growing along the foundation of the house and actually made a right turn as if followed the foundation. Pretty strange looking.

Boris at 7 Months

City of Dallas is now "wet"

Today I stopped in the local supermarket and was surprised to see displays of beer and wine scattered all over the store. How strange!
For the 20 years I have lived in Dallas, beer and wine have never been available in Dallas supermarkets. You always had to go to specialty liquor stores (which were never conveniently located), or to other cities, like Plano or Carrollton.
Well, those days are gone!
A few weeks ago, my local supermarket got the OK to sell beer and wine.
Hallelulah!!!!!

Shoulder Rehab Progress Report

Shoulder rehab is going well, even though it is not going as fast as I would have hoped.

I have pretty much full range of motion (have had it for a few weeks now), but at the upper extremes of the range it is still a bit tight and slightly painful to hold.

Strength is the current hurdle. The Doc says that could take 6 to 9 months to recover fully, but I plan (hope) to do it in less.

Last week I could not lift 2 lbs over my head - I could only manage a 1 lb weight. Today, I was able to lift a 5 lb weight over my head, slowly, but I could still lift it.

Getting there... slowly.

The day after - after 12 inches of snow

It finally stopped snowing sometime early this morning, approximately 24 hours after it started.

This is the view I saw at my home. (I really need to get a good camera to better capture these moments.)

Lots more pictures on my Facebook page

Big Snow Day

Signs of Spring on the Way

Its barely into Feburary. I am still cleaning up leaves that are STILL falling from the sweet gum tree. But now there are signs of spring - the sweet gum tree is already forming buds.
And freezing weather is on the way in a few days....

Fall (again!)

The second culling of the leaves! And still not the last.
The sweetgum is a beautiful tree, but it sure holds onto leaves for a long time, then drops them all winter long.

Partially collected - about 12 full bags stored in garage. Then fully collected (20 bags).

Physical Therapy Report Card

Started my 4th week of physical therapy and got my "report card" today.

As far as range of motion:
Flexion (raising arm forward to overhead) - 176 degrees out of 180
Abduction (raising arm sideways to overhead) - 180 degrees
Internal Rotation - 90 degrees (out of 90)
External Rotation - 76 degrees (out of 90)

All in all, pretty good except for external rotation, which has been slow to improve from the start. In this case, the "antagonistic" muscle (which resists movement) is the pectoralis major (pecs). My pecs are much stronger than my back muscles, so it will take more work (and pain) before they give in to the stretching. (My theory).

As far as strength, I can now raise my arm over my head on my own (without assistance), but somewhat slowly and with no weight.

In other words, I will not be wielding an ice axe anytime soon. Bummer!