Hospital again!

Right after noon today, I was readmitted to the hospital where they started in on a big laundry list of possible causes.  You know they have to eliminate all the bad possibilities.

But I am stuck back in here for a couple or perhaps more days while they decide how to improve my fever.  I think fever scares the heck out of them, so I am doing my best to play along nicely.

Again I'm blogging on the little android phone so this will be cut short.

Retired Rod

Fever

I have been fighting post surgical fever for the last couple of days.  Of course Loyce blames it on doing some stuff on Monday and perhaps she is right.  But all social web sites have been off for the last few days.  Fever is a really bad thing to fight, as I can hardly type and end up on the right keys.

So I thought I would just check in and hope for better days in the future.

Retired Rod

More than I planned on.

Today,  where did today go?   First it was the call from the contractor that said he wasn't coming because we didn't have the counter top here, and he needed that to go forward.  Well, maybe, if you say so.

There is a bunch of trim work that needs to be completed and lots of other stuff, but he thinks he needs the counter top, so Loyce and I went over to Home Depot in the pickup and picked one out and had them load it.  They had the wall splash block and the end kit with the right formica in it so we grabbed that.

Once home, I called him back, but he informed me that he wouldn't be coming.  The truth of the whole deal is that he has to baby sit for his three year old while his wife works.  That's OK, but I wish he wouldn't lay it on us like it is our fault.  My younger son Ben came over and he and Loyce loaded the counter top out of the pickup and into the living room floor.

I went down during the afternoon and mounted the little brackets that I had made from aluminum to hold the front on the cabinet that we were converting into a sink top .  The drawers are now in the scrap heap back in my shop area.  The door for the bathroom was also hung and the lock set installed, but it was as much work as I could handle, so I came upstairs and slept for almost three hours.

Tonight, I went back to a different Home Depot and found the little bar sink kit that I knew existed.  It has the sink and the faucet all in one package.  But by the time you make it thru the fittings aisle, you have almost doubled the price of the kit in stops and tails and traps.

The fellow called back tonight, and was going to drive over here with his 15 year old son, and get the counter top out of my truck.  At least it was bothering him that we went after it!  Still he says we won't see him until Thursday.  We understood this problem when we hired him, but didn't have a complete understanding of how materially it would affect us.

I did manage to get the Camry filled up with gas and air up the tires to make the yellow light go out on the dash.  But that is just about all the work I could have possible done today.  Maybe I'll just sleep tomorrow.........

Retired Rod

Winterizing in early fall.

I'm hopeful that it won't be needed, but one day a couple of weeks ago, I went over to the storage lot and winterized the motorhome water system.  We do get surprise cold snaps here in Kansas, when we least expect it.

Knowing that crawling around under the motorhome with a great big new zipper in my front side wouldn't be a big plus, I took over 3 gallons of the pink antifreeze and set it all up to suck it inside the pipes.   We have a hose that goes directly on the water pump where the line from the storage tank usually resides.

I had opened that tank when we left the campground out in Pamona the last time.  And when we parked over in the storage lot, I had pulled the plug out of the water heater and let it drain.

So it was mostly a formality to hook up the hose and suck all the pink stuff into the water lines and put some down each drain.  I even made sure of the outside shower faucet and the foot pedal on the toilet.

And I disassembled the pesky ice maker valve that is on the back side of the fridge.  You might remember that it froze and broke last fall before we got out of KC.  I had to order a new valve and install it down in Mesa, before we got cubes again.

I was quite surprised at the amount of water that came from those lines when I took it all apart this time.  No wonder it all froze up and broke last November here in KC.  We didn't leave until the weekend of Thanksgiving, and it had frozen a number of nights by then.  In fact it was below freezing when we were traveling every night as well.

But when you are laid up and can't do much, daemons pop into your mind and you wonder if you got it all and if your good to go on the freezing thing.  But at least that antifreeze is in there somewhere, and we know that those pipes will be alright.  And remember, that great tool in the tool box called the pen and checkbook.  If it is broken, someone will be overjoyed to fix it!

