Hello again

We've been off line for a few days.  I thought it was for not paying our cable bill, but it turned out to be a general outage of charter's service.  We have a car in the garage for a rebuilt transmission and Brooke is training for a Census job this week.  Today is her last day of training.  We are having a house guest this week-end so we need to clean and straighten etc.  There are a lot of items that need attention, so it's a time of unsettled emotions.

I'm still waiting for my vitamins to arrive and I also found a book, Reversing Heart Disease by Dr. Dean Ornish, at the Holly Goodwill.  He outlines an entire program of diet, exercise, hypnotism and meditation.  He doesn't use the word hypnosis as far as I can tell.  I figured if I could get some good healthy recipes from it, it would be worth buying.

I'm not going overboard with my hopes but It can't hurt to be open to other possibilities. 



I've been walking Luke daily for about a week. He enjoys it and so do I once we get started. 

Gilmore just stopped by to take a jog and pick up the changing table for Gerard's use.  He said it's supposed to get up to 80F today. That's F-ing hot. I
better get my shorts on.  I'll finish mowing the lawn and get the kitchen and maybe the bathrooms cleaned today.  Then again, maybe I'll just watch golf.  I sure could use a big hug from Gabe...
As in the title, just wanted to say hi and update those of you who read this mainly to see what's going on here.  Thanks, Emma.

What's up

It's  Monday again.  I wanted to put something on here just so you would know I'm still here.  I'm lurking about.  The movie that was shot in our house was "Lurking Terror", so it is appropriate that I lurk here, though I don't think I terrorize anyone.  

The week end was quiet with me being home with only the animals.  No one showed up to party or play cards etc.  It took a full day to calm down from last week.  I've ordered some vitamins from a place in Fargo.  The vitamins are produced in Norway(the country).  I love our global economy.  If you really want to take control of your diet needs, I don't know where to go.  I'm sure one day we will have a blood test(?) that we will be able to take periodically and we can see what vitamins and supplements, or foods to eat for the next month.  Right now it's kind of general and in the category of psycho-babble. We think we should avoid fats and sugars and carbohydrates.

Last week I picked up a video from the library and thought I'd look at one of the old-fashioned books.  I had previously checked out a book on HTML just to see what it was about.  Now I saw another one on the subject, so I checked it out to see what it was like.  It also attempts to teach you to learn the language which is used to write web pages.  I have followed some of it and find it to be interesting.  It is much slower to learn this from a book than it would be from taking a class with a teacher.  When you run into a problem, a teacher could see the error in a minute whereas it may take you a half hour to figure it out.  I have progressed through the first two chapters and will do some more.  I don't need to be an expert on the subject but want to be able to write and maintain my own web page.

I am taking Luke for a walk now.  I've done this for two days now and found that he will heel now.  I watched the Dog Whisperer and used some of the basic ideas he consistently advocates.  Be calm assertive and Luke will be calm submissive.  But why does the pack leader pick up the dog-duty of the rest of the pack?


Caio

The Grand Experiment

Not much was accomplished from the list I had posted on the last blog.  Other things were done, though.  They were put at the top of my list and have been taken care of.  I had to get my checkup and that took the entire day.  I listed and sold our dog kennel  and dog house,on craigslist.  Brooke, Emma and Gabe left for Boston Yesterday.  So I have a few days to decrease my list and feel better about things.

I was disappointed with what I heard at the hospital.  For one thing I am not to play golf or do much strenuous activity for two more months.  Don't they know I like to strain?  J+ (this symbol will mean I think I was funny). Sometimes it's hard to tell.  Then I will have a different surgeon who will set me up for an apical-aortic conduit.  Not sure I have the terminology right but your search engine could guide you. J+  Hey, this is getting pretty funny.  Like they say,"If you go to a surgeon, they will recommend surgery."  I wondered if there was a possibility of reversing calcification in my aortic valve.  The doctors said no.  But good old google said maybe.  I say, It's worth a try.

I found some information about vitamin K2 that was intriging (especially when your valve is closing up). This is also associated with osteoporosis. So, I'm thinking I will change my diet to one of low carbohydrate plant sources.  I'll add the K2 plus the material suggests you may need D3?  If there is no improvement in a year, I will go ahead with the plumbing job.

This is just a first blush plan of attack.  I like the concept of self healing ie. the body's natural tendency toward healing and repair.  So maybe my results will help other people who have a tendency to atherosclerosis. If interested most of my info came from a blog named wholehealthsource.

Let your browser be your guide.

So long from the sidebedroom.

Keeping up

I dug out the mower yesterday.  It took awhile to find the key for it and then I had to charge the battery.  Just the minimum stuff to get it started, and I mowed the yard.  I'll do the hand mowing part today. 

We have too many seedlings started in the bay window so I brought up the cold frame and assembled that.  With some insulation plus heaters (light-up candy canes work well) we'll be able to transfer some of the more advanced plants outside.

I've also made a list of some of the items needing doing on the cars.  That's progress. Plus I bought a 30 pack of Busch yesterday.  There always has to be a little something to keep you feeling like a man (or woman) and not just a machine.  So we've moved from the contemplative state to the planning state.  If I pass my physical tomorrow, I'm treating myself to golf on Thursday or Friday, dammit.

