A Trip To The Emergency Room,a little wildlife, and a Nice Visit...
For the most part, it was a really nice Saturday. Rachel and I took a hot tub late last night. We started the Hot Tub Astronomy Club. We killed all the lights and while sitting in the tub, the trees block out most of the light in the neighborhood. We put a towel over the spa controls because they are pretty bright when all else is dark. And we shut off the jets and sat there staring out. I tried to get that concept across to Rachel that when you look at the stars, you are looking out, not up. Then we got in to something of a debate about whether or not you are still looking out if you wer eat the North Pole. I maintain that you are. Rachel respectfully disagrees. Your thoughts?
Anyway, I slept great. I've slept great every night since we got it running. I can tell it's working on my shoulder and neck because I am in pain again. I didn't hurt much for a long time, and I think that was because I have been preotecting it by not moving much. I was stiffening up from lack of motion. And I think the jets are breaking things up again. I'm going to have to find another doctor and get that treated soon.
Anyway, I slept in a bit. Rachel broguht me coffee in bed. I love that. I watched a little of the morning match from bed while drinking my coffee. Then I went out and mowed the lawn with our new mower. The other one died on Friday. Lots of smoke, I changed the oil and it was fine for a bit, but then lots of smoke again. And it kept smoking after I shut it off for a good long while. It was enough to make me abandon it on the lawn and go inside in case it caught fire and blew up or something. The new mower is great, and it was on sale.
Why are lawnmowers on sale for Father's Day? Why not iPods or plasma TVs or something fun?
Anyway, we were glad to get a deal, but still bummed. It never fails, you know, you get out from under and then bam, one thing after another. Brakes need work, or you need tires, or the dishwasher breaks. Rachel's Dad says, "It's always something." I said, "Hey, that's Rosanne Rosanadana." And he said, "Yes, but she's dead and she left it to me."
It's a beauty, though. 7 horse, rear bag, side mulch, self-propelled. And it's orange. One drawback so far is it doesn't quite fit in the mower storage area unless you double fold up the handle. Which is a hassle.
Anyway, I got the lawn mowed and then I watched the second half of the U.S. - Italy game. Sorry, match. And wow, it was exciting. I missed most of the drama, but it was probably the most exciting game I've seen so far. Then it was back to work. Jake was tasked with cleaning up the sun room. I was taking out the bottle brush in the back yard and trimming the bottle brush in the front. A couple of Jake's friends came by and I sent them away for an hour so Jake could finish his chore and then I was going to let them hang out and play pool. It was like 95 out today, so I was going to let them play inside. So they left, and about ten minutes later, Jake got hurt.
I'm not quite sure how it happened, even after he tried explaining it to us. I was maybe 25 feet from Jake when it happened, but the first thing I heard was Rachel call my name once , quite loud, from upstairs. Even over the stereo and the electric clippers I was using, I heard a sense of urgency in her voice that sent me running upstairs. When I last saw her, she was cleaning the bedroom and I was worried she had hurt her back again. So I went running up the back steps. And she went running down the inside steps. I found Jake in his bathroom looking pale and running his hand under the water. Then Rachel came in asking where I was.
I asked what happened and he said he was moving the fan and it cut his finger. And I thought he must have been goofing around or something, because, really, how do you do that. And like I said, he tried to explain it, but I still don't get it. I had him show me the cut. I wish I took a picture, because it was pretty freaky. But he was in a lot of pain and it bugs him when I do things like that, so I didn't.
Anyway, I took one look and said, "Well, it looks like we're going to the emergency room." It was deep. And it started up by his finger nail on the fleshy side and ran down around the side of his finger to somewhere between his first and second knuckle. Rachel said, "Let's see if the bleeding will stop on it's own." That surprised me. I'm not one for emergency rooms, usually. And she usually is. Anyway, we had him sit for about ten minutes. And the bleeding seemed to stop, but when we had him show it to us again, we saw lots of little white things. Rachel says they were fat cells. And it just looked really bad and I was even more sure he needed stictches. And Rachel was convinced as well.
