Trego's Mountain Ear

Well, the knee replacement is 5 weeks old today. I can walk further than I could before the surgery – miles are again in my world. Not many, but some. I’ve been able to control the clutch for the past two weeks – took a drive down to Rattlebone with Renata – saw a great 6 point bull, and a ruffled grouse. The tractors all need a functional left knee for the clutch.

Mowing hay has showed me that the soil water never was enough for a good hay year. The spots that are well sub-irrigated have thick, tall grass – but in the drier spots grass is pretty thin.

I heard a lot of warnings that kneeling to work on things would be rough – but for me, its better than it was. Lucky, I guess. I can get down and get up fine – so now it is just a question of getting some leg strength back.

I can’t look at this sort of surgery without gratitude for medical progress. The old census reports listed so many people as “cripple” due to the wear and tear that can be readily fixed today. I looked at the book “Doc” as I went through the recovery time – it tells of a physician in Ennis who was developing knee surgery in the Bozeman hospital about the time I started at MSU. It’s easy to be thankful. I’m off to continue mowing – next week I think I’ll walk the trail climbing the hill. Unfortunately, I’ll have to leave my old dog at the house – she can only handle short walks on the flat – but she approve of mowing the field so she can see better.