I read this months Clean Team letter and it gives step by step instructions on cleaning windows.  Since I need to do this I'm looking forward to following those.   The windows will glisten, the seedlings will burgeon, the automobiles will humm and even the birds will sing.  Just like a Walt Disney movie...one of the old ones. And I'll have a beer.

Now if no one says anything...... 

A Funeral

A friend called to see if I wanted to go to a funeral this week-end. Yes, yes anything to get out of the house for a while.  The father of another one of the high school friends had passed away.  The friends name is Ross W. (I'm getting a little shy about using full names) and his father was Charles.
His dad was a self-made millionaire.  He had worked hard probably in the 50's to establish a bottling business making M&S Soda.  We call it pop in the Midwest.  He also bottled 7-up.  He was a friendly guy usually wearing slacks and a golf shirt.  It was great stopping by Ross's house. They had air conditioning and a T.V. room.  If you wanted pop there was a supply in the basement.  
Ross had a younger sister and an older brother.  One day we were coming back to his house and noticed fire engines in the neighborhood.  The fire was at their house.  A guitar was damaged from the heat and flames and had been set out on the front lawn.  Ross said I could have it so I took it home and eventually repaired it.  I still have it. 


The family always had the latest cars and usually one of them was a convertible.  Ross loved to drive fast and now, that the old man is dead, I can tell you that he would go out and drive the cars well over 100 mph.  They were play things.  Luckily no one got hurt.  Ross is super intelligent and had stamp collections and coin collections.  If he was in need of some cash he would visit a collector in (I believe) the Kresge Building in downtown Flint.  Reynolds Stamps as I recall and being too lazy to research I'll leave it at that.  Ross talked to Mr. Reynolds and knew what he was talking about. He would sell some of his items and we'd leave with a bit of cash.  Ross is a doctor.  I'll see if he's retired today.  We want to see Ross today and pay our condolences.  It was a previous life that my wife and family didn't know about but now, If they read this they will be able to connect some dots.

Things worked out well at the funeral. We were able to see and speak to Ross beforehand and didn't have to sit through the service.  Ross gave me a hug when I told him who I was.  He was glad we had come out.  He is retired (for medical reasons) but happy with his situation right now. He looks good.  Still has that same smile like the cat who just ate the canary.  It was nice to see you, Ross.Adios

Now we're monetized!

I thought I'd try the monetizing of the blog just to see if I made any money, liked the way it looks and didn't run into any headaches.  If it works out I'll keep it.  I was also thinking of having some t-shirts made up.  They would be black with Gabe's picture just like it appears on the blog page.  I would find the lowest price(you know what a cheapskate I am) with best quality shirt.  If you are interested in preordering, let me know. Maybe navy blue would be better.

Emma and family are coming over tonight.  Brooke and I just, "Speed Cleaned" the house for an hour so when the toys and food etc. get left around, it will be clean underneath.  Maybe we should just spray everything with an even coating of Pam to facilitate clean up.  This isn't true Speed Cleaning but Brooke calls it that,to get my participation.  Valleys Of Neptune Well, I just linked to that book.  Looks interesting.  Why don't you give it a try? Ha ha.

Our plants that we are starting from seeds again this year are doing great.  The hops are doing very well and from what I've read the one that was in doubt is well known as a late bloomer.

So the desperate house husband isn't quite so desperate today.  Next week is my return visit to the hospital.  We'll set up Surgery II and until I go in for that I will probably be able to play some golf and get some things done around here.

Thanks for checking in and take care of yourself.

About Nothing

The first true title for my blog. A few years back I was doing what I do best, daydreaming. I thought how great it would be to get a nice sized sailboat and start out on Lake Michigan and sail all the way down to Florida. I would bring along Curt and Jman. Oh, oh, first problem better invite Emma. Now that Kevin is grown up, he should come along too. As the line from Jaws goes, "We're going to need a bigger boat." That's the beauty of daydreaming, let's say we have the perfect boat for everyone who would like to come along. This includes you, because it wouldn't be the same without you. Welcome aboard! The boat is beautiful, comfortable and fully equipped. The captain is Albin. He is a wonderful sailor and also provides information as to what ports and points of interest are coming up. We all have duties aboard the ship/boat though. We are all trained for emergencies and participate in drills. There is wi-fi on-board so you can check your email, blogs etc. There is always someone interesting to talk to. If you want to read or nap or whatever, you are completely in control.

Lake Michigan has a beautiful shore line. White sand beaches all along. We anchor now and then to swim and cavort in our bikinis (no skinny dipping on this blog, Karen or Lynda). We notice almost immediately that the wonderful healthy meals plus the exercise we get with training and Zumba, our bodies are toning and slimming.

Every day we feel better about ourselves and closer to our shipmates. We find common interests. Play cards, experiment with recipes, play golf and even some scrapbooking.

Time to go, hope you enjoyed our little trip. Let's pick it up again sometime. I wonder what Mackinaw Island would bring. We may never make it but our final destination is Key Largo.