I hope you learn something from this story about health and heart and also realize that God can do miraculous things on behalf of His children. In this story there is a thread of God's ongoing care, His power to arrange circumstances and bring the right people to the right places for our good and to provide healing. Ten years ago I was walking in my hayfield changing water and I ran short of breath. I didn't think anything of it but it happened again in the fall while I was cutting firewood. I talked to my doctor about it and we thought it might be allergy related. My dad had hay fever and my Grandma (his mother) had asthma so why shouldn't I? It happened again the next summer. To be on the safe side my doctor recommended we do heart testing. I did a stress test on a treadmill. They run you out of air and then take ultrasound pictures of your heart. I passed those with flying colors so we assumed asthma or hay fever. This went on for several summers about the same time - August and September - as my doctor noted.
Five years later I had high cholesterol and high blood pressure along with a few more bouts of shortness of breath so we repeated stress testing. Same story - I passed them with flying colors. I have always tried to exercise in the winter on the treadmill so the stress testing was easy. However, life gets busy. I retired and started working on houses and so I quit using the treadmill as much because I had to travel to get to work and that took more time. Then I hurt my back two years ago and that slowed me down some more while still battling high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I took statins to reduce high cholesterol. They worked but they also gave me chronic back pain. I quit taking them and tried other things. I had a few more bouts with shortness of breath and got a rescue inhaler to carry with me.
Last April I thought I had a sinus infection. I went to the clinic and they gave me some antibiotics. What ever it was dropped into my chest but eventually went away except that afterwards I had a shortness of breath everyday and sometimes several times a day. I used the inhaler (albuterol) almost daily. If I had to walk sometimes I had to stop and get my breath back. It seemed to be exercise related. I kept an asthma chart but most of my scores were very good. I took Advair. Sometimes the inhaler worked and sometimes it didn't. I had also noticed that when I ran out of breath I would also have pain in my left wrist. I told my doctor but there was no heavy chest pain with it so we didn't pay much attention to it. After several months of this we (my wife and I) decided I needed to see a pulmonary specialist. My doctor sent me to the same doctor that I have for my sleep apnea. This is where God's care in solving this major problem through others went in to effect.
I went to see her and she did the asthma tests. After the tests we met with her. She said that to talk to me and listen to me describe my symptoms she would say I had asthma, but her tests didn't completely confirm it, so she said I had to see a cardiologist to rule out heart problems. She felt very strongly about. She called my doctor to insist that it be expedited. The next week I had an ECG at the clinic and then was sent to Wenatchee for another stress test. Her insistence triggered this whole string of events.
We were in the clinic doing stress testing when the nurse found out who my cardiologist was and his office just happened(???) to be across the hall. I was already on the treadmill when she went to get him and brought him in just as I hit level two and ran out of air. He asked how much longer I thought I could go. I said a few minutes but was already working hard. He stopped the test. He said for me to finish the testing and then he would meet with us afterward. He changed his mind because I had been fasting and needed to eat and we had a long drive home. He warned me not to do any strenuous activity over the weekend. We went to eat and decided we needed to meet with him that afternoon (that warning scared us) so we went back and asked if we could. He got the results of the test and talked with me about it, but said there was still nothing conclusive about it. He told me I needed to come back for the cardiac catheterization test the next Tuesday and Wednesday, but again - don't do anything strenuous over the weekend, so we had a laid back weekend where I ran out of breath several times.
We went to Wenatchee on Tuesday (Oct 5th) to meet with him about the test to be done the next day. I had already read about the cardiac catheritization test on-line. It said it should take about 45 minutes and maybe longer if they needed to place a stent or two. My cardiologist had told me he thought I would probably need a couple of stents. During the test you are semi awake. I was where I could see a clock and knew that after 15 minutes they had quit. The thought went through my mind that they had either found nothing or I was in big trouble. It turned out I was in big trouble. He found four blockages from 70 - 90% closed, and said there would probably be a fifth one. (I had been a walking time bomb for several months.)
I wasn't leaving the hospital. I was scheduled for open heart surgery the next morning but I got pre-empted by emergencies three times so I didn't see the operating room until Friday noon. It gave me time to prepare myself. I had to face the fact that sometimes people don't survive open heart surgery. I had time to make sure I had peace with God and I told Him that it was ok if I didn't make it. I could leave this world behind but I also said many prayers for my wife and family. There is quite a struggle to get to that place and it took until Thursday evening for me to get there.
I need to add one more powerful happening in here before I go on. As soon as we heard from the cardiologist that I wasn't leaving the hospital we got my condition out to the prayer chain at our church. We also sent it to the church we had formerly attended. I have heard from other people that it was on at two other prayer chains in other churches and I have had many people I have met tell me that they were praying. I could feel the prayers as I was struggling through to Thursday evening and also had this deep abiding peace that it would run according to God's plan whatever that might be. Praise the Lord for the prayers of his people that are able to carry us when our own strength is weak.
I went in to surgery at noon and I don't remember anything until 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning when I awoke. The next six hours I can only recall as being as close to hell as I want to be. There was a tube in my throat breathing for me and I was about half awake. I wanted to tear the thing out of my throat and get up and leave. I had read about this before so I knew what was happening and that I couldn't do that. I also know I was drugged heavily, but why I remained half awake I don't know. I do remember it as being extremely unpleasant. About 6:30 a.m. they removed the tube and I could breathe on my own. At that time they gave me more pain medication and I was taken to my room. Most of that day (Saturday, October 9th, 2010) is very fuzzy in my memory. I know it was a great feeling to hold my wife's hand and realize that my worst fears were not realized. From then on my recovery was nothing short of amazing. They get you up to walk as soon as they can. I walked daily but was still on heavy pain meds so don't remember too much. I had many visitors but most of that is a blur. On Sunday the pulmonary doctor came to visit. As we talked she said something about going on a mission trip and by that we recognized that she was a Christian. Then she asked to pray with us and we immediately realized God's hand on her as she spearheaded this healing miracle of timing. I truly believe that she was the one that was used by the Lord to save me from a heart attack. I have truly been blessed by the Lord in having this taken care of.
There are other parts of this that also need to be mentioned. God gave me a caring nurse and a strong helper in my wife. She has borne the brunt of this whole process by being the trooper that she is. I am not an easy person to deal with especially when I am sick. The other part is that physically I have not been able to do much. She has had to load the car when we go anywhere, load the firewood for the woodstove, shovel sidewalks when it snows, and oversee my wanting to do more than I am supposed to. She has also had to learn to cook in a different way. I like to eat and I'm having to learn to do that differently and it is hard to do.
