The next step in the solution to my back problems is now complete. Last Monday I had the nerves burned at 4 vertebrae on the right side of my back. Some parts of my back pain are better, but as with all invasive procedures, there is a certain amount of soreness that will go away with time. At this point all I can say is thank goodness for ice packs! The second step, which is the burning of 4 nerves on the left side of my back can not be done for at least 2 weeks. I am planning on getting it done at the end of July. While nothing is perfect and I will always have to be careful of my back [as all of us should] this is definitely an improvement that I am very happy with. Now if I could just go back to being 35 again!!!

My neighbor, her sister-in-law, son and I had a garage sale last weekend. I had only had one before when I lived in Cherokee and swore I would never do it again. However, since there were 4 of us it was not as bad as doing it alone. As always, the worst was sorting stuff out and then pricing it. The sale its self was kind of fun. They have a huge garage for their tractor and motorhome that is enclosed so after kicking out the vehicles things could be set up well ahead of time instead of last minute. The weather was perfect and we got rid of a lot of junk but of course there was still some left over. Then, the day after the sale was over, I found some more stuff that I should have put in the sale but that is the way it goes. I didn't make as much as I could have as I found some things that Linda, Mike and Lisa were selling that I just had to have, so mostly money and stuff just exchanged between us. We even sold some lettuce and salad greens from our community garden that is growing really well.

Dan and I each have the same Canon camera with telephoto lens that we use to take bird pictures on the trips we take. Both cameras have been acting up and after doing everything that we knew to do [change batteries and memory cards, and cleaning the contacts] things were still not working. The next step was to send them back to Canon. After a sizeable chunk of change and numerous calls and emails, we have the cameras back. Today we are planning on going to the refuge near home to try out their "fixes". Fingers crossed that everything works OK.