Snow Joke

Well greetings form the snowy wasteland that is central New Jersey. We are in the midst of the biggest snowstorm ( well the only one actually. so far) of the year. It is being heralded by the Weather Channel as "Blizzard 2009!". It's going to dump over a foot of snow on us here in the great Garden State and is wreaking snowy havoc elsewhere along the Atlantic corridor.

The storm started early this morning. Before I was awake for work. Yes I was going to go to work today. Last night over dinner I said to Mags "I bet nobody will show up for our big sale. I can't believe they won't cancel" Rescheduling is out of the question. I can't fully explain the madness involved in setting this thing up or breaking it down, but I'm guessing they will not reschedule. But the events of this cold early am leave my mind open to expect anything.

So after a horrible, restless night for both Mags and myself ( Mags did tranq me at about 130) I crawl out of bed at 630 and go into the kitchen to make tea and feed the boys. I get up extra early because I feel that the roads will be slick as the crews probably haven't been out yet. I have a small breakfast and get my winter gear on. I head out and sure enough, the storm has started. The road crews here in my area are pretty good about keeping things relatively clear. But I was out early before them and the going was slippery at best. My 20 mile commute involves mostly two-lane country roads. Except for 15 minutes of 'county highway' rte. 130 (four-lane road). My job is south of me. So as I go further south, the storm gets heavier, visibility is near zero and the roads are absolute crap. It is slow going and the trip takes me almost 50 minutes as compared to the 35 it usually takes. Not awful but still...

So I get to within, I dunno, a fucking mile of my job, my cell rings. I look at the caller id and it is Mags. I assume she is calling to make sure I got to work o.k. (She's sweet like that) I pick up the phone and this is our conversation....

Me: Hey babe

Mags: Con? You aren't going to believe this.

Me: okay......

Mags: "Someone just called and asked for you. I told them you had left a long time ago and were headed to work..."

Me: "and?"

Mags: (slightly upset) "They said to turn around and come home. The sale has been cancelled."

Me: Are you fucking kidding me? I'm a mile from the place."

Mags: "Sorry. Why did they wait until ten minutes before your shift was going to start??"

Me: "Got me."

Mags: "Well come on home and be careful."

I turn around in the parking lot of a small soccer complex and begin the treacherous drive home.

The roads are continuing to get worse and I crawl along the side streets to rte 130. One of the bad things about winter in New Jersey is all the big SUV's and the people that drive them. They feel like they are completely safe and snow won't affect them. Therefore they drive like ass-bags.

The roads are covered in snow, covered and I have these people riding up my butt then roaring past me. I hope they all got where they were going in one piece.

So I come home, make tea and Mags continues to try and figure out why the company would do something like that.
Well good news is, I made home in one piece and now we will sit and watch the storm from the warmth of our little home.

If the storms got hold of you, i recommend you do the same

Not Good

So I'ma at work today and I'm finishing loading a trailer. I put the dock plate down but the end of the plate, the part that extends from the plate to the truck won't fold down.

Let me paint a picture, if I can. The plate is flush in the floor. When you want to load/unload a truck you raise it. You do this by pulling a ring that is in a hole in the plate. The ring is connected to a chain that raises/lowers the plate. At the end of the plate is a piece of steel that flips out when you raise the plate (to connect dock to truck) and when you pull the chain again, the piece of steel should fold back down and then the plate falls back into the floor. Got it? Good.

Well the small piece of steel at the end of the plate won't fold down so I decide to do it manually. The only way to do this is to stand in the trailer and push down. So push and push I did. With no result. I took a deep breath and pushed again. This time success! However, my foot is beneath the small piece of steel and instead of that small piece just folding down, the entire plate comes crashing down. On the end of my foot. My foot is pinned between the dock plat and the edge of the trailer. Not good. The pain, at first was pretty bad. I was able to get most of my foot out of my shoe in time but my poor big toe and his neighbor suffered the most. I did not go the the e.r., doc whatever. Because it really only hurt for a hour or three. I have since then looked at my toe and it looks like something Prince would wear on Halloween. Not pretty.

I was actually going to take a picture of my foot jammed in there but my brain was too busy processing the pain. Maybe I can recreate it tomorrow.

A Dirty 'Oul Day

I speak, again, of rain. It's bucketing here. Again.

