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.

The Return of the "Normal" Weather

It was more overcast this morning when I got up, and as the day went on the clouds became closer together. After breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up and then went outside and worked on pulling the grass growing in the flower bed on the other side of the sidewalk from the driveway.

After I got the weeds pulled I re-dug the channel to drain the water off the sidewalk into the garden. Once I had that dug I decided that I would start pulling out the vines that have been taking over the flower beds next to the house. I managed to get the west side bed seventy-five done and the other side along the house but my wrists were hurting too much to continue.

After putting my tools away, I cleaned up and then emptied the dishwasher. Then I made myself some reduced sodium soup that Andrea gave me as she did not like the way it tasted. My children know that I can eat almost anything and this was no exception. I actually could not tell much difference in the cream of celery soup that I made today from the regular stuff.

After I finished eating I put my bowl in the dishwasher and then went back outside as I had noticed some ants on the foundation when I was pulling the vines out. So I got my gallon of insect spray out and sprayed the foundation on the two sides and the front. I did not do the back as I need to pull some of the thyme away from the house but I have not noticed any ants on the back side of the house anyway.

After cleaning up I sat in my chair and took a nap for a while. I seemed to have a little more energy today, but still not very much. Around 1600 I heard a car drive by and I could tell that there was water on the street. I had just started raining and so I had to go out on the porch and "smell" the rain.

Even in the "rainy season" it is still nice to smell the rain when it has not rained for a couple weeks. Tomorrow it is suppose to be rainy most of the day; I think that it might be a good thing for the plants that I have transplanted.

Well, I am doing this as I watch Fox News, because I know that if I wait until after we eat I probably will be too tired and it will not get done.

More Nice Weather

This is the forth day in the sixties with now rain either; for this part of the country and this time of year that is unusual. I think it was two or three years ago that we had a snow storm...how times change.

I played out in my garden again today, since I seem to only have a couple hours where I have any kind of energy I might as well take advantage of the nice weather. I transplanted some lily plants that were growing in the new walkway that I have created with the chippings that I made from the branches and other things.

I also pruned the roses a little more, more for making them look better more than any other reason, although a couple I cut just because I could see that they would be growing into the walkway when summer got here.

I also gathered up a couple piles of brush, mostly from the lavender bush that I took out a few weeks ago, but there were also some raspberry stalks as well.

I also fertilized the blueberry shrubs in hopes that we will get another harvest like we got last year. I am not sure if it was the fertilizing or just a good year for blueberries, but I want to do whatever I can to encourage a lot of berries.

After going in the house and making myself some lunch, I went back out and mowed the lawn for the second time this year. I think that my reprieve from mowing has come to an end and I will be mowing at least once a week until the hot dry summer weather stunts the growth of the grass. This time of year the lawn really looks nice all green and healthy.

After cleaning up and sitting down for a while I sat down in my chair and took a nap for a while. Our neighbor called and woke me up, she said that one of my refund checks had been dropped off at her house and wanted to meet me at the back fence to give it to me. I received the first one earlier in the week and when I checked the web site it said that they both had been mailed out so I had been waiting for it.

I did not want to go to the bank and just deposit one of them and was getting a little concerned when the second one had not shown up.

It finally got to be 1745 and Kathleen still had not made it back home today so I reheated the left-over spaghetti from last night for dinner. She called just as I was cleaning up my dinner mess and loading up the dishwasher and said that she was on her way home.

A Day of Digging

Today started out really foggy but as soon as the fog burnt off it turned out to be a really nice day. I think that the temperature got up to around sixty degrees today and there was not very much wind either so that made for a good day. The weather folks are saying that our winter is officially over and do not expect anymore chance of snow of below freezing weather...I like that!

I went outside about 1115 and started puttering around the gardens; I dug up some holy seedlings, and moved them to west of the driveway. I also dug up more fox glove plants and moved some to the west side of the garage and others along the east fence line.

After a while I decided to sit a while in my Adirondacks chair and rest for a while. Even though I had not done a lot of work, I was really tired and I am learning that I need to rest a lot more than I use to.

After resting for a half hour or so I went back to transplanting fox glove plants. Say Andrea you were asking about what you could plant out back; I have several more fox glove plants that I will be moving so if you want any of them let me know.

About 1430 I went back into the house, cleaned up and made myself some lunch. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher I sat down in my easy chair and took a little nap.

Kathleen had come downstairs, so I had her go outside with me to show me which ferns she wanted me to move to the front where I took the Bird's Nest Spruce. So now I have a project for tomorrow if I can muster up enough energy.

Tonight made some Ivar's clam chowder for dinner and added a little hot Hungarian paprika to it to spice it up a little. I only had a bowl as it only made enough for two bowls.

Bye Bye Bird's Nest Spruce

Today is about the eleventh day with the weather in the fifties. The weather has been unseasonably warm and almost dry for the last couple of weeks. I think that it has only rained part of three days and most of that has been in the evenings leaving the days dry and somewhat sunny.

After my walk today; and I cut it short as I could feel my hip starting to get that little tinge to it that usually proceeds it really hurting, I rested a little. Then feeling a little like I needed to be doing something; I decided that I would trim some more off the Bird's Nest Spruce. I reached a point and then decided that I would get my shovel and stubbing hoe out and actually take it out.

