From one fire to another

Same old excuse - busy (what else is new?)

Seems like we are handling one crisis challenge after another.  Just enough things to keep me busy and give me a few more grey hairs (for what is left).

No real update on SIL - pretty much status quo.  Not getting any better, not getting any worse which, is actually a good thing.  She is trying to keep a positive outlook even if she doesn't feel it.  I actually had a conversation with her last weekend about where she wanted to be buried - not something I initiated but she wanted me to know her thoughts/wishes.  Damn.  How do you respond to that conversation on the fly?  She is working hard on staying positive, but with the setbacks she has had, it is hard, and I don't blame her.  I gotta admit, given all of her challenges and issues, I am not sure I would take the same path as she has.  My wife has been taking care of her sister throughout this whole ordeal and she is a bit worn down.  I am trying to hold down the fort over here while she is taking care of SIL but it just doesn't seem to equal out to what she has done.  People/family have offered to help out but this is something that we are dealing with ourselves.  

If that wasn't enough stress, got word that my dad is going into surgery in a week or two.  Remember him?  The 90 year old guy that gets up at 0500 every morning for a 3-4 mile walk, tows an Airstream across the country and still gets out and does his own grilling?  This is the first time in 31 years that my folks are not going on their summertime trek to the international Airstream rally up north.  31 years.  I did the math this weekend and figured out that they have been roaming the countryside for almost as many years as we have been married.  This will be the first time we get to spend their anniversary with them at home.  My dad has been feeling at odds and when in to see his doc for a prostate/bladder issue.  They ran the typical battery of tests/exams and ruled out PC (prostate cancer) but he did have an issue that would require some treatment to resolve.  Give the options of wearing a catheter or surgery, he chose surgery.  Now, typically 90 is not considered a good age for surgery, but his doc reviewed his condition and status and said his prognosis was good/strong.  So we are waiting to hear of an open slot next week. Needless to say, his sons are not overly excited about the prospect of him going under the knife (or laser).  As a pessimist and one who as done this kind of surgery, I worry about all of the negative outcomes.  My brother who lives in Seattle is planning to fly in for the surgery to sit with mom and help them out while he recovers/recoups.  When it happens, I plan to take off to sit with my mom while dad goes in (much like I did 10 years ago when she went in for heart surgery).  I working to keep a positive perspective on this deal and not consider any of the negatives but it does tug at the edge of my mind.  I deliberately carved out most of last Saturday to spend it with my dad over at brother's garage.  It was a lame excuse to catch up on things and play with grandnephew and the dogs while getting the 411 about his "procedure".  Next week may be intense but we are keeping our hopes up this turns out well. 

Work has not helped calm things down.  Finished up two projects and two audits only to get three more.  Seems like I am always chasing my tail.  Lots of stress, headaches.  Sometimes the old bait shop is looking better and better.  One bright spot was last week.  We had our annual company celebration for meeting our goals/objectives.  Past years we have gone to a ranch for various activities/food, last year they did a local funplex that had a myriad of activities (games, bowling, laser tag, glow golf).  This year they decided on indoor racing.  Interesting venue.  An organized race with supercharged up go-carts on an indoor track.  Pretty nice ride, but I have to admit it was a bit boring at times.  If you weren't racing, you were talking with your fellow employees or eating lunch.  

Start your engines

New career path

Tailgating

I am not one to complain and I fully appreciate the company shelling out the money for this gig but there was but there was a lot of dead time waiting for your turn to race.  A  good change of pace to the normal routine.  

Worse. Parade. Ever.

• What was I thinking?
• Will I ever learn?
• I am too old and too fat to do this, again.
• I really let the young uns have a turn.
• I would much rather sleep in on a cold Sunday morning.

It is around this time of year that people start pondering the Marathon.  Heck, it's only 232 days away.  That's six months and two seasons from now.  The Houston run has become such a big thing that there is a massive sign up to get one of the coveted slots for the roughly 25000 nut cases who enjoy running like a herd of wild buffalo set loose upon the dark streets of Houston on a cold January morning.  It's about this time I start thinking if I will give it another go on the hopes of improving my old time or if I should hang up my shooz.  All the aches and pains have faded into a dim memory, spring is full of promise, the weather's not gotten hot (yet).  Early registration for the Houston Marathon opened up two weeks ago.  Normally I would not pay this any attention as I was not qualified for early sign up.  The thing has gotten so big that they have initiated a lottery system a few years ago.  You sign up and your name goes into the lottery and you have a shot at being selected.  To get a guaranteed slot, there were a few conditions:

• Time qualifier - your last race time is under a certain time limit (full - 4:00, half 1:52).  As many times as I have done this run, I have yet to break the 2:00 mark
• Deferred from 2014
• Third Time's a Charm (been in the lottery for 3 times but have not been selected)
• Marathon Veteran - have run 10+ Marathons (sorry, halfs don't count) - sometimes referred to as legacy runners
• Select a Run for A Cause Charity (you volunteer to raise money for sponsored charities)

It was the last one that I have been doing for a few years.  First one I did was under the Cancer Society banner but the past few runs have been for the Epilepsy Foundation.  Was a bit more expensive to get in the door, but I figured it was for a good cause.  This year, I was pondering if I was really going to do it one more time but this time I was going to put my name into the lottery and let the running gods decide my fate.  My running has been completely off lately.  I just haven't had the time or motivation.  I've sort of lost my muse this year.  It is also at this time of the year I do the Father's Day 5k downtown.  That usually gives me a spiritual kick in the butt motivation to get back into the running groove.   

