The Story of an Old Country Church

I have been working on this for quite some time; ever since I saw this picture of an old abandoned dilapidated church.

While the old countryside was lush and green,
As I looked around I saw was a very sad scene.
There was a little country church standing all alone;
It was all that remained of happy times long gone.

It had never been fancy but was only a little wood frame building
Even now one could tell that it had no fancy trim or ornate gilding.
As it had stood there it was such disrepair I could see right through,
Stand outside I could see the inside of the building and the belfry, too.

Most of the boards were blackened and falling apart.
Seeing such a sad sight really tugged my heart as,
I thought of all the people who once must have worshiped there;
They would have come from all directions to gather for prayer.

The bell that once would call all who heard it to come and bring
Their humble hearts and happy voices to come; join together and sing
Praises to God, our Savior and our Lord,
As the offer petitions to the One they adored.

Surely there had been happy times within that setting;
There were baptisms, confirmations and many a weddings.
And yes there were times of sadness, too,
As the saw their loved ones passed on to life anew.

There were sermons that were preached from God’s Holy Word.
As many hearts and lives were changed by what was heard.
And now, this once proud church has nobody in it.
As I stood there I thought for a minute.

Could I shore up those walls and the roof that was about to fall in;
And if I fixed that bell would it sound throughout the countryside once again?
Would the people who lived nearby come to hear;
The Word of God preached again for many a year.

But this church had served God’s purpose and now perhaps it is best;
Just to let time take its toll, and let this old church come to its rest.
Then remembering Christ’s promise: “My church always will be,
Not in some building, but in people as they fellowship and worship Me.”

What a Difference Ten Degrees Makes

I could tell before I got out of bed this morning that this was going to be a nice day. First of all the room was quite a lot brighter than it has been for a while; due to the sun being able to actually shine due to lack of cloud cover and secondly because it was not raining as the skylight was not sounding like a drum from the rain drops hitting it.

After breakfast I got ready to meet with the guys, as I was going out the door I checked the mail and it was here so I brought it in and opened up. While I was doing that Kathleen came downstairs and she looks like she has what I had a couple weeks ago.

We got together around 1000 and did not part until after noon; we had a great time catching up and sharing with each other. There was an extra guy there and that might explain why we went so long.

After I left I took off for the credit union to deposit that check I had wanted to deposit for almost a week. When I got to the credit union the parking lot was really packed and I had to park quite a way away from the credit union. The line inside was also twisting back and forth on its third twist. I also put in that fifty dollar bill that I found last week on my walk, so it added up to a nice deposit.

The trip back home was longer than usual as I ran into two construction zones that closed down one of the two lanes, so traffic was really backed up.

Kathleen still was feeling really tired so she lay down and took a nap. While she was doing that I went out and mowed the lawn. I was really surprised at just how much the grass had grown in the last week. It was so high that the battery wore out before I could finish mowing; it is a good thing that the mower is so light that it is not much harder to just push it manually rather than have the battery do the work.

After I got done mowing I put everything away I went inside cleaned up and then made myself some lunch. I have not had a Limburger cheese and herring sandwich so that is what I did. I also had some Costco Multi grained chips.

After putting the dishes into the dishwasher I sat down and read the mail as I had not had a chance to do that before I took off to meet the guys. It was about 1500 and so I decided to go into the living room and sit down and relax.

Kathleen finally woke up around 1700 or so, since she started her nap around 1330 she got a pretty fair nap in. She still did not feel too well. So tonight she fixed herself some tomato soup and put the left-over beans and rice and I made myself a couple burritos and had the soup that Kathleen did not want.

Things are a Changing

Well we still have not gotten to Winco to do our grocery shopping. Kathleen was up early, early for her that is, but was not feeling well and just could not get herself going.

It drizzled and rained just about all day. I went outside for a little while between moisture events and rebuilt the dam out front that keeps the street run-off out of our driveway. I also spent a little time going through the rose and berry gardens pulling weeds.

When I came back inside and cleaned up it was lunch time so I reheated some of the pizza from last night. Then I loaded up the dishwasher and did a load of dishes; even though the dishwasher was not packed there was enough in it that it was worth while to do a load.

