Waterlogged

Another 2.1 inches of rain last night. Not sure how much that is for the month of May.  Will have to add it up later.  May is traditionally our wettest month and it came through in a big way this year.  It wasn't true the last 5 years with the drought being in control.  I think the drought is probably over.  

A cool front blew in yesterday setting off the latest storms.  However it has ushered in some dry weather for the next week or so.  Maybe a short road trip is in order.

Happy Trails.

Another 2 Inches

More rain, or thunderstorms last night.  As I went out to check the gauge I noticed my Sweet Broom plant.  I had a couple of these.  Two years ago I had to pull one, it died from the drought.  Now this one has turned brown in one day.  I assume it's root rot.  They usually do pretty well in dry weather.  We have had NO dry weather.  I'll give it a week or so then out it comes.

There is a big crop of fawns.  One doe appears to have had triplets.  Very unusual.  Mostly they have one or two.  Although the third may have been another doe's fawn.  They don't seem to mind feeding one other than their own at times.  I've seen that happen.

One of the fawns has taken to staying in the flower bed just outside our front door.  It has been there almost every day this week.  We have windows there that go almost to the floor.  This is great fun for Buster.  Not so much for the windows.  Can you say puppy snot?  

You can just make out the fawn just to the left of Buster's reflection.  Didn't want to disturb the fawn so this is as good as you get.

 

He can see that fawn, it is so close he can nearly lick it.  At first he whined and scratched at the window sill.  He wanted so bad to do whatever he had in mind with that fawn. Most of the time he just lays by the window intently watching his little buddy.  We always know when the Mom shows up, he lets us know.  He has seen so many I think he thinks they are just there for him to play with, I don't think he would hurt it. 

Kim had worked with her original resort to change her schedule since she wouldn't be allowed to sell her wares, just her crafts.  It was an effort to split up her long Saturday at two resorts.  This split schedule would be just for the summer when they had more vacationing guests.  They were agreeable to that arrangement and even added and additional day for her.  She would go Monday and Friday for the Summer leaving Saturday for the resort where she is able to sell her wares.  Well that all changed last weekend before the Summer even started.  They told her they were expecting her the Friday prior to Memorial Day and Memorial Day.  Not good, no one was there Friday and everyone was so anxious about the flooding they didn't even notice her on Monday.  They messed up the schedule.  Now she has gotten an email saying they would cut out her Monday.  No explanation, maybe they saw that she had no business.  This is before the Summer crowd has even arrived.  She feels like the relationship, that has always been stellar, is on shaky ground.  She has been trying to just go with the flow.  Now this move has tweaked her.  She says she will have to talk with them, might just go back to Saturday, one weekday won't cut it.  The person that is doing this has not been consistent with anything she has done working with Kim.  She is new there and so are all the others that have any dealings with her.  It's a whole new way of doing business.  They all seem to want to do things their way regardless of how things were done in the past.  Reinventing the wheel so to speak.  She has been advised about these people by a long time employee she knows well, it's not good.  This may not go well.  Kim will be her sweet self as usual, not sure about the person she is dealing with.  Maybe it's time to move on.

Happy Trials

Rain is Certain

Even with just a 20% chance of rain, it is pretty certain that there WILL be rain the way things have been here lately.  Through at least next Monday we have anywhere from a 20% to 40% chance of more rain according to the NOAA.  Rivers, creeks and streams are still flooding.  More rain will just add to that as the ground is so saturated that any other moisture will run off into the already swollen streams.  This will hamper the rescue/recovery of those still missing.  I pray they will be found, for their family's sake.

I have mentioned before about the rain and what I might expect it to do to my garden.  Usually to much water isn't good at all for tomatoes.  Once they get to much they tend to split before they are ripe.  Once in a while you can salvage one or two of the seal over before the bugs get to them.  I haven't seen any evidence of splitting, yet.  I assume that since I built above ground that there is plenty of drainage, keeping them from being over saturated.  Plus this soil I hauled in doesn't have any clay in it and is pretty loose even with all the rain.  It must be a combination of the two.  Maybe we will get lucky.  As for growth, the plants have gotten to big for the space they have.   

