Wild & Wacky Weekend Weather

This weekend's weather was really wacky; it covered the spectrum from sunny and calm, rainy and windy, windy and hail, snow, thunder & lightning and almost every other combination that one could think of. The temperatures were also really unseasonably cool; I think that the temperatures only got unto the low fifties at the highest.

Needless to say I did not get a lot done although I did manage to work out in the yard a little bit Saturday in between storms. I mostly did some light weeding as the soil is nice and loose and the weeds come out rather easily.

I managed to wash, dry, fold and put away a load of laundry and a load of dishes. The dishes I only loaded into the washer, took them out when they were done and put them away...I did not fold them!

Sunday I managed to get up and go to church; taking all that Tylenol is at least allowing me to wake up in the morning without a lot of pain and that makes it easier to want to go. I was pretty sore afterwards from sitting so long, but after I got home I took some more Tylenol and was able to function...somewhat.

Kathleen did some sanding with my random orbital sander and I think the sawdust messed up my head as I was coughing most of the afternoon and evening. I still am coughing from the drainage but it is not quite as bad as it was yesterday.

Today I spent the morning killing ants and then dumping everything out of our knife and odd utensils draw. I then washed the four trays and the draw itself as I could not remember the last time it had gotten a good cleaning. Once I had the trays and draw cleaned and dried I started to put everything back into the draw again.

This afternoon I spent some time whacking away at the hedge on the east side of the front lawn. It had gotten higher than I wanted it to be and it was hard for me to keep it trimmed. I got about half of it cut and raked up and I hope to finish it tomorrow.

I also thought about mowing the lawn, but the grass did not really dry out early enough. If the weather were going to be like it has the last few days I probably would have tried to mow it, but the weather folks say that it is suppose to be dry for the next week or so.

When I got back into the house and cleaned up I made myself a herring sandwich on dark rye for a late lunch. Then I went into the living room and fell asleep in my chair. For some reason I have been waking up around five o'clock in the morning and I have not been able to get back to sleep so I just wind up getting up after trying to get back to sleep.



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Snow, Snow, Snow!

When I got up this morning about 0645 I could hear the rain hitting the sky light and when I made it downstairs I could still hear the rain outside, but about a half hour later when I went out to bet the paper I was snowing. It was snowing lightly but never-the-less it was snowing.

Later on this morning it started to snow harder and the flakes were getting much larger and it was snowing much harder but still nothing was sticking. The temperature was about forty degrees out so it was not surprising that the snow was not sticking but it was interesting to see it snow so hard and nothing on the ground to show for it.

It finally stopped snowing around noon and then the sun came out and was a bright day, so I went out and chopped some wood and pulled some weeds in the rose garden. I also remembered that I had a box full of iris that I had dug up last fall, but no one wanted any then so I put the box in the garage.

So since they would just die if I left them in the garage I decided to put them in the back of the rose garden against the fence. I just placed them on the soil, that way if anyone did want some I could just pick them up and not have to dig some more up.

I came into the house after a while when the sky started darkening and before long it was raining, so this has been one of those days where the weather was changing just about every hour or so.

I emptied the dishwasher and then swept and mopped the kitchen floor. I though about going upstairs and painting, but last time I did that my joints hurt for several days afterwards. I am not sure whether it was from the painting or cleaning up the brushes and rollers afterwards. I suppose that more likely than not it was a combination of both.

So I went onto my computer and paid the bills and matched up my charge receipts with what was on the bills after I paid them. This give me the opportunity to make sure what I am being charge for I actually charged; it also give me the opportunity to review what we did spend our money on.

I finally sat down and promptly fell asleep in my chair. I am realizing everyday that my energy level is so low that it is no wonder that it takes me forever to get anything done.

Tonight on the news they showed pictures of Lincoln City; on the coast; and all the snow that they were having. It is pretty unusual for the coast to get much snow. I think that Lincoln City is where Alyssa, Dan and their children were going to spend their spring break; I hope they are enjoying the "nice" weather at the coast.

What a Wild Weather Day

When I got up this morning the sky was mostly dark but I could see that it was going to be a stormy morning. When the sun finally made it up the sky was all gray and looked like it could start snowing any minute.

Alyssa wrote a comment to my blog of yesterday and said that she woke up to snow covering the ground and Andrea called and said that she was having snow at her house and that she saw a lot of cars covered with snow when she took John to work this morning so I was expecting that we might see some moisture; either rain or snow at any time.

