How time flies. It is already almost the end of September and today is the first official day of Fall. Thoughts turn to cooler days and crisp nights, warmer clothing and fall foliage. We have already begun to experience some of these in our area. This last week has been wonderful as far as the temperatures are concerned. We turned off our air conditioner last week and opened windows. We still had the ceiling fans running and occasionally a window fan, but overall conditions have been much more comfortable of late. For the first time this season I wore pants to our Friday night football game instead of capris.
The turning of seasons is also evident in the activities around us. Hay is being cut and baled in many a field. Pumpkins have already begun to appear in stores. Daylight comes a little later in the morning and night falls just a little earlier in the evening. The oak trees in my yard are full of acorns waiting to drop.
We still have a ways to go this fall to prepare for the coming winter. There are several things that we needed to have finished before cold weather sets in. One of the things we need is more firewood, since we only have a small percentage of what we will use. We will probably have to buy some wood, which is not an economical way to do things. Fortunately we are not solely dependent upon wood for heat. We use the wood to supplement our gas heat. Two other things that we need to accomplish is that we need to finish a bathroom and get the kitchen to the point where it has sheetrock and the plumbing is complete. I can't wait to have a fully functional bathroom and kitchen in the house, so we no longer have to go into the trailer for all of our water needs. We had hoped to have these rooms finished before visiting Connecticut this summer, but it did not work out that way. We have to complete these rooms so that we can move the trailer from it's current position. I grow weary of the primitive situation and the inconvenience related to it.
To this end, the kids and I have been trying to hang the sheetrock ourselves. We tried to hire help to come in and do this, but that didn't pan out either. We have set a goal of hanging a sheet of sheetrock a night, as our schedule allows. We have the ceiling in the bathroom complete and now will begin on the floor. It would go faster if we were able to hire someone to come in and do this, but at least we are making progress.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Remind me why we do this
Last night was Friday night. In the south, at this time of the year, that means High School football. There are other parts of the country that put just as much importance on this sport as southerners do and I wonder if parents in those other locations feel the way I do. I can understand the importance of playing other teams that are of similar size and skill level. However, I do not understand the logic behind traveling 3 hours to play such a game. That was the situation last night. The game was a 3 hour drive. Consequently, we did not arrive back at the school after the game until 1:30 A.M. By the time we got home it was almost 2:00 A.M. I am ever so thankful that I had taken today off.
As to playing teams of similar skill levels, just because a team may be of comparable size, it does not mean that the skill levels of the teams will be equal. Last nights game was very one sided. Our boys ran over the other team. The final was 47-6. Of course it did allow our second string to get in a good amount of playing time.
On the bus ride home many of the band kids napped. I myself was so exhausted that I cat napped, with my head propped on my arms against the seat in front of me. It was not very restful, but I was so tired that I simply could not fight it. I don't think my bed ever felt better. It makes me wonder why we put ourselves (and our kids) thru this time and time again. I suppose in years to come I may look back on instances like this one as fond memories, but I somehow doubt it. I think it will more likely be placed in the category of doing what had to be done. Jacqueline is really pinning her hopes on some kind of musical scholarship in order to attend college, so if enduring 3 hour bus rides gets her a college scholarship then I'm sure it will be worth it.
As to playing teams of similar skill levels, just because a team may be of comparable size, it does not mean that the skill levels of the teams will be equal. Last nights game was very one sided. Our boys ran over the other team. The final was 47-6. Of course it did allow our second string to get in a good amount of playing time.
On the bus ride home many of the band kids napped. I myself was so exhausted that I cat napped, with my head propped on my arms against the seat in front of me. It was not very restful, but I was so tired that I simply could not fight it. I don't think my bed ever felt better. It makes me wonder why we put ourselves (and our kids) thru this time and time again. I suppose in years to come I may look back on instances like this one as fond memories, but I somehow doubt it. I think it will more likely be placed in the category of doing what had to be done. Jacqueline is really pinning her hopes on some kind of musical scholarship in order to attend college, so if enduring 3 hour bus rides gets her a college scholarship then I'm sure it will be worth it.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Hurricane Season
As everyone knows here in the continental United States, hurricane season runs from May1st to November 30th. We are about half way thru the current season. Three years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and did millions of dollars worth of damage in Mississippi and Alabama. Although we did not suffer much damage, we were without electricity for about 72 hours thanks to Katrina.