I see some color now on some tomatoes, but there may be more than I can see due to the thick foliage.  

 Yellow Pear Tomatoes.

I did actually find one red one.  It was small and not quite fully ripe but I couldn't wait.

I pulled it off and found this. 

OK, seen that before and can usually cut that out and eat the rest.  Not this one.  Whatever it was got the entire insides, nasty.

Lesson learned.  The tomato plants have been so prolific they have pretty much covered most of my strawberry plants.  I am still not getting much production from the strawberries.  When they are ready to pick, it appears I have waited a couple days to long.  Something gets to them.  This morning the fruit I planned to pick was covered with gnats due to a hole something burrowed in them.  I have about written them off as ever being productive enough anyway.  I can't even see my cilantro.

My daughter in law has been learning to can.  That is great news.  

I had suggested to Kim that we should look into canning.  It has been my experience that when you grow tomatoes, you can never eat them all.  We have given plenty away, but there are always more.  It just seems a big waste to not have some of those canned since we use some sort of tomato product all year long.  If I provide the jars my daughter will can them.  WOO HOO, and I don't have to badger Kim about it.  I also didn't know you had to have a special pressure cooker for canning, and she already has that. 

Happy Trails

Texas Rising

The History Channel (#Notquitehistorychannel) has been trumpeting this mini series for a couple months.  Last night it made it's debut.  As a proud Texian and history buff I had put this on my 'must watch' list.  Everyone knows my passion for Texas and I have had several ask if I had plans to watch and even  a text to let me know it was on. It's a great story to read about even without a TV series to enhance the appeal.  Why they thought changing it with falsehoods would make it better escapes my feeble mind. 

My first doubt crept in when that guy they picked to play General Sam showed up in a few commercials.  I wasn't really impressed much at that time with who they chose, but would withhold judgment until the actual show.  It starts right away with the Alamo already fallen and the aftermath of that.  Did you know there was a male survivor?  No?  I didn't either, but the History Channel put one in their show, there was a male survivor but he was a noncombatant.  Jim Bowie's slave.  But it wasn't him.  They actually executed a black combatant in this show.  The Yellow Rose was there also and survived, yet I don't recall ever reading anything about Ms. Emily being there.  She and Susanna Dickinson and a couple other ladies that survived the Alamo also got attacked by Comanche's as Mexican troops ferried them to who knows where.  I hadn't heard or read about any of that either and we are just 20 minutes into the show.  There are many more details they omitted or changed to suit them that I won't list here.  Kim is being very quiet at this point as she is listening to me and sometimes chuckling.  She knows how bent I get about inaccurate history, but to do that to the Texas story is almost as bad as changing what is says in the Bible to me.  Sacrilege. 

Other things I just couldn't get past was the set itself.  There is nothing where these 'true' events happened that even remotely resembled these locations.  The costuming seemed off to me.  I am not an expert about that sort of thing, but most of the hats looked wrong, the rifles/muskets looked wrong.  I also don't think anyone of the Texian army had uniforms at that time unless they had an American uniform.  Also their idea of what a Texas Ranger at that time was, was way off also which is where this is  supposed to lead, into the history of the Texas Rangers.  And the acting.  Oh my the acting.  Maybe it was the goofy script/dialogue that caused the acting to seem so bad.  The acting was painful to watch.

I gave it a chance, I really did.  I so wanted this to be good, on the order of the Lonesome Dove series good, and that was fiction but resembled the Charles Goodnight story closer than this Texas Rising monstrosity did.  I was determined to sit through at least the entire first 2 hour show.  Nope, didn't make it.  I just couldn't stand it any longer.  Glad I didn't watch their Bible series last year.  I may have had a heart attack.

Now we will have more people that use TV as their guide to history believing some sort of new garbage.  This series was taken from a book by the same name, that is supposed to be a true account of this period of Texas.  I had it on my wish list.  The show has left such a bad taste in my mouth, I am not sure I will ever read it now. 

Don't waste your time with this, do something else.  If you want a really good book to read about this period of Texas history I can recommend one and another that encompasses a longer time frame of Texas history.  Hit me up if you're so inclined.