Another blessing I had from the Lord was to be sent to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. I was immediately aware of the quality of care I was receiving. I was amazed at the service, knowledge and positive attitude of the nurses and even the cleaning staff. There was always a family feeling displayed when they talked to each other and especially at shift changes as they exchanged information, etc. Having been a school administrator especially interested in school climate and positive atmosphere in an establishment I recognized the spirit of togetherness these people had. I asked one of the doctors about how they get this kind of staff and his reply was that they "work at it". I feel that I had world class care from the hospital staff and would recommend the place to anyone. It makes me wish I could hop in and be part of it.
I have come to realize that our medical system is not really into prevention. At the first, when blood pressure becomes high and cholesterol becomes a problem there needs to be education done on what high blood pressure and high cholesterol does to your heart and body. I think there is an assumption made that people know this information. It is one thing to be told things about it in the hurried atmosphere most doctors work in and something else to really understand what it means (I am a teacher and realize there are some students that can repeat on a test anything you have taught but they can't apply it.
There needs to be instruction done in a formal setting separate from the doctor's office to make sure that people understand what it means to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They need to really understand the importance of exercise and stress relief as it relates to these issues. I am amazed that they don't require education about those health problems. The interesting thing is that many of the problems created by high blood pressure and high cholesterol can be controlled by diet and exercise and, if necessary, by medication. Another problem is Type 2 diabetes. This is a serious precursor to heart disease but are we really educated about it? Do you know what causes it? If you have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol or Type 2 diabetes I highly recommend that you have a very serious and straight talk to your doctor about it.
From where I sit now I can see back to the beginnings of my heart problem. I simply did not get serious about a serious problem, partly because I wasn't really educated about it (or didn't listen) and partly because I was too busy doing other stuff instead of paying attention to what was being said about my health.
If you don't hear anything else in this story please hear this: Get serious about learning about high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and the effect that exercise and medication has on it. Pressure your doctor or nurse, to learn all you can. Don't mess around with your own method of dealing with it. Get professional help from someone who walks the talk.
If you prayed for me through this ordeal I sincerely thank you for that prayer and the sense of security it created for me in the two and a half days before my surgery and since.
If you know someone that is going through this same experience I am willing to walk that path with them through prayer, presence, e-mail, Facebook or whatever it takes. Just let me know the name, the connection you have with them and how to find them.
Blessings on you. To finish - I pray for you that you will listen to what I just wrote and apply it as the Lord would show you what needs to be done. I would not wish open heart surgery on anyone. It has been likened to being run over by a truck and I will say amen to that. Now part of life consists of going to Brewster, Washington on Monday and Wednesdays for cardiac rehabilitation. On Mondays we do exercising and then education I have learned more about heart health and nutrition in the last month than I knew before.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Christmas Tree Capture 09
Well, here we are at Christmas time again. As usual nothing is happening here except the usual Christmas get ready to be invaded stuff. Granny and I have been sitting here watching the Christmas lights blink. Wow, what an exciting time. (Even though they aren't blinkers, usually by the time I get them on the tree, I always call them "Blinking Lights!")
We had a light snow the other day. It was great. Granny happened to look out the bedroom window (scrapbook room) and saw a fir tree that we had planted years ago in the corner of the hay field. (It's in a place where I can't get machinery in to cut hay.) She thought the fir tree would be a good Christmas tree.
Before we get into that we need to talk about the standard "Christmas Tree Capturing Ritual" (CTCR). You know that we have extensive traditional rituals here on The Farm so this is another one. (I could write a book on our rituals.)
The usual "Christmas Tree Capturing Ritual (CTCR)" goes like this. We go up to THE Place (our property out in the woods) in September and make remarks like "That looks like it would be a nice Christmas tree". Then we go home and forget where it was. Then in October we find another one and in November we find another one. All of them perfect beauties.
When we go to Portland, Oregon right after Thanksgiving we see them harvesting trees and flying them by helicopter from one end of the tree farm to the other. That reminds us that we need a Christmas tree in a week or so. Then we go home and can't find a tree.
We usually go to our closest small town and look and then make it to all the stores that have them and then go to a local tree farm and buy a big one which we load onto the red trailer, drag it home, drag it into the house and put on the decorations and "Blinking Lights" and that completes the CTCR.
So this year Granny saw the tree in the corner of the hayfield about three weeks before we needed one. I went and looked at it and thought it would do and each successive time I looked it looked even better.
"Granny, you need to go out and look at the tree. It's pretty tall but it looks pretty good to me."
She didn't go out to look at The Tree.
We have a cathedral ceiling that's eighteen feet up with a post in the middle of the great room which is our living room, dining room and kitchen. It takes a big tree. Most of our trees have been about twelve feet tall. Several times we have had a spruce tree (from THE Place) and several years we have had pine trees captured at the tree farm and a few times we have bought gold plated fir trees from some other tree farm. (I say gold plated because of the price - six million dollars a foot more or less.) Anyway, each year the big question is: "Where can we get the most beautiful, filled out, shapely and lovely tree?" (The answer is NO.)
I asked Granny to go look at "The Tree" several times in the weeks after Thanksgiving but it got cold out with the wind blowing and we made several trips to the Big City to go shopping and even one trip to the Big Big City.
The day finally came when she demanded to have a Christmas tree. I rounded up Number 1 grandson (GS) to help, kindly told her that it was a big tree, reminded her that she hadn't looked at it close up, and then fired up the chainsaw and went and cut it down. Number 1GS drove the four wheeler and hooked up the red trailer and helped put the tree on the trailer. I took pictures and assisted around the edges.
He took the tree into the back yard and backed it up to the deck and we carried it in the doorway. I was sure it was no taller than thirteen or fourteen feet but in the doorway, between the door and the standing up place, the tree grew three feet taller. I know that happened because as we stood it up it kept getting closer and closer to the ceiling until we had it standing up beside the pole and it grew to within a foot of the ceiling. It was a Christmas miracle! (The miracle probably was that we got it to stand up without breaking my back, neck and shoulders. I guess that was saved for the ladder work in putting on the decorations.)
We now have a very tall Christmas tree and it's obviously not my fault. And it is a beauty! You should be so lucky as to see it.
So - just to assure you that nothing interesting, exciting or strange ever happens out here in Ho Hum County let's just continue on as though nothing happened and pray for snow to cover up the place in the hayfield where we cut the tree down.
Have a Merry Christmas and a boring New Year out in the country.
(Do I need to remind you that I like it that way?)
We had a light snow the other day. It was great. Granny happened to look out the bedroom window (scrapbook room) and saw a fir tree that we had planted years ago in the corner of the hay field. (It's in a place where I can't get machinery in to cut hay.) She thought the fir tree would be a good Christmas tree.
