Important Update

As you no doubt have noticed by now, there has been a dramatic redesign of this blog. Down in the lower right corner of the page, I have added a "Follow" button (or Gadget or Widget, as I guess it's called). I have no idea how this works, but that's what I want to find out.

If you're anything like me, this type of change (or any change, really) may make you uncomfortable and be difficult to deal with. Don't worry. You can rest assured that it probably won't last.

Old Photo

I came across this photo the other day. This picture was taken on either a typical Saturday or a typical Sunday, back in May of 1994.

I don’t really have a lot to say about this photo, but in ways I can’t articulate, it’s one of my favorites. Maybe I like it because of the way the kids are dressed - each of them are in their typical attire for that period in time.

Or maybe I like it because of where it was taken. It was taken at the same college that Sam and I now frequent (and at times, still do with his brother and his sisters, when they’re around.) 

Back then, we didn’t call it “the college.” We called it “the ducky place.” The fact that there happened to be a school building sitting directly behind us was irrelevant. 

Some things have changed since this photo was taken. For example, behind where that trailer sits, there’s now another college building - a building that's been there for years.

The perimeter of the pond, which looks clean and trimmed in this photo, is now a little more overgrown - semi-surrounded by brush and by trees that have seemingly grown out of nowhere. And the fence is kind of worn and it leans in various places. 

Also, you can see a few geese and even a duck in this photo. But as I've mentioned before, many times, there aren’t any ducks in the pond this year. Or any geese, either. Other than a family of turtles and a couple of frogs, the pond sits mostly silent and depressingly empty. 

I guess the biggest difference is that I don’t have any little kids that stand on fence rails anymore. But then again, with no ducks in the pond, maybe there would be no reason to stand on fence rails in the first place. 

I miss those ducks.

Tonight's Video

Music to My Ears

I was wondering what to do with all of my free time lately. Thankfully, I didn't have to wonder too long. My two year old refrigerator started making noise over this past weekend. At least, I think it started over this past weekend. It's kind of hard to tell.

Part of the reason it's hard to tell is because of my recent ear operation. I'm not hearing much of anything too well these days. But the other problem was that once I first noticed it, I wasn't sure if it had always been there and I had just never noticed it before.

So, I stood there, in front of the refrigerator, trying to absorb what I was hearing. I tilted my head in various positions - like a dog. Then, much like Sam scanning the ground with his metal detector, I started to scan the refrigerator with the side of my head.

Had it always made this noise and I just never noticed it? Did I now, because of my ear operation,  have super-hearing - despite the fact that I can hardly hear anything else? What was I going to cook Sam for dinner? All good questions. I decided to make Sam some dinner.

But now, last night, when I got home from work, this was the sweet music that greeted me as I entered the kitchen. (Note: Before playing, make sure you have your volume turned up to at least eighty percent, to get the full impact. Also, play it as a loop, so it really sinks in.)

Do you hear that? If it sounds like a low hum, you don't have the volume turned up high enough. Turn up the volume until it sounds like a min-jackhammer about to burst through the side of the refrigerator.

Ok, so by now, even with my bad hearing, I knew this wasn't normal. After clearing all the junk off of the top of the refrigerator and away from the side, I called the appliance store. The woman who answered switched me to the Service Department, where, because it was after the Service Department's hours, I could only leave a message. Then, I again made Sam some dinner.

That was last night. Today, I had no call back from the Service Department, so I called them. Apparently, they were just about to call me. I was next on their list, but unfortunately, they've "been slammed today." I could tell from all of the background noise that this was probably true. It sounded like one of these overseas telemarketing firms that are always trying to hustle you for some money. I took this as a bad sign.

The woman listened to my tale of woe and then told me that their repairman, "Mike" was "slammed for the next couple of days" (a lot of "slamming" going on. Not good) - with sixteen calls today and another sixteen calls tomorrow. Also not good. As she checked their schedule, I'm wondering how many hours a day "Mike" works - eight hours? Ten hours? Either way, it doesn't seem like it would leave a whole lot of time to actually repair anything, but it probably leaves plenty of time to say, "I'll have to order a part."

Unfortunately, because "Mike" is slammed, the soonest he can get to the house is somewhere between twelve and three o'clock next Tuesday - which I guess might work out since I have an ear follow-up earlier that same day. There is a bit of good news, though - they're putting me on a list so that if anyone of those thirty-two repair calls happens to cancel, they'll get to me sooner!