Andrea and Brandon came over after dropping John off at work and stopping at Joann Fabrics and stayed for a while. She wanted Kathleen to show her how to do some knitting.

After she left we had to leave ourselves as Kathleen had an appointment with her sleep doctor. We got there early so we stopped by Lowe's to pick up a couple things. We did not get out of there until 1645 as she was getting fitter for a new mask.

After leaving there we stopped by Rockler to check up on some sanding blocks that Kathleen needed for sanding on the new bathroom cabinets. Then we stopped at Trader Joe's which was in the same shopping center.

We finally made it home around 1845 and my back and hip were really bothering me from being on concrete so much. Kathleen heated up some Costco salmon patties and tator tots for dinner; since I did not have lunch I was pretty hungry and tried not to over-eat.

Well I am really tired so I think I am going to call it a night!

Is this Really Spring

For the first time in as long as I can remember I woke up and got up without a lot of pain in my back. I guess that I have saturated my body with enough Tylenol that I have killed the pain.

Anyway after reading the paper and eating breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher and did a load of dishes. By the time I got the kitchen cleaned up the mail came so I went out and got it. So I made myself another cup of bullion and went through the mail .

This afternoon Kathleen went to go meet with a lady that she meets with every week and her battery in her Acura was dead. Evidently she had left the light on in the back of the SUV and it drained the battery.

I went to jump it with my battery jumper and it did not have enough charge left to turn it over, so I put her battery on my quick charger and within an hour it had charged enough to turn over. In the mean time I plugged my battery jumper into an outlet so that next time it will be fully charged.

By the time I got the battery charged Kathleen was too tired to go, but at least when she needs to go next time the Acura should start. I was kind of tired by the time I got done because I had to do a lot of running around trying to find the right extension cords for the battery jumper and the battery charger.

Since her car is kept outside I needed to watch and make sure that the charger did not get wet if it started to rain again, luckily the rain had stopped and the sun came out it was actually really pretty nice out.

I was watching the steam coming off the garage roof and noticing that it was actually quite warm out. I thought that was kind of humorous as Andrea had called earlier and said that it was snowing at her place. So if it was snowing at Andrea's it must have been snowing at Alyssa's as well.

I must be feeling better as I was just realizing that I had not taken any Tylenol since early this morning and my joints feel pretty good. I also have not taken anything for my stuffed up head since this morning so maybe I am finally getting over that as well.

Results of Blood Test

I got up early this morning as I was having trouble breathing and I was starting to cough, so I decided to get up so that I would not wake up Kathleen.

Since I did not get enough sleep last night I was pretty groggy all day. I worked on my taxes for a while today, but since I felt foggy in the head I did not get too much done as I did not want to make any mistakes.

This afternoon I decided to go upstairs and take a nap; well just about the time I was about to doze off the doctor's office called. Since they cannot give the information to anyone but me Kathleen gave me the phone and I talked to the nurse.

She said that the doctor was pleased with my results and that it looked like the pain in my hip was not from the cancer spreading but from degenerative arthritis as he first thought. He mainly wanted to do the blood work to make sure that it was not from the cancer' just to be on the safe side.

I also got my HDL/LDL, Triglycerides and Cholesterol results; I do not remember what the numbers were, but she said that the doctor said that they were okay. From what I do remember the Triglycerides were a little high, but the rest of the numbers were within the normal/good range.

I never did get to take that nap and after laying there for a while I decided to get up and go for a walk. The walk went well and I did not experience any pain in my hip. I have been taking the maximum amount of Tylenol so that may have something to do with it, but maybe it is just getting better.

I have been coughing most of the day and my throat is really sore now; I cannot wait to see what it is going to be like trying to sleep tonight. I also have developed a headache which I do not understand with all the Tylenol how I can have a headache, but I do. I might have to take some extra strength Excedrin to see if I can get rid of it.

Better than Expected Day

Weather wise that is! The weather today was supposed to be on the wet side, but it turned out to be a really nice day. I wish that I could say that about how I feel.

I actually felt pretty good this morning even after getting poked several times trying to draw blood. In fact I even put some Scott's Turf Builder with Moss Control on the lawn, but this afternoon I sat down in my chair and fell asleep. Then when I woke up I could not stop coughing and my nose was running.

