Following is a post covering a lot of different topics, things that I've mentioned or discussed with various people over the last few weeks.

First, I finally spoke to my doctor's nurse last Thursday. I asked about the xray results from the previous Wednesday. She told me what showed up in the xray was the start of arthritis. So tomorrow, if I have time, I'm going to go ahead and try to set up an appointment to see a Physical Therapist. Not sure what six visits will get me, but perhaps I will come away with some regular exercises to do so I won't be on 800mg of Ibuprofen for the rest of my life.

Above is the waterfall across the street from my work that they started up this week. During the Christmas season, they string lights up from all the trees, making it look very festive. There's a little path behind it, where I believe you can walk, although I've never gone back there. Perhaps this summer when it's a little warmer out, I'll check it out. It's just tough crossing a six-lane road on foot.

Here is an alien I found living under my desk at work. You can see a little bit of the hoses that they have inserted into the wall. Is this a baby alien, that was left here alone, while the parent went outside to stand guard? And exactly what is it doing? Stealing important steel data from our office? Inputing viruses?

This is the difference between our old and new carpeting. The old carpeting is blue, a little lighter than sky-blue, very worn and ugly looking. During the winter, with one particular pair of shoes, I am constantly getting shocked from a build-up of static electricity. The new carpeting is actually squares of the same pattern that are being alternated to give it a checkerboard appearance. It's much darker, but it will wear better than the older carpet. And I don't get a "charge" from it, lol.

Here's my keyboard that I've had for five years. Note the keys still have all their letters and numbers. I guess I either don't use it enough, or don't rest my fingers on the keyboard like other people do.

Here is an Orange Cone-Head Alien that I think might have been a hostage to the AT&T repair van. I could almost hear it calling out to me when I pulled up behind it.

For those of you that don't get a lot of Canadian Geese where you live, here's a picture I took last November as an example of the sometimes expansive flocks I get here on my lake/pond. There could be as many as 100 geese in this picture. Right now we don't have that many, but in a few weeks, during breeding season, we could see the number increase. Usually we have several pairs all with cute little goslings running around. At least once every spring, I have to stop my car on the way out to the main road, to let the adult geese and goslings cross the road.

I still haven't heard from the doctor about my xray results. It will be interesting if they show anything. Taking my 800 mg of Ibuprofin three times a day has really helped my shoulder. Saturday, I was able to use BOTH hands to wash my hair! I haven't done that in TWO weeks! Then today, I was able to raise my hand straight up over my head! There's still a little ache when I do it, but I CAN DO IT! (It's the little things that excite me, lol) But don't tell Cubby that, he'll never let me forget it. I'll keep taking my meds for the full 2 weeks, and will let you know when/if I hear anything from the doctor.

Health Update:

My doctor's appointment was at 1:30pm this afternoon, I needed to be there at 1:15pm to fill out the paperwork first, since it was the first time I've been to that office. The previous insurance plan I was on at work allowed me to keep seeing my old doctor, but that plan was cancelled after 2006, requiring me to pick a new doctor. A co-worker said she'd been happy with BCBS HMO Illinois, and she lives in the same city as me, so I went ahead and switched to it. Since I soooo hate doctors, I haven't made any attempt to go in for a physical or anything since I joined the HMO.

Anyway, this shoulder problem forced me to do it, therefore, paperwork about me and my insurance. I was hoping it wouldn't be some three page list of every ailment or medical problem I've ever had and when. I've done those, and they are a PITA! This was just basic name, address, phone number, emergency contacts, insurance info, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised to be called quite promptly. I was taken back to an exam room, weighed, BP measured (134/84) and told the doctor would be in shortly. I changed into those stupid paper shirts that are open in the back, and waited probably less than 5 minutes for the doctor to come in. He took a basic family history, asked me about my problem, examined my shoulder by pressing on it in different areas, asking if it hurt (which it didn't.)

He had a sheet printed out for me to go get a shoulder x-ray done, a prescription for 800 mg tablets of Ibuprofen, a referral for PT, and a photo-copied picture of some exercises to try for my shoulder. I'm not sure if I'm going to try them or not, since from what the pictures show, I can't put my shoulder in the correct position to do the exercises. I was out of there by 2pm. Since I still had most the afternoon to kill, and one of the locations to get an x-ray was about 10 minutes down the road, I decided to go right then and get that taken care of. The sooner I do that, the sooner they get the results, and the sooner I know if there's something wrong with my shoulder.