It came out rather easily and the roots did not go into the lawn and were pretty small in diameter so that after I chopped a couple of the larger roots I was able to push it over. I think that I will transplant a couple ferns in the spot where it was.

The ferns are smaller and I already have them on the other side of the walkway. I am even thinking about adding another cement stepping stone on the other side of the walkway to give a larger area to come in from the front lawn.

Even though I did not expend a lot of energy digging out the spruce I was tired enough that I needed to take a nap this afternoon. I seem to have just enough energy to complete one task a day...this is getting pretty old.

Later this afternoon I spent some time in the kitchen killing ants; one of the things that I seem to be doing a lot of lately. They seemed to have found an open bag of hard Christmas candy we are talking hundreds of them. So I took everything out of the bottom shelf and wiped everything down and then the shelf down as well. Even after dinner I was still finding a few stragglers but nothing like what I found this afternoon.

A Day at the Doctor's

Last night when we got home, after watching the total eclipse of the moon, around 2000 we had a message on the phone reminding Kathleen that she had an appointment with her sleep doctor. I reminded her that she had also agreed to watch Brandon at the same time, so she called Andrea and Andrea was able to get Toni to watch him.

This morning we took off to Tigard for her appointment. We were there for over an hour and we got home about 1230. I changed clothes and went outside to see about pruning the Rose of Sharon. Kathleen came outside just as I had gotten started and said that she had made an appointment with our G.P., and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her.

So I stopped what I was doing and changed clothes again. We no sooner got seated when the nurse called her in. They did some blood work, a chest x-ray and an EKG and they all looked good. She had been having some pain in her breast bone area and her sleep doctor suggested that she check with her G.P.

After finishing with the doctor we stopped at Home Depot so that I could pick up some Soil Sweet for the lawn and also some ant killer to spread around outside and also some spray for the inside. After that we stopped at Fred Meyer to pick up several prescriptions for Kathleen.

When we got home I put the soil sweet into the garage and went inside and changed clothes again. Then I went outside and put the soil sweet on the lawn and then put the ant pellets around the east side of the house.

We finished the deli sandwiches, cold slaw and potato salad that Kathleen had brought home last night. So we got three meals out of it, not too bad, I can remember the days when we would have finished eating it in one sitting.

Another Almost Nice Day

This morning after making and eating breakfast, reading the paper and emptying the dishwasher I decided that I would try to get the Jeep through DEQ. So I changed my clothes and took off. I passed without any problem but when it came to the paperwork the DMV put the wrong fee on it. I told them that I would pay the higher fee even though they did not have it on the paperwork.

Finally I talked the attendant into having his boss make the decision; so after a little deliberation he agreed that I could pay the higher fee without having to go back to the DMV. It would not be so bad except for the fact that the wait is long and I already had to make an extra trip there because the had not put the correct information into the computer two years ago.

I changed to salmon plates two years ago rather than ordinary plates so I have to pay a little extra every time that I renew them. I do not mind it too much because it does go toward a good cause.

Once I got everything signed off and got my new 2009 tags I drove off. As soon as I got to a place where I could stop, I stopped and put the new stickers on the plates. I did not want to drive any more than I already had with expired plates. I had passed a couple police cars on the way to DEQ and did not want to press my luck.

On the way home I stopped and got gas for the Jeep, I had not filled up since last July, so it had been seven months on that last tank of gas. At that rate I almost do not care what they charge for gas, although I noticed when I was logging in my fuel consumption that gas had gone up about twenty cents a gallon since I last bought it. Of course it has gone down and back up in the course of the last seven months.

When I got home the garbage truck had just left so as soon as I put the Jeep back into the garage I gathered up the garbage can, the yard debris barrel and the two recycling bins. On my way back with the recycling bins I also picked up the mail. So since I had the recycling bin, I went in the house through the back door so that I could drop off one of the bins in the back porch.

There seemed to be a lot of catalogs and magazines in the mail today, of course there was no mail yesterday so that might explain some of the extra reading material.

After reading the mail, I made myself some of the butternut squash that I got from Alyssa last week and also had a couple pieces of toast to go along with it. This time I added a little cayenne to the soup...well maybe it was more than a little, and it did give it a good flavor.

I did not get a lot done the rest of the day, I had thought about going outside and working in the yard, but since I put the fertilizer on the lawn yesterday I thought that I would wait until it rained again before doing anything in the yard. Besides it was starting to get a little chilly, the temperature did not make it to sixty today; I think that it only got to about fifty-six degrees or so but there was a pretty strong east wind blowing.

I was going to trim off the rest of the branches from the birds nest spruce, but I thought that I would wait as it will be another two weeks before the yard debris gets picked up again. I spent a good portion of the afternoon killing ants; it seems that the warm weather the last couple of days has had the ants out looking for new digs.

I will leave you with this Pickles cartoon; it is rather appropriate only the one with the glasses on their head is usually Kathleen. Unfortunately the Pickles cartoon has more truth to it in our lives these days, but it is still pretty funny most of the time.

