Dannys world

Tour Davita: The Aftermath

2011-11-22T17:04:00.000-08:00

While on the tour this year my knee started to give me problems. If not for the encouragement from my team I never would have made it. On the last day of the ride my right leg was almost useless. Pushing down on the pedal when going up any hill was extremely painful. The pain in the knee continued even after the tour so I had to go to the doctor to see what was going on.

After x-rays and a MRI the problem was identified. I tore the medial meniscus. There was edema and fluid collection with slight swelling and degenerative changes as well. I opted for conservative therapy. I had my first steroid injection and the knee is feeling better all ready. I have a second injection scheduled for December and I hope it will be the last that I need.

I hope to be back on my bike this weekend and see how it holds up.

Tour DaVita 2011: The Glory

2011-09-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

The tour was awesome as usual! Backroads did an excellent job on the route and the camp sites. The food was catered out this year. I was rather disappointed with breakfast and most dinners but lunch on the road was always good.

Day 1: The bus pulled into the beautiful park like setting of Butternut Ski resort. I checked in and made my way to the bike line. Backroads fit me for a bike and adjust my helmet. I then make my way to the tents. Same as always, two people per tent. I am nervous about sharing my space with someone I have never met. I pick a side and set my things out for the ride the next day before I go out exploring the grounds. I met up with the Lifeline Vascular Access team for dinner. Then it was back to the tent for a night of sleep.

Day 2: There were two options for the ride today. The basic option was a short 53 mile ride and the long option was a formidable 86 miles. I started off with the mind set to save my self for the century ride. I arrived to lunch by 11 o'clock so made the decision to do the long ride, The country side was beautiful. The trees looked like they were trying to decide if they would start changing colors. I had a flock of wild turkeys cross the road in front of me along the way. The hills were a real challenge for me. It was just one hill after another. I did make it all the way to the finish line but my right knee was was killing me. It was dinner and bed.

Day 3: 76 mile ride for the day. The day starts off with a very long up hill segment. About 13 miles to be more exact. Not all at once but just one after another after. When lunch rolled around my knee was done and I was ready to quit for the day. My teammates encouraged me to continue so I looked for a wrap for my knee. Backroads helped me out once again with a bandage wrap. Not quite an ace but it did apply a little compression. We headed back out on the road and I was able to finish out the day. Once again it was dinner and bed. I slept much better this night as I was so exhausted.

Day 4: I have been on two other Tours and I have not been able to complete the long ride. I was not sure I had it in me to finish this ride again. The morning started off with the sound of rain hitting the tent. It was going to be one of those days. I had to make the decision by mile 53. That is where the ride split. One way was the century mile ride and the other was the century kilometer ride. Once again my teammates encouraged me to push myself like I have never pushed my self before. This day was no different than the previous 2 with regards to the hills they just kept coming. My knee was starting to hurt even more than the previous day. We finally made it to the coast line where the ride would be more or less flat. However the wind off the Atlantic ocean was very strong and of course it was a head wind. I think I would much rather have hills than a head wind. With a hill you know where the top is and the reward is the down hill. I sent my team on ahead as they will pull you off the road when it gets dark and I didn't want to be the cause of them not finishing. I road the last 8 miles on my own. I just kept pushing down on those pedals and moving forward. Then blast it all if there wasn't another hill thrown in before the end. I almost lost it right there. But then the Backroads van drove by and shouted words of encouragement. I finally made it to the turn into the camp grounds and tears welded up from my eyes. "I made it!" I kept saying to myself. As I crossed the finish line and there were so many people there to cheer me on. I am so thankful for the words of encouragement that not only came from my team but also from people that I didn't even know. This was truly an experience that I will never forget.

Reflecting back on the ride and all the miles that were logged on this tour it is quite a feat. We rode our bikes from one side of Connecticut to the Atlantic ocean. On the first day we rode through three states, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.

WOW! What a ride. I can't wait until next year. Hear tell it will be in Denver.

Tour Training

2011-09-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

I did a 38 mile training ride this morning. We were on the trail at 0630. It was still dark but it was nice and cool. The small animals were on the move with the cool weather. I almost ran over several different critters. I was concerned because I didn't want to swerve to miss and ride off the trail but I didn't want to hit the animals either.

I had visions of being laid up in the hospital with broken bones and such. I started to have poems run through my head about the incident. I was on my bike and hit a squirrel and to the ground I did hurl. Besides the squirrels, there were several lizards, red birds and field rats that crossed my path.

It is because of these incidents that i have decided to make that my last long training ride before the tour. The evening rides are not as bad with the critters. I only have to worry about the heat. Due to the heat I will be keeping the rides to 14 miles max.

My Tour DaVita 2011:in training

2011-08-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that another year has passed and it is that time again. I look forward to September as I do Christmas. It is time for the annual Tour DaVita. This year the tour is in beautiful Connecticut. If I have my way the weather will be cool but more importantly, dry. Last year in Washington State it rain most of the time we were there. The weather broke on the final day and we were able to see the mountain. I still had a lot of fun and enjoyed talking to teammates from all over the states.

This year I am going to push myself to do the century ride. On the third day of the tour we are giving the option to do a 100 mile ride. I have not been up to the challenge in the past tours but I am training hard this year. I have been doing daily 14 mile rides and then this last weekend did a 50 mile ride. I know it doesn't sound like much but I am training on a mountain bike. Not to mention that the temperature has been triple digits for just about the last month. I was able to do the 50 mile ride in less than 5 hours and the temperature was 94 when we finished.

I will continue to do the short 14 mile rides during the week but I think I will hold off on the long rides due to the extreme heat. I think I will keep it under 30 miles a day on the weekends. That should be three hours in the saddle, more than enough to toughen the skin for the tour.

Last year my camera bit the dust due to the wet weather. I kept it under my wet weather gear but the rain was such that it soaked though the gear. I hope to have a new camera to take with me so I can capture all the memories. So check back after September for a follow up on how well I did and I hope to have some pictures posted.

Pants on the ground

2011-03-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

The weather here has been beautiful! The temperature is getting into the 70 and low 80 degrees. I have made it a point to continue my evening walks during the week and morning walks on the weekend. While on my walk this afternoon I learned a valuable lesson. I need to either wear a belt or buy smaller short pants. I was walking and my pants ended up down by me knees. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been going commando! Just kidding! I was wearing underwear but is was still embarrassing. I kept looking around for something that I could use to hold them up. At mile 2 I found a caution tape that was put up for construction so I used a piece to hold my pants up. I was able to complete my 5 miles. I will be better prepared next time.

The trails are so nice this time of year. The trees are just getting their leaves.There are so many different shades of green going on. Some of the trees that bloom are in bloom and add a splash of color. The other thing that I like is the smell of honey. The agarita plants are in bloom and the smell great! I love this time.

Now that my blood pressure and cholesterol are under control it is time to start back with the blood donations. I have an appointment this Saturday morning. I donate at 0700 and hope to be out on the trail by 9:30. I want to get in a 10 mile walk on Saturday and shoot for a half marathon on Sunday. Or maybe see about getting the bike out and taking it for a spin. Either way it will be a great weekend to be outside.

Let the summer fun begin!

Community service

2011-02-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

I spent my morning picking up trash from the local park today. It was part of a community service project to clean up the parks. We were assigned to clean up the Bandera road area of the Leon Creek Greenway park. There was so much trash!. I was amazed at just how much we picked up. Our group picked up over 25 lawn bags. I took my daughter Ashley with me. We walked and picked up trash together but more importantly we spent time together. It is these small moments that I treasure. I picked up 5 of the bags of trash that were collected by the group. Ashley told me that I am such an over achiever. I told her that I would rather be known as an over achiever than a slacker any day.

This is just one of the community service projects that we do together. We have spent several days with Habitat for Humanity. I think it is a win win situation. The community gets help and I get to spend time with my kids and instill my values. I can't help but think that I get the most benefit. I know that my kids don't think they are benefiting now but in the years ahead I hope that they will.

I said. I did.

2011-01-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

I had made the comment yesterday that if I get an early start on my morning walk I would do 20 miles. Well this morning I was on the trail at 0730. I just reached my 5 mile mark when I remembered what I had said. As I was walking back toward the car I said to myself "What were you thinking?" When I got to the parking lot I opened my car and grabbed my banana and my water and headed back out on the trail. As I passed each mile marker I would say "I said. I did." I kept pushing on and at mile 15 I hit the wall. I made the first 10 miles in 2 hours and 3 minutes. The next 10 miles was 2 hours and 17 minutes. By the time I was back to the car I was ready to collapse. I sat down and exclaimed "I said. I did."

Then I was thinking, why did I do that. No body would know what I had said the day before. No body would care that I did or didn't do it. But I would know. And it was that important to me. So that has become my motto for the new year. "I said. I did."

Go for the glory

2011-01-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

Glory lies in the attempt to reach one's goal and not in reaching it. Mohandas Gandhi

I was reading the quote feed on my blog and I read the quote from Gandhi "you must be the change you want to see in the world". I love that quote from him. So I went in search of more writings from Gandhi and this one made me think about New Years day. As we move into the New Year we make our resolutions. These are our goals for the coming year. The most common resolution is to loose weight. So many of us start off strong and then become discouraged because things are not going as planned. And so you give up trying. There is no longer an attempt and you loose self confidence. Don't give up. Go for the glory.

And so a new year begins

2010-12-31T19:01:00.000-08:00

As the midnight hour approaches I take a moment to reflect on the past year. I was able to do the Tour DaVita again this year. I endured more cold and wet weather than I thought possible while pushing my self to go the distance on a bicycle. What great memories of the friendships I have developed over the years. The next tour is in Connecticut and I hope that I am able to attend. I bought a new car this last year. My wife and daughter were in an accident in the Honda Fit. I give thanks that they were not injured. I traded the Fit in after the repairs for a much larger Kia Sorrento. I just love the ride and it is still pretty good on the gas. I lost 25 pounds this last year. And as I dropped the pounds I lowered my blood pressure and my cholesterol.

While I reflect on the past I look forward to what the new year may bring. I do have some goals that I would like to work on this year.

I am starting the new year at 173 pounds. I would like to be 165 by my next doctors appoint on June 1st and to end the year less than 165.

I would like to keep a log of the miles that I walk. I have been walking 25 to 40 miles a week and I would love to see what that number would be by the end of the year.

I want to walk a ½ marathon every month this new year. I have done it once or twice this past year.

Ride my bike more this year. Teri gave me a road bike. It needs a little work but is in good shape. I put new tubes in the tires today and will road test it in the morning to make sure all the gears work.

Get my daughter into college. She has been doing so well in school. I am very proud of her.

Bond more with my son. He is growing up so fast and changing so fast. He is doing outstanding in school and makes good choices. I am proud of him as well.

Here is to the new year. May it be even better than the last. Always remember, you create your happiness and life is what you make it. Make it a great year!

Looking Back

2010-12-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

Where did this year go? It seems like yesterday it was the start of the year and now it is almost over. I was looking back at my post from January and the things I wanted to accomplish this year.

Read 12 good books. I have read more than 12 good books this year. The best series that I read was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I read all three books back to back. It was a very good read. I was so disappointed when it was over. I love to read books like that. I then watched the movies. They were good but I have yet to see a movie that is better than the book.

Loose 20 pounds. Well in fact I have lost a total of 24 pounds! At the beginning of the year I was diagnoses with a fatty liver and high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I was put on medication for the cholesterol and blood pressure. I started to walk in the park and now I walk about 35 miles a week and watch what I eat. My blood pressure is now fantastic and cholesterol is below150. I find out on Monday how my liver is doing.

Give 20 gallons at the blood bank. I did not reach this goal due to my health conditions. I wanted to make sure that I had all of my issues taken care of so I can donate for years to come. If all is well on Monday then I can start to donate again. I may even try to get a donation in before the end of the year.

Be happy with my decisions. Well that is another tough one. I have to make decisions that effect not only me and my family but also my team at work and patients that I see. I would have to say that there are few decisions that hind sight would change my choice. I would have to say that I am happy with my decisions that I made this year.

The past year dealt many challenges, both personal and professional. It seemed like there was one obstacle after another put in my path. I have been able to overcome those obstacles and turn them into inconveniences and learning experiences. I look forward to the many challenges that the new year will bring.

Battle of the Shoes

2010-10-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

I have had many posts on shoes. It is hard for me to find a pair of shoes that don't give my feet problems. Years ago I had a pair of Nike Yankee running shoes. They fit my feet the best. I put several hundred miles on those shoes before I had to replace them. That was back in high school when I was on the cross country team for Soul American High School. When I returned to the states half way through my senior year I did not continue with the cross country team at Copperus Cove.

Lets review. I was wearing a pair of Nike shoes but had worn out the heal on the inside of the shoe. They were a good shoe but I never did any real distance walking with them. I got another walking shoe from Rebock. I then started doing distance walking. My feet always hurt. Time for a new pair. I saved up my pennies and a half off sale due to store closing got me a pair of New Balance 1200 series. Almost a hundred dollars at half price. These were no better than my other shoes,in fact they were worse. I started to get blisters the size of Texas on the inside of my heel and the back of the heel as well. From there I went with Sketcher. They felt fine at first but then the blisters on the inside of the heel started after a few miles. It got to the point that I did not want to go walking. That is when I got the Vibram Five Finger KSO shoes. Finally no more blisters. I actually enjoyed walking again. My feet felt fine, until I started distance walking. After 5 miles my feet were numb and tingling. If I stay on the trail over dirt and grass I do great but all paved walk was not good on my feet. I was back to square one. This weekend I bought a pair of Asics shoes. I tried on at least 10 different shoes at the store. I would put on both shoes and walk around the store. It came down to three shoes and all were Asics brand. The ones I bought have a gel sole and really cup the heel. I went out this morning for a walk. I was only going to do 5 or 6 miles but my feet felt so good I ended up doing 13 miles. When I got home and pulled off the shoes, no blisters. I think I found a shoe that fits my foot.

