Vacation, Day 4: Grandmas

I got up today (Tuesday) at the same time as yesterday, 4:15 a.m.  So much for sleeping in on my vacation...  Anyway, I got to my sister's house by 8 and we were at Grandma W's house about 9:00 a.m. I hear that she hasn't been much for eating lately, so my Sis suggested taking donuts to get her to eat something.  She did eat and also we got her to walk up and down the block for some exercise so she couldn't use our visit as an excuse not to do it.  Mostly, we sat out on her front porch and talked about anything she wanted to.  I actively tried to get her to talk about her life and family because I'm not sure I will see her again.

This is the sad part, kinda.  Grandma W is 84.  She did say that she is ready, ready to die in not so many words.  She has some bad health problems and just seemed tired and, well, ready.  I'm not sure how much attention my Sis's kids paid to their great grandmother, but I don't think they will have her much longer.  All in all not a bad or depressing visit, though.  I do appreciate talking to her now more than when I was just one of the screaming grandkids in the house.

A bit after 11:00 we said our goodbyes and went across town to visit Grandma L.  She seems to get around a little better so we took her out to lunch at the only restaurant in town that isn't also a bar.  After that, back to her apartment for more conversation.  Again I was trying to get her to talk about her life and family.  I was the first grandchild for her, so my Sis says I'm her favorite and she may be right.  She does seem excited to see me and talk to me.

Grandma L just turned 91 last week.  She said many of the same type of things Grandma W did.  She is ready.  She even has her funeral planned.  I was a bit surprised when she asked me to be a pallbearer, but I said I would be honored. 

The impression I got was that though I may be lucky to still have both my grandmothers at my age, neither may be with us by next year.  I'd like to be wrong, but they do seem to be more than ready, knowing their time is short.  I love you, both!

Before we got back to my Sis's house we stopped by my Mom's work to say hi.  Sis wanted me to go in first, so I strode in and pounded on the counter, mischieviously.  My mom looked up surprised, but with no real recognition until she saw my Sis behind me.  I think I caught her totally off guard! After a short visit we went back to Sis's house.  I thanked them all for coming with me, the kids were very well behaved as always.

Once we were back the kids got in the pool and I wished I had brought my trunks!  Oh well, it was best I get back before the busy part of rush hour anyway.  A good day overall, just a bit mentally tiring.  Thank you Kelly, James, and Lindsey!

Pic Dump 16 - Bacon

I'm a bit tired with all the travel, play, and visiting all day today.  My day 4 vacation post will be posted tomorrow, that will give me time to rest and reflect on a good day with both of my elderly grandmothers.  In the meantime, this is for you...
 
For a while now I have been saving up bacon related pics that I happen across during my internet travels.  None of these pics were sought out, no searches were made.  These were found randomly in my visits to good sites like the ones I list on the right.   While there's not as many pics as a usual picdump I thought I had enough bacon pics to post (Read: I'm tired of collecting them).  Oh, just as a regular Pic Dump post, discretion may be advised after the break.  Enjoy!
 

Vacation, Day 3: A Change In Plans

This morning I woke up about 4:15 a.m.  Crazy, right?  Actually not very unusual, when I'm not on vacation my alarm is set for 4:51 normally.  The first second thing on my mind was The Kirk McEwen and Mike O'Meara Show.   It runs 4 - 8 a.m. my time, so there was going to be at least one morning that I got up early to check it out.  I sleepily decided that today was the day. 

My wife left for work about 7 and after the show was over I just putzed around on the internet, showered, and washed dishes.  When I looked at the clock and it was almost 10:00 a.m., I remembered that The Mike O'Meara Show podcast streams video live on Ustream for an hour.  So most all morning I spent listening and watching the same DJ live - in real time, which I never usually have a chance to do.

By this time the day can go 2 different ways.  Either I could jump into action and start working in the garage or I could relax, read the paper, and get some other little things done then listen to The Don Geronimo Show live at 2 to 6 p.m.  The radiophile in me won out.  I ended up listening to over 8 hours worth of shows today.  Not much accomplished, but I had a nice time relaxing.

