Sitting in the Dark

Well we just had a storm roll through and our power is out.  I had seen on the news and in online alerts that there were all sorts of power outages to the west of us and I said to Kris and the girls to be prepared.  No sooner had the red band on the radar hit than we lost power.  So now we sit in the dark waiting.  It took forever to get through on the automated hotline for reporting power outages, and then the recording told me "we do not have an estimate for when your power will be back on".  One of these days I really need to see about getting a generator.

Back to the Doctor

I had originally started a bunch of reports on Alison's condition and her struggle with getting better.  But since they all came so close together I am just combining them all into one.

Over last weekend, Alison spiked a fever that got as high as 103.8°.  It is something we have seen in the past and were worried that she had developed pneumonia again.  It is sort of a pattern that we have seen with Alison over the past few years where she will get a sore throat/strep throat and then it moves to her chest, and then bam, she's got pneumonia.  So first thing Monday morning we took her back to the doctor.  The doctor thought the original medicine she had prescribed wasn't working, so she ended up putting Alison on a different antibiotic.  She didn't hear any pneumonia in her lungs but she ordered a chest x-ray just to make sure.  So we went home with the new medicine and hopeful that it would clear things up. 

After a day and a half, Alison woke up with hives all over her body.  So back to the doctor we went.  It was an antibiotic she had been on previously, and it was actually helping to clean up her throat and the fever, but apparently she has now developed an allergy to it.  The doctor told us to stop that medicine and she was going to check with the ENT and see if he had any suggestions.  Her regular doctor was going to be back the next day so we got an appointment to see him and she was also going to call and update on Ali's condition and see if he had any thoughts prior to seeing him the next day. 

When we got there on Thursday her hives had pretty much cleared up.  She only had a few spots on her arms and legs, but the day before I would estimate about 80% of her body was covered with hives.  her doctor went over everything, checked her out, and everything looked like it was clearing up, so he switched her to another anitbiotic, and did another x-ray of her neck just to make sure he wasn't missing an abscess under the swelling in her throat.  But everything came back ok, so we just go the new medicine and a little more hydrocortisone cream just to help with those last few spots on her skin (she used an entire tube the day before). 

A day and a half later, her throat was back to normal and she was active and eating again.  So now we just need to finish out this course of antibiotics, and I think she'll be good as new.  Which is good because she has cheerleading and volleyball camp coming up in addition to the second week of girl scout camp.

First Trip To Summerfest

Sarah is ending up going to Summerfest tonight to see some band with a couple of friends.  It is the first time she'll be down at the grounds by herself at night.  I am a little unsure about letting her go, just because I know what it's like down there.  The last time Kris and I were there, the grounds were over run by a bunch of urban kids because of some rapper that was on one of the side stages.  There were several fights that broke out and arrests.  I just hope that something similar doesn't happen when she is down there alone.  Plus, I worry about her and her friends leaving the grounds and getting jacked on the way back to their car at 12:30 in the morning.  Once you get away from the grounds, the neighborhoods can get a little sketchy.  I guess it is something that we have to start letting her do, but it doesn't mean I can't worry about what might happen.

Took The Spike

I finally broke down and went to the doctor to get my thumb shot up.  I was a little tire of not being able to move it.  I went back to look and I had it done just before Christmas of 2012, so hopefully this will last a little longer this time, if it works at all.  From what i was reading, there is no guarantee that the cortisone shot will help, and if it doesn't, then the orthopedist will need to do a surgical procedure to correct it.  I really hope the shot works, because I don't want to end up having my thumb cut open.  The doctor said it should take 7-10 days, so we'll see what happens.

Not The Way To Start Off Summer Vacation

Only a week into summer vacation and we have hit a snag.  Alison has been feeling pretty crummy lately, and she had been complaining of a sore throat since the start of June.  Kris and I were hoping that it would clear up, but her tonsils are so huge that the one on the left side is almost touching her uvula.  So on Tuesday we decided to finally take her in to have a throat culture done.  I thought for sure she had strep.

The rapid strep test came back negative, but that doesn't mean too much since they usually do, and then a day or two later when the full culture is done, we usually get a call saying that she has strep throat.  But the doctor told Kris to just keep an eye on it, if the full test did come back positive they would call, but if it didn't and there was no sign of improvement by Friday, to call and get her back in.  Well so far there has been no call and her throat has not improved, so first thing tomorrow morning, Kris will be calling to get Ali back in and see if they can figure out what is going on.  This is definitely not the way to start off the summer, especially with girl scout camp coming up next week.  I sure hope she is better by then.

