Good News, Bad news

Today #2 begins a new chapter in his life.  He starts his drive up to Seattle.  It is good in that he is moving on with his life.  Job opportunities and health issues are prompting the move.  But on the other hand, it is sad he is leaving.  He had given us a bit of stability around the chaos of our lives.  I will miss that.  Gayle loses her movie watching partner, I lose my “go help your mother” late night dodge.  He did a lot of clean up chores around the house that were severely neglected by my health issues and was always ensuring I didn’t need to call 911.

We wish you well in Seattle Jordan.

Deja vu all over again

As we got back from Texas,  I was able to visit our local ER again.  I know what you are asking, did she drop me off and make me walk into ER?  Sort of.  I asked her to drop me off in the back and had to make my way to the front of the hospital where ER was located.  It was longer than I estimated.

ER?  The night we returned from Texas, the first thing we did was head to a late night Japanese Restraurant.  Later that night I started getting a pain in my lower back, just below the rib cage towards the back, inside.  It was enough to keep me up at night.  Though a series of events, it was eventually determined I was passing a kidney stone.

For those of you who have experienced a Kidney stone have already flinched in commiseration.  The tales of many of those who have been felled by the little objects of pain.

I have learned more than I wanted to.  Apparently there are different types of stones.  Either way, they are quite painful.  They make large strong men wither in the fetal position.  It is unrelenting.  But apparently blood in the urine is a good sign, that the stone is passing.

I have been told to drink lemon juice to dull the spiky points of the stone.  But there seems like there is no quick cure other than running it's course.  Ouch.

Ok, for those of you keeping score, One heart attack resulting in quadruple bypass, Colon Cancer, the removal of 1/3 of my colon and 6 months of Chemo Therapy, Two cases of bacterial infection, and now Kidney Stones.  Thank goodness for health insurance.

What was the hardest part?  Expaining to the grandson what all the scars were for.  He actually asked good questions for a 5 year old.  How do you explain bypass surgery, comparing it to a clogged pipes in the sink.  Cancer was another story.  I don't think he quite understood that one.  But either do I.

LBJ

Today was a trip to Austin, to visit the LBJ presidential library.  This was well worth the trip.  One look at the building and the word "monolith" comes to mind.  Either that or the Borg.  It is a huge square building.  I have to admit, it was well worth the trip.  But Austin did not sit well with the wife and we immediately took off for the River Walk of San Antonio.

Of course instead of strolling along the riverwalk, we went to a Diner, Drive in and Dive         .  It was a combination of all three.  Basic home style cooking.  A half order of onion rings was a full serving in LA.  She had the talipia special (they just ran out of the 3D feature of chicken fried steak sandwich) I had the pork gravy on toast with mashed potatoes.  I also stole her spinach.  Interesting is the best we can describe.  Of course we closed out the joint, but we got a laugh from the cashier when she called about their hours and asked if they took reservations.

We did take a cruise down the riverwalk, the tourist thing to do in 90 degree heat at 10pm at night.  Tomorrow is the Alamo.

Remember the ....... Heat?

The Alamo.

Why?  Well the good state of California became part of the USA as a result of the war with Mexico and Mexico president Santa Ana signing over the California territory.  I still don't remember  this from the fourth grade (California history).  I'm just thankful the wife did not make me travel to see the Texas missions (the Alamo was once a Mission).

Master Builder

I'm sitting here watching the 5 yr. old grandson build LEGOs.  He is always asking for LEGO kits and we try to purchase the simpler (less bricks) kits.  At the last visit, he was able to assemble them with some assistance.  The most common mistake was putting the piece in the wrong spot.

Six months later, I watch and observe.  He will spread out his parts, look at the instructions, pick out his parts.  Then he takes a pause and studies how he is going to assemble it.  He is methodical and a little scary.  I'm looking at the box (Y-Wing Starfighter) and it recommends  ages 8 to 14.  It would give me a headache assembling it now and no concept of what to do when i was his age.

In my day, I was assembling Gilbert erector sets,  but at twice his age.  Nuts, bolts, wrenches, gilders. I never had quite enough to do the projects I wanted.

I was shooting a video of him earlier assembling the LEGO, he wanted to see what I was doing.  I showed him how to mount it on the tripod, turn on the camera and which button to push.  This evening, he set it up himself and started taping himself.

I thought Jared was scary at five sitting in front of a PC, imitating his brothers and using the keyboard.

I guess the next time here I show him how to use iMovie to create his own film.  What is really hitting me is not his expertise in building LEGOs, but that he will start Kindergarten in two weeks.  Yes my eldest grandchild is starting school.  We bought him his backpack and lunch pail (star wars of course) today and going for school shoes tomorrow.

Sigh.......................

Band aide Kid

While the eldest is the Master Builder, the younger one is the Band aide Kid.  We name him that because he is constantly wearing a band aide for a boo boo that ocurred. I have sent him just about every version of band aides over the last few months since his head injury.  Peanuts, minions, fluorescent colors, star wars, etc.  Everyday I check he is buckled in the van, I see a new band aide.  He reminds me of Les Nessman of WKRP.  It is a part of who he is.

He is always changing clothes.  Whenever it is time to go somewhere, he disappears and comes out with new clothes.  My first indication of this behavior was when I emptied the dryer of the boys' clothes.  90% of the load was clothes of #2.

He found the covered cot display at Cabelas.  Happy 3rd birthday.

Texas cont.

Our first day on the road to Austin, we stop in Waco.  What do you do in Waco on a Sunday afternoon?  Not much.  Most attractions and restaurants are closed on Sundays.  But there is the Dr. Pepper Museum.  Yes it origination is in Waco Texas.  And within eyesight of the Magnolia Silos.

You can get an original Dr. Pepper made at the fountain with syrup and carbonated water.  She said she preferred the bottles.

But I digress, we are in Waco Texas, yes the land of Baylor University and Magnolia at the Silos.
What this all means is waking up at 6am to dine at the Magnolia Table.  We were warned that the waits can be up to 3 hours in the heat.  Turns out our wait was 2 minutes.  What a relief.  The food was not bad, the service great.  It reminded me of Disneyland, Jojo style.

Then the trip to the Silos.  It is 100 degrees out and the place is crowded.  In the store, there are two sections, one air conditioned and the other larger area downstairs, cooled by gigantic fans.  I found a spot by the entrance behind a display table where there was no traffic.  Once I planted myself, I did not move for however long it took for her to shop.

Can you find Waldo (Gayle)?  she is in there.  And she is one of the few Asians or for that matter minorities in the whole place.

The Texas Ranger museum, next to the visitor center.  Why the visitor center when the two (and a half) major attractions have been seen?  She wanted a picture of her and a cut our of Chip and Jojo.  It was closed so the next thing to do was walk over to the museum.

Now if you are thinking Baseball, no think more of Chuck Norris and his TV show.  Those Texas Rangers of the law enforcement kind.  It was interesting, especially if you like guns, but there seemed to be a few gaps in their history, WWII and JFK.

On the road again,  Texas has two lane divided highways in the back roads.  Except the left lane is for passing only, everyone else drives in the right lane.  There are numerous Historical Markers along the way, but you can't tell what they are except by the small number at the bottom of the sign.   I haven't looked on line yet, but am just glad the heat is keeping Gayle from making me pull over every time she sees one.  The last observation is that there are signs that say bridges ice over in cold weather, for every bridge.

We are now in a AC hotel room not willing to venture out just yet, remember the hottest time of the day?  Yep, 5pm.