I still have foot pain when I walk distance. I can deal with that as long as there are no blisters. My next step is to see if I can get inserts to take the pain away. Stay tuned.

Tour DaVita 2010

2010-09-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have survived the tour yet again, only this time unscathed. Last year on day two I ended up in the Emergency Room and had 13 sutures placed in my right calf that was sliced opened from the sprocket. For those of you that don’t know what I am talking about, the tour is Tour DaVita. It is a three day bike ride that benefits the Kidney Trust

The Kidney Trust is a non profit organization that provides free testing of kidney function and provides financial assistance to dialysis patients. On the first service, 90 percent of adults with kidney disease do not even know they have it. Once found, lifestyle modifications can be made to prevent the disease from progressing to end stage renal disease (ESRD). That is when you need to be placed on dialysis three times a week until you can get a kidney transplant. The second service takes the burden off of a patient having to decide between paying for a medication and paying the rent.

The tour this year was in Washington State. You can check out the route and pictures and video at tourdavita.org. We started off in Tacoma. The first day was approximately 66 miles. The rain was a slight drizzle most of the day with the temperature in the upper 50’s. There were two large hills that day. I made it half way up the first hill and then had to walk my bike up the rest of the way. I looked at it as on opportunity to stretch my legs and enjoy the sights. The second hill was even more brutal. As I start to make my way up I get cramps in my legs. I had to get off my bike to stretch my legs out. I look down at my legs and it looks like snakes crawling under my bike shorts. The muscles were just jumping. I couldn’t even walk. Then the cramps moved to my lower back. Ouch! The guest speaker for the night was riding his bike up the hill and saw that I needed help. He took my bike and pushed it up the hill while I tried to stop the cramping. After about 15 minutes and a bottle of water, I was back to good and continued on my way. I finished all the miles that day and made it in by 3:30. I hit the showers and then the massage table.

Day two was the visit to the dialysis clinic for a presentation. The morning was crisp and just a very slight mist coming down. We rode to the clinic and just about half way through the program the rain started to come down in buckets. I decided to stay and tour the dialysis clinic to kill some time and see if the rain would let up. After about 30 minutes it did not so I took off. It was raining so hard I had to remove my glasses to see. There were several steep hills on the ride and I stretched my legs on all three. On one of the hills a car full of girls drove by and one yelled out the window “Nice ass!” Boy, it had been a long time since I heard that! Only my bottom was starting to hurt and I was ready to give up. I had two friends, Kevin and Marjorie that pushed me to continue. I carried on with their encouragement and we all crossed the finish line together. That was 79 miles in the pouring rain and temperatures in the 50’s. It was a miserable weather for the ride but the sense of accomplishment and the company kept was worth it. It was after 6:30 when we arrived. I took a nice hot shower but unfortunately the massage tables were closed.

I started day three with the intention of doing the full century mile ride. As the day went on the soreness on my groin was getting worse and worse. The hills were plentiful this day as well. The day started off with rain and about 30 miles out the rain slowed down and then the sun actually broke through the clouds. By the time I made it to the lunch stop I was in so much pain it hurt to walk. Not the legs, the groin. This was the 45 mile mark and I made up my mind I was done. This was a difficult decision but the right decision. I did not want to risk further injury. I ate lunch and turned in my bike. I fell asleep on the one hour bus ride to the camp. After a nice long shower I went to the finish line to cheer the arrival of other riders. I had so many different emotions as I rang the bell and waved to the riders. I was filled with joy that they had finished the ride and disappointed with myself for not completing it. I just have to remind myself that I did my best and there is always next year.

Dazed and Confused

2010-09-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

I called my Dad the other day to see how things were going. We had just finished the week with a tropical storm and lots of rain. I also wanted to see how Mom was doing with her radiation treatments. I called his cell phone and he picks up.

Dad "Hello"
Me "Hi Dad, How's it going"
Dad "Fine..."
Me "I just finished helping Paul with the trees that fell down in the storm."
Dad "O-Kay..."
I go on talking for about a minute about helping Paul and then I say "Dad....Dad...." The phone is dead. So I wait a few minutes for him to call back. No call. So I call him again.
Dad "Hello..."
Me "I lost you there"
Dad "Yeah...."
Me "Did you get a lot of rain this week?"
Dad after a pregnant pause "Yeah....."
Me "Dad are you all right?"
Dad "Who is this?"
Me "It's Danny!"
Dad "OH!"

And so went the conversation with my Dad. From that point on we had a great conversation. I was starting to think that my Dad had a stroke or something. I know it had been a week or two since we spoke but come on.

When I talked with him today I asked him about the conversation. He said that he was in the truck on their way to eat dinner and the phone sounded like it had an echo. He said when the phone disconnected Mom asked him who it was. "Just some lady telling me about cutting up some trees" he says. When I called back and finally told him who I was everyone in the truck had a good laugh.

Then I started thinking. I started off the conversation, "Hey Dad." Who could it be? Do I have other siblings out there that I'm not aware of? Good lord I think nine is enough!

Rain rain and more rain

2010-09-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

Tropical storm Hermine rolled through south Texas yesterday and today. With the first wave we got a little over 5 inches of rain. Then last night 2 bands came rolling across the area. It started about 1:48 this morning. I know this because the storm was very loud. My dog Larry is a big chicken when it comes to thunder. He jumped up on the bed and I couldn't get him to get off. He stayed at the foot of the bed the rest of the night. I know this because he was shaking the bed like it had a massage motor built into it. Larry weighs 58 pounds and I could not budge him. Then princess thinks she can keep the thunder away if she barks when she sees the lightening. The second wave moved through about 3 in the morning. There was more lightening associated with the second wave and a lot more rain. Between the 2 waves we added a little over 3 inches to the total. As I sit here typing the rain is still coming down in waves. Hermine has brought a total of about 11 inches so far with scattered showers expected tonight. This rain was welcomed as we were getting close to water restrictions. Everything is already looking greener.

A Walk in the Park

2010-09-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

I stepped out of the house this morning to hang another ear of corn for the squirrels. (One was setting in the tree staring in the window!) The air had a crisp feel to it as a cool front had blown through yesterday. It felt like the perfect morning to go to the park for a walk. I came back inside and woke up the kids, it was after all 8:40 and half the day was gone already! The kids come down stairs and Chris jumps on the computer while Ashley sits on the sofa with her mom. I tried to get someone to go with me but I had no takers.

So I get to the park at 9:00 and there is only one parking spot left. Perfect! As I get out of the car a runner is just getting back from her run and lets out a primal scream. “I did it!” she yells. I shouted back “Great job!” and others around start to shout out their remarks of encouragement. I don’t know what her goal was but she achieved it and that was great. It was so nice to see strangers interacting in such a manner.

I head out on my walk moving at a good pace. The park was a hopping place. There were walkers, runners, skaters and bikers making good use of the cool morning. When I go walking I like to listen to the sounds of nature. So many had there ear buds on and not really paying any attention to anything or anyone. I was saying good morning left and right. Some people were friendly while others just appeared to ignore the greeting.

I started off with the goal of walking 13.5 miles. At 5 miles my left foot was getting uncomfortable. The inside heel was starting to hurt so after another half mile I stopped to look at it. Before I left the house I used padded mole skin on the heel as it had been a problem in the past. When I removed the sock the mole skin was just barely hanging on. The sweat was doing a number on the adhesive. I had a blister on the back of my heel the size of Texas and several smaller blisters on the inner heel. Well that put an end to proceeding further. Unfortunately I had to walk 5.5 miles back to the car with the blisters. Ouch!

On the walk back I came across an older gentleman that was picking himself up off the trail. He was bleeding from both arms and one leg. I asked him if he was all right. He was brushing the dirt off his legs and looking at the ground. He said that he had moved off the trail to let some bikers past and then tripped on a vine. I guess the riders didn’t notice. I made sure he was good before continuing on my way.

I made good time back to the car. It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to go the 11 miles. I had plenty of time to meditate and clear my head. My battery is charged and I am ready for the week ahead. Who knows, I may go riding tomorrow but I know I will hold off on the walking until after Tour DaVita.

Vibram Five Finger toe shoes: the Verdict

2010-08-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have had my Vibram toe shoes for a while now. I have worn them as my daily shoes and have worn them out on the trails. I have about 70 miles on them. My first impression of them was a foot saver. I had tried several shoes but all hurt my feet. The Vibrams did not make my feet hurt. I thought I found the perfect shoes. Today I went walking the trails and walk ways in the park. The path is mostly concrete with stretches of dirt path. After six miles of concrete my heels were feeling the lack of cushion. I had to walk the last mile back on the grass next to the concrete walk. The difference was night and day. I will say that because I gave my feet a rest from conventional shoes for two months I am now able to wear my dress shoes without any foot pain. I will still wear my toe shoes, just not all the time. When my KSOs are worn out I will buy another pair of toe shoes.

School Daze

2010-08-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

When did they grow up? I woke up this morning and my daughter was starting her first day of her last year of high school. What happened to the first three years? School starts and then I lose her to her friends. The first day and it starts already! I am at work and I get this text message.

Ashley: “Dad I need 15 dollars”.
Me: “Why?”
Ashley: “I’m going to the movies and then out to eat at EZ’s”
Me: “Says who?”
Ashley: “Dad we talked about this a few days ago.”
Me: “I don’t remember”
Ashley: “Stop it Dad! I told you yesterday!”
Me: “No”
Ashley: “Mom said O-Kay”
Me: “So was it a few days ago or was it yesterday?”
Ashley: “You have selective hearing!”
Me: “No”
Ashley: “No what?”

I just left it hanging at that. What is the deal with texting any way? Wouldn’t a phone call be so much quicker?

So Christopher, not to be left out, tells me. “Dad, I need some money.” “Why do you need money?” I ask. “Because Mom said I can go to the movies with my friend tomorrow.”

So while at the store I get cash back. I am walking out the door and Christopher asks, “Did you get the money?”
“Why no. Was I supposed to?”
“Yes you did, I saw it.”
“Then why did you ask?”

My head hurts.

Owl house up date

2010-06-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

The sun was setting and I went out to check on the Owl house. We had quite a storm blow through here. It took down trees in the area so the wind was very strong. The Owl house was still bolted to the tree about thirty feet off the ground. All of the bees were back at the house and as you can see it is over flowing. The bees so far have not bothered anyone. I can walk around the yard and under the tree without any problem. I have mowed the grass and even used a chainsaw without incident. I will leave them be for now. If they become aggressive then I will have to do something about them. I wonder what happens to them in the winter? Do they stay put or do they die off like a wasp? I will have to do some Internet searches to find out. I had asked Melanie to go out and check out the Owl house. She said, "Why, do they have little honey bear bottles lined up for us?" Obviously she isn't as excited about the guests as I.

Vibrams fivefingers KSO

2010-06-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

After reading all of the hype about these shoes, I got a pair for an early fathers day present. My family was tired of listening to me talk about how much I would like a pair but what if I don't like them. What if it they hurt my feet. I didn't want to spend $85 just to have them sit in my closet.

I use to wear Nike shoes and I absolutely love them. I heard how great New Balance shoes were so after much debating I broke down and bought a pair. $150. Ouch! I went out walking and they felt great at first but then my left foot started to hurt on the inside edge of my heel. I walked about 3.5 miles that day. I had to pull my shoes off when I got back to the car. The left foot had three blisters all around the heel. I was hurting for weeks. I healed up and then tried them out again. I ended up pulling them off and walking back in my socks. I told my self never again will I spend that much on a pair of walking shoes.

I still need to run my Vibrams through the paces to see how they will do for me. At first blush they are great. I walked about 3/4 of a mile on the sidewalk and then returned on the trail. The KSOs did well both on and off the walk way. This week I should get about 20 miles logged in the shoes. Stay tuned.

Owl House Guests

2010-06-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

After what seems like forever I have guests living in the owl house. Hundreds, maybe thousands actually. I was in the back yard today looking at a tree that I cut up last weekend and just happened to look up at the owl house. It had been several weeks since I had looked at it. A picture says a thousand words but these pictures do not do the bees justice. The bees are very thick in the opening. I am not sure if that is honey comb that I see or just bees swarming to keep the inside cool. You can hear the hum of the wings beating back and forth. Very cool. I just hope they are not the African honey bees that will chase me around the yard when I mow the grass.

A Memory Fading

2010-06-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

As you know if you have read my blog, I am a huge Famous Quote addict. I have a new quote delivered to the blog daily. They always provoke a moment of thought and reflection. The quote today is: Memory is the personal journalism of the soul.Richard Schickel

This got me thinking about my mother-in-law. She is in her fourth year with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. We had to have her placed in a home that cares for patients with this devastating disease. She is more and more confused as the days go by. I can see changes each time I see her, which is about twice a month. Melanie sees her about four times a week.

I get to hear all about the interesting conversations. It is very sad to think that her personal journal is getting erased. Her memories are going away but her family will remember her as she was before. We will cherish the memories we have as she was and be thankful for them.

Alzheimer's sucks.

Your story

2010-06-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

Every life is like a story. They all start the same and they all end the same. You are born and then you die. What happens in between is mostly up to you. In the early years, you are mainly directed, much like an actor in a play. Then you step up to the director position. You call the shots and set the scenes. What story will yours be. An action adventure. A love story. A comedy. A tragedy. You are the master of your world. You can choose to be villain or the hero. You can choose to be rescued or you can do the rescuing. It is all choices. Don't stay behind the curtian. Pick a part and play it. Mix it up. Only you can play your role. In interviewing elderly people and asking about what regrets stood out the most, it was not what they did but rather what they didn't do. Choose wisely and live well. What will your story tell?

