"Back" to Fort Wayne

After yesterday's appointment with my regular doctor, the all clear was given to go ahead and get the long awaited epidural injection....called Fort Wayne Orthopedics, and lo and behold they can get me in tomorrow afternoon. Guess the key is not getting too worked up, and keeping the blood pressure at a manageable level through tomorrow.

Still not sure if the injection has much chance of working, but at least it will be one more step in the progress of managing my spinal stenosis....I know it really can not be cured(even surgery is a shot in the dark with this type back issue)..but it can be held in check, and it is possible to get my life back to the active state I am used to....if this fails, there are several new options that are rising on the scene.....just another adventure in life, we will see what it goes.

Mersmans__________]

Wrote back in early November that the old Mersman Table factory, sitting idle since 1991, is in the process of being torn down.....The plant in Celina was built in 1900 and was Celina's largest employer from many years....making beds, furniture, but was best known for Tables...the largest manufacture of tables in the USA:

http://discoverypub.com/columns/csa/csa2006_08.html

The remains of the factory sits just north of my house on several acres....the clean up is needed, but any low rent housing is not....Celina, a city of 11,000 has enough dumps...I would like to see it turned into a nice park.....fat chance of that happening if the city and developer can get a grant and make a buck off the taxpayers and the poor.

The all mighty EPA has finally given permission for the entire building to go...including the 100+ year old smoke stack.....hopefully I will be able to get photos of that happening....at the time, the wrecking ball is going through this slow process...it will be a few years before they are done, and the debris moved....

{photos of Mersmans as it looked in early November, and this morning as the wrecking nears the famous stack}

The Daily Rant/Anissa

Today, I head back to Doc Bergman for an update on the Blood Pressure issue from last week, which cancelled my spinal injection. This morning my BP was at 136/71 and that is fairly normal and manageable...the Lisinopril seems to be working, or maybe the Ham was indeed the problem(guess I won't be eating any cured ham anytime soon)...and the BP is back to normal on it's own. In the meantime, barring any unforeseen problems, I will reschedule the Epidural Injection later today, and see when they can get me in....probably after Christmas, is my guess.

Brother Mike is back at Mom's for Christmas....then back he goes to Columbus for 6 weeks of radiation on his vocal chords....any thoughts of him getting back to Homosassa for the winter have flown south with the birds....he will be stuck in the northern hinterlands of Ohio.

Hal is finishing up his 3rd week on the road for Celina(Atlas) Moving....Chicago today, Detroit tomorrow, and then home in the afternoon. Sam meanwhile is heading back to Florida for the 3rd RV delivery outside Orlando in the past 10 days, he will make a couple of Drive-Bys to dealers in Georgia on the way down...Drive-Bys being where you show the new units(this one being a outdoors man toy hauler) to other dealers to see if they are interested in carrying the model.

Other than that, the winter weather is drab...30s for the next few days, with rain for the weekend, which should make the snow a fine mess.

Anissa__________

{I don't trust the internet, so that's why I seldom get personal about family on it, or this blog, but I will tell you about our daughter Anissa, since I mention her often, this one time}

Anissa, our oldest child and only daughter was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, in February 1979...the delivery room doctor showed up late for the delivery, and this may or may not have lead to the problems she was to have. Either way, that is not the story. Anissa seemed from the beginning a normal child, she was slow to crawl and walk, but for the most part she seemed "normal" for the first couple of years, either that or we oblivious to her slowness......finally when we moved back to Ohio, and then Sam came along in December 1981, being the fast tracker he was, we realized for certain that Anissa was not where she should be.....we took here to a specialist in Dayton for tests, and the doctor straight out told us that our daughter was "retarded" and that we should prepare to do what we could and become advocates for her.........

And we have, especially Patricia and Anissa's band of caregivers. Patricia, a hospital Social Worker, went back to college got her BA and MAs in Early Childhood Education, with a emphasis on Special Education....graduating Summa Cum Laude from Wright State University in the mid 1980s....at the same time she continued to work a couple of jobs, and with some help from me, managed to raise 3 kids as Hal came along in 1984 during her college years.....

Whatever happens, Anissa keeps this family focused on what is important, and keeps the household from ever being boring. Anissa lives at home, but does stay at an alternative home she calls the 'Brown House' several nights a week...she also attends the local workshop for the mentally handicapped during the fall, winter, and spring, seasons. She also has various "ticks" such as getting up anywhere from 2 to 4AM and ready to go with the day's activities....Patricia usually pays the price for that, in lack of sleep during the school year...though it all Anissa and the family persevere....Anissa and her mom's circle of friends and caregivers do more than me, that is for sure, I can only help when possible, and watch and wonder what life would be like for her if she was "normal"...I can honestly say, it would probably be less fulfilling for us, and we thank God for Anissa through it all.

