Neighbors and chain saws

Now, that's a gripping title, don't ya think.

That others may learn from my mistakes . . .

It all started as an effort to deal with complaints from John, our backfence neighbor, who thought our trees needed a little trimming. After a major facelift to the NE corner of our yard, we had a whole driveway filled with tree branches, blackberry vines, and greenwaste. I decided to use the chainsaw to make short work of the pile, get a little firewood for campouts and backyard firepit cookouts, etc.

Now, I'm recovering from yet another dumb injury. I'm feeling a lot like Tim Taylor lately. I trimmed the fingernail (and a bit of the finger), using my chainsaw. Turns out chainsaws slice through pine like a hot knife through butter, but bite into and pull birch like a vaacum beater brush too close to a powercord. Picture holding the homelite chainsaw in the right hand, holding the tree branch to be cut into firewood in the left. The branch was pulled under the chainsaw (with my hand attached, pulled in from more that a couple of feet to the left) within a split second.

The doctor I visited (at Misti's insistence) the following Monday said I was dang lucky to only have lost as much flesh and nail as I had, and that this would be painful for a while. They took x-rays to make sure I hadn't knicked the bone (yeah, the cuts were that deep). They did a cleansing soak and gave me a fancy bandaid and homecare instructions, oh, and a tentanus booster. Its a little painful even now, two weeks later, typing this blog entry. It's still bandaided, but mostly just to keep the nail fragments from snagging on things until they grow out.

I have a whole new respect for chainsaw safety now, and will no longer "hold" anything I am cutting with such a saw; probably common sense for most of you, but for a big macho dude, who sometimes gets a Superman complex, thinking the ordinary laws of physics don't really apply to me, well . . ., you get the point.

Plumbing woes

During the last really cold snap in Vancouver, our kitchen drain became plugged, and then, while I was working on snaking it out, Misti noticed a leak in the garage under the kitchen.

We eventually got a handyman in our ward to look at it with me to get an opinion if we should cut into the ceiling and where, and turns out he has a son that is a plumber in Portland. He said plumbing calls have dried up and they have very little work currently, so we were able to get him and his son to come help with the drain at a seriously discounted rate.







Turns out that a drain pipe had become disconnected at a 90 degree joint, then the leaking water was above and leaked into the heating ducts, which made it very difficult to pin-point the leak. We had to demolish several parts of the garage ceiling and wall board, and a large chuck of the same in the basement hallway.

The traps and pipes under the kitchen sink and island (which we have had trouble with since moving in) had been installed with sub-code (in fact illegal) piping, which we completely replaced with new stuff in code. It no longer leaks and is a lot sturdier. In additional to the break, there was also still a plug in the drain, which required renting a 50' snake from home depot (another 20' beyond the one I bought for the job). This did the trick, and we also installed a cleanout access point in the basement pipe to make snaking out the drain easier in the future. I learned lots about heating vents, plumbing, and even water heaters (who knew they had two heating elements and two thermostats the have to be kept in sync to heat water efficiently). I have previously adjusted up only one of these on each of the water heaters. Now we have increased the temp to 140 degrees on both, and seem to have enough hot water now to last several showers (an important feature on Sunday morning when all want to shower near the same time).

The blessing of hearing

You really don't appreciate what you have until its gone, at least thats how I feel about hearing. Having only 20% hearing in the right ear does some really stange things to you, like not being able to tell where the cell phone is that you have set down and clearly hear ringing in your other ear. Directional hearing requires two working ears. Try completely plugging only one ear for a day to see what I am talking about.

Anyway, the doc says another month to my hearing test to see how well we did on the ear drum repair. The graft has sealed in all but a very small spot, which the doc pricked on my last visit to make it bleed and seal all the way over. The inner gel pack is still disolving as well, though the doc removed the outer one a few weeks ago. With any luck, I should be hearing again soon.

The nose is doing great and I can breath much more freely now through the left side.

Thanks to all for your prays and good wishes on my behalf.

Bone broth's been working

My knee is nearly healed, and I have resumed neighborhood walks and elliptical training at 24 HR Fitness. I'm sure the bone broth has helped get my body the nutrients it needs to cushion my joints against further injury. The right knee is doing better as well.

