sometimes sorrowful, sometimes not, sometimes in-between.  The tooth pulling party was an event.  Because of the way my appointments were set, 1st I had a cleaning and x-ray appt. set up.  Then I fell and cranked the wrist into outer space…cancel the cleaning appt.  Set up another one with my favorite hygienist and in the interim start thinking about the wisdom tooth that is gradually becoming grouchier.  Call the dentist and see if I can get in on the same day/time for the extraction since it’s a 3 hour round trip to go Vegas.  Cleaning at noon, extraction at 2p.m.

I called Marie and Carole and they both agreed to meet me at 10 a.m. for some vittles and chat.  Carole is running for Assembly Woman in her district, we spent some time talking about that and what she needed to do – she knows, I don’t, so my part of it was asking some questions.

I made the cleaning appt.  Heather is my #1 tooth scraper and gentle soul that puts some gel on one of my molars that has an exposed root area.  We get to visit in between her fingers and tools in my mouth and she’s from Idaho…a very familiar state.  She’s expecting a baby girl in the coming months…neat-o!  If you’re looking for a great dentist in Las Vegas, go to mine, Dr. Stephen Rose, Rose Cosmetics and Dentistry, 702-459-8998.  Nah…I don’t think he plays poker.  I survived the cleaning and went to Walmart looking for some games for Riot’s B-day present, then back for the extraction.  Dr. Rose couldn’t make that appointment time so the other Dr. Rose (his son Michael) was going to do it.

I was seriously concentrating on this tooth just rolling right out with no fuss or screaming as its roots held on to anything to keep from going…”I’ve been with you for 45 years or so…how can you just rip me out and discard me now?”  Easy dude, give it up and get out.

It didn’t quite work that smoothly.  Cindy, the tech was covering my top teeth with her finger so the pliers and tooth wouldn’t slam into them when it did pop out, my jaw ached from trying to keep it forced down while he tried to probe and pry the tooth out, so I stuck my finger in the right side of my mouth and pulled on the bottom teeth to take the pressure off the jaw, it was laughable to a degree, three of us had fingers in my mouth.

The tooth got halfway out and sat there, they have some tool (who knows what it’s called?  I asked him about it after the extraction) that they put on the tooth, it makes the tooth expand and breaks down the ligaments so the dentist can have more area on the tooth to grip on and also releases the flesh to a degree around the tooth.  That little unit went on the tooth numerous times, and each time I could feel a slight pressure from it.  The pliers went on numerous times and the puling and twisting commenced each time.  Don’t it just sound like a ton of fun so far? Finally…finally it came out.  One root tip had a tiny curve on the end of it and it pulled a piece of bone out with it.  Ice that baby up, Linda!

All I can say is, “OUCH—fucking—OUCH!”  I popped out of a dead sleep the last two nights with a nonstop grinding ache as soon as the Motrin and Darvocet wear off.  Not fun!  And today I ended up icing it up again twice because it felt like the whole left upper teeth were aching too – and the wound is on the bottom..yeah, I know you’re teeth bluff you, you think the bottom one hurts and it’s a top one.  See, none of them want to be pulled out. Even though I’m not enjoying the immediate aftermath of the removal, I’m really glad it’s over with and in a few days I’m sure it will be all better.  Goody!

Riot is supposed to be out tomorrow afternoon – for the weekend!  Goody!

My Banks Roses on the block wall are blooming and the trumpet vines don’t look like they’re far behind in that area.  Sis got mega mounts done on the front yard and the area where Mz. DigDug (that would be me) moved the cedars/shrubs from doesn’t even look like the same place.  It’s looking better than good.  The first picture was then, this is now:

My two boys were out to help with property works again.  We called the county fire permit in and cranked up a burn pile in the back that we’ve been adding to and working on the last 6 months or so.  As Dan was raking things out and raking them in to let air into some of the burn, he found a batch of quail eggs.  Sorry little fluff balls to be…they were way cooked by the time we found them anyway.  Guess I never thought about quails laying eggs in that mess although it probably resembled charred underbrush to them.

Amy and I hiked again this a.m. and got some new pictures – Amy’s finger beside the picture to show the size:

The most advanced dodder we are following and we hope to catch it blooming soon:

Cacti getting ready to burst into bloom:

A bush at the mouth of a small cave in our hiking area – note the beautiful orange cup looking blooms:

The velcro plant growing on the wall of rocks by said cave:

And this wonderful floral arrangement jumping out of the desert floor at us:

That’s the end of the hiking pics for today.   And the end of me for the day, and a lovely day it has been, the perfect spring day in the desert, some sun, some clouds, barely a breeze…Goody!