{Anissa at Christmas years ago, camping, and with the boys in the family studio photo}

Icy Roads and Dartball

Schools closed around the area still today...main roads are clean, but the side and back roads are still iced up......did my thing in Greenville this morning, will be the last day for me until January 7th....one less thing to put stress on the back....although it's the drive down in the early morning, rather than the walking around the Honda affiliate that for the most part is a pain the the back.

Met the niece's boyfriend half way to Columbus this afternoon to pick up brother Mike....he will be coming back home to stay with mom over Christmas...then begins his radiation treatment back in Columbus sometime the week after Christmas, so the VA says.....in the meantime we will try to convince mom to head for Naples for a few months....no sense in her staying up here in the north winter while he undergoes treatment....I can either drive her down and fly back, or put her and the bird on a plane and fly her down sometime after January 1st......

Finished up the first half of our Dartball League last night....with some new players, my back, and some guys getting old(one of our best players is 89 and has been in the league since it's inception in 1938)....we have struggled....I finally had a decent night last night as we took 2 or 3 games and finished the half at 10 wins 11 loses....good for 2nd place in the south division.....Mount Carmel was a runaway winner in the division.....I finished 6 for 12 with 4 triples and 8 rbi's.....to end up the first half .356 with 17 RBI.....I was batting the Interstate(.100-.200) for most of the early going.....the ego of a lifetime .400 "batter" takes a beating when the only excuse you hate to udder is "Bad Back"....

No Dartball until January 7th as well.....the second half begins the night of the OSU-LSU National Championship game.....I doubt if that will fly, so probably will have to reschedule that one.......

{photo...didn't have time to mess around, a cover of my favorite Old Time Radio Show...."The Shadow Knows"....heard on XM Channel 164}

more later.............

Sitting Watching the Snow Fall

The 4-8 inches was upgraded to 10-15, and then back down...it appears we have got maybe 6 or 7 inches so far, with a spot of freezing rain overnight....Patricia had to do the shoveling...and may have snow blower duty later...but with 40-50MPH winds in the forecast for this afternoon.....it might not be worth it.....

Living in Upstate NY for a few years, and northern Wisconsin for 2 winters, this stuff is nothing to get fired up about.....the last major storms I can remember in the Celina area were back in the early and mid 80s.....must be that Global Warming thing....sure it is!

Glad to see Hermit and the folks in Georgia and Alabama at least got some rain.....not enough, but every bit helps those folks and their drought.

Anyway the snow will stick Sam in Columbus, Hal is still 'truckin' out in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and then he unloads some General's junk at Ol-fart AFB, Nebraska, tomorrow...then they move to Minnesota, and Chicago, before heading home the middle of next week....not much of a Christmas break for the college kid, but he did get an education at the Black Jack table a couple nights ago....after jumping up and a few bucks ahead, he ran into a hot dealer.....and made the mistake of trying to out last him.......not a chance, not a chance.....

Blood Pressure still looking better, back still painful.....the rest of the day will be spent looking at the snow, switching between the NFL and Ohio State playing in the National Championship Men's Soccer game.....so you can tell.....

I am (still) bored!

{the driveway, with my 2 vehicles sitting outside, the 77 Buick and the wife's van get inside....and looking east on a deserted Livingston Street, in Celina, and our local Hawk sitting in the garden and kennel area, waiting for an unsuspecting pigeon or squirrel to make a mistake, as the snow was beginning}

Waiting on the "White Death"/War Protesting

6, maybe 8 inches of snow is on the way for western and southern Ohio today and tomorrow...looks like New York and New England will get maybe a couple of feet....with 24 hour news on TV...I love the overreaction by the talking heads....bad part is, looks like my wife will get the honors of getting out the snow blower and doing the dirty work if we get the full amount.....the boys, Sam(who turns 26 on Monday) and Hal, are gone...Sam, back from Florida the 2nd time this week is in Columbus, Hal is in Kansas City, still working for Celina Moving(Atlas), making money towards his Masters Degree Program at Wright State, which begins in July...so it's the basically housebound me, Anissa, and Patricia for the upcoming snow "event".

Good news is, my blood pressure stood at 127/79 this morning...normal by any standard....we have found what may be the culprit....Ham!!! 20 hours before I was slated to get my epidural injection, I had a couple of servings of baked ham.....not worrying about high BP(because I never had a over the rim reading), I did not think much about it....last night Patricia, who has lower than low BP, usually in the 105/60 range...ate some, just to see what it would do...when she took her BP this morning, it was in the 130+/80+ range.....another lesson learned...don't eat baked ham, especially if you plan on a blood pressure check before surgery or an epidural....Damn, that could have saved me time, money, and pain!