This weekend has been football on TV and sleep in front of the computer screen.  Oh, and putting ointment on that big black and blue spot the lady made that didn't get any blood out of me!

Retired Rod

Down on Thursday

Thursday was a recovery day.  That's a day where my recovery was not keeping pace with my will to accomplish anything.  So I just sat around and took pain pills.  I did watch copious amounts of TV and took generous naps.

But about mid way thru the afternoon, Curt my tile expert came back and spent a couple of hours grouting the basement bathroom floor.  That project is now happily complete.

Today, Friday, I was to report in at the Hospital where my surgeon wants to see and admire his work.  Perhaps he just wants to make sure that I am still alive, but they are discussing removing staples out of the front of me.  I also have a plastic tube that goes into my body where sterile water has been irrigated for the last several days.  This is also to be removed.

So with Loyce as my cab driver, we set out at about 11 AM for the 15 mile drive back to downtown.  I wasn't liking the ride much as the shaking of the car was almost unbearable.  I was supposed to appear in the lab for a blood test so we arrived as scheduled.

That's kind of where things fell apart.  We sat in the waiting room while all of the other folks in the entire place were seen, except me.  We finally had to protest........  But just for good measure they made me wait some more.

Once back in the lab room, the lady stuck me several times without producing a single drop of blood, and I had to tell them that I was done with this treatment.  Onward to the Doctor's office.

His office went as planned and we were out within about an hour.  We came back home on the slower and less bumpy city streets, and the overall experience caused me to need a large nap.

So strong, I am not, and many more days will be needed to get anywhere close, but they think I will be ok in the long run, and they did say I was much better today than I was when they saw me last Monday.....

I'm thankful that we hadn't planned on leaving for Arizona any time soon, because those plans would now be scrubbed......

Retired Rod

House arrest!

Its a good thing I'm not Martha Stewart, because I can't do house arrest very well.  I can think of dozens of things that I want to do and so on but Dr.'s orders that I have to stay right here at home and only walk around the house.

And that is really slowly with a hiking pole used as a cane.  Our tile installer fellow came this afternoon and I went down stairs with him to get him started on the porcelain tile in the bathroom.  And by the time I came back up, I was sweating like I had done some heavy work.  All I did was go down and watch him lay out the tile on the floor.

7 hours of surgery really kicked the stuffing out of me.  Not to mention a few organs  removed as well.  So I will be using that heavy tool in my tool box to finish the rest of some of this work for now.  The pen and checkbook!   The tile guy will come back tomorrow to grout the room.

He looked at my work in the small bedroom from last week and asked why I needed him to do the bathroom.  I'll take that as a compliment.  But of course that was pre surgery.

Retired Rod

Not pushing it!

I took about the same approach to today as if I was still in the hospital.  I went from the chair in the room to the bathroom and back to the bed.  The TV played on without anyone watching it.

Loyce made breakfast and brought it up mid morning.  And my son Ben came over on his motorcycle and moved one of our recliners up to the bedroom.  That got me out of bed and over into the corner where he put it.

It leans way back and lets me recline which helps immensely with the pain control.  Yet another pain med with narcotics and I was off for an afternoon nap.

They say this will improve with time, but it is hard to envision right now..........

Retired Rod

Home!

I played the get out of jail card and it worked!  We left the University of Kansas Med Center about 1 PM, for the 45 minute ride back to our home out here in the very Southern part of the metro.  A lot of the ride is on the interstate, and I was barking at Loyce to miss all the pot holes.

Once you have been signed off to be released, things change quickly as they removed the IV line and the little abdominal bulb suction tube thingy.  It hurt when they pulled it out!  I unhooked the wires from the pocket heart monitor and took a quick shower in the stand up stall.  Clean Hair!!

I'm in my own recliner with my desk top on the end table and the keyboard on a pillow in my lap.  Man is it nice to have a 22 inch monitor back...  And no one is poking my arm wanting another vial of blood, or screaming that my blood pressure is too high.

Sleeeeeeeep..................