So, here I sit all fat, dumb and happy when I got a reminder the other day that early registration was ending.  Figuring I didn't qualify, I still reviewed the form and found a slight change to previous years.  One new qualifier they added for this year is:  

• 5+ Houston Marathon or Half Marathon Finishes: Runners who have completed 5 or more Houston Marathons or Houston Half Marathons 

5 or more?  Heck, I got that.  So, once again, thinking with my feet instead of my head, I have climbed on board for one more turn on the merry-go-round.  Of course, like any rash decision, I'm sure I will be questioning my resolve come December.  

Stupid is as stupid does...

Putting out fires

As I said earlier, it was an interesting week last week.  Things are backing up at the office, the dogs need grooming, SIL is still having a rough time with her recovery, came home to an a/c leak in the bedroom, and wound up putting out fires (not literally).

First work - it's review time again at the office.  That time of the year where you boil down everyone's accomplishments, tasks, achievements into a single piece of paper and grade them on a very subjective scale.  For me, it's hard to take a year's worth of work and cram it all into one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, not matter how small I write.  I have hated review time ever since I was in the Army.  And for what?  A meager 1-2% increase?  I'd rather just give them the money and say thanks.  I am especially bummed this year because I missed the deadline to get one of my people promoted.  I tried to make a deal with my boss and accounting.  Even offered up part of my increase to see if it would open the door but no dice.  No matter how much increase I give her, no matter how glowing the review I write, she won't be happy.  As a manager, I'm told I need to grow thick skin and look at this from the business perspective, but I call BS.  For the amount of increase it would take, it wouldn't really break the bank.  

The dogs are up to their their typical antics.  We have been under a drought down here for a while so the local park is full of goatheads and grass spurs.  Every time I take them to the part in the evening, I wind up picking off about 25-50 of those thorny bastards off of each one.  Especially Ms Claire who just HAS to roll in the grass every time.  Gawd, if she weren't so cute when she does it, I'd have give her a Chihuahua haircut.  Still, I am taking both of them to the vet next week for their summer cuts.  Maybe it will cut down on the tumbleweeds of dog hair that roam the house.   

Mother's Day last weekend.  I hope all you mothers out there had a great time (or at least some peace & quiet).  I went over to my mom's last Saturday to spend time with her because I knew I would be tapped to help SIL on Sunday.  Good time spent with her and my brother.  She's still going strong 91 and not signs of letting up.  Some of the discussion was around nursing homes.  My dad is the eldest boy of his family and his younger brother was moving into a home.      

SIL is still having a hard time.  She restarted Chemo and it is really kicking her ass.  was nauseous for most of the weekend.  So much so that we took her back to the ER on Monday to get things right.  I spent the day on Sunday with her and her cats to give my wife a break.  While there, I was watching some videos on my iPad and there was a loud pop and the power flashed off and on for a moment.  Sounded like it came from the back yard so I went out to investigate.  Heard the neighbors out but could not see anything until I spotted a small cloud of smoke coming from behind their fence line.  SIL lives on a small creek/bayou and it is usually unmowed (unkept) so there is a lot of grass.  With the drought I mentioned earlier, I realized that any small fire could get out of hand, so I tried to get the hose on the hot spots but the gate was locked.  I picked up a fire extinguisher and sprinted down the block to get to it from the other side.  A neighbor had the same idea and we tackled the fires together while someone called the fire department.  There were three small fires burning and we got most of them out with our fire extinguishers before they ran out.  By the time the fire department showed up, it was pretty much all over.  The grass was so dry that it could have gotten ugly real fast.  Never figured out what caused the fire - the power line transformers were intact and none of the fuses were tripped.  We think that one of the local tree rats (aka squirrel) might have made contact with the power lines and, well, met his maker.  That's enough drama for one day.

Normally I try to do some Mother's Day meme, but I just got behind (aka lazy) and overlooked it.  With all of the Let It Go parodys out there, but this one I found pretty darned awesome, so I offer it up to all you momma's out there.   

Big Red Bow

I so want one

Been a rather interesting week down here. Nothing serious or major but just busy/crazy/weird all rolled into one.  Some days I feel like I am in a Quentin Tarantino movie.         

Playing dead

This made me think of Napolion and his latest conquest. 

