So there I was, laying on the gurney/bed thing with my unflattering inpatient robe on and wearing these little insane-asylum looking blue socks on my feet.
The ceiling had two posters of calm, natural settings - with one poster right side up and the other upside down so that no matter what side of the bed my head was on, I would have had one to look at in normal viewing mode.
The calm, easy listening music was playing through the overhead speakers.
The people who prepped me for the "surgical process" had the stuff all hooked up to monitor my heart rate, and the oxygen tube was connected to my nose, and so on...
And then the nurse lady tells me that they don't actually perform the procedure in the room I'm in, and that they'll be wheeling me in to the next one.
And I think to myself, "Good. I like the music that's playing over there better, anyway."
It was Bon Jovi's, "Living On a Prayer".
I wondered about the appropriateness of playing this particular song in a surgery center, but I got the message!
The blood tests came back fine and the camera didn't find any damage to my internal organs. So now I'm drinking my 64oz fountain pop refill to get my caffiene kick on. I guess I'm not going to die just yet so I should probably clean the house. :)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Gimp Guy, to the Rescue!
Good golly! Another fantastic weekend of not doing anything at all to improve the current state of the interior of the house besides eliminating a lot of papers that were stacking up on the table!
Nope... I still haven't played with the new camera yet, but the twin from CA is home on Saturday so maybe she can take some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I'm thinking it should be a lovely display of leaf covered pathway/plants and a fine showing of the ability of the local squirrels to dig holes wherever you don't want holes dug.
But anyway, I accidently stumbled upon an area that worked to make another connecting path.
So I made it.
Well...WE made it. I made the kids help me a little bit. They say they don't enjoy it and I'm sure many negative text messages are sent to their friends about what horrible abuse they have to endure while I'm home, but I know they like it when strangers stop by and comment/compliment on what little of the area can be seen from the road just as much as I do.
Unrelated to this, insurance is due on the Cadillac. No sense insuring 3 cars for just me, so I put the Lincoln in storage and biked the 13 miles or so from mom's outbuilding to where the Buick was parked. I haven't done this more than twice since college, and probably not even since high school, and yet...I'm still here to update my blog!
I am invincible!
Well, maybe not. Last week I was having some unusual feelings in the torso area. I figured it was another new spasm related to the back being funky, but it was kind of a "fun buzz" sensation so I wasn't too worried about it. I'd describe it like this...
Have you ever eaten half a bag of a FAMILY sized bag of Skittles and half an hour later done physical labor? (I have. The sugur rush gets your heart going so fast you sweat in negative temperatures and you feel like your chest is about to explode.) Have you ever taken a bath in carbonated water? (Well, me neither on that one.) How about the old battery on the tongue thing? (Ok, I admit to doing that one too.) Anyway, my torso had the sensation that I was doing all of those things, only the heart rate was normal and I wasn't sweating. I thought for sure my super powers were finally going to kick in!
And then I told my chiropractor about this, who made me go to the doctor, who told me that the stomach infection that I have (and have known about since 1991 but thought for sure the body would have taken care of it after 18 years) is more than likely pressing nerves and causing the sensation of being "charged".
Damn. I want to fly and breathe under water and blow shit up with my hands.
So now I have this handy bottle of pills and have to go in on Thurs so they can run a camera down my throat to see if there's damage to the lining of my innards.
At least someone'll be taking some pictures!
I think I'll ask them to just run the thing out the other end and have them give me a good "dental flossing".
:)
Nope... I still haven't played with the new camera yet, but the twin from CA is home on Saturday so maybe she can take some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I'm thinking it should be a lovely display of leaf covered pathway/plants and a fine showing of the ability of the local squirrels to dig holes wherever you don't want holes dug.
But anyway, I accidently stumbled upon an area that worked to make another connecting path.
So I made it.
Well...WE made it. I made the kids help me a little bit. They say they don't enjoy it and I'm sure many negative text messages are sent to their friends about what horrible abuse they have to endure while I'm home, but I know they like it when strangers stop by and comment/compliment on what little of the area can be seen from the road just as much as I do.