Still in the Hospital

Not much to report from here other than being poked and prodded.  We are working on pain management trying to find the right mix.

They are hopeful that I might get out of here on Monday.   I'm not sure that will make much difference, but perhaps I won't be awakened at all hours once I am home.

I'm still blogging with the little phone, which is really slow, but I have the keyboard tray which makes it at least possible. The blogger app makes it much better than sending an email so if you need to blog from phone download the app.

Later.

Not dead yet!

Well im still alive! The surgery lasted 7.5 hours and I am one sore dude today.  They are talking like I'll need to stay here for ten days so I have to.get used to it.  I have an NG tube in my nose and that is posing the biggest problem.

Hopefully Loyce will bring my laptop so won't be fighting this little phone.

Retired Rod

Last minute stuff to finish

I had one more light fixture to install in the ceiling grid today in order to call it out of my hands for now. And of course it had to fight me some, since it was the last one.  Couldn't get the screws into the new box.  They seemed to not be long enough, but longer ones didn't help either.......

But finally after much discussion with some attitude thrown in for good measure, it fell into place and I was able to go into clean up mode.

Then I decided that I needed one more item from Home Depot.  The toilet!  This can't actually be installed until the ceramic tile floor is complete, and we haven't even contracted for that job yet, but I won't be able to lift any heavy commode after tomorrow for weeks to come, so I went over and purchased the thing.

I decided not to lift it today either, but waited for a big young fellow to come along  from the store employees, and he picked the thing up like it weighed about 20 pounds.  I had intended to help as we did it together, but he just loaded it into the truck all by himself.

Once back home here, I opened the box and took the tank out and carried it into the house first.  That made the box with only the bowl in it much lighter and more manageable.

This afternoon, I went on an extended scooter ride all the way over to Lawrence.  I was gone for about 2 hours. That will be my last bike ride for quite some time.........

So by the time you read this, I will be in the Hospital having my insides worked upon.  Perhaps they will find the old "Kilroy was here" sign on the wall in there.  Does anyone even remember those old signs?

It will take me a couple of days before I will be able to run the computer, but perhaps Loyce will bring me the laptop and the air card once I am able to run it again.  I also downloaded the Blogger App for my android phone.  So if I could run that little keyboard with my big fingers, I could write about a paragraph with it.  Thanks for the heads up on that Rick.........

Anyway, I'll catch up with you once I get this bit of nasty stuff out of the way.......

Retired Rod

Dragging more stuff home.....

I spent the day shopping!!  Not with Loyce,  but shopping at the local Lowes and Home Depot.  I needed a bathroom vanity, and some cabinets for the bar we are building in the basement.

It really isn't anything too extravagant, but even so, I needed to find pieces that would fit.  And they didn't have what I wanted.  Finally one of the fellows said I would have to purchase regular cabinets and modify them into being a sink base.

Cabinets come with drawers in the top, and not as sink bases unless they are 36  inches wide.  I was looking for 30 inch.  It took me several trips back and forth to get the stuff home with the small bed pickup.  About two items at a time.  I still have a bunch of stuff to get for the folks to work on while I'm laid up.

The rest of the day was spent installing can light fixtures into the new ceiling grid.  I had to roto zip a hole into the center of ceiling tile and install the fixture.  Once the tile was up in the grid, then it had to be drilled and screwed to the metal.

Then it was wired with that flexible metal stuff.  I do not like working with that kind of wire as I always think I am going to cut myself on it.    It is slow going as you have to climb the ladder a bazillion times, but by 7 PM tonight the lights were on!

Retired Rod

We will be pausing today, to reflect on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy in New York.  I worry that our leaders have become complacent again thinking that they have everything under control.........

Grouting is done

I spent much of the day sitting right dead center of the now newly tiled floor in the bedroom/office of the basement.  Slowly I dabbed a bit of grout into the crack in front of me and then scraped it back off with the rubber faced trowel.

Once as clean as I could get it with the trowel, then it was to the sponge and bucket of water to wash it back as clean as possible without scraping the grout back out of the cracks.  This droned on for several hours.

