2007 Year in Review

Looking back at 2007, it sometimes is a wonder how much can change...even at the ripe old age of 58.

As January began I was still driving RVs around the country at least one or two times per week....from California to Florida, Vegas, New York state, and through and around everywhere in between, I had been approached near the end of 06 to work as an independent contractors for a paper and plastic supplier in Columbus...I was asked if I would work 2 or 3 mornings a week doing inventory and spread sheet work, at the rate of $60 per hour that was a hard one to turn down.....

So I began to cut down on the RV runs and began working Monday and Tuesday mornings at a Honda satellite plant which was supplied by the Columbus firm....with baseball approaching in late March....the RV deliveries would now be few and far between.

As high school baseball season neared I began having some back pain issues....thinking it was a recurrence of my old motorcycle wreck(1987) I took it easy and by the time my umpire gigs opened, I was feeling pretty good. The spring season went without incidents, and oldest son Sam and I were both voted to qualify for Regional Tournament assignments....the second highest levels....and in the top 5 of our association...not bad for only being on the "job" for 8 years.

In between spring and summer baseball schedules I flew down to Florida to pick up mom and drive her back home...she stayed longer this year because of the breast cancer radiation treatments....at 83 she handled those well and is doing pretty good these days. Meanwhile the oldest of her and dad's kids, brother Mike, was not doing all that well..he had broken his leg and not healing well...and the old days of smoking cigarettes(which he gave up after 45 years) were catching up with him.....so back he came with us to Ohio.

After the return, my back with the sciatic leg pain reared it's ugly head....and I struggled through the early days of summer baseball, that as well went away and I survived the rest of the summer, more or less, pain free.

Sam continued to drive and deliver RVs after baseball season, the youngest son Hal, now a senior at Wright State in Dayton, spent the summer working for a Atlas Transport company out of Celina, getting some "toys" like the XBox, and saving some money for his final 2 quarters in college, before he graduates in March....and then moves on to his Masters of Education in High School History.

Fall arrived and we lost our oldest Airedale, Jack Drambuie, in September...he was 11 years old. Sam went back to driving, I began my 2nd full year of football officiating, and Patricia returned to St. Henry teaching as school begin...we had Anissa's schedule changed at the workshop and elsewhere so she could have a larger variety of things and places to focus on. Mike, after a few visits to the VA Clinic in Columbus for his leg issues, started having trouble talking and was with a constant soreness in his vocal cords.....after the slow VA process is was confirmed he had cancer on his left vocal cord...and will begin radiation treatment the first week of next year.

As football officiating season arrived at the half-way point my back became an issue again...this time it did not go away and after chiropractor work and finally an MRI it was diagnosed as spinal stenosis...after a couple of months and a delay because of high blood pressure, I was given a steroid epidural in the back....that was 8 days ago...the pain has been reduced and the movement better, but still the problem has not been totally resolved as the year ends.

I also started this blog, I had for years kept a diary of sorts, and finally decided to give this a try....beginning in late July, I have managed to keep it going for better or worse since.

The back problems have slowed much activity of late, although I still managed to get to Minnesota with Nick and meet up with our old bar room friend Jim Olson for a Twins weekend....got out on the lake for our annual 'Bar Stool Open' miniature golf outing....and tore down the old kennel roof after Jack died. Spent Christmas Eve with sister Marty, mom, Mike, and Marty's family....and got out to the old Lake Front Racquet Club(now called something else idiotic) for our annual get together of old bar friends and work out buddies last night. New Years Day will be spent traveling to my friend's Ricks over in Auburn, Indiana, doing our annual Football Watching feast.

Hopefully by the time spring rolls around, I will be in good enough shape to get back outside and do what I enjoy in 2008.

I never make resolutions...however, hopefully Mike's health issues will come into focus and be resolved, my back will get better, Hal will graduate in March on time and begin his Masters so he can get on with a teaching career and follow in Patrica and her families footsteps(a long line of teachers)....

2007 was not the greatest year, but we survived so far...and I look forward to whatever 2008 brings........

{Images of 2007...Jack Drambuie(1996-2007), the Kennel before and after, campfire at our Michigan May Mushroom hunt, February snow storm driveway before and after, The Albino Pigeon on our roof in July, and our resident Hawk who started to hang around the yard in October and has taken care of the piegon population, not to mention the rabbits and rodents}