June 24, 2019

June 6, 2019

 Happy Birthday to me.  Yep, made one more trip around the sun and here’s hoping for many more.

 It’s hard to believe Joyce and I have been volunteering at Smith Rock State Park for 12 years.  To be sure we’ve seen a lot of changes over the years, some good and some not so good.  One of the major changes is the number of folks visiting the park each year.  A few years ago Smith Rock was named one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon which put Smith Rock “on the map” so to speak.  The number of visitors has increased dramatically which has had a huge impact on the park.  It is good to see folks out enjoying the park whether it is rock climbing, hiking or just admiring the beauty of the area.

 Of course, with the increase in visitors we’ve seen more litter and some thefts, especially in the bivouac area.  Back a few years ago you could leave just about anything laying around and no one would touch it.  Not any longer.

These pictures were taken by Amy who hikes the Summit Trail a lot.

 One of the things we do every year when in the Bend area is get our “doctoring” done.

 On May 1st I had an appointment with Dr. Walker, my cardiologist.  My blood pressure was running a tad high using our home machine so I wanted to have him to check me out.  When the nurse took my blood pressure, although high, it wasn’t nearly as elevated as I thought.  However, when she did an EKG my heart rate was only 38 beats per minute.  Dr. Walker then scheduled me for a stress test.

  That test was done May 3rd and all seemed to be well.  Dr. Walker thinks that my high blood pressure might be pulmonary related so he recommended that we wait until I see Dr. Brewer, my pulmonary doctor to take any action.

 I had that appointment on May 30th and Dr. Brewer made an adjustment to my CPAP machine.  Hopefully that will help lowering my blood pressure.

 On June 3rd I had a followup visit with Dr. Walker to discuss the stress test results.  During that visit he found the pulse in both of my legs to be very weak.  As most of y’all know I have had problems with clogging in my legs in the past so this news got my attention.  Dr. Walker has scheduled an appointment with a vascular surgeon for the 25th.

 Today I had my annual appointment with Dr. Mathews, my ophthalmologist and all is well with my eyes.  At least a part of me is still working good.

 Joyce has been seeing her doctor’s as well.  Her visit with her primary doctor went well but Dr. Towle recommend she see an allergist.  She had that appointment last week and he recommended a change to her medication.

June 8, 2019

 I have started seeing Dr. Laura at Body Wise Chiropractic and Massage in Redmond last week to hopefully get some relief from the back pain I have been experiencing lately.  She is a very caring and thorough chiropractor who has done wonders for me in only two visits.  I plan to go twice a week for the rest of the time we are in the area.

June 9, 2019

 With the mild temperatures and light winds yesterday we got very busy here at Smith Rock.  Parking in the day use was scarce for most of the day and here in the Bivi area we had a lot of over-nighter’s.  We didn’t completely fill up but came very close.

June 12, 2019

 On Monday morning we took a drive over to Eugene to have Joyce’s new contacts and glasses checked by Dr. Stockstad.  After that was taken care of we then headed up to Oakridge to spend the night with Jim and Jeanne Glaspey.

 Joyce and I had bought some roof rails for our CR-V so that we could put a roof box on the top.  While Jim and I we preparing to install the rails Jim’s brother and sister-in-law Ron and Tisha showed up.  Ron jumped right in to help Jim get them installed.  Me?  I wound up being the gopher.

 That chore taken care of and after visiting for a while we all went to Mountain Pizza where we were joined with Dwayne and Donna Hayes for supper.  Jeanne had made a delicious German chocolate cake for my birthday.

 On the way back to Smith Rock we stopped in Bend to checkout a Thule car top box I had seen on Crag’s List.  The box was like new so we bought it for $275.  

June 14, 2019

 It’s never a dull moment around Smith Rock.  Last week we had a rescue for a rock climber who took a fall and shattered her ankle.  Then late yesterday afternoon there was another rescue.  This time it was for a lady who had stepped off the trail to let someone pass, slipped and took a tumble.

June 23, 2019

 Last Tuesday we took a drive up south of Sisters to Three Creeks Lake.  The road winds up past the Three Sisters and Broken Top mountains where you enjoy some spectacular views.  This time of year in the high country of Central Oregon you need bug spray and thankfully, we had some in the car.

 Yesterday we attended the wedding of Matt Davey and Kacey Epplett at the D&D Ranch just a couple of miles from Smith Rock.  Joyce and I actually introduced Matt and Kacey several years ago when Matt was a Ranger at Smith Rock and Kacey worked as a Seasonal Ranger at Tumalo State Park.  Matt will be taking over as the Manager here in July from Scott Brown who is transferring to LaPine State Park.

Abby and Skyler have been going to surf school in St. Augustine.

Later,

Barry & Joyce