I did get to run over to the Home Depot for base board trim and some porcelain tile and thin set to do the bathroom floor.  But this we think we will hire completed.  Unlike Rick and Paulette, we are not tile mechanics and will leave the leveling of the hard tile to the pros.  I tend to keep messing with the stuff not liking the outcome, and generally making it worse and worse as I go.

Our contractor labored away on the ceiling grid work in the big room most of the day, making a bunch of headway.  He still has a long way to go and claims to be coming back on Monday.

On Monday, I will not be able to join him in our basement, as I have another medical procedure scheduled.  This one will take me out of the picture for several days and put the blog on hold during that time.  Perhaps as I recover, I will be able to use the laptop and do a blog or two from the Hospital.  That might be a bit optimistic on my part, but time will tell how that all comes out.

But in the meantime, the contractor is determined to continue the work, as he really doesn't need me blabbering at him all the time and slowing him down anyway.  He is entirely trustworthy and would come back and change anything we didn't like as well.

We did declare the small office/bedroom complete tonight since we cut and installed the base board trim today as well.  At some point we will have to fill and enamel the wood trim white, but that will be down the road in the future.

Retired Rod

Hanging ceiling, and I work on the floor tile

The contractor arrived late in the morning, after his wife came back from her meetings.  Seems that he is responsible for the kids when she works, and then he gets away once she comes back.  But that leaves us hanging..........

Well this isn't a race, so we will just put up with it until he finishes things.  He is working on installing the hanging ceiling, and they put up all of the perimeter metal this afternoon.  That was until about 3:30, when he suddenly announced that he had to leave because his son had a football game..........

Loyce selected this fellow, so I take no responsibility here....  Maybe he will work longer tomorrow.

I puttzed around on the tiling job this morning cutting individual small tiles to go around the outside of the floor.  That takes forever, as it takes longer to put each one down because you have to custom cut it.  Then it is small and doesn't cover much of the floor.   But finally I put the last piece in place.

Then, when I opened the bucket of grout, it was sandy tan.........  Uh, the tile is gray.  I bought the wrong color!  Luckily I found the receipt in the pile of slips on the floor of the pickup and back I went to Home Depot.

The lady at the returns counter looked at me over her glasses and said "You didn't use any of it did you???"  I had already told her it was the wrong color, geesh!

So I spent the rest of the afternoon on the floor on my knees grouting the cracks between tiles.  Seems like you spend more time washing the stuff off than anything else.  My back just screamed after about 3 hours.  Help, I've fallen and can't get up....  Finally I washed up the tools and went upstairs.  I only got about 40 percent of it grouted.

Tonight Ben and I went out on the motor cycles for about an hour or so after dark.  It was rather cool, as the bike reported 65 when we were out in the country.  But it was fun.  Need to remember that sweatshirt for these fall days.....

Retired Rod

Contractor came back

I spent the morning tiling the floor in the small office/bedroom in the new basement project.  It wasn't really hard work, just peeling and sticking the tiles to the floor, but since I intend to grout the joints, I had those little cross pieces to put in between each tile as I went.

And I swear that some of the tiles are cut irregularly, because all of a sudden for now apparent reason they go out of square and you are stuck adjusting everything to try and get the grout lines back somewhat straight.

By mid morning, our  contractor came over, and we went thru the plans to continue on the job.  Specifically installing the ceiling tile in the main room of the project.  We calculated that there is 606 square feet of ceiling remaining.  But it is all cut up and odd shaped, so determining the supplies for the room took me quite a while.

So mid afternoon, I was over at the local Home Depot, purchasing tile and T channel runners.  I have no idea if what I decided to purchase will be the right amount, but man do I have the supplies here for them to start working tomorrow.

It took me two trips to get it all home with the pickup truck.  I probably could have squeezed it all into one load, but it would have been close, and some of the tile bundles would have been inside the back seat.

Tonight I was back down finishing the floor tile, but it still needs most of the perimeter pieces cut and stuck down.  But after carrying ten bundles of ceiling tiles three different times, I am flagged for today.