I walked in, gave the sheet explaining what I needed, and in about 5 minutes I was called back by the technician. I changed into the robe like gown, walked back to the x-ray room, he put me in position with a lead shield around my waist. The first picture was with my palm facing back, the second picture was with my palm turned facing front, and the third picture he wanted me to raise my arm over my head. I said, "I can't, that's why I'm having the x-rays done." He asked me to raise it as high as I could, I even used my right hand to lift my arm a bit more, then told him to take it quick cause it was hurting and I didn't know how long I could hold it up there. A few seconds later, he was done, and I was done. Whew!

It was now about 2:30 or so? I decided to stop at Target on the way home (the same one I took you to, Kerry) to get my prescription filled. I wandered around there for about 15 minutes, and was out of there by 3:20. Wasn't I getting a lot done today? LOL Next stop was the grocery store, since I needed some food. Especially something to eat when I take the Ibuprofen, since even I should take it with food for that high a dosage. I don't really need to get an ulcer. Came home after the store, at about 4:10. Not a bad afternoon after all.

I'll update when I hear back from the doc on the x-ray results. I also have decided to wait to call for a PT appointment until the doc calls me with the x-ray results. Might as well see if it's something that PT can help with before I start trying to make time for it.

As some of you may know, and others may not, I haven't been online much the past week due to shoulder problems. Last Saturday (just over a week ago) my left shoulder was hurting really bad, and I couldn't raise my arm over my head. Advil and Aleve weren't helping me manage any of the pain either. At first, I thought it was because of how I had been sitting in the chair at my computer; leaning slightly to the left, resting on my elbow. But after taking a couple days away from the computer last Sunday and Monday, it was no better.

I was on the computer Tuesday and Wednesday night for a bit during Idol, with my shoulder still bothering me. Thursday night I came home from work and stayed off the computer (for the most part.) Friday I was off work, so I rested my shoulder and arm all day, but by late afternoon, I wasn't even comfortable sitting in the chair at the computer, so there was no way I'd be able to stream, let alone sit for four hours listening to Kerry's and AK's streams.

Saturday I did nothing all day, again trying to rest my shoulder. Still no change. I spent yesterday, Easter Sunday at my aunt's house (her son cooked lunch/dinner for us), and rested it again last night. It was still no better this morning, so I decided I better call the doctor to see what's going on with it. I really hate doctors, so my calling to make an appointment is a big deal. My appointment is Wednesday afternoon, so I'm taking a half day. At least I can sit at the computer without pain, for today at least.

Keep your fingers crossed that it's nothing serious.

Happy F**king Spring!

WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM FRIDAY TO1 AM CDT SATURDAY
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM CDT FRIDAY TO 1 AM CDT SATURDAY. THE WARNING AREA IS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM STERLING...TO JOLIET...TO CROWN POINT INDIANA.SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TONIGHT...SPREADING INTO PORTIONS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. SNOWFALL WILL LIKELY BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES DURING THE DAY FRIDAY...WITH SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR POSSIBLE. SNOW WILL THEN GRADUALLY DIMINISH FRIDAY EVENING. TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 6 TO 9 INCHES...WITH SNOW AMOUNTS DIMINISHING RAPIDLY SOUTH OF A STERLING TO JOLIET AND CROWN POINT INDIANA LINE WHERE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO BE MAINLY RAIN.

I can't take credit for the picture, but I saw my FIRST American Robin of the year! Just in time for Spring too! It was sitting in the tree right next to the the sidewalk up to my front door, and wouldn't sit still while I was walking past it. So there was no way I would get upstairs, into my apartment, grab my camera, come back downstairs and out the door with it still sitting there. As soon as I can get a decent picture of one, I'll prove that I actually have them here, lol.

This was my Thursday page on my day-at-a-glance calendar that I got for Christmas from Mother. I thought Kerry would appreciate this, and make her long for a visit to Nova Scotia.

Don't forget! Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday morning at 2:00AM.

Wow, what a change in the weather! It's currently 53F, but by tomorrow morning, it's supposed to be back down near freezing, with a "wintry mix." I can't wait for more warm weather.

This weekend I saw two very good movies. One was Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. There's some violence, but it's an awesome movie! Plus it's based on a true story.

The second movie I saw was The Spiderwick Chronicles. This is based on a book series written by Holly Black. The movie stars Freddie Highmore as brothers Jared and Simon Grace. Playing their mother is Mary-Louise Parker, with special appearances by Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright, the voice of Martin Short, and Andrew McCarthy.

