VanGrrl57

Vangrrl57 arrives at the Ranger Guild Inn after a long period of health issues that kept her from chatting and fellowship. She asks for a mimosa and takes a seat to see what's going on.

Hi to all here. I'm a member here but health issues have been plaguing me for awhile thus undermining previous goals I had set for myself. This time, I joined the Academy. I need some accountability and a better approach. I will have to undergo knee replacement surgery on January 25th which will require recovery time but I will start by changing my eating habits as well as doing what I can while recovering from surgery. I will stay in touch and I look forward to when I can get into the swing of things after my recovery time.

I can relate after I get out of cardiac rehab. Crap on a cracker, I'm seriously tired afterwards! I am getting better, though. VanGrrl57

Heck, I will be 61 this coming April and I don't think of myself as old at all. Age is nothing but a chronological number. While my knees may creak a bit when getting up off the floor, at least I can still do so. The 80-year-old gymnast lady is fantastic if it's the same person that I saw. Pretty cool to me! VanGrrl57

Sloth, I know I'm late but I'm following anyway! LOL! Here's a funny Minnesota winter meme I found. LOL!

Hi Elastigirl! I know I'm late but I'm following anyway. VanGrrl57 Here's a South Dakota winter meme that I thought was funny and appropriate! Hope you enjoy it! By the way, this is the only state that I have lived in that it can be 55 degrees one day, then be -55 degrees the next! GAH!

Meanwhile in South Dakota.... BWHAHAHAHAHA! I know I'm late to the party but I'm following along, Stribs! Hope you find these South Dakota winter memes funny! ROFL!

While I'm not able to participate right now, it sure is fun reading all of this! ROFL! VanGrrl57

I'm doing okay. I just have to take it a day at a time. I did get permission from my doctor to start walking again but at a leisurely pace and not for any great distances. It is what it is. How are you and the family doing? VanGrrl57

After coming back from having heart surgery, VanGrrl57 enters and looks for a quiet place to regroup and collect her thoughts. It's been awhile and she's still playing catch up on what has been going on. She goes up to the bar and asks for a simple glass of wine for now. Spying some of her fellow Rangers, she goes up to them and says hello. She's looking forward to catching up with everyone and hopes everyone has been doing well. VanGrrl57

It was great. Jennifer and Chance had a simple and private ceremony with just family and close friends. The reception was another matter entirely! ROFL! They had it at their favorite place which is Palisades State Park out in Garretson, SD. There were at least 200 people there and it was a great time. Good food, good conversation, and good laughs were had by all. It was a bit on the chilly side but not too bad---hey! It's South Dakota! LOL! They went to Maui, Hawaii for their honeymoon. They were supposed to stay for a week but cut it a bit short when Shelby told them that I collapsed and was going to have to have surgery. How the heck have you and Mrs. Sloth been doing? VanGrrl57

Hello. I am not sure where I should post this. If it's here, then that is okay. If it goes in the Ranger forum, then please move it as I still consider myself a Ranger. I am coming back after having to have mitral valve surgery. While I was at Yellowstone, I guess I aggravated the issue with my mitral valve more than I realized (my high blood pressure was off the charts when I first got to Yellowstone but I did eventually adjust to the altitude). While I didn't have a problem at Yellowstone, when I got back to South Dakota, I started experiencing shortness of breath and other symptoms. Subsequently, I collapsed shortly after my daughter's wedding in November and I had to undergo surgery shortly thereafter. I have had the surgery and am now recovering. I expect to get the all-clear from my doctor by May or June. Right now, I am following the protocol/therapy for cardiac patients as prescribed by my doctor. I hope all of you are doing well and I look forward to getting back into my normal weight loss/fitness routine but for now, that's out of the question although I am getting stronger each day. After all, the heart IS a muscle but I have to be sensible about things. Given my Type A personality, well, it's not easy but I have to do it. I gained up some weight but nothing that I can't deal with since I'm now able to walk some. I can't do what I used to do but that's a goal I can work towards after getting the all clear from my doctor. I am still in South Dakota for now as my loved ones feel that's best for me right now. I will have to miss the 2018 season but I will be back out there at Yellowstone in 2019. My old boss says when I'm ready, he has a job for me. However, I still plan on taking early retirement when I turn 62. Since I will be 61 in April, well, I have at least a year left. LOL! Take care and hope to chat with you all as well as my fellow Rangers soon. VanGrrl57

@DrFeelgood I agree. After ANY home improvement project, you just gotta have pizza and an alcoholic beverage of your choice.☺ @LadyShello Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. ☺ Keep on going, girlfriend! ☺

Yep! I knew them, too. ROFL!

Sending prayers and comfortable thoughts your way, Stribs.

Yeah, I'm just glad to be out of it and I'm enjoying seeing my kids, other family members, and my friends here in South Dakota. The weather in Yellowstone and in particular the Canyon Village area is quite unpredictable. It snowed right up until the end of May this season and didn't completely stop until the first week in June. That's just freaky to me.