Now, as we approach the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, there is another hurricane headed in the same general direction that was taken by Katrina. The possibility that this storm may follow the same path as Katrina has many people very nervous. It doesn't help that the forecasters are predicting that Gustav may reach catagory 3 strength, which is what Katrina was. Even as far away from the coast as we live, a hurricane with that much force is still capable of quite a bit of damage.
The last couple of days we had rain from what had been Hurricane Fay. By the time it reached us it was just a tropical depression. We received some beneficial rain, which we are thankful for. We are also thankful that we did not have rain in the amount that was seen in parts of Florida. Although our rainfall total has been a defecit this year, no one wants to receive a years worth of rain in a matter of days, or hours as in some cases. Too much of a good thing soon becomes a bad thing. Hurricanes are another reason that I wouldn't want to live too close to the shore. I just can't imagine the feeling of dread that homeowners must feel each time they are in the predicted path of a hurricane. Let's not even think about the damage that these storms can cause. I don't care what kind of structure it is, if it's subjected to 120 mph winds it's going to sustain some kind of damage.
While we keep an eye on the weather we continue to go about our daily lives. Randy has been having some side effects from the latest round of medicine that he is taking. We are hoping that the doctor can either adjust the dosage or change the prescription so that the side effects are minimized. Jeremy started back to school last week and except for transportation challenges things are going ok. Hopefully his vehicle will be out of the shop by the end of the week. Jacqueline started back to school on the 11th of this month and things are going fine for her. This is her last year of High School and thus we are getting set up to apply for scholarships for college. She is hoping to be able to get a scholarship for music. We have a new Band Director and are hopeful that he will be a big help in this area. For myself, I am doing pretty good, except that I am sore from taking a fall yesterday. I fell down our back steps and have several very colorful bruises as a result. Although the largest and most painful bruise is not visible to most people due to it's location, I am very well aware of it! Lesson learned! I will be MUCH more careful the next time those steps are wet.
Now, as we approach the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, there is another hurricane headed in the same general direction that was taken by Katrina. The possibility that this storm may follow the same path as Katrina has many people very nervous. It doesn't help that the forecasters are predicting that Gustav may reach catagory 3 strength, which is what Katrina was. Even as far away from the coast as we live, a hurricane with that much force is still capable of quite a bit of damage.
The last couple of days we had rain from what had been Hurricane Fay. By the time it reached us it was just a tropical depression. We received some beneficial rain, which we are thankful for. We are also thankful that we did not have rain in the amount that was seen in parts of Florida. Although our rainfall total has been a defecit this year, no one wants to receive a years worth of rain in a matter of days, or hours as in some cases. Too much of a good thing soon becomes a bad thing. Hurricanes are another reason that I wouldn't want to live too close to the shore. I just can't imagine the feeling of dread that homeowners must feel each time they are in the predicted path of a hurricane. Let's not even think about the damage that these storms can cause. I don't care what kind of structure it is, if it's subjected to 120 mph winds it's going to sustain some kind of damage.
While we keep an eye on the weather we continue to go about our daily lives. Randy has been having some side effects from the latest round of medicine that he is taking. We are hoping that the doctor can either adjust the dosage or change the prescription so that the side effects are minimized. Jeremy started back to school last week and except for transportation challenges things are going ok. Hopefully his vehicle will be out of the shop by the end of the week. Jacqueline started back to school on the 11th of this month and things are going fine for her. This is her last year of High School and thus we are getting set up to apply for scholarships for college. She is hoping to be able to get a scholarship for music. We have a new Band Director and are hopeful that he will be a big help in this area. For myself, I am doing pretty good, except that I am sore from taking a fall yesterday. I fell down our back steps and have several very colorful bruises as a result. Although the largest and most painful bruise is not visible to most people due to it's location, I am very well aware of it! Lesson learned! I will be MUCH more careful the next time those steps are wet.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The march of time
It's been several weeks since my last post. There has been a lot going on in our life in that time. Jacqueline had 2 weeks of Band Camp in preparation for this years marching season. Band Camp began at 5:00pm and lasted until 10:00pm. This made things a little hectic for me since I work until 4:00pm and it's 30 minute drive from work to home. I would arrive home, change clothes and fly our the door again in order to get to Band Camp on time. Despite this hectic schedule, I am glad that the new Band Director kept camp at night instead of holding it during the day. With some of our daytime highs hitting triple digits, it just makes more sense to work in the cool of the evening.