So it's Sunday and I've not posted in a week. Honestly, nothing has been going on. Ive been working. Picking up some O.T. as we are having our warehouse sale. Even worked yesterday. Six hours. I'd rather be home but I'll enjoy the extra scratch in my check.

Got home from work and Mags had gotten herself all dolled up (She's cute without make-up too) and decided we needed to go out to eat. Sh'e right. We haven't been out in sooo long and really, who deserves it more than us? So we headed to our local Chilis. Dontcha just love Chilis? We were lucky to get in when we did. We were seated immediately and within ten minutes it was packed to the gills. We got the two for $20 deal. Our appetizer was the Tostada chips and salsa (which I think I could live on) and I had the ribs and Mags had a pulled pork sandwich. I'm not sure what 'pulled' pork is exactly. Maybe the pig that fought the hardest at the round-up? Not sure but Mags liked it. For desert we got the hot fudge brownie with vanilla ice-cream toppin' it. A very good dinner for under 30 bucks.

Next stop was to say hi to her folks and then it was home to watch 'Body of Lies' Interesting flick. Decaprio and Crowe did a good job on this one.

One of the best parts of winter coming is that we have broken out the down comforter. This thing is sweeet. It would keep you warm if you were sleeping outdoors in January. Seriously.

Well thats it for now. Exciting, I know. Stay warm.

Rain, Rain and More Rain.

So the weekend started with both of us 'sleeping in'. That phrase is in quotations because really, 730 is late for us. I get up and 530 for work and Mags usually gets up with me. So sleeping 'til 730 is quite a happening.

Weather today is just crap. Heavy driving rains that might turn to snow later. Super. The dampness is killing me. Might need to take something for my back. Perfect day for a hot-tub.

We (Mags) decided that today we would put up the tree. (pictures will be posted soon) Not a big deal. The hardest part is getting into the attic and passing all the stuff down to Mags and then carting it downstairs to the living room and getting it all set up. We have lots of ornaments and decorations and usually it takes us a day or two to get everything set up. Our only real problem is Chainsaw. He is too interested in the ornaments, more specifically, the old-style glass ones. But just the tear-drop shaped ones. He is weird. So just about three minutes after putting the last ornament on the tree he reached up and flipped one of the old-style, glass, tear-drop-shaped ornaments onto the floor and broke it. Well, at least we have that out of the way. That was a new record by the way. Good job you little prick.

So I ran out and grabbed some lunch at our local Wendys and now we're just chillin'. Hoping something good is on HBO tonight.

What Do You Mean Tomorrow is Monday?? Really??

Well, my 4-day weekend is coming to a crashing halt. It is nearing 7 pm on Sunday night and my 4 day weekend is all but over. It was, to a point, restful. I got a lot done around the house. We had a quiet dinner at home with Mags son showing up to join us. The pets were happy as they always get a little plate of turkey on the Turkey-related holidays.

I did get lucky and got to see a couple of Devils games. They are on a hot-streak and considering they have a lot of young guys up from the farm team because of injuries, it makes it even more exciting.

I had some trouble sleeping last night. Mags and I were both stressed out and we were up until almost 1130. Very late for us. We decided to hit the sack and Mags was soon fast asleep. I laid in bed staring at the ceiling. The ceiling stared back at me, mockingly, as I tried to sleep.

I sometimes will put my iPod on and listen to some tunes until I grow very tired and then slip off my headphones and go to sleep. Didn't work last night. I laid awake until 1:30 am when finally, I fell to sleep. I awoke promptly at 3:11 am and was awake until well, 5 when I decided to get up rather than toss and turn. By this point my back was aching and I needed to take something to relive the pain. I groaned and rolled out of bed. At this point, Mags, who had been awake for a minute or two said "I'll just get up with you." I tried to tell her to stay in bed because she has been sick but she was now wide awake too.

So we went to the kitchen and put the kettle on for tea. Mags fired up the heating pad for me and I got into 'the chair' and flipped the tv on. I caught the tail end of 'Hockey Night Live!' (it was really not live, but taped from last night but I am grateful for hockey hi-lites when I can get them) Mags laid on the couch and was soon fast asleep ( "If you put a show on with men talking about sports, I'll go right to sleep") and she did. I did not. I watched two episodes of Law and Order and the started a third when Mags awoke and said to me "just go crawl back into bed", which I did, and slept until 10am. She was shocked to see me up and about so early having just had under 4 1/2 hours sleep total for the night. They weren't even consecutive hours of sleep...How was I?? Imagine "Night of the Living Dead"...except I didn't feel the need to feed on human flesh.