So, that's where we stand. Unless of course, the refrigerator completely dies before then, in which case, I can look forward to shopping for another new one - the second in two years.

Thanks goodness I have so much free time on my hands. Otherwise, this might really bother me.

Treasure Hunting

Sam, with his metal detector, and me, with my rattling eardrum, went over to the college after dinner last night. The people at the college, or whoever it is, held the annual music festival there this past weekend - and Sam wanted to scan the grounds with his metal detector for any lost change.

I don't know if I've mentioned his metal detector before (probably), but it's one that I bought him a number of years ago in an effort to get him out of the house. It's really made for a kid, but it still works pretty well for him.

So, like last year, we went over to the college - and as it turns out, Sam wasn't the only one with this brilliant idea. When we got there, there was a guy up on the hill who was wearing bulky looking headphones. These headphones were connected to an expensive looking metal detector which he was swinging side to side as he slowly paced back and forth, staring intently down at the ground. I'm pretty sure that this guy was a pro. He never bothered to look up. He just kept inching along in his slow and meticulous pace.

A little further down on the hill, there was a woman in the distance, also with a large metal detector, also scouring the ground. But she wore no headphones, so she must have been an at an intermediate level of treasure hunting. And even though she was some distance away, we could see her look over at us and we could make out a smile.

As she kept her steady pace, walking along the side of the hill, Sam and I walked down to the lower field where we spent our time walking around the perimeters of the tents that were still standing. Over the last couple of years, Sam and I have learned that the best place to look for change is to concentrate around the perimeter of these tents, and look around where the support posts are - and indeed, Sam started to find some change. 

While we were looking, the lady on the hill had made her way a little closer, and she stopped and called over to us. I couldn't hear half of what she saying at first, but it was clear from Sam's responses that she was interested, not only in how we were doing, but also in letting us know how she was doing.

Sam and I walked over and Sam told her something about all of the threads he was finding and how they must have been doing crafts under that tent. I'm not sure she understood the value of this. She replied by telling Sam that her strategy was to search on the hill because "That's where people sit when they get tired. They sit down, they lie back - and they lose all their change!" I don't know how long she had been walking that hill, but so far, this strategy had apparently yielded her the sum of fifty-five cents - which made her pretty happy.

She continued on her way, smiling to herself as she went, and Sam and I went back to the tents, where Sam found more threads and more change.

From last year's visit - which looks pretty much like this year's visit.

After about an hour or so, Sam and I started to head back to the car. We passed the man on top of the hill, still pacing, still looking intently down at the ground. The only thing that had changed was that now, instead of going back and forth across the matted grass, he was going side to side, crisscrossing the same area where he had been walking before. I guess that's how the pros do it.

The woman who had been searching on the hillside, saw us getting ready to leave and she waved to us and walked over to see how Sam had made out. Sam showed her a handful of change and she showed Sam her fifty-five cents and her bag full of dirty bottle caps. Apparently bottle caps are more plentiful than loose change, at least that's the case on that hill, where people sit down to rest.

But what she seemed especially happy about, was that she found an unopened nip bottle of some type of clear alcohol - the label of which was nowhere to be found. She said something to Sam, which I couldn't hear. But I heard Sam respond with his typical, "Nice," which he said to her in that same polite way that he says it to me, when I tell him some interesting fact that he's not interested in.

Sam said he made out pretty well and I figure he must have, because he spent most of the ride home sitting quietly and smiling to himself the entire time.

Back at home, Sam tallied up his haul: a pile of loose threads (to add to his thread collection), 1 fake coin, 1 paperclip, 2 buttons, 2 small magnets (one that says "It", the other that says, "Salmon") and $2.86 in change. No bottle caps, though, and no bottles of alcohol -which was fine with both of us.

Courtesy Call

It felt like a bit of a long day yesterday - having gone to, and having spent the better part of the day at a clinic for an ear operation. Normally, the drive would be about an hour, so just to be safe, Helaina and I left about two hours before my appointment.

Unlike most times, there was an actual reason for leaving this early. It was because there's a lot of road construction going on between my home and the clinic - enough road construction that Rachael and I got held up in traffic along this same route a few weeks back, and we missed her bus.

Having learned my lesson (which will no doubt be used to justify my leaving even earlier for many years to come), I didn't want to run into the same problem this time, so we left extra, extra early (as opposed to just my standard, extra early). Needless to say, it turned out to be completely unnecessary. Although there was some construction, most of it was on the other side of the highway. On our side, there were no hold-ups at all - and Helaina and I arrived well before we needed to.