Before we get into that we need to talk about the standard "Christmas Tree Capturing Ritual" (CTCR). You know that we have extensive traditional rituals here on The Farm so this is another one. (I could write a book on our rituals.)
The usual "Christmas Tree Capturing Ritual (CTCR)" goes like this. We go up to THE Place (our property out in the woods) in September and make remarks like "That looks like it would be a nice Christmas tree". Then we go home and forget where it was. Then in October we find another one and in November we find another one. All of them perfect beauties.
When we go to Portland, Oregon right after Thanksgiving we see them harvesting trees and flying them by helicopter from one end of the tree farm to the other. That reminds us that we need a Christmas tree in a week or so. Then we go home and can't find a tree.
We usually go to our closest small town and look and then make it to all the stores that have them and then go to a local tree farm and buy a big one which we load onto the red trailer, drag it home, drag it into the house and put on the decorations and "Blinking Lights" and that completes the CTCR.
So this year Granny saw the tree in the corner of the hayfield about three weeks before we needed one. I went and looked at it and thought it would do and each successive time I looked it looked even better.
"Granny, you need to go out and look at the tree. It's pretty tall but it looks pretty good to me."
She didn't go out to look at The Tree.
We have a cathedral ceiling that's eighteen feet up with a post in the middle of the great room which is our living room, dining room and kitchen. It takes a big tree. Most of our trees have been about twelve feet tall. Several times we have had a spruce tree (from THE Place) and several years we have had pine trees captured at the tree farm and a few times we have bought gold plated fir trees from some other tree farm. (I say gold plated because of the price - six million dollars a foot more or less.) Anyway, each year the big question is: "Where can we get the most beautiful, filled out, shapely and lovely tree?" (The answer is NO.)
I asked Granny to go look at "The Tree" several times in the weeks after Thanksgiving but it got cold out with the wind blowing and we made several trips to the Big City to go shopping and even one trip to the Big Big City.
The day finally came when she demanded to have a Christmas tree. I rounded up Number 1 grandson (GS) to help, kindly told her that it was a big tree, reminded her that she hadn't looked at it close up, and then fired up the chainsaw and went and cut it down. Number 1GS drove the four wheeler and hooked up the red trailer and helped put the tree on the trailer. I took pictures and assisted around the edges.
He took the tree into the back yard and backed it up to the deck and we carried it in the doorway. I was sure it was no taller than thirteen or fourteen feet but in the doorway, between the door and the standing up place, the tree grew three feet taller. I know that happened because as we stood it up it kept getting closer and closer to the ceiling until we had it standing up beside the pole and it grew to within a foot of the ceiling. It was a Christmas miracle! (The miracle probably was that we got it to stand up without breaking my back, neck and shoulders. I guess that was saved for the ladder work in putting on the decorations.)
We now have a very tall Christmas tree and it's obviously not my fault. And it is a beauty! You should be so lucky as to see it.
So - just to assure you that nothing interesting, exciting or strange ever happens out here in Ho Hum County let's just continue on as though nothing happened and pray for snow to cover up the place in the hayfield where we cut the tree down.
Have a Merry Christmas and a boring New Year out in the country.
(Do I need to remind you that I like it that way?)
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Today
Well, here we are again. What a boring day. At least out here in the country we have wildlife to keep us entertained. We've been sitting here watching the Pheasant roosters strut around.
Since I retired I have been working on houses, doing apartment maintenance and taking care of my hayfield. Today I had to go to town and work on my son's rental house. Winter is coming on and his back porch needed to be fixed so it would stay warm.
I spent all spring and most of the summer refurbishing the house but we forgot that we put the washer and dryer on the back porch which leaves water lines exposed to cold weather. The porch is glassed in but it is single pane glass and there is no auxiliary heat - yet.
I went to town yesterday and measured, drew up a supply list and made a plan. I decided to take out four windows, put siding on the outside, insulate and cover the inside with plastic. I went to the local Building Supply and got four sheets of siding, three sheets of insulation board and a couple of two by fours. Then I realized that my feet were cold, I was hungry and I needed more tools. I headed for home, called the cook, parked by the shop and loaded tools. I ate lunch, put on my wool socks, put on my boots, thought of three more tools I needed and headed back to town.
When I got to town I pulled up by the back door, unloaded the insulation board, got out my ladder and wrecking bar and began taking out windows. I got two out and decided I wouldn't have time to tear them all out and get it covered back up so I started cutting siding and covering up the window holes. I got both of them covered so decided to do one more. Big mistake. I should know to quit while I am ahead but I went blundering on and it took twice as long as the other two windows. I was under the gun because I needed to go to a meeting in a town forty miles away and be there before six o'clock. I should have known better. I got there on time, though.
So, today I knew I had two more windows to take out and cover and four window openings to insulate. Then I needed to put plastic inside over the windows to add a little more heat saving. No problem. I got out my tools and found that I forgot to bring sawhorses to cut the siding on. I thought I would just cut it on the tailgate of my pickup. You would think that a man that has been working on houses for four years would know that it is better to go get the right tools to do the job than to try to Mickey Mouse something. I found that I had also forgotten my straight edge that I clamp on plywood to make a long straight cut. No problem - just use a long straight board. (Have you ever tried to find a long straight board? It is easier to drive home and get the straight edge.)
I began to cut the siding freehand on the tailgate of my pickup. It went surprisingly well until I forgot where the tailgate was. Ziiingg! Now I also need a new saw blade in my saw and its battery ran down in the process.
Well ...... as usual, nothing much interesting ever happens out here in the country. Just the usual knock off early for a leisurely lunch so you can round up a few more tools, saw blades, batteries, a straight edge, clamps and sawhorses from your shop. (Why didn't I just take the whole construction trailer up and save four trips?) Sorry to get your hopes up but we just keep on doing the same old hum drum things day after day out here. They don't call it Ho Hum County for nothing.
And I like it that way.
Since I retired I have been working on houses, doing apartment maintenance and taking care of my hayfield. Today I had to go to town and work on my son's rental house. Winter is coming on and his back porch needed to be fixed so it would stay warm.
I spent all spring and most of the summer refurbishing the house but we forgot that we put the washer and dryer on the back porch which leaves water lines exposed to cold weather. The porch is glassed in but it is single pane glass and there is no auxiliary heat - yet.
I went to town yesterday and measured, drew up a supply list and made a plan. I decided to take out four windows, put siding on the outside, insulate and cover the inside with plastic. I went to the local Building Supply and got four sheets of siding, three sheets of insulation board and a couple of two by fours. Then I realized that my feet were cold, I was hungry and I needed more tools. I headed for home, called the cook, parked by the shop and loaded tools. I ate lunch, put on my wool socks, put on my boots, thought of three more tools I needed and headed back to town.