Speaking of Birthdays and family......December is the month....

Sam-December 17th (1981)

Dad(Stan) December 10th (1917)

Mike(brother) Today December 15th(1946)

Our Anniversary December 18th(1976)

Grandma Houseworth December 22nd(1883)

Aunt Cecil December 23rd(1901)

Dad died on December 24th (1972)

Not to mention first cousins and others that make up another dozen or more December birth dates......Mike "celebrates" #61 in Columbus at his older daughter's, waiting on his radiation to begin.....for his vocal cord cancer.

Famous Military Quotes:

As anybody that knows me or reads this can tell...I was never gung ho about my military service....I despised most of the duty I did for the 4 year Air Force stint....something about being one of the people who just didn't take orders very well....I remain that way today.

However, that does not mean that I don't relish the days in the Air Force, the people I served with, or the men and women in combat today....I support our troops 100%....Washington is full of assholes, so is the military, but the mission is right for our country today.....those that protest the war are free to do that...those that protest those fighting the war on terror, need their collective asses kicked.

Newell, one of my VSPA brothers...sent many of us some quotes from throughout military history....many were good, some were funny, and a few, I really liked......this one by General Tommy Franks(from the Iraq Conflict) is among my favorites.......

"When you get home and face an Anti-War Protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand, then wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she is dating a pussy"

That about says it all.......

{photos...pussy war protesters, and the 377th SPS Air Force in Vietnam during TET, 1968}

Change of View

Well, keep an eye open, just looking at different views for this......comes from being bored, I guess......

Comments Welcome..:)...Yep, that's me in the umpire gear behind the plate....

132/82 BP

and a pulse of 63....

It went down rather quickly....after just one pill and 2 days of a modified diet.....will wait however until the next appointment with my regular doc before rescheduling the Epidural.....

The news from Columbus was not as good for older brother Mike....he went in for laser surgery on his left vocal cord this morning...stage 2 cancer suspected....once in, they discovered both cords had a problem....so instead of moving ahead, they have decided to start 6 weeks of radiation. Not good news, but we will see what shakes out with that.....the joy of getting older.

More later...........{photo...Mom, Dad, Mike and me in 1950}

If It's Not One Thing..........part 2

Just a quick update.....7:45AM

Went to Doc Bergman's yesterday at around 1:30pm....his main question was "What has changed in the past year" At my DOT Driver's physical my blood pressure was at 135/85...not low, but nowhere near the danger zone....my only response was..."2 months of chronic pain and about 11-15 pounds from sitting on my ass not working out....."

The office BP was 202/100...still not good, so Doc gave me a prescription for:

Lisinopril-HCTZ..one a day for the next week, until back at his office next Wednesday morning....

Patricia meanwhile buys me a new home monitoring system...I guess anyone with BP issues(which I never had until this happened) should have one...you can get a wrist model or the one I have(shown in photo) for the upper arm...this is my Christmas present...fair enough...they retail for about $75...this one at our pharmacy was $69....the smaller wrist models are $10-15 less....I know mom had a wrist variety...but sent it back...seems she was paranoid and taking the damn readings every 15 minutes...not good!

I took my first one last night...191/103....this morning before my first BP pill was a better 159/91...so the plan is to take a reading in the morning before the medication...one an hour after, one at noon and one around 6PM or so....sounds like the daily doings of a very bored man.....

Meanwhile I will hold out the hope I can still get the steroid epidural for the back before Christmas.....but it will be at least a week after the next weeks visit before I can get it rescheduled.....at least I am semi-retired...I work next week two mornings at Honda in Greenville(which they asked if I wanted off...but told Dave I needed the walking around, so I would continue to plug along), then off to January 8th....which would be a nice date...BP down, back injected, and the Buckeyes fresh from a National Championship win over LSU......;)

Passing of a legend_____________

Ike Turner, for most non-music aficionados was a wife beating street thug who was second fiddle to his more talented wife Tina.....of course that's what the left wing media, yes the entertainment media is as far left as any media, would have you believe...as for me, I really don't know what the man was like....but I do know, he was the talent and brains in early Rock and Roll long before Tina became a star by claiming abuse, and putting out some damn nice music herself.

