Accident Prone

Morpheous

2009-11-09T15:44:32Z

Got me Big Time

Yesterday I just ran out of energy and lay down around two for a "nap", and woke up around nine had dinner and fell asleep before Cold Case was over...

I'm just too old to work non stop LOL but I got the head board finished I just need to lag bolt it to the studs in the wall.

Common sense hit me halfway through and I figured I'd better try the winch so I bolted it down and fired it up.

It sounded like a dozer was driving through the house...

I quickly realized the wife would freak and went with a simple rope system and get about a nine or ten to one ratio so pull five foot of rope to slide her six inches no heavy straining and down the road I won't need someone to stay nights after the surgery.

Plan ahead.

My Dog Bit Me on the Nose Today...

2009-11-08T12:59:58Z

But the cat didn't claw my eyes

LOL dang puppy I had him on my lap and he was being a puppy tugging at my sleaves and licking my ears and out of the blue he nipped my nose with those razor sharp teeth which I ignored until I noticed the blood dripping off the end.

It looks like a snake got me, two long cuts for another scar.

I'll have to think of a better cover story though for use down the road...

In the Beginning

2009-11-07T12:36:50Z

There was an idea...

This is the start of the powered head board project starting with a peice of Birch furniture grade 3/4 inch plywood. I had the shape in my head used a string to draw the curve and then took quarter bead and ran it around the edges. The top piece I had to soak in hot water for 30 minutes so I could bend it someday I need to make a steamer but the tub worked fine.

This will be lag bolted to the wall and the winch and cables pulleys rings rope and all will bolt to it. A draw sheet is for moving people in bed if you've ever been in a hospital you know what I mean and I'll make a few with two rings sewn in at the top and the ropes will attach there with a snap ring so they can just be hung on the wall when not in use but when the wife slips down in bed I'll be able to pull her up a few inches even if I can only stand, no more leaning over and pulling I've been running on half days the past three with the remainder laying on a heating pad and since the winch I found buried in the basement has a remote control in theory the wife could straighten herself out if I left the lines on. It will run off a motorcycle gell cell no fumes and have a trickle charger on it to keep the thing topped off, and I'll try and have the bulk of the gear mounted near the floor out of sight.

After I get everything mounted and working I'll dissasemble it and add some ornate pieces then stain it and polyurethane it to match the side table I made her.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Handicap-Friendly-Nightstand/

Procrastinate Now!

2009-11-06T12:35:08Z

The wife let me reschedule my surgery for January which is a big stress releaver I just couldn't get everything done in 4 weeks and to get 24 hour aday help in December would be hard to ask of people. I spent a few hours trying to get the floor down in the wife's rental and all the stooping hit me hard I came home and slept and feel it this morning.

There is a carpet place in town I know real well so I gave them a key and explained the situation and most likely they can carpet the place for just a little bit more than what the flooring cost and I can return that so I'm gonna have to suck it up and let someone help me out. I'm having trouble just pulling the wife up in bed when she slides down and she has 4 days of doc appointments including cateract surgery next week so today I'm gonna take a piece of finished Oak plywood I've been saving for shelves in my closet and gonna make a "head board" to screw to the wall at the top of the bed and mount a cable winch on it from my truck, add some pulleys and a motorcycle battery, look for another sewing machine cause apparently the one I got 2 years ago and learned to sew has also "dissapeared", make her some custom draw sheets with big button holes in it to attach the cables to and use the remote control to pull her up effortlessly...

I drew it all up in my head and will work like a charm and I'll stain it to make it appear formal to match the decor.

There's always away around a problem.

I might add a retinal scanner to the front door if I find anything else missing from here.

Finally

2009-11-05T12:31:53Z

Up since 3 with the puppy.

At least dogs are easier to potty train than humans...

I hear the Blackbird.

Live Vaccine

2009-11-03T12:50:37Z

I got the live H1N1 vaccine the other day mostly because my immune system is stronger than a chicken egg in my opinion. I cleaned under a rental house with a leaf blower long ago and stirred up some super finerodent dropping and gave myself a dose of Hantavirus that hit me like a hurricane 12 hours later cold sweats and paralized and geez it was a long night I couldn't even call for help but I walked it off like a 24 hour bug.

Call me lucky or stupid but when I grew up I always would drink from the stream in my parents backyard to avoid walking all the way home and crawled around dusty attics looking for treasures to take to the flea market under the guise of "Cleaning" people's attics. It's a great way to get paid twice for the same thing LOL.

