Friday, April 5, 2013

Not much has changed here since last Monday. Jeff is still in the hospital, still being fed through IVs, still has an NG tube draining his stomach, and still with a total blockage of his intestine. The doctors have talked surgery but it appears to be only a last resort. "Wait ad see" seems the approach. If Jeff starts to decline rapidly, they will operate, if he is strong enough to hang in there until his blockage clears - that is it, he goes home.

Linda has spent most nights with Jeff and we have been doing dinner and lunches for her. She is holding up very well.

Things could be far worse. We are at Catalina State Park (just a mile from the hospital). This is not as pretty as Gilbert Ray but it isn't too shabby either.


Here is the view from our campsite. We have certainly stayed in less scenic paces!


A nice thing about staying in a place for several days is you really have time to see all the local sites you wouldn't see just speeding through.  

Tuesday we went to see Biosphere 2.  This was not on any of my must see lists but it ended up being well worth the visit. The University of Arizona now owns this facility and is using to do significant earth science research. This is an entirely closed echo system big enough to do some large scale experiments. The focus now seems to be the water cycle and how climate change impacts it.

In the 90's a group of scientists did an experiment here to see if a closed system could sustain people for two years. They grew everything they needed and did a lot of science for nearly two years. They also learned that concrete cures by absorbing oxygen and, since much of the structure was new concrete, this stopped the project before the two years was up - they were running out of oxygen. 
Biosphere 2
Yesterday I went to the Pima County Air and Space Museum. I did this in the afternoon thinking I would spend an hour or two and get home by 4 PM. This is a huge place. It covers hundreds of acres that hold hundreds of aircraft and has five large hangers. I saw one hanger and had a tram tour of the outside aircraft. I'm going back today!

Entrance to the Pima County Air and Space Museum exhibits




 Many of the exhibits were things kids my age and younger could climb over and play on.

Our plans for now are to hang until Sunday with thoughts of heading east on Monday.  This is IF Jeff is on the mend and no surgery is scheduled.

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