When I got to town I pulled up by the back door, unloaded the insulation board, got out my ladder and wrecking bar and began taking out windows. I got two out and decided I wouldn't have time to tear them all out and get it covered back up so I started cutting siding and covering up the window holes. I got both of them covered so decided to do one more. Big mistake. I should know to quit while I am ahead but I went blundering on and it took twice as long as the other two windows. I was under the gun because I needed to go to a meeting in a town forty miles away and be there before six o'clock. I should have known better. I got there on time, though.
So, today I knew I had two more windows to take out and cover and four window openings to insulate. Then I needed to put plastic inside over the windows to add a little more heat saving. No problem. I got out my tools and found that I forgot to bring sawhorses to cut the siding on. I thought I would just cut it on the tailgate of my pickup. You would think that a man that has been working on houses for four years would know that it is better to go get the right tools to do the job than to try to Mickey Mouse something. I found that I had also forgotten my straight edge that I clamp on plywood to make a long straight cut. No problem - just use a long straight board. (Have you ever tried to find a long straight board? It is easier to drive home and get the straight edge.)
I began to cut the siding freehand on the tailgate of my pickup. It went surprisingly well until I forgot where the tailgate was. Ziiingg! Now I also need a new saw blade in my saw and its battery ran down in the process.
Well ...... as usual, nothing much interesting ever happens out here in the country. Just the usual knock off early for a leisurely lunch so you can round up a few more tools, saw blades, batteries, a straight edge, clamps and sawhorses from your shop. (Why didn't I just take the whole construction trailer up and save four trips?) Sorry to get your hopes up but we just keep on doing the same old hum drum things day after day out here. They don't call it Ho Hum County for nothing.
And I like it that way.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Finally, Some Excitement!
Well, it finally got so boring out here that we went to the big city for some excitement. Since we got back home we've been sitting around here with our eyes wide open in admiration of those that actually live in the fast forward, fast lane, detour full, paved, stoplighted, parking lotted and confusing city. We are thankful to have made it home alive.
The first mistake we made was to get up at five AM to get ready to drive four hours to get there. When I say we live in the country I mean way out there. Our nearest town over ten thousand people is over two hours away unless you count Canada. Then it is closer but there is THE BORDER in between. I prefer to keep my beard and mustache at home simply to avoid the hassle of Crossing THE BORDER.
But I digress - it is four hours to the BIG CITY that I am referring to when I say we got up at five AM to go there. Then - we get into the car around six o'clock after I feed the horses and cats. We drive for forty-five minutes to a bigger place than ours to leave our dog with the grandkids. He is far too fragile to take to the BIG CITY in cold weather. (He may be far too fragile to leave with the grandkids, too, but that is a problem for a different day than this.) We are GOING SHOPPING!
We got to the Big City around 9:30 AM. For all that time we were driving a two lane highway(?) through the countryside, through small towns, farms, ranches, wheat fields and forests.
Did we see a stop light anywhere? No! Did we see a parking lot? NO! Did we see another car or pickup? NO-O-O-O! In Ho Hum County there are only about three or four stoplights. The biggest parking lot is at Wal-Mart forty miles away and at six o'clock in the morning there are not very many cars. We only saw about four cars in the forty miles. Congested it ain't in our Ho Hum County.
Now you take an old country boy who herds his pickup to town ever few days, forgets where he is going when he gets there, picks up a little mail, goes to the grocery store and then calls home to see if he forgot anything and then you place him in THE BIG CITY and you have the recipe for disaster. The most he has seen at home is a rush two minutes when the apple packing shed sends everyone to town during their lunch time. If he gets to Wal-Mart he gets to see one stoplight in forty miles. A busy day is when he doesn't make the left turn arrow at the stoplight and has to wait for the stop-go cycle to come back around.
So here we are in the big city. Everything has changed since we were here last. CostCo has moved so we have to go on search and rescue to find it because we are going there first.
Found it! A major triumph of skill, map reading and dumb luck (just like playing Monopoly). We drive into the parking lot and see more cars than we realized were ever made. We get lucky and find a parking place, recently vacated, only twenty-four cars away from the front door. Then we join the throng of forty-seven hundred people headed for the front door. This is Christmas time, you know. Now it is search and rescue time again. Where are the toys, batteries, tools, throw rugs, towels, socks, shoes, computer printers, weight sets, and aspirin? (Better get two or three bottles.)
Now for the hard part. Which line is the shortest? Give the lady your card, unload all that stuff; yes we want boxes, (I burn them in my shop). Get the receipt and head for the door. Load it into the truck. Now where?
Head for Sears. Where is it? Debate. Oh, I remember now it's at the Hustle and Bustle Mall. So we hustle our bustles over to the Mall and sure enough Sears is right where we left it last time we were in the BIG CITY.
I dropped off Granny at the mall and left for the industrial area to see if I could find the Golf Car place. I need to look at golf cars because I haven't had a golf fix since two days after Thanksgiving. I want to buy a golf cart for next year so the best place is a Golf Car place. (What logic.)
Granny had a great time at the mall and I got to see lots of golf cars after I finally remembered the way from the mall to the industrial area without going through downtown Big, Big City. It took me all of twenty minutes to see the golf cars and I was supposed to be gone for about three hours. I had used up a whole hour.
The good part is that I started to go back to the mall and decided to go on past and see if I could find a place to wash my truck. As I passed up the first one I found a gas station so refueled the truck. When I started on to find the car wash Granny called me on the phone and said she was done and we needed to go somewhere else. (GLADLY)
I went to meet her at Sears Very Large Department Store. We bought out the store, loaded up and headed for the next spot that I can't even remember now. (It doesn't take long for everything to begin to blur on me after I have been shopping for two days.)
The upshot of all this activity is that we had seen an article about a Christmas Bazaar at an old school house on our way home if we chose to go that way. We chose. So after only forty days of shopping (or about as long as Noah lived through on the Ark when it rained for forty days) in the Big, Big City we headed out for home, stopped at the bazaar in the old schoolhouse, took pictures of it (retired school teachers -you know) and went home.
We stopped and picked up the dog. He was worn out from playing with the grandkids and their cats and dogs so he went right to sleep. I should be so lucky. It took me a long time to get to sleep. I think it was because my eyes were opened so wide from travel and traffic in the Big Big City that I couldn't get them to close.
So we finally got back home to laid back Ho Hum County where nothing ever happens and if I could get my eyes to close I would like it that way.