One more week and we move our clocks forward. Spring will definitely feel like it's on the way once the sun starts setting later. I can't wait!!!!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. I arrived home Monday night in the middle of a snowstorm. They weren't even sure if we would get to Chicago, let alone land in Chicago. But, the snow angels were on our side, allowing us to land safely, and for me to arrive home without too much hassle. I wasn't feeling well when I got home, I was running a slight fever. I still had it Tuesday morning when I got up, so I stayed home from work. When I got back up at 9:00AM, this is what I saw outside. And it was still snowing.

I love how the snow is on every branch, it all looks so pretty. I'm not sure why the pictures are so dark. I set the camera on "Cloudy" and this is what I got. Hmmmm. Anyway, by mid-afternoon, the snow had stopped, the clouds parted, the sun came out and most of the snow was off the trees. It's still on the ground, however. And, we're supposed to get another inch or so tonight I've heard. Have I mentioned lately that I want Spring to be here?

Tonight, I heard the news about my dear friend LittleWing who finally succumbed to cancer. I will miss you dearly, even though it's been a long time since we talked. Rest in peace with the angels, Wingie.


Yonder Mountain String Band - To Say Goodbye, To Be Forgiven

Are you one foot in the grave, or one step closer to your savior
Brother tell me how it feels, it's much too soon to meet your maker
You ain't ever walked a line, boy, you always were a rebel
Now ain't no time to strike a deal now, now for someone to cheat the devil

Won't get a nickle for your name, no, 'course you won't need it where you're going
But brother tell me can you feel, now, the winds of change that started blowing
It ain't a hot and dusty road, no, it ain't a highway it's a journey
Sure you're walking for the train still, but it's a train that's bound for glory

Every man is born to die, there ain't no mystery but livin'
Brother tell me is it hard to say goodbye, to be forgiven
You won't ever get it back, don't you hear the angels calling
'Cause you listen to them now, now that the tears have started fallin'

When he reaches out his hand for you, and you kneel before you savior
Say, your brothers know you're gone now, gone to heaven a believer
Say, your brothers know you're gone, gone to heaven a believer

Robert "Uncle Bob" Douglas

1929-2008

Rest In Peace

Friday February 22 I will be flying to California for a memorial, to be held on Saturday February 23. My Uncle Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease several years ago, and up until six months ago, was being cared for at home by his wife and a caregiver. When he could no longer swallow on his own, a feeding tube was inserted and he was placed in a full-time care facility. He lived a long and happy life, and I know my Aunt will be just fine, with the support of so many family members that love her.

Anyone remember my post from February 11, 2007? Check it out HERE to refresh your memory. Almost one year to the day, I had the same problem happen again. My pipes froze over the weekend due to the cold temperatures, and Monday night they started bursting. This time it burst from under the sink, in the cabinet, punctured the drywall, and was shooting a spray of water out about six feet into my hallway. I had just fallen asleep at about 12:30AM, when the water hitting the bathroom door woke me up. Shutting off the valve under the sink didn't work, neither did shutting off the one under the toilet. Fortunately, maintenance was there within 10 minutes, but it felt more like 30. He shut off the water to the building, but had to go back to the other apartment he had been working on when he was paged for my emergency.

About 20 minutes later he comes back, with Jack (my buddy from last year), the maintenance supervisor. They proceeded to try to replace the damaged section of pipe, but every time they'd turn the water back on, another area would start leaking. They left about 3:45AM since there was nothing more they could do until a plumber came. They were hoping to have one there by 6:00AM. I called work to leave a message for my boss, explaining what happened, and that I would be there in the afternoon. I went back to bed at 4:00AM and slept till 9:00AM, so I could be up, showered and dressed before the guys with the shop vac came to suck all the water out of my carpet.

Monday night, showing the drywall that was cut out to get to the pipes, and the interior insulation that was pulled out from around the pipes.

This was taking Tuesday morning, after the plumber had been in while I was sleeping. They pulled the toilet up (it's sitting off to the left in the bathtub) and ripped out more drywall.

Here's a close up of the pipes and insulation in my wall. If you look carefull, you can see some small shiny sections of copper pipe. Those are the newer pieces they put in to replace the busted sections. I'm assuming some are from last year. There are at least four that I can tell in the picture, one longer piece on the right side, lower pipe, one small piece in the middle top pipe, and one small piece on both top and bottom pipes on the left.

Because of the water on the bathroom floor, I knew it would start leaking to the carpeting in the bedroom, so Monday night (Tuesday morning actually), once the water was shut off, I started getting everything out of the way before the water got to it. I dragged it wherever I could, and still leave a path to my computer.