Happy Anniversary #19

Let's see...  on this date in 1995, I believe I was just waking up after a late night of being out, making sure all the preparations were in place for our wedding the next day.  Ok, maybe not, but I do remember being out late and only getting about four or five hours of sleep before getting up and going to pick up my brothers.  

So now it has been nineteen years since Kris and I said "I do".  It hardly seems that long, and I am sure that everyone who was with us on that day would say the same thing.  We have been through a lot since then, graduating college, kids, the start of school, dealing with losing my job, some fun family vacations, the list could go on and on.  I don't think the number of years makes a big difference, twenty years is the same as two the only difference is the number of things that have happened since that day.  Almost like filling up a closet, the more years that go by, the more stuff that gets put into the closet. 

But it doesn't matter how much gets stuffed away, the idea of working together to make life fun, and build a family is always the same and will never change.  So please join me in raising a glass and give three cheers to my wonderful wife of nineteen years, my partner in life in both work and play.  I love you.  Happy Anniversary!

More Bird Problems

Well not really problems per se.  The last couple of times I have cut the grass I have come across broken eggs in the lawn.  The first one I found looked like a robin's egg, and the second one, about a week later looked grey with black speckles on it.  After some digging online, I determined it was a cardinal egg.  And in addition to the cardinal egg, there were what appeared to be chunks of the next scattered about on the ground.  They were clumps of grass and string, and even what looked like a couple of streamers of tinsel that were woven together.

I don't know who or what is raiding the bird nests around here, but I don't think it's the squirrels.  We do have a lot of grackles and starlings eating the suet in the backyard, but I don't think they raid other bird's nests.  I know sparrows are mean nasty birds that raid marten's nests; maybe they are the ones doing it?  It's too bad, because I like the robins and cardinals much more than the other "rough" birds.  Maybe I need to change the kind of seed and suet we put out for them.  The only ting is that the woodpeckers really like the suet we have, and I like watching them eat (and so do the cats).

I think the nesting season is over now, so we don't need to worry much more about any of the nests in the trees being raided.  But I hope that doesn't mean that the song birds will go away now too.  It is much more calming hearing them than the squawk from those stupid grackles.

Three Trips to the Hardware Store Later

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the washer and dryer needed to be replaced.  Luckily, we found a set on sale.  They were delivered today and what I thought would be an hour or so getting the old ones out and the new ones in took only about 10 minutes.  I figured it would be a pretty easy thing to get them installed so I thought I would just take care of it myself.

The installation went fairly smoothly until it got the part of hooking up the hoses.  Because of the location of the hook ups on the washer, I needed to get some hoses with a 90° fitting so that it could bend/fit onto the fittings.  The old ones would have required the hoses to make a bend that would essentially cut the water flow, sort of like bending a garden hose to stop the flow of water.  So I had to go run and get some new hoses.

After the new hoses were put in place, it was time to hook up the drain hose.  My plan was to just use the existing one, but again there was an issue with the hook ups.  The old hose was roughly a 3/4" diameter, black, hard rubber hose.  The hook up took a 1/2 hose.  I thought no problem, because I had a similar issue with the old washer.  All I did was buy a double ended male connector with the proper size hook ups.  Well for whatever reason, it wouldn't fit on the new drain hose.  To I had to run back to the hardware store and find a connector that would fit.  I had to go 1/8" larger and get a hose clamp to make sure that it wouldn't slip off. 

Now it was time to get the dryer hooked up.  One feature the new dryer has is a wrinkle free setting, where it steams the clothes to prevent wrinkling.  However, this also requires that there is a water hook-up to the dryer.  And due to the location of the dryer, I didn't have a hose long enough to reach it.  Further, I only had two hook-ups, one for hot and one for cold water.  So this meant I needed to get a fitting to split the water going to the washer so I also had another line going to the dryer.  And that meant another trip to the hardware store.  Then I figured that as long as I was there, I would get some new dryer vent ducts too, and get rid of the ones we have had for the last 10 or 12 years that had a fine coating of lint on the inside. 

So after a 10 minutes delivery and removal of the the old appliances, it only took me four hours to get everything hooked up and running.  Which is three trips to the hardware store and about three and a half hours more that I was expecting.

Washer and Dryer install