While the dishwasher was doing its thing I decided to go upstairs and take a nap. While I did not really sleep I did stay horizontal for about an hour so that I felt better when I got up.

I did not get much of anything else done but sit around and watch Fox news. Around 1815 I asked Kathleen if she were going to do anything for dinner and she said that she was coming down right away. Well, about 1830 I decided that I would make myself something as it looked like Kathleen was not going to be down anytime soon.

I heated up the rest of the left-over pizza and the left-over breakfast pilaf for myself. Kathleen finally made it downstairs as I was eating and reheated up the beans, rice and hamburger that she made several nights ago.

Tomorrow I am meeting with the guys so afterwards I am going to stop by the credit union to deposit the check that I have been holding on to for almost a week. I hope that afterwards we will be able to get to Winco and get some of the items that we are out of.

Everyday I am adding to the list as we are running out of more and more things. We still have a lot of food in the house, but it is things that we do not normally eat. There are a lot of canned goods as well but most of that is vegetables or canned fruit.

Well tomorrow the temperature is suppose to be about ten degrees warmer and dry and then Saturday it is suppose to be ten degrees warmer than Friday, so from the beginning of the week the temperature will have changed over thirty degrees. While I like the warmer weather thirty degrees in a couple days is a little too fast.

Ugh, Another Yucky Day

It continued to rain again last night and into this morning. I rained off and on just about all day and when it was not raining it was not too pleasant outside either. I had gone outside to take out the kitchen vegetable scraps and put them into my composter and while it was not raining it was still pretty dark out.

While I was outside I did a little weeding and also crushed up some egg shells to put around my prim roses and also the strawberries. It is my way of recycling the egg shells and also is a good slug deterrent as the crushed up egg shell slices into the slugs and is not harmful to the birds or other animals.

This morning I also swept under the stove as Kathleen removed the draw so while it was out I thought that it would be a good time to vacuum it out as I cannot remember when it had been done. While I was down on my hands and knees, I also took the grill off the refrigerator and vacuumed under the refrigerator as well.

There was so much dust in the compressor that I am surprised that it was able to breathe at all. So while the draw was out on the stove and the grill was off on the refrigerator and I had already vacuumed under them; I decided to mop underneath them as well.

Kathleen had her meeting with the woman from church this afternoon so I made myself a sardine sandwich on Orowheat crushed wheat and oat bread and also a herring sandwich on crushed wheat sourdough bread. That way Kathleen did not have to make comments about the smell and I got to enjoy something that I really enjoy.

Kathleen did not get back until about 1830 and I was just about ready to fix myself dinner when I heard her drive up. She went to a stamping store and evidently talked to someone for quite a while.

Anyway she made a pizza tonight using a Boboli pizza crust and topped it with artichoke hearts, olives, peppers, and a rushed up Gardenburger with sun dried tomatoes and basil; then topped that with cheddar, Parmesan and string cheeses.

It tasted pretty good and was half-way healthy at least for pizza. Kathleen was surprised at how good it tasted, but it was just a variation of the pizza recipe that I posted a while back. We only ate about half of it so there should be enough for a snack or two and a lunch.

Another Strange Day

This morning when I got up I could tell that it had rained during the night; it was still overcast but at least it was not raining. That would not last long as it started to drizzle as I took the recycling up front.

After breakfast I decided to clean the shelf where we have our oils and spices, Tabasco and other sauces. I started on one side and took everything off the lazy-Susan and cleaned them off, and then I cleaned the lazy-Susan as well.

After I had every thing cleaned that came off the lazy-Susan I cleaned the bottles in the middle of the shelf. Kathleen came downstairs as I was getting ready to do the lazy-Susan that had the spices on it; and she took the lazy-Susan off the shelf and began washing the spices. So as she washed them I put them back onto the lazy-Susan.

I went outside a couple more times this morning for various reasons and I think that it was drizzling each time. A few times this morning it really down poured so I was glad that I was not outside when it did that.