Unrelated to this, insurance is due on the Cadillac. No sense insuring 3 cars for just me, so I put the Lincoln in storage and biked the 13 miles or so from mom's outbuilding to where the Buick was parked. I haven't done this more than twice since college, and probably not even since high school, and yet...I'm still here to update my blog!
I am invincible!
Well, maybe not. Last week I was having some unusual feelings in the torso area. I figured it was another new spasm related to the back being funky, but it was kind of a "fun buzz" sensation so I wasn't too worried about it. I'd describe it like this...
Have you ever eaten half a bag of a FAMILY sized bag of Skittles and half an hour later done physical labor? (I have. The sugur rush gets your heart going so fast you sweat in negative temperatures and you feel like your chest is about to explode.) Have you ever taken a bath in carbonated water? (Well, me neither on that one.) How about the old battery on the tongue thing? (Ok, I admit to doing that one too.) Anyway, my torso had the sensation that I was doing all of those things, only the heart rate was normal and I wasn't sweating. I thought for sure my super powers were finally going to kick in!
And then I told my chiropractor about this, who made me go to the doctor, who told me that the stomach infection that I have (and have known about since 1991 but thought for sure the body would have taken care of it after 18 years) is more than likely pressing nerves and causing the sensation of being "charged".
Damn. I want to fly and breathe under water and blow shit up with my hands.
So now I have this handy bottle of pills and have to go in on Thurs so they can run a camera down my throat to see if there's damage to the lining of my innards.
At least someone'll be taking some pictures!
I think I'll ask them to just run the thing out the other end and have them give me a good "dental flossing".
:)
Friday, September 11, 2009
Typical Blah Blah
I have no particular subject to cover today. My camera hasn't shown up at Best Buy yet and the trees are rapidly shedding leaves all over the area I'm wanting to take pictures of, but it still looks nice and I'm looking forward to getting back to working on it in the morning.
At some time today I'll need to fix my lawnmower trailer. One of the loads of rock was a little too much for it and when I attempted to climb The Path, the load shifted and now everything is all bent to hell. So I named it Quasimodo.
We carried the trailer back to the house 'cuz now one of the wheels can't turn.
I feel the appropriate guy thing to do would be to swear a lot over this inconvenience. And yet, it just strikes me as being funny. Plus, there's opportunity here. Necessary ingenuity! :)
Then, after planting 30 some perennials last weekend, I seem to have acquired another 23 over the course of this week. Damn those greenhouses and their end-of-season sales!
But mostly I'm just stalling for time so I can say...
Mom's Birthday is today. (It's after midnight now, even though this particular computer must be set up for a different time zone as it thinks it's still 9 something pm on the 11th.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!
(Didn't get you anything yet, unless you want some perennials or a Quasimodo looking garden trailer...)
At some time today I'll need to fix my lawnmower trailer. One of the loads of rock was a little too much for it and when I attempted to climb The Path, the load shifted and now everything is all bent to hell. So I named it Quasimodo.
We carried the trailer back to the house 'cuz now one of the wheels can't turn.
I feel the appropriate guy thing to do would be to swear a lot over this inconvenience. And yet, it just strikes me as being funny. Plus, there's opportunity here. Necessary ingenuity! :)
Then, after planting 30 some perennials last weekend, I seem to have acquired another 23 over the course of this week. Damn those greenhouses and their end-of-season sales!
But mostly I'm just stalling for time so I can say...
Mom's Birthday is today. (It's after midnight now, even though this particular computer must be set up for a different time zone as it thinks it's still 9 something pm on the 11th.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!
(Didn't get you anything yet, unless you want some perennials or a Quasimodo looking garden trailer...)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Digital Camera Ordered...
Should be here by the 15th.
Let's see what comes first - Me getting pictures on this blog or Sheila updating hers.
Let's see what comes first - Me getting pictures on this blog or Sheila updating hers.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Path to Recovery
I'm slowly working my way back into my normal home routine and have been feeling pretty good. This sort of ties in with the title of today's post. Check this out...