Here's the finished bathroom tonight when I got home. Same toilet, can't get that replaced yet (next on my list), but I have a new vanity, cabinet, sink, faucet, I got it all. If you compare this photo with the first one, you can see the difference in the cabinet door. This new one is much nicer quality than the old one.

Everything needs to be thoroughly cleaned, but the water is back on and working. This morning when I got up for work, I didn't have any hot water, so took an amazingly quick shower, then called Jack from work. Apparently, while the plumber was here yesterday, they had been turning the breaker on and off for the water heater, because it's electric, and Jack forgot to turn it back on when they left. So my water heater wasn't heating any water! It's back on now, and I have hot water again! This Saturday, after my dentist appt, I'll be cleaning the bathroom, and putting everything back in it's place in the bedroom.

What are the odds this would happen two years in a row, and on exactly the same day?

Ok, I'm SERIOUSLY ready for Spring, any day now it can arrive, I won't complain, I promise. I've REALLY had enough of the below zero temperatures. At the rate I'm going, I won't make it to 2009 before moving to California. I've really gotten intolerant of the cold in my old age. Keep warm, where ever you are!

The storm I was supposed to get didn't quite materialize as they expected. The snow was supposed to start last night, but the cold air didn't move south enough to change the rain to snow. So instead, I got rain all night, which turned to freezing rain/sleet this morning on the way to work, then about 9AM turned to snow. It snowed steadily the rest of the day. By 1:30, management of my company decided they would let us leave starting at 2PM, as the weather was not looking to improve until supper time. Some areas were expected to get over a foot of snow, with areas by me expected to get closer to 6 inches.


Fortunately, the highways weren't too bad, and traffic wasn't too heavy, so I made it home in under an hour. Not bad for the middle of a snowstorm! When I got home, while it was still light, I took a few pictures. This is the tree right outside my front door. The wind was blowing the snow in every direction, so the trees got a good coating of snow all over.

Also standing from my front stoop, this is a picture of part of the parking lot. The one car in front hadn't moved in at least a couple days, so it was all covered in snow. Mine is the silver one on the far left, partially obscured by the tree. There are piles of snow from the plow, and the sidewalk hadn't been shoveled yet. Those are footprints on the far right side leading up to my door, where people had to trudge through very wet and slushy snow.

From my apartment, this is looking out on the golf course. The darker areas in the middle are where the water was collecting from all the rain we got before it changed to snow. This was taken without flash, from my bedroom, through the window. You can actually see the water droplets in the picture that were on the outside of the window.

The snow has finally let up I think, not sure when we're supposed to get more, but I'm sure winter hasn't finished with us yet. This has been a very snowy winter, as opposed to last winter, when we had very little snow but brutally cold temps for several weeks. I would much rather have the snow than the below zero temperatures.

Anyone want some snow? I'll have enough to pass around to several people by Wednesday morning:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

SNOW WILL BEGIN TUESDAY NIGHT AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THERE MAY BE SNOW DEPTH OF 6 INCHES OR MORE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL... NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL WILL PROBABLY BE NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 AND TO THE WISCONSIN BORDER. THE TRACK OF THE LOW MAY DETERMINE SNOW FALL ACROSS THE REGION. AREAS SOUTH OF THE KANKAKEE RIVER MAY HAVE LESS SNOW BECAUSE THE SNOW MIXED WITH RAIN AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS EVENT.

Is it spring yet?

From the National Weather Service:

"A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM CST MONDAY.

SNOW WILL RAPIDLY OVERSPREAD THE AREA EARLY THIS EVENING...WITH SNOW POSSIBLY BECOMING HEAVY AT TIMES. THERE IS A CHANCE FOR SOME THUNDER SNOW...WITH VISIBILITIES LIKELY FALLING BELOW A HALF MILE DURING THE PERIODS OF HEAVIEST SNOW. SNOWFALL RATES OF UP TO AN INCH PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE AT TIMES THIS EVENING...WITH TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE TO THREE INCHES LIKELY BY MIDNIGHT.

THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL WILL LIKELY OCCUR OVER NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS BETWEEN 6 AND 9 PM...AND OVER NORTHEAST ILLINOIS INCLUDING THE CHICAGO METROPOLITAN AREA BETWEEN 7 PM AND 10 PM. SNOW WILL END LATE THIS EVENING OR SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT."

Is it Spring yet?