Well, it has been quite eventful for me these past couple of weeks. The Adventure Store finally got shut down earlier than November 5th from what Shelby told me. (It was November 2nd that the store was closed) I and 1 other person left on November 1st because there was a snow storm coming that eventually dumped 20 inches of snow in the Montana and Wyoming area and, of course, Yellowstone, especially the Canyon Village area, would take the brunt of the storm. The NPS said that all non essential personnel (meaning non NPS employees) were advised to leave as we would be snowed in. Therefore, I left and one other person did as well as we had RVs and or cars. Luckily, I had purchased snow chains so I was able to get out albeit very slowly. I eventually made it out of the park but could only make it as far as Billings, Montana because it was just too dangerous to drive. I wound up staying 2 nights but I did manage to get a motel with a fitness room. After breathing a sigh of relief (and saying my prayers of thankfulness!) I still managed to keep my quiet, prayer, and meditation time. I couldn't really walk outside as it was horrible weather. That's okay, though, because I had my trusty walk at home DVDs, my dumbbells, and my kettlebells. LOL! Food choices were as healthy as I could get considering the fact I couldn't really go anywhere. Man, I ate a lot of sandwiches and cheese sticks! LOL! After 2 days in Billings, the roads were opened but we were warned that Interstate 90 would still be tricky in certain areas. Boy, THAT was for sure! YIKES! Anyway, I'm driving along Interstate 90 about 50 mph because I figured that was for the best. What I SHOULD have done was stay another day until Interstate 90 was better than what it was but hard headed me was wanting to get home. All of a sudden, I went into a skid after hitting a particularly nasty patch of ice and snow. Now, I am driving a 1988 modified Chevy Astro minivan with REAR WHEEL DRIVE! I did 2 complete 360 degree spins on Interstate 90 before getting the van stopped. When I saw just how close I came to going down and over the embankment, I just cried and put my head down because I literally couldn't move. I was THAT frightened. Luckily, a trucker behind me saw what happened and stopped to check on me and called the Montana State Troopers who stabilized the scene and directed other traffic around me. I did manage to make it to the next town (Hardin, MT) with a state trooper following me in case anything else happened. Thank you, Montana State Troopers! I said enough of this bullshit and I stayed put until Shelby and a friend got there. I was too shook up to drive so poor Shelby drove the rest of the way home after telling his boss what happened. Once we got into South Dakota, I was so happy! We spent the night in Rapid City, then drove into Sioux Falls and to my daughter's place where I then proceeded to get very, very sick. SIGH! It seems that I had a case of altitude sickness (yet again!) plus for added fun, I have pneumonia. I wound up in the hospital for three nights. SIGHS AND SHAKES HEAD HERE. NEEDLESS to say, I'm now home at my daughter's and I'm recovering just fine. Day before yesterday was the first day I felt halfway human. Of course, I scared the crap out of everyone. Therefore, I'm just resting and taking it easy for a bit. LOL! Even still, it's good to be home! VanGrrl57 AKA Pandapool

RES, I can relate. My youngest child turned 21 on November 1st. My oldest is 36. SIGH! ☺☺☺

Hello to all here! My apologies for not replying until now. I have been so tied up with getting the store shut down for the season and the trip back home to Sioux Falls that I haven't had a chance to do so. Therefore, I'm playing catch up as well. Today is Sunday and I'm getting ready for Mass. Afterwards, I plan on going for a nice, long walk around Sioux Falls and maybe take some pictures of the town. Once that's done, I shall try to find a computer to upload them and share them here. Since it's Veteran's Day weekend, everything is pretty much closed around here. I still haven't gotten a new computer yet. Well, time for Mass. I will try to get online later to expound more on things that have happened to me since leaving Yellowstone and arriving back home.

Oh no! Wolfie, I am SO sorry! Please accept my and my family's deepest sympathies. Please know you and your family will be in my family's thoughts and prayers. We are getting ready to go to Mass so I will light a candle for you all.

Good idea. ☺ I am realizing MY algebra skills are definitely not what they used to be.

SIGH! Now I'm craving potatoes and I don't care what form they come in! French fries, tater tots, I don't care. ☺☺

I am playing catch up, so I'm going to do that before proceeding. WHEW! It was more emotional for me than I had anticipated. I guess that was a good thing because I thought I had gotten over certain things but participating in this challenge made me realize I still have a tendency to "stuff" my feelings. Nice challenge Tank.

Hello to all here. The countdown has begun. LOL! We are in our last week of work up here and ALL of us just want to get done and get on with our respective lives. It's been fun but it's time. I have kept up with my quiet/prayer/meditation time which I had mentioned earlier that even if I don't get to do anything else, I was keeping up with this! I am posting this now because I don't think I will get a chance to even get to a computer as it's gonna get pretty busy now until store shutdown. I went to West Yellowstone with Shelby on Saturday and Sunday. We decided to go since we know it's gonna be crazy this last week and we decided that we needed the time together because he's going to be even more busier than me this last week and probably the next couple of weeks afterwards, too. Therefore, other than having quiet/prayer/meditation time, we just relaxed and had a lazy weekend. VanGrrl57 AKA Pandapool

Thanks! Yeah, since the weather has turned to crap up here, well, those walk at home DVDs sure come in handy! Yeah, I can't wait to become a grandma but I if I know my kids, they want to make sure they are emotionally/financially ready before having children. I DID warn them, though, that life has a funny way of changing one's plans! LOL! Thanks!