Retired Rod

All over the place and basement work

A run around day is what today turned out to be.  First it was to run over to the storage place to park the utility trailer, but it had to be unloaded first.  Then it was over to a fast food stand for some breakfast.

Then it was to the hospital for the supplies for a test I had to take.    Next it was to Home Depot to decide what kind of tile we would be using in the office/bedroom in the basement.  Then it was to Sam's Club to purchase some gasoline for the pickup.

At the Home Depot, I decided to try something new on the floor.  They have vinyl tile, that look exactly like ceramic tile.  But..... you can stick them down with the adhesive on the back once the paper is peeled off.  Oh, and they cut with a razor knife, not a tile saw.  That makes them much easier to install.

Also you have to option to space them out with the little plastic spacers and grout in between them.  So, they really do look the same as ceramic tile.  Well with a little imagination anyway.  So what the heck, lets give these things a try.

But I headed up to the help desk to learn any secrets about them that I didn't have figured out.  And there was one little thing.  On a bare concrete floor, you need to seal the floor first.  They guy said it wasn't any big deal, just paint it with the primer stuff, or Kilz.....

I just happen to have about 4 gallons of Kilz in a 5 gallon pail......  So I went with the vinyl tile product.  Its not really any cheaper, because the tiles are $1.08 each, and you still have to buy the grout and go thru that step with the sponge for cleaning the tiles off after spreading the grout.

I spent the afternoon painting that floor, and then deciding that the saw cracks where they scored the concrete floor, needed to be filled.  Back to Lowe's this time for floor patch filler.  Lowe's is much closer, and I took the scooter.

After supper tonight it was mix up the patch stuff and trowel it out.  The patch sets up really quickly, so you only mix about a pint or so and then spread it.  Even then it was hardening before I was done troweling.

The biggest area that needed filled was in the bathroom where the floor was broken to put in the under floor plumbing and then re concreted.  Of course it isn't even close to level in there.  I'm not certain that we will use the vinyl tile in the bathroom but rather may go ahead and do the ceramic in there.  It is much smaller, and I think the thinset installation will be more forgiving on the unlevel floor.  Time will tell about that.

And I don't do tile very well, so I am out of my comfort zone on this one.  

Retired Rod

Laboring on Labor Day!

We woke to cool temperatures this morning.  In the 60s cool. so there was no swimming in the lake today.

Actually Labor Day for us is usually a day of Labor, as we get things ready to be shut down for the season.  So out came the jet ski this afternoon, and once on the trailer we started to fuss with changing the oil and filter.

This time the filter is way down along side the engine where you can't see it at all.  And only a contortionist can even feel where it is.  Our neighbor Tony came over and showed us how to reach it, as he has the same model only a couple of years older.

We were not successful getting the factory filter off of the engine.  They must have welded it on for all we know.  We tried every filter wrench we had, and couldn't budge it.  But then we couldn't see it and almost couldn't feel it.

I used the vacuum container and slurped the oil out and we replaced it with clean oil even though the filter is still the old one.  After pouring a pint of the pink stuff into the water inlet, it is now in the back of  the garage.  Perhaps we will work on it again this fall, but it is out of the lake and stored for now.

Ben and I worked on the pontoon boat pickling the gas with stabil.  Then we put the battery minder on it and the cover.  That took over an hour too.  Oh, and the cable that limits the down travel on the jet ski floating lift was broken.  So after getting new cable, Chris and Ben both worked on that one.  So it now has new cable.

We didn't leave to go home until 5:30, so it was really late when we got back to KC.  We generally never unload in the dark, but tonight was the exception.

It was in the high 50s as we were carrying our stuff in, so that was making my shorts seem out of place.  Its too early for it to be so cool!

And we will be messed up all week because it will be Tuesday tomorrow when it will seem like Monday all day.   But summer is now officially over.........

Retired Rod

That darned oil filter!

Back in September of 2008 I wrote the most visited blog that I have written.  It was about changing the oil in my Honda Outboard Engine.  When I look at my hit stats, this single blog continues to be searched out more than any other in this site.

