I started off the weekend Saturday morning riding the exercise bike at home. It was too cold to go outside. But that did not stop Dakota from trying to convince me to go outside! She sat by me for the majority of my 15 mile ride, hoping that we would go outside afterwards. She walks twice on most days, once in the morning with Sarah, and then in the evening with me. She absolutely loves it, but it was just too cold to take much of a chance with the wind chill, so she hung out all day in the house with us. Normally she would be outside during the day in the kennel, which is attached to the garage, and is heated, but we were home, so we kept her in with us.
Right away Saturday morning, even though I got to sleep a little later, I still got my Dakota wake up call. “Time to get up Dad!” Still hoping all morning she was going to go for a walk. But, she got to find out what it was like hanging inside with us all day. I think she had a pretty good time too.
Always around for attention! Later in the day it was time to take a little nap.
Just hanging out with me, dreaming of the Vikings one day winning a Super Bowl! Hope is a good thing! It could happen someday, right? It won’t this weekend, so we will be Chiefs fan for the weekend. I managed to get out for a little bit for some pictures, with lots of frequent breaks back into my truck to warm up. The sun dogs were impressive Saturday Morning.
They were very cool to see! The rest of the weekend we stayed in side and got things done at home, with Dakota by one of our sides the whole time. She always wants to be right in the thick of things. She is part of this family.
She is hard to resist with a face like this! I promise, when we get at least closer to zero, we will be back out again walking. We have had a pretty good Winter so far. It just decided to get really cold this weekend. We may have to go anyway, but very short distances, warm up, then go again. Sunday will be the worst, so will have to see what Monday brings. We have to be creative with how we are going to get our activity in, just like everybody needs to as well. Just come up with a plan B, and go with it. This is a time to be creative as well. We got to spend the weekend with the dogs, both with Dakota inside, and the Sun Dogs outside! Keep moving everybody!
We just had our annual South Dakota Family Physician conference this last 3 days. Normally we would have been out in Deadwood, but because of COVID, it was all done virtually this year. So we did this from home! Sarah and I always teach a section of the conference on the first day, which usually encompasses up to 4 hours for the entire afternoon. We have been doing this now for about 13 years. Well, this year we got presented with an award. We taught our section virtually from Carletta’s house, as she is our Executive Director for the South Dakota Academy of Family Physicians. The residency began giving out an award about 3 years ago to a physician recipient who “…exemplifies excellence demonstrated by commitment to community service, academic achievement, rural practice, full-spectrum family medicine, and care of underserved populations locally, nationally, or internationally.” It is called the Dr. Earl Kemp Excellence Award. Dr. Kemp was our residency director back in Sioux Falls when we went through the program. I am not sure how many years he was there before we started, but he just retired within the last 2 years, and we have been out of residency since 1994. He was a great teacher! I think that is the part that attracted us to Family Medicine to start with. In order to be a good Family Physician, you have to listen, but you have to be able to teach as well. Teach students, residents, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and of course…patients…everyday! Normally our conference room would have looked like this.
We usually have around a hundred physicians attend each year. But this year was virtual, and we still had around 90! We always have to learn, and keep up, as medicine changes continuously. Here was Sarah and Carletta with all of the setup for our portion of the conference.
We learned a lot this weekend, and the best part of all of it…we did not have to drive across to the other side of the state! I miss seeing all of our other Family Physician colleagues, though. It is our time to learn from each other, and catch up on how everybody else is doing, and how they are handling everything with this pandemic. Hopefully next year we will be back there.
Teaching is a big part of what we do everyday. Patients need to understand their own health, and what may be involved. We do not have all the answers, but we are giving our opinion on what we think is the issue, and how we may be able to help somebody. Every day is a challenge. We have to keep learning as well. Lifelong learning. There is always something new. There are always new challenges. It was a very special honor to be recognized. Dr. Earl Kemp was the epitome of teachers. We both learned so much from him, as did all of the other hundreds of residents who went through that Sioux Falls Program. I have always said with all of the doctors we have had teaching us when we were in medical school and residency, that we learned something from all of them. We learned what to do in certain situations, and what not to do. We learned how to interact with patients. Some taught me how I wanted to be when I was done, and others taught me exactly how I was not going to be when I was on my own. But, it was all a learning experience. We have had a good time over all these years teaching other students, residents, and colleagues. The underlying principle of Family Physicians entails lifelong learning, and passing that knowledge on to others. Stay healthy everybody, and keep moving!
I got a great present at Christmas, but had to wait until now before I could start spreading the word to everybody. My daughter Molly is expecting their first child toward the end of July. My last Christmas present to open was from them, and I did not even realize my son-in-law was videoing me doing this. I could not believe it when I opened it up!
I got a picture frame with an Ultrasound picture of my future grandchild! Wow, what a present!!! I can’t wait to be a Grandpa! With everything going on in life lately, I try to stay as calm as I can. But no way with this!
For those of you have read my blog posts in the past, or have been to one of our Strive 2 Survive sessions, you have heard me talk about my Grandfather. He died just before he turned 54, and never got to see any of his grandchildren. He had 10 kids, who went on to create 35 grandchildren. The first one was born one month after he passed away. I have always said that if I have anything to say about it, that was not going to happen to me. Well, March of 2019 brought some tough reality into play. That is when I had my major health issue, and I was 54! I could have been in the same situation. I am not taking anything for granted anymore. My grandkids are going to know me, and remember me!
Here is a picture from this week! Molly is an ultrasound tech, so she has been checking. Apparently I am going to have a grandson! Imagine what I thought when I found out my grandson will be named Daniel! Hee Hee! I just have to keep reminding Molly and Tanner how good of a name that is. In all honesty, I have no idea what name they are considering, but whatever it will be, it will be great!
