We've got color...

Today we painted the two bedrooms and the master bath. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. The colors look very nice. This house has been mostly white for the past 12 years, so it is time for a change. We painted our bedroom blue, but it was not the color I thought it would be, so for the second coat we used the paint for the computer room and it was the right color. I wanted a darker, more bold color, not a baby blue. We'll paint the computer room the baby blue color. I am ready for this project to be finished. I think we still have at least another month before completion.

The wallboard came today

We're insulated...

Yesterday the guys came to insulate the walls. It is a green, eco-friendly type of batting and has no smell. The day before, Mike and Nathan took down the wall in Nathan's room so it now connects to the new addition.

Daffodils

It's that time of year again when the daffodils are blooming and the annual daffodil parade and festivities are happening.

Another childhood favorite

Couldn't resist this one. Nothing like the fear of gobble-uns to keep a little kid in line.

Little Orphant Annie

by James Whitcomb Riley

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--
So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press,
An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout--
An' the Gobble-uns'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever'one, an' all her blood an' kin;
An' onc't, when they was "company," an' ole folks was there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,
They was two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond an' dear,
An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

A childhood favorite poem

I loved this poem as a child. I still remember very well having to go to bed while the sun was still shining.

Bed in Summer

by Robert Louis Stevenson
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

April is National Poetry Month

I'm sharing one of my favorite poems with you today and perhaps, I'll share a few more this month. You can find poems on this website http://www.poets.org/

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The walls are coming down and going up...

Today the interior walls from the master bathroom and closet were removed, also the fixtures from the master bath were taken out. We found a little surprise when we took out the bathtub. It was not hooked into the drain underneath the floor and water has been pouring under the house all these years, who knew? These are some pictures of the interior.

So much to do, so little time...

Monday we transferred Dad from the nursing home to an adult family home. He seems happy there and they provide 24 hour care. He is not getting around very well and needs help doing just about everything. Today a wheelchair was delivered for him, the nursing home had ordered it and it is huge. It is so wide, I don't think it will fit in our wheelchair van. I'm taking it over to the AFH and will let them deal with medicare and trying to exchange it for a smaller chair. Nothing about this is simple. The AFH is only 3 miles from our house, so I can run over almost anytime.
Larry's dad is going to the ER tomorrow. Not sure what is going on with him, but this is about the time we had him in the hospital last year.

We be sickies here

I've been sick since Friday, Nathan and Larry became sick today. It is a bad bug with disgusting symptoms and finally it becomes a cold with more disgusting symptoms. I'll be glad when it's over. I'm not sure that misery really does love company. No need to bring food, too sick to eat.

The roof is on..

Pictures of the completed roof, not a day too soon, it's raining today.

One Year in the Blogosphere

It's been one year since this blog began. Originally the plan was for the cat to write it, but he wimped out after a couple days. This blog has become a daily journal of the happenings in our family. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Update on dad

Dad won't be coming home on Monday. When I took him to the urologist on Thursday, the doc removed the catheter. Somehow dad managed to put out enough urine that the nurse and doctor were convinced he would be ok...Well, when I left him at the nursing home later that day, I told them to watch for any blockage or problems that might occur (perhaps they could have done an i/o check). Friday afternoon I got a call from his roommate's daughter telling me that dad is in a lot of pain and nobody is giving him any pain medication. She puts dad on the phone and he describes the pain for me. I call the nursing station who tell me that the doctor says the antibiotic will take care of the pain on "urination". That would be fine and dandy but that's not when the pain is occurring. I call the urologist and explain, rather bruskly I'm afraid, that dad is having spasms of pain. It turns out that he has a blockage and they had to put the catheter back in because his bladder was very distended. I thanked his roommate today for having his daughter save my dad's life.

More pictures of the addition..

View from the back to the front yard.

View from the back of the house toward the front. This will be closet and master bath addition.

The end of the house from Nathan's room looking toward the back yard. The windows will be in the closet that runs along this side. The roof additions were just done today.

The front of the house showing the addition to Nathan's room.

More trusses?