So again today I was back changing the oil in my Honda outboard because it is September again, and we never put enough hours on the engine in a single year to change it more often than annually.

But as easily as I explained the change back in the old blog, that didn't happen today.  First of all I had left my collapsing oil filter wrench at home, but I did have the plastic cap style wrench that goes on a socket ratchet here so I started with it.

No dice, the socket just spun on the bottom of the tight filter.  I tried the claw style with the opposing thumb but it wouldn't fit.  I had stopped by the local O Reily auto parts store hoping to find the collapsing claw, but to no avail.

I had purchased the collapsing claw style at Auto Zone, so I looked it up on the internet and found a store in Jefferson City, about 40 miles North of here.  Missouri's Capitol.  So I said what the heck and headed out that way.  I drove right to the store based on its address, and they had exactly what I wanted.

When you put your 3/8ths ratchet into the square center, the arms collapse against the side of the filter and grip it ever tighter as you apply pressure.  40 minutes later I was back home.  But with my prize wrench, I still couldn't get the filter to move.  It kept slipping.......

I went back to the local autoparts store to see what else might work.  But as I was gone, my son Chris came back home and took up the job where I had left off.  Since he is 20 plus years younger than myself, he was able to apply much more gripping pressure around the wrench as he ratcheted and got it to move.

Evidently I used way too much pressure on the filter last year when putting it back on, and the heat from the engine cooked it into place firmly.  And this time Chris badgered me into not tightening it down so much, making sure he could move it by hand when we were finished.  I'll bet it will still be a bear next year too.

The rest of the day was family time and we did go out on a pontoon ride after the oil was done being changed.

The gals made Taco Pie for supper tonight, and that was a big hit.  Tomorrow will be time to head back home, another holiday weekend in the books.

Retired Rod

Hot in the house and steak Quesadillas

I spent kind of a hot night here at the lake place, as the air conditioner worked and worked to cool this house down.  We don't completely turn off the AC here but we set the thermostat at 90 degrees while we are not here.

Years ago in our former house we would turn the AC off when we left.   When we would come back on Friday night, it would be over 100 in the house and we could not get cooled down.  We had high speed fans that would evacuate the heat into the night air.  But when we started to have the candles melt onto the coffee table and the lamp shades turn all yellow from being cooked as the house was all shut up, we needed to do something.

That something was to set the AC on 90 and let it run.  So it was exactly 90 when we arrived, and it was over 100 outside so we just set the temp back into the 70s, and it runs continuous for many hours while it catches back up.  It was about 2 AM before the AC cycled, and I was still awake.

Today our sons and their families arrived and swimming and lake activities abounded.

Steak quesadillas were the menu item for this evening's meal.  The steak was grilled on the gas grill, and the tortillas were grilled on the indoor pancake grill with shredded cheese melting out of the steak onto your plate.  They were topped with a sour cream and salsa mixture making a cool and creamy tomato flavor with cilantro and onion seasonings.  There weren't any left over.........

Have a good Labor Day Holiday weekend......

Retired Rod

Purchasing prehung doors....

I spent most of the morning over at Home Depot picking out prehung doors for the basement.  I had to think thru each door and its size and whether it had a right hand or left hand hinge.  Eventually some of the store guys came and helped me load them onto a cart.

I had a pile of five of them at the checkout counter.   Once outside, a young fellow stood by them as I went on got the truck and utility trailer.  We stood them on their side and strapped them in with the motor cycle straps.  The utility trailer has had so many uses since we purchased it in 2006.

Once home, Loyce helped me carry them into the house and then down the basement stairs.  The larger doors just barely made it around the corner into the room at the bottom of the stairway.  And then I had to see if I still had it in me to hang one of them.

They are really not too hard to install if you have the proper package of wood shims and some finishing nails.  I managed to keep everything level with a long four foot level and the door doesn't even bind when it is closed.  There are now four more standing there waiting.  Perhaps I will have the carpenter hang them......  Or maybe not....

Tonight I am in Lake Ozark, where the house was hot hot hot when I arrived.