Happy Trails

More Watches and Warnings

We have been having some pretty serious weather the last few days.  Thunder Storm watches and warnings along with tornado watches and warnings with more of the same for today and the rest of the week.  It's been worse here, much much worse.  Although just a few miles to the north of me they had a record flood where several people perished due to the Blanco River exceeding all previous floods on record.  There are still several people missing when their entire house washed down river and were destroyed as it hit the bridge crossing it.  One man was found alive twelve miles downstream.  His wife and young kids are still missing.

I don't want to make the tragedies that have happened recently due to the weather seem slight.  Several families have lost loved ones due to the flooding.  I can remember much worse on a wider scale, but the extended time of these storms seem unusual to my fading memory.  BTW, Kim made it home safe after her scare Saturday, a little rattled, but safe.  She heads out again to the resort today with another tornado/storm watch in effect.  She will keep a wary eye.  She will be pretty safe in that large structure that is much more sound than our small house should a twister show up. 

I don't know if any of the news videos have made the news where you are, but I have seen some things that were pretty horrifying.  One that really sticks in my mind was of the car being washed off a bridge and the brake lights coming on and then off as is overturned and then floated down the creek.  With everyone carrying phones that capture video now we are seeing much more of this type thing.  I never remember to do things like that.  I would be to shocked to 'video' some tragedy.  I would hope I had to the wherewithal to try and a help, when I could of course.  I don't want to put my thoughts into those that are able to think about taking video of a tragedy, but I do wonder what they are thinking.  Have we become so callous we don't even think about helping?  Like I said, I don't know what is going on in their mind or what the situation is so I don't want to condemn their actions.  I know I certainly do watch those videos, so where does that put me?  BTW, the car that got washed away, they reported the driver got out before it happened. 

Project Vigil: D-Day 2014, The saluting boy on Omaha beach

Memorial Day

My Memorial Day Tribute......

UPDATE... To the more then 90,000+ people who have shared this Memorial Video... I am Overwhelmed with Gratitude & Humbled… Thank You for honoring and remembering America's fallen Heroes this weekend!!! Semper-Fi This is a tribute I created for Memorial Day Weekend...It's a tribute to my fellow Marines Who Gave All in the pursuit of Freedom...There are actually 3 funerals in this tribute that I attended and I am dear friends with the Marine father who is saluting the casket of his Marine son....God Bless & Remember ALL Our Fallen Heroes This Memorial Day Weekend...

Posted by Chad Warner on Thursday, June 2, 2011

AND ANOTHER

On Edge

As I write this at 9 PM Saturday evening I am awaiting Kim's arrival from the resort.  She was in an area that had a tornado warning issued about the time she was to leave.  Had been unable to reach her as she had her ringer turned down due to working.  Yes, I was a bit on edge.  I continued to call until she finally called me between calls.  She saw all the messages and she got a weather alert that told her to take cover.  Thank goodness for weatherbug app.  She hid out in an interior bathroom until the danger passed.  Not sure there ever was a tornado but glad she was safe at that time.  Now just to wait for her to navigate all the flash flooding that is sure to be happening.  I told her which route to take to be the most likely to have less high water.  But you never know, with this kind of rain we are having and the ground so saturated, places flood that don't normally.  The local news station is broadcasting weather info instead of the regular programming.  

Earlier there was a tornado warning in our area.  At least I didn't have to worry about Kim then.  

And my roof repairs did not work.  A more permanent solution will be needed soon.  Will have to figure out how that will be done.

Awwwww

Happy Trails

Rebel Yell

The pride is still evident in these old soldiers.  This gave me giant goose bumps.

This is the legendary real thing.

Happy Trails

I've Got Something to Show You

Buster was excited this morning.  He really wanted me to come outside even more than usual he had something to show me.  I had been alerted by a certain bark he has that tells me there is something different going on. 

Hurry! Let's Goooo.

 See that, in the corner of the fence?

Right There!

Mom had been checking on the commotion

The first born of this Spring.