Whew! Figured it out. Working with HTML is so picky, the slightest little thing will make it not work! Just had to go away from it for awhile, then when I came back, I was able to figure it out. Now I'm all set for this month.

Not much going on here, so I loaded a few pictures.

A couple geese walking through the fresh snow Sunday morning.

This is a new shotglass case I got for Christmas. The three bottome shooters are Mazatlan, Mexico, BB Kings Blues Club Memphis, and Cancun, Mexico. There are four shotglasses along the top, although you can't see one of them because it's dark blue. They are: Key West, Florida, Great Platte River Road, Kearney, Nebraska, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California, and Amelia Island, Florida.

Here's the top, it says "Denise's Shots"

This was my bedroom window last night. We had a wicked storm go through. Not a lot of snow, at least I don't think there was a lot of snow. Most of it was blown all over the place, due to wind gusts of up to almost 50 miles per hour. Along with the wind, the temperatures dropped from almost 50F late morning to 0F overnight.

Kerry suggested I get some mistletoe so that Cupid might want to "jump my bones" when he is around next month. Now tell me...who wants to get jumped by someone wearing a diaper?

Day 6 and 7:

Because Saturday was supposed to be the worst day of the storms passing through California, we didn't do much. We did go to the hospital to see Bob, since he was now in a room. We didn't stay long, as he was sleepy due to the antibiotics. They had him on a wide-spectrum drug, until the urologist verified it was a U.T. infection, then they started him on one specifically targeted to that. We parked in the Red Cross parking lot, she showed me sorta where her office is. We couldn't go in, because it wasn't open, and her key to the office was in her purse when it was stolen a few weeks ago. She is too embarassed to ask for a new one, so someone has to let her in each time she goes there. From there, we walked over to the hospital. Fortunately, it wasn't raining right then.

She took me for a longer tour of downtown Glendale, showing me all the places she goes, runs errands, gets gas, all those exciting things. On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store so she could pick up a few things.

We hung out at the house for a few hours, playing 221b Baker Street again, and watching a little television. About 6pm, we got into the car to go eat out. There's a nice Mexican restaurant in Glendale that she likes to go to, so despite the rain (and since we needed to go back there anyway) we went out to eat. We both ordered margaritas, I had taquitos and something else that I forgot, lol. Very yummy! It was pouring rain outside, so we got quite wet running back to the car. From there we drove a couple blocks to the Glendale Centre Theatre to see their production of The Foreigner. The theatre is in-the-round, and there are NO bad seats. It was quite hilarious, and a most enjoyable way to spend the evening. The drive home was pretty scary though. I've driven in hard rain before, but in Chicago we know how to make the roads so the water drains off them. In California, they let the water sit on the freeway, which you have to try to drive through. Hydroplaning is a big threat when driving in torrential downpours in CA, and I was lucky to go 40mph going home. Several times, I felt like the tires were no longer touching the road. I was VERY glad when we arrived safely back at my aunt's house.

Sunday dawned cloudy and rainy again. We had plans to drive up to Santa Barbara to visit my other nephew Doug, his wife, Margie, and their two children, Alycia and Aaron. They live in Grover Beach, so meeting in Santa Barbara was about halfway for both of us.

Aaron has Muscular Dystrophy, and is in a motorized chair. They also have a special van that was custom fit for his chair, with a ramp and everything. The chair is amazing! I think they said it cost about $20,000, but it has four-wheel drive, and raises and lowers, so he can be at chair level, or can be eye level to his dad who is over 6 feet tall. It even goes down stairs, as shown in the pictures below.

All he needs is a little help from behind to navigate down stairs.

Once he's all the way down, one set of wheels lifts up, and he will only use one set of the larger wheels, and the smaller set of wheels. He can go through grass, some sand depending on how packed it is, over curbs, it's amazing how well he can get around. None of this has stopped the family from taking trips, and doing things together. We met them for lunch at the Doubletree Resort, then walked a few blocks to the Santa Barbara Pier. Because it was off-season, not much was going on, but it was nice to walk out to the end and see the ocean. That was as close as I was going to get on this trip. Just as we were getting back to our car, it started raining lightly. The weather couldn't have co-operated more. It rained until we arrived, then quit until we were ready to leave.

I drove us back to my aunt's house, we had dinner, and she fell asleep watching television. She had already started feeling sick by that time, and it wasn't two days later that I started feeling it myself. My trip home the next day was an adventure in itself, so I'll save that for my next post, lol.