The first mistake we made was to get up at five AM to get ready to drive four hours to get there. When I say we live in the country I mean way out there. Our nearest town over ten thousand people is over two hours away unless you count Canada. Then it is closer but there is THE BORDER in between. I prefer to keep my beard and mustache at home simply to avoid the hassle of Crossing THE BORDER.
But I digress - it is four hours to the BIG CITY that I am referring to when I say we got up at five AM to go there. Then - we get into the car around six o'clock after I feed the horses and cats. We drive for forty-five minutes to a bigger place than ours to leave our dog with the grandkids. He is far too fragile to take to the BIG CITY in cold weather. (He may be far too fragile to leave with the grandkids, too, but that is a problem for a different day than this.) We are GOING SHOPPING!
We got to the Big City around 9:30 AM. For all that time we were driving a two lane highway(?) through the countryside, through small towns, farms, ranches, wheat fields and forests.
Did we see a stop light anywhere? No! Did we see a parking lot? NO! Did we see another car or pickup? NO-O-O-O! In Ho Hum County there are only about three or four stoplights. The biggest parking lot is at Wal-Mart forty miles away and at six o'clock in the morning there are not very many cars. We only saw about four cars in the forty miles. Congested it ain't in our Ho Hum County.
Now you take an old country boy who herds his pickup to town ever few days, forgets where he is going when he gets there, picks up a little mail, goes to the grocery store and then calls home to see if he forgot anything and then you place him in THE BIG CITY and you have the recipe for disaster. The most he has seen at home is a rush two minutes when the apple packing shed sends everyone to town during their lunch time. If he gets to Wal-Mart he gets to see one stoplight in forty miles. A busy day is when he doesn't make the left turn arrow at the stoplight and has to wait for the stop-go cycle to come back around.
So here we are in the big city. Everything has changed since we were here last. CostCo has moved so we have to go on search and rescue to find it because we are going there first.
Found it! A major triumph of skill, map reading and dumb luck (just like playing Monopoly). We drive into the parking lot and see more cars than we realized were ever made. We get lucky and find a parking place, recently vacated, only twenty-four cars away from the front door. Then we join the throng of forty-seven hundred people headed for the front door. This is Christmas time, you know. Now it is search and rescue time again. Where are the toys, batteries, tools, throw rugs, towels, socks, shoes, computer printers, weight sets, and aspirin? (Better get two or three bottles.)
Now for the hard part. Which line is the shortest? Give the lady your card, unload all that stuff; yes we want boxes, (I burn them in my shop). Get the receipt and head for the door. Load it into the truck. Now where?
Head for Sears. Where is it? Debate. Oh, I remember now it's at the Hustle and Bustle Mall. So we hustle our bustles over to the Mall and sure enough Sears is right where we left it last time we were in the BIG CITY.
I dropped off Granny at the mall and left for the industrial area to see if I could find the Golf Car place. I need to look at golf cars because I haven't had a golf fix since two days after Thanksgiving. I want to buy a golf cart for next year so the best place is a Golf Car place. (What logic.)
Granny had a great time at the mall and I got to see lots of golf cars after I finally remembered the way from the mall to the industrial area without going through downtown Big, Big City. It took me all of twenty minutes to see the golf cars and I was supposed to be gone for about three hours. I had used up a whole hour.
The good part is that I started to go back to the mall and decided to go on past and see if I could find a place to wash my truck. As I passed up the first one I found a gas station so refueled the truck. When I started on to find the car wash Granny called me on the phone and said she was done and we needed to go somewhere else. (GLADLY)
I went to meet her at Sears Very Large Department Store. We bought out the store, loaded up and headed for the next spot that I can't even remember now. (It doesn't take long for everything to begin to blur on me after I have been shopping for two days.)
The upshot of all this activity is that we had seen an article about a Christmas Bazaar at an old school house on our way home if we chose to go that way. We chose. So after only forty days of shopping (or about as long as Noah lived through on the Ark when it rained for forty days) in the Big, Big City we headed out for home, stopped at the bazaar in the old schoolhouse, took pictures of it (retired school teachers -you know) and went home.
We stopped and picked up the dog. He was worn out from playing with the grandkids and their cats and dogs so he went right to sleep. I should be so lucky. It took me a long time to get to sleep. I think it was because my eyes were opened so wide from travel and traffic in the Big Big City that I couldn't get them to close.
So we finally got back home to laid back Ho Hum County where nothing ever happens and if I could get my eyes to close I would like it that way.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
ATV LOGGING
I sure wish we had some exciting activity to report out here in the country at Grandpa's Farm. I tell you it is down right boring living out here in Ho Hum County so far from the big city. Granny and I have been sitting here counting the horses we can see from our house. I think we got up to about eighteen.
The agenda for today includes getting up at about 4:30 A.M. for no other reason than that I get up about that time to go to the bathroom and put more wood in the fire. By then my mind is going and I might as well forget about going back to sleep. So I sit in the chair until the fire gets good and hot, then I damp it down and try to go back to bed.
Today, as usual the old brain has too many sparks in it and I lie awake and think about all the exciting things I could do today. I need to work on my shop - both inside and out. I could fix my little red trailer which has a taildark that needs to be turned into a taillight. Or I could go to town and do some work on my son's rental house. It needs to have some insulation and siding put on it among about two thousand other things. I could work on the Honey-do list that Granny keeps on a yellow pad (but my eyes just don't focus good on yellow.) Or I could sit here and tell stories.
Did I tell you about my latest adventure with grandson No. 2? Granny and I own some property, with two other families, up in the hills about thirty-five miles. Our fall activities include firewood gathering. We go up there and cut up and haul out firewood. We have already cut the easy stuff that you can drive a pickup to so now we are trying to figure out how to get logs out that we can't get to very easily.
We tried using a tractor and that works fairly well on big stuff if there is room to maneuver. We made a road to get access to one area and hauled out the big stuff. Then we found a lot of old blowdown lodgepole pine lying on the hillside. If you've done any wood cutting you know that lodgepole pine doesn't usually get very big but it does burn fairly well. Most of this was eight to ten inches at the big end (I'm too polite to say butt) and about 35 to 50 feet long. We tried to drag them with the tractor but it is pretty slow.
We decided to use a 4-wheeler to drag them instead. We took our 4-wheelers up on my car trailer that I use for hauling hay, tractors, logs, firewood, well tile, apples and occasionally even a car, not to mention four wheelers.
We got up there, off loaded the ATV's and started to scout firewood. We had drug some logs out to the road earlier with a tractor so decided to drag these to the meadow where we could load them on the trailer. No. 2 grandson got that job while I scouted firewood. I went in to where those lodgepole logs were and began to scout around for a way to pull them out going downhill.