Retired Rod

Its painted!!

It was quite hot again today and I never experienced a moment of it!  That is because I had a date with the paint roller in the basement.  Since I have been rising early all week, I was up almost automatically at the beginning of the day.

And by 8:30 or so breakfast was over and I was running the drill mixer in the 5 gallon bucket of chocolate milk colored paint.  I didn't have a goal in mind, other than to keep at it steadily.  Tonight my back and arms attest to that steady pace.

By mid afternoon, I reached the corner where it was already painted brown.  And I had painted the bathroom as well.  After going over all the walls looking for places where it dried too thin and needed to be recoated, I washed out the brushes and tossed the roller.

For the rest of the afternoon, I busied myself with finishing the electrical outlets on the now newly painted half of the room.  Since the other side was powered up and the fan and portable lighting was running, I did go turn off the electricity on the circuits I was working on.  By now I was quite tired and didn't trust myself working on the boxes while they were hot.

It still needs to be cleaned up, but for now it is completed for this phase.  Just in time for the holiday weekend.

But no we won't be using the basement for any holiday activities, as we will be headed on down to the Lake place for the big weekend.  I just didn't want to be looking at finishing things when we get back.

Tonight I went on the dusk motor scooter ride, kind of in celebration.  I hadn't awarded myself that privilege while the goal wasn't complete.  But it was still 99 degrees when I left the house on the bike.  As it was getting dark, it began to cool off just slightly down to 95.  Its midnight now and still 85 outside.

Also, Thank You to all of the fine folks that commented on our Anniversary!  We didn't do anything special today, but like usual will celebrate with all the kids down at the Lake over Labor Day.  Seems like we have done it that way for many many years, and in fact we have.

This lake home is our third property on Lake Ozark, starting back in 1983.  And we have spent every Labor Day there since that time.  Wow, we've been doing it that way for 28 years.....  But then if it isn't broken......

Missouri has held a special place in our hearts as a vacation hide away when we lived and worked professionally in Iowa and as respite from the big city here in KC.

Retired Rod

More Medical Stuff

Today the alarm went off at 6 AM, just like it did when I was going to work every day.   Ewe... I really groaned and stumbled around trying to get ready.  The subject of today's tests was my heart as I was heading to the cardiologist office.

Since they have poked and prodded every other part of my body, they have somehow overlooked the heart tests, so today was the day.  I spent several hours in the morning, and then was told to go eat a salad or some soup and come back at 1 PM.  They stressed a light no fat lunch..... messes up the test somehow....  So salad it was.

While I was waiting to go back, I was working on mounting a light fixture on one of the suspended ceiling tile in the basement.  I cut the round hole with the roto zip the night before, but had not mounted it in the grid work.  So with an IV lock still in my right arm on the inside of the elbow where I couldn't flex or bend the arm too well, I was up on the ladder installing and wiring a fixture.

I accomplished the task, but it wasn't without some attitude comments.  And just as I finished with the light and had a working wall switch, my watch said I had to go back for the rest of the test.  By now it was getting seriously hot outside.

They injected some more dye in my IV and it was back under the camera thing for another half an hour. As I came back out to the car, the dash temp gauge said 102. (39 C for the Canadians, LOL)  Will it ever give up with this heat?

The remainder of the afternoon was spent cutting and piecing those odd ball tiles that go around the outside of the wall frame.  Each one has to be custom cut with the utility knife.  Then the cuts have to be recessed so the tile will hang thru the metal framing.   It has been a couple of years since I have worked on ceiling tiles, but the skills came back fairly quickly.

Tonight, the small room ceiling is finished, and I only had about half a tile left over, but I will more than likely remake some of the tiles that I wasn't happy with once I get some more new tiles.

I still have a lot of walls that need painting, so the project continues.

Retired Rod

As you read this, it is our Anniversary today.  We were married 43 years ago on a very hot afternoon in Mason City, Iowa.  Loyce's father was the minister at the local Methodist Church and I think every parishioner that attended the church came for the occasion.  The reception line took forever!  Funny how you remember these things.....