I managed to not pet this one, this time.  I never get tired of seeing the little ones.  They are about the size of a large cat.  Buster doesn't scare them, he is pretty quiet.  Although the Mom was pacing back and forth by the fence and stamping her hooves, she was ready to take him on if she had to.  She wasn't worried about me at all when I went outside the fence.  I have had them come running up close before when I get to close.  I am very careful about that.  I don't want those hooves doing a tap dance on my noggin.

Happy Trails.

Genealogy

I have dabbled with genealogy off and on over the years.  It had been put on the back burner the last 10 or so years.  Very rarely did I do much with it.  I had compiled quite a bit of our family tree and then hit some roadblocks.  These dead ends weren't just for me.  There was an entire website dedicated to this particular branch of our family.  EVERYONE had hit the same wall.  Genealogy goes hand in hand with my interest in history.  It is fun and you can spend many hours at it very quickly.  It can also be very frustrating. 

Lately I have been updating my files and adding my wife's family.  In the past I used the most popular software that most everyone else used.  They would update it every year and try to hit your wallet for a newer more improved version.  No, they wouldn't send updates to the version you bought, you needed to purchase the new one entirely.  You could also join their website and upload and share info there.  Of course there was a price.  Way to much as far as I was concerned. 

I recently found a free software over at www.MyHeritage.com that accepts the files I have compiled without any problem and it's pretty user friendly.  They also have a website you can join that allows you access to other records.  Of course for a price but it's much much cheaper than the other.  The issue is that you must purchase an entire years membership at once.  I would prefer to join for a few months at a time, when I am actually working on genealogy since I am so sporadic in my research.  Wish they had that option.

I have found some interesting things in my research.  A horse thief that managed to escape a lynch mob.  Numerous Confederate Soldiers and Texian Soldiers, a Revolutionary War militiaman, but details are lacking.  That is where my interest truly lies, the details.  It appears that many of the records have been destroyed by fires and yankees. 

There were several legends that have been disproved.  Others have yet to be proved or disproved.  Ever heard of the Texas Ranger, William A. A. Bigfoot Wallace?  The story is we are related.  I can't verify the link yet everyone keeps repeating the story.  I have argued with a cousin that repeats this story yet she has no proof or link and she had researched more than I.  It's one of those things people like to tell.  Another in that same line, the horse thief actually, is said to have been a scout for Gen. Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution.  I have found his cavalry records but the time frame is sketchy.  He wasn't in the Army until after the defeat of the Mexican's.  He was in something called the 'S' War or Shadow War.  They shadowed the Mexican Troops as they returned to Texas.  There is no documentation of this 'war' that I can find other than his bounty land warrant that granted him 320 acres for service in the 'S' war.

There is also supposed to be a book about another branch ( the one that I have the most interest in) that was compiled by a family members wife.  It now resides with a distant cousin that my Mom knows but not well at all.  I need a copy of that thing if it actually exists.  I have to get my Mom to try to get that thing before it's to late.  She was reluctant the last time we spoke about it.  I won't give up easily.

Happy Trails in your search.

Regularly Scheduled Program

We now return to our regular program after yesterday's sermon.

My roof now leaks.  It's a pretty bad leak too.  Fortunately it is over the patio so nothing inside can get damaged.  I thought something looked different with the water on the patio but didn't detect any leak.  Chalked it up to wind blown rain.  Sunday morning in the midst of another 3" deluge there was even more water where it shouldn't be and also the drips from one of the ceiling joints.  I will need to head into town and get some roof caulk or patch to try to temporarily fix the leak.  The most likely spot is around the chimney and a spot where the roof repair guy showed me.  I need this to work for a while.  All the unusual expenses and Kim's business having really fallen off have wreaked havoc with our savings.  We haven't had enough or big enough hail to get an insurance claim for a new roof.  It could be worse.

Went out to the garden in the morning as I usually do, was going to pick a couple strawberries that I had been watching.  They were covered in mold.  Or they were wearing a little gray fur coat.  They look like they had been forgotten in the back of the fridge.  I guess that can be expected with as wet as it has been the last couple weeks.  I never would have guessed it would happen while still on the plant. 