Here is the web address as the picture is a wee bit tiny:

http://www.comcast.net/data/comics/pickles.gif

Taking a Mental Health Moment

I thought that everyone could use a little mental health moment!

Enjoy!

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dfdwvqns_0dnz4kgdz#

Springtime in February

For the past three days the temperature has been in the high fifties to low sixties, so it has been really a tease as to what I have been missing for the last several months. Tomorrow the "normal" weather is suppose to return, so that means rain.

I have been doing some things the last couple of days, but today I started out by transplanting fifty or so daffodils and tulips that I had in a couple planters. I put them around an old apple stump that is just about ready to fall over.

After I finished that I decided that I would give my roses their spring pruning, so I got out my good pruners and gave them a haircut. I probably will be doing a little more thinning later this spring, but I want to wait until they start to bush out a little before I do anything too drastic.

After dumping the rose clippings into the yard debris barrel, I decided that I would transplant some of my raspberries that were growing in places where I would rather they not. I put them in the rows where the rest of the raspberries where but were a little thin.

I had just about gone in the house when I thought to myself that the weather was so nice and the grass was dry...so I thought I would see if I could give the grass in the front yard a haircut as well.

I was a little surprised at just how much I was cutting so when I finished the front lawn I did the back lawn as well. It is just about this time of year where the grass can really start getting ahead of me; between the grass being too wet or my not having time to do it.

Just to make sure that the grass grows really well, after I finished mowing I decided that I would put down the rest of the Scott's winter fertilizer from last fall. I thought that I would only have enough to do the front lawn, but I had just enough to do the back lawn as well.

My poor fertilizer spreader is broken, it actually broke last fall, but I thought that I would wait until spring to get another one. I still need to do that as it was really hard on my wrists trying to hold down the stub of a lever that allows the fertilizer to drop at the correct rate.

Well, it is late afternoon, but I though that before I got too tired I would jot down a few notes. So that is all that I can remember from today.

Beautiful Weekend

This certainly has been a great weekend...well at least for the middle of winter. Yesterday I roto-tilled the garden; it took a couple hours; most of it was cleaning out the tines of mud. It really was kind of gumbo like, but at least now it will have a chance to dry out a little so that it will be easier to do the next time.

After I finished roto-tilling I went into the house and took a shower as we needed to go pick up Natalie before going to Andrea and John's. My wrists and fore arms were so sore from rototilling for several hours.

We had a good time celebrating Chucky's twenty-eighth birthday and had lots of good food to eat. The grandchildren had a great time playing with each other and it was amazing that six children can get along so well and play without fighting.

By the time we got home last night I was too tired to do much beside go to bed. It tool me a while to get to sleep as my body was so sore that it was hard to get comfortable, but when I finally did I slept well.

This morning I was still pretty sore and so I did not try to go to church, Kathleen did not wake up until after noon, so neither of us made it today. Then this afternoon I started feeling better so I went outside and transplanted about a hundred fox glove plants a couple roses and one hydrangea.

After digging and transplanting for a couple hours I set up my Adirondack chair out and sat out in the sun for a half hour or so. It sure felt good to sit in the sunshine for a while. There is something that I do not get to do much in the winter.

Then tonight Kathleen made some stir fry using the left over duck from Gustav's the other night and she added some rice, carrots and broccoli. There was enough left-over for me to have it again for lunch some day.

Well, I am sore again tonight from all the digging, but it is a good kind of sore and I would much rather be sore from working outside in the sun and fresh air than just being sore for no good reason. I think with all the fresh air, I should be able to sleep well again tonight.

Days with the Grand Children

In the last three days I have seen all of our grandchildren. First Andrea and Brandon stopped by for several hours to see us on Wednesday; they yesterday Aaron and Tami stopped by with Becca and Alexis and I gave them their Valentine's Day chocolates; and then today we stopped by to see Alyssa, Natalie, Zander and Hayden and give the children their chocolates.

We were out in Gresham at the DMV getting the paperwork that I needed to take my Jeep through DEQ, so while we were there we thought that we would go visit the other grandchildren. Dan was at Mount Hood Community College where he teaches part time and so we did not get to see him.

Alyssa gave us a large freezer bag of butternut squash, so when we got home I made a pot full and had it for a late lunch along with a glass of organic buttermilk that she gave me as well. I had not eaten since breakfast, so by the time that we got home around 1630 I was more than a little hungry.

Tomorrow is Chucky's birthday, so we should see almost everyone again as we are all meeting at Andrea and John's to celebrate. Tomorrow is going to be a little busy for me as I have men's breakfast in the morning and then later in the afternoon it is off to Andrea and John's.

We have not gotten to do anything with the remodeling lately, we need to get busy and finish priming the upstairs so that we can put the sub floor down and then paint and put the flooring down. Our upstairs rooms are full with all the things that we took out of the hall way and landing so we need to get those things out so that we can use the other rooms.

Yesterday I took Kathleen out to Gustav's German Pub & Grill in Clackamas for dinner. She had a roasted duck in apricot sauce with green beans and mash potatoes and I had three kinds of sausages with sauerkraut, red cabbage and German potato salad. Then for desert Kathleen had a chocolate mousse and I had a dark chocolate cheesecake; we both had a cup of decaf coffee to wash it all down.