Great Early Ike and Tina Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI1EN6GCGc0

Being a Radio DJ back in the 70s, I had access to all kinds of free music LPs, Demo Cuts, etc....and it was during that time I found the genius of Ike Turner's music....his stuff was soul mixed with Rock and Roll...not like that shit black "artists" and wannabee whites put out today....you gotta wonder what the Hell this generation and the next will call "Oldie Goldie" music...rap, hip hop, today's modern country(for the most part), and Rock, is nothing more that garbage...and this is not from some old fart who "hates that damn kid's music"...it's from someone who has been around radio and knows good from bad....

The 60s had bad bubble gum, the 70s had Disco crap...the 80s techno swill, since that time...it's all crap.....and that is being nice...Ike had one of the(if not the first) Rock tune in 1951 called..."Rocket 88"

Ike Turner dead at 76...................a talented and troubled life ends.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071213/ap_en_mu/obit_turner_26

If It's Not One Thing..........

Patricia took off work at school yesterday, as I needed a "responsible"adult to drive me home from Fort Wayne after the scheduled Epidural Injection on my spine.

Lucky for us the ice storm went to the north and west, and we were just stuck with fog and rain....temps hovering around 35 degrees...we got to Fort Wayne Orthopedics about 2:15pm, a good 45 minutes early...after filling out some minor forms I was whisked back to pre-op...and that's where the odyssey begins.

The trip over was rather painful, my pain had radiated to my right hip and buttock, it's usually, but not always, on the left side or square in the lower butt. The FWO nurses hooked me up to the pulse and blood pressure monitors....Now just for a little history, there are some blood pressure issues in the family, brother Mike, a life long smoker until 10 months ago, takes BP meds, my youngest sister Kelly, is also cursed with high BP...and mom, at 83 has some higher readings, and on occasion takes medication. Dad had high BP and died of a heart attack at 55....Me? Never, my BP usually sits on the moderate-slightly high ratings of 135/85 to 140/90...and my regular doc has always said "it's not a problem or concern"....well yesterday that all changed....the readings started out at: 212/118...well needless to say that was not going to work, so they hit me up with a small amount of morphine and then a relaxer...the readings were as follows:

212/118

175/96

197/107

183/88

177/97

then back to 200/92

Well Hell, that did that...off the outpatient surgery list, and across the street to Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital ER....blood work proves negative but the readings really did not improve...actually by this time I was feeling pretty damn good(Morphine?), the back stopped hurting and I was in good spirits despite knowing there would be no back relief injection tonight...

The Readings at Lutheran:

188/114

185/90

169/100

213/115

The ER Doc said he was going to release me because besides the BP, I had no blood work problems...he gave me prescription to get filled for a low dose BP prescription....and off we went back to Ohio through the rain....now with a nice headache in hand, the morphine, the fasting, no caffeine?

Anyway here I sit...not really pissed, not really worried(just not in my make-up)...I will call Doc Bergman this morning, see what he has to say, and then start the process over again....in the meantime, screw it.....after no pain meds for a week, I took a nice dose of Ibupropan this morning to try to knock out the headache, and ease the pain, now back in my left hip and buttocks somewhat.....

Here we go again.....now I never want/wanted to be one of those old farts that sit around talking about illness or medical problems until my dying day...and I won't...but this blog is a pretty good way to bitch about it...

{photos..your basic BP Kit...and the BP reading from FWO...with the ER reading Patricia added as I sat in ER at Lutheran Hospital}

90 years ago today

Fog, Ice, drizzle, pretty nasty stuff on top of a few inches of melting snow....most of the heavy ice went north and is hitting west of us....my guess is Bruno

http://brunosblusterings.blogspot.com/

is getting hit with some of the major stuff, as it looks like I-44 from St Louis to Oklahoma City is in for a week of nasty weather...snow I can learn to like, Ice on the roofs, roads, and wires, has no redeeming value, to anybody.

Hopefully it will stay above 32 in the Fort Wayne area, so I can get to FWO and get the Epidural Back Injection out of the way......of course it could be worse, taking the brother to meet with his daughter this afternoon....he goes in for pre-op in Columbus tomorrow, the laser surgery on his vocal cord on Friday....will see how that works for him.

We are falling apart....Oh Hell, just getting old............who am I kidding?

12/10/1917_________If dad was still around today would have been his 90th birthday. Stan Houseworth was born in Scott, Ohio, on December 10, 1917....he passed away just after his 55th birthday on Christmas Eve, 1972....a sudden heart attack at home, after watching his favorite team, the Miami Dolphins defeat the Browns in the playoffs....the Fins went on to history that post season, going undefeated....will the Patriots match and surpass that feat? Time will tell.