Days 4 and 5 in California:

Back to our regularly scheduled program. Pardon that temporary interruption, but the cold weather took over my primary brain functions. Now that it has warmed up a bit, I'm feeling more normal.

On Thursday morning, my aunt and I packed up our stuff and checked out of our hotel rooms. We went and paid a quick visit over to my sister and her hubby to say goodbye to him and the cats. (Darn, I should have taken pictures of them, they're gorgeous.) We followed my sister in her car over to the lady that takes care of her mother-in-law, Katherine. She's 101 years old, God bless her. She has short term memory problems, but in the past has always remembered me. She has good days and bad days, but I think this was not one of her better days. Unfortunately, she didn't remember me, so the visit wasn't very long. Plus she does tire out easily.

Her son, my BIL got tired of answering the same questions over and over, so he made a card file. On each card, he wrote down her most common questions on one side, and the answer on the other. And he used some of her more common phrases in the answers. One of our most favorite phrases of hers is, "Don't TELL ME!" One of the cards asks about her house, which was sold years ago. His answer to the question is that the house was sold and the money's in the bank. Another question asks about where her money is. The answer is, "In the bank, earning interest." Then below that it says "That's nice," another of her frequent sayings. So now when he goes to visit her, and she asks him one of these questions, he just opens up the card file, pulls out the card and has her read both sides, that way he isn't repeating himself 50 times, lol.

It's amazing that she is 101 years old, after the life she has had, but she is a terrific lady, and I consider it an honor to know her. We stayed about 15 minutes or so then were directed back out to the freeway so we could head north to Los Angeles and my aunt's house.

We stopped at this cute little place for lunch. I don't remember the name of it, or even exactly where it's located, so looking on a map doesn't help much. There were a few shops, and some activities for kids during the summer months. Most of it was closed for winter. If I really did some digging I could find it, maybe another day I'll look into it more fully.

We stopped in Glendale so I could see the nursing home my uncle is at. He was sleeping when we got there, and was not real aware of things, so I'm not sure if he knew me or not. He's suffering from Parkinson's, and being unable to swallow on his own, he has a feeding tube and needs constant care. They are taking very good care of him there, and he's close to the Red Cross where my aunt volunteers, and a hospital.

She took me on a quick tour of Glendale (where the Tournament of Roses Parade is held each year.) We then went to relax at her house and get settled in. After she showed me around telling me about all the improvements she's had done to the house, I went out to her patio and saw the following sunset.

This was to be the last sunset during my stay in California. The next day dawned overcast and rainy. Because of the rainstorms approaching California, we changed our plans a bit for the last few days of my stay. We agreed to drive up to Lancaster to see my nephew Dennis on Friday instead of Saturday, since it looked like Friday would be less rainy than Saturday. Unfortunately, that meant his new wife was working, and when we attempted to go meet her at her work, she couldn't spare any time because she her boss was there. Maybe next trip I'll get to meet her.

Dennis' son lives with him, along with his wife's son and daughter. Dennis also has two daughters, they are currently living with their mother. I'm not sure why he didn't ask to have them there when we came to visit, and we didn't want to ask, thinking it might be a touchy subject. The mother seems to think that all her children are sick (she's a hypochondriac) and wants them all medicated. The girls are about 9 months apart. From what I was told, the younger one is no longer medicated, but unfortunately is her mother's daughter. The older one is still medicated (I believe) but has other issues too. They are both teenagers, but the older one has no female hormones, so she is not going through puberty like all the other girls at school. I believe she is taking medicine for that, not sure how well it's working, or if it's working.

Our visit was relatively short, we saw the son (my great-nephew, he's 15 I think) for about two minutes, then Dennis, my aunt Val and I went to lunch at Panera. While there, my cell phone rang, and checking the number I said to Val, "Who would be calling me from the 818 area code?" She had no idea, so I didn't answer, and no message was left. We dropped Dennis back at his house, and Val and I left to come back to her house. On the way back through the mountains, it started raining harder, and we saw an accident on the other side of the road, involving a couple cars, that had traffic backed up for several miles. We were glad to not be in that mess.

Once back at my aunt's house, she checked her messages and it turned out the nursing home had been trying to reach us (hence the call to my cell phone from the 818 area code.) My uncle had been transferred to the hospital, they thought he might have pneumonia. Val had thought he felt warm when we saw him on Thursday, but never mentioned it to the nurse at the home. We drove in the rain to the emergency room, and I sat with all the walk ins while she went to go see Bob and talk to a doctor. Turns out it was only a urinary tract infection, so he was going to be admitted. She gave them the information for his urologist, due to his repetitive infections in the past. He was kept there for a few days, and then returned back to the home.