 

Happy Happy

Interesting to note how several people had the same idea at the same time.  I was out walking the dogs the other night and I realized that a few famous blog personalities had anniversaries on the same day. 

Mega congrats to Lotta Joy and Terri for celebrating their anniversaries on Wednesday.  Our anniversary is coming up on Sunday.  It's hard to imagine it's been only 34 years since we tied the knot.  It's a long ways down that road and we are at that "comfortable" stage in life where we prefer to keep things low key.  Flowers, dinner, no big gifts.  I offered to take momma to Vegas for the weekend, but she's still taking care of SIL and is not really fond of flying.  Besides, I think she would prefer me to knock out some overdue "honey-dos" around the hacienda.  I am finally planning to have the driveway replaced.  Nothing says I love you like new concrete....  

------

To quote Rita Rudner:  I love being married.  It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. 

Post Pate

Reader's Digest version:  Long drive, decent weather, miles of car parts & cools stuff.  No major buys, just some interesting sights/finds and a couple deals.  No DeLoreans this year. 

All-in-all, a good trip, if only to see the mass of car parts and the miles we hiked over the two days. 

Left town around noon Thursday hoping to set up camp before and get some picking done before sundown.  Made it to the speedway around 1700, dropped the trailer and headed out to the meet.  Way too much ground to cover in only two hours so we just stuck to a quick walk through to lay out a plan of attack, trying to score up a few "set up" bargains and spot some places we would come back to on Friday.  Around 1930 - we headed back to our trailer to finish our set up and grill up some steaks and good scotch.  That's one thing about doing this road trip with my brother, when he travels, he does it with style.  We're not quite roughing it like we did in our younger days. 

This year was the 42nd annual meet and it seems to keep growing.  Haven't yet seen the final report on attendance, but last year they had over 7,000 vendors on site and this year it was supposed to exceed that tally.  The whole meet is laid out in the parking lot of the Texas Motor Speedway.  If you have never been to a NASCAR track, let me just say that these things are humongous.  I used to think our little weekend football games down in college station were big with a capacity of 75,000 for one game.  TMS can supposedly hold up to 150,000 screaming, sunburnt NASCAR fans.  The parking lot that surrounds the race track is probably the size of a small town.  The meet is set up on the east side of the speedway in streets/rows.  The entire meet is laid out in a very logical grid pattern that takes some planning if you want to see it all.  The first day, we tried to walk one row from north to south and it turned out to be around 3/4 of a mile in length (that's just one row out of 12).  On Saturday, we switched to a grid attach (just combing through each grid to cover the most ground.  I started at 0830 (brother was waiting for his son to show up) and we walked until almost 1900 and just barely covered 1/2 the meet.  Sure, there was lots of digging and looking and talking along the way, but, in the end, my FitBit indicated that we had covered over 10.5 miles.  Almost a half marathon.

Lots of interesting things to see.  From new cars to classics to junkers to what-the-hell-where-they-thinking contraptions.  Car parts for new/old cars. Car memorabilia.  Signs.  Tools.  Bar lights.  Road signs.  A general mish-mash of stuff for different tastes. 

I found a few minor bargains, but nothing really major.  Did score a portable BBQ grill that I have been looking for that is no longer available.  Got it for a really cheap price to boot!  I intend to keep it in my trailer and use it for football games/camp outs.  My brother got a "new" Coors bar light that I spotted.  My nephew scored one of those big, official government looking boxes that he intends to paint and put radioactive stickers on for his DeLorean (ala Back to the Future).  I found a neat road sign of a Texas Farm Road (shape of Texas) for FM 1311 (the numbers on my brother's trailer).  Actually bought two more signs that I intend to peal off the numbers and put on 131 for my dad's rig and 1131 for mine.  Another trinket to adorn the garage wall.     

I noted a lot of people on motor scooters this year.  So many that there were actually two companies running the scooter business and both were sold out by 1000 in the morning on Friday and Saturday.  After hiking over half of the meet on Friday, my brother's hip/knee was hurting him so he opted for one to make the rounds on Saturday.  As much as I scoffed at the scooters, it did seem to make a difference and allowed us to pick up the pace.  Several times we used the scooter to haul out some bigger items (box, grill, road signs) back to the truck. 

I also noted a lot of dogs this year.  I always thought that dogs were not allowed but it appears that rule has been lifted.  Many walking dogs but a few dogs on carts or in wagons or strollers.  I debated taking Claire and Grayson, but after our marathon hike on Friday, decided it would not go well.  Grayson might be able to handle it but I am afraid that much hiking would do in Claire. 

We wrapped up Saturday afternoon and decided to head back south instead of Sunday morning.  Weather reports had a nasty storm headed our way late Saturday and would make driving/packing up pretty messy so we chose to bail out early.  From the number of vendors packing up at 1300 Saturday, a few others had the same idea.  We made it back to Houston about dusk.  Good trip.  Got lots of good ideas for next year.