A Look Back at 2012...part 2

We received a surprise accumulation of another six inches or so of snow overnight...they were originally calling for a dusting, then "less than an inch" by the time I hit the sack at 11pm, it was snowing lightly, and the Weather Channel was predicting 2 or 3 inches....it snowed throughout the night and with no wind to move it around I measured between 5 inches and a half foot most places in the yard.  Patricia and I were up, and I fired up the snow blower, she got out the salt and shovel, and we were done by the time Anissa was home...I headed over to mom's place and finished off her drive and walks by 9am....tonight I will work my way to Wapak and officiate my first game in over a week, a JV boys contest between Lima Central Catholic and the host Redskins....I had two games cancelled due to the snow last week and again this, and after tonight I am off the hardwood until next Wednesday...depending on the snow and conditions, January promises to be a very busy month of Basketball.....

2012 in Review part 2....

After recovering from surgery and finishing off the spring baseball season, with my work in the D4 District Tournament at Coldwater{where Minster would pull out two close wins and move on to defend successfully their State Baseball Title}, I took a break from baseball for a few weeks before the summer ACME games began.

Patricia and I had youngest sister Kelly as a visitor, and she stayed with us and mom off and on, until Memorial Day, when we drove her and her small dog Alfie to Upstate New York, where her husband Michael, the Danish Chef, was working a summer gig on Wellsley Island in the St. Lawrence River between New York and Canada

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20120701/COL01/707019961

...we stayed at the remodeled resort he was working at as the head chef for the summer tourist season.  We spent a couple of relaxing days there, dined out a few times before heading home.  I lived near here after Vietnam, until late 1973...the winter season is brutal, but the summer's are pretty nice.  We returned to Ohio in time for Sam's Graduation from Ohio State and our "Flood" on the same day.

Oldest son Sam finished off his Actuarial Science degree from OSU and was presented with his diploma on June 10th....this would be the 400th Commencement at Columbus, and the last one that OSU would have while using quarters, the school joined most in shifting to Semesters with the beginning of the new year.  Personally I despised Semesters, Quarters were much easier, not to mention I just never had the concentration to last the length of time semesters took to complete.

After watching Sam graduate with some 50,000 other parents and friends at the Horseshoe(the graduating class was just over 10,000 alone), we took him and some friends out to supper at a local Olive Garden near Dublin....then headed home.  Arriving late in the afternoon, Patricia immediately knew something was wrong when she opened the back door....

The rushing sound of water was coming from the kitchen, and the water had saturated the kitchen and part of the 2006 refinished hardwood floors in the adjacent living room....it could have been worse, even with the water draining into the crawl space under the 1945 built Kitchen area, it didn't affect the basement area much, nor did it ruin the wood floors in total....here it is at 2013's doorstep and the majority of the work still needs to be completed....seems nobody wants to do small insurance work, they would rather build us a $20,000 plus new kitchen...after some thoughts, we decided against that route, so we will take it one step at a time.  The first step was me and Nick, getting the insulation replaced under the kitchen....other that that?  It might be spring or later....we have learned to adjust, it's cheaper that way.

Sam stayed in Columbus after graduation, still working at officiating and with the Ohio State Athletic Department and Big Ten Network, as he began his job search....that finally was successful late in 2012, more on that in the next installment.

More Medical Issues....

At the end of June, Patricia had a nasty spell which sent her to the hospital for 3 days...it ended up being Diverticulitis....she was one miserable person at Lima Memorial, the same hospital they had kicked me out of less than 20 hours after major surgery back in March{not really kicked me out, but they surmised that one day was enough, not the same for my wife}.  Patricia was ordered to avoid some of the foods, like nuts, and some fruits, that she enjoyed...she will not be eating those for the rest of her days, it appears.

Mom, at 88, and then Sam both had their own medical problems....

Mom ended up in Coldwater Hospital with some oxygen level problems, and after a week in the place last August, she headed back home for therapy and now is still assisted by oxygen on a daily basis....Sam's problems were much more costly, due to being in-between jobs and college, and thus having no insurance to cover his few hours.

Home working some football games on the local level, he took a shower one morning in September, and "Pow", a dizzy spell hit him like bricks....after heading to 24 hour care in Celina, Patricia took him to Coldwater, where he entered the Emergency Room for a few restless hours....it ended up being a sort of Vertigo, which can affect one for months....but Sam's appeared to be gone within a week or so, and despite the $2000 hospital bill, he is glad to be back to, what appears to be, his normal 30 year old self.

I had more of my own issues during the fall football season...but that can wait until part 3 and the next installment...

back later>>>>

Photos-More snow this morning required blowing...about 5 or 6 more inches on top of what we already have...It was much warmer on Wellesley Island over Memorial Day, and Patricia and I(l and r) enjoyed a few days relaxing, with Chef Michael and my younger sister Kelly, dining out on a few occasions, before heading home}Sam's Graduation for Ohio State, the Floor Flooding Disaster, some Hospital time for Patricia, my mom, and then Sam, took over for the rest of the Summer, along with a few trips to see the Reds, who won the Central Division, but fell flat in the playoffs, after winning the first two games against San Francisco, the Giants rolled the Reds three straight and went on the their 2nd World Series win in three seasons.