While in town Sunday we went with some friends to lunch.  I have never had Thai food before.  Had been wanting to try it.  I had no real expectations other than hearing it is spicy.  Don't ask what I had, I couldn't tell you the name of it if I even tried.  It was a bowl of stir fried ground beef, bell peppers, onions, more hotter peppers and a side of rice.  I didn't expect ground beef.  Expected small slices like you would get with Chinese.  The waitress told me this was a spicy dish and did I want it mild, medium or Thai Hot.  I eat pretty spicy food most of the time with all the Mexican and Tex Mex down here.  So I am pretty used to hot foods.  But I took the weenie way out and went with medium.  It wasn't real hot but had some bite which was good.  Now I'm curious about Thai Hot.  The food was OK, I could eat it again but nothing outstanding.  I left hungry, even with the bowl looking pretty big, that type food just doesn't fill me up.  I had to add the rice to it to give it a little more heft.  I generally try to avoid rice due to what it does to my blood sugar, so I went lightly.  Still prefer a cheeseburger or enchiladas any day.

We finally got over to Mom's for Mother's Day.  It was good to be just the four of us.  Less commotion from to many people and were able to have a good visit.  They are doing pretty well.  Dad is having some sort of procedure Monday.  Injections to relieve some back pain.  It was either this or surgery and they didn't want to do surgery with his advanced age.  Hope he gets some relief.

In the mean time, I'll be up on the roof, if it quits raining for a bit, trying to repair that stinking leak.  I'll be obsessing over it until it stops.

Happy Trails

Evil

Heard a great lesson at church about wearing the whole armor of God and being at war.  Not war in the traditional shoot 'em up way, but a war against evil.  I believe we are in a more serious situation with the world seeming to be more full of evil than at any time in my lifetime.  I could fill this page for the rest of my life and not cover all the evils present in the world.  Most everyone is aware of the many threats that we face as a country.  I tend to be more concerned about the evil that assaults  the traditional family, as a Christian.  At every turn there are any number of groups or individuals that are challenging and trying to change the way things have been accepted by traditional morality by telling their lies.  It seems to be working.  I have always believed that if you tell a lie long enough, people begin to believe it.  That is exactly what is happening with the assault on Christians and our traditional family values.  Most of these type folks will just try to shout you down if you try to engage them in a discourse of some sort.  At points they almost become uncivilized in their behavior.  They get louder and more strident as a tactic to intimidate in order to cover their lies.

It is difficult to combat this type mindset, and they also have the media on their side trumpeting their causes, belittling those that disagree and calling them intolerant.  A word that has been the 'catch word' of the PC crowd, a word I have come to despise.  Just how do we combat that type mindset?  Of course this is all speaking in general terms, and every situation will differ.  But I firmly believe that if you know the truth and you are committed to keeping the truth, you have not lost the war, or even the battle.  Things that are evil didn't stop being evil over night or ever.  Evil is always evil and truth is always truth.  We must be prepared to do battle with evil, if not, it will over take us like we have seen it do and is doing in our country and the rest of the world.

Watch your six.  

More Rain

Another 2 inches last night with more predicted.  This will play havoc with my tomatoes.

Happy Trails

Soggy

It is very soggy here.  I got 2 more inches of rain Wednesday.  This is on top of the almost continual rain for about 2 weeks.  Actually it is almost every other day I have gotten from 0.25 to 0.50 inches.  There hasn't been time for things to ever get dry.  I really hate to complain with as dry as it has been over the last few years.  The extremists will tell us all that we are running out or water in the giant aquifer that supplies this part of the state.  I do try to conserve water and not waste.  While the aquifer does get lower and rivers have stopped running (first time I ever saw that) and springs dry up, they admit not knowing just how much water is in that aquifer.  

We have been on water use restriction for years.  Even in the 'green' years there is a permanent restriction on water use.  Another plus with all this rain is my water bill will be much lower as I won't use as much to keep the landscape barely alive.  We are restricted to one day a week watering landscape between certain hours.  It doesn't take a lot for your bill to quadruple over the summer months, even trying to conserve.

