Happy Mothers Day 2011

From The Mike O'Meara Show, Robb Spewak presents his Mama Montage.



Love you, Mom.  Hope you have a great day and you will see me soon!

Late Night Back Yard

I hate to disappoint anybody, but even though I officially quit smoking in late January 2010, I have been having about 1 or so a week for a month or two now.  What can I say?  I've been under much stress, my wife still smokes (not a lot, but still), and because I don't normally smoke I can catch a helluva buzz.  Anyway, tonight I stepped out on our new back steps for one and turned on the outside lights and really enjoyed the view so I wanted to share. --This is our back yard and we love it.

Happy Cinco De Mayo And Notes

Happy Cinco De Mayonnaise!  First off let me say that I'm surprised I didn't get any smart-ass comments to my smart-ass last post.  Oh well, I thought it was funny and we all know it's all about me around here.  I just have a couple things to say today, a little of this, a little of that....

~My wife got an iPhone yesterday.  Her other cell phone was through her sister's family plan and they wanted to change so she had to get a phone of her own.  It is one of the older 3G models, whatever that's supposed to mean, and one of the lightest plans for it since she doesn't use it a whole bunch.  There's a lot an iPhone can do, though, so I hope she doesn't outgrow her plan anytime soon.  And no, I still don't want one yet.

~Our friend Lisa is having a birthday party tomorrow night.  Unfortunately it doesn't even start until 8 or 9, about the time we are getting ready for bed- even on Friday.  Yes, I am getting older, but now when we go out it usually starts around happy hour and we're home by 10 or so at the very latest.  When I was younger I used to be able to wait until later to go out and stay out but now, well, let's say I can't even remember when I was out even close to bartime.  So, sorry Lisa, I hope you have a great birthday!  We may not be the 'early bird special' type yet, but we're not twenty-somethings anymore either!

~If your sick of my medical woes then skip this paragraph.  I had a modified physical therapy appointment this afternoon.  I say modified because it is supposed to be for my leg but we spent a lot of time working on my back.  I can't take any anti-inflammatory medicines or steroids because it interferes with my bones healing, leg and neck.  So it lingers, for about 4 weeks now, since right after my neck surgery.  Every waking moment I am aware of the pain originating in my lower back and running down my healing right leg.  Eventually I will have enough and go to see my doctor, he'll refer me to another orthopaedist, I'll have another MRI followed by another surgery.  Sad to say, but that is how I see it playing out.  I'm just trying to put it off as long as I can.  Sucks to be me.  Btw, my knee bend increased from 122 degrees to 124 degrees.  Whoopee.

~Mother's Day is Sunday.  My mom and her newlywed husband, Dan, live about 90 minutes from us and I don't think I can handle the car ride so we will not be going this time.  We love you, Mom, but you know how I am when I'm ailing - I wouldn't be any fun at all after that car ride.  We do have much to do around here, anyway, with our own anniversary party coming up quick.  It's still a big list and there's only about a week left to try and get to everything.

That's about it until this weekend's Pic Dump.  Be good, everybody, and don't click anything that says it is pictures of a dead Osama!  Ta.

Here's Me

For those of you who don't know what I look like, here's this little news thingy I did.  Probably NSFW.

via

What A Nice Weekend!

Even though Kate had to work yesterday morning she still managed to accomplish a whole lot this weekend, I got one or two things done as well.  Much of yesterday was her planting in the garden and yard while I got several small things done in the garage and basement.

Last night we had friends over, Jerome and Lisa plus Trisha and Adam. Two couples that for various reasons we had not seen socially in quite some time.  We started out with a few drinks here, then went out for steaks at a nearby family-owned restaurant, Brothers Three.  Kate and I have been there for lunch many times, even breakfast a few times, but we had never been there for dinner and wanted to try their steaks so we made a night of it.  Their steaks did not disappoint and I think everyone had a good time at the restaurant.  When we got back to our house after dinner I was pleased that we all sat in the porch and talked for a couple more hours.  No one seemed to want to rush off so I take that as they were having as much fun as us!

Today has been more of the same - planting, transplanting and doing small projects.  Nothing really big enough to discuss here but it feels nice to improve our home in any way we can.  As for the yardwork, planting and transplanting, well, most of the plants are not near fully in so there's not much to take photos of yet.  Hopefully we will have nice weather and the plants will look nice for our anniversary party in a couple of weeks.  There is still much we want to get done before we have all those friends and neighbors over.

Medical Gripes And Blogging

I know I haven't been writing a lot lately except for the back door thing, but I feel like I've mostly written about my medical woes for so long and I don't want to continuously gripe about my busted up body and alienate the readers I still have (even though no one comments much, I can see you're there.  Commenting is easy, just say hi!). Yet this place is my blog, my journal, where I give commentary on my life as it passes by and I will record my life's events here, good and bad, and lately it is my back that has been bad.  Actually, I kind of like baring all here for the world to see.  I have no major secrets and nobody can accuse me of otherwise.  I guess my point is that I haven't been writing much because I don't want to bitch and moan - you don't want to hear that, but I will mention it every so often when it warrants just so it is on record. Good news is I think I'm starting to finally feel slightly better and I can get back to having fun writing and sharing.