Tomorrow I will be traveling with my sister and her kids down to see both of our grandmothers (the kids great-grandmothers!).  I'll try to recap that tomorrow night.  Now, the pizza is on its way so Good Night!

The Kirk McEwen and Mike O'Meara Show

Just a promo vid:

Vacation, Days 1 and 2

Day 1, Saturday.  It did not yet feel like I was on vacation.  It mostly felt like a weekend, like it always does.  That said, Friday was a total joke for me at work.  I only did some work to pass the time, otherwise I giddily screwed around like I never ever do.  For some reason I felt like I deserved to, that one day.  Saturday morning I went grocery shopping and my wife cleaned the house top to bottom.  We grilled out cheeseburgers for lunch and I visited a buddy for an hour or two that afternoon.  Then we stayed home and relaxed all night.  Pretty much regular weekend stuff.

Day 2, Today, Sunday.  It has sunk in that I don't have a 'Monday morning' coming up.  I mowed the lawn this morning, before it got too hot.  Mosquitoes are in season so I was all sprayed up with repellant, still got bit about 4-5 times.  A shower staight away when I was done seemed to help the itching while getting rid of the layer of repellant.

I knew the Brewers played the Pirates at 1:10 in the afternoon so I figured that was a good time to listen to the game and get the workbench assembled.  Time to finally put these pieces of wood together and make something useful!

This pic is after the second time I had to stop and spray 'Yard Guard' in the garage to keep the mosquitoes out.  Don't worry, I gave it plenty of time to settle before I went in there to breathe it in.  These are the sides modified with my own legs for the bench.  My custom legs are 10 inches longer than the ones that came with it.  I'm tall and I don't like to bend over.  If 10 inches is deemed too much later, I can trim the bottoms some.

It's starting to take shape now that I have it standing, still alot of crawling around to screw in all the bottom shelf planks.

At this point I had to run to the hardware store for another phillips bit for my drill.  The one I started out with was pretty worn and by this point was getting useless.  None of the top boards are attached in this pic, but finally I get to do some drilling and screwing while standing upright!

And finally, the finished workbench.  Just as Corey Hart hit a walk off home run to win the game for the Brewers!  (I'm on vacation - I paced myself!) I have pulled everything out of the corner where it will go.  Tomorrow morning I will start by moving the electrical box 2 studs to the left and up a foot or more. Then essentially empty out the garage, reorganize, and put up new shelves to hold all our stuff.  See you tomorrow!

Die Antwoord Coming Up

I'm less than 1 day away from vacation but I think I've already checked out.

Die Antwoord will be in Chicago on Wednesday, July 14.  If it was in Milwaukee I would be very tempted, but not Chicago, not now.  There's already videos online of last night's show in Prague, but this video is from 3 nights ago in Germany.  I love my wife more than anything but if I were to see Die Antwoord live, this is the view I would want.  Yo- Yo- Yo- Yolandi!  Enjoy.

How To Measure A Year

Infinity and beyond!  It almost boggles the mind, the vastness and variables...  I love this stuff!


Thanks ZanyPickle

Excuses and Promises

Well, there has been hardly any posting here lately and I don't know why.  I haven't been too bored or too busy, just not alot to share, I guess. 

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend.  To me it was just a tune-up for next week when I'm officially on vacation.  Nine straight days off!  Besides the R&R I have 3 big things to do that week.  First off, my 'Garage Redo' project will get taken care of.  Although my back has been about as good as it gets the last couple weeks, I have been saving this project for my week off instead of using up a weekend.  Secondly, I plan on cleaning all the windows and screens in our 3 season porch.  Easy enough, just time consuming.  And lastly, I plan on a trip to Cuba City to see both of my grandmothers, one probably for the last time (-she hasn't been doing so well lately).  My Sis has been supposed to get back to me on this for a while now, but if I have to I will go alone.  (Get a hold of me, Sis!  The kids help fill in the quiet moments!!)

Aside from those things, I'm sure I'll keep myself as busy as I want to be.  There's plenty more to be done, but not necessarily next week.  This list will also give me good things to post about, a pic dump is due soon, too.  So thanks for checking back even though there hasn't been much going on lately.  I assure you, this space will pick up soon enough!