When we were done the just rolled us out into the parking lot and then we drove home. By the time we got back I was too tired to blog so I thought that I would just wait until today to do two for one.

I guess that this is about enough for today; I think that I have run out of words for now.

Vegetarian Hash

Well, I did not get much done today; I was out in the garage this morning and saw that plates on my Jeep had expired last December. For some reason I never got a renewal notice. I called the DMV and explained to them what was going on and for some reason they had it expiring in December 2005.

But I was looking at the receipt that I had and it showed that I had gotten a new license plate in October 2005 and it listed the new tag numbers, so I do not know what happened. Anyway I need to go to the DMV and get a form and then take it to DEQ and get it passed through there and then I can get my new tags.

I was working on my taxes when Andrea called and said the she and Brandon were going to come over around 1100. She and Brandon got here a little after 1100 and stayed until around 1730.

While she was here I washed, dried, folded and put away two loads of clothes. After the second load finished, I noticed that there was still water in the utility sink, so I took the plunger to it. It took a lot longer to clear than I would have expected, but I finally got it cleared. After I got the water to drain normally I mixed up a batch of my drain cleaner and poured it down the drain.

I mix 1 Cup of baking soda and 1/2 Cup of salt down the drain followed by 1 cup of hot vinegar. I heated the vinegar in the microwave before adding it to the drain. Then I wait 5 minutes before flushing the drain with 2 quarts of hot water. This whole thing can be repeated a few times if it is necessary. I did not because the drain was running freely before I did the first one.

I am not sure why the drain stopped up as it had been running fine or at least I did not notice it being slow before today. Anyway I think that I spent a little over two and a half hours working on it. When I finally got to sit down I noticed that my wrists were really sore from using the plunger so much.

After Andrea and Brandon left I sat and rested for a while and then I made myself some vegetarian hash. First I added some olive oil to the frying pan and then added a block of tofu (about 12 ounces), then I sliced up some onion and diced it. While that was frying I grated a couple potatoes, leaving the skins on. I kept stirring the mix until it had all started browning and then I stirred in some Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.

I let it sit a while to brown and then I turned it and let the other side brown. Then I put it on my plate and added a little ketchup...not bad even if I do have to say so myself.

Well, I am tired so I think that I am going to call it a day.

Sunshine + Warm Weather = Spring Flowers

I was really sore and tired yesterday from working out in the yard Saturday so I did not do much of anything except sit around and read the paper. We both made it to church yesterday, I think that is the first time in about two months that Kathleen has made it.

She stayed up late last night so she has been really tired today. I gathered up all the cut tile from our upstairs bathroom. I had just left them laying out by the garage where I had cut them and was going to get rid of them when Kathleen said that she might want them, so I put them into a couple boxes for her.

This morning when I first got up I emptied the dishwasher and then I picked up the rugs in the kitchen and swept, mopped the floor. After a while I also vacuumed the downstairs carpet...gee, I guess that is the only place where we have carpet left.

I have been noticing that the spring flowers are popping up all over. The heather and primroses are blooming and it will not be long before the snow drops pop open as well. The other bulbs, crocus, daffodils and tulips are all up and getting pretty big, so it should not be too long before they start flowering. Spring must be in the air; the weather has been in the fifties for the last three days and Saturday it was pretty close to sixty.

I got our credit union statement in the mail today so I reconciled my checking account as well as our savings account; I always like it when it reconciles on the first try. I also got my monthly statement on my investments; I wish that I could say that I am making a killing, but I do not think that anyone is right now.

Well that was pretty much my day, I think that I will call it a day.

Sunny Saturday + Feeling Good = Yard Work Gets Done

Our wireless system was having issues last night, so I did not get to blog as I did not get back up and working until almost 2300 last night. Kathleen ran out and bought a new wireless router about 2000 and by the time she got back and I installed the new one and hooked up to it I was too tired to even think about working on the computer any more so I just went to bed.

I did not sleep in as long as I would have liked to but I was awake and felt pretty good so I just got up. After making my hardy Saturday morning breakfast, I read the paper and finished my coffee. Then I put my dishes into the dishwasher and washed the pots and pans that had been in the sink for a couple of days. I was just too tired to do them and they did not get done.

The mail came after a bit so I got it, not much of anything worth bothering with, so I went outside and ground some of the branches and fir cones that have been collecting in a pile under the fir trees. I gathered up enough to fill three barrels and then I drug the barrels into the back yard so that they would be close to my chipper.

I took the chips and poured them on the pathway in the large rose garden. It makes a nice soft pathway and also helps keep the weeds somewhat at bay. While I was chipping the branches I was listening to CCR on my iPod...good music to work by, or just listen to for that matter.

Just before I was about ready to call it quits I noticed that the battery was getting pretty low, so I went back into the house and put it on the charger. I only had about another half hour before I was finished and I thought that I could probably make it with out my tunes.

Listening to the music helped cancel out the noise from the chipper and it made the time go by a lot faster. By the time I put everything away and got cleaned up it was about 1600. I surprised myself a little as I actually stopped before I was too worn out and before it got too dark that it made it hard to get everything put away.