Hot days and fewer clothes

2010-04-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

I went to the zoo this weekend. I took the kids because they still like to go, even at 15 and 17 years old. I would go even if the kids didn't go. I like to watch the people even more that the animals in the pens and cages. As the Texas heat builds and gets hotter and more humid the fewer clothes are worn. Now I am an equal opportunity gawker. I watch the women and the men. I watch the skinny ones and fat ones. As well as the pretty ones and ugly ones.

I find it interesting the parts of the body that gets pierced and or tattooed. I have heard it said that you can tell if someone is bi-polar by the number of piercings they have. Any number over 7 is a sure bet they are. (Or 7 rings is a pretty good indicator!) I saw many people that fit this category. Facial piercings were the most common. I did see one guy with bars on his neck and there was a woman that was wearing a tee shirt and no bra. You could see her nipple piercings through the tight shirt. How tacky is that!

Even more interesting than the piercings are the tattoos. There were several people there that had full body tattoos, 3 women and 1 man. I saw everything from dragons and fairies to Koi and hibiscus flowers. I am amazed at how many people have names tattooed on various parts of their body. It seems like the neck is the most popular followed by the upper back just below the neck for the women. I was thinking to my self what is the point of that. So the guy can remember his name while doing it like the animals do? Please!

I will be glad when I can go to Six Flags this summer. I will park myself by the pool and keep entertained for hours on end!

Flan cake

2010-04-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

It was my job this year to bring a cake to Dads house for Easter. Easter fell on the kids birthday this year so I made two. The one in the picture above is a milk chocolate flan cake. It came out delicious and it was very easy to make.

You will need your favorite box cake mix, or if your have a favorite homemade cake recipe that is just fine. You will also need 3 eggs, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and one can evaporated milk.

Pre -heat the oven to 340. Spray Pam in your cake pan. Make the cake per directions on the box and pour into your mold. Blend the eggs and cans of milk. Gently pour over the cake batter. It looks strange but do not worry. Bake for 50 minutes. Let the cake cool down for 30 minutes then turn over on your serving plate. The flan settles to the bottom of the cake mold which is the top when turned over.Let cool 30 more minutes and then place in the refrigerator to cool before serving.

I used ice cream topping to drizzle over the top for a frosting. Any cake mix will work. You could use a strawberry cake mix and drizzle with strawberry topping. My second cake was a butter pecan with butter scotch and caramel topping. It was very good as well.

Enjoy!

Started

2010-03-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

I started my P90X today. I could not keep up with the tempo of the Kempo DVD. My heart rate was past 180 and I had to let it go down. All that did was get me stoked to improve. I am going to weigh my self every Monday to see my progress on weight loss. Today I weighed in at 195

P90X and my fatty liver

2010-03-13T17:53:00.000-08:00

In January I was feeling ill. I had my blood work done and it showed elevated liver function tests. So, I had it repeated several weeks later (as well as other blood tests). The hepatitis screening came back negative twice but the liver function tests still are elevated. Last week I had more blood work done to rule out other bad problems. All came back negative and the liver function tests were still high. The doctor said I have a fatty liver! I stepped on the scale and I was back up to 192 pounds. Time to do something about it.

A friend gave me the P90X DVDs, a muscle confusion exercise routine. I went to Wal-Mart today and picked up free weights and a combination pull up/ push up bar. I will start the program next week to see if it is all that. Stay tuned.

2010 garden

2010-03-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

I planted my garden today. My garden isn't the traditional garden with straight rows or mounds planted evenly. I hand tilled the soil in the flower bed and tossed the seeds in randomly. I planted yellow squash, zucchini squash, cucumber, and egg plant. I only put half the seeds in the tilled up area. The other half I tossed in the rest of the flower beds and a few seeds in pots. The last time I planted a garden the squirrels ate the blooms off as fast as they grew. I hope that by using this scatter method some blooms will go unnoticed and I will get to enjoy the fruits of my labor, so to speak.

An Angel or Karma

2010-02-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

Everyone has an angel and everyone has the ability to be an angel for someone. You can call it Karma, you can call it what ever you like but it is there.

Years ago when my children were both in car seats, I drove a two door Hyundai. The car seats were strapped into the back seat. I had the muffler replaced and an extension tube did not get replaced on the tail pipe. The bumper caught fire and I pulled over into the police department parking lot. After pulling over the flames shot up and the back end of my car was on fire. I pulled the kids out of the car and got them to safety before looking for help with the fire.

I ran into the police station and yelled for help. I told them my car was on fire and I needed an extinguisher. The police officer yelled at me for pulling my car into their parking lot and said he could not help. So much for protect and serve. That exchange took less than a minute and I was back out to my car. I pulled out one car seat but the smoke became too much to remove the other.

Then when I thought all was lost a silver Accord pulled over in the parking lot and the trunk sprang open. A tall , thin black man with a well kept goatee dressed in a gold suit stepped out of his car and pulled a fire extinguisher out of the open trunk. It took him less than thirty seconds to put out the fire. He turned to me and asked if we were O-Kay. The fire extinguisher was replaced in his trunk and he was on his way.

To this day I swear he was an angel sent to help me and the kids. I was so speechless I couldn't even form words to thank him before he was gone. Was he simply in the right place at the right time with the right equipment? Only you can answer that question.

Everything happens for a reason. This weekend I was at a conference. A friend came up for the conference on Saturday but did not intend to attend on Sunday. He changed his mind and arrived to the conference for the Sunday session. I had a ride set up for the airport but the ride cancelled out and I was left taking a taxi. My friend said he could take us to the airport.

On the way to the airport we were commenting on how his car was shaking. He thought he needed an alignment. We told him it was a bad tire. At the airport when we got out of the car I inspected his rear tire and found a major defect. I told him to be careful because that tire could blow out on him. He said he would go straight to the gas station and have the tire removed.

I received a text while at the airport waiting for my flight. My friend was driving and the car start to shake worse than ever. He pulled over to the shoulder and was going he said about ten miles an hour and the tire blew. I would hate to think what would have happened if he had been going seventy on the toll road.

So, plans changed and a potential bad out come is avoided. Right place at the right time. Karma? An angel? Call it what you like but I am so glad that my ride cancelled.

Quote of the day junkie

2010-01-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

I have been on this kick with reading quotes from quote of the day. I have always read the the quote that comes out on my blog. I see quotes from people that I have never even heard of and they made a lot of sense. I went to the site and started surfing the quotes and before I knew it hours had gone by. I was lost in quotes. I read quotes by John Wayne that I never thought came from him and moved on to Jim Carey. I was amazed at the quotes from all of these people. One of the Jim Carey quotes is "If you aren't in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret. " I just found that so deep for such a funny man. And John Wayne. "I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves." I guess when your as big a cowboy as he was you just spoke your mind. If that statement were made today the press would be all over him. But he is also quoted with; "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday. " That does not sound like a cowboy talking. When ever you have a few extra minutes to surf the web, head over to one of the quote sites and look up your favorite actor or writer and see what words of wisdom they have for you. Who knows you just might find your self saying "A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. " (Bruce Lee) Seize the day and make it yours. Only you can create your universe.

Working on the weekend

2010-01-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

I love a challenge. This weekend I have been challenged with several deadlines and new projects. I started out reading my quote of the day, "Anything worth doing is worth doing well". I have the newly assigned project finished with the exception of adding a picture from my computer at work. My other projects that are work related will have to wait until Monday. I need information that I left at work and don't feel like going in to get it. Those projects should not take long to put together as I have done similar projects in the past. I am done with work projects for the week end and now time for the home projects. There is just not enough days for the weekend.

AR15 and M1

2010-01-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

100 yards with AR15

50 yards AR15 open sights and WWII M1 with open sights

AR15 at 50 yards red dot and open sight M1

AR15 with scope and open sight M1

I went to the range this weekend with the guys. I haven't shot a rifle in 19 years. I had so much fun. when we were leaving there was a baby rattlesnake in the parking lot soaking up the sun. It was so cold that he didn't even move when I tapped it with my shoe.

Imagine

2010-01-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

Imagine you had ten years to live. You knew the time frame. What would you do differently than you are doing now? Would you travel more? Would you donate more time to what ever cause was important to you? Think about it for a minute. How would your life be different compared to what it is like now?

Now imagine you had only one year to live. 365 days. How is that different than when you had ten years to live? What would you do differently now? Would you spend more time with your family and friends? Would you write your thoughts down for your grandchildren to read or make a video?

Finally, imagine one month to live. How would you change what you’re doing? What would be different now?

Would you want to know the number of your days? Should time be a factor in how you live your life? As for me, I want to be remembered for the lives I touched.

One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.~ Antonio Porchia

Buttermilk Pie

2010-01-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

This is a very good recipe for buttermilk pie. This recipe makes two pies.

1 cup flour

3 3/4 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter

6 large eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 unbaked pie crusts

Pre heat oven to 350 combine flour, sugar and salt. melt butter and add to dry mixture. Add the eggs and stir until all wet. Then using a mixer add the buttermilk slowly,mix for one minute and then blend in vanilla. Pour into pie crusts and bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Hope Wishes Dreams

2010-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Read 12 good books

Loose 20 pounds

Make over my yard

Be happy with my decisions

Spend more on me, time and money

Get back in school

Be a better…… {Father, husband, friend, boss, nurse, person}

“Hope is not a course of action.” That is a quote from Face Book. I gave it little thought at first. Hope is not a course of action but it will change your course of action. For if all hope is lost then drive and determination diminish and the goal is not reached. Never lose hope.

Dream is something you imagine, an aspiration or goal. If you can imagine it, it becomes more real. Don’t stop dreaming.

To wish is to want, desire or long for something. The more you want or desire something the harder you work for it.

20 gallons- my dream is for 5 more gallons more in the year to come

200 miles in Tour DaVita- my wish is to be healthy enough to be able to do 200 miles more this year

My hope is that all your wishes and dreams come true. Here’s to another year to spend with family and friends. As always, remember to live, love and laugh. Create your happiness.

Dreams

2009-12-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered why we dream the things we do? Was there something from the day that caused the dream? Was it unfinished business or some other logical reason for the dream? For the last two weeks my dreams have been of my sister Tracy, my Mom, my step Dad and my grandmother. All of which have passed away.

In one dream ,I was a waiter and I was serving lunch to my Mom and step Dad Ray. I was having a great conversation and they invited me to sit with them and take a break. In another Mamaw was in the kitchen cooking dumplings and I was outside doing chores. She then called me in for dinner and said that I have been working too hard and needed to stop for the day. I have had several dreams with all of them but I don't remember any details.

I wish I knew what this was all about. I guess it must be the season and I miss them all.

Italian Cookies

2009-12-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

All Melanie wanted for her birthday was Italian cookies. It is a big chore to make those cookies. you have to make your dough and then roll it out as flat as you can get it. I use to use a rolling pin to accomplish the rolling but then I got a pasta roller. It cuts the time almost in half and the cookies come out even. After the cookies are rolled out, cut them into 1/2 inch strips while you have the oil on to heat to 350 degrees. Then deep fry the strips until golden brown, just about 2 minutes. When all of the cookies have been cooked it is time for the glaze. The traditional glaze is a honey mixture. In a pot pour your honey and about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Do not boil as the honey will burn. At this point you can also add rum or whiskey and stir into the honey to have a little kick added to the cookies. Dip the cookies into the hot honey mixture and then set aside on wax paper to dry. Another less traditional method is to coat the cookies with powdered sugar and cinnamon I like both ways but the honey is my favorite.

Dogs Christmas

2009-12-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

Maggie and Christy supervise Melanie in the opening of their stocking. Larry and Princess are so excited they don't even pay attention to the bag of chips. Larry gets his snowman at last. Maggie is trying to choose which one she wants to play with.

Dog busted getting into the presents

2009-12-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

I busted Larry trying to take the dogs present from under the tree. He looked at me and then dropped it. You can see his ears are back because he was embarrassed. I'm glad that I caught him because he would have taken it to the back yard and buried it! Bad dog! I think he made the naughty list.

TWENTY GALLONS

2009-12-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

Well today I reached the goal that I set for the year. After today’s platelet donation I have donated 20 gallons of blood and blood product. I only made 20 donations this year out of a maximum of 24 for a year. All of my donations were a double platelet except one. It was a triple! I think of the people that I help with my donation and the medical problems that they have and thank God that I am healthy enough to be able to help. My goal for the new year is to make all 24 donations. I have my first appointment set for January 9th.

Wind Chimes

2009-12-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

I have a wind chime that hangs inside my house. It is hand blown glass humming birds with glass chimes. It belonged to my mother. I was walking by it one day and I supose the draft made it chime. I looked up and said "Hi Mom." I always think about her but even more so at Christmas. She so loved the holidays.

On my blog I have a quote of the day. I like to read the quotes and see how they apply to my daily living. The quote today was:" One lives in the hope of becoming a memory".Antonio Porchia I know that my Mom did just that. She will live on in my heart forever.

On Frozen Pond

2009-12-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

The first freeze of the winter. This is at 10:30 and the ice is still there. The Koi are all on the bottom at the deep end. Even the bird bath was iced over!

Christmas tree

2009-11-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

In the past I would wait as long as possible to put up the Christmas tree.(One year I didn't even put the tree up.) This year I put the tree up the earliest that I ever have. Jenn and Jordon came over with Paul and the girls to help Ashley and Christopher decorate it.

Owl House Update

2009-11-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been almost a year since my project was completed. It was quite a chore getting the house to the top of the tree. It was a big production getting it attached to the tree limb as well. Looking back, building it was the easy part! I keep looking up at the box but I have not seen any signs that anything has moved in. The perch looks the same as does the paint job. I even keep looking on the ground under the house to see if I can see any droppings or even an owl pellet. Nothing. No visible signs at all.