The Holidays have come and gone. We didn't even get a Christmas poem and card written this year. It has just been too busy.

I volunteered as the chairperson for the Scouting fund raising drive this year, which consists of one event, which is the Christmas tree recycling project. It consumed the better part of three Saturdays to distribute flyers, organize the volunteers, and finally to pick up the trees and gather and account for the donations (which are still trickling in in the second week of January). We also got the big snow storms on both of our flyer days, and still had much snow and ice on the pickup day on January 3rd. The scouts were amazing however, and despite the occasional complaint of "are we done yet?" did an fantastic job. We had mostly parent volunteers, but this year, even had an Elder volunteer that only has your children. He drove his pickup truck and towed the big trailer lent to us by a member of the Salmon Creek ward who has a small farm and a lot of such equipment. Our collections were less than half that of last year, however, for the scouts the participated, they made a little over $6 per hour of time invested. That's still a pretty good return for a volunteer service.

Christmas was a cozy event at our home. No extended relatives visiting this year, but we did get some time with my oldest daughter Bri and my new son-in-law Grant, who were officially staying at his parents (about 20 minutes away). We also had my second oldest daughter Kristi come home from college at BYU Idaho for the holidays. Finally, our house-guest Ashley and her boyfriend James spent much of the Holidays with us as well. The other four kids still live at home, and enjoyed the family traditions of the Christmas countdown (a scrapbook with a scripture, song, and story for each of the 25 days till Christmas in December). Story time is ended with a candy from the countdown chains, which hava a special chocolate Santa on Christmas Eve. This year, we also visited the Vancouver Festival of the Nativities. Traci, Misti, and I split time on the camera to capture pictures of most of the nativites and artwork there. I put this to a selection of some of my favorite nativity music for a stunning slide show (which is great for family, but since it contains much that I'm sure is secured by artists copyright, cannot and should not be distributed beyond our immediate family per acceptable use).

Next week (Tuesday), I will undergo a couple of surgeries to restore my hearing, and widen my nasal passage. This should be the last of the surgeries for the foreseeable future (yeah). I have so much pain killer left from the last two, I won't even need to fill my new Rx this time around. I appreciate your thoughts and prays.

Let's not be too hasty to discount bone broth

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/380797_bastyr29.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_259-260/ai_n10299306/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1

This is just traditional chicken or beef broth or stock, like the pioneers used to make. And they had healthier joints than we do. I think we all need to eat more bone broth. Buying the watered down stock from a store does not work for the health benefits, neither does MSG ladden jell-o. Read the articles. What a revelation!








ter

dga

More about me (1200 characters is NOT enough)

I served a mission to England London and London South, after which I was educated at BYU. I married following my softmore year and had two kids before graduation (its true what they say about the water at Wymount Terrace married housing).

After 8 years in Southern CA, we escaped to Denver CO, stayed a couple of years, then escaped again to Vancouver WA and decided this was more our idea of home. Lets face it, it rains a lot, but the trees make up for it, and the fishings not to shabby. The doctors here and in Portland are second to none, and that is also very important for Johnny, our youngest, who was born with hydrocephalus, polydactally, and a coarctation of the aorta. He is doing great now, and was baptised this year.

Our dog is Koda, and as near as we can tell, he is a cross between a bernese mountain dog and a labrador, or a labernese. He is a very loving dog, but a little too fond of chewing on things he should not.

Recovery

Well, I finally got my knee surgery done last Tuesday. It went well, but I think I don't remember much from Tuesday through Thursday. Its amazing what a little rest and Vikadin will do to your memory.

I go in for post op on Nov 17 to find out how the Dr. thinks its going to go from here.

Margie (mom) says I ought to do some bone broth to build up the knee fluid for long range protection. The recipe for this is from an alternative medicine Dr. in the "Library of Medical Lies" This Dr. has some interesting ideas. Google it if you want to know more.

I can already put weight on the knee and did some good exercise today in the yard.

Thanks all for your fasting and prayers.