Now I need a good shower to get all the stuff off my body that is going to start irritating my allergies. I could tell that I had been on my feet more than I had been use to as my feet are really throbbing...another thing that a shower is going to help.

Kathleen reheated the roast and mash potatoes with shins from the other night, she also heated up some peas for a vegetable. I think that I am going to have several pots and pans to clean up tomorrow. Well, I think I will end this for tonight so that I can take my shower before my eyes get so irritated that I cannot see the monitor.

No Rain + Working Outside = Tired Bob

After a rather stormy evening and night I was able to get an almost normal amount of sleep last night. After breakfast, coffee, reading the paper and cleaning up the kitchen I decided to go outside and pull some more weeds along the driveway.

This time of year there are a lot of weeds around here that pop up and if I do not get them pulled before they go to seed they spread all over the place. These weeds actually are "spring loaded" and when they get brushed against or one tries to pull them they spring their seeds all over; that is why I try to get them pulled before they get a chance to flower and go to seed.

This time of year the weeds pull up pretty easily the problem is getting them and the associated mud off ones fingers and into the can that I use to gather them up before putting them into the yard debris barrel.

About the time I was noticing that I was getting a little sore and tired it got very over cast and a storm looked eminent. So when I got done with the area that I was working on I dumped the bucket of weeds and put my tools away. Then by the time I got back into the house and cleaned up it really looked dark outside.

Later on I noticed that it was raining out, although not nearly as bad as it looked like it might while I was working outside. I did manage to actually lay down and take a couple hour nap today and I felt better once I got up again.

My eyes have really been teary the last few days; it must be "spring-time" allergies starting to work their thing on me. I washed my hair and face with baby shampoo. I like using baby shampoo because it is not only easy on my hair but I can also wash my eyes an face with it to help get rid of things that cause my allergies to flair up. Washing my eyes seemed to have helped for a little while but my eyes are starting to tear up again...maybe I am just a sensitive type of guy!

Not Enough Sleep + No Energy = Really Tired

For some unknown reason I woke up around 0300 this morning and after tossing and turning for a couple more hours I decided that I would get up. I knew that I would be really tired later on today, but I actually felt pretty good considering that it was so early.

I read the paper and made a pot of coffee, then after reading the paper I put the oatmeal, that had been soaking, into the micro-wave. After putting my dishes into the dishwasher I sat down in my chair for a while.

Around 1000 I went outside and pulled weeds and raked the front parking strip as it had gotten pretty chewed up from vehicles driving on it. By the time I got everything done and in the house and cleaned up it was almost noon.

Kathleen had an appointment at 1330 so after she left I made myself some lunch and then sat back down in my chair. Kathleen called from Winco around 1600 and woke me up. I dropped the phone three times trying to answer it I was so groggy that I could not coordinate my thought of answering the phone with actually picking it up and pressing the talk button.

I was suppose to meet with the guys tonight, but I am still so tired that I do not think that I can safely drive tonight. I have a harder time driving in the dark than I use to so unless I am feeling really well I try to avoid it whenever possible.

I seem to have some energy about every other day and I think that today was my day for energy. It was kind of nice that it was somewhat nice out today, although it was still pretty mucky to work out in the garden. My Muck Boots were pretty well caked with mud by the time I finished working in the garden.

I think that I have pretty much run out of steam tonight; who knows maybe tomorrow I might have energy!?!

How True

http://www.arcamax.com/newspics/4/451/45173.gif

This was in the paper a couple of weeks ago it rang so true that I had to cut it out and put it on the refrigerator. Pickles has become one of my favorite comics, I find that I sometimes have more in common with that cartoon than I like to admit.

Dilbert is another comic that I enjoy although I do not relate as much to it as I did when I worked at Boeing. So much of what was in Dilbert looked like it might have come from someone that I worked with it was uncanny.

I felt better this morning when I got up, my headache was gone and my stomach felt better as well. I even got a few things done today; I did a load of towels, a load of dishes and I straightened up the front porch a little bit. It still has a lot of lumber on it so there is not a lot that can be done with it.

I reheated the leftover whole wheat noodles and added a can of sardines to it for my omega 3 dose for the day.

Tonight Kathleen sliced and diced some potatoes and added some of the pot roast and onions from last night for dinner for kind of a roast beef hash kind of meal.

Well, I need to get the dishwasher emptied and the dinner dishes loaded into it, so I am going to end this for now.

Super Bowl XLII

I felt somewhat decent this morning when I got up so after eating breakfast I got ready for church. Kathleen was still sleeping when I was ready to leave at 0915 so I left by myself. I was not feeling as well as I was when I first got up; my insides just did not feel quite right and my head was starting to develop a headache. My eyes were also watering quite a bit and I thought about turning around and staying home...but I did not.

About half way through Sunday School my headache got worse and I could hardly keep my eyes open. Then a little while later the worship team for the second hour started practicing and since our class meets right below them the heavy drums did not do my headache feel any better. It got bad enough that I had to leave before it was over.

By the time I got home I was really sick to my stomach; I think from the pain in my head and eyes as much as anything. I took some Tylenol as soon as I got home and took a quick nap in my chair when I did get up I felt somewhat better. My head still hurt and my eyes were watering but my insides felt better.