Maxwell and Priscilia were scheduled for shots yesterday at the vets and 15 minutes before I left the puppy started having troubles sitting and would bob his head from sign to sign the Vet ran lots of tests thought he might have hit his head and the guy is a little terror chasing after the Queen and all I could figure is he did a power slide into a wall or chair leg so I left him there and canceled my back brace fitting until today but by 3 he was AOK and I brought him home.

The first thing he did was pee in the yard good boy then race to the kitchen and chow down then settle into his kennel for a nap...

I'm pushing the wife to let me put the surgery off a month I just don't see how I can jump through so many hoops in 4 weeks especially since half this month is Doctors appointments and she has her second cateract surgery next week. The first one got her 20 / 40 and she can read things without glasses now but add to that I still have to finish the repairs on her trailer and all the holidays I don't see it as being very realistic to have a procedure done that is going to leave me flat out for a month plus it's gonna be too hard to get 24 hour a day help here during Christmas and New Years and to make things worse her power bed seems to be haunted suddenly going up and down at random LOL.

I built it I can fix it but there is that time factor again...

Bah

2009-11-02T15:23:01Z

I got to mentally adding up the things I need to have done before my surgery and throwing in the holidays and the need to get some help for like 20 hours a day and I'm thinking I need or should see if I can reschedule it for the beginning of January just for realities sake.

Coolest Thing Evar!

2009-11-01T12:27:14Z

I could use one of these to cut the grass and pull the garbage cans up to the street after they take a knife to me...

http://www.remotemower.com

Trick or Treat~!

That's real hair not a wig...

Snakes in the Trees

2009-10-31T13:34:18Z

Yesterday I was on the phone listening to Rosie Radio on Sirous XM for testing pupoises, pacing back and forth because they wanted to discuss hoarding with me and my thousands of Pez dispensers, Imagine me a hoarder...) and I looked in the Oak out back and saw the biggest Rat Snake I've seen to date lounging on a few branches about 25 feet in the air.

He looked like he just had lunch and spent the day there but is gone this morning, probably relocated to the bottom garage which is ok by me. I always tend to let one live down there in the winter cause the mice like to squeeze under the garage door when it's cold but geez this guy is over five foot long.

I tried to get a clear shot but he blended in so well none of them came out but he was there I swear it!

LOL.

The caregiver can confirm this and was wanting me to dispatch the guy but I said he serves my puposes and leave him be but added that although they aren't poinsonous and look similar to a moccasin from a distance but aren't, being bitten would still hurt and maybe lead to a tetunous shot.

Life is all around.

This is a Moccasin I got a shot of from 12 inches...

One Down

2009-10-30T11:32:14Z

Two? to go.

Settled with one of the past due accounts on terms I can afford done deal in two weeks with a judge to review and sign off.

Super nice negotiating over emails and I've picked up another skill as a bonus.

The Laws are clear and I'm pushing forward in a fair way but geez, one of these place is boldly lying right to me big mistake the FTC will kindly spend hours on the phone explaining your rights I'd suggest you call them if you're in the same mess I am.

Firm two is full of smiling faces that fake sympathy all the while trying to prod info and actually telling me things are the Law that clearly are not an $8k bill jacked to $48,000 LOL.

I'm forgetfull not stupid although getting involved in credit cards was truly stupid being in LALA land I wonder how they possibly even gave me these cards unable to speak or remember a thought long enough to finish a sentence and ten minutes of googling they have been in Federal court countless times for unfair practices and lost every case I found...

It's the bottom line they get fined a $1000 and go back to business as usual preying on the uninformed with strong armed threats but quit swearing once I began recording the phone calls and the FCC will also spend time speaking and explaining that Law even to a simpleton like myself.

A $10 gadget at Radio Shack off the shelf and I am back to phreaking without my beloved and long lost Cap'n Crunch whistle.

Simple.

Being in debt and owing money I never knew I owed is extremely embarrassing but there are so many out there that will benefit from this info that when I am done I'll post my own page of do's and don'ts and a bill of rights to boot.

Only Forward.

I Saw the Sign

2009-10-29T21:26:54Z

Very Subtle.

Got my cart painted.

Not to be taken literially, I just like the song from back then.

Baked and Broiled!