I added a few more items to our grocery list as I noticed a couple more items that we were either out of or just about out of. By the time Kathleen came back downstairs to go shopping it was after 1500 and she still needed to add items to the grocery list, so I knew that it would be another forty-five minutes or so before we got going and that would be a little too late. By late I mean right in the middle of the busy time at Winco.

So another day goes by with out getting to the credit union or grocery store. Tomorrow Kathleen meets with another gal so we will not be going then either. It is a good thing that we have a lot of things here to eat.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made some breakfast pilaf and added some hamburger, peppers and I am not sure what else. It was pretty good and there is enough left-over for a lunch later in the week.

I have been feeling better this week at least my hip has been feeling better. I have only been taking Tylenol first thing in the mornings and then just before I go to bed. I also have not had to take anything for my sinuses; I am still having a lot of drainage but the only time I am stuffed up is when I first get up in the mornings.

A week from this Friday I have an appointment with my surgeon as a follow-up on my PSA. Since it has been higher than it should be I am having to have it checked every three months. I was every six months and was suppose to go to once a year but my PSA has not come down like it was suppose to.

More April Showers

I went to bed early last night so I got a pretty good nights sleep and I felt pretty good when I got up. I could tell by the way that the sky looked like that it was not going to be a good day to work outside. Even though it did not rain all day it was pretty blustery and in generally a nasty day.

I emptied the dish washer and then dried off a couple of roasting pans and put them away. After eating breakfast, reading the paper and the mail I washed a load of towels, dried, folded and put them away.

Andrea called around 1130 and we talked for a while; but she wanted to talk to Kathleen but since I had just been upstairs I knew that she was not up yet. So I told Andrea that I would have Kathleen call her when she got up.

After lunch I cut out coupons as I thought that we were going to go to Winco today. After cutting them out I filed them in my coupon folder weeding out the ones that had expired and putting the ones that I wanted to use at the store.

This afternoon I washed a load of white clothes, dried, folded and put them away. When it got to be about 1600 I realized that we were not going to make it to the store today. I was hoping to go to the credit union as I had a good size refund check to deposit but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow to do that.

During one of the drier spells I went outside and pulled some weeds along the east side of the house. That is one of the areas that I am trying to redo but it has taken me too long to get it finished. I am trying to get the grass dug up and plant some kind of low ground cover that will not require much maintenance or watering as it is a rather narrow strip and does not get any use except by the electric and gas meter readers.

Tonight I made a sun dried tomato and basil Gardenburger on dark rye. I added some mushroom slices and cheddar cheese and then toasted them to melt the cheese. Kathleen had the left-over bean and rice dish from last night. I did not have any as it did not agree with my system and I paid the price for it this morning.

Well, it has kind of been one of those days where I did not get a lot accomplished, but there have been more of these lately than I care to think about.

Another Wild and Wacky Weather Weekend

While this weekend was not quite as wacky and wild as last weekend it still had its moments. Yesterday was not too bad; just some rain off and on, today on the other hand went from glary bright out to dark and rainy.

Anyway, yesterday I had a meeting at church from 0900 until 1030 and then Lexis' birthday party at 1400. I was thinking that I might miss the morning meeting as I wanted to be in good shape for the party, but when I got up I actually felt pretty good so I went to the meeting.

But by about 1630 or so I was really starting to feel worn out. By the time we got home I seriously thought about going to bed, but I decided to stay up and fight the urge to sleep. I knew that if I were to go to bed that early I would be up in the middle of the night and then today I would be wasted again.

Poor Aaron and Tami had a house full of little one almost none stop from around 1100 in the morning until I do not know when as we left before most of then did. I think Alexis had a good time and it was good to see all the cousins running around.

I wound up staying up until about 2203 and I think I reached the point where I was no longer sleepy as it took me a while longer to fall asleep than it normally does. It was probably the shower that did it; normally it helps me to fall asleep but not last night. I did get a pretty good nights sleep and woke up about the normal time. Although once I was up and dressed I started feeling like I needed to go back to bed.

Kathleen had gotten up and since she and I had not gone to church together for a long time I thought that I would go even though I was really, really tired. By the time Sunday School was over and I helped clean up the coffee pots and put everything away I was well beyond tired.