The habitat is really lush and green.  That may be one reason Buster hasn't had the chance to chase rabbits in the yard.  It was fun to watch him try to catch them.  He knew he wasn't going to catch them and so did they.  After a while he would just go through the motions because he knew it was his job.  The rabbits would know he wasn't really trying and just run in a big circle and stop, never leaving the yard.  They seemed to be taunting him.  It was fun to watch the interaction.  He would surprise them once in a while and get really close, but those cottontails are really quick and would evade him pretty easily and duck under the fence.  When he came back in the house proud of himself they would come back shortly thereafter.  Good Times.  I am not worried to much about them getting in the garden,  I have a wire fence around it just to deter them.  They could wipe me out in one night if they were determined.

I have a a couple leaks around the windshield and back window of my truck.  They usually only show up with a major deluge.  I got in it after a letting it sit for a week and noticed a musty smell.  Constant rain is evidently an issue for it now too.  Once it dries, I will have to get to using some window sealer I have.  There are actually several things this wet weather has put on hold.   There are a couple spots on the trim/fascia of the house that need to be caulked that have shown up with the constant wet.  Still thankful for the rain despite my complaints.

Happy Trails

Work

With the weather being inclement or with the strong possibility of bad weather, it is not conducive to outside activities, but it is good for leather work.  Late Monday evening my order of leather arrived for the portfolio that was special ordered.  It is a really nice piece. 

It should be pretty straight forward, nothing real fancy just a shaded two color finish that could be problematic.  Can't afford to screw this one up with this special leather being as expensive as it is. 

Kim had received this order at the resort.  She told me they had ordered a 'legal size portfolio-the big one.'  That meant the 8.5" x 14" to me.  She runs and gets me a 'legal' size pad for sizing.  It is the 8.5" x 11 3/4" legal pad.  I question this and remind her she said 'the big-one.'  Well it says legal pad on there she says, wasn't aware there was another size.  She then says the lady didn't say 'the big-one.'  This was just her way of saying it wasn't a regular pad and to make sure that I understood the difference between legal 'the big one' and a regular size pad.  Fingers crossed.  You, remember the communication thing from Monday's post?  Exactly.  We now have a call in to verify what was meant by legal size since she wasn't aware that there were two legal sizes.  SMH.  Glad I didn't cut leather yet.  Pics when it's finished.

 

I was also able to finish up the knife sheaths for my friend and got those delivered.   

I got a bonus out of it.  He gave me more ammo than I had asked for.  Not bad at all this barter stuff.

Also finished up another couple wallets I had been working on off and on.  One traditional with a natural finish with buffalo hide interior.

Then this roper style with a different type of finish.  It wasn't turning out quite like I wanted and tried to salvage it and got this. 

 Kim really likes this one.  I probably would have done it over but she thinks that funky stain is pretty cool.  Almost like a distressed leather but not really.

 

Happy Trails

Unusual Weather

Things have been really strange with the weather here.  Well, not really, but compared to the last few years it is.  May is traditionally our wettest month, which hasn't been true the last 5-7 years.  We have had severe drought ongoing during that time.  We now are almost constantly under threat of thunderstorms that could turn severe and it is pretty soggy most of the time.  We have been spared the tornadoes and flooding that other areas have endured.  In that regard we are fortunate.  We get threats and warnings of twisters pretty regular but nothing like those more to the north. 

The sun does make an appearance almost every day but the mornings start out very cloudy and the humidity.  Oh the humidity.  It looks like there are fires burning somewhere it is so hazy.  The fact is that there is smoke being combined with the very heavy humidity.  The smoke comes up from Mexico where they use fires to clear land and we get the benefit of their fires.  It goes on for over a month at least, well into June.  Did I mention the humidity?  It is pretty heavy here almost anytime of year, more than any western state and the upper reaches of Texas.  While it may be bad, it isn't near what I experienced in Georgia when we visited there a few years ago.  It was so thick there it was even hard to breathe.   We have had to use the AC earlier this year simply to clear out some of the humidity in the house.  Things are very green, even things that shouldn't be, like the rock on the side of our house.  We are growing algae.