Right now my throat is so sore it really hurts to talk, and even thinking about it causes me to cough. I had intended on finishing up our taxes but Kathleen was using my computer as she needed to get some information so that she could get hers running again so I did not get to do that...maybe tomorrow.

Tonight for dinner Kathleen made some salmon patties and butternut squash. Both tasted pretty good. The salmon patties we got at Costco so they are probably something that we will get again.

I think that I will call it a day, I cannot think of anything else to say and I am too tired to think to hard about anything else.

Happy Easter!

This has definitely been a different Easter for us. Both Kathleen and I had colds/allergies and neither one of us felt very well all weekend. I woke up yesterday and my throat was really sore and I had a lot of congestion, then when Kathleen got up she felt kind of the same way.

I did manage to work out in the yard for a while; pulling weeds and doing some pruning. I also managed to mow the lawn later in the day after the dew finally dried off the grass. I had been taking my Tylenol every four hours so my hip was not bothering me as much as it had been when I would only take it after it was really hurting me.

This morning when I woke up my throat was still sore and my hip felt okay as well; I did take my Tylenol when I first got up. My voice has been almost none existent as I have been coughing much of the day trying to get the phlegm loosened up.

I was going to call Mom and Sue today but I could hardly talk to Kathleen in the same room so I knew that I would not be able to have a good conversation over the phone. Aside from not having any volume it also hurt to talk, so I have tried to stay quiet today; not that I usually say a lot anyway.

We were suppose to have Easter dinner with the children and grandchildren today, but since neither Kathleen or I felt very good we called Alyssa and let her know that we would not be making it. Andrea and Brandon were also sick, so they were not going to go either.

We bought a nice spiral cut ham and were looking forward to having a nice dinner with everyone, but that is something that has become harder and harder to do as everyone is getting older and with more young ones it seems like someone is always sick or working.

So needless to say this has been a really quiet Easter; since we did not go to church either it was just the two of us rattling around here today. Kathleen did not make it downstairs until around 1430 and around 1500 I went upstairs to take a nap.

About all I got accomplished today was to wash and put away a load of dishes and make myself a couple meals. I have to eat dinner early tonight as I have a twelve hour fast for some more blood work tomorrow morning.

It has been a Year Now

It was just a year ago that we had to put our dog Reggie down. He had kidney failure and arthritis in his hips so it was hard for him to move around very well. This is the longest that I have been without a dog in a really long time.

I got a call back from the doctor's nurse today and the x-rays revealed severe degenerative arthritis in my lower back. I knew that I had continual back pain but did not realize that it was that bad. the x-rays did not reveal any problem with my hip yet although the doctor said that many times it does not show up in x-rays for several years.

They had not gotten the blood work results back yet so I am not sure about the possibility of the cancer having spread. I guess that I will have to wait until Monday to get those results.

Yesterday after coming home from the doctor's office we reheated up Kathleen's left over food from Wednesday night. There was some chicken enchilada and pork tamale and of course beans and rice.

Then today for lunch I reheated up Chucky's left-overs I am not sure what it was but it was almost soup like. It had chicken, rice, mushrooms, onions, peppers and I am not sure what else.

Kathleen had taken off to go to Costco and then to Alyssa's; I stayed home as I wanted to get the report from the doctor's and my hip was also pretty sore.

So I guess that is all the news from here for today...to be continued next week!

Thursday's Doctor's Report

Well, I just got back from my doctor's appointment and thought that I would do my blog now as I do not think I will feel any more like doing it later on and I do not think I will be doing much of anything else today.

The doctor said that my hip pain could either be from degenerative arthritis or my cancer has spread to my bones. Neither one of these excites me very much although given the two I guess that I would opt for the degenerative arthritis...I think!

The doctor pulled, pushed, poked and twisted my leg to see if he could locate where the pain was coming from. After he was done examining me he ordered some blood drawn to do a blood check to see if my blood revealed any increase in the cancer, so I had that done in his office.

The doctor also wanted me to get a series of x-rays so after leaving his office I had to stop by Epic Imaging to have my hip x-rayed. They do x-rays at his office but he said that he wanted some more exacting x-rays than his office could do.

Between the twisting and pulling of my leg by the doctor and then by the x-ray technician my hip is sorer than it has been in a long time. As soon as we got home I took some Tylenol as that is what the doctor said would be best for me short of a prescribed pain killer.

