Lack of communication?

After my total knee replacement, I had two weeks of in-home therapy; then I was sent to a therapy center, where I was truly challenged for awhile.  On my second visit there, I asked my therapist, Micah, if I should continue doing the exercises I had been doing at home.  
"Only if they challenge you," he replied.  
Well, compared to what he was making me do, those old exercises were pretty darned easy, so I took that as permission to stop them.  
I had my last session with Micah on Monday.  He had me choose a "graduation gift"; I selected a T-shirt with plenty of advertisement for them, and was on my way.  At no time did he instruct me in exercises to continue at home.  
I saw Dr. Strong today.  My X-rays looked great, she said.  She noticed that my knee was swollen and I told her it had been that way for three days, probably because I'd been going on forty-minute walks with Cliff.  She suggested taking Ibuprofin and said maybe I should skip the walk for a couple of days, and then start out with a twenty-minute walk and work up slowly.  
I could see she was about done with me, so I asked her two questions.  
First, is it OK if I kneel on the new knee?  Most people say you are not supposed to get down on your knees after this surgery.  
Surprise, surprise.  She said as long as I let myself down easily and didn't fall down on the kneecap, it was fine.  Hard surfaces might not be so great without a cushion, but outside, for instance on grass or soil, would be fine.  If you fall down hard on the kneecap, it could break, she told me.  
Question number two:  Are there any exercises I should continue to do at home?  
"Didn't the therapist show you what you are supposed to do at home?"  
She actually seemed a little angry, so rather than say, "No," I said, "Oh, well I can do all that stuff they had me doing there".  
I liked my therapist and didn't want to get him in trouble.  
"OK, then continue with those," she said.  
So here's where people fall through the cracks.  If I had not asked, nobody had told me to continue doing exercises and I would have assumed I was through.  Dr. Strong figured the therapist had taken care of the situation, and I guess Micah thought the doctor would instruct me.  
So I got home and found a website with several post-TKR exercises, some of which are supposed to be continued for six months.  
And they wonder why people don't follow through on these things!  
I have to thank a Blogger and Facebook friend for mentioning to me yesterday that I would still have to do therapy at home; thanks, Deb!  If not for you, I wouldn't have quizzed the doctor about it and would have paid the price on down the road.  

plodding toward spring

Yes, Cliff still plans to retire; he said he just gets scared when he thinks about being on a limited income with very few resources to fall back on.  Hey, we've gotten by without a net for years; we'll do whatever we must.  
The Western Farm show is coming up this weekend; it's a trade show for real farmers, not for dabblers like us.  There will be few, if any, items we need or can afford.  But it's a fun outing in February.  I follow the Western Farm Show on Facebook and snagged four free tickets, which saves us ten bucks on our two tickets.  Cliff's brother, Phil, plans to go along.  I'll hand the extra free ticket to somebody walking toward the ticket booth at the show.  
We attended last year, and I blogged about it.  

My kitchen-window herb garden is doing well.  Left to right, that's chives, parsley, and basil.  Basil obviously doesn't care for cool temperatures:  The pot at the back had as many seeds planted in it as the one in front, but it was very near the window during that miserable cold spell we had.  Not many of the seeds in that pot made it.  I'm thinking in a week or two I can start snipping at the leaves of these little plants.  

This is the mini-greenhouse I bought at Home Depot; I prefer the much cheaper versions from Walmart because in this one, the soil doesn't fill the space allotted.  From the closest to the back, we have:  oregano, lavender, dill, cauliflower, and two rows of cabbage.  I've never been able to get lavender to grow, and it looks like that isn't going to change.  I should not have put these herbs in the same container with cabbage and cauliflower, but I did.  We'll see if any of this stuff lives long enough to make it to the garden.  In a week, I'm starting my tomato plants.   
Because of the salt content in our softened water, I bring water in from the outside hydrant for my little plants.  Just something else to sit around and clutter my counters because, you know, I like containers of water sitting around.  
Pillows.  Let's talk about pillows.  For over two years I've had a stiff neck that comes and goes.  Daily Steals had a memory foam pillow at a good price, so I bought that; it was an improvement, but it wasn't really my cup of tea.  So I went searching through the house and came up with a softer, and less thick pillow than I've been using.  Problem solved!  I guess I just don't need that much pillow.  
Exercise.  Let's talk about exercise.  Cliff and I walk almost every day, but I've wanted to do just a wee bit of upper-body training.  I bought an exercise mat, hunted up some dumbbells, and started doing a few basic moves that ought to be good for me.  I'm looking for some printable exercise instructions; Sparkpeople has some, but a lot of theirs involve sitting on a large ball.  I don't own a large ball, and if I did, I'm not sure I want to try balancing myself on one and exercising.  I might hurt myself.
I'm sure you won't be surprised to read that world food prices may rise.  So what else is new?  Gas prices go up, so do food prices.  I hope my garden does well this year.  
Nobody ever sings the old hymns I grew up with.  Here's one that's been on my mind for a few days.