We went inside the clinic and I filled out the paperwork and I sat there with Helaina in the waiting room. Before long, a nurse came to get me. And even though I knew better, I was hopeful that this meant I that would be getting operated on sooner, and then be on my way home sooner, as well.

I followed the nurse to a small room where she checked my so-called vitals, and the I followed her to another room where she had me get "dressed" in a "gown" and then I followed her to another room where she had me lay down on a gurney. She went to get Helaina - and together Helaina and I waited the for the next two hours.

One of those two hours was the asked for "get there an hour before your appointment," and the other hour was my own fault, for arriving even earlier that expected. I don't have any particular problem with all of this, other than being bored out of my mind, and boring Helaina out of her mind, but I wondered why they didn't just leave me in the waiting room until they were closer to being ready. At least in the waiting room, I could have read the news on my cell phone (which wasn't allowed in the apparently high security area, which was where my gurney was located.)

Anyway, somewhere around the scheduled time, they came and got me, wheeled me in, and the surgery took place.

Afterwards, I awoke with a giant bandage wrapped around my head, with a big wad clustered over my left ear. (The operation was on my left ear, in case I forgot to mention it.) The nurse (or somebody) came over and gave me some pain medication, and the surgeon came by and told me that it was as he had expected (suspected?), something about the bone - and I nodded, pretending to follow along. The nurse came by again and gave me some followup instructions, thankfully written down, and told me to expect a courtesy call the following day. I got dressed and from there, Helaina drove me home.

After a few dizzy hours, waiting for the appropriate length of time to be able to take another painkiller, I finally popped one in and I headed upstairs and went to bed early.

Today, I'm still wearing the bandage, as instructed. It looks like I'm wearing a massive pirate's eye patch, which has shifted to the side of my head. I'm supposed to take this off later today, and switch to stuffing cotton balls into my ear for the next two weeks or so.

I feel great - other than feeling like I have the equivalent of a bad ear infection, and other than still being occasionally, and unpredictably, dizzy. What's bothering me the most, though, are two things.

First, when I talk, or hear loud noises (such as cracking ice from the ice cube tray, or setting my coffee cup down too hard on the table), the noise, or rather, the rattle in my ear is so loud, it's deafening - and almost painful. Is this normal? I don't know.

Which brings me to the second thing that bothers me. The clinic made their "Courtesy Call" just a few minutes ago - which I missed. They left a message and I called them back. And when I did, I spoke to someone (a nurse? the receptionist?), and I told them who I was, and that I was returning their missed call.

They asked me how I was doing, and I started to tell them and then they cut me off and asked, "Who is this, again?" (Apparently they ask anyone who calls in, how they're doing.) So, I told them who I was (again) and they asked me how I was doing (again) and when I started to ask them if the rattling sound was normal, I was cut off again and told that I would have to ask my surgeon those kinds of questions, because "this was just a courtesy call."

They asked if I had any other questions, but I figured if they weren't going to accept any medical questions, what was left to ask? I told them "No" and they thanked me and that was it.

I'm left wondering, what was the point of this? What exactly does a "Courtesy Call" mean? Was it just to see if I was still alive and could answer the phone - and anything beyond that was information that they weren't equipped to deal with?

In fairness, the message they left had said that if I had any questions, to give the doctor a call. But it also said that they were calling to see how I was doing. Maybe they meant that they were wondering how I was doing in any way that wasn't medical in nature.

Anyway, I put a call into my surgeon's office to see if this rattle was normal. I got their answering machine and left a message. About an hour later, I got a call back. I was told that yes, the rattle is normal. It may last for a day or two, or it may last up until my followup appointment (a little less than two weeks away.) Sometimes it can last even longer than that. There's no saying. Everyone is different...

**silence**

Ok. I guess that clears that up. Kind of. Regardless, I thanked them, not only for taking the time to answer my question, but also for having the courtesy to call me back. Which, I guess puts me further ahead than I was before.

Another Breathtaking Display

I forgot to mention that we made it to the fireworks last weekend. Surprisingly, while it was still crowded, the crowd was slightly smaller and thus slightly less obnoxious than in previous years.

This may have been because the fireworks had been postponed from the night before, because it rained. Or it could have been because it was still threatening to rain - to the point where they started the show about a half hour early. Whatever the reason, it worked out to my benefit - which is all that really matters. 