As a consequence I spent most of the afternoon just sitting around. I did read the paper and comics but that was about it. I thought about going outside for a while but every time I started to go out it would cloud over and I decided to stay in. Then after a little while the sun would come out and the cycle would repeat itself.

We still need to do a lot of work on our remodel, I do not get much done as I do not want to wake Kathleen up and sometimes by the time she gets up I am running on low and do not want to start something that I will not be able to finish.

One of the next things we need to do before we start on the next phase of our project is to pick out the fixtures for the downstairs bathroom. I thought that we were going to do that last Friday, but we never made it out.

Maybe this week we will be a little more successful in getting something done.

So Goes the Best Laid Plans

This morning I had planned on going out to breakfast with the guys and then coming home and mowing the lawn and feed the roses so when it started to rain a little after 0800 I figured that my plans were going out the window.

Earlier in the week the weather forecast was for rain to start Sunday afternoon and the closer to the weekend it got the closer the forecast for rain to start got as well. The last I had heard it was still suppose to be clear until this afternoon...but then who believes the weather forecast anyway!

Well I did go out to breakfast and when I left to go home it was still raining although not as hard as it had been earlier. By the time I got home it had stopped raining but the grass was still much too wet to mow.

After changing my clothes I went out and fertilized my roses so that I could at least say I got some of what I wanted to accomplish today done. After I finished fertilizing the roses I went into the house and read the paper and mail.

I was getting to be a little after 1300 so I heated up the pizza that was left-over from last night's dinner and shortly after I got done Kathleen came downstairs. I went outside to pick up some fir cones and small branches that had blown down; it was windier than I realized and I was surprised to find that the lawn was a lot drier than I thought that it would be. So I got out the mower and mowed the lawn.

I am surprised at how well my little electric reel mower does, even when the grass is a little wet it still cuts fairly well. It does have a hard time when the grass gets too high; so for that reason I sometimes mow a couple times a week, just to prevent the grass from getting too high.

Aaron called just as I was coming into the house and said that he soloed for the first time yesterday, so he is doing really well. The other day when he was out flying there was a small single engine plane that crashed about a half hour after he finished flying.

He had gotten his flight time messed up and missed the first part of his fly time; he was thinking that it was from 1300 - 1500 so if he had been flying then he might not have been able to land. He was also suppose to do his first solo that day, so maybe it was a good thing that he had gotten his scheduled time wrong.

Tonight was a macaroni and cheese night; one of the staples of life or at least it use to be. It is a pretty simple meal, but still tastes good...especially baked.

Well Lexis was born almost exactly four years ago; as I recall it was at 1817 04/04/04 and she is our fourth grandchild; I am sure that there is some deeper meaning to all of that but I am not sure what it is.

I Found a New Walking Partner Ulysses

This morning was another really nice morning, so after eating breakfast and reading the paper I decided that I would try going for a walk. I had not been walking for a couple weeks as my hip had been hurting so bad, but I felt pretty good this morning so decided to give it another try.

The last couple times that I had walked I stayed on fairly level ground, but I wanted to test my hip out and try going up hill a little bit. So after going up the hill behind us I went along with the hill for a while and then took a street back down the hill.

On my way down the hill I ran across a picture of Ulysses S Grant; I was kind of surprised and almost walked by, but I decided to pick it up. When I first saw it blowing up the street I thought that it was just a piece of paper, but when I saw what it was I then thought that it was play money. Once I had it in my hands I could tell that it was a real bill; so this has definitely been my most profitable walk ever.

After I got home I went back outside and transplanted some plants in the path in the rose garden. I try to let some of the natural plants grow wherever but I am also trying to keep a path there as well and decided to just move them to a place where they would not get trampled upon.

Kathleen had mentioned wanting to go to George Morlan plumbing to look at fixtures for the downstairs bathroom so I wanted to see if she was ready to go. She said that she was really feeling tired, so I made myself some lunch and went back outside and transplanted some onion set and garlic plants.

I was going to roto-till the vegetable garden again but I decided that the ground was still too wet so I will leave that for another week or two. I was going to mow, but I kind of wanted to wait until tomorrow so that it will look nicer for the weekend. It is suppose to start raining again next week so the longer I wait the less likely it will be too long when it dries up again.

