Moving on

It has been a crazy couple of weeks.  End of school and birthdays means I now have an "adult" son and yesterday, he moved out.  Now, not into the adult world, but into his grandma's house.  Shelly seemed a little down, but I do think in the long run, it will be better.  My foot continues to heal and my irregular heart beat has been up and down.  But, I did get a bike ride in this week for the first time in a month, short one on the bike path, but a ride none the less.  Enjoy the photos.

From the back deck.

Storm took a tree down over the road and on to the phone line.  The township took care of part of it.  The rest was balancing on the phone line for nearly a week!

Dragged out the old 4 wheeler which of course needed a little work to get going.  Brock says "we fix it daddy".

Brock saw Ethan on his bike and had to ride really fast too.

Wednesday morning coffee at Donkey before work.

   

Slow healing

Found a yard sale find this week.  I don't normally do yard sales, but I just happened to see this as I drove past one.  Just like Shelly's, just a different color, all for a yard sale kind of price.

10' Pelican kayak.

Got to go to Ethan's awards ceremony at school too.  Not sure if he was more excited to get a doughnut though.

It has been over 3 weeks now.  My foot is still swollen, though, I finally squeezed it into a shoe. Couldn't tie it though.  The boot is getting old.  You can't bend your ankle.  It makes one leg longer than the other.  But, I know it could have been worse and look forward to being all clear in just a couple more weeks.

Shh, don't tell the doctor I'm not wearing my boot.

May goodness

Why is it that every year it seems like life tries to squeeze all the life out of you at one time, usually in May.  This year it is mother's day, two birthdays, a graduation, on top of the now normal stress at Shelly's job and me with a broken foot just doesn't help.  Still, as big of a pain as it is, I am blessed.  My father in law helped out by fixing Michael's car (ruptured brake lines) and changed the oil.  My folks and brother helped me mow my yard and then my folks picked up 1.5 tons of washed #4 river rock to put down in our flower beds.  It will be full on go mode until Shelly is out of school for the year when everything will suddenly stop.

I got a message from Athens Bicycle today reminding me that this Sunday is the Wayne Ultra XXC.  I have been wanting to do this for several years and as if Michael's 18th birthday wasn't enough of an excuse to miss this time, the broken foot is.

I also (reluctantly) got a new phone to replace my smashed Android.  Went with an iPhone.  When it doesn't seem like a necessity but rather a luxury, it is hard to drop the money.  At least I got it on sale ($50 off) but still had to re-up for another 2 years on my contract.  Looking forward, 2 years seems like a long time.  Once I get there I will be wondering where the days went.

A little sunshine

Shot this when I was turkey hunting before my crash and subsequent smashed cell phone.  Found the picture today when I was copying everything off the memory card.  Enjoy.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

One of the joys of growing older, having more responsibility, less time, more stress, more anxiety, and so on is the impact on your health.  This time, it is my heart.  I have had a three week bout of irregular heartbeats that have varied from barely noticeable to downright uncomfortable.  Visit my doctor and after some blood work that says I am quite healthy, I am wearing a heart monitor that records every beat for 48 hours with 5 patches glued to my chest. More on that later...

Tuesday I finally had the opportunity to go turkey hunting.  I couldn't go at all last week due to illnesses and related childcare issues.  After some excitement early on, the woods turned quiet.  I enjoyed a good cup of coffee from my thermos and watched the work go very slowly by.  After a bit I checked my phone to see what time it was and noticed an email from a good friend which I replied to.  He responded: "Dude, you need to unplug yourself and turn off your phone. Enjoy your time alone."

After hunting and grabbing a bite to eat, I decided to not head to the office for our 1pm conference call and instead pulled out the old Honda for an easy ride on the back roads.

25 miles later, I found myself on the ground.  What turned out to be a minor slow speed low side when I stuck the front tire in some loose gravel in a turn resulted in a pretty strong pain in my right foot.  I picked the bike back up, rolled it into a driveway and tried to kick start it.  One word. Pain.  I finally got it started with my left foot supporting myself on the right and rode on home.  Showered and called Shelly.

Me: Hi babe, how is your day?

Her: Good

Me: Great, ummm, so no big deal really, but I am driving to the ER to have my foot looked at, pretty sure I broke something.

Her: What!?

Me: Yeh, I am fine though so I'll call you later.  Oh, and I broke my phone too...

Final damage = broken 3rd metatarsal in my right foot from what appears to have been an impact with the brake pedal.  The ER sent me home with a nice splint, crutches, and a tetanus shot.  Oh, and back to the heart monitor.  So, I have this open order for the monitor.  Heck, I am already at the hospital, might as well take care of that too.

Followed up with the ortho yesterday.  Good news is that it was a "good break".  I get to have a boot rather than a cast which means I will get to take a shower (at least, as soon as I get the heart monitor off).  

Still don't know what is causing the heart issues and now I have to buy a new phone.  This was supposed to ease my stress and anxiety.