Thanksgiving Day 2009 is nearly here. The weather in Georgia has been absolutely fabulous the past few days (the forecast is for rain moving in) with lows in the thirties at night and in the mid-sixties by the end of the day. Yes, this is definitely late fall weather, but Thanksgiving this close? We are less than a week away from the beginning of the biggest shopping period of the year.

GRANNA’S MOTHER
We went to Alabama Thursday evening to be there when Granna’s mother underwent knee replacement surgery Friday morning. She had to be at the hospital at 5 AM and it ended up being a short night for most family members in attendance. The entourage arrived at the hospital at the appointed time with others joining later in the morning. Yes, even her pastor made a call and visited with the family prior to her being taken to the operating room a little before 7 AM.

The surgeon met with the family a couple hours later to state that everything went fine and explained what procedures would follow. We visited another hour following surgery before heading to her room to await her arrival.

DOING GREAT
She has done great and has not asked for pain medication although the nurses did administer some prior to removing the dressing from the incision area. When we arrived at the hospital Saturday morning, we found her sitting in a chair and doing remarkably well. She did not have any pain medications throughout the night nor that morning when she got out of the bed and moved to the chair. The surgeon had been by to see her prior to our arrival and told her that he didn’t want her walking outside of the room.

It is expected that she will be released from the hospital and transferred to the rehab hospital on Monday. Granna and one of her sisters will remain at the house during the upcoming week and I will journey back again to join them on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, at the latest.

Until next time…

WONDERFUL WEEK OF SUNSHINE

There is an old adage “what a difference a day makes.” In a day (or less) circumstances can change, lives torn apart or repaired, loss of hope changed to great anticipation and expectation, and despair changed to victory. All of the above can be the result of