2009-10-28T13:32:47Z

I miss Summer already.

I preheated the oven to 450, popped in the parts and switched to broil to completely dry any moisture from the seams before I go any further.

I'll sand blast this and primer and paint it, grease the wheels and put it back together but today I'm gonna try and work a few hours on the floor of the rental.

It's a Pergo like product that just snaps together and my friend Dave is almost done painting everything and went way beyond what I had asked him to do by taking care of the kitchen and a few other walls I was gonna let slide.

Just a solid coat of Kilz made a vast improvement and I got a high grade of paint to cover it so it's just taking a single coat and looks brand spankin new!

Three hours a day I should have the new floor down in a week or so then it just needs some base moulding and the fridge and oven cleaned and the "For Rent" sign can go up.

This is Typical for Me...

2009-10-28T03:37:20Z

I've been ill, actually ill not the cold sweats I get every few weeks since I hit my head and went to see my Doc. I like to joke with him and made the comment that I was unaware that Nicotine inhibets bone growth and that the Neurosurgeon had told me I needed to quit smoking or my back would not fuse after the surgery...

That's not such a bad thing, not smoking I mean, and am actually glad they raised the taxes so high that they doubled in price and had already weaned myself down to a third of what my daily fix was before I even saw the guy but when I mentioned this to my Doc and added that I did need to just quit regardless but I had thought the surgeon perhaps embellished the not fusing part a bit he said that it does inhibit healing but I was probably right.

I countered I was finding it easier not to smoke when my chest was on fire and with a completely straight face he said well Mike, maybe I should do you a favor and just not treat this...

LMAO.

He was kidding of course about not treating me because I really am pretty ill and put me on a heavy dose of Levaquin and a few other things including two shots in the butt, but, when I went to fill the prescription the pharmacist looked at the dosage and said wow, what's wrong with you???

Then the next thing she did was tell me that I needed to go off my muscle relaxants which are helping a lot because apparently out of all the muscle relaxants out there, this particular one doesn't like Levaquin enough that together they cause heart arrhythmias and in some cases cardiac arrest.

Oh joy.

I can suck it up and deal with pain better than most humans I've met and was more concerned at killing the germ than hurting so I filled the scrip and came home and locked the muscle relaxants in the safe for the next two weeks so I didn't forget and take one when my mind is foggy.

I slept normal last night and even a little later than usual, in fact all the way till almost nine.

In other news I'm working on another gadget for after the surgery.

It's basically just a refurbish job using a tool cart I got from Snap On 25+ years ago when I had my first autobody shop. It's two tiered with a handle on one side to push it around which should serve perfectly well as a walker and will let me make trips to the kitchen to fetch the wife tea and her breakfast in the mornings and let me move things from room to room since I'll only be able to lift 5 pounds for a long time and with the driveway leading to the back garage I'll have access to two floors of the house and drag around tools so I can finish the odds and ends here that I've never goten around to like the base mouldings and covers on the outlets and yes that should have been done when I moved in I know but I was so exhausted back then I've never gotten around to it.

I know the recovery is gonna hurt big time, much worse than getting scalped but I'm so hyper I have trouble even watching an entire tv show.

The hardest part is gonna be the first two weeks because he, the neuro, told me the only thing I was to do wuz lay on the couch and watch tv...

Ya Gotta be Flexible

2009-10-26T13:50:43Z

Hand me down my walkin cane.

Walked it Off!

2009-10-24T20:13:07Z

Just a slight head ache and I'm actually sorting through the last five boxes of mail that had been left hidden in drawers and closets.

Ya Gotta Move.

I'm Sick!

2009-10-24T15:16:07Z

Gah.

Body aches way past the normal ones and a fever of 102.4 last night chest is on fire slept with a mask on or rather tried to sleep gave up at 5 and sat in the tub no help got my long johns on cause I'm shiverin despite still being at 101 had a flu shot a few weeks ago still need the Swine Flu one and geez I haven't bee ill since I was a kid.

On the plus side the trailer finally got moved from the farm last week without a hitch.

I'm gonna pull the wire to the well down and bring it home and bury it in the spring but I did get the trench trenched, about 400 feet long and it should survive the winter so I'll just need to do some light digging if spots cave in.

Next week I get fitted for a back brace.

Weee.

Engel of the Morning

2009-10-23T12:30:54Z

Don't leave.

