Presidents Day, 2008

It's the extra day off this weekend, President's Day. We are having nice weather for the long weekend, very spring-like with temperatures hitting the low 60's. I saw a couple of purple and yellow crocuses peeking up through the ground. The first signs of spring! We're ready. That and the birds singing first thing in the morning. We're waiting for the birds to start fixing up the nests in our eaves pretty soon and start the mating ritual once again.

Tab and Tyf stopped over Saturday to say hello, pick up birth certificates so they can get passports for trip to Mexico a little later in the year. And to show off their smiles:

Please note that Tyfini no longer has braces! Unfortunately, that didn't happen until after senior pictures for her high school year book were taken. I guess those will show what she looked like for most of high school.

Later on Saturday, R and Gabby came for a visit too. (A busy weekend...) R goes to the doctor tomorrow for a final pre op visit. Take care of the final details for his surgery in three weeks. He had P change the dressing on his nephrostomy. I got a picture of his external plumbing this time:

Looks a little sore from taking the old bandage off
Now, hold still, this won't hurt a bit....

All set, ready for another week or so.

Other than having to be careful, no sudden movements or twists of the torso, no lifting anything of consequence, he is just fine. No fishing for a while either. We've had a lot of rain and the rivers have been a bit swollen, but this weekend, with the nice weather (no rain and a bit of sunshine) would have been perfect to take the boat out just to make sure it still works. My boss, Eric, is an avid fisherman also, was thinking of taking his boat out and seeing if the sturgeon were hungry. I'm sure I'll get a full report if he did.

Well, the sun is shining, the fog is starting to burn off. Time to start planning the day. I think a bit of yard work is in order: trimming some bushes, raking out the flower beds, just generally getting ready for warmer weather. Naturally, the forecast calls for rain the rest of the week.

While the unfortunate people in the Midwest are experiencing a typical mid-winter storm with lots of snow and sub-freezing temperatures made worse with biting winds I just wanted to let you know that I'm hearing the birds singing when I go out for my paper in the morning now. That started along with the nice weather we had last weekend: no rain, a little blue sky and temperatures that got all the way up to 50. The forecast calls for a little rain today and then cloudy but for the most part dry through the long Presidents Day weekend. I'm not so sure the groundhog was right when saw his shadow earlier this month. It's amazing what a couple of dry days can do for your disposition.

We visited R over the weekend to help with some technical problems he was having with his gadgets and change the dressing on his nephrostomy. He has a blockage keeping one of his kidneys from draining to his bladder. It relieves the pressure on the one kidney until his surgery early next month to remove the large stone blocking his ureter. He's waiting for the "Pro from Dover" to do the cutting. In the mean time he has a tube about the size of a straw sticking out of his back connecting to a little larger tube going down his leg. It's secured with some nifty surgeons knots on the tube and stitches to the skin around the hole in his back. R has adjusted to it pretty well. He's not in pain because of it, but he has to be careful and he's not suppose to lift anything of consequence. His other kidney is operating normally. He went in for some pre-op work last week. When asked for a urine sample he asked which kidney they wanted it from? That stopped them for a minute. They had to ask to find out - the "normal" one.

Now, if I could just figure out my taxes.