I've finally started - and made serious progress on - "The Path" through the grove coming up from the road behind my patio. I've got the vegetation cleared and a good chunk of it is mulched and lined with rock and I have perennials strategically placed where they'll get stuck in the ground this weekend. The arbor/arch thing is up and the kids have the garden tractor wagon full of more rocks so we're ready to hit it again tomorrow. I hung some artificial grape vines on the arbor and picked up another set of solar lights that I'll be testing out along The Path, and I'm seeing where a side path can branch off and work it's way up the rock wall and so join with the other path coming from the opposite side. Plus, the bank still hasn't complained about my continued use of the path I made on their property before they acquired it, so all is good! (Well, besides the part where I have to figure out how to get water to this area...)
I've also put up that new wind chime as well as another one I'd picked up, and I fixed the broken strings from the old one using some 80lb fishing line the kid brought me. Its green fishing line and looks quite sturdy, and I was most impressed that the kid thought that out enough to present me with that line instead of the thin white shit. (Although I can't remember having 80lb line in the house. I'm fairly sure we don't have 80lb fish near here.)
I stopped in at the Willmar Goodwill after one of my chiropractor appointments. As usual, they had nothing I desired. And then I saw the table full of new-in-the-box water fountain things that roll a huge marble...um... marble. I instantly recognized the similarities between these massive marble marbles and a gazing ball, and they were only $10 each, so I bought six. (2 for me and 4 for other people who've contributed plants to my project. One of those people is my clerk at UPS, who has given me a large box of iris bulb/root/things, along with *dis*Obedient Plants, Asters, Purple Coneflowers, Oriental/Asiatic/Day Lilies, etc. Plus, her husband fixes my yard equipment when I break it. They're my kind of people!)
As you've possibly guessed, I'm naming the garden at one end of the path "Recovery". Get it? "The Path" to "Recovery"? The title of today's post? It's supposed to be witty and clever and drip with irony, as I'm sure my chiropractor would frown on the fact that I'm renewing my friendship with my good friends, Chainsaw and Hedge Trimmer. (My poor shoes...)
The arbor at the front of the patio took half the day to put together and weighs about as much as I do. The arbor I put up in the area I'm working in now took maybe 8 minutes to put together and the kids carried it down to where we put it. It is, as I'd stated in an earlier blog when my back was still normal and able to accomplish things a little faster, wide enough to drive a lawn mower thru.
And the lawnmower? It's an old one I bought from a friend I work with at UPS and it has about zero safety features. It ran circles around my new Craftsman and Cub Cadet lawnmowers when the kids and I raced them up and down the street this summer, and it's a tough little beast for having a just a wee little 13hp engine. I mean, it effortlessly climbs the descent of The Path, even with a trailer full of rocks in tow! (It was purchased primarily for this purpose so I wouldn't have to take the bags off the other mowers to hook up the garden trailer. Plus, it has a narrower deck and can get into more areas.)
I've probably started the old red mower twice since bringing it home and I'd forgotten how fast the thing moved - until I climbed on it, started it, and let the clutch out. It proceeded to jump into warp speed, briefly...and then it slammed into the side of my utility trailer that was resting at least 15 feet from where the mower was parked. I sort of expected miscellaneous things to land on me like they did when I crashed the patio set at the Marshall Goodwill, but apparently I was really lucky and none of my neighbors caught this act.
So then I decided to clean all the dust out of the headlight area on the red mower before replacing the clear plastic light cover and forcing the hood back into the resting position the factory intended.
Memos to self: Make sure to tell kids to NOT mess with the speed settings on the mowers. Have them tell friends to stay off the mowers. (No more missing keys?) Check speed setting before releasing clutch in the future.
"Hmmm....now why won't this thing start?", I ask myself the following day, just as I notice that someone has engaged the blades while it was parked. Double bummer. The kids didn't listen and the mower DOES have a safety feature.