I had to wait for Molly to put out her announcement before we could say anything. Do you know how hard that is? I am busting at the seams, but could not say anything! I can’t believe one of my little girls is old enough to now have her own child! Where did the time go! It was a year and half ago I gave her away to Tanner. Her wedding day was one of my favorite memories, I can’t even imagine what it will be like when she delivers.
I find myself looking back at her wedding pictures often. It brings me right back to that moment. These are the things in life that are important.
Tanner and Molly, you are going to be great parents! Congratulations! I hope…change that to I know…we are going to make great grandparents. Sarah and I are both so excited for this next adventure of our lives too. But, just don’t forget, this grandchild is going to be a part of the Reiffenberger family, and you know what that means…
…our grandkids will learn they get to work out with us…walk, run, ride bikes…all of it. They will be active with us! We have to keep doing this so we can keep up with them. If they are part Reiffenberger, they will be active along with us! After all, it will be in their blood! We are so excited for this next adventure in our lives too. I am one proud Grandpa to be! Keep moving everybody!
Are you at a breaking point yet? Are you ready to lose it? Here we are half way through January, and how many of us have kept up with our plans for the new year yet? COVID has changed nothing yet, and now the stress is coming in relation to the vaccine. Who is going to get it? Who is going to get it first? Who ranks higher than somebody else? Why were they called before me? On and on it goes!
This is how it feels to me some days. How about you? Some days you just feel like you can’t do anything right, or make anybody happy. We all have days like that. We need to figure out how to deal with them. I used to go into my office and not come out until I counted to 1 million. I never got anything done then! We need to figure out what it will take for each of us to learn how to relax, and cope with stress.
All of these listed help! Prioritize them. The last one talking about making a list…exactly! Write it down! Follow it! Check if off when you are done so you realize you are actually accomplishing something. Each of us has different things that we like that is relaxing to us. Fishing, hunting, walking, sight seeing, taking pictures…whatever works for us. I love going out and taking scenery pictures. My mind is only focused on that for that time away.
No matter how many times I go out to take pictures, I see something different. Or I think I have seen it, but am seeing it differently now. No two days have been the same. Escape! Make something of it that makes it mean something to you!
Spend time with your kids, or grandkids, or pets. They always want attention. That is what has made COVID so tough to deal with is because of the social distancing. As humans, we want that social interaction. We need that social interaction. Believe me, our pets need it too. We all need to care!
Exercise! Blow off some steam. Work out your frustrations, and improve your health at the same time! The different exercises can be as creative as you want them to be.
Time to show people how tough you are! Have that mentality of “Don’t mess with me!” Laugh while you are at it. Enjoy life. It has been miserable enough this past year, so don’t make it more miserable then it has to be. It is going to take work, but it will be well worth it!. You don’t want to waste the days you have. You do have to look at things differently, and may have to be more creative, but there are things to do. Just do them!
Figure out when and where your stress free zone is at, and then go there frequently! Make it your escape place. Make it individual to you. What do you want? What do you want to accomplish? Where do you see yourself in the future, and how are you going to get there? Be creative. Imagine. Dream. Find your stress free zone frequently! And…keep moving everybody!
This picture still always cracks me up! It was a few years ago, and still in the Summer, and we were posing on the bridge by what is now North Shore, and Jill thought we were supposed to kick our leg up on the railing for the picture, but apparently she was the only one that heard her say that! Only Jill! A true example of just living life as it comes! Laugh, run, be with friends…and just be you! Of course there are many other times many of us in run club got a little goofy!
I think Jill brought the oranges, and I think it may have been her who came up with the idea of taking a picture of us like this too. Live each day like no one is watching!
We need to pay attention to those things around us as well. Many of these things, or scenes, we have seen many times, yet we never really paid any attention to them. On the weekend, or when I am driving to work, I am now paying attention to the scenery as well, and if the sky looks really neat, I pull over to take some pictures, or I just park out at the lake and watch and see what develops.
On the second picture the small bright dot is not the moon, but the sun trying to break through the clouds. We have had quite a few cloudy days this week, so it has been a little tough to get some good pictures. We just have to relax, and when we have the time, take advantage of it, and watch things develop. I was doing things at home yesterday, and it all of a sudden got bright out, and I looked out the window, and could this changing. Jackson Park is a mile from my house, so I took off, and had a good 30 minutes of taking some really cool pictures, and just watching it patiently develop.
I have said many times we could learn a lot from a dog. Dakota is no exception. When she plays, it is all out. When she relaxes, she is completely into it, and drops where she is at, and takes a nap. Now if it could always be this easy, and convenient!
She is always at your side, and ready to cheer you up, and just be with you! A true, loyal friend! Never any grudges. Each day is a new day for new adventures. Any time we are ready to go for a walk or a run, she is just tearing around the house like life cannot possible get any better. If we could all get this excited, and just be like this when it came to exercising! She is always ready to go no matter the weather, or time of day, or evening. Let’s go!
Enjoy your day like you enjoy your first cup of coffee each day! Be positive. Smile! Each day is a new adventure, and we do not know what is in store for us when it starts!
This was our Run Club picture from last Sunday. We are always ready to go, and spend time with people we know, and do something we all like to do. You can enjoy your life where you are, with what you already have, and especially, with friends you already have. This is what living here in Watertown is all about. Small community, with big hearts, and great friends! So remember…
Get ready for what life holds for us each day. Try to block out and forget everything in regards to the pandemic, and politics, and who is doing what. Enjoy the time, and enjoy the people, and enjoy where we live, and it will be easy to remember to enjoy each day like no one is watching! Keep moving everybody!