Send in the Skeletons

2009-10-22T13:14:21Z

What if I say I'm not like the Others?

Oh well.

Pop! Goes the Weasel

2009-10-21T12:45:27Z

My wife had cataract surgery yesterday which went very well but she was nervous and the weight of the power chair makes the car shimmy a tad so I picked her up and used the wheel chair.

Big mistake.

I survived transferring her in and out of the car and onto the gurney then in and out of the car when we got home but when I went to put her in bed something popped I dropped her (on the bed) and my feet went out from under me and that was the end of me for the day and night.

The day before I had been telling myself I could cancel the surgery and that I wasn't really that hurt but reality smacked me right in the face and I spent the day laying flat on a heating pad and the muscle relaxants didn't do a thing. Got up at 5 this am and soaked for an hour in the whirlpool and I'm still shaking from the pain and I honestly don't think I'll be able to lift her today for her follow up visit without needing the caregiver to help me.

I feel like such a wuss.

On the plus side I've been trying to tie up as many loose ends as possible while I can walk and rented a trencher from B & B in Freeport top bury the water line to her rental and the 400+ feet of trench to bury the power line for the well on the farm so the copper thieves can't get to it again, and apparently broke the thing where it had been welded once before. When I took it back I saw the five inch crack, told them I'd fix it if they had a welder and was told they had a stick welder or Acetylene and generally had to send out the welding repairs since they didn't have anyone there qualified.

These people are super nice and of course I had given them copies of my Senseless Vids on DVD and I offered to take it back home and repair it which they jumped on and said please, that would be great...

So I did.

When I went back I explained how I fixed it and the need to drill a hole first at the end of the crack, weld that shut then go to the beginning of the crack and weld a bead the entire length, then for grins and giggles I fished a piece of angle iron over the bead and rewelded all around it, sand blasted it all clean and primered and painted it and mentioned I'd love to pick up small welding jobs like this since things are always getting broken. I also mention I was gonna have 4 months down time and could make them a webpage so they could list their items and rates and contact info, and set them up a You Tube channel and make vids of how to operate each piece of equipment they rent out and would trade them the use of their equipment for my services and the owner said it was a great idea could I really do that for them????

I'll be able to drive 2 weeks after the surgery and my camera equipment individually is less than five pounds so this is very doable and will keep me from going nuts from cabin fever.

I'm already eyeing up their concrete saw so I can open a hole in the bottom garage floor for an elevator and a core saw to drill a ring of holes around the perimeter of the safe room so I can shoot down ten foot lengths of 3 inch pvc every foot or so, drop in a piece of rebar and fill to the top with concrete to form a cage underground so when I dig out the room I won't have to worry about the walls caving in on me, plus I will know exactly where to stop digging. When that's done I'll essentially just build a storage building in there using treated lumbar, get a 2 inch concrete pumper and fill the void around and above it with a foot of concrete and have a true safe room with an elevator down into it for tornadoes that is 20 feet below the main floor of the house.

Knock me down I'll get right back up.

My Fashion Sense is a Little Whacked

2009-10-19T12:57:12Z

I might as well enjoy my life and watch the stars play...

My friends are just as screwy as me...

Forty Five Degrees Last Night

2009-10-18T12:22:02Z

And it's barely 50 now but the house is a comfortable 74 degrees and the heat is turned off.

Insulation works and the house collects the winter sun like a sponge and holds it while in the summer it is well shaded by my trees.

Insulations works!

Different ways to Design your house to be Energy Efficient - More DIY How To Projects

Nonny Nonny

2009-10-16T13:03:08Z

You bring me good luck.

Hickery Dickery Doc

2009-10-15T14:20:19Z

I'm so glad I learned to talk.

I got a door opened and a line of communication to work things out and they rescheduled the hearing for a time I can be there.

Thanks much.

In other news at five am the wife woke called my name I got up took two steps my feet kicked out from under me they fly in the air and I land on my butt and an elbow which jammed my shoulder into my head and dang,

I thought I had learned the two step but apparently not LOL.

I can eat again and slept most of the night though.

Only Forward.

Dang!

2009-10-14T12:53:48Z

This guy has real talent...

These muscle relaxants can't compete with a hot soak.

I can actually stand straight up this morning!

Someday I'll Wish Upon a Star

2009-10-13T13:09:52Z

And find dreams really do come true with the clouds far behind me.

Happy Birthday Dad.