Then, the other day Christopher tells me that the owls are too loud and he can't sleep at night. I said "Yeah, right." "No, really Dad you need to pull the house down." he tells me. I have been listening but I didn't hear anything. We came home late on Thanksgiving from my dad's house. As I was walking up the walkway to the front door I heard it. "Whoo.....Whooo". I opened the front door and let everyone in and then went back outside to see if I could see anything. I heard it again. It sounded like it was coming from the tree on the side of the house. I stayed very still looking in the dark to get a glimpse of what was making this sound. ( I researched the sound on line and it sounds like a Horned owl.)

I waited but could not determine where exactly the sound came from or what had made it. It is still a mystery. I now have a new past time in the evenings, looking for owls. I may have to just sit up on the deck for an evening. I will see if I can get a picture. If not then maybe I can get a sound track to post.

Spell check

2009-11-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

This was so funny I had to pass it along.

Archery

2009-11-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

It had been many years since I shot archery. I guess it's like riding a bicycle.

Blood donation

2009-11-21T15:58:00.001-08:00

It was a typical Saturday morning for me. I was up at 5:30 and out of the house by 6:30, heading to the blood bank for my platelet donation. The deer were on the side of the road munching on the green grass and paying no attention to the cars driving by. I arrived to be blood bank at 10 till 7 and am amazed to see that there are no other cars in the parking lot. Usually there are 5 or so cars. I park and walked up to the building and see all of the usual faces.

John greets me as usual and knows my name before I even give him my ID. (That is impressive given his advanced years.) I fill out my paperwork and Shari checks me in. I get to the donation room and there are staff sitting all around with nothing to, how sad. This time of year it is so important to keep the supplies going. The truth of the matter is people are going out of town or have family in town and don’t take the time for the donation.

I sat down and selected my movie. I watched Ghost of Girlfriends Past. It was very funny movie. I turned down the shirt post donation. I have so many shirts at home I don’t have room for any more. I went to the snack room to have a juice and coffee before leaving. That is when I met Mr. P.

He walked around the corner and smiled before having a seat across from me. His grey hair was cropped in military style and he was dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. He appeared to in his seventies. I struck up a conversation with him. He was there to give platelets. He explained that he would organize the blood drives at his work and someone mentioned to him he could give platelets. He said that he gives his 24 times a year and has been since he doesn’t know when.

I am certain that Mr. P must have at least 60 gallons of blood product donations. That simply amazes me. I went over 19 gallons with this donation and still have a few more donations to go before I reach my 24 for the year. Mr. P is my new hero. He takes the time to give of him self to help others for so long. I hope I can follow his example and keep giving as long as I am able.

I often think of the lives that I have touched with my donations. Who received my blood product and why? Were they young or old? Were they a good person? Did they survive what ever the reason for the need of my blood product? I will never know.

This Little Piggy

2009-11-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

I have a pair of shoes that I keep at work. They are very broken in. In fact I have had to suture them up several times now. I just can’t part with them. That is one reason why they are at work. If I brought them home I would be afraid they would disappear. I have a new pair that is exactly the same only in black. The problem is most new shoes hurt my little piggy that cried all the way home on my right foot. That is a story all its own.

The house we lived in while we were in Pecan Valley had a laundry room just inside the back door. That was one of our play rooms. There was a pipe that ran across the ceiling. Donnie and I loved to climb up on the washer and dryer and leap to the pipe. We then would swing out from the pipe and land on a pile of clothes. All the while yelling like Tarzan. Oh what fun!

We also make our lunch quite often. Peanut butter and jelly was a staple. We liked to use the Bama swirl. It is the two swirled together. Back in the day most everything came in a glass jar. Donnie was making his sandwich and the jar slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor. Of course not wanting to get into trouble he cleaned up his mess with a towel. (I’m sure by now a picture is starting to form.)

Latter that day we were playing Tarzan in the laundry room. I pushed the dirty clothes out the door to have a soft landing place. I climbed up on the washer and started my very best yell. I jumped out and grabbed the pipe, swung out and let go. I made a perfect landing in the pile. I felt a pinch on my foot. I looked down and saw blood everywhere.

I backed off the clothes and looked down at my foot. The little toe was dangling off to the side and blood was dripping very fast. Donnie grabbed a dish towel and wrapped up my foot and hollered for Mom. One more trip to the emergency room. I think they knew us on a first name basis as we were there a lot!

The toe was stitched back on with apparently little trouble. I don’t recall how many stitches it took but the scar goes completely around the toe. To this day I still can’t bend the little toe or even move it. I just started to get feeling back in it.

That is why I love my old shoes. I have them broken in really well. They have stretched in all the right places and my little piggy doesn’t cry all the way home!

The Leap of Faith

2009-11-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

It was one of those summer days where we had nothing to do. So, being the children of our father, we went looking for something to keep us entertained. We went all over the neighborhood looking for friends but everyone was busy doing something inside (that usually meant they were grounded!) So we kept looking. I suggested that we explore the area around the water tower, so off we went.

There was a gravel road that made its way up a hill and at the top was the water tower. Well, it was more a storage tank than a tower. Think of the oil storage tanks at a refinery, about thirty five to forty feet tall with a flat top. We arrived to the top of the hill and proceeded to check out the boonies. We noticed on the side of the tower there was a ladder that went to the top. I looked over to Donnie and said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” “Let’s do it!”

The ladder started about ten feet from the ground. We spent a few minutes jumping up to catch the bottom rung. No go, we were too short and could not jump that high. After a few more minutes of problem solving, Donnie gave me a boost up. I was able to grab the rung and then interlocked my fingers around the ladder. Donnie then used me as an extension of the ladder and climbed over me. At last we were on our way to the top.

The view was great! We could see the entire neighborhood. We walked the perimeter of the tower and took it all in. On the back side of the tower you could see where they had to clear out part of the rock structure that the hill was made of to get the tank to fit. (Actually it was coral, not rock. It’s an island!)What we failed to realize is that as we could see the neighborhood, the neighborhood could see us!

We heard the car driving up the gravel road before we saw it. We went to the road side and then we saw the flashing lights of the Military Police vehicle. Oh crap! Busted! We backed away from the side so they could no see us. That’s when we heard it. The bull horn, “Get off the tower now!” I looked at Donnie, “What the hell do we do now?” “Dads going to kill us!” he proclaimed.

We had little time to think it over. We got on our bellies and crawled over to the edge where the ladder was located. There were two MPs standing at the bottom trying to reach the bottom rung. They tried and tried with out success. “We’re saved” I thought as I saw one walking back to the car. Then my heart fell when I realized what they were doing. They were pulling the car up to the tower so they could climb on the car to reach the ladder. We backed away and started looking for a way out.

The back side of the tower where the hill was excavated was our only chance. The ledge of the hill was about ten feet down and about fifteen feet away from the tower. We had to make a decision and fast, we could hear them coming up the ladder. “Let’s do it” I whispered. I went to the middle of the tower and ran as fast as I could. I made a running leap and landed about a foot onto the ledge and rolled to the tree line. When I looked up I saw Donnie running in mid air. It was like it was in slow motion. He landed in about the same place I did and rolled over to the tree line as well. Talk about a pounding heart!

We ducked into the trees and laid flat against the tall grass. We could see the MPs walking the top of the tower. Reaching up and wiping the sweat off their brows. They looked very perplexed. They couldn’t figure out what happened to us. It was as if we disappeared into thin air! We headed off down the back side of the hill and off into the boonies. We were hauling butt because we could not be sure if they would investigate further.

We made it to Hells hole and then stopped for a breather. There was no way they could catch us now. We sat down and I looked over at Donnie. He had blood on his leg! The bleeding had stopped and didn’t look stitches bad. The only thing we could figure is that when he rolled with the jump he must have scratched it on a piece of coral.

We made our way through Hells hole and slowly through the neighborhood, making sure that no one was looking for us. What had started off as a boring day turned into a great adventure.

Hells Hole

2009-11-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

The most favorite place for the Mullins boys to hang out while on Okinawa was the boonies. It was like our playground. There was always something to do or someplace new to explore. One such place that we found was thick with trees and always felt much hotter than it was on the street. That is why we called it hells hole, it was hot as hell!

It was while we were in hells hole that we discovered another aspect of the island. When people would move from the island and they did not want to take their dog with them and could not find anyone to take it, they just turned it loose. The dogs formed packs of feral dogs that roamed the boonies. We referred to them as boonie dogs.

One day while we were down there the dogs caught our sent. They were not afraid of us in the least. Before we knew it we were surrounded by a pack. There must have been 15 to 20 dogs. There was no place to go. That’s when Donnie shouted “up, go up”. And that’s what we did. We all scrambled up the trees as high as we could go.

Before we knew it we were at the tops of the trees and out of the dogs reach. We were trapped! There was no place to go and the dogs were not going anywhere. So I continued to climb up. Up and out the top for the tree. I looked around and it was a sea of green. There were vines growing across the tops of the trees and was binding the branches together. I lay flat as I pulled myself completely out of the tree. It was like I was floating!

I stuck my head down and shouted for the rest to continue up and out the top. Before long everybody was lying on top of the trees and poking our heads down to see if the dogs were losing interest. They were still sniffing and roaming around. We could either stay where we were or we could try to move away. It was decided to see if we could travel the tree tops.

We started off spider crawling across the tops of the trees. It was slow at first but then we got the hang of it. Before we knew it we were a distance from where the dogs were. In fact we were having so much fun we had completely forgotten about they dogs! We poked our head through the trees and the dogs were gone.

That was the first time we had encountered the dogs and it wouldn’t be our last. As that was our first time “tree crawling” but it wouldn’t be our last either. It was so much fun to travel the tree tops and explore the boonies from a new perspective. It amazes me how we were so inventive back then and dared to think outside the box.

Think outside the box. There is no telling what you can accomplish and no telling what you may find out about your self. You might be surprised!

Fireworks and young boys

2009-11-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

Fireworks on Okinawa were no big deal. Anyone could go to the market and purchase them. In fact, most of the Mullins boys spent our allowance money (and birthday money and Christmas money) on fireworks. Nothing was more fun than finding new and interesting ways to use what we bought.

One firework that we just loved to pop was called a 2B bomb. This one was way cool! There was no need for a match. The firework struck on a match box. It would smoke white and then smoke yellow before popping. We learned that if you waited for the yellow smoke you could toss it in water and it would still pop. There was a creek that ran through the boonies and it was full of these eel looking fish. They would act like Koi, if you tossed something in the water they would school around it. We would spend a lot of time down there tossing in the 2B bombs and disorienting the eels. Oh what fun for boys with nothing better to do!

Models were very cheap over there as well. We would put the models together and spend hours blowing them up with just about any firework we had available. Sometimes we would open up the firecrackers and spill the contents to another container in an attempt to make a larger impact on the object of our “affection”. We tried to make a small cannon once. Our first attempt used aluminum arrow shafts. All they did was mushroom out on us after the fuse was lit. Something sturdier was necessary if we were to make this work. We took an empty CO2 cartridge and packed it with the powder from firecrackers. We used the fuses twisted together to make a long fuse and when we lit it we ran! It turned out to be more like a rocket than a cannon! It shot off in one direction while the projectile went the other. A few minutes later there was a small grass fire that was in the general direction the projectile went. Oops!

Perhaps the worst thing we ever did involved the use of bottle rockets. We would use them to send messages up. Not that we would ever find them, it was just fun, for awhile. Then we had this hair brained idea to launch a lizard. Why not, they were all over the place. We caught several lizards and tried several methods of tying them to the bottle rocket. We had them tethered with a sling, tied directly to the stick, what ever way we could attach them. Sadly, looking back, I don’t believe that any of the poor creatures survived.

I highly recommend that if you have boys mixed with fireworks you keep a close eye on them so they don’t try these themselves. Model rockets have a compartment for sending up a payload safely!

The cost of health Insurance

2009-10-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

I received my benefits pamphlet this week to go over so I can be ready to make my choices next month during open season. Boy was I shocked by the changes. They say that the cost will be lower for most employees. I found out that I am not most employees. My biweekly premium is going up by 30 dollars a pay period. If that is not bad enough, the insurance is going from a 90/10 to an 80/20! My deductible is going up from 600 dollars to 1000 dollars and my max out-of-pocket is going up to 8000 dollars. This new plan is now going to cost me over the year 12800 dollars, over 1000 dollars a month. But what can you do except take what they offer. At least I have insurance.

The "chrysalis"

2009-10-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

I was in my back yard this last weekend trying to start my lawnmowers. With the drought there has not been a need to cut the grass. I noticed that there was a dead insect and it brought back a memory that makes me laugh out loud every time.

We moved to Okinawa in the summer and after we settled down in the house we had a lot of exploring to do. During our explorations if we found something interesting or something that we did not know what it was we would bring it back to the expert, our Dad. If he didn’t know what it was, we would look it up in the encyclopedia. (Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet yet!) On one such occasion we brought home an object that intrigued us. We showed it to Dad and he thought it was a chrysalis. He explained that in a short time a butterfly should appear. We just had to see what the butterfly would look like. Dad got a jar and put a paper with a small amount of water on it, for the humidity he explained.

During the course of the week we had accumulated many of these objects and had the jars lined up in the living room. Dad finally had to put an end to it because there was too many and no room in the house. I can’t recall the exact number, but there were approximately ten to fifteen jars with five to ten of these objects in each one. Every day we would check the jars but never did we see any butterflies. As the days went by we lost interest in the jars and had all but given up on seeing any results. What ever it was had to be dead. Dad was ready to dump it all as well. One more week and it is all out of here.