Saturday saw a brief thunder shower and then some pretty strong winds.  I looked out to the garden and my tomato plants were laying on their sides.  They have gotten almost to tall for their own good.  When they start bearing, they will have trouble supporting their own weight.  Yes, I have cages around them to help support them, but they are too short and flimsy for these plants.  I have never had plants get this tall this fast.  They are also much to close together.  I wasn't worried about it at first since I have never had mutant giant tomato plants.  I have found some much more sturdy and bigger cages to use...next year.  That will give me time to save for them, they are very pricey.  169$ for six cages.  Yeah, I know.  But if I want this to work better and easier I will have to shell out for success.

My onions are being eaten by something.  I find several missing everyday.  They look pretty pathetic now.  Never had issues with onions before.  I don't expect to harvest any now.  So disappointing. 

I have decided I will probably at least double the size of the garden next year if not triple.  I only have 7 tomato plants but they have nearly overtaken the entire 4'x8' plot and they don't have enough room for themselves at this rate. 

Happy Trails

Mother's Day, mea culpa

Yes, I messed up.  We don't generally do anything real big for Mother's Day.  For most of our married life we have been the ones to go visit Mom's, in-laws and Grandmom's on that day.  Lots of travel time to various locations (4-5) in the city all in one day.  No big party, maybe a meal, but mostly visiting and letting them know our appreciation.  This year got a bit messed up.  The youngest son came over to church with us and then out to dinner.  We were to be at my Mom's at 2:30 and the oldest son would meet us their with his family.  We all show up and they aren't there.  Not like them at all.  They went to my brother's for lunch.  My Mom wanted to apologize, but it wasn't her fault at all.  I just assumed Kim had set the time up with them since she told me a specific time.  She has always been my social director.  Nope, she never spoke to her and neither did I.  We just didn't communicate, with her or each other. So I didn't get to see my mother.

Not a big deal really, except Kim started feeling bad about it.  She could tell I was a little aggravated to have gone all that way for nothing.  So it kinda ruined the day for her.  My Bad.  I shouldn't have let my aggravation show, but she see's it anyway.  It's my Mom, I should have been more involved even though this has fallen on her shoulders for years.  She has been really working hard with her business lately and that has occupied most of her time.  Sometimes we just don't get things done like we should.  I tried to take some of the heat off her by admitting that I just MAY have been the one that was at fault.  Actually I took all the heat.  But having the Grandkids out to the house and those people that take care of them, did a better job of making her feel better.

Our 40th anniversary is this year.  We have been wanting to do something more than we do for our usual.  Maybe a trip or a party.   With our lack of planning as our history we need to start on this NOW.  So it goes, 'What do you want to do?  I don't know what do you want to do?"   The kids had thought if we went on a trip that they would go with us to celebrate also.  We kicked around some ideas but never really settled on anything.  That was before the finances took a big hit this last year.  Kim has suggested a party.  I'm not much of a party sort, in fact I just don't like them much at all.  But, she will probably get what she wants and I will just have to suck it up.  Hopefully we can communicate on this better than we have.

Father's Day?  I don't know, what do you want to do?

Happy Trails

Singer

Was listening to Buster's favorite song

He really likes Don Edwards, so do I.

Then there's this:

Happy Trails

Things are Picking Up

Kim's adding that new resort to her work schedule has been paying off.  It hasn't quite taken the place of the loss at the other resort but we can't complain.  With that, comes more leather work quite suddenly.  It caught me a bit off guard.  I had started work on a couple more wallets for her to add to her inventory and my friend approached me about making the knife sheaths for his store.  That put the wallets down the list.  Kim came home Saturday night with an two custom orders.  One for a leather cigar case, they bought my last one and wanted another with their ranch brand.  Also a legal size portfolio with specific colors and personalization.  These move to the top of the list since I get full price.  I wasn't expecting any custom orders.  They aren't real frequent from folks I have never met.  Most has been from friends.  I put a lot of pressure on myself for these type orders.  It ramps up a bit more as I know I haven't been in top form lately.  But I needed the challenge.  

Need to order some new leather for that portfolio as I don't have what I need on hand.  While I am waiting for that order to arrive I can get one of those wallets finished up and out of the way, maybe both.  Pics when they are finished.