Did I happen to mention that there was about a half inch of snow on the ground? It was great for pulling logs downhill but not for going uphill. We could hardly get the 4-wheelers to back up uphill. Anyway, I scouted around and found the rudiments of a trail (the deer had rudimented it earlier) and I figured I could cut out the brush, old logs, scab trees and deer sign enough to get us through it. So I began cutting.
By this time No. 2 GS had dragged the logs down and was looking for work. He nosed the ATV down the trail I had been cutting just as I finished most of the trail clearing. There was one log I didn't want to cut a section out of because it was too good. He managed to get the ATV over the log and we hooked onto it with a short cable we keep for just such a purpose. I went up the log and cut the top off about 30 feet up and he began to drag it.
It slid right along to the top of the bank and then he got his first look at where he had to go to get to the road. I won't say it was straight down but it was steep. He let out a whoop, changed his position on the 4-wheeler and charged down the hill. That log is what kept him tied down, upright, straight and slow enough to make it down. He drug it off as I went about cutting the big ends (I'm too polite to say butts) off more logs and then cutting off limbs and the tops so they would drag. In no time at all No. 2 GS was back up and wanting to know where the next one was.
We did this for about an hour and then I ran out of gas (and so did the chainsaw). I decided that I could drag a couple of short logs with my 4 wheeler on the way back to the truck to fill up the saw. We hooked up three short logs and bungeed the saw onto my 4 wheeler and I began to go down the hill with No. 2 GS shouting advice. "Stay to the right. Watch out for the big rocks! Better ride sidesaddle! Watch out for the brush at the bottom!" I tell you - he sounds more like his grandma everyday.
Then I saw the trail!
It had a big groove in it from the logs he had drug already. There were two big rocks that the 4 wheeler had to go over and then there was the steep part and the brush and the sticks! I changed my position to sidesaddle, stayed to the right, ducked under the tree limbs, went over the rocks and promptly got bounced off the ATV. Now I was running downhill alongside the ATV with the logs chasing me and I was hoping I would reach the bottom before the logs caught up.
(Did I mention that I am pushing sixty? By the time I reached the bottom I think I was pushing it too fast!)
I made it just barely.
I decided right then that it was time for a division of labor. Cutting the logs loose was my exciting job and No. 2 GS could have the boring job of dragging the logs. (He is six foot two and 210 pounds so you can see that dragging logs - with or without a 4-wheeler - is obviously his strong suit.)
Well, I am sorry if I got your hopes up that something exciting might happen out here in Ho Hum County. This place is just so laid back! If you want quiet and peaceful days filled in with a little monotonous activity you should come here to live. Ho Hum is the term for this kind of life...... and I like it that way.
The agenda for today includes getting up at about 4:30 A.M. for no other reason than that I get up about that time to go to the bathroom and put more wood in the fire. By then my mind is going and I might as well forget about going back to sleep. So I sit in the chair until the fire gets good and hot, then I damp it down and try to go back to bed.
Today, as usual the old brain has too many sparks in it and I lie awake and think about all the exciting things I could do today. I need to work on my shop - both inside and out. I could fix my little red trailer which has a taildark that needs to be turned into a taillight. Or I could go to town and do some work on my son's rental house. It needs to have some insulation and siding put on it among about two thousand other things. I could work on the Honey-do list that Granny keeps on a yellow pad (but my eyes just don't focus good on yellow.) Or I could sit here and tell stories.
Did I tell you about my latest adventure with grandson No. 2? Granny and I own some property, with two other families, up in the hills about thirty-five miles. Our fall activities include firewood gathering. We go up there and cut up and haul out firewood. We have already cut the easy stuff that you can drive a pickup to so now we are trying to figure out how to get logs out that we can't get to very easily.
We tried using a tractor and that works fairly well on big stuff if there is room to maneuver. We made a road to get access to one area and hauled out the big stuff. Then we found a lot of old blowdown lodgepole pine lying on the hillside. If you've done any wood cutting you know that lodgepole pine doesn't usually get very big but it does burn fairly well. Most of this was eight to ten inches at the big end (I'm too polite to say butt) and about 35 to 50 feet long. We tried to drag them with the tractor but it is pretty slow.
We decided to use a 4-wheeler to drag them instead. We took our 4-wheelers up on my car trailer that I use for hauling hay, tractors, logs, firewood, well tile, apples and occasionally even a car, not to mention four wheelers.
We got up there, off loaded the ATV's and started to scout firewood. We had drug some logs out to the road earlier with a tractor so decided to drag these to the meadow where we could load them on the trailer. No. 2 grandson got that job while I scouted firewood. I went in to where those lodgepole logs were and began to scout around for a way to pull them out going downhill.
Did I happen to mention that there was about a half inch of snow on the ground? It was great for pulling logs downhill but not for going uphill. We could hardly get the 4-wheelers to back up uphill. Anyway, I scouted around and found the rudiments of a trail (the deer had rudimented it earlier) and I figured I could cut out the brush, old logs, scab trees and deer sign enough to get us through it. So I began cutting.
By this time No. 2 GS had dragged the logs down and was looking for work. He nosed the ATV down the trail I had been cutting just as I finished most of the trail clearing. There was one log I didn't want to cut a section out of because it was too good. He managed to get the ATV over the log and we hooked onto it with a short cable we keep for just such a purpose. I went up the log and cut the top off about 30 feet up and he began to drag it.
It slid right along to the top of the bank and then he got his first look at where he had to go to get to the road. I won't say it was straight down but it was steep. He let out a whoop, changed his position on the 4-wheeler and charged down the hill. That log is what kept him tied down, upright, straight and slow enough to make it down. He drug it off as I went about cutting the big ends (I'm too polite to say butts) off more logs and then cutting off limbs and the tops so they would drag. In no time at all No. 2 GS was back up and wanting to know where the next one was.
We did this for about an hour and then I ran out of gas (and so did the chainsaw). I decided that I could drag a couple of short logs with my 4 wheeler on the way back to the truck to fill up the saw. We hooked up three short logs and bungeed the saw onto my 4 wheeler and I began to go down the hill with No. 2 GS shouting advice. "Stay to the right. Watch out for the big rocks! Better ride sidesaddle! Watch out for the brush at the bottom!" I tell you - he sounds more like his grandma everyday.
Then I saw the trail!