About two days later we had a huge surprise! Not one had emerged, but it appeared that all of them had over night! The housekeeper was not happy. If fact she was screaming and really freaked out. She spoke very little English and we spoke even less Japanese at the time. I turned the corner out of my room and could not believe my eyes. The walls and ceiling were almost covered with preying mantises. There were green ones and brown ones and they were crawling all over the place. The maid came from the kitchen pointing a finger and yelling “Out! Out!” So I started to leave. Her yelling then became more persistent, “NO….Out!” She was pointing at all of the little mantises.

I gathered up my brothers (they helped collect the egg cases) and we started to collect the little guys and put them out of the house. We learned to use a piece of paper to scoop them up and remove them. It took us hours to collect the brood and remove the bulk of them. It was several weeks before we did not find them in the house.

We learned a valuable lesson with the mantis egg cases. In the future we then made sure that if we were going to have an unknown object in the house it was to be in a container that had a lid or top to it. We also learned that even though Dad was the smartest person we knew he didn’t know everything!

Frogs in the tomb

2009-10-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

The house that we started off with on Okinawa was way too small for our family. It was Dad with the five kids and the best they had available at the time was a three bedroom. It did have a screened in porch that Donnie used as his bedroom. Dad had one, Teri and Tracy had one and David and I shared the last. A four bedroom opened up in Plaza housing and Dad took it. This meant moving away from the neighborhood that we had just got familiar with. But that was O-Kay. We now had new adventures to keep us busy. One such adventure involved a tomb, an underwater flashlight and very daring kids.

We moved into the new house over the summer. Dad had to go back to work and it was just the five of us kids left home alone with the housekeeper. We would get up early, have breakfast and be out the door not to be seen again until lunch time. Our fascination was always with the boonies. We were in the boonies and found a small pond that was at the entrance of an abandoned tomb. There were tadpoles swimming around and we were looking for the frogs. Now these were not your every day run of the mill tadpoles. These guys were huge! We walk around the edge of the water and we heard a big splash. We looked around and could not see anything.

We kept this up for several days, never seeing the frogs but always hearing the splash. The entrance to the tomb was just visible above the water line. Donnie and I had it in our heads that the frogs had to be in the tomb. How could we get them out was the question. We were avid Scuba divers and we had underwater flashlights that we could use to check it out. One afternoon we took the lights down to the pond with us. Rock/paper/scissor to decide who goes first, I lost. The water was not all that deep, maybe three to three and a half feet. The thing was to get into the tomb you had to have your head under the water and come up the other side not knowing what was there. What the hell were we thinking!

I reached my hand to the other side and felt that there was room to come up. Down I went with the flashlight on. I raised my head out of the water and was lighting the place up. It was safe so I called Donnie in. The tomb was not that large and we now had two lights to explore with. When the light went to a small out cropping we saw the eyes shinning back at us. Before we knew what it was it jumped right at us. Talk about scaring the crap out of you. We then heard several more plops into the water. Too late, the frogs had made their escape. We ducked back under the water and out of the tomb. We tried this several more time before we decided we needed a new plan.

The new plan consisted of entering the tomb with the lights out and getting into position to pounce on them. We were both in the tomb and slowly moved over to the edge where they always rested. I turned on the light as Donnie jumped at the frogs. He had two frogs pinned under his hands. I set the light down and grabbed one while he secured the other. Holy crap they were huge. The biggest frogs we had ever seen. Well, what now. Show them off of course! We headed home, Donnie holding a frog, I’m holding a frog and David is carrying the flashlights.

We made it out of the tomb with the frogs and flashlights and headed back to the house. There was a large wash sink in the laundry room so we put some water in the sink and dropped the frogs off. What a catch! We were so proud of ourselves. We couldn’t wait for Dad to get home so we could show him our bounty. Dad arrived and he was greeted by three anxious boys. David was the first to greet Dad. Donnie and I were going to play the guessing game. You know, guess what we found today? But no….David blurts “Guess what Dad, we found giant frogs today and they are in the sink!” The look on Dads face was like yeah right. We grabbed him by the arms and dragged him back to the sink. He looked down and saw two frogs that were almost the size of dinner plates. His eyes got big and his jaw dropped. “Were in the hell did you boys come up with that!”

So we told the story on how we found them and how we caught them. The whole time he was just shaking his head in disbelief. “So, what now?” he asked. All three of us chimed in “can we keep them? Please!” He sat us down and we had a talk. In the end we decided that it was enough to just have caught them. We packed up the frogs and headed back to the tomb to turn them loose. Plop, plop. Back in the water and to the security of the tomb they headed.

Looking back at what we had to go through to catch the frogs I am amazed that nothing bad happened to us. There could have been other critters in the water. To think that we put our heads under the water! We never seemed to think before leaped.

Changing weather

2009-10-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

I was in Lubbock when the front moved through. The temperature went from the 80's to the 40's very fast. When I got back To San Antonio the front had moved through already. It lost some of its punch along the way but it dropped the temperature to light jacket weather. We started the day at Fiesta Texas with a jacket at noon. By 4 o'clock the jackets were off, and then back on around 7. Very nice! With the over cast skies it looks cooler than it really is. I looked out this morning and just knew it was soup weather. So I threw together a quick potato soup with steamed cabbage on the side. I like to put the cabbage in the bottom of the bowl and then ladle the potato soup over the top. Delicious!

Travel

2009-10-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

The pain is gone and the body feels normal again after the Tour DaVita. At first I said I didn't want to see a bike for a year, but now I am looking forward to getting back on it. After my traveling settles down I plan on getting back on it. I have been out of town for the last three days in Chicago. It was cool and rainy the entire time so I did not get out much. I did get out for about an hour between showers. I am always impressed with the number of tall buildings. I was there for the Managers meeting. It was a very informative and relaxing time. The first night there we went to a fine Italian restaurant and then went to a comedy club called Second City. It is where Saturday Night Live actors get their start. It was a very funny show. The next night we had dinner and an awards presentation with the team from Chicago at the hotel. Tomorrow I leave to Lubbock. (I wish I had a UT shirt to wear!) I will be there for five days to help out our newest Access Center. I have just one more trip planned for the year. It will be the first weekend in November down to Houston. Time will tell what other trips are on the horizon.

Lessons learned

2009-09-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

I learned a lot on this trip. The next time (and there will be a next time) I will take my pillow so I can sleep better. I will take some Motrin along to help with the sore body. If I can find the cold packs that you squeeze, I'll take them along for the sore butt. As well as some muscle rub. There is a cream that you put on your shorts to prevent friction rubs. ( Now I know not to wear underware under my cycle shorts!)I know all about friction rubs. I have two of them. They are much better today thank you very much. The last day I took full advantage of the break snacks and I felt I had much more energy for that ride. I need to ride a few more hills to learn exactly how and when to shift. The hills are what gave me a lot of problems. I came to look at them as an opportunity to stretch my legs and hydrate (walk and have a drink). That last day I only walked up 2 hills. Either I was getting better or the hills were not as bad.

The ride of a lifetime!

2009-09-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Day 1 camp site on the lake

Day 2 camp site on a baseball field.

Day 1 injury to my right leg.

Day 2 injury to my right leg

It was billed as the ride of a lifetime. It certainly lived up to that for me! I flew into Grand Rapids via Chicago. The flight was on time and the weather was perfect. The first camp site was by Wabasis Lake Park in Greenville. It was beautiful. We had dinner in a large circus style tent which was followed by the opening ceremony. Then it was off to bed for me as it would be my first long ride in the morning. The temperature got down to 40 that night and I was glad to have a mat for the sleeping bag.

Coffee was at 6 o’clock and breakfast at 6:30 (as it would be for the remainder of the trip). The ride today was from Greenville to Fremont. The first break was at the 15.7 mile mark, more miles than I had ever done in one day. Just about killed me but I survived. I fell off the bike at the stop sign crossing the street to the rest area and skinned up my right knee really well. Lunch was at the 27.3 mile mark at Long Lake Park. I had pasta and a salad and headed out after about an hour. There was a rest stop again at 48.3 and 61.4 miles. We ended the ride at Branstrom Park for a first day total of 67 miles. What a day. I could hardly walk to my tent to get my shower stuff. I was holding the hand rail with both hands to make it up the stairs. It was shower, dinner and bed for me tonight. I was so tired but I had a feeling of accomplishment

Day 2 was from Fremont to Stony Lake. It was a short 2.6 mile ride to a dialysis center in the rain where we had a program ceremony until 10:00. The first real break was to be at the 12.2 mile but I never made it to that stop. At about the 11 mile mark I needed a drink so I slowed down so I could stop for a drink. My foot got caught up in the stirrup and the bike fell over in what seemed like slow motion. The sprocket put a large gash behind my right calf. A few seconds later the blob started dripping out, slow at first and then faster. I had to use my bandana as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. The backraods van came by and took me to the dialysis center to have it cleaned up. I removed the tourniquet and the blood started back up again. It was off to the ER where it took 11 stitches to close the leg up and get me on my way. The backroads van was waiting for me when I got out and I had him drop me off at as close to my fall as possible. I continued the day and finished up at about 5:30. That was 66.7 miles. What a long and painful day. Once again it was shower, dinner, and bed.

Day 3 was my chance to do a 100 mile ride. I had until mile 61 to decide if I was going to go that route or if I was going to do a metric century, 100 kilometers (65 miles). Well lunch was not agreeing with me and my legs felt like they were made of jelly, and my stitches felt like they were pulling. The 100 mile ride would have to wait. I pulled into camp about 3 o’clock. I was ready to drop. I took my shower and headed over to the massage tables to have my back worked on. Afterward it was dinner and bed. I was ready to drop. I had blisters in places that you are not supposed to get blisters.

That was almost 200 miles in a three day time span. There were many times when I wanted to quit, calling for the van and taking the easy way out. But I didn’t. I did most of my riding alone. I was way to slow for the good riders and a little faster than the other novices. I am so glad that I was asked to ride and I hope that I can do it again next year. We raised almost $700,000 for the Kidney Trust. It is a non profit that tests for kidney disease so that dialysis can be delayed or even prevented.

Tour DaVita

2009-09-18T15:57:00.000-07:00

I will be representing San Antonio Kidney Disease Access Center in the Tour DaVita starting this weekend. This is a fund raising and education awareness event that is sponsored by DaVita. I will be biking 250 miles in 3 days in the hills of Grand Rapids Michigan. The first day is 70 miles, the second day is 70 miles, the third day is 100 miles, and then it is a wake up and a short 10 mile ride to the finish. The nights will be spent camping in tents. I looked at the weather and it should be very good for biking. I will be taking my camera with me and take pictures along the way. I’m not sure of the site but I heard that a web site is set up for folk to follow the tour on line from the comforts of home. I leave at 0720 in the morning and will return on Wednesday evening. I hope to have fun and promote education in the communities that we are riding through. Wish me luck!

Tree Tag and Bicycle Dodgeball

2009-09-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Remember my ramblings about hair brained ideas. I think that when kids are bored they come up with interesting ways to entertain them selves. Especially if there is a group wondering what to do.

On one such occasion the Mullins boys and some other neighborhood boys were doing just that; trying to think up a new game to keep us occupied. We were bored with just plain tag. It was too easy. How about tree climbing? Too boring as well. (Now comes the hair brained idea.) How about tree tag? Excellent idea!

We sat down and made up a quick set of rules. We wanted to keep it simple so there were only two rules. No tag backs and no touching the ground. With that we were off. There was a perfect tree behind the house that had limbs that spread way out. At the base of the tree we did the usual “enie, meni, myni, mo” to see who is it. Well I was it first.

The rest of the boys climbed the tree while I counted to fifty. What a site that must have been to see all of us jumping around the tree, leaping from branch to branch like a bunch of monkeys. I started up the tree looking for easy prey. Donnie was the closest so it was off to the races so to speak.

We were all leaping and swinging from branch to branch. Climbing high and leaping low. We were having such a good time. Until. Donnie made a leap to a branch to avoid being tagged. His hands slipped from the branch and he fell flat on his back! All we heard was a loud “aughhhh” and then nothing else.

We scrambled out of the tree and gathered around his unmoving body. I stared down at his un breathing body and exclaimed “he’s dead”. I knew what I had to do, find an adult. I took off across the neighborhood to get Fran. Fran was the Mom of one of the kids we played with. She was about five feet tall and went about 175 pounds. I busted into her house and shouted “Donnie’s dead!” I told her where he was and we both took off running. She beat me there!

We looked down at Donnie and his eyes were closed and he was still unmoving. “He’s dead” I stated as a matter of fact. Donnie opened his eyes and said “Who’s dead?” Fran checked him out to make sure he was not hurt. He just had the wind knocked out of him. At least this time there were no serious damage to anyone….unlike that that other time…

We made up another game to help pass the time. We combined riding our bike with dodge ball. What a great game. One person was on one side of the street and a second on the other. Then we rode our bikes back and forth while the ball was thrown across. We could play this game for hours.

One summer day we were playing and I wasn’t paying attention. The ball went across the street, hit the curb and started to roll back. I looked at the thrower and was making faces because they had missed the person in front of me. About that time my front tire hit the ball and stopped it on a dime. Unfortunately the rest of the bike did not stop and the back end of the bike went up and over me. I went up and over the handlebars and the back tire found my face. I landed part on the grass and part on the curb. What a mess I was.

I was told that I got up and was cussing the bike loudly. This brought my Dad to the door to see what was going on. There I stood with two bloody knees, two bloody elbows and a bloody nose. My Dad took me into the house to clean me up. He rinsed a wash cloth to wipe my nose. When he did this his eyes got wide. I wasn’t crying up to this point. After I saw the look in my Dads eyes I knew that something was not quite right. The floodgates opened and there was no stopping it. When Dad wiped my nose he saw that the upper lip was missing.