Today, Saturday, my wife had to go in to work.  She was just thrilled, as you can imagine.  That doesn't get me off the hook, though, there is much to do around here that I can get done.  Our anniversary is coming up and we will be having a party like we did last year so there is a deadline.  I went grocery shopping this morning, I have new smoke detectors to install, we must stain the inside of the new door frame and trim, I have a new shop light to put up in the garage, and there are just piles here and there to go through and put stuff away.  And we still have touch-up painting to do in the bathroom.  Hmm, maybe I should have kept that handyman around a few more days...

The Back Door Project: Part Two

It is finally done!  Actually it only took a little over a week and it would have been less if we had perfect weather.  Mark came by last evening to wrap up a couple loose ends and collect the check.  On Saturday he was here to work on the hand rails and almost got them done.  He came back on Monday afternoon to finish the handrails and do the interior trim around the door.  So, what do you think?  I think it will get lots of use, even more if it ever warms up around here!

See the whole progression in bigger pics after the break.  All pics were taken after the work for the day was completed.

The Back Door Project: Part One

Ever since we moved in to our house we have thought about putting a door in the three season porch in back for easier access to the garage and back yard and this Spring we finally are having it done.  We took in 7 or 8 bids and after looking them over and discussing the contractors I had talked to we decided on a nice guy named Mark to help us make our idea into reality.  Work started last Monday and has been a bit sporadic over the week due to the weather, but it's not a huge project so should be completed very soon - in plenty of time for our Spring anniversary party.

~There is a corner between the house and the porch that just has flowerbeds, the air conditioner and the telephone line with the driveway on a third side.  This is the area we chose to put the stairs, they will use up a small corner of the lawn and help hide the air conditioner but still give us access to it and the flowerbeds. 

~On Monday work started with the support posts.  He had another guy to help with this part, they had an auger for the two holes away from the porch but had to dig the closer holes by hand.  Four 4x4's four feet in the ground below the frost line with three bags of cement holding each.  The dirt you see here my wife and I moved to various parts of the yard to fill in areas and just to get rid of it.  Doing this work convinced me that I'm not healed enough yet to remove the sod in this area and put in the rock, so I talked with Mark and added this to the project for him to do.

~Tuesday was an off day.  It snowed, rained, then sleeted all day

actually leaving quite a bit of accumulation that stuck around for another day and a half.  It was quite a mess.  On Wednesday he removed the (muddy) sod and put the decking on the landing area.  It was a cold, wet day.

~Thursday he had help again and they made a lot of progress on a nice day.  They put the plastic down and added  the river rock I wanted and finished the stairs.  They also removed the window and got the door installed.  I was very pleased with the progress when I got home from work.  It was finally taking shape!

~Friday was Good Friday, my wife and I had a half day at work.  I only saw Mark briefly in the afternoon, he just stopped by to add the final bags of rock and was on his way, so essentially another off day.  Today, Saturday, Mark showed up ready to work on the hand rails.  After that there's the trim to do around the door inside and other small odds and ends before it is finished. 

This is going to make the whole house feel bigger.  We will have such easier access to the backyard and garage that we will be much more likely to wander out to the garden or grill out in the evenings and it will give the porch more of a purpose and I'm sure we will be using it much more.  So, that's where it stands now.  I'll update more soon!

Bigger pictures after the break:

Leg Appointments This Week

Boy, it's Thursday already. This week it has sure seemed like my world has been just a bit off kilter. There's a lot to tell you about the back door project but I think I will post on that this weekend. In the meantime, let me get on record my medical stuff for this past week.

On Tuesday morning I had my last follow up appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon for my leg. The bone seems to have healed well on the back and sides, but the front still has a ways to go to fill in the gap. He said it may take several months up to a year for it to fully fill in. He also noticed I had a bit of a 'hip limp' and gave me an exercise to help strengthen my hip. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure it was a hip limp or just the sciatica pain in my back right hip/upper butt.

Today after work I had my first physical therapy appointment in about 4 weeks, my 19th overall, I believe. I have only 2 visits left that are approved and paid for by insurance and I scheduled those out 2 and 4 weeks. I need to get back into a rhythm of getting on the bike and doing all my exercises every day again. Neck surgery and recovery, followed by a general malaise this past week got me off track. Anyhow, my therapist worked me over pretty good today which made it clear to me that I have to get to working on it again. The highlight of the session was at the end when we measured the degrees of knee bend. When I had last seen him I was stuck at about the 114 degree mark. This time I had made it up to 122 degrees, which made me happy but I'm still not satisfied. I want more!  But, for a little perspective, it has been almost 8 months now to get this far so, realistically, it may not get much better than this.

Monday Notes

Hello everyone, happy Monday.  I don't really have time or feel like writing, I just wanted to post a quick note today since I haven't written much lately.  There will be a short post at the garden blog tonight as well.

The work started today on the back door project.  I have been taking pictures but I think I will wait until later to post them, either when the project is done so I can show the before and after or maybe this weekend when I have time.  They got a good start on it today but there may be more off days than on for the next week or more due to rainy weather.  It was even snowing when I left for work early this morning!  It may be tomorrow morning, too.  I think that 80 degree day last week was just a hallucination...

That's about it.  After staying well all winter I've been slightly under the weather the last few days, I hope I can shake it before I actually come down with something.  Now, off to do the garden blog!