I Now Confidently Believe In The Pretrib Rupture

Wait just a minute! Before I get into the main content of this post I must take a moment to bring you up to date on an important anniversary. Jonathan turned 18 years old on Sunday and we took the opportunity to visit McGrath's Fish House. In attendance with him were his grandparents on his mother's side and his mother and myself. I, of course was behind the camera. The party was a bit of a bust as the unlimited shrimp that most of us ordered was pretty lousy. I think they were underdone. It was an "all you can eat" selection and believe me, one plate was all you could eat. It was probably a bit of an anomalie as I believe that McGrath's is a reputable restaurant but not that particular day I am sorry to say. However, the time spent with family, and Jonathan in particular, was memorable we will all remember it with favor.

With that important preamble, I must spill my guts with this important update.

Up until recently, I thought that it would never happen to me. However, a couple of weeks ago I had to go to a doctor and renew my medical card, which is a requirement for my commercial driver's license. After the familiar "cough" test, I was informed that I have a double hernia and that the left side is far worse than the right. Time and experience has rendered me a skeptic so I responded that no doctor, including the one to whom I was presently speaking, had ever told me that I had a hernia let alone two. He was unabashed, allowed me the full two year medical card, but reaffirmed that, in fact I had a couple of hernias.

Ok. Whatever! I decided to take that bit of information to my primary doctor and low and behold, he confirmed an obvious left inguinal hernia and a suggested hernia on the right. Oh great! Now what?

My next stop was a general surgeon who seemed to delight in the fact that in fact there was a couple of hernias and I was going under the knife. The date is still tentative but I will apparently be off work for at least two weeks and up to 6 weeks. What the (insert your favorite interjection)!

Ok. Deep breaths! I am not going to be off work for 6 weeks. I mean, who can afford that? I searched the internet and assuming that at least some of what one finds there is accurate, I will be off some where between one and four weeks. I am suspecting between two and four weeks. We can easily sustain a hiatus of three weeks and with some minor discomfort, can go a little over four weeks. I am kind of looking forward to a few weeks off work but am also ready to take on a challenge of being back to normal, with full recovery, in about three weeks. We'll see. The surgery is not scheduled yet. We are waiting to see which agency, worker's comp or my health insurance, is going to choose to take the financial responsibility.

I've been watching some of these surgeries on youtube. Here is a link to one similar to what I will enjoy that is fairly benign. Enjoy!

Do You Remember?

It is interesting how certain songs on the radio remind me of something. Everytime I hear "Keep On Rockin' Me Baby" by the Steve Miller Band I think of sitting in my high school cafeteria eating lunch. Each time I hear the Eagles singing "Witchy Woman" I am back in that dingy roller skating rink in Brookings, Oregon in the early seventies.

Whenever the date September 11 rolls around I recall that I was out in the woods somewhere between Pendleton and John Day chasing elk with a stick and a string and wasn't aware until late evening that this tragedy had even taken place. I was enjoying the freedoms that living in this country affords me and had no idea that somewhere in the "Land of the Free" there were men and women coming to grips with the idea that this is also the "Home of the Brave".

When we got back to camp, we heard from one of our companions who had chosen to refrain from the evening hunt and had decided to turn on the radio in one of the vehicles that our country had been attacked by a yet unknown enemy. Boy! That took the wind out of our sails. It was interesting to me that to a man, we each decided to pull up stakes and head home the next day. Somehow, fun wasn't that important anymore and we each needed to get home to our families.

Ok. Time has rubbed the edges off the the wound a bit but I hope that we never forget how the country came together against a common enemy for a time. Let's rekindle that kind of passion again. Though the injury was grievious, that was a remarkable period in our history and I miss the singlemindedness that grew from it.

I Wonder If It'll Be Worth It

Wow! Last week was kind of rough. Did you know? I was on vacation but there was more than a few times that I wished I was back at work. We were getting ready for another show at Monticello Antique Marketplace which starts this Friday. It has been said that there is no more difficult boss than the guy who works for himself. That seemed true to me last week. Hopefully, the next two or three weeks will bring the rewards that will somehow make the sacrifices of the previous weeks worth it.

Let me give you a preview of what you might see should you venture out to the show.

I'll admit that I was a little bent about having to build this hut but now I have to admit that it is kind of cute!

Here a couple of close up views of little vignettes that Debbie put together.

Ok! I am a little partial to our space but to be perfectly honest, there are a number of spaces in the show that will really grab your attention. I heard many comments from people stating that this show is turning out to be a really outstanding one. Perhaps you'd like to come by and see for yourself.