Both Kathleen and I fell asleep in the living room later this afternoon, I thought about going upstairs and taking a nap, but I could not get up the energy to climb up the stairs. Kathleen was just tired.

Tonight we had pizza for dinner; I found this recipe and thought that we should try it as I always like to try new things and this at least sounded a little healthy. It is called Mediterranean Pizza. In case anyone is interested here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 10-ounce pre-baked whole wheat pizza crust (such as Boboli)
• 1/2 cup no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1/2 cup sliced olives
• 1 small jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 small jar roasted red peppers, chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 cup reduced fat cheese (mozzarella and cheddar blend)

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread tomato sauce over the crust. Sprinkle toppings on pizza, finishing with cheese. Bake on a pizza sheet or pizza stone for 10 minutes.

Per Serving: Calories 230, Calories from Fat 57, Total Fat 6.4g (sat 2.3g), Cholesterol 25mg, Sodium 696mg, Carbohydrate 27g, Fiber 4,9g, Protein 16.3g

This morning was another really nice morning so after breakfast, reading the paper and the mail I took a cup of coffee outside and started working on the rose garden. There was a small area that I had not gotten weeded yet so I wanted to see if I could get that done before the ground got hard and the weeds got bigger.

I spent a little over an hour but I finally got it done. Just as I was finishing up Andrea and Brandon pulled into the driveway. Andrea had brought a couple hamburgers, fries and drinks for Kathleen and me; for me it was an early lunch but it was breakfast for Kathleen.

I say early lunch for me because it was only noon and I usually eat lunch around 1330 or so. Andrea and Brandon left around 1315 and Kathleen left around 1330 so I went back outside and edged around the rose garden and the berry garden. I notice this morning when I was weeding that the gardens needed edging again already.

After I finished the rose and berry gardens I went out front and edge the front yard. I finally finished that around 1620 and by the time I put the tools away and got cleaned up it was 1630 and Kathleen called from Fred Meyers and asked if we needed anything else from the store.

When she got home she heated up some Ivar's clam chowder. She only had a couple spoons full and I had the rest. Clam chowder is still one of my favorite soups.

Shortly after finishing dinner and cleaning up Aaron and Lexis came over. It was Becca's night for AWANA and Aaron usually brings Lexis over while they wait for time to pick her up. Aaron was saying that he was expecting to get his pilots license early next month.

Well I had a busy day for me and I am feeling pretty tired, but it is a tired because feel like I got something done today.

Spring Returns Again Today

This morning I could tell that the weather was going to be much nicer as there was a lack of cloud cover. It was not much warmer; in fact the news was reporting temperatures close to freezing. But as soon as the sun came out it started warming up and the temperature got up into the fifties.

Today was pick-up day: garbage, yard debris and recycling; so I took the recycling bins up front. I take the recycled paper up front in the morning as there are folks who come around at night and take the paper looking for something to steal people’s identity. The garbage and the yard debris I had taken up to the street yesterday afternoon. About five minutes before the trucks started to arrive I thought that I would take the glass jars up as well.

The three trucks all came within about a half hour of each other so I made another three trips back up front to retrieve the cans and bins. The mail came in the mean time so I got it as well although there was very little worth reading mail wise.

Finally about 1030 I went back outside and finished trimming the hedge. It only took a little while to do the actually cutting and almost as long to rake and pick up the twigs. So now I have my yard debris barrel full and have to wait for two weeks to get rid of it.

This afternoon after resting up a little bit I went out and mowed the lawn. After I finished mowing and putting the mower back into the garage I sat out in my Adirondack chair and rested for a while. That did not last long, as I could see dandelions blooming in the field out back, so I went around and started pulling them out.

I finally realized that I had worn myself out, so I went inside, cleaned up and made myself a late lunch. After cleaning up my mess, I went and sat down in my chair and dozed off. Kathleen just came downstairs and said that she was going to make halibut for dinner. She was going to make some potatoes to go along with it, but I suggested rice instead. I almost cannot believe that I said that, but I have come to like rice with certain things and fish is one of them.

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!