I decided to head back to Maryland with Mike. I would stay with friends while I looked into having my medical implant removed. It hooks up to my spine and I can adjust the amount of current going down my legs for pain control. I wish I had never let any of my back surgeries be done ever. I think I would have recovered better without help. But here I am. In the meantime I practice my culinary skills.

I make a pretty good lemon meringue pie. I will brag about this. I modified a recipe to make it taste the way I wanted. It met rave reviews. I made an apple cinnamon pull apart bread but forgot pictures.

I also make cinnamin rolls like mom used to make. I know I need to practice some to get them to turn out like moms but my bread is already good. All that needs modified is the things that turn bread into cinnamon rolls.

If you are making bread you must have dinner rolls.

Try taking your own picture while baking.

Was easier to have someone else take the picture.

Christmas came and I put up lights. I couldn't get all of them in one picture but I put up about 5,500 lights. I made the trees out of chicken wire. There were lights around the side of the house and out back. As you drove by you could see most of them at one time. I enjoyed this. I had not been able to put up lights since I got hurt in 2006.

These people really need a bigger porch. The picture really does not do this justice.

Let's not forget Bella. She is a beagle/pointer(of some kind) mix. Their son had rescued her from a drug house and given her to his mom. She was extremely underfed and had absolutely no training. Well she knew how to lick' pee in the house and generally had to be watched closely when not in her crate. I decided she was to good of a dog so I trained her. She has gained weight and is starting to look pretty good here.

Beagles are hard to train anyways and she was getting to an age that made it more difficult. She was smart and would learn things the first time. Good or bad. So mostly the training was to get her to stop the bad habits. I was really bothered by having to train a dog this way. If a dog is trained right out of the litter it is so much nicer.

In the end. No more crate. Still a puppy, but she really is a smart dog and will make them a wonderful pet.

I gained 30 pounds on all the rich food I was fed(ok.. I made some of it).I spent 5 years in a hospital bed when not in a recliner.  Funny how I never had a weight problem before I got hurt. I realise now that it must be a life decision to eat properly. That is ok. I have spent the last couple years researching nutrition and for the first time in my life I am starting to eat correctly. I have learned about sprouting and am going to start fermenting foods to go along with eating how I know I should be and the weight will go away. I should never weigh over 200 pounds. I know I don't look it but as I write this I am 245. I weighed 205 when I got hurt.

So I have caught up my blog. Will be getting a few things fixed on Mary Lee and looking forward to a summer of sailing and enjoying the sun. Who knows, I might even get lucky and find that gal who belongs in my life. The search goes on.