It was a gorgeous fall here. The colors were brilliant and the weather was beautiful. Lee was busy all fall removing trees on the property that had been hit with a disease called Nettle Cast or they were just in bad shape. In all he took down over 33 trees. He had the limbs to burn the stumps to grind and cut the trunks to length to be sold for pulp wood. Lee finished this project just before my Total Knee Replacement surgery.
This is a picture of the lane into our property after Lee cut all the trees down. It used to be pin tree lined.

Io July 23 I injured my left knee. The surgeon said he would do a scope and see if he could buy me some time. The scope was done Sept. 24 and after taking a look inside he told Lee," she needs a new knee". So the surgery was scheduled for Nov. 4th. I was in the hospital for three days and then 5 days after surgery I started out patient PT.
No one ever told me there was so much pain involved nor did I realize how long it would take to get full movement back. It's definitely been a physical challenge.

This is Nicky, my 67 pounds of pure therapy. He had stuck me me through it all. I am on the CPM machine. Originally 3 hours a day was spent on this for the first 3 weeks along with PT an hour and 45min. 3 times a week.

It's pretty ugly lookin isn't it?

The children and grand children have given lots of support.

This is a picture of me and my surgeon taken at my 2 week checkup. He told me before surgery that I would hate him for about 2 months.

This is the surgeon's nurse giving me instructions for the next month.

This is now my left knee. I call this prosthetic part Stella and I keep telling her she better get her groove back soon.

Two weeks after surgery, our grandson, Troy (Hempfield HS) played at Hershey statium for the state championship and they won. I was unable to go but Lee and our two grandsons, Like and Mike went.

From Nov. 19- after Thanksgiving our two grandsons Luke and Mike were visiting with us while their parents went on a trip.

Troy Barr our state champ.

While Mike and Luke were here they heoped Papa put in the new trees on the lane. Luke got to drive thw3 tractor and Mike got to run the skider. The boys worked very hard all day long.

On the left is Troy. This picture was in the paper.

Papa and the boys headed out to work.

They loves playing Mexican train with us at night.

Here they are getting the new trees in. Lee's planting an ornamental cherry and an ornamental Pear alternating. In the spring we will have pink and white blossoms down the lane. In the falls the leaves will be red and gold.

Mike got to be very good at this.

Thanksgiving was upon us in no time and my girls helped with the cooking and did all the clean up.

The Saturday following Thanksgiving we had the enitre family back again for Breakfast.

The boys had a great time playing together.

We sat around and watched Harry Potter movies in the evening.

Here's a picture of Erica and daughter Izzy.

The kids having breakfast in the sunroom.

Two of our grandaughter's Isabella and Hollyn.

Nicky would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Keenan above is our first grandchild in college. He's the one that plays division 1 soccer at Long Island University in New York.

Visit with our son Dave and family Oct.2010

Dave and Erica in the living room of their new home.

My bird dog just sitting there watching the birds. We went to visit our son David's new home in Pittsburgh, PA. They are now about 5 hours away from us which is sad but it is such a nice area to visit.

The house is very open and lots of windows. It is very nice.

We planned the trip this weekend so that we could watch Izzy's first crewing competition.

What a beautiful fall day it was. It was just lovely sitting down by the river.

There were competitions for novices through seniors. The crewing events went all day long.

This is Izzy coming into the final stretch.

Let me tell you that girl has some muscle!!

Her hands were raw by the end of the race. They are not permitted to wear gloves.

There is precision to everything they do from launching the boat to taking it out of the water.

This is Izzy and mom just after completing the race.

Later in the day Dave drove us over to an area called the strip. Lots of really neat shops with some very unusual and unique things. An antique shop that had gorgeous things in it and a cheese shop that had spectacular cheeses.

This beautiful church is located near the Strip area.

Really beautiful

This is looking down one of the streets in the strip.

This is a picture of Dave and family's new church.

The town of Sewickly is located close to their church. It's a really cut cute little town.

Isn't this the cutest window display. Takes us back in time.

The homes surrounding the town of Sewickly are beautiful.

Izzy and Mom having some refreshments before church.

Our drive home was beautiful the colors were just beginning to turn and it was a warm autumn day.

I will catch all of you up with what is going on with us. Lee has been dealing with Atrial Fibrillation since early August. This past Friday he received electrical cardio version and it has been successful in shocking his heart back to normal rhythm. The cardiologists says that it could last years or just 20 min. they never know. They will see Lee again in 10 days.

I have been dealing with an injury to my left knee since July 24th. The orthopedic surgeon did arthroscopic surgery on Sept 24. He came out from surgery and told Lee there was nothing he could do arthroscopically because I was bone on bone in several areas. I am scheduled for a total knee replacement on Nov. 4th. I would appreciate your prayers and support. It's going to make the holidays a challenge but I've got to move on it now so I have enough time to recover from it for our trip to England in the spring.

It may be a while before our next posting.

Love to all of you