After eating something I sat down and watched to Super Bowl, I was glad to see the Giants win. It was a rather uneventful game mostly a defensive struggle, but a good game anyway. I would much rather watch a close game than one that was really lopsided.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made a pot roast with "dot" noodles and green beans. I did not eat a lot as I still was not feeling good. If I were still working I would consider this a wasted weekend as I did not get anything done; but since all my days are like a weekend I guess that it was okay.

With that said I think that I am going to call it a day as my eyes hurt to look at the computer screen; they hurt no matter what I am doing. Right now I am just hoping that they feel better in the morning. This is two days now that my eyes have been giving me fits.

Happy Groundhogs' Day!

Well I guess Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, so I guess that means six more weeks of winter. I also read that Gen. Beauregard Lee, Punxsutawney Phil's counterpart in Lilburn, Ga. Beau did not see his shadow today so that would mean that spring will come early. So I guess it just depends on where one lives. I am not sure whether our groundhog saw his shadow or not but we did have snow all morning,
but none of it stuck at our house. Alyssa and Andrea both reported that it has stuck but was melting. Aaron said that depending on where he drove there was snow in some places but driving a little further he would run out of snow.

It has been a pretty uneventful day here, I did get the dishes washed, unloaded and put away but that is about all I did today. I did spend a lot of time on my computer looking at flooring web sites to see what I could find out about the flooring but I did not really accomplish much and probably could have taken a nap and done myself some good.

I made myself some hash browns and added some of that onion, and pepper mix that we got the other day. I even added some of it to my egg beaters for my omelet and had a couple veggie sausage links and toast for breakfast.

Tonight Kathleen made some rice and chicken in a cream of chicken sauce. After it was done she added some apple slices and I added some raisins on top of that. It was pretty good. Kathleen thought that it needed something red to go with it and since we did not have any cranberry sauce I opened a can of pickled beets.

Kathleen did not have any of the beets so I wound up eating the whole can myself. I am not sure why I like beets but I think that I always have. I do not know too many people that do like them, so I do not eat them as much as I would like...usually only a couple times a year.

I sure would like to start feeling better pretty soon, I am really getting tired of not feeling well. Some of it may have to do with the weather and not being able to get out and work in the yard at all. Even on dry days the ground is so soggy that I cannot do anything; that plus the fact that I only have about ten minutes of energy a day.

Well here is to six more weeks of winter!

Bob's Fabulous Food Friday

Alyssa posted her Fabulous Food Friday today and I got the idea to do one myself. I originally posted this as a comment to her Super Bowl Chili recipe but here it is again:

Sometimes beans do not agree with everyone so here is a different take on your Super Bowl Chili.

Ingredients:
* 1-1/2 pounds ground beef, ground turkey or whatever
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
* 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed chicken gumbo soup, undiluted
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 3 tablespoons vinegar
* 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 12 sandwich rolls, split

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook beef or turkey, onion and green pepper (you can buy a mix of onion, red and green pepper in the frozen food department, I bought it at Winco and it was made by Flav-R-Pac) over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain off grease.

Stir in soup, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, horseradish, bay leaf, salt and pepper.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Spoon onto rolls.

This should make about twelve servings.

As a suggestion to make this a more complete meal, serve them with baked beans or potato salad, and dill pickles.

This way is someone wants beans they can have them otherwise they can just have the potato salad and pickle and have the option for bean or not.

Enjoy and I hope you like it; let me know what you think

Sunshine?

I must be feeling a little better because this morning I made my own hash browns as I used the last of the frozen ones Saturday and we have not gone to the store yet. Anyway after breakfast I cleaned out the micro-wave again, for some reason something must have gotten spilled on the tray. I just took a wet sponge and put it in the micro-wave and turned it on for a minute and everything just kind of melted away.

While I was cleaning I also cleaned out the crumb tray on the toaster oven. One of the things that I really like about this toaster oven is that the tray comes out really easily so cleaning it is pretty easy.

After doing what I could in the kitchen I decided that it was time to vacuum the downstairs carpet. I think that it had been a couple of weeks since I did that and it was pretty dirty from the construction dust.

Noticing that the weather had cleared up I decided that I would go outside and see if I could get some work done out there.

While I was out there I gave our sword ferns a haircut and also picked up the rest of the beaver board and put it into the garbage can. After finishing up outside I went back inside and cleaned up. Kathleen finally came downstairs around 1245 and made herself some breakfast.

I asked her if she were planning on going grocery shopping today and she said yes, so I got out my coupons and pulled out the ones that we could use and also the ones that had expired.

Around 1330 I felt the bottom drop out of my energy level so I decided that I would take a nap in my easy chair. I finally woke up around 15100 and made myself some lunch. Kathleen still had not gotten dressed and I really did not have the energy to go shopping at this point anyway.

I think that I have felt better today than I have in a couple weeks; maybe it was just the fact that I was able to get outside and work for a while, I am not sure what it was, but I hope that I have turned the corner and start to feeling better.

One thing I know is that I need to be aware of my level of energy and stop and rest when I need to or else I will just get totally drained and it will take me a couple days to regain it again.

That is about it for now; I am watching Fox News and the results coming in from the Florida primary. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel as good as I did today and have my energy last a little longer.