Dad took me to the hospital where it just so happened to be an aspiring plastic surgeon on duty. When he saw my lip he rubbed his hands together and started his work. My upper lip looked like hamburger meat. Many hours and many sutures later my lip was pieced back together. That is when they noticed the swelling on my right forearm. Over to x-ray we go. Both bones broke clean.

By the time I got home I looked like I was back from war. I had bandages on both knees and elbows, a cast on my right arm and gauze taped across my face. I had to chew with my mouth open and my siblings complained to Dad and I had to eat in the kitchen for the next few weeks. Talk about insult to injury!

I often look back on those days and wonder how did I ever make it to adulthood? What imagination we had. Now a days it video games, computer and television that keeps the kids entertained. I’m not so sure I would call that progress.

A Fish Story

2009-09-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Many years ago, before my brain was fully developed, my brother-in-law and a friend decided that we were going fishing for shark at Big Shell. Big shell is an area on Padre Island where four wheel drive vehicles are required for access. I had my Toyota truck and my brother-in-law had a Blazer. We were good to go. We did a tackle check to make sure we had all of the gear that we would need. All was in order. Next topic was what to use for bait. After much discussion, we learned that we could get buckets of blood from the slaughter house. That is precisely what we did, three buckets full! We picked up a roast that was on sale to use for the hooks. We were now good to go.

We left very early in the morning form San Antonio. When we arrived at the beach it was still dark. We drove down the beach until we found a good place to park the trucks. We were all so excited. With all of the blood and bait, we just knew that we were going to be successful. We each pulled out our rods and baited the shark hooks with the roast. Now, how to get the bait far off shore where the sharks are? We decided that the best way is to wade out, cast, and then wade back. So that’s what we did, with three buckets of blood in hand! (Remember, I did say before my brain was fully developed).

We waded out until the water was up to my chest. We all cast our lines out and then opened the buckets of blood, all three! We proceeded to dump the blood in hopes of attracting shark to the area. Keep in mind we are in the water about 300 feet from the shore and it is still dark! We start back, releasing our line as we wade back to shore. We set the drag on the reels and then kick back to wait for the big catch.

Several hours go by without any activity on the reels. The sun is up and we start to see a few trucks go by. Getting discouraged and ready to find a different area to fish, we heard one of the reel click. We all looked over at the rod. It then clicked out again. Then the tip of the rod went down and it was on! My brother-in-law raced to the rod and pulled back to set the hook! At this point we reeled in the other two rods to get them out of the way.

This fish is really giving a good fight! My brother-in-law is walking up and down the beach. He reels in some line and then the drag lets out line as the fish makes a run. This is crazy! By this time there are several vehicles that have seen the struggle and have pulled over to see the catch. Over thirty minutes have gone by and the fight is still going strong! After an hour, there are about thirty to forty vehicles and people are sitting on tailgates and taking pictures.

We reach about an hour and a half into the fight and progress is being made. There is more line coming in than going out and we can start to see a shape under the water. What the hell is that! I walked out into the water and reached down and wrestled it to shore. After all of the planning, waiting and fighting, we pulled in a huge plastic bag! I laughed so hard, as did many of the crowd that had gathered! Some were very upset that they “wasted my morning” on a plastic bag. A good many had been parked for over an hour.

The plastic bag was of the type that is used offshore. The tide must have brought it into the shore and the undertow would pull it back out. Not to mention that the drag was set to lose on the reel. Inside the bag was a small fish that had become trapped. The trip wasn’t a total loss. I tossed the little fish back into the water after asking if he wanted a picture of Moby Dick. That is a fishing trip that I will always remember and always puts a smile on my face.

She's having my baby!

2009-09-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

With all of the babies being born in the Mullins clan it got me thinking and remembering what it is like to be a first time Dad. There are so many emotions that are happening that it puts you into system overload. It is not just the birth. That is the one that is the strongest.

This rollercoaster ride started for me the two words I wanted to hear, “I’m late!” We had been trying to get pregnant for a year and it was just not happening. I even went to a specialist to see if there was a problem. I was elated but didn’t want to get my hopes up. We went and got a home pregnancy test and she did it right away. Positive! O-Kay, this is getting serious now. It is time for a visit to the doctor to confirm the results. The results came back, “Congratulations, your going to have a baby!” Hearing it from someone else made it really hit home. I’m going to be a Dad.

We went to the doctor for the ultra sound. The doctor put the warm gel on Melanie’s tiny flat stomach. “There it is” she said. It looked to me like a little peanut. “Well, what is it? Boy or Girl” I asked. It is still too early to see that. Now it was real. I could see that something was there. The next ultrasound we heard the heart beat. I was very excited.

Days, weeks and months passed and the excitement would come and go. I didn’t know how to be a Dad. Would I be a good Dad? Would the baby be normal? Would Melanie be o-Kay? All of these things were going through my thoughts. In the mean time, Melanie’s body was changing and she was having similar thoughts. There were way too many emotions happening in the apartment.

Then the big day came. We spent the day shopping and stopped off at Jason’s Deli for lunch. I ordered a large baked potato smothered with chili with beans. We got back home and Melanie started to nest. She took out all the baby clothes and held them up, give them a real good look and then fold them neatly to return to the dresser. She did this only to repeat the process again.

Twin Peaks was on the television (we never missed that show). Melanie went to the bathroom and then returned to watch the show and nest. A few minutes later, she got up again to got to the bathroom and then nested some more. This occurred a few more times until she started crying in the bathroom. “Honey, what’s wrong” I finally got it out of her. “I’m incontinent!” she cried. I called the answering service to page her doctor. A doctor called (not her doctor) and said I needed to get her to the hospital to be checked out.

I grabbed her packed bag and we headed out to the hospital. We arrived and the nurse took Melanie back right away. What was happening was her water broke but up high and it would leak out when she moved or the baby moved. It’s time we were told. Let the games begin! Phone calls were made to family and the nursing staff called the doctor.

We got settled in a room and family started to arrive. The room was crowded and getting loud. I asked the nurse if there was any way we could move these people out. “Time for an exam, everyone to the waiting room.” The room was quiet, except for the groans of labor pains. Then when Melanie’s head just about spun around, I asked the nurse for the epidural.

Into the room walks what appears to be a red headed freckle face kid of 13 years old. Melanie looked up and said “You’re the doctor?” “Have you ever done these before?” This is when the doctor replied “Well, this is my first time without the book.” I will state for the record that that is the worse time to be joking with a woman. I really thought she was going to get up out of the bed and strangle him! I assisted the doctor holding Melanie while he started the epidural. “Can we just get this started and quit talking?” I swear that is not the woman I married. “It’s done, you’ll fell better is just a second.”

Now we have calm to the high seas. Remember the potato I ate earlier? The beans are starting to work. I would excuse myself to the bathroom to get relief. Then come back and start “coaching” again. Until I heard those little words of love, “if you tell me how to breath one more time I’ll kill you!” Those classes were a big help, not!

The doctor comes into the room. Hey, that’s not our doctor. “Sorry, your doctor is in New York at the Governors’ Ball.” He delivers Ashley and lets me cut the cord. The nurses take the baby away to clean her up and make sure that she is doing fine. I stayed with Melanie to make sure she was good. The nurse brought Ashley over and Melanie held her for the first time. My eyes were watering and I was trying to hold it together.

I went down to the waiting room to tell the family of the birth of my precious baby girl. I look in the waiting room and my mother and mother-in-law are sitting next to each other. That is when it hit me. I started bawling like a baby. They both got up and started towards me. “What’s wrong?” they said in unison. I was crying so hard at this point I could hardly speak. Then I finally got it out. “She’s beautiful!”

That was the first time my daughter made me cry. It has not been the last and I know there are more tears to come. This is a rollercoaster of emotion called life. Welcome aboard!

Anatomy Class Fart

2009-09-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

I was watching my daughter Ashley the other day do her homework. One of the subjects was Human Anatomy. It brought back memories of nursing school and of an incident that occurred during class. I busted out laughing at the memory and I’m sure my family thought I was crazy.

I took my Anatomy class in the evenings. The professor’s name was Mr. T (His last name was too hard to pronounce). He was one of the best teachers that I had at San Antonio College. He kept things interesting. There were always lots of activities in class to make sure that the learning objectives were met.

We were studying the respiratory system and going over the different terms for lung volumes. Mr. T had a machine at the front of the class that would measure the volumes. He asked for a volunteer to come up and have the lung volumes measured. There was a petite young blonde that volunteered.

Mr. T explained the process. “You take in as much breath as you can and then blow into this tube forcing out as much air as you can as fast as you can.” The cute blonde smiled and said o-Kay. She took in a breath and blew it out through the tube. Mr. T looked at the read out and said his grandmother could do better than that! Not wanting to look bad in front of the class, she took in another deep breath and blew as hard as she could.

While she was blowing out her breath she was bearing down and the unthinkable happened. The class was all quiet. Mr. T looked around the class amazed. “Come on! You have to have heard that!” he shouted, barely able to contain himself. “She farted!” My buddy Jason and I lost it, as did everyone else in the class, except the blonde. She turned red and quietly walked back to her seat.

I’m not sure what life’s lesson is for this story. I’m just glad that she volunteered before I did. I got an A in that class, and a really great story.

Starry starry night

2009-09-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a hair brained idea? As kids we had them all the time. Sometimes we had to ask for permission and it was at that point we were told all the problems with the plan. That is why our Dad was so cool. Usually, if it wouldn’t cause any permanent damage he would let us do what ever it was we ask to do.

One such occasion was when we wanted to star gaze on a clear night when there were meteor showers expected. During the early 1970’s there were not many outside lights to interfere with the night sky. When there were no clouds to block the view, the stars went on for ever. I had no idea there were that many stars in the sky.

“Dad, can we watch the meteor shower tonight” we asked. “No problem” was the reply. “But we want to stay up all night and count the falling stars” “No problem.” “We want to spend the night on the roof!” “You want to do what?” I’m sure at that point Dad thought we had lost our minds.

Our house was not like the typical house here in the states. It was made entirely of concrete and the roof was flat. Dad thought about it for a few seconds. (I’m sure we caught him off guard) He started to run through his list; we don’t have a ladder to get up there. We don’t need one Dad. We use the wall to climb up. You might roll off in your sleep. We will make a pallet between the pipes that stick up. For every argument against it we managed to come up with an answer. We were very determined.

In the end we won out. As the sun started to set, the three boys started dragging blankets and pillows up the side of the house. I could only imagine what the neighbors were thinking. What are those Mullins boys up to now? The big surprise came when not only did the Mullins boys climb up to the roof, so did our Dad.

We lay up on the roof that night for hours with Dad, watching the falling stars and just talking about nothing. Dad would point out different stars, planets and UFO’s. When he knew we would be safe between the vent pipes, Dad climbed down and went inside with the girls. I’m not sure how soon after he climbed down we all fell asleep.

We woke in the morning safe and sound. Tossed the bedding off the roof and climbed down. We had counted more shooting stars than I ever knew existed. It was not long after that experience that Dad brought home a big book on astronomy. We would go through the book and point out things that we saw that night.

That was the first time we spent the night on the roof but not the last. It was just one of many hair brained ideas we were able to convince Dad into letting us do. That time spent with Dad that night was priceless.

Funerals and Old friends

2009-09-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

Why does it take a funeral or some other drastic event to bring old friends together? Or even family for that matter. I was reading the paper this morning and I always check the obituaries (just to make sure I’m not in there) and I saw a name that is familiar. Johnny Nance. So I read the obituary and I recognize one of the names, Lynette, his mother. I was almost certain. Then when my Dad called I knew it was his high school friend.

I had met Johnny Nance several times. It was usually due to an unfortunate circumstance, such as a funeral of parents. Now the old high school friends will get together once again only this time it is one of their own who will be laid to rest. After each of the previous occasions I would hear everyone tell each other that they shouldn’t wait to meet under these circumstances. Yet they always do.

This is yet another milestone in life. When your friends are dying of natural causes it should give cause to reflect on where you are at in life. Life is too short as it is and the circle is almost complete. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

In this day and age it is easy to keep in touch with old friends. There are cell phones with no long distance charges, e-mail, and the internet with many social network sites. If you haven’t kept in touch with your old friends, look them up and drop them a line. Chances are they still think about the good old days as well. Make the time to reconnect and slow down. Who knows, the next time the high school friends get together it might be you they are talking about.

The $1500 question

2009-09-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

So your walking on a sidewalk at school and you look down. Something catches your eye. It looks like trash but it doesn't look like trash. You pick it up to examine it and then your eyes get very big. You start counting...$100....$200...$300.. $400.............$1000.............$1500! $1500 in a roll of cash. No one is around. It is the last bell of the day and your Mom is waiting to pick you up. What do you do? What......do......you.....do?

Well, if you are my son, you take the wad of cash to the school office and tell them you found this on the ground and maybe someone is looking for it. I'm so proud of him! He has been wanting a laptop computer and trying to figure out ways to get one and then all of that money just lands in his hands. He does the right thing and turns it in. I can't honestly say that I would have done that. I guess I'm raising him right. I'm not sure what happens to the money if no one claims it.

C Rations

2009-09-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

Summer on Okinawa was always a fun time for our family. Summer meant lots of free time to explore our surroundings and see just what is there for young boys to do. Our favorite pastime was to explore the boonies. We would spend countless hours running around and seeing where the trails led, or making our own trails. This really came in handy one afternoon.

Being around military all the time, we had had several occasions to have C rations. For those of you who have not had the pleasure to eat C rations, let me explain. The C ration is a food pack that was developed for the military for meals in the field. Today they are known as MRE, meals ready to eat. The MRE is in pouches while the old C ration came in cans. As kids, we loved them. It was like eating a gourmet meal.