Due to the overwhelming response that I had from posting my photos last year (thanks Helaina), I figured I would regale you with some stunning photos from this year’s festivities. Hope you’re sitting down!

Here is a perfect example of my patented technique of pressing the shutter (assuming that cameras still have shutters) either way too early or way too late. I'm not sure which one this was, but I'm pretty sure it might have been awesome - either two seconds earlier or two seconds afterwards.

This one gets pretty close. The smoke leads me to believe that I might have been a little too late on this one. By the way, that tower you see at the bottom of the photo is the same tower that Sam and I walked up to, just a couple of days before. I kind of think that knowing this, makes this picture even more breathtaking.

Ok, now we're really getting pretty close. I think this one was also late - but not quite as late as the one above it. 

What I like about this picture is that I like to imagine that this is a picture of a wormhole opening in up space - and this is right before the aliens come bursting through to put us out of our misery.

And I like to imagine that this is one of the aliens - looking like a giant, electrified jelly fish, hovering over the crowd. As far as pictures of fireworks go, it's not that great. But boy, if this really was an alien, I'd say it's a pretty good shot.

Now I'm really getting the hang of it. Unfortunately, the show was over shortly after I took this one. Between this photo and the first one, I have another thirty or so pictures of varying quality, which I didn't bother to show. Maybe I'll save them for another time. 

This might be my favorite picture of the night - completely unretouched! This was taken at the end of the festivities, during the "Hurry Up and Pick Up Your Stuff So We Can Get the Hell Out of Here and Beat the Crowd" portion of the show. 

The thing about this ritual is that the entire crowd has the exact same mentality, so you're moving in one big mass of people, all of us trying to make it back to our cars and then all of us trying to get our cars out onto the road. But I do it every year. It's kind of a challenge. If I get ahead of just one person, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment. And if I don't hit anybody with my car on the way out, that's pretty good too. 

What I like about this photo is the fact that it looks about as frenetic as it feels - and I like that it fits into my earlier alien motif, as well. Try picturing the crowd running and screaming and trampling each other- even though they weren't. Still, it's kind of cool to think about. 

By the way, the back the head you see in the foreground is Sam, walking briskly ahead of me - pretty much like usual. 

Anyway, there you have it. Another awesome display of fireworks. We'll do it again next year. And if not, I have plenty more photos I can use.

Short Walks

In between the occasionally too hot and too humid summer evenings of this past week, Sam and I managed to squeeze in a few walks. We went on a couple of walks over to the college and another walk, our first one of the year actually, up to the tower.

I don't know what's going on over at the college. There's a little duck pond over there that's been virtually duck-less all year. I've been going over to this college for close to forty years now and I've never seen it without ducks.

You would think that in a small town like this, this would be a major news story - but I've looked around for any news about it and found... nothing. I've considered calling over to the college and asking what the story was, but every time I play it out in my head, I get as far as picturing myself on the phone, asking, "Who's in charge of the ducks?" So I don't make the call.

Anyway, we've gone for a few walks this week. And when we went on our walks at the college, we did what we always do lately - first we checked out the pond - just to see if any of the old residents are back. And, like usual, after commenting each and every time about how I wonder where all the ducks went (me commenting, that is. Sam just humors me with his best bewildered sounding response of, "I don't know!" - as if this is the first time he's ever heard me ask this), we went on our walk.

On the first walk, Sam grabbed his metal detector (and I took along some change) and he spent his time searching for coins - finding a few in the usual spots around the benches and other landmarks. On the second walk we decided to leave the metal detector at home and just look around - though this didn't stop Sam from checking out around the benches - just in case.

There's not a lot of conversation on these walks and without the ducks, these walks tend to be even quieter than usual. On a typical walk, we'll walk along and I'll point something out, and Sam will humor me by being interested. I'll try and make comments about something, and Sam will make a one or two word comment back. I'll mention how out of shape I am, and Sam will agree with me.

At the end of the week, we walked up to the tower. This was our first walk up there this year, and maybe our last one - for a couple of weeks anyway. While there is no question that I need the exercise and that my entire body is out of shape (just ask Sam), but I think it was a little too soon for my newly repaired knee. It's not feeling quite as 'almost' excellent as it was before the walk.

Today, the weather feels beautiful and since we both have the day off, Sam's expressed interest in taking his metal detector over to the field- which sounds like a good idea to me. The field is nice and flat, so I don't need to worry about further straining my knee. And I have plenty of change so we can stay there for a while. And then, maybe later, we'll go see if those ducks are back yet.