So I got my keys to take him. And Rachel asked him if he wanted her to take him. And he did. So I stayed home. We've got a lot of work to do before our party on the 4th and I didn't want to lose the whole day. I went back to work. About 20 minutes later, the dogs started barking. I had forgotten about Jake's friends. I told them what happened and they didn't believe me at first. I assured them I wasn't kidding and asked them to come back in an hour or so. They left and I was on my way back down to work more when they rang the doorbell. "Can we hang out in the garage and wait for him?" It was REALLY hot out. So I let them in and set them up downstairs, gave them a soda and some popcorn and put in Dodgeball. And they hung out. And watched the whole movie. And played a little pool. I checked on them every once in a while.
And I called to check in with Rachel. They were having a bummer of a time. It's been my experience, and it was similar for them today, that the worst part about being in the emergency room is all of the other people that come in while you are there who are way worse off than you. They kept getting bumped by more serious injuries, I think, a car crash, and a drug overdose.
Meanwhile, I had about finished the projects I was working on and also Jake's sun room chore (and the blood around the fan), when Tony and Eva showed up for a Union Break. They are our neighbors who moved who came back to do some work on their old house. It's for sale, by the way. It's smaller than ours because they haven't finished the downstairs yet, but they have the same great view. $400K or so, if you are interested. Anyway, we sat down and had a nice chat while drinking a beer. We had just about finished our first when a car pulled up put front and a guy rolled down the window and asked, "Is Jake home?" I answered no and explained that he cut his finger and was at the hospital. He looked a little puzzled and then asked, "Um, is Saul here?" I answered, "Oh, yeah, he's downstairs playing pool with Luis, let me get him."
So the kids left and I checked in with Rachel again. They had been seen by a nurse and were waiting for a doctor. This is three hours or so after they left. Then we saw this little furry thing go blazing by. And then some slower bigger things. The slower things were Momma Deer and her pal, perhaps Grandma deer.
And the little furry thing was the cutest little fawn with lots of spots. I tossed them some banana. The baby deer just had a blast with the sprinkler I had running. I shot a great little video, but I don't know how to post those here. We were cracking up. It got right up in and was drinking and getting blasted and then the water would go up it's nose and it would take off running and jump up to the street and then come tearing around again for more.
I think this was the closest I've been to deer since we've lived here without a fence between us. Anyway, we had another beer and I put any thoughts about doing any more yard work out of my head. Then Emily from up the street and the Kings daugther Andrea came down with another friend. They had gone to the movies. Well, the other friend waved at me like she knew me, and sure enough, it was Rachel's boss' (well, one of her bosses) daughter who was here for the cement saw/dinner for 13 on short notice night. Small world. And she'll be here for the 4th, which is cool because Dre will have someone to play with and Matthew will have two little girls fawning all over him. Which might make up for Serra not being here.
Anyway, it was a nice afternoon hang out. It's still weird to me, but I think it's really cool that folks in my neighborhood hang out in the front yard and visit. And neighbors will walk by and stop in to chat as well.
Tony and Eva took off, and Rachel and Jake still were not home. I called again to check in. Jake was to be getting a tetanus shot, a numbing agent, and some stitches. Bummer.
We are both really proud of him. I think wrestling and all of the medical stuff he's been through with his illness have really toughened him up. He didn't cry during this whole ordeal. They finally rolled home around 9:00 after a quick stop at the Waldstrom's (That's Tony's, and it's a good one, I think. Although I think I like calling it the 'W'.) for a movie.
We sat and ate dinner and watched the new Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin. Jake was a little loopy and laughed more than us. But he was on Vicodin. Maybe we all should have been because Rachel and I didn't laugh much at all. The critics were right on this one, it was a snooze. A couple of funny scenes, but they could have done so much more. I'm thinking Jackie Chan as Cato, you know? Anyway, Jake went off to bed. He got six stitches, by the way. And the numbing shot went right in the cut. And it is all bandaged up and will be for a week to ten days. Poor kid. Jeez, the lengths they'll go to to get out of doing chores, you know? Whatever happened to faking a stomacheache?
Anyway, Rachel and I took a tub. And then she went to bed and I sat doing some star gazing. Then I did a little walking meditation, barefoot, on my freshly cut grass. That was nice. I haven't done that in a long time. Then I came in here and blogged all about it.
