Rainy day and pretty heavy rain at times. Very unusual for this time of year.

I am off to Newport News and other errands. Went to City Hall to drop off the pictures from the Employee Fest.

Then to Plaza Azteca to drop off pictures to Hector - he was the entertainment at the Employee Fest.

And then to the sleep doctor to have my CPAP checked out. Everything is ok with the CPAP machine.

When I got home there was a message on the answering machine. It was from my cousin, Mike. My uncle Mike passed away today around noon.

Mike was 86 yo and the last of the "Greatest Generation" of my maternal family. Mike was a great guy. He enlisted in the Air Crops in 1943. He served as a radioman, dorsal gunner on a B-17 flying out of England. His B-17 was shot down over German in Oct 1944 and he spent the rest of the war as a guest of the German Luftwaffe. Mike was a real hero. On his way to bail out, he heard that the tail gunner was wounded and trapped. While wounded himself, he risked his life to help the tail gunner exit the plane. Uncle Mike will be missed.

I feel so fortunate that I got to spend a lot of time with him last year. I visited him on two occasions. It was during my second trip in December that I found out more about his "shoot down."

Went to Riverside Regional Medical Center yesterday for my pre-op labs and x-ray. It was pretty busy and I was there for nearly two hours. I sure hope my brief visit to RRMC is better than my 4 days stay at Mary Immaculate Hosp last year. It really ticks me off that I will not know the time for my surgery until the day before the procedure. Susan is supposed to take me and Joe will pick me up. Susan just started her new job and I hate to have her come all the way back from Norfolk to take me to the hospital. I sure like the valet parking at RRMC. It is so nice not to have to look for a parking space way out in the "back 40!" And, there is no tipping!

Ace Hardware called to tell me that my lawnmower was ready. The small engine guy told me that there was nothing I could do to keep the situation from happening again. You cannot buy gas in VA that does not have ethanol. Someone mentioned that gas without ethanol can be obtained in N.C.

Today was a dreary day. Overcast all day and a little rain. Not feeling so good. Sure hope I am not coming down with the flu. They would probably postpone my surgery. I hear that I am in for quite an ordeal with my shoulder surgery, but it can't be any worse than my knee replacement surgery. I am a little worried about sleeping - I have never be any good at sleeping in where other than in bed. I have heard that it is really hard to get comfortable laying flat in bed. Oh well, my easy chair is pretty comfy. I think I am going to ask for some sleep aid meds.