It had a big groove in it from the logs he had drug already. There were two big rocks that the 4 wheeler had to go over and then there was the steep part and the brush and the sticks! I changed my position to sidesaddle, stayed to the right, ducked under the tree limbs, went over the rocks and promptly got bounced off the ATV. Now I was running downhill alongside the ATV with the logs chasing me and I was hoping I would reach the bottom before the logs caught up.
(Did I mention that I am pushing sixty? By the time I reached the bottom I think I was pushing it too fast!)
I made it just barely.
I decided right then that it was time for a division of labor. Cutting the logs loose was my exciting job and No. 2 GS could have the boring job of dragging the logs. (He is six foot two and 210 pounds so you can see that dragging logs - with or without a 4-wheeler - is obviously his strong suit.)
Well, I am sorry if I got your hopes up that something exciting might happen out here in Ho Hum County. This place is just so laid back! If you want quiet and peaceful days filled in with a little monotonous activity you should come here to live. Ho Hum is the term for this kind of life...... and I like it that way.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Ashes
The news from the laid back in Ho Hum County. (Laid back ain’t quite laid out, but it might be smoked.)
Ashes are real easy to come by. First, you crumple seventeen newspaper pages, put a log on each side of the firebox, throw in a wastepaper basket worth of wastepaper, find a match, wad up thirty-two more pages of newspaper and stuff them in the firebox, then throw in forty-three small sticks, strike a match and smoke up the whole house. It works every time!
You would think that a grandpa who has lit fires in brush piles, camp sites, rainstorms, roadsides, and burn barrels, would remember to open the draft on the stove. I can only say, in my defense, that brush piles, campsites, rainstorms, roadsides and burn barrels have an automatic draft built in so you don’t have to open it. But, I digress from the subject at hand - mainly that watching the woodstove turn firewood into ashes is quite a process (if you can ever get the stubborn thing lit to start with.)
I’m not quite sure that I like the process of turning wood into ashes. I spend a lot of time in the woods scouting trees, dragging out trees, cutting trees and stacking tree pieces in old apple bins on a trailer. Then I take it home, unstack it and split it, stack it back in the bins and then stack the bins in a stack on top of each other. Then, in cold weather, I pull it from the stack, take it to the porch and re-stack it so I can pack it into the house and stack it in the woodstove. Once in the woodstove it all goes up in smoke and all you have to show for it is some ashes. You might even say it gets cremated (which can lead to some minor misunderstandings - read on.)
Ashes are very useful if deposited in the right place, which is on your raspberry vines. (I am talking wood ashes here, not cremated remains ashes - to prevent a minor misunderstanding.) The only problem I have with depositing ashes is this - who has fifteen acres of raspberries to put all their wood ashes on? My little patch needs about two buckets of ashes a year. I needed another way to get rid of too many ashes.
My son’s mother-in-law came up with an old but new use for ashes (which is what caused the minor misunderstanding.) She wanted some ashes to use on her sidewalks and driveway. Being the nice person I am I agreed to save some for her. She even gave me an empty kitty litter bucket to put ashes in. (She isn’t the only person who uses empty kitty litter buckets to put stuff in. I find them handy for holding all sorts of stuff except kitty litter. I have several I keep in my shop for some such anonymous purpose.)
I emptied the woodstove, in preparation for smoking up the house again, and I saved some of the dead ashes and put them in the plastic kitty litter bucket in my shop. This was no problem until I was looking for a container to carry some wood scraps and grabbed the kitty litter bucket. (It happened to be the one closest to me.) When I pried off the lid I found the wood ashes and almost spilled them all over the shop. Being the person of great foresight that I am I thought that if I just labeled the bucket then I wouldn’t make that mistake again. If I also put them on the back step then they would be out of my way and handy for her to pick them up the next time she stopped by.
SO...... I wrote “LINDA’S ASHES” on the top of the bucket and put them on the back step where she would see them and take them with her the next time she came by.
I, of course, innocently, had not made any connection with the term “ashes” used to mean a person’s remains after being cremated. I also did not laugh about what an officer might have thought had he stopped her (for one of her many traffic violations) and found “LINDA’S ASHES” in her trunk. (Now, whose ashes are these, Lady?)
Or even better, what if my daughter-in-law had decided to deliver “LINDA’S ASHES” to her mother and been stopped by this nice officer? "You are carrying your poor mother’s ashes around in your trunk in a kitty litter bucket?" (The thought never even crossed my mind.) Also, I did not even think about how funny it would have been if I had delivered the ashes to her door and left them out front for her guests to see as they entered her house for the regular Thursday evening Bible Study.
So, as you can see, I remain entirely blameless in my small part of this minor misunderstanding. (My liking for the whole process of wood to ashes did improve as I got into it, though.)
Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. As you can see life goes on in its typically routine boring fashion out here in the country where even a minor misunderstanding is not enough to generate any excitement. Even my cell phone says “Borrring, Borrring". Howdy from Grandpa’s Farm where the only action is inaction. Grandma and I have been sitting here watching the woodstove turn firewood into ashes. Quite a process.
Ashes are real easy to come by. First, you crumple seventeen newspaper pages, put a log on each side of the firebox, throw in a wastepaper basket worth of wastepaper, find a match, wad up thirty-two more pages of newspaper and stuff them in the firebox, then throw in forty-three small sticks, strike a match and smoke up the whole house. It works every time!
You would think that a grandpa who has lit fires in brush piles, camp sites, rainstorms, roadsides, and burn barrels, would remember to open the draft on the stove. I can only say, in my defense, that brush piles, campsites, rainstorms, roadsides and burn barrels have an automatic draft built in so you don’t have to open it. But, I digress from the subject at hand - mainly that watching the woodstove turn firewood into ashes is quite a process (if you can ever get the stubborn thing lit to start with.)
I’m not quite sure that I like the process of turning wood into ashes. I spend a lot of time in the woods scouting trees, dragging out trees, cutting trees and stacking tree pieces in old apple bins on a trailer. Then I take it home, unstack it and split it, stack it back in the bins and then stack the bins in a stack on top of each other. Then, in cold weather, I pull it from the stack, take it to the porch and re-stack it so I can pack it into the house and stack it in the woodstove. Once in the woodstove it all goes up in smoke and all you have to show for it is some ashes. You might even say it gets cremated (which can lead to some minor misunderstandings - read on.)
Ashes are very useful if deposited in the right place, which is on your raspberry vines. (I am talking wood ashes here, not cremated remains ashes - to prevent a minor misunderstanding.) The only problem I have with depositing ashes is this - who has fifteen acres of raspberries to put all their wood ashes on? My little patch needs about two buckets of ashes a year. I needed another way to get rid of too many ashes.
