Stained deck

Another neglected part of Thom's house - the deck.  I don't think it's been stained since it was built.

Progress in Thom's yard.

Thom bought a nice little house on the Key Peninsula near Gig Harbor.  Over the years it has not had the tender loving care that it deserves, but Thom wants to make up for it.  This past week has been spent pulling some weeds, cleaning/staining the deck, fixing the fountain/pond - but mainly addressing the curb appeal of the front yard so visitors will feel welcome.

In these photos, Thom is working to remove an Alder root, and enjoying the finished burm at the front of the yard next to the ditch.  I threw in a before and after shot, too.
I'm able to help a couple hours each day and light a fire under his butt to focus on one small part of the yard and not get overwhelmed by the big picture.  The lot is a half acre, with most of the back yard undeveloped.  Lots of weeds and brush to worry about back there.  We aren't going to get it all done in one summer visit.

A Safe Trip, I guess.

Well, I made the trip from Thorp to Gig Harbor without incident - mostly. Boy, the wind was blowing. It felt like I was flying a brick. As I was heading on to I-90, I realized that I had left my wifi antenna sticking out the window. "No problem" I thought, I'll just pull it in when I get to the rest area. I wanted to dump my tanks anyway. The antenna broke loose about half a mile before the rest area. Oh, well.

I stopped in the rest area and hooked up my hose and pulled the valve open - the hose blew apart! I stepped in my own mess and closed the valve, got the water hose and cleaned it up. Threw the hose in the trash and got another (I was carrying three of them). As I twisted the second on to the connection, one of the hooks broke off. Another one in the trash. One last chance. I got the tanks dumped, but the last hose leaked a bit (from age I guess), so it went in the trash, too. I moved the motorhome forward a bit and washed every bit of evidence down the drain, washed my boots (glad I wasn't wearing sandals) and headed for Camping World in Tacoma to get a new hose - and my new mattress. Except for idiots that tried to merge in to the coach (do they really think that I am going to stop on the hiway to let them in?) and the fools that I see texting as they travel down the road (I refuse to call it driving), the rest of the trip was uneventful.

I pulled in to Thom's place, gave him a hug and got my home as level as I could. He proudly showed me the 30 amp connection that he'd had installed by his high school friend Kyle. Kyle works as an electrician in Ferndale. I don't know if he has completed his apprenticeship yet. I plugged in and we threw the breaker and it immediately tripped. Strange. We checked everything, then I finally checked the power at the outlet - 240 volts! For some reason he thought a 30 amp outlet needed 240 volts. I am lucky the motorhome isn't burnt to the ground. As it is, I had to replace my microwave and the controller for my electric blanket is trash. All of the other electrical safety devices did their job. I normally check the polarity and power output before I plug the coach in to service panels at RV parks, but I gave Kyle the benefit of the doubt (he is an electrician) and almost paid dearly for it. Lesson learned.

We headed for Home Depot and found a microwave, struggled putting my mattress together and had lunch at the Chinese Panda place. Later we spent a hour or so pulling weeds and trimming bushes. We barely made a dent. We need gloves, rakes, weedeaters, tractor and a truck. I'll go back to Home Depot while Thom's at work today and get a few things.

It's a little misty and gray, but I can see blue skies up through the trees.

"The pain boss, the pain"

Okay, I have to ammend my last post. There is some pain - and it starts with P and ends with eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
Sheesh.
I called to make sure this was normal. I was told that it is and that the pain can last up to six weeks following TURP. I may be dealing with something that is 30 times more common in women than men - Urinary Tract Infection or UTI. My urologist is thinking about prescribing something similar to AZO, but has not yet done so.
A lot of things went up my urethra, now it hurts when something comes down it.

In recovery

There will still be too much information for some in this post.
Here I sit in my box on wheels, waiting for something to happen. I feel great. The procedure seems to have gone well. I feel like I should just go back to my life before the incident. I have no scar, no stitches, no bandage, no aches or pains. I feel good.
I was cautioned not to strain. Don't lift anything heavier than a half gallon of milk. Use a stool softener. Do nothing.
They were right. The day after I got out of the hospital I went grocery shopping and filled a prescription for antibiotics. Later that day there was blood in my urine.
Saturday Thom and I drove the motorhome to town to dump the waste tanks. In the afternoon there was blood in my urine.
My urologist said that there would be blood in my urine for a while. Still it is disturbing when it happens.
I sit here reading anything in the motorhome, watching dvds, playing computer games, keeping up with all of my facebook friends. Good friends call to check on me, Steve and Michelle stopped to visit on their way home from Republic. I intend to sit here for a couple weeks and do nothing.
It's harder than I imagined. I thought I was doing nothing all this time since my retirement. Now I know what doing nothing means. I feel bad that I'm not out helping Ross and Patti more. They have taken such good care of me, I'll repay them in time.
I feel fine.

Well, it's not prostate cancer

The following may contain TOO MUCH INFORMATION (TMI) for some.

A couple weeks ago I suffered through a night of not being able to urinate. I could have sworn someone hit me across the back with a 4 x 4 and then kicked me in the groin. I called for an ambulance ride to the hospital. I thought that perhaps I was passing a kidney stone.

At the emergency room they determined that I did not have any stones, but that my bladder was full and my urethra was blocked. A catheter was inserted and I felt instant relief. I was referred to a urologist and sent home in a taxi with catheter in place.

The urologist visit included a ultrasound of my prostate, a scope was run up my urethra to look at my bladder and twelve biopsies were taken of my prostate. I left the clinic sans catheter and was very happy of that fact.

That is until about 3 the next morning when I went through the same symptoms. This time I drove myself to the hospital, walked straight in to the emergency room and told them what I needed. Sweet relief.

Today I returned to the urology clinic in Yakima. I was greeted with the good news that I do not have prostate cancer. I hugged the doctor. Then I was told that I needed Trans Urethral Resection of the Prostate or TURP. That or learn to love my catheter. It just so happens that the doctor had a cancellation this Wednesday, so that's what I'm doing.

I'll be in surgery at about 11:30 on Wednesday morning. The procedure takes about an hour. I will be spending two nights and will check out Friday sans catheter. There are some possible risks (not as major as prostate removal) and we discussed other options, but this appears to be the best one. I have done a lot of reading on the subject over the last couple weeks.

Trip to town

Went to town to get a haircut, stumbled upon a small car show. It was being held in support of a local hospice. It was only two blocks long, but at the mid point it crossed with the local farmer's market. Made for an interesting mix.

This one is for Dave.