Another event that has occurred during my last post is that we had to hospitalize Randy for a few days. He began having severe chest pain last Wednesday night around midnight. Since the pain was also radiating down his left arm, I thought it prudent to take him to the ER. I drove him myself rather than calling an ambulance, which allowed me to take him to the hospital that I felt could treat him the best. It is not actually the closest one to our house, but from previous experience we know it to be the better of the two choices. From the amount of pain that he was in and the description of the pain, he thought he might be having a heart attack. Thankfully that was not the case. Rather it was a case of a build up of fluid in his lungs which in turn put a lot of pressure on his heart. From the time he was admitted to the ER until 4:00pm that evening, he excreted 3 liters of fluid. He was kept in ICU from 2:00am Thursday morning until about 9:00am Friday morning. Then he was moved to a regular room. He was released from the hospital Friday evening. There have been changes made to his medicines and he is doing much better. One of the major changes in his medicine has been the increase of diuretics. This is to keep the fluid from building up. He is also supposed to weigh himself daily in order to make sure that there is no unexplained weight gain, which is a sign of fluid retention. Another change in his medicine is that he is now taking something to slow his heart beat. I am very happy about that, because his heart was beating so rapidly before. He had tachycardia, which is a heart rate of over 100 beats a minute. Now he is averaging about 89 beats a minute. Much better.
Jeremy starts back to college next week. I know he's looking forward to going back. I don't know if it's the college classes that he's looking forward to, or the chance to play pool and ping-pong during his breaks. His classes will end for the day around 2:00pm and since he will be riding home with me for a while, he will have about a 2 hour block of time that he can use to play pool and otherwise goof off.
We haven't made much progress on the house since returning from vacation. We had someone hired to come in and put up sheetrock, but that hasn't worked out, so we will try to hire someone different. We also need to get the plumber out to finish the plumbing that was started last summer. There is so much to do in the months remaining before winter, and time marches on, whether we accomplish our goals or not.
Another event that has occurred during my last post is that we had to hospitalize Randy for a few days. He began having severe chest pain last Wednesday night around midnight. Since the pain was also radiating down his left arm, I thought it prudent to take him to the ER. I drove him myself rather than calling an ambulance, which allowed me to take him to the hospital that I felt could treat him the best. It is not actually the closest one to our house, but from previous experience we know it to be the better of the two choices. From the amount of pain that he was in and the description of the pain, he thought he might be having a heart attack. Thankfully that was not the case. Rather it was a case of a build up of fluid in his lungs which in turn put a lot of pressure on his heart. From the time he was admitted to the ER until 4:00pm that evening, he excreted 3 liters of fluid. He was kept in ICU from 2:00am Thursday morning until about 9:00am Friday morning. Then he was moved to a regular room. He was released from the hospital Friday evening. There have been changes made to his medicines and he is doing much better. One of the major changes in his medicine has been the increase of diuretics. This is to keep the fluid from building up. He is also supposed to weigh himself daily in order to make sure that there is no unexplained weight gain, which is a sign of fluid retention. Another change in his medicine is that he is now taking something to slow his heart beat. I am very happy about that, because his heart was beating so rapidly before. He had tachycardia, which is a heart rate of over 100 beats a minute. Now he is averaging about 89 beats a minute. Much better.
Jeremy starts back to college next week. I know he's looking forward to going back. I don't know if it's the college classes that he's looking forward to, or the chance to play pool and ping-pong during his breaks. His classes will end for the day around 2:00pm and since he will be riding home with me for a while, he will have about a 2 hour block of time that he can use to play pool and otherwise goof off.