The Marines would do survival training in the boonies that we played in. One day while we were out, we saw a small group of Marines setting up a make shift camp. What caught our eye were the cases of C rations that were being hidden in the tall grass. The men went to great lengths to conceal their treasure before going out on maneuvers. This was just too tempting for five young boys.

After the coast was clear, we crept into the grass and each grabbed a case. We backed out quietly and then made off with our treasure. Crystal cave was our destination. It was a cave that was not far from where we were. We spent a few minutes to examine the goods to see what we had. Now, it has been around 35 years and I can’t remember exactly what the meals were, but I do remember the excitement that came over all of us. There were cigarettes and gum in every box! We knew that we had to get more!

Silently we made it back to the make shift camp and grabbed another load and returned it to the cave. There was still several more cases left so one more trip would do the trick. We would have all the C rations to ourselves! On the last trip, we could hear the Marines returning to camp. We knew we had to hurry. Three cases, all that’s left. As we were backing out after grabbing the loot, a shout came from across the way “Drop it!”

Five boys turned around to see eight to ten Marines bearing down fast. We dropped the load and started to run. Surely they would not chase after us. Then we heard one exclaim “they took all of them! Get ‘um!” well, that is when we knew it was on. We had pissed off the Marines and we were running for our lives. Through the boonies, five boys being chased by a mob of angry trained Marines. And we were keeping ahead! “Split up!” my brother yelled. Three went one way and my brother and I went another.

We took the Marines on a guided tour of the boonies for about 20 minutes, and then they started to catch up. We knew we had to do something fast if we were going to get away. “The wall! We have to get to the wall!” I gasped. We made our way to what we called the wall. It was the back side of Futenma housing area. Okinawa is a coral formation and that’s what the wall is, a coral formation that goes straight up for about 80 to 90 feet then turns out on it self. Donnie went up first and I was close behind. As he got closer to the top he tracked off to the right where the formation still went straight. At this point the Marines were at the bottom cussing like sailors. I didn’t think I had time to track to the right so I just went for it. Straight up. I was hanging on out over the edge when I felt my brother reach down and grab my arm from above. He pulled me up and we looked over the Marines were down at the bottom looking up. Cursing, yelling and throwing anything they could get their hands on. We knew we had won. We laid down and taunted them from a safe distance. Laughing, calling them names, and spitting. I know not very nice, but hey, we’re kids.

Later that afternoon we met up with our partners in crime and they had escaped as well through a place we called hells hole (that’s a whole other story!). During the weeks ahead, we would meet up at crystal cave and partake in a feast of C rations.

I always find myself smiling as I reflect back on our adventure that summer day. There we were, five young boys going against all those Marines. Against all the odds, and we survived. I often wonder what story those Marines told of the events that occurred that day. I shudder at the thought of what they had to eat because their rations were absconded by a small group of youths.

Remember When

2009-08-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Every now and then something happens that makes you remember something from the past. It could be something some one did or said. Or a smell that drifts by. Or even just an image that prompts that memory. I was watching the television and there was a spider and web that was just like the ones we had in Okinawa. And it reminded me when…….

Dad had five kids to keep track of and try to keep out of trouble. That was a very tall order. All five of us, Donnie, Danny, Teri, Tracy, and David loved to be outside and looked for fun stuff to do. There was only one television channel and it had very old programs that were of no interest to kids. We discovered very early on that fireworks are sold year round. We would spend a good portion of our allowance on fireworks. The two firecrackers of choice were lady fingers and 2-B bombs. For those of you who do not know what a lady finger is, it is a very small firecracker about the size of a matchstick. My brothers and I were messing around in the boonies, we saw a spider web. We would take a small object and toss it in the web and low and behold, the spider would come running down the web to see its catch. Boys being boys, we thought wouldn’t it be cool if the spider would attack the firecracker.

Well, we had to give it a try. We took the firecrackers apart and used two fuses for one firecracker. Lighted the fuse and tossed it into the web. Hidden from somewhere above this huge spider speeds down the web and starts to spin a web on its new “victim”. The fuses came to an end and so did the spider! There was a small pop followed by thunderous laughter. Way cool! Living on the edge of the boonies, there was an abundance of spiders. We continued for a while taking turns tossing the firecrackers and blowing up spiders. Meanwhile, Dad and one of his Army buddies are in the house. They hear the sound of laughter and small pops.

Dad looks out the window and sees all the boys walking the edge of the boonies and then he catches what we are doing. “Hey, what do you think you guys are doing?” he yells at us. Dad and his buddy move out to where we have just unleashed our wrath on the spiders. He confiscates the ladyfingers and tells us that we should not be blowing up the spiders and to go inside and think about what we did. There were bunches of “Ah man” going on as we hung our heads and headed to the house to “think about what we were doing was wrong”.

Once inside, after a few minutes, we started to hear laughing coming from behind the house. That sounds very much like Dad. We headed to the back window and what do we see? There is Dad and his buddy lighting up ladyfingers and tossing them into the spider webs. We knew they were successful when their heads would go back and roar with laughter. I guess that is what is meant by the saying “Do as I say, not as I do”.

Those days were so much fun.

First week

2009-08-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Christopher finished up his first week of High School, in a public school. He has been going to Catholic school since pre-kinder, 10 years. His campus is huge compared to his old school as is the number of students, over 800 freshmen. I was glad to see that he gets a set of books for home use and a set in the classroom for use at school. That is so much better that having to cart your books back and forth as I did while I was in school. Soon there will come a time when all text books are electronic. He had his first pep rally today as the first varsity football game is tomorrow. He had a lot of fun and is fitting in really well. I'm so proud of him.

Hot off the grill

2009-08-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I put anything on the grill. I got some country style ribs and some veggies to grill up for dinner tonight. The egg plant came out very good as did the yellow squash and the Zucchini squash. My grill is rusted on the bottom and the rack no longers adjusts but it still did a great job. I am left with just one question.....Why did I wait so long to grill?

The last time

2009-08-23T06:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes something happens that is so powerful that you have to just let it out. It consumes your thoughts and you try to make sense of it. I have one such moment that stays in my head. I had a patient that I took care of for several years. Every time I saw her she would joke around with me. Over the years I saw the worsening of her condition. She went from walking in to using a wheelchair and finally arriving to clinic on a stretcher. Her last visit remains in my memory as to why I do what I do. Her blood pressure was low and she needed some fluid. I started the IV while another nurse kept her attention. She was worried about the IV and before she even knew it the IV was going and she was relieved. The doctor decided that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for care. This was the worse I had ever seen her. As she was laying there and the ambulance crew arrived, she asked me for a hug. I leaned over and gave her a hug. She whispered to me that she was scared. I had whispered back that it was alright to be afraid and that she would be just fine. She gave me another hug and I told her to take care. Her pressure dropped even further that night and she was coded and intubated. She passed later the next day. I hope that the care I gave her comforted her final hours.

And the world still turns

2009-08-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

I had started my blog to keep in touch with family. Everyone is spread out here in the United states and over seas. It was real chore at first because I had to find the time to load pictures and write a little on what was going on in my neck of the woods. As time went on I found that I liked to write and post interesting things that were happening. I enjoyed going to my families blogs to see what was going on and I felt connected. The first social network I was in was My Space, only because my daughter was on it and i wanted to know what was happening in her world. Now it is Face Book. My daughter joined face book and I had to join in order to see what the big deal was. Come to find out, most all of my family had joined face book. I'm sure that this happened the end of last year as the posts on the blogs became less and less frequent. Now, there is not too much happening on the old blog sites. I go look but nothing changes.Day after day, week after week, month after month. I mean FB is great for the quick update, share photos much faster, and keep in touch with other issues. I was voicing my complaints the other day and one of my friends told me that it is just the newest form of social networking and who knows, one day something will come out that replaces the FB. I have become addicted to FB. I check it in the morning to see what has happened over night. I read my messages during the day when I'm on break. I look when I first get home and then check before I go to bed. I am a FB addict. But FB does not tell the story. It does not go into the detail that keep connections strong. I will continue to use FB to stay connected. But I will continue to post on my blog for the story that goes deeper. I will continue to check on the family blogs in hope that something new will appear. Until then, Blog on!

San Antonio Water Police: Go ahead, officer, take me away!

2009-08-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

I received a notice today that I was in violation of the stage 2 water restrictions. I'm thinking to my self, WTF, my grass is completely brown, my xeric scape plants are starting to wilt. What could possibly be causing the violation. My fountain, of course! I have a pump that recirculates the water for the Koi and goldfish. Apparently I have to keep the "fountain" turned off to conserve water. My little pond is almost completely in the shade and does not lose water because of the pond liner. As far as I'm concerned, this is my outdoor aquarium. The Koi do not require that water move but it does keep it looking better. With all of the businesses that water the parking lots and streets, they have to concentrate on very small Koi ponds. How asinine!

2009-08-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

July 20 was the day. I reached the goal weight that I set to cut my hair, 185 pounds! it was such a relieve to finally cut my hair. I have had a close cut head for the last 9 years and hair touching my ears was driving me crazy. My next goal is 180 pounds. This morning was 183 which puts the total to 14 pounds.

Garmin 305 Forerunner: you don't have to be a running nut!

2009-07-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

I first saw this device at work. One of my friends uses it to keep track of his workouts. He is a big time runner. I am just getting into the walking/running thing. I usually bike. The great thing about this device is that it has a mode for walking and biking. It keeps the two files separate so each sport can be looked at individually. As you can see it is a little large but is light weight and after a few minutes you don't even know its there. The screen can be set up to monitor a variety of points. I have my main screen set to show total time, total distance, mile pace, and heart rate. My main tracking point was heart rate. I wanted to make sure that I was getting into a good aerobic rate. The heart rate strap is hardly noticeable. This device keeps track of the workout and then you can down load the data to your computer and see all of the data plotted on a chart. I'm far from being a running/biking nut but this sure helps me get a better workout. The device picks up the satellites quickly and works even when I'm off road in the trees. This is a great training device. Great even for beginners.

2009-07-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

This is a sign that is posted on the fence at Boerne City Park. I had to get a picture of it. Where else but Texas. We were at the park for the 4th fireworks celebration. we had such a good time with family. Next year we plan on doing it again but this time have a BBQ at the park.

A walk in the park

2009-07-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures from the park. I'm surprised that there is still water in it with the drought going on. There was a guy fishing and I saw him catch a perch and turn it loose. I enjoy walking this park.

wildlife update

2009-06-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

If you plant it they will come. I removed all of the plants from pots and put them into the ground. I never had any problems with the flow beds...until now. Apparently something likes the fresh tilled soil. Almost every morning when I go to work something has been digging around in the flower beds. The dirt is pushed on to the sidewalk and the roots are exposed on the plants. The plants are doing well otherwise. I just need to keep the roots covered to prevent them from drying out. The temperature today was 103 so roots can dry up quickly. Now that plants are in the pond, I see leopard frogs around the edge every week. Way cool. I have been trying to get wild life in the pond for a while now, except the raccoons. Them I can do without! I planted grass in the back yard. It is doing real well. I have had to cut it twice all ready. I was putting some water down yesterday and caught a gardener snake that was about 18 inches long. I haven't seen a snake in the yard since I first put the pond in years ago. It's nice to see the critters enjoying the yard.

Mom's Birthday celebration

2009-06-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Dads today to celebrate Mom's birthday. We had steak and shrimp with baked potatoes as well as a cucumber salad and a garden salad. The birthday cake was a carrot cake. Jim got mom matching shirts for their Vegas trips in the first picture. The next picture is Mom with all present grand kids and the next includes the one on the way. The last picture is singing happy birthday to the birthday girl. We had lots of fun talking. It was a great day.

It's On!

2009-06-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

I weighed my self when I got back from California on the 19th...196 pounds! OUCH! I decided that it was time that I get serious about my weight loss. I hate having to take care of my hair...so I told my self no hair cut until I am 185. I have started to pay attention to all of the food that is going in and try to keep it at less than 1800 calories a day. I have been lazy this year and not getting out of the house very much. I have committed to walking at least 4 miles a day at least 5 days a week. We have a Rock-N-Roll marathon in November. I think that I am going to train for it.The 1/2 marathon that is. Right now I do 5 miles in about 70 minutes. I need to get that down to 45 minutes and then increase the distance. I will weigh my self every Friday morning to see how I'm doing. I would love to get back down to 160.

Shoes Nike Vs. New Balance

2009-06-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

I have a pair of Nike running shoes. Nothing fancy. I paid less than 50 dollars for them. I told my self that when I could afford a good pair or running shoes I would get them. A local shoe store was closing and had everything half off. I went in and was fitted for a 1200 series of New Balance. At half off I still paid over a hundred dollars. They are a great work shoe. Very good cushion for standing around. Went walking in them the other day and had blisters the size of silver dollars on the side of both heals. OUCH! I took out my old Nikes today and did the same walk. No blisters! It doesn't matter how expensive your shoes are as long as they fit your feet. I guess I will stick with my Nike.

Santa Monica Pier

2009-06-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

More spring flowers in my front yard

2009-06-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

Moving at the speed of life!