I am trying to avoid the prescription pain killer as long as possible so for now I am taking the maximum amount of Tylenol possible and it is almost doing the job. It dulls the pain to a bearable level but does not totally eliminate it altogether.

Well, that is all the good news for now. It will be a couple days until I get the results back from the blood work and the x-rays so until then I get to wait!

More of the Same

Today was almost a carbon copy of yesterday except without the wind and the rain. Although Andrea was over today and said that she had some rain this afternoon.

I worked out in the yard today, doing a general sweep of the gardens and pulling weeds as I found them. I pretty much have the gardens in good shape, there is one area at the trellis entrance where there is some grass that I need to work on but everything else is in good shape.

Kathleen was gone this afternoon so I went outside and worked a little more; I moved all of my container pots from last years "garden" back to where I have roto-tilled this year. I am thinking about keeping some of the things in containers again this year...like the herbs.

Andrea, Brandon and Toni came over this afternoon while Kathleen was out and Chucky came over after he got off work as Andrea was taking them out to eat for Chucky's birthday. Kathleen came home after a while and decided to join them.

I was just too worn out to want to go out to dinner, so I stayed home and made myself a corn beef sandwich with pepper jack cheese. I also had a couple pickles and some pickled asparagus to go along with it.

In Like a Lamb...Out Like a Lion and then Like a Lamb all in the Same Day

Today has been another one of those days where the weather changed by the minute. One minute it would bee nice and calm and the sun shining; then the wind would really pick up and blow for five minutes or so and then stop. Or the sun would be out and it was nice and clear and then the sky would grow dark and sometimes it would rain and sometimes it would not. One just did not know how to dress or what to expect.

I saw that it was nice outside so I decided that I would pull some weeds since the ground was still saturated and the weeds would pull easily. For the first hour or so it was sunny and alternating between calm and windy. Then I went out front to trim the hedge on the east side of the yard; it started out nice but after about fifteen minutes it started to rain. I gathered up my equipment and put it all away and went inside and cleaned up.

Kathleen said that Andrea and Brandon were coming over, just as she got the words out of her mouth Andrea drove up. She and Brandon stayed for a couple hours; Andrea had said that she was really warm because she wore fleece today and it was too warm, but the way the weather changed it might be too warm one minute and not warm enough the next.

Zander was having a program at school tonight, but between working in the yard and doing a lot of hand washing of pots and pans I was kind of tired. Kathleen's hip was bothering her and my bottom was acting up again so we decided that it probably was a good idea for us not to go.

Before Andrea left I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up, and then I went and sat down in my chair. I fell asleep for a while and woke up as Andrea was starting to take Brandon out to her car.

Kathleen reheated the left over corn beef from last night and we still have enough left over for another meal or two.

Not Quite What I Planned

When I got up this morning I had in my mind to try to finish up my taxes, so after doing my morning computer time I ate breakfast and then did a load of dishes. I opened one of the cabinet doors next to the sink and was greeted by a couple ants.

This was not the first time I had noticed ants there, I usually just squish them as I see them, but today I decided that I would start taking things out of the cupboards and see if I could see where they were coming from.

Well, I emptied the middle shelf; killed a hundred or so, and then scrubbed down the shelf top, sides, back and the shelf itself. While I had the shelf empty I notice several more coming down from the top shelf, so I started taking things off that shelf as well and killed another fifty or so. So I scrubbed down the top, sides, back and the shelf itself.

While I had the top two shelves empty I took everything off the bottom shelf as well and did the same thing to it. Kathleen came down while I was "cleaning" the shelves and I asked her to decide what she wanted to put where on the shelves. Over the years we have had help putting things away and since it is just the two of us rattling around the house now we might as well have things where we want them.

I collected two plastic grocery bags of things that had ants in them and I did not feel like messing with them. I also found several items that we had been looking for that we had actually gone out and bought some more.

I finally had to call it quits about 1500 as my body was really aching. Which reminds me; I did think to make an appointment to see my doctor this Thursday to see if he can figure out what is really causing my hip to hurt so much. Kathleen finished putting things away and started the corn beef for tonight’s dinner.

Strange Day

I slept in until about 0800 this morning, I kind of knew that I would not be making it to church or Sunday School this morning. I was pretty sure that when I went to bed last night that I would be running low on energy this morning.

While I did feel like I had gotten a better nights sleep than I had been getting for the last week or so; my hip did not even hurt like it had lately either. My bowels were not quite as kind to me though.