The cabin cleanup post is still forthcoming. I am not trying to keep anyone in suspense, and I really want to get it up for Uncle Dave and Auntie Lisa (one of my most loyal readers). It's just that there are so many pictures, it's really time consuming to get throught them all, shrink them down to size and all. But I'm about ahlfway through them now and should finish up tomorrow.
Provided I can manage to keep my fingers out of the fan.
Anyway, I slept great. I've slept great every night since we got it running. I can tell it's working on my shoulder and neck because I am in pain again. I didn't hurt much for a long time, and I think that was because I have been preotecting it by not moving much. I was stiffening up from lack of motion. And I think the jets are breaking things up again. I'm going to have to find another doctor and get that treated soon.
Anyway, I slept in a bit. Rachel broguht me coffee in bed. I love that. I watched a little of the morning match from bed while drinking my coffee. Then I went out and mowed the lawn with our new mower. The other one died on Friday. Lots of smoke, I changed the oil and it was fine for a bit, but then lots of smoke again. And it kept smoking after I shut it off for a good long while. It was enough to make me abandon it on the lawn and go inside in case it caught fire and blew up or something. The new mower is great, and it was on sale.
Why are lawnmowers on sale for Father's Day? Why not iPods or plasma TVs or something fun?
Anyway, we were glad to get a deal, but still bummed. It never fails, you know, you get out from under and then bam, one thing after another. Brakes need work, or you need tires, or the dishwasher breaks. Rachel's Dad says, "It's always something." I said, "Hey, that's Rosanne Rosanadana." And he said, "Yes, but she's dead and she left it to me."
It's a beauty, though. 7 horse, rear bag, side mulch, self-propelled. And it's orange. One drawback so far is it doesn't quite fit in the mower storage area unless you double fold up the handle. Which is a hassle.
Anyway, I got the lawn mowed and then I watched the second half of the U.S. - Italy game. Sorry, match. And wow, it was exciting. I missed most of the drama, but it was probably the most exciting game I've seen so far. Then it was back to work. Jake was tasked with cleaning up the sun room. I was taking out the bottle brush in the back yard and trimming the bottle brush in the front. A couple of Jake's friends came by and I sent them away for an hour so Jake could finish his chore and then I was going to let them hang out and play pool. It was like 95 out today, so I was going to let them play inside. So they left, and about ten minutes later, Jake got hurt.
I'm not quite sure how it happened, even after he tried explaining it to us. I was maybe 25 feet from Jake when it happened, but the first thing I heard was Rachel call my name once , quite loud, from upstairs. Even over the stereo and the electric clippers I was using, I heard a sense of urgency in her voice that sent me running upstairs. When I last saw her, she was cleaning the bedroom and I was worried she had hurt her back again. So I went running up the back steps. And she went running down the inside steps. I found Jake in his bathroom looking pale and running his hand under the water. Then Rachel came in asking where I was.
I asked what happened and he said he was moving the fan and it cut his finger. And I thought he must have been goofing around or something, because, really, how do you do that. And like I said, he tried to explain it, but I still don't get it. I had him show me the cut. I wish I took a picture, because it was pretty freaky. But he was in a lot of pain and it bugs him when I do things like that, so I didn't.
Anyway, I took one look and said, "Well, it looks like we're going to the emergency room." It was deep. And it started up by his finger nail on the fleshy side and ran down around the side of his finger to somewhere between his first and second knuckle. Rachel said, "Let's see if the bleeding will stop on it's own." That surprised me. I'm not one for emergency rooms, usually. And she usually is. Anyway, we had him sit for about ten minutes. And the bleeding seemed to stop, but when we had him show it to us again, we saw lots of little white things. Rachel says they were fat cells. And it just looked really bad and I was even more sure he needed stictches. And Rachel was convinced as well.
So I got my keys to take him. And Rachel asked him if he wanted her to take him. And he did. So I stayed home. We've got a lot of work to do before our party on the 4th and I didn't want to lose the whole day. I went back to work. About 20 minutes later, the dogs started barking. I had forgotten about Jake's friends. I told them what happened and they didn't believe me at first. I assured them I wasn't kidding and asked them to come back in an hour or so. They left and I was on my way back down to work more when they rang the doorbell. "Can we hang out in the garage and wait for him?" It was REALLY hot out. So I let them in and set them up downstairs, gave them a soda and some popcorn and put in Dodgeball. And they hung out. And watched the whole movie. And played a little pool. I checked on them every once in a while.