We haven't made much progress on the house since returning from vacation. We had someone hired to come in and put up sheetrock, but that hasn't worked out, so we will try to hire someone different. We also need to get the plumber out to finish the plumbing that was started last summer. There is so much to do in the months remaining before winter, and time marches on, whether we accomplish our goals or not.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Reflections on a road trip
One of the neat things about taking a long road trip is the many interesting sights to be seen. I remember making the trip between Connecticut and Alabama to visit my grandparents as a child. The trip didn't seem quite as long to a child as it does to an adult. One of my memories is the advertisements to "See Ruby Falls". These advertisements used to be painted on barns and signs standing in fields where cows grazed. Most of the signs of yesterday have been replaced by actual roadside billboards today, along with advertisements for motels, gas stations and restaurants. However, there are still many interesting and entertaining sights to be seen along the trip. Here's a list of some of the things we observed or learned on our summer vacation.
1. a Dodge Viper is OMG FAST (according to it's license plate)
2. a Corvette is SOKWIK (according to it's license plate)
3. don't plant trumpet vine someplace unless you REALLY want it to grow there permanently (from Sonya's personal experience)
4. there are camel races in Virginia, in September (from an advertisement on a U-Haul trailer). If you doubt this, put "camel races" into your search engine and see what comes up!
5. salt kills thistle (thanks again Sonya)
6. the short bus pulls dragons (a small bus pulling 4 large plastic dragons from a ride at a carnival)
7. you will find the cheapest gas prices at the exit following your last fill-up.
8. it is impossible to travel thru the state of Pennsylvania without encountering road construction.
9. when traveling to Pottstown on 61, it is best to take the 222/422 bypass and avoid Reading altogether.
10. rest stops in Virginia have a hand dryer that really works. (Only ones I've ever used that are actually able to completely dry the hands because they are very forceful).
11. HERBVR (from a license plate) seems to indicate that there is at least one vegetarian in Alabama.
12. food being placed in a zip type plastic bag must be no warmer than room temperature, otherwise the side seams can be unsealed. Thankfully there was not a lot of liquid in the food. We were able to salvage the situation without too much of a mess.
13. the waves at Misquamicut still fill your bathing suit with sand.
14. seagulls are still opportunistic scavengers and you need to be ever vigilant to prevent them from stealing your food.
1. a Dodge Viper is OMG FAST (according to it's license plate)
2. a Corvette is SOKWIK (according to it's license plate)
3. don't plant trumpet vine someplace unless you REALLY want it to grow there permanently (from Sonya's personal experience)
4. there are camel races in Virginia, in September (from an advertisement on a U-Haul trailer). If you doubt this, put "camel races" into your search engine and see what comes up!
5. salt kills thistle (thanks again Sonya)
6. the short bus pulls dragons (a small bus pulling 4 large plastic dragons from a ride at a carnival)
7. you will find the cheapest gas prices at the exit following your last fill-up.
8. it is impossible to travel thru the state of Pennsylvania without encountering road construction.
9. when traveling to Pottstown on 61, it is best to take the 222/422 bypass and avoid Reading altogether.
10. rest stops in Virginia have a hand dryer that really works. (Only ones I've ever used that are actually able to completely dry the hands because they are very forceful).
11. HERBVR (from a license plate) seems to indicate that there is at least one vegetarian in Alabama.
12. food being placed in a zip type plastic bag must be no warmer than room temperature, otherwise the side seams can be unsealed. Thankfully there was not a lot of liquid in the food. We were able to salvage the situation without too much of a mess.
13. the waves at Misquamicut still fill your bathing suit with sand.
14. seagulls are still opportunistic scavengers and you need to be ever vigilant to prevent them from stealing your food.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Home from Vacation
It's great to go away on vacation, but it's just as good to come home again. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family in Connecticut, but there is nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed.
A special thanks goes to Ray, Kathy, Natalie, Frank, Rebecca, George, Caroline, Colleen, Ronnie, Elliot, Garrett, Sheryl, Tommy, Jennifer and Joyce for making our visit special. We would have liked to have had the time and the ability to see more of our friends, but it just wasn't meant to be.
The only aspect of our trip that could have been better was Randy's health. He had some rough days and the return trip to Alabama was uncomfortable for him. It is sad that he wasn't able to participate in more of our activities during our stay. I'm very sorry that he missed out on our day at the lake. I know he would have had a wonderful time, as the rest of us certainly did. I had never toured the lake from the water even though I spent many, many days in my youth at the lake. I know the lakeside community has grown in the last 20 or so years, but seeing the growth from the water was very powerful. Almost every square inch of land surrounding the lake has a building on it. Gone are the areas of beach that allowed access to the water by anyone.
