Winter Wonderland and Wisdom Teeth

Hola!

SPRING-LIKE? Well let's not get carried away.  We had a whole week of "non-winter" weather, the temps staying high enough to melt the snow, and when the sun came out it melted even more.  We saw the grass in everybody's yard, and it was easy to get places.

spring friend

(Tangent: We didn't really see this toad today.  But it's cool, right?  Teresa's good eyes spotted him on a hike over the summer.)

WINTER WHITE.  Today, winter is back!  Looking outside it is a true Winter wonderland.  Huge, wet snowflakes are softly coming down, covering every branch and twig with white and fluffy snow.   (Well it's not really "fluffy" at all!  It's right about 30, where it could almost be rain, but it's snow.  So it's REALLY wet, very heavy and sloppy.)  It is, however, beautiful.  White, clean, and pristine.  Awesome!

Another couple of hours and the snowplows will come through -- actually I just saw the guy drive by who sands the road.  Add a coating of brown.  Then traffic slushes through, and it's dirty with exhaust.  Short-lived, but if you catch it with good timing, you get a few minutes of beautiful, white, Winter Wonderland!  :)

WISDOM TEETH.  David has survived his day with the oral surgeon.  With 4 impacted wisdom teeth, all sideways and below the gumline, they really weren't doing anybody any good!  I wonder why they call them "wisdom teeth," anyway?

His 3rd molars looked exactly like this (NOT his xray, though)

WIKI: Ok, I just googled it and here's the etymology from wikipedia: They are generally thought to be called wisdom teeth because they appear so late – much later than the other teeth, at an age where people are presumably "wiser" than as a child, when the other teeth erupt. The term probably came as a translation of the Latin dens sapientiae.  Now we all know.

(WARNING: Of course, as they tell the kids in school, you can't use Wikipedia as an official source of valid and factual information. Any Average Joe surfing the Internet can go in and make stuff up on Wikipedia.  BUT, you can use it for an overview of a new topic, to get some general information.)

DAVID's AFTERNOON: his teeth extractions went as smoothly as could be hoped for, I believe!  My cousin's son, Jeff, is a Jr. or Senior at BYU.  He was the designated driver and otherwise Responsible Adult.  We are forever grateful for his generosity with his whole Friday afternoon and evening!

David told me he stayed awake until the IV went in, then the next thing he knew he woke up in Shopko (the store with the pharmacy where they got the prescriptions).  I said, "You woke up IN Shopko?  You mean you don't remember talking to the dentist at the end, leaving the clinic and riding over TO Shopko?"  "Nope," he says.  "But Jeff said I didn't do anything TOO weird.  Just walk a little funny."

Normal stuff.  Get the prescriptions, start the pain medication and antibiotics.  Pick up applesauce, pudding, protein drinks, etc.  He got back and I guess the cafeteria stays open pretty late.  He had some applesauce, and "the dessert last night was coconut cream pie, and that's KIND of like pudding...  So he even got dessert that night?!? ha.

He slept about 11 hours last night, and there is a little swelling today.  Chubby cheeks.

Baby David had chubby cheeks!

Whew!  He'll have to just eat soft things for the whole coming week, but it is a huge relief to get that part behind him.


Such an unpleasant thing to have to go through.  Oh, except for my nephew Dallas, and our friend Zoe down the street: they do not HAVE any wisdom teeth!  What luck! :)

TMI. Probably more details than you wanted with the wisdom teeth.  No photos, sorry, but maybe the Internet has some good close-ups of the mini-operation -- EEEEwwwww! No, just joking, I won't be looking for those photos.

MEALS.  Kara has made dinner for us for the past 9 days.  Her goal is 2 weeks.  She's getting closer!

DRIVING.  Teresa is inching closer to the required hours of driving with an instructor.  One. Hour. At. A. Time.

Signing off now.  Have a great long weekend! (if you happen to get Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off.  We do.)  Kari