Oh, just so Kathleen does not have to comment on the pictures being of our former pastor and his wife's place up in Idaho that they sent me the other day, but I just thought that they looked like real winter pictures. I am somewhat jealous, but not enough that I would exchange our mild winters for theirs. I like being able to drive to that kind of weather when I want to but I am glad that I do not live in it.

Snow!

Boy was I surprised when I opened the front door to get the paper this morning.

I could not believe my eyes. I knew that they had said that there was a chance of snow last night but I was not prepared for this.

When I finally did wake up and go downstairs to retrieve the paper there was some snow on the ground, but I have seen thicker frost!

I must be feeling a little better because today I actually shook up the kitchen rugs, swept and mopped the kitchen floor. For some reason it feels crunchy when I walk on it even after I have swept it, so I thought that I would try mopping it this time.

I have a feeling it just has to do with the remodeling and texturizing and the sanding that goes along with it. I probably need to vacuum the whole house really well and see if that helps.

We took back our samples of the bamboo flooring this afternoon and looked as some more options for the flooring. We now have a couple trees worth of brochures and I am not sure how close we are to deciding on what to do with the flooring.

Kathleen wants to keep the same theme going for the upstairs and downstairs and possibly the stairs, so there are a lot of things that we have to consider when choosing the flooring. We have asbestos in the tiles under the carpeting in the dining room so we have to have something that we can float in that area so we probably will use the same Click together type flooring all over.

While we were out we also took back the sample tiles that we had gotten when we were doing the upstairs bathroom. While we were there we spent a little time looking at what we might want to do in the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen.

It looks like our weather is warning up a little as the snow level is around 1000 feet now whereas it was 300 feet and lower the last couple of days. I was outside puttering around for a while today and noticed that our spring bulbs are about three inches tall now, they have been popping up now for the last several weeks.

I still had roses blooming a couple of weeks ago and the prime roses have been blooming now for several weeks. It was kind of nice to see them popping up through snow this morning... kind of a sign that spring is not too far off ~ I hope!

Well my wrist is really bothering me so I think that I am going to stop and make this an official blog.

Trying this again after a break

I guess I must have needed a break, I am still lacking in energy, but I feel better than I have in a week or so. My innards have not been very kind to me for the last several days and this morning was not different.

I had gotten up early enough to go to church this morning, but my stomach was really bothering me and my wrists and thumb were really sore as well. I am not sure why my wrists are still sore, maybe it is from the cold weather but I am not sure.

Speaking of cold weather it looks like our week of cold weather is starting to break up a little. Today they were predicting the possibility of snow but all we got was rain. Alyssa said that they had snow up their way but she is a couple hundred feet higher than we are.

There is still a possibility of snow here tonight or tomorrow but overall it is warming up and we are almost out of the snow possibility for this season. Even if we do get some snow from here on out but when it has snowed in the past it usually does not last long.

I did not get much of anything done today; I did three loads of laundry, washed a sink load of pots and pans and made myself a couple meals. I think I spent most of my day in my easy chair dozing off and on. That is probably the only reason that I have the energy to even do this tonight. I think that I have about fifteen minutes worth of energy and then I need to rest.

This is worse than after my surgery; I would not be too surprised if it did not have something to do with the weather and lack of sunshine although this week the sun has been shining more than it had in a month or so.

I think that I will call it quits for today, blog wise that is, and unload the washer and put the clothes into the dryer.

All Aboard…a Reflection back on My Life

I have been struggling for the past week, first from the test results from my latest PSA screening and as I think about that I have to think about my aches and pains and the fact that I am not getting any younger or recovering from what is ailing me, so I have been reflecting a little about my life and some of the stops along the way.

I mainly did this for myself, but I wanted to share it with my family and friends so please bear with me...thanks - Bob

“This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” Philippians 1:9-10 (NIV)

I am not much for the significance of dreams and I cannot say that I have had any divinely inspired visions. But rolling over in the middle of the night, I began thinking about where life had taken me. I guess, as you get older you spend more and more time looking in the rearview mirror. And as I was thinking about all the places God had taken me, I began to envision my life like a ride on a train.

First stop: High School station, where I got off the train and spent four great years involved in sports and basically having fun with my friends. When I got back on the train, I looked back to see all my buddies waving goodbye from the platform only to pull into College station. More years there and I am back on the train, as it pulls away I am waving goodbye to friends while the train pulls away. Next stop: the Air Force, where I met Kathleen, and after a few years we are back on the train, this time to Ashland Oregon, Southern Oregon College and Ashland Bible Church. More years there and we are back on the train, as it pulls away we wave goodbye to friends while the train pulls away.

This time it stops at Portland, Oregon to go to Multnomah Bible School. After three years there with Alyssa our first child—you guessed it, waving goodbye to all our professors and friends, most of whom we’d never see again. And as the train proceeded, there were more stops ahead as we served at a church, First Baptist, in Oakridge, Oregon, while there we had Aaron our son. We were there a year when we felt that we needed to go back to Portland, so bringing our two children on board with us we headed back home…Portland and Hinson Baptist Church.