2009-06-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

Summer has to be here because the temperature is staying near 100 and water restrictions are entering stage 2. I had to mow my newly planted grass today. I am pleased at how well it is doing. I hate to see my water bill though. I have been watering every day as the web site recommended for the first two weeks. Now I need to water only once a week. Good thing, I leave to California tomorrow for 5 days and I know nobody here will water it while I'm gone. The Owl House remains empty. I am sad about that but I have read that it can take several years for the owls to find it. We had high winds here several times and it remains steady in the tree. The woodpecker family has moved on as well. The nest is empty and it is all quiet back by the fence. The squirrels have pissed me off and I removed the bird feeder. I need to find a squirrel feeder before I put more food out. That feed has gotten expensive and the squirrels can empty a feeder in a matter of minutes. The humming bird feeder is doing real well on the end of a long coat hanger. The squirrels look at it but can not reach it. I have several hummers that buzz around it and are amazing to watch. The pond is doing great. The lotus is doing real well as you can see from the picture. Still no flower and no flowers on the lilies. The Koi will come over to feed now but are still very skiddish. Christopher got his gituiar and is taking lessong once a week. I hope he sticks with it. If not maybe I will learn how to play. Well, thats about all that's been going on in my neck of the woods.

Shakespeare in the Park

2009-06-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare in the park was fantastic once again this year. The play was the comedy "As You Like It" and was put on by the Magik theater group at the Botanical Gardens. It is all lawn seating on a first come basis. We always sit about 20 feet from the stage. I have only missed the first year production. The acting is first rate and is produced to the highest standards. It is always a good time. The gate opens at 6:30 and the play started at 8:00. They have food booths and souvenir booths set up and you can roam the grounds, after you lay claim to your spot of course. I usually just get a water and read my book until the play starts. I usually try to go twice but due to my surgery I was only able to attend the one performance. Net year is Shakespeare it the Park's 25 anniversary and we were told to expect something special. They said to keep an eye on the Magik Theater web site for more information. I can't wait til next year!

Bet you can't!

2009-06-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

You have to try this..... It takes 2 seconds.
It is from an orthopedic surgeon.
This will boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but, you can't. It's pre-programmed in your brain!

1. Without anyone watching you (they will think you are GOOFY.......) and while sitting at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction. I told you so!!! And there's nothing you can do about it!

You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you've not already done so.

Closing a Chapter

2009-05-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last night was Christopher's graduation from Mount Sacred Heart. He has been going to MSH for 10 years and with Ashley, we have been a part of the MSH family for 12 years. That is a long time to spend at one school. We had reserved space for 12 family and guests. Unfortunately no one who we sent an invitation to was able to make it. Christopher graduated with honors and I am very proud of him. I asked him what he wanted for doing so well in school. He wants a guitar. The one he wants is from Guitar Center. We will see about getting it this next weekend.

Not the MaMa

2009-05-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

I was in the back yard and heard the baby woodpecker making a racket to call the Mom, I supose. While I was looking up the baby poked it's head out of the hole and I was able to get a picture. You can see that a red spot is starting to show on the head and it is getting the ladder-back markings. I was wondering if woodpeckers reuse the same nest each year. I could not find much on this topic. One site on the pileated woodpecker said that they make a new nest each year. If these ladder-backs do the same thing, this might be my first and last year for woodpeckers. They are cute but I wouldn't want to loose a large tree, or large branch from said tree.

Third times a charm, I hope

2009-05-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

The first grass that was in my back Yard was Tifway 419 Bermuda. That did not go very well at all. The back yard doesn't get much sun and having the dogs doesn't help. Dogs usually just create paths around a yard, that I can put up with. The second time I put zoysia grass down. My foot was broken at the time and I had 6 pallets to toss. And to top that off, the grass was delivered early and I had not prepared the ground. I watered the grass in every other day for the first month and then once a month after that. That grass lasted a few years then faded out. I got to the point that I had just dirt. This last weekend I hope I did it right this time. I hand dug the area where I placed the sod and used Scott's lawn feed to get it started. This time I went With St Augustine grass. It should take the shade better because it has a wider blade. I also learned that if you use a lawn roller to press the roots into the fresh tilled soil the grass will do much better. I searched all of San Antonio for a lawn roller and I finally found one to buy. For those of you who don't know what a roller is, it looks like a poly drum with a handle to push or pull it across the grass. The one I bought gets filled with water to add the weight which takes it to 270 pounds. I also read that fresh sod should be watered 3 to 4 times a day for the first 14 days to get the root system started. I lucked out. This weekend while I was tossing grass it was pouring down rain. It has rained every day. If this grass does well and stays green i will do the rest of the yard. The dogs like the new grass as well.

Woodpeckers in the Owl tree

2009-05-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

I went to the back tree to see if I could see any activity in the Owl house. I am sad to report that there is no activity in the house but very pleased that the tree it self has a new tenant. While standing underneath the tree ,I kept hearing baby birds but I did not see a nest. I thought that maybe sparrows had moved into the Owl house. While looking up I saw a woodpecker with insects of some sort hanging out of its beak. That is when I saw the hollow in the tree. I then went to get my ladder and camera to see what was going on. That is when the second woodpecker showed up. I did not want to get too close to the hole in the tree and have the baby's abandoned (not sure if they would or not but I was not willing to take a chance.) I set the ladder up in the back yard near the tree and took several pictures. One of the woodpeckers has a yellow head and the other is mostly grey. I will keep my eye on the nest to see if I can get a picture without disturbing the parents. Very cool!

Pizza, Texas style!

2009-05-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

I was going through some pictures from last year and I found this one from work. One of my doctors really liked pizza. Our clinic was center of the year and the practice bought us a pizza for lunch(We had a very nice dinner out for the real celebration.) This picture does not do this pizza justice. It is HUGE. You can look on YouTube for big Lou's pizza and see a video of a pizza being delivered to a table. It's O-Kay pizza for taste, about the same as pizza hut. It's a good thing that we have double doors going into the clinic, both doors had to be opened to get it into the breakroom. The left over pizza was taken by a staff member home to her three teenager boys. She struggled to get the box into her compact car. Very funny!

Front yard wildlife

2009-05-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

If you can't beat em, feed em. I tried everything to keep the squirrels from destroying my bird feeders and humming bird feeders. I have had several types of feeders and the squirrels always find a way to get to the food. the flowers are chewed off all of the humming bird feeders and the one that does not have protruding flowers, the bastards pulled the bottom off of it. I have been putting out the corn on the cob and it seems to be keeping them occupied and leaving the feeder alone. The one humming bird feeder that I still use is suspended over the pond on a wire coat hanger. The squirrels looked at it for days trying to figure out just how to get to it. They have abandoned it for now. These are two males that just love the corn. The one sitting on the corn feeder is very "excited" to have the corn. The one sitting in the tree is "nuts" over the feeder. Sorry, I couldn't resist the puns. I will see how long this lasts before they get on my last nerve. Where's the owls when you need them?

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

We took Clara out for lunch on Mother's Day and gave her a small gift to hang on her wall in her room. Clara has been living in an assisted living facility due to her Alzheimer's. She has been there since November 1 2008. Melanie sees her at least once a week, usually twice. The kids get to see her about every Sunday. Clara has a roommate named Betty. Every time we go, Clara "introduces" us to Betty. Betty smiles and says nice to meet you. I'm not sure if she is being polite or if she really is meeting us for the "first" time. We took Clara to Olive Garden because it is one of her favorite restaurants. We arrived early and had no problem being seated. She had what she always orders, the eggplant. Then turned to Melanie and asked if she had ever been to this Restaurant before. "Yes Mom you have", Melanie replied. We ordered dessert, I paid the bill and we took Clara back "home". The caregiver had baked a cake and we sat down for dessert. Clara was glad for the dessert because she did not get any at the restaurant. We kissed her good bye and headed back home. It was a quiet ride home. I have to keep reminding everyone to enjoy the memories we have and to enjoy the ones that we are making now while she still remembers us. One day she will be lost forever, but she will still be here. My mother was taken by cancer and all I have is memories. I'm not sure what is worse.

Spring Color and update

2009-05-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful weekend here in San Antonio. We had some much needed rain last week and now everything is green and in bloom. I mowed the lawn and trimmed some of my trees back. Looking around the yard I realized that I had several flowers in bloom. I took a few pictures of the color that is starting to show. It wont be too long before color is throughout all of the front beds. The Koi pond is looking good as well. The lotus has several shoots coming up and the water lilies are looking good as well. I can't wait for them to flower. I have had water lilies before but never had any blooms. If you look closely at the pond picture you can see the Koi by the water feature. I still have 2 Koi and about 8 gold fish. I still can't get them to come when I feed them. One day. I still have a vacancy in the Owl House. After all the work that I put into it,I will be disappointed if it stays vacant. I have read that it can take a while for the owls to find it. Then I was thinking, if I bait it with corn I can get a squirrel family to move in. This way when the owls find it, the pantry is full! Just a thought.

Skunk, Oh SH*T

2009-04-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Meet Larry. Larry is my digger. We placed rock after rock on the fence line and nothing worked. I finally ended up placing an electric fence around the back yard to keep him in. How much trouble can he get into? Then, last night I hear, " Honey ,what's that smell?.... Oh crap, someone scared up a skunk!" Mind you this is in the wee hours of the morning and I was dead asleep. "What smell....I don't smell anything....Go back to sleep." When I wake a few hours later, i smell a faint skunk odor, but nothing more than usual. We live next to a green belt and have all sorts of critters. The Larry stayed away from me in the morning so I really did not notice anything different. When I came home this evening, the skunk odor was still there. It really was just an odd odor for me but everyone else said skunk. I told everybody to walk around and sniff. No smell any where. Then I said smell the dogs. All four. Sniffed Maggie, no odor. Sniffed the goat, no odor. Sniffed the Princess, no odor. Sniffed Larry and just about puked! We found the cause of the horrific odor. How did Larry find the trouble? I walked the fence line and found a dig hole in the corner of the yard. Just about the size for a small rodent to get under the wire. My only guess is Larry went to the back to "do his business" and stumbled on the little fella as he was going back under the fence. I called the vet to see what to use to get the smell away and scheduler was very unhelpful. She would not connect me to the Vet, just gave me the number to the groomer. I called the groomer and they were no help as well. "Buy the red bottle with the red cap and the skunk on the bottle". Yea, right. I looked on the Internet and the tomato trick was said to be bogus. I found several sites that said baking soda, peroxide, and dish soap worked well. What did I have to loose...Instead of the peroxide I used vinegar. The only place he still has the smell is between his eyes. I hope he learned his lesson.

Meet the Goat

2009-03-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

Meet Christy. Christy is our Terrier. She was my mother-in-laws dog until she could no longer take care of her. I had told her not to get her because I knew that any dog they got would eventually come my way. Unfortunately I was right. She ended up in our house not long after she was at the in-laws house. Just look at her! She is so cute and friendly. Always ready to give kisses and sit on your lap. But she has a dark side. She has a collection that she doesn't want anybody to know about. She kept it hidden for the longest time. The secret is out. She likes to go under the bed because the big dogs can't. She would take her chew bones and toys under the bed. I never gave it much thought, until I was dusting. That is when I knew she was "Special". I found her collection. She stayed at the door looking in the entire time I was cleaning. As you can see it was no simple matter to remove treasures. The mattress and box springs had to be removed and her treasures filled a small trash bag. After this mess was cleaned up, Christy kept going under the bed on one side and out the other. She would jump up on the bed and sit at the foot and just give her best puppy face. When she sits she crosses her legs and looks so prim and proper. What a ruse. I know the truth. She is part goat!

Plants and fish at last

2009-03-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

I went to Iris's house this morning and got my fish. She also had some plants for the pond as well. I don't know the names of all of them but I have some white and yellow lilies. The white ring that is on the right side of the pond is a lotus. What you don't see is the fish that i added. I have 2 koi and about 10 small gold fish. The water is a little cloudy right now because of the plants. It will clear up soon and I will see if I can get some pictures of the fish. I was going to take down the electric fence but I can see where something has been digging around the pond in the soft dirt. It may just be a squirrel or it could be my friendly neighborhood raccoon. The fence is going to stay up for a while longer.

DIY floor project

2009-03-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

After a rough end to the week I needed something to do to keep me occupied. I wanted to check out this flooring to see how it went down and to see if it will stand up to 2 kids and 4 dogs. I prepped the area on Saturday and then put the flooring down today. It was a real easy project and the flooring was inexpensive. If I don't like it I can replace it and not feel too bad about it. This flooring is a peel backing strips that look and feel like wood. The only concern that I have is where the floor base is not even. The flooring strips are 4 inches wide and may have a tendency to lift. If that is the case I will need to go with a laminate flooring for more than double the cost. I have the before and after pictures. The carpet is now 8 years old and in need of serious help. I will keep my eye on this flooring and make a decision to replace all of the flooring upstairs. That will be my summer project this year.

Spring cleaning

2009-03-01T07:02:00.000-08:00

For the first time, I drained the small Koi pond and cleaned out all of the "stuff" on the bottom. While the water was out I took the opportunity to adjust the border and make it more stable. There was about five inches of material on the bottom but the water was always clear. I filled the pond up and will let it sit for a couple of weeks. I will be in Houston next weekend but the following weekend I will put some fish in it and hope that the raccoons will leave them alone. The place that I bought water plants from no longer stocks them. I will need to find a new place for plants. I will post pictures when it is all put together.

Jesus Christ

2009-01-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

This last Sunday Melanie was supposed to take Ashley to see a play. It was my Valentine gift to Melanie as she just had to see it. Well, she came down with a bug and was unable to go. So I had to go in her place. Jesus Christ...Superstar.. Yes that is the play I went to with Ashley. A musical... Now this is not my first musical. I went to see Phantom of the Opera and it was great but Jesus Christ? Ted Neely who played in the original musical like back in the 1800's was still playing Jesus Christ! Amazing!! I was surprised. The singing and acting were first rate. I enjoyed the play. Our seats were in Orchestra and we had a great view. My only complaint was the lady that I was sitting next to reeked of smoke and her breath was horrible! So much for culture.

Tree Top

2009-01-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

Thank you for pointing out that I did not post a picture of the house in the tree. There is no activity just yet.