Memorial Day week end

Well we are into the Memorial Day week end.  I hope we all can take a few minutes from sales, and picnics and focusing on summer and the end of school to remember the true meaning of this holiday.  Memorial Day was set aside to remember and honor those brave men and women who paid the ultimate price to defend our country, or freedoms and our way of life.  Thankfully Bryan is not in that group but we know several others who are.

I am a proud father of a US soldier

Dave

Pin cushion

Well I now know how a pin cushion feels and it is not good.  Today I had to go to the doctor's office to have blood samples drawn.  This is in advance of a physical next week.  I have small veins and have always had trouble giving blood.  Today was especially bad.  I think it is because I was also a bit dehydrated.  The doctor said I needed to fast before they drew blood.  So I did not eat anything nor did I drink any water.  once at the doctor's the nurse stuck my left arm.  She got two vials of blood and then it stopped.  She tried sticking my right arm but with no success.  She had another nurse try and she chose the back of my right hand.  Again no luck.  They then sent me to a place where drawing blood is all they do.  There they tried the back of my left hand.  Finally they got the third and final sample.

I guess I should also mention I hate needles and giving blood.  During the first attempt I got very light headed and I was afraid I may actually pass out.  I went from sitting to laying down and that helped.  I am glad physicals are only once per year.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms.  My Mom past away two years ago tomorrow.

So far this has been a wet week end.  I did not get to ride my bike Friday morning as it was raining.  Then that evening we had a terrible storm blow through.  We had thunder and lightning all night.  It also rained hard.  The picture above appears to show an empty rain gauge.  In fact it shows a full one.  We had over 5 inches of rain over night.  While I am grateful for what we got, I do wish it had come over several days rather than several hours. 

We stopped at the house Elizabeth is watching while the owner is overseas and found his alarm was not working.  Actually the alarm works fine, the control panel to turn it off was not working.  We finally had to just power it down and they are sending a repair man out to fix.  It was painful on the ears.

Other than that is has been a typical week end so far.  Today, Sunday, is forecast to be a dry day.  Once I finish this post I will eat, get my riding clothes on and hit the road.  The temperature is in the mid 60's, expected to be in the mid 80's later.  The wind is light out of the north, which means low humidity.  It will be a near perfect day. 

May 6

Well it is 8 PM on Sunday.  This week end has been a typical infusion week end, busy.

On Friday I got up and rode my typical Friday bike route.  With the sun rising earlier I get to ride earlier and longer.  This day I rode 40 miles.  When I got home I showered and then ate.  After breakfast we ran a couple of errands.  Then it was home for a light lunch and off for my infusion.  On the way home I stopped and picked up a couple of pieces of glass we ordered from the glass store.  They were for the top of our end tables.  The tables were not stained very well and had a couple of places where the table got banged and the wood showed through the stain.  I took a little nap and then we ate.  Infusions always make me tired.  After supper I went to my Friday meeting.

On Saturday I got up and was doing some computer work.  My son Bryan was also on line so I got to "talk" to him.  He is doing well and looking forward to getting home.  Then I went for a bike ride. This day I rode another 41 miles.  I rode to a nearby town along Galveston bay.  This town was hit hard by hurricane Ike.  It is still not fully recovered.  When I got home I ate and showered.  Then we were off for our week end grocery shopping.  Back home we had lunch and rested.  After supper we watched some television we had recorded.  It was a bit of an emotional day as it would have been my parents 61 anniversary.  Even though they have been gone a couple of years, birthdays and anniversary are still emotional.

Today I had to get up a bit earlier so I could take my Actenol.  All the steroids I have had to take over the past few years have thinned my bones.  I hope when I have my bone density scan this year, things are improving and I can stop taking this medicine.  After taking the medicine I have to wait at least 30 minutes before eating.  After eating I was off to ride my bike down the access road.  This was the longest of the three days, 42 miles.  Once home I had pancakes and bacon.  Then I worked on the lawn.  The back yard needed to be mowed and the front yard had some weeds that needed to be pulled.  I also gave the plants a drink.  Then I had a shower and we were off.  We had several stops such as the library, bank etc.  Back home  I had lunch.  It was a home made pizza.  In the afternoon we rested.  I slept for an hour or so.  For supper I had some shrimp over rice, asparagus and toasted bread.  Like most meals it was very good.



This evening I think we will have some quiet time.  I also need to take Candi for a walk and then call it a day.  Today was a difficult day for Elizabeth.  I very good friend of hers died today.  She worked until about a year ago and finally retired at age 70.  She had lived in Illinois.  Several months ago she learned she had cancer.  She did suffer and at least that is over.  I pray for Elizabeth and Sylvia's family.

Happy birthday

Happy Birthday Bridget and Bryan!!!  I hope you both have a wonderful day.

Bridget and Bryan are tow of my children.  They are twins and today is their birthday.  They are grown so I am not sure birthdays are as significant any more.  Bryan celebrates his birthday overseas while Bridget is here.  We were going to get together but I had to cancel as there was just too much stuff on my calendar.