Dad was a hunter and a fisherman his entire life....worked as a youngest for the Civilian Conservation Corp, out in Idaho, in 1939, doing rip rap work on the Snake(and other) Rivers.....he left that to join the Army Air Corp(before the Air Force was formed) after the beginning of WW2....Dad was lucky, sort of, he never had to go overseas...stationed in spots such as New Castle, Delaware(where he met mom), Lowery Field, Denver, and Mather Air Base outside Sacramento, California....the only major problem dad had was when working as a mechanic on a freight train...the box cars moved and caught his right hand in between the hitches...despite efforts to reattach...he ended up losing 2 fingers and part of another.....he received about 10% disability for that....enough to make the payment(about $90 a month at that time)on the house we bought in Florida.....the loss of those fingers did not stop dad from hunting, fishing, bowling, and being a life long automobile mechanic.....we kids never noticed, although mom always said dad was a little touchy about those missing parts.

One thing about the old man, when he felt like moving, he did, and we went with him....Ohio to Delaware, back to Ohio, to Florida for a decade, then back to Ohio to be near the family.....he was preparing to move back to Venice, Florida, right before he died....he had enough time working for the City of Celina to freeze his retirement, and mom was going to freeze hers as well.....but that did not happen.

I was in upstate New York when I got the call that Christmas Eve....flew from Syracuse to Dayton the next morning....Christmas morning. I was a lucky one, I got to fish, hunt, and spend time at Reds games and elsewhere with the old man.....he died when I was 23, heck yes, 55 is too young, but time is guaranteed to no one.....and I am thankful for the time we had.....If you're looking down from somewhere..."Happy Birthday Dad"

{photos....dad doing what he liked best, fishing at the Venice Jetties in the fall of 1956, studio shot with his brothers...Forrest(Housie)1912-1966, top, and John(Furl)1915-1990, ...dad is the youngest on the lower left facing us around 1937, and his AAF days in 1944}

Pack Ratting/Christmas of 55

I have discussed in the past how my Grandma Houseworth and her 2 daughters, Eva and Cecil lived out their long lives in Scott, Ohio(Population 300)....in fact they resided(more or less between marriages) in the same house, from the early 1930s until Eva went to a nursing home in 1995 and passed away in 1998 at the age of 87...both Grandma and Cecil lived into their early 90s.....the house, or early pop culture museum, as I call it, was one of the first in Scott, built in 1839.....and came complete with an out house and no running water until the late 1950s.....the summers we spent there in the mid 1950s, on our escapes from south Florida, are some of the most memorable I have ever had.

All 3 of the women were pack rat's....when I got ready to sell the place after Aunt Eva died, it was unbelievable......the stuff, both valuable and junk alike could make a 50 page blog in itself....everything from 50 year old shell collections from the beaches of Florida, to my Great Grandfather's leather Ohio Hunting Licenses from the early 1900s(which the value, staggered even me)....I and my cousins split between the families what we wanted, no way were we going to auction off this stuff......gave away what we could, and tossed the 30 year supply of "Atomic Bomb" shelter style food......took us months to clear the place out....I sold it to another 2nd cousin, and he remodeled it and sold it at a pretty fair profit.

Grandma Houseworth was born Wilda Waldron in 1883 near Scott....she passed away in 1975 at the age of 91....and is buried in the Scott Cemetery. While growing up in Florida, Wilda would come south for the winter and spend them with us....a sort of home sitting/baby sitter security guard, whom you wouldn't cross.....she spent her time, crocheting hot pads, doilies, collecting shells on the beach, and watching the new fad....Soap Operas on Channels 8 and 13 out of Tampa.

Shells____________Grandma collected shells and shell gifts by the thousands....she had been since her first trips to Florida with her sister, back in the 1940s. When I was cleaning out her house and the out buildings...I found thousands and thousands of shells...stored, stacked, and dumped in boxes that sat stacked in attics and closets, as well as the rafters of the out building on her property.....which brings me to the "BOOK"...the book is called simply The Dictionary of "Shells", the first edition in large style paperback was printed in 1955....mom and dad got Wilda a copy so she could identify the shells she was looking for along the beach and in the shops of Venice and Englewood....the book was purchased previous to Christmas 1955 at the Fort Myers Shell Factory gift shop.....the place still exists today, not far from one of my RV drop off dealers in North Ft. Myers:

http://www.shellfactory.com/

Anyway as you can see from the attached photos....the Shell book was a gift that Christmas of 55....sitting under the chalkboard that my sister was to get.....I still have that First Edition today....how much is it worth? Priceless...just one of those memories of Christmases past and folks that shaped your life, long gone.

{photos...Christmas of 55 South Venice, Florida, the Shell Book then and as it looks today, and the 3 Houseworth Kids, (another was to be added later) looking Mike and I looking half asleep, while Marty looking ready for the unwrapping}