Mags had been down and said that a trip to Target would lift her spirits. So we ventured out to the store and did some shopping for our young nephews. I usually don't like shopping but I think I was just so tired I didn't care. Besides, Mags is very sick and needs my support and I'll give it any way I can. And really, if it means making a trip to our local Target, then I'm her man.

I did make it up to myself by shoplifting a watch band and some Hello Kitty lunch box decals. No, I really didn't. Honest.

So that's it. We came home, wrapped the gifts, got them packed and I took CrazyDog into the yard for some play time and then just vegged in front of my computer.

I dread going back tomorrow. It's always hard going back after such a long lay-off.

Hope you all had a restful four-day weekend and good luck getting back into the groove tomorrow.

May I Present...Mr. Buns

The funny looking terrycloth bunny you see here is 'Mr Buns.' He belongs to our cat, Chainsaw.

Way back when when I first met Mags and was wooing her, I met her dog. Sandie was a sweet little Sheltie who really took her time getting to know/like me.

I felt the best way to win this dog over was as you would any other female. I bought her a gift. The little plush bunny you see above was actually a dog toy. No squeaker, no jingles, just a plain ol' bunny. I walked into the living room where Sandie was sitting and she watched me tentatively. I walked to her and produced Buns. Sandie sniffed him, looked up at me and walked away. Mission failed.

Enter Chainsaw two years later. We were settling into bed one night when we heard this plaintive wail and then heard it again. And again and again. We were curious what was going on with the cat and walked out of the bedroom to see.

There was the cat with Buns hanging out of his mouth, continuing to cry. Very odd I thought. I told Mags and we had a laugh. Well, we figured this was a passing phase. But no, no it was not. Buns is Chainsaws S.O. apparently. The two are never far apart. They sleep together and very often we will find the cat with the bunny in his mouth or simply on the rug licking him.

If we put Buns on a shelf or counter, Chainsaw will whine and cry and reach his long grey arms up to whack the rabbit down to the floor.

Late at night, every night, we will hear the sound of the cat meowing like he is being tortured. He is really actually calling out to his terry-cloth amigo and he will continue this until he finds him. He will then pick up the rabbit, crying still, carry him up the stairs into our bedroom and place him on the floor. He will then curl his body around him and go to sleep.

Since the rabbit spends most of his time in the cats mouth, we have washed him before. Each time we do, the cat freaks out and will lick the rabbit a thousand times until he stinks again.

Weird huh?

We Have An Answer!!

Yes, finally. An answer to Mags' situation. She had a TTE test on Friday morning which involves a long hose-type thinger being forced down your throat and the little camera that is attatched can peek around in one's chest.

Mags' cardiologist, Dr. Jack. is head of cardiology at the hospital Mags was in and he happened to be at the hospital visiting her at the time of the test. He took his own time and went down with her for support/comfort/and to get a look at what the heck was going on. Great guy this doc.

Well, end result is periocarditis. An infection on the heart valve. They call it 'vegetation' growing on the heart valve. Ironically, it is on her Mitral valve and not on the artificial Aortic valve that she had installed in '04. The odds of getting the infection on the artificial valve were slim but the odds of getting it on the mitral were even slimmer. Talk about crappy luck.

Soon after the test results were dropped Mags was told she had to have a PICC line inserted into her arm, into a vein that runs to her heart. She will be getting intravenous antibiotics twice a day at home. A nurse came to the house to show us how to do it. Her name is Cindy and she is super nice and a smart cookie. She gave us the rundown and spent three hours at our house, answering questions explaining the PICC line, etc.

So heres to hoping the anti's work. If they don't Mags faces the possibility of yet another open-heart surgery to replace yet another heart valve.

So please keep her in your thoughts and prayers and send any positive vibes or good Mojo you may have her way.

Still We Wait...

For a clue as to what could be ailing Mags. Four doctors are working together to crack the case.

Went to see her tonight and she was in okay spirits and very, very sleepy, (it was pocket watch) So I came home and did some housework. Wash kitchen floor, laundry etc...I'm so domesticated...

Central Jersey will be getting some 'soaking' rains tonight accompanied by high winds. The wind is howling, but so far no rain.

Well, dryer is done. Fold then bed.