My son’s mother-in-law came up with an old but new use for ashes (which is what caused the minor misunderstanding.) She wanted some ashes to use on her sidewalks and driveway. Being the nice person I am I agreed to save some for her. She even gave me an empty kitty litter bucket to put ashes in. (She isn’t the only person who uses empty kitty litter buckets to put stuff in. I find them handy for holding all sorts of stuff except kitty litter. I have several I keep in my shop for some such anonymous purpose.)
I emptied the woodstove, in preparation for smoking up the house again, and I saved some of the dead ashes and put them in the plastic kitty litter bucket in my shop. This was no problem until I was looking for a container to carry some wood scraps and grabbed the kitty litter bucket. (It happened to be the one closest to me.) When I pried off the lid I found the wood ashes and almost spilled them all over the shop. Being the person of great foresight that I am I thought that if I just labeled the bucket then I wouldn’t make that mistake again. If I also put them on the back step then they would be out of my way and handy for her to pick them up the next time she stopped by.
SO...... I wrote “LINDA’S ASHES” on the top of the bucket and put them on the back step where she would see them and take them with her the next time she came by.
I, of course, innocently, had not made any connection with the term “ashes” used to mean a person’s remains after being cremated. I also did not laugh about what an officer might have thought had he stopped her (for one of her many traffic violations) and found “LINDA’S ASHES” in her trunk. (Now, whose ashes are these, Lady?)
Or even better, what if my daughter-in-law had decided to deliver “LINDA’S ASHES” to her mother and been stopped by this nice officer? "You are carrying your poor mother’s ashes around in your trunk in a kitty litter bucket?" (The thought never even crossed my mind.) Also, I did not even think about how funny it would have been if I had delivered the ashes to her door and left them out front for her guests to see as they entered her house for the regular Thursday evening Bible Study.
So, as you can see, I remain entirely blameless in my small part of this minor misunderstanding. (My liking for the whole process of wood to ashes did improve as I got into it, though.)
Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. As you can see life goes on in its typically routine boring fashion out here in the country where even a minor misunderstanding is not enough to generate any excitement. Even my cell phone says “Borrring, Borrring". Howdy from Grandpa’s Farm where the only action is inaction. Grandma and I have been sitting here watching the woodstove turn firewood into ashes. Quite a process.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
A Dark and Stormy Night
It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was howling in the willow tree and spooky shapes were reflected on the barn wall and, as usual, nothing was happening out here in the country. We have just been sitting here listening to the refrigerator run. Actually, we just got home from a football game in the Small City (about 40 miles away) so we are too tired to do anything else.
It was a good game. Grandson #2 got to play every time the team made a touchdown. He is on the point after touchdown (P-A-T) special team. At six foot three and two hundred thirty pounds I guess it takes a lot of time and energy to move him and go after the ball. On extra point kicks you don't have much time so mostly it is wasted energy. They made five touchdowns so he got to go in a few times.
Football season is very interesting. It starts in early September when the weather is still mild and the sun doesn't go down until later. By the time the season ends the weather is downright cold, the wind blows and the sun disappears right after dinner if you eat early enough. The real interesting part is that one week it will be warm and the next week cold so you never know what to wear.
"Shall we bundle up and sweat to death or shall we go light and freeze?" Granny asks.
In my usual highly intelligent manner I say "Let's flip a coin and go with it!"
You can come just as close and maybe closer doing it that way than trying to guess what it will be. What we finally do is dress in layers so you can add or subtract depending on how far away you parked the car.
There is a science to parking the car closer. You first have to look at who the opponent is and guess how many fans will show up. (This number is usually in direct proportion to how well the team is doing plus or minus 6 or 7 hardcore grandparents.) Then you decide how early you have to go to park close.
Hardcore grandparents usually ignore how the team is doing. If Junior is playing they are going to be there. Wisdom is one of their long suits since they have already been through it with one of the grandkid's parents so they know the outcome doesn't matter that much but what counts is the support of just being there. There are sometimes scheduling difficulties that occur when more than one grandchild is in high school or when every night is taken up and the GP has other responsibilities. Sometimes the GP has been known to stay with younger siblings so Dad and Mom can go to the event. By now you probably get the picture. Now that you have had instruction we expect you to become a hardcore grandparent when your time comes if it hasn't already. (So start practicing now and don't forget the aerobics to stay in shape for walking from the parking lot to the event.)
Well, as you can see nothing exciting or interesting ever happens out here. By the way, we did win the game so now we can go to bed and get on with the rest of our boring lives (pun intended, Oh, bad). Nighty-night from Ho Hum County where nothing ever happens in football or grandparenting.
Did I say - "We like it that way?" (I do!)
It was a good game. Grandson #2 got to play every time the team made a touchdown. He is on the point after touchdown (P-A-T) special team. At six foot three and two hundred thirty pounds I guess it takes a lot of time and energy to move him and go after the ball. On extra point kicks you don't have much time so mostly it is wasted energy. They made five touchdowns so he got to go in a few times.
Football season is very interesting. It starts in early September when the weather is still mild and the sun doesn't go down until later. By the time the season ends the weather is downright cold, the wind blows and the sun disappears right after dinner if you eat early enough. The real interesting part is that one week it will be warm and the next week cold so you never know what to wear.
"Shall we bundle up and sweat to death or shall we go light and freeze?" Granny asks.
In my usual highly intelligent manner I say "Let's flip a coin and go with it!"
You can come just as close and maybe closer doing it that way than trying to guess what it will be. What we finally do is dress in layers so you can add or subtract depending on how far away you parked the car.
There is a science to parking the car closer. You first have to look at who the opponent is and guess how many fans will show up. (This number is usually in direct proportion to how well the team is doing plus or minus 6 or 7 hardcore grandparents.) Then you decide how early you have to go to park close.
Hardcore grandparents usually ignore how the team is doing. If Junior is playing they are going to be there. Wisdom is one of their long suits since they have already been through it with one of the grandkid's parents so they know the outcome doesn't matter that much but what counts is the support of just being there. There are sometimes scheduling difficulties that occur when more than one grandchild is in high school or when every night is taken up and the GP has other responsibilities. Sometimes the GP has been known to stay with younger siblings so Dad and Mom can go to the event. By now you probably get the picture. Now that you have had instruction we expect you to become a hardcore grandparent when your time comes if it hasn't already. (So start practicing now and don't forget the aerobics to stay in shape for walking from the parking lot to the event.)
Well, as you can see nothing exciting or interesting ever happens out here. By the way, we did win the game so now we can go to bed and get on with the rest of our boring lives (pun intended, Oh, bad). Nighty-night from Ho Hum County where nothing ever happens in football or grandparenting.
Did I say - "We like it that way?" (I do!)
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