Here's some photos of one of the type scabbards I made. 

The knife is a Case full size Trapper.  I get to keep that as part of my payment for the scabbards.  Pretty nice deal for us both and I love Case knives.

Time to get back to work.

Happy Trails

Anniversary

This month marks my first visit to the Urologist that found my prostate cancer.  I haven't ever mentioned why the visit occurred in the first place other than to be treated for something other than suspicion of prostate cancer.  I had been on testosterone replacement therapy off and on over the last few years.  The last year had seen some things that my PCP decided warranted a visit to a Urologist.  Mainly that I was getting peaks and valleys of testosterone.  It wasn't consistent.       

If you will allow me to deviate a bit.  If you are considering this therapy, I will tell you here what I experienced.  The more information you have may help you decide which way to go. 

I was on injections.  Every Two weeks the wife would stick my butt.  Yeah, it would smart sometimes more than others.  Location is important.  For me it was best in the upper hip, a few inches below the belt line.  This type testosterone is a synthetic hormone.  There are side effects.  I will get to those shortly.

Why did I choose hormone replacement therapy?  There are a number of things a man can experience with low 'T.'  I was experiencing almost every one of them and had attributed it to either the aging process and or my diabetes.  Go here for a list of the symptoms: Low 'T' Symptoms.  And know that these aren't EVERY symptom.  I didn't find a complete list that I have seen elsewhere.

The biggest effects I noticed were lack of stamina while doing anything physical.  I would run out of gas much to early to the point of dizziness at times and so bushed I couldn't continue even after a rest.  Then there was a lack of focus/concentration.  I realize now how that affected me at work.  Things I knew I knew, I just couldn't get them to get done as easy as I had before.  That became a burden mentally.  When you are the only one that knows your job and folks depend on you for your answers/guidance and you have trouble telling them what they need, when you know very well you know the answers, well it sucks big time.  I also had joint pain that can be attributed to low 'T.'

What were my side effects of 'T' therapy?  Hair.  I started growing hair in places I never had it before.  Noticeably more hair in places I did have hair, except on the head.  One of nature's cruel jokes.  I had very little hair on my chest all my life and none on my back.  Well that changed.  No, I didn't look like I was wearing sweater.  It wasn't that bad.  There were also times you would think I was regressing into puberty.  Pimples.  Especially on the back.  My focus/concentration was much better.  Better stamina and strength.  These were the most noticeable of my symptoms.

There is a caution about this therapy.  Since it is a synthetic, I have been told that it ramps up cell production.  It is a steroid.  They just go nuts.  Hence the concern with this type therapy and cancer.  Especially Prostate Caner.  It DOESN'T CAUSE IT, it will help it grow if it is present.  One of the other side effects I experienced was my blood got too thick.  Thick enough that I had to have some removed every few months, 3-4.  I basically had to much blood.  That can be a major problem, it is really hard on your heart.  Donating blood that often can be a minor inconvenience too, if you force yourself to go regularly.

There are now options to this synthetic therapy.  It's an injection of pellets every 4-6 months.  It's supposed to be a 'natural' hormone replacement.   That is the route my Urologist was headed until he found the cancer. 

Now I am off ALL replacement therapy.  It is extremely noticeable to me as it happened quickly this time instead of gradually as before.  The lack of stamina, strength, focus and joint pain have returned along with everything else.  The Urologist has said he would try to get me back on therapy once I have been cancer free for one year.  That is still 6 months out.  However, there are concerns to consider.  Number one is the cancer.  Having had it, makes it more of a concern obviously.  Is it worth the trade off?  I had decided at one time to just forgo any therapy and just deal with the consequences.  Now that I have experienced the results of low 'T' in a quicker time frame they are more noticeable.  It was especially evident this past week that was filled with some considerable exertion with various tasks.  It depends on whether I can live with a certain quality of life.  I still need to learn more about this 'natural' replacement before I decide.

There it is.  These are the things I experienced.  They will be different for everyone else.  So get informed.  Most doctors now days won't tell you every thing you need to know unless you ask.  Most of the time we don't even know what to ask.  It's up to you to be in the know.

Happy Trails