April 27

Just a quick update.  On Wednesday I started feeling bad.  I had a head ache, sore throat and muscle ache.  That night my temperature was 100F.  So I went to bed early but did not sleep well as I tossed and turned.  I did fell better on Thursday morning and went to work.  This was much to the wishes of Elizabeth.  By the evening I felt worse but not as bad as the previous night.  And I did not have a temperature.  I slept much better the night.  While I felt better this morning I decided not to ride.  Now, 5:45, I feel pretty good.  I plan to go to my usual Friday night meeting and then ride my bike in the morning.  Right now I am off to walk Candi.

I should have mentioned on my previous post, many years ago I spent 11 weeks in Korea working.  There you had to learn to use sticks to eat.  I guess I still retained a bit of the knowledge.  I guess eating with chop sticks is like riding a bike, once learned you never forget.

Wonderful supper

Tonight I had a wonderful.  Actually that is nothing new.  Almost every meal I have is wonderful.  But here are a couple of pictures.  Elizabeth made chicken and rice.  She also had home made egg rolls.  Actually two kinds of egg rolls.  Ones filled with veggies to eat with supper and some made with apples and cinnamon for dessert.   It was all very good.  The only problem I had is I tried to eat using chop sticks.  I know why most orientals are thin.  Do you know how long it takes to eat a bowl of fried rice using chop sticks?  I could only pick up one or two pieces at a time.  I finally gave up and broke out the fork.

April 21

On April 15 I rode the Tour de Braz.  The name comes from Brazoria county where most of the ride occurred.  The ride was to raise money for an animal shelter.  It was another day of vicious wind.  The ride started into the wind and again I could only average about 11 miles per hour.  I did that for 30 miles.  Then we turned and the wind was at our back.  Now the average speed was around 23 miles per hour.  Below is a picture of the check in tent.

Here is a picture of me ready to go

At one point we had to stop and wait for a train that was blocking the road.

And here I am home and all cleaned up.  Elizabeth said I smelled like I had ridden 65 miles.

So far this has been a busy week end.  For us the week end includes Friday.  On Friday Elizabeth had a doctor's appointment in the morning.  She has a couple of issues that need to be watched.  It will be difficult since our insurance will no longer pay if we use this particular clinic.  I think it a an absolute shame.  And we all know why, the insurance company wants to make more money.  We have absolutely no concern for the patients.  And they really do not care because their customer is the company and not the individual.  It is not like we can take our business to another insurance company.  If BO wants to really improve the health care in this country then stop the insurance companies form practicing medicine.  OK I got that off my chest.

After that we had some errands to run.

Today I got up and went for a ride.  There were not an many riders on the road as normal.  This week end is the MS 150.  That is a two day bike ride from Houston to Austin to raise money for the battle against MS.  I have ridden it 9 times and it is a great ride.  But it is not for me this year.  In fact I an not sure I will ever ride another multi-day ride.  The logistics are just difficult.  After getting home and eating breakfast, I worked on the yard.  I had to mow and edge.  I also pulled some weeds that are trying to take over.  It is a gorgeous day.  Low humidity and temperatures in the 70s.  For lunch Elizabeth made a pasta salad and ribs.  They were wonderful.  While ribs are not on the forbidden food list it has been a while since I had them.  We ate outside to enjoy the nice weather.

After eating we ran a couple of errands including a stop at Barnes and Noble.  Once back home we both rested.  For supper I had a sandwich and chips.  After the big lunch a light supper was all I needed.  All in all a very nice couple of days.

April 14

It has been a busy couple of days.  Friday I did not get to ride as I had to go to the doctor's office at 9.  This was a ear nose and throat guy.  He started by removing a lot of wax from my left ear.  It got packed in there a couple of weeks ago when I mowed the lawn and jammed an ear plug in.  After he got that out I had a hearing test.  No surprise I have had some hearing loss.  We are now looking into hearing aids.  They are kind of expensive so the question that needs to be answered is if the hearing loss is severe enough to justify the expense.   We will see.  After lunch I worked around the house.  I had to replace a fence post and plant a couple of bushes.  The old 4 by 4 post was rotten at the the ground.  The hard part was removing the old post and concrete without making a huge hole that then needed to be refilled.  But I got it out and the new one cemented in.

Today I got up and did get to ride.  It was very windy.  Going out, into the wind, I averaged 13 miles per hour.  Coming back it was closer to 23.  I have an app on my phone called Map My Ride.  It keeps track of where I ride and plots on a map.  It also records stats like time distance and speed.  It also had a voice status option.  I did not realize this was turned on.  I had earphone on as I was listening to music.  Suddenly I hear this voice telling me how far I have ridden and how fast.  When I got home I showered and then we were off to run some errands.  When we got back we rested and then went to Mass.  I am going to ride in an organized ride tomorrow so we went to church tonight.

Phew no wonder I am tired.

By the way, Blogger was switched to a new format.  Art least it is new for me.  So far I have not found the comments tab.  So if you posted a comment and do not see it, please be patient I will find it soon.

Spiders

This evening as we were watching television, a spider ran across the floor.  I got a paper towel and removed it.  Then we saw several more.  I got more paper towel but when I put it on one it seemed the spider exploded into dozen of tiny spiders.  It must have been a mother spider carrying her young.  Well they are all gone now.  I have no doubt we will have an exterminator here bright and early tomorrow.