I spent a good portion of my day in the bathroom, so I guess that it was a good thing that I had not tried to go this morning. I did manage to wash, dry, fold and put away two loads of laundry this morning. While I was washing the first load of laundry Kathleen had gone back to bed; I had not realized it until I took the first load upstairs to fold I saw this lump in the bed and since I did not see Kathleen I figured that she must be sleeping.

So I took the laundry back downstairs and folded it on the couch. I put it into the basket and took it upstairs; putting my things away and leaving her things in the basket. I had to do the same thing with the second load except that I did not have to go upstairs until I had the clothes folded.

This afternoon I thought that I needed to mow the lawn since it was not raining and it might be the only time for a while to get it done. So even though the grass was pretty wet I mowed it and it does look much better now that it is all the same length again.

Well, I am pretty worn out now...mostly from running to the bathroom on a pretty regular basis. My hip still feels pretty good even after making several trips up and down the stairs and mowing the lawn, so maybe that problem is behind me...I can only hope!

Sunny/Stormy Saturday

Well if anyone wanted different kind of weather than what we were having at the moment all they needed to do was wait five minutes and it would be different.

Most of the morning it was drizzling off and on, so I went out an pulled some more of the vines in the front of the house next to the house. Since most of it was protected by the fir trees it was not too bad to work out there while it was drizzling, but as soon as it started raining harder, I decided that I would go inside.

Alyssa called later on and wanted some iris for a gift for one of her neighbors, so while it was not raining out I went out and dug several of them up. I also found a couple cardboard boxes that she could use to put them in.

By the time I got cleaned up it was time to start getting ready for Brandon's birthday party, so after I got cleaned up and my clothes changed I made myself a couple of melted cheese sandwiches.

Kathleen came downstairs and we were all ready to go but she could not find her purse, so after fifteen minutes of looking I finally found it. I had slipped down between a chair and ottoman and neither one of us saw it.

We had a good time; all the children and grandchildren were there except Aaron, Tami and their girls. They celebrated Easter with Tami's family as this was the only time that worked out for them.

Brandon was having a good time walking all over the place; Andrea is really going to have her hands full when number two starts crawling. Brandon came walking over to me a couple times and wanted me to pick him up and throw him into the air. I did that for a while, while I was sitting on the couch and he really got to laughing and having a good time.

He was disappointed when I put him back down, but ol' grandpa is not as young as he once was. So when he came walking over to me, I knew what he wanted.

We finally left and Kathleen wanted to stop at the store for a while, I tried it for a while but my hip was hurting too much and I had to go out to the car.

Even though I got about ten hours horizontal time last night I did not sleep all that well, I kept waking up. A couple times I realized that my hip was hurting so I guess that every time I role over my hip hurts and I wake up. This getting old is certainly not as much fun as I though it might be.

Wet Ending to the Week

Yesterday was pretty wet, but the canal that I dug around the front walkway worked pretty well. I did have to use my hoe to increase the slope of the canal so that it would drain a little better. It now drains well enough that there is no longer the puddle in front of the front steps.

Last night Kathleen and I went over to Aaron and Tami's to watch their girls as they went out to eat and over to some friends house for desert. Toni and Chucky joined us a little later on after Chucky got off work. We actually got there for the early shift so that Aaron and Tami could leave when they needed and then we left early and Toni and Chucky got to put the girls to bed.

Today was another wet day so when I got up I was anxious to see if my canal was still working...it was. I also noticed that the dam that I built on the west side of the driveway was doing its job as well. Until I built that area up I would get all the water coming down the hill coming into my driveway. Now it just puddles up in the driveway to the east of us.

Andrea called about 1000 and wanted that to know if Kathleen could help watch Brandon while she made some birthday cakes for Brandon's first birthday party Saturday. Kathleen was not up yet so I told Andrea that I would have Kathleen call her when she got up.

Since it was so wet outside I knew that I would not be able to go outside and do anything, so I picked up the rugs in the kitchen, living room entrance and laundry room; shook them out and then loaded them into the washer. While they were washing I swept and mopped the kitchen and laundry room floor.

Aaron stopped by after he had taken his flight physical; he passed for level one which is for commercial pilots, he really only needed a level three for his private license, but it was nice to see that he was able to get the higher level as well.

After Aaron left I worked out in the garage for a while. Last week when I washed Kathleen's Acura I could not find my car washing bucket so I thought that I would unstack some things to see if I could come it underneath the pile...I did!