After the jaunt to the hospital, and the lousy weather, my aunt and I just relaxed Friday night with a glass of wine and a board game. She had several suggestions: Monopoly, Scrabble, and two different Sherlock Holmes board games. We decided on one of the Sherlock Holmes games, called appropriately enough 221b Baker St. We had a lot of fun going around trying to get clues to solve the mystery. Before we knew it, it was near midnight, and we needed sleep.

I was sitting here debating whether I wanted to post anything to blogger tonight. After getting caught up on new comments and new posts at the other blogs I regularly check, I had signed out and was sitting at the blogger start page.

As I was messaging a friend in msn, one little part of the start page was still visible. It says, "Post thoughts." Hmmmm, do I have any thoughts to post tonight? All I could think of was....

I want to be WARM!!!

So there you have it, my thought for the day.

Brrrrrrrrr!

I just finished streaming, put on The Weather Channel, it says it's 8F outside with a windchill of -10F (-13C wind chill of -23C).

Tomorrow's high temp is supposed to be 6F.

On that note, I'm going to go bury myself under a couple blankets.

"Midway Magic"

Since I don't have a lot more pictures left of my vacation due to the lousy weather the entire second half of my trip, I will post some interesting facts about the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier.

- The USS Midway was in service for 47 years, from the end of WWII to the liberation of Kuwait in 1991

- The USS Midway was the first ship that was too large for the Panama Canal

- It was the first carrier to operate extensively in the sub-Arctic

- Pilots from the Midway shot down the first and last MiGs of the Vietnam War

- Midway led the evacuation of Saigon, rescuing 3,073 refugees in two days

- Rescued 1,800 Americans fleeing the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Phillipines in 1991

- 225,000 sailors served on the Midway, average age was 20

- No other aircraft carrier has served America as long as the USS Midway

- Surpassed 2.5 million visitors since opening in San Diego in 2004


Here are some additional numbers about USS Midway, that might be interesting:

- It only cost $90 million to build in 1945, but cost $260 million to overhaul it from 1966-1970

- 69,000 tons total weight (average car is about 2 tons)

- 2,000 compartments

- 2,000 electric motors

- 1,500 telephones

- 1,001 feet long (305 metres)

- Set all-time record for days at sea, 327

- 258 feet wide (78.6 metres)

- 18 decks

- 12 boilers

- 3.4 million gallon fuel capacity

- 100,000 gallons fuel used daily

- 260 gallons fuel used per mile (glad my car doesn't get that kind of mileage!)

- 2 physicians were on board, and 1 dentist (for 4,500 man crew)

- 10 tons of food daily

- 13, 500 meals served daily

- 2,000 potatoes daily

- 1,000 loaves of bread daily

- 4,500 lbs of beef when served

- 500 pies when served

It's track record of humanitarian missions, establishment of new naval aviation standards, and dedication to the American ideals of liberty, freedom, and peace was unmatched. The called it "Midway Magic."

Day 3: With not a lot planned for today, my sister mentioned that we could go back to where she attended the New Year's Eve party, because they have daily tours. That place was the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier, currently docked in San Diego Harbor. I'm not sure if it's permanent, but it's possible, since it's right next to The Maritime Museum along the waterfront.

This was where you paid to get in for the tour. My sister paid and kept the ticket, so I have no idea how much it cost, lol.

This is a shot looking up at the antennae or whatever those things are that stick up from the top of the carrier, lol.

Here's the entrance where you go inside to the hangar deck, where they hand out headsets and a hand-held audio player. There are many numbered spots throughout the carrier, you just press the button for that spot and you get a recording of information about it. You can do them out of order, as many as you want, etc. It's suggested, that you should allow 3-1/2 hours if you want to do the full complete tour. There are a total of 60 areas to see on three levels.

This is up on the flight deck. I believe that's the Island Superstructure, and includes Flight Deck Control, radio rooms, Captain's Cabin, and Admiral's Quarters.

Here's a shot looking back from the forward end of the carrier. That's part of the skyline of San Diego behind it. It's kind of hard to see, but I believe that's an F-8 Crusader in the foreground.

Here's a shot of some of the helicopters on deck, once we finished the tour and were down on the ground again. This is from the opposite side of where we entered. I believe the chopper on the left is a Huey Gunship, the white one in the middle is an SH-3 Seaking, and the grey one on the right is an SH-2 Seasprite.