And I called to check in with Rachel. They were having a bummer of a time. It's been my experience, and it was similar for them today, that the worst part about being in the emergency room is all of the other people that come in while you are there who are way worse off than you. They kept getting bumped by more serious injuries, I think, a car crash, and a drug overdose.
Meanwhile, I had about finished the projects I was working on and also Jake's sun room chore (and the blood around the fan), when Tony and Eva showed up for a Union Break. They are our neighbors who moved who came back to do some work on their old house. It's for sale, by the way. It's smaller than ours because they haven't finished the downstairs yet, but they have the same great view. $400K or so, if you are interested. Anyway, we sat down and had a nice chat while drinking a beer. We had just about finished our first when a car pulled up put front and a guy rolled down the window and asked, "Is Jake home?" I answered no and explained that he cut his finger and was at the hospital. He looked a little puzzled and then asked, "Um, is Saul here?" I answered, "Oh, yeah, he's downstairs playing pool with Luis, let me get him."
So the kids left and I checked in with Rachel again. They had been seen by a nurse and were waiting for a doctor. This is three hours or so after they left. Then we saw this little furry thing go blazing by. And then some slower bigger things. The slower things were Momma Deer and her pal, perhaps Grandma deer.
And the little furry thing was the cutest little fawn with lots of spots. I tossed them some banana. The baby deer just had a blast with the sprinkler I had running. I shot a great little video, but I don't know how to post those here. We were cracking up. It got right up in and was drinking and getting blasted and then the water would go up it's nose and it would take off running and jump up to the street and then come tearing around again for more.
I think this was the closest I've been to deer since we've lived here without a fence between us. Anyway, we had another beer and I put any thoughts about doing any more yard work out of my head. Then Emily from up the street and the Kings daugther Andrea came down with another friend. They had gone to the movies. Well, the other friend waved at me like she knew me, and sure enough, it was Rachel's boss' (well, one of her bosses) daughter who was here for the cement saw/dinner for 13 on short notice night. Small world. And she'll be here for the 4th, which is cool because Dre will have someone to play with and Matthew will have two little girls fawning all over him. Which might make up for Serra not being here.
Anyway, it was a nice afternoon hang out. It's still weird to me, but I think it's really cool that folks in my neighborhood hang out in the front yard and visit. And neighbors will walk by and stop in to chat as well.
Tony and Eva took off, and Rachel and Jake still were not home. I called again to check in. Jake was to be getting a tetanus shot, a numbing agent, and some stitches. Bummer.
We are both really proud of him. I think wrestling and all of the medical stuff he's been through with his illness have really toughened him up. He didn't cry during this whole ordeal. They finally rolled home around 9:00 after a quick stop at the Waldstrom's (That's Tony's, and it's a good one, I think. Although I think I like calling it the 'W'.) for a movie.
We sat and ate dinner and watched the new Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin. Jake was a little loopy and laughed more than us. But he was on Vicodin. Maybe we all should have been because Rachel and I didn't laugh much at all. The critics were right on this one, it was a snooze. A couple of funny scenes, but they could have done so much more. I'm thinking Jackie Chan as Cato, you know? Anyway, Jake went off to bed. He got six stitches, by the way. And the numbing shot went right in the cut. And it is all bandaged up and will be for a week to ten days. Poor kid. Jeez, the lengths they'll go to to get out of doing chores, you know? Whatever happened to faking a stomacheache?
Anyway, Rachel and I took a tub. And then she went to bed and I sat doing some star gazing. Then I did a little walking meditation, barefoot, on my freshly cut grass. That was nice. I haven't done that in a long time. Then I came in here and blogged all about it.
The cabin cleanup post is still forthcoming. I am not trying to keep anyone in suspense, and I really want to get it up for Uncle Dave and Auntie Lisa (one of my most loyal readers). It's just that there are so many pictures, it's really time consuming to get throught them all, shrink them down to size and all. But I'm about ahlfway through them now and should finish up tomorrow.
Provided I can manage to keep my fingers out of the fan.
posted by Eric Soderstrom at 2:34 AM
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