Kathleen finally left for Andrea's late this afternoon so I knew that I would be on my own for dinner. I remembered that there were a couple slices of meatloaf from the other evening in some aluminum foil, so I heated that up and put it between a couple slices of dark rye for dinner.

I am tired tonight, I usually get tired every afternoon and I think that I have figured out why. I realized that last night I was waking up about every half hour to an hour, I am not sure why I have been waking up so much, but that certainly could be the reason for my being so tired.

Changing Weather

This morning I went out and pulled some weeds in my large rose garden and then chopped up the lavender bush and the birds nest spruce. I had dug them out a couple weeks ago, but had not gotten around to chopping them up.

Kathleen took off for a while this afternoon and I took a nap in my chair. I probably should have mowed the lawn, as it looks like we are in for a few days of rainy weather and I am not sure when I will be able to mow again.

When Kathleen came home I woke up; she had stopped by the German Deli and picked up some German potato salad which we had tonight along with the rest of the turkey Kielbasa that she cooked in an onion and cream sauce. She also steamed some asparagus spears. This time of year asparagus is so good.

Aaron and Alexis just come over; they usually stop by on Wednesday nights as they take Becca to AWANA and then spend that time with us.

With that said I think that I will call it quits for tonight.

Wondering about the Weather

I have been really tired the last few days even though I have been getting nine to ten hours sleep at night. I have not been doing that much during the day either so I am not sure why I have been so tired.

Saturday I panted for a couple hours and Sunday I did several loads of laundry so none of that should have tired me out. Then yesterday I moved some stepping stones which was kind of hard physically, but I only did it for about an hour. I also did some more pruning on the roses by the back stairwell and that was not physical at all.

Then this I assembled some of my yard equipment that I had gotten delivered UPS yesterday; that took a couple hours, but was not difficult or physically tiring. This afternoon we went to Costco and spent a lot more money than I thought that we would. I was thinking maybe a little over a hundred dollars but it was over three hundred instead. It is really hard to go there and not spend a lot of money.

Tonight Kathleen heated up some of the left-over beef stew that she made the other night. I found some really lean beef stew meat at Winco last week and it really made a good stew.

I do not feel as tired tonight as I have and I only had seven hours sleep last night so I do not know what is up. Today the weather folks had said that the rain would be turning to showers this afternoon, but unless I missed something in did not rain today at all. I did feel a couple sprinkles as we were leaving for Costco but that was it.

I know that it did rain last night but that is all the real rain that I remember today. We have had a really dry month so far; it has also been pretty warm as well, no records but nice days.

A Quiet Day

I made my morning pot of coffee then I let my oatmeal and flax seed soak for a while as I read the paper and drank my coffee. Andrea called mid morning and said that she and Brandon were coming over today. The got here a little after 1100 and stayed until after 1400. I got to play with Brandon while Kathleen helped Andrea fix some of her knitting and then I heated up some left-over noodles, turkey Kielbasa and the sauce.

By the time Andrea and Brandon left I was too late to do anything outside; it also was not that nice a day, not rainy, just kind of damp feeling all day. So with my back and everything else hurting as much as they have I decided to skip a day. I did pay some bills online, just so that I could say that I accomplished something today.

Tonight Kathleen reheated the left-over meatloaf and baked potato and heated up some corn. We still had some left-over and there is still one whole meatloaf that we have not cut into.

The weather is suppose to be a little wet for the next couple of days although they have said that most of the rain might be in the evenings and at night, so that may not be too bad.

A Digging Day

After putting away the dishes in the dishwasher and eating breakfast I washed the frying pans and loaded up the dishwasher with my breakfast dishes. Andrea called and said that she was coming over later in the day, but right now they were in the process of having their old deck, three month old) was being taken down and a new larger deck being put in to take it's place.

After talking to her for a while I gave the phone to Kathleen to talk for a while and I went outside and dug up more of the vines that had taken over the flower beds next to the house in front. Aaron came over while I was working on it with his latest guitar. This one is for someone he use to work with and is all green with shamrocks and a wolf inlays.

My back started hurting too much so I stopped, cleaned up my tools and cleaned up myself and visited with Aaron for a while. He showed me the PDA/GPS combination that he is getting for his flying. Flying has been in his blood since he was a little boy and I hope that he is able to realize his dream. Both his mother and I love to fly so it was no surprise to us that he inherited this desire to fly.