We have been here, in Portland ever since, along the way we added two more children, Andrea and then Antonia (Toni). After a long stint at Boeing I have since retired and, and now the train has seemed to have stopped or at least slowed down. We have been at Gateway Baptist Church since 1987 and the Omega class has been our extended family.

What I desperately want to tell you is not about my “stops” on the trip. That would be like boring you with an evening of my home slides or movies! What struck me about my middle of the night “vision” is this: The only people who have gone all the way with me are my wife, my children, and my God. All other involvements, relationships, and pursuits that captured my attention and drove the agenda of my life at times are, in retrospect, only transitory—nice things, nice people, and worthy causes that at the end of the day quickly become a part of history never to be reclaimed. Life is seasonal and only a few precious things are ultimately really important.

Living as though a season of life lasts forever is dangerous. If that’s your perspective, then you will easily ignore what is significant in the long term for what seems important in the moment. I guess that’s why someone once said that on the deathbed of life no one will wish he had spent more time at the office. It’s the treachery of the thrill of an affair, the gain of a life on the road for a company that will turn you out at 55. Living now for everything that seems so important—our friends, our careers, our desires and dreams—if we are not careful, may just mess up what’s really important in the long haul.

When I was young it seemed like life was the slow boat to China and every stop seemed like forever. But now, at my stage of life, I know that life is really like a ride on the Cannonball Express headed full steam ahead for heaven with a few more stops on the way! I live to enjoy the ride with as few regrets as possible. And thankfully, Kathleen and the children are still on board with a bunch of grandchildren added in to spice up the trip. The best part is that my God’s on board, the trip planner and conductor who guarantees to get us safely home.

I guess what I want to leave everyone with or the bottom line is: that only God and a few really important people are going all the way with you. Make sure they get the best part of you!

Saturday's Sleepiness

I did not feel really rested when I got up this morning, but I was not getting anymore sleep so I just got up. I made myself some hash browns and ham to go along with my egg whites and cheese. I also made a couple slices of raisin toast and a fresh pot of coffee.

Before I started breakfast, I went out to the garage and put the Jeep on the charger. I tried doing that earlier in the week, but we were not home long enough for it to get a full charge. So since I thought that we would be home most of the day I would try and get an early start on it.

I could have given it a quick charge, but I like doing a slow charge better, I think that it is easier on the battery. Finally early this afternoon I checked it and it had a full charge on it, so I unplugged the charger.

When I got back into the house I went upstairs and went to bed. I was really tired and thought that some more sleep might help. A little over an hour later I got up and did not feel as sleepy but I did not feel any better.

About 1430 I made myself one of the tofu sausages and veggie burgers. I cut a slice of crushed wheat sour dough bread in half for the sausage and toasted some cheese on a couple slices of dark rye for the veggie burger.

I had wanted to go to Costco this afternoon as there were a couple coupons that I had that expire tomorrow, but between my being tired and Kathleen not getting dressed until late this afternoon we never made it.

After a while I went and sat in my chair where I was half asleep most of the time. Kathleen finally came back downstairs and was dressed but I was too tired to do anything but it was like 1700 by this time. The children were all getting together at Aaron and Tami's and had invited us to join them for dinner, but I was too tired and Kathleen was busy working on trying to decide what to do with the house.

Finally around 1830 Kathleen thawed out some of the left-over lentil and ham soup that she made a couple weeks ago. So we had that for dinner, it has been a wintry feeling couple days and from what I hear it is suppose to remain cold for several more days. We had a few snow flurries about mid morning, but nothing stuck and it was mostly just overcast the rest of the day.

Well this certainly has been another unproductive day for me, but I guess I need to get use to that. Since we have not made a decision as what to do for flooring yet, we will need to call Stan and let him know so that he can make plans to work somewhere else next week.

I think that I have written more than I though that I did today, so I will just say good night.

Frustrating Friday

I got up this morning and went downstairs to make my oatmeal but before I could get started I had to deal with some ants coming in looking for a warmer place to spend the winter. Once I got the kitchen ant free, I proceeded making my oatmeal.

Kathleen came down before I finished cooking my oatmeal so I did not get to read the morning paper. She got up early because of our doctors appointments this morning. So as soon as we finished eating we got ready to go to the doctors.

I was hoping that this would be the time where I could change from an appointment every six months to one a year but instead it change only now it is every three months again. I was a little disappointed that instead of my PSA going down it has gone back up again. Not much but it is opposite of the direction that I was hoping for.

After finishing at the doctor's we headed to the AT&T office so that I could buy another $100.00 worth of minutes for my cell phone. I still had around $80.00 worth of minutes from last year but I needed to do that so that I could roll over the minutes that I did have.

After taking care of the phone we went to Ikea and spent the rest of the day there. I was ready to leave after a couple hours, but Kathleen probably could have spent another couple hours there.

While we were there we each had their meatball lunch around 1530, it was not too bad, although the meatballs were a little plain but okay. We finally made it home around 1800 and my feet let me know that I had been walking on concrete all afternoon.

Other than being a little bummed out from my PSA results and my feeling rather worn out today I have been feeling pretty good. Well, I think I am going to warm up Kathleen's left-over salmon from last night, she said that I could have it as she did not feel like doing dinner tonight.

So good night for now!