Now it's time to get back to the daily activities that make up our lives. I have to return to work today. Tomorrow Jeremy will need to register for the fall semester at the college and Jacqueline is set to have her Senior Pictures taken. Band camp will be starting any time now, probably next week and we will have to get used to a new Band Director. It's time to re-establish a routine that will help make the return to class as smooth as possible. Jacqueline will have to go back before Jeremy, but probably only a few days earlier. It's also time for routine to return to Randy's schedule. I'm hopeful that he will feel better once he returns to a more normal schedule.
A special thanks goes to Ray, Kathy, Natalie, Frank, Rebecca, George, Caroline, Colleen, Ronnie, Elliot, Garrett, Sheryl, Tommy, Jennifer and Joyce for making our visit special. We would have liked to have had the time and the ability to see more of our friends, but it just wasn't meant to be.
The only aspect of our trip that could have been better was Randy's health. He had some rough days and the return trip to Alabama was uncomfortable for him. It is sad that he wasn't able to participate in more of our activities during our stay. I'm very sorry that he missed out on our day at the lake. I know he would have had a wonderful time, as the rest of us certainly did. I had never toured the lake from the water even though I spent many, many days in my youth at the lake. I know the lakeside community has grown in the last 20 or so years, but seeing the growth from the water was very powerful. Almost every square inch of land surrounding the lake has a building on it. Gone are the areas of beach that allowed access to the water by anyone.
Now it's time to get back to the daily activities that make up our lives. I have to return to work today. Tomorrow Jeremy will need to register for the fall semester at the college and Jacqueline is set to have her Senior Pictures taken. Band camp will be starting any time now, probably next week and we will have to get used to a new Band Director. It's time to re-establish a routine that will help make the return to class as smooth as possible. Jacqueline will have to go back before Jeremy, but probably only a few days earlier. It's also time for routine to return to Randy's schedule. I'm hopeful that he will feel better once he returns to a more normal schedule.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Decoration
Today was Decoration Day at the cemetery where many of my relatives are buried. My father as well as his parents, grandparents and a host of aunts, uncles and cousins are buried in this particular cemetery. For anyone unfamiliar with this term Decoration is when surviving family members place new floral arrangements on the headstone and graves of their deceased loved ones so that the cemetery is "decorated" with riot of color. Decoration is held yearly, being held on a set Sunday rather than a set date. Our Decoration therefore is the second Sunday in May. In years past, this event was a great social gathering, almost in the same category as a family reunion. Far-flung relatives would come together and catch up on the latest family news and gossip. As the years have passed fewer and fewer from each newer generation are attending Decoration. We had only a few family members attend this year.
Part of the reason for this years poor attendance may have to do with the weather. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes moved through our area last night and I was up until after 2:00 A.M. keeping an eye and ear to the weather. The tornado sirens went off twice between midnight and 2:00 A.M. It is entirely possible that others experiencing a similar night did not have the energy or the desire to attend Decoration.
Despite report of several tornadoes in the area, our property did not sustain any damage, nor did I see any visible signs of damage in my travels this morning. The rain was very heavy last night, but I neither saw nor heard any evidence of hail and we had no wind to speak of. At least not in this immediate area. I did however overhear a discussion while at the cemetery about how the local electric company lineman had been working through the night. This information was volunteered by a woman who's brother works for the local electric company, so it is probably a very accurate statement.
Part of the reason for this years poor attendance may have to do with the weather. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes moved through our area last night and I was up until after 2:00 A.M. keeping an eye and ear to the weather. The tornado sirens went off twice between midnight and 2:00 A.M. It is entirely possible that others experiencing a similar night did not have the energy or the desire to attend Decoration.
Despite report of several tornadoes in the area, our property did not sustain any damage, nor did I see any visible signs of damage in my travels this morning. The rain was very heavy last night, but I neither saw nor heard any evidence of hail and we had no wind to speak of. At least not in this immediate area. I did however overhear a discussion while at the cemetery about how the local electric company lineman had been working through the night. This information was volunteered by a woman who's brother works for the local electric company, so it is probably a very accurate statement.
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