When I worked at Boeing I had several friends who had their own planes and we would go flying quite frequently. There is just something peaceful about being up there and away from the hustle and bustle. It also makes one realize just how small we are when one gets up a couple thousand feet and looks down at the earth below.

I had another friend at Boeing who was a pilot in the Air Force reserve and I took Aaron out to see him and he let Aaron get inside his F-4 (so you can see how long ago that was), and that led Aaron to want to become a pilot in some branch of the military. He was really disappointed when he could not because of his football injuries.

I had mixed emotions about that, as much as I would love for him to have been able to do that I was also glad that he would not have to go into the military. I did not have a bad experience with the Air Force, but I think that my experience was somewhat unusual.

Coming out of an ROTC program I seemed to get special treatment where ever I went. I know that I seemed to make rank quicker than most everyone else and seemed to land pretty cushy assignments...not a typical experience for most people who were in during the Viet Nam War.

After Aaron left I made myself some lunch and then took a snooze in my easy chair as I was really tired. Kathleen just took off to visit one of our friends who has a bad sinus infection. We bought some miniature daffodils the other day and she is taking over a card and a pot of daffodils.

Before she left she made a pan of meatloaf and put some potatoes in the over for dinner tonight. Andrea never made it over here today; she must have gotten busy with the deck rebuild.

Nice Weather Returns

Yesterday was an okay kind of day, not by summer standards, but for an Oregon winter day...not bad! Today was a really nice day by any standard, my iPod tells me that it got up to fifty-nine degrees today, while that is not quite up to summer standards it is still a nice temperature and only about ten to fifteen degrees from my ideal temperature.

While I was checking the temperature I also looked at how my investments were doing and all but two finished in the green and they only finished a total of .82 in the red. For the last couple of weeks they have been up and down like a yo-yo; a little unnerving, but overall they are doing pretty good compared the Dow or even the Standard and Poor's 500 index, so I really cannot complain.

Aaron called and talked to Kathleen for quite a while and then I got on the phone and talked to him. He is excited about starting flying again; I think that he said Monday would be his first flight and that he is hoping to go several times a week. I think he inherited the desire to fly from both his parents so that poor kid did not stand a chance.

This afternoon after the sun dried the dew off the grass I mowed again, and after I mowed I redid the contour of the rose garden...just a little. I made it a little rounder at the arch where the clematis is growing at the entrance to the garden path.

After finishing that up I went inside and cleaned up. Then I made my self some lunch. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and turned it on then I took a short nap in my easy chair.

Kathleen was out most of this afternoon so I just kind of goofed off this afternoon. Tonight for dinner we had some whole grain noodles and a half of a turkey Kielbasa with a cream sauce and some peas. It must be the German in me because I could eat that kind of thing just about every day.

Working with Wet Weather

This weekend was not too bad, I was able to work outside Sunday for a couple hours edging and pulling weeds around the rose garden and the connecting side of the blueberry patch. My hip had been really hurting for the last couple of days so I thought that sitting out in the sunshine might help.

Well the just sitting part only lasted a little while until I decided to get out my mat and work on the border of the rose garden. It is in pretty good shape now and I hope that I will be able to keep it that way throughout the summer.

I have a few bare areas in the path of the rose garden so I will need to chip up some more branches and fill those in. I also have an area where I changed the direction of the path a little; where I have moved some of the lily's that I will need to add some chipped branches to designate the pathway better.

I finally got my hair cut Saturday; I can no longer put my hair up in a pony tail and I have to take in the slack in the back of my caps so that they fit better. I think that the last time I had gotten my hair cut was sometime last summer so it had gotten slightly ragged and long in the back especially.

I was outside when it started to drizzle this morning, around 0915 and so I spent most of the rest of the day inside. I was going to sand the stairs some more, but Kathleen needed to take a nap, so I worked in my office instead. I got my computer desk mostly cleaned off, so at least now I can see the top of it. I also cleaned off the spare chair next to my desk so that someone can even sit in it now. I also picked up some of the junk that had been gathering on the floor around the stationary bike so now I can even peddle it if I get motivated enough.

The weather is suppose to get nice again, with the temperature getting back into the sixties so I am looking forward to that. I still have a lot of yard work to get done, and if I do not get it done now it becomes almost impossible to do especially when I will be having to mow twice a week.