This is what we came around the carrier to see. We could see it clearly from the flight deck, and had to see how tall it actually was up close. You can see me standing in front of his leg, and as I'm almost 5' 5", the statue is over 20 feet high. (25 feet tall to be exact.) For those of you not familiar with this very famous image, it's from the end of WWII, in NY. When the end to WW II was announced, thousands of people ran out to Times Square, and a Life photographer was there recording it. He saw a sailor running around grabbing every girl in sight. As the photographer ran on ahead, he turned around and snapped the picture just as the sailor grabbed a nurse, bent her back, and kissed her. It's one of the most recognized images from WW II. This statue was on loan the city of San Diego. It was previously displayed in New York and Sarasota, FL. It was only in San Diego through 2007 (so how come it was still there on Jan 2, 2008?)

Here's another shot of the statue showing how close to the carrier it is. I don't know what the sign read, I didn't get a chance to read it because my aunt was parked illegally, and we didn't want to dawdle.

My sister also took many pictures of our day on the Midway. Once she sends them to me, I'll post them, she took some cute ones. The whole day was beautiful, about 70F.

Day 2: We didn't do much on New Years Day, except watch football. I missed the Rose Parade completely. I should have taken pictures of my hotel room, it was probably as big as Styx's apartment, lol. And we got a deal on the price because my sister Sue knows someone who knows an employee (or something like that) so we got the rooms for $75 a night instead of at least $120. You enter the room, and there's a kitchen to your left, with a stove and dishwasher and refridgerator. Straight ahead is a couch (with a hide-a-bed) and a desk, and a television set. Just past the kitchen is the bedroom, that has a door for privacy. There's a vanity sink and mirror, another tv, a chair and ottoman, a king sized bed, and a nice big bathroom. Plus a closet, and an ironing board. It's almost more of an extended stay type places. It was called American Inns or something like that.

This is my great-niece Leah. She's six years old and already a drama queen. She started calling me "auntie Denisey neesy neesy" and of course her younger brother picked up on it and started it too. Her mother tried to stop them, but it still would slip out every once in awhile. Note the red hair? It's prevalent in my family, lol.

Here's Bob working his daily Sudoku puzzle, with Sam working his puzzles next to him. Sam is only three, but is VERY into construction. The box of puzzles has 4 puzzles in them, and he knows each one by it's proper name. One is an excavator, and he can actually say the word, lol. Note the red hair? LOL

This is my aunt Val. She's 30 years older than me, and still looks WONDERFUL for her age. For those that know how old I am, you can figure out how old she is, lol.

Side story about my trip that I didn't mention in my Day 1 post. When I got to the airport Monday morning, I was thinking that it was New Year's Eve, the flight wouldn't be full, there'd be plenty of room on the plane, etc. Since I was flying out of Midway, it was quicker than O'Hare, and I was able to use the skycap service to check my bag and avoid the ticket line, which was very long. Since I had my boarding pass, I went straight to security and then to my gate. As I was walking to my gate (only a few gates past security) I noticed there were a lot of people walking around in orange shirts, sweatshirts, hats, jackets, and they all said Illinois on them.

I thought for a second and then realized I'd hit the mother of all plane trips. University of Illinois fans flying to LA for the Rose Bowl football game against USC. I was afraid the flight would be rowdy, certainly knew it would be packed. I think at least half my flight were U of I fans going to the game, many were families with multiple children, all wearing orange and blue, lol. Who knew when I made my flight arrangements back in November that I'd have to deal with this, lol. Fortunately this flight went off without any hitches and I arrived safely and on-time in LA. My aunt certainly knew she was in the right area when she saw all the Illinois shirts of people coming down to baggage claim, lol.

Day 1 in California, New Year's Eve. My sister, Sue, and her husband, Bob, were headed out to a party on the USS Midway aircraft carrier. They left my aunt Val, my niece Tina, her two kids, and me, all alone.

We drank some wine, we watched t.v., we played dominoes and hearts, and at about 12:15 AM, my aunt and I left to go to our hotel. It was a nice quiet way to spend New Year's Eve.

I'm home from sunny (and not so sunny) southern California. I have a cold, to go with all the rain we're getting right now. I'm pretty sure I got it from my aunt, but there's some disagreement between us where she got her cold from. It didn't stop us from enjoying our time together. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, due to the inclement weather, but I'll transfer what I do have and give you all the exciting details of my week, hopefully tomorrow.

Until then, stay warm and stay dry, where ever you are.