I've finally started - and made serious progress on - "The Path" through the grove coming up from the road behind my patio. I've got the vegetation cleared and a good chunk of it is mulched and lined with rock and I have perennials strategically placed where they'll get stuck in the ground this weekend. The arbor/arch thing is up and the kids have the garden tractor wagon full of more rocks so we're ready to hit it again tomorrow. I hung some artificial grape vines on the arbor and picked up another set of solar lights that I'll be testing out along The Path, and I'm seeing where a side path can branch off and work it's way up the rock wall and so join with the other path coming from the opposite side. Plus, the bank still hasn't complained about my continued use of the path I made on their property before they acquired it, so all is good! (Well, besides the part where I have to figure out how to get water to this area...)
I've also put up that new wind chime as well as another one I'd picked up, and I fixed the broken strings from the old one using some 80lb fishing line the kid brought me. Its green fishing line and looks quite sturdy, and I was most impressed that the kid thought that out enough to present me with that line instead of the thin white shit. (Although I can't remember having 80lb line in the house. I'm fairly sure we don't have 80lb fish near here.)
I stopped in at the Willmar Goodwill after one of my chiropractor appointments. As usual, they had nothing I desired. And then I saw the table full of new-in-the-box water fountain things that roll a huge marble...um... marble. I instantly recognized the similarities between these massive marble marbles and a gazing ball, and they were only $10 each, so I bought six. (2 for me and 4 for other people who've contributed plants to my project. One of those people is my clerk at UPS, who has given me a large box of iris bulb/root/things, along with *dis*Obedient Plants, Asters, Purple Coneflowers, Oriental/Asiatic/Day Lilies, etc. Plus, her husband fixes my yard equipment when I break it. They're my kind of people!)
As you've possibly guessed, I'm naming the garden at one end of the path "Recovery". Get it? "The Path" to "Recovery"? The title of today's post? It's supposed to be witty and clever and drip with irony, as I'm sure my chiropractor would frown on the fact that I'm renewing my friendship with my good friends, Chainsaw and Hedge Trimmer. (My poor shoes...)
The arbor at the front of the patio took half the day to put together and weighs about as much as I do. The arbor I put up in the area I'm working in now took maybe 8 minutes to put together and the kids carried it down to where we put it. It is, as I'd stated in an earlier blog when my back was still normal and able to accomplish things a little faster, wide enough to drive a lawn mower thru.
And the lawnmower? It's an old one I bought from a friend I work with at UPS and it has about zero safety features. It ran circles around my new Craftsman and Cub Cadet lawnmowers when the kids and I raced them up and down the street this summer, and it's a tough little beast for having a just a wee little 13hp engine. I mean, it effortlessly climbs the descent of The Path, even with a trailer full of rocks in tow! (It was purchased primarily for this purpose so I wouldn't have to take the bags off the other mowers to hook up the garden trailer. Plus, it has a narrower deck and can get into more areas.)
I've probably started the old red mower twice since bringing it home and I'd forgotten how fast the thing moved - until I climbed on it, started it, and let the clutch out. It proceeded to jump into warp speed, briefly...and then it slammed into the side of my utility trailer that was resting at least 15 feet from where the mower was parked. I sort of expected miscellaneous things to land on me like they did when I crashed the patio set at the Marshall Goodwill, but apparently I was really lucky and none of my neighbors caught this act.
So then I decided to clean all the dust out of the headlight area on the red mower before replacing the clear plastic light cover and forcing the hood back into the resting position the factory intended.
Memos to self: Make sure to tell kids to NOT mess with the speed settings on the mowers. Have them tell friends to stay off the mowers. (No more missing keys?) Check speed setting before releasing clutch in the future.
"Hmmm....now why won't this thing start?", I ask myself the following day, just as I notice that someone has engaged the blades while it was parked. Double bummer. The kids didn't listen and the mower DOES have a safety feature.
I really wish I would have taken some "before" pictures of what I've done so far. Maybe my mean-and-nasty-sister-creatures can pop off a couple "after" shots when they come home at the end of the month so as to add some visuals to my blog. (Hopefully the plants haven't frozen off by then.)
But, I gotta go. There's a girl in town that Boy1 won't admit he kind of likes. She's planning to stop by and see the progress we've made on the outdoor living area, so I suspect he'll actually be willing to help me work on it tomorrow morning so more is done when she stops by. Bonus!
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