Yesterday more trusses arrived to replace the ones brought the day before. Although, measurements were taken twice, the engineer at the truss company changed the dimensions resulting in the trusses being 18" higher than the existing roofline. oops!

The Trusses are here...

Making progress on all fronts...

Dad is making progress at the nursing home and will probably be home by March 9. We have been cleaning and painting his room in anticipation, but we may have to move him into the computer room so that he doesn't have to climb the little steps by his room. Nothing is simple.

The remodel is coming along. The walls are up and tomorrow we will be getting the trusses for the roof. We ordered the new jacuzzi walk-in bathtub for the master bathroom and the sinks and toilets on Saturday. Still trying to decide on flooring for Nathan's bedroom. I hope everyone appreciates our contributions to keeping the economy going!

Nathan is feeling much better. The pain seems to have gone away for now. Haven't heard anything from the surgeon since the CT scan.

Pumping Concrete

Today we have a huge pumper truck in our front yard, filling in the forms for the foundation of our new bathroom addition. I took several shots of the "arm" so you can see how high in the air it goes. It is very impressive.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The Revlon dolls from letsplaydolls.blogspot.com decided to make a brief appearance here in their red and white dresses to wish you a wonderful Valentine's day filled with all the chocolate your heart desires or whatever.

Latest plan for Nathan

On Tuesday, at exactly the same time Dad was having his operation, Nathan was in Tacoma visiting his surgeon, Dr. J. Nathan will be having a CT scan with contrast on Feb. 19. Then he may have further surgery, this time with an incision. Dr. J is still thinking it may be messenteric panniculitis and is researching that.

Forms and concrete

Today the guys are coming to build the forms and pour the concrete in the hole left by the big dig last week. I think this will be a good day for it...no rain. I'll try to get some pics today and post them to the blog.

Update on dad

Dad is still in the hospital recovering from a bladder re-section. We have no biopsy results yet on the tumor that was removed from the bladder. He is very anemic and has had two blood transfusions so far, he will probably need at least one more unit today, and perhaps another tomorrow. He is doing as well as can be expected for someone his age and his medical history. He slept most of yesterday. The house has been very quiet.

An ER visit for dad

It all started late Sunday evening when my father told me he wasn't feeling well. He didn't want to go to the ER, so we waited until Monday morning for a previously scheduled appointment with his nephrologist (kidney specialist). Dad was in a lot of discomfort and pain. The doc suggested we go to the ER. BIG MISTAKE! After spending 3 hours in the waiting room in extreme pain, we finally got in to see the doctor. The doctor came in, took one look at dad and said they would admit him. It was then after 1 in the afternoon, we had been there since 10 a.m. I won't go into all the gorey details of what procedures they did, but they finally gave him some pain medication and he slept peacefully for awhile. They put off doing a CT scan until 6 p.m., by that time I had gone home. Dad was very hungry, not having eaten since 7 a.m. that morning and he is a diabetic, so they fed him dinner after the scan. The results of the scan showed a blockage (possible tumor) in his bladder so the ER doc (yes, dad was still there at 7 p.m., waiting for a bed) called to get permission for surgery and the surgeon called to get permission to rescind the DNR order that the ER doc wanted put in place. The surgeon was ready to operate last night, when he discovered that dad had been fed dinner. So, surgery will be sometime today. I have located my DPA (power of attorney) papers and am getting prepared (praying) that I will be able to make some tough decisions in the next few hours/days. At age 88, I know that dad has limited time here on earth, I know that God knows what is best for him and He will give us strength and comfort during this time.

The Big Dig

The remodeling has begun with a gigantic hole being dug for the foundation. A huge dump truck hauled away 50 tons of dirt. The back hoe hit hard pan a few feet down and for awhile it looked like we might have to use jack hammers to get to the required depth. Persistance paid off and no jack hammers were needed. At least now we know why that side of the house tended to collect water. It couldn't go down, so it came back up, despite the French drain system we had.

In true construction tradition, the guys have now taken off to work on a job in Westport. The back hoe and dump truck are sitting in our front yard waiting for the rental company to pick them up. Forms and concrete are the next step, plus an inspection, don't know when that will happen.

I did find a handicapped accessible motel nearby where we can stay when we have to leave the house for a few days. I'm looking forward to the continental breakfast and the hot tub.

Let the remodel begin...

Tomorrow is the big day, we start the bedroom/bathroom remodel. We're going to add 200 square feet to the right end of the house (if you were facing it). The master bath will be remodeled to add a new walk-in shower, double sinks, heated tile floors, a new tub and toilet, and a new closet. Nathan's bedroom will be expanded, his bathroom will be re-done and he will also get a new closet. I am so excited. We have been planning this for a very long time, almost since the last remodel 12 years ago. I think this is our 4th remodel of this house and Larry's 5th. I should be packing up things, but I'm still a little over-whelmed and I am not sure where to put things. I've been making some room in my storage area. I think I need the Relief Society to come over and help me pack....

A set-back for Nathan...

Unfortunately for Nathan, the abdominal pain has returned. We are only 2 1/2 months post-op from the adhesion surgery and now the pain is back. It runs across his lower abdomen and up his sternum almost to his collar bone. He says it's the same pain he had before the operation. Can adhesions grow that quickly? It hurts when he takes a deep breath and when we try to move him when we are getting him dressed. We are so disappointed and feel so badly that he is once again in constant pain. I am calling the surgeon today to see if he has any other ideas.

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

William Butler Yeats

I like this poem, I thought you might too.

Baby, it's cold outside...

Not as cold as the mid-west, but cold enough for us Puget Sounders. The weatherman keeps predicting a "warming" trend and every day it has gotten colder. Our thermometer has read 36 degrees all day and little snowflakes have been falling off and on. There is also a bit of wind blowing (the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind). I have a big pot of stew simmering on the stove and a loaf of garlic bread heating in the oven. Ahh..comfort food.

If you haven't visited the dolly blog for awhile, I've been posting new pictures: letsplaydolls.blogspot.com or click on the doll picture on this blog and it will take you there.

A visit to Mud Mountain Dam

A week after the flood, we decided to visit Mud Mountain Dam. The Army Corps of Engineers released water from this dam last week following the cresting of the rivers, only to flood a small town (Pacific), a few miles from here. This dam, and several others in the area, were built as flood control dams to keep the valley towns from flooding. Usually this works well, but this time something went wrong. It was probably a combination of heavy snowfall, followed by heavy rain, full rivers, full dams, and miscalculation of how much water to release and how fast to release it. A lack of notification to the citizens in the affected town did not help either. This dam is a very interesting place to visit, so we went to see for ourselves just how much water had been released. From the visitor vantage point, it was clear that a LOT of water had been released. The water had been up the sides of the dam, higher than the trees that were growing there. It was an awesome sight. I am surprised that none of the local media has done a fly-over or shown any pictures of the inside of the dam. Go to the Army Corp of Engineers website to see pictures of the dam and its specs.

Flood Watch

The mighty Puyallup River is expected to reach record flood levels today. Big logs have been seen floating down the usually calm river. In some places the river has merged with the road and this is in areas where there is not expected to be much flooding. We live on the hill, if the water gets to us the flood will be in biblical proportions. Our main problem is the septic system. The pump alarm went off at 6 a.m. We are not sure why, since we weren't using that part of the drain field. The backyard appears to be under an inch of water in some places, so probably the drainage fields are flooded. Perhaps this would be a good excuse not to do any laundry today. At least we are not in Spokane where they have 6 1/2 feet of snow on the ground and roofs are collapsing.
I was visiting with a friend yesterday who lives a few blocks from the river. I asked if she had flood insurance. She said they are not considered to be in the flood plain, although the rest of the subdivision is. We laughed over that, since the topography is flat, will the water automatically stop on the street before hers?

Happy New Year

Wow, I can't believe it's 2009 today. The past year has gone by so fast. I wish you all health and happiness in the coming new year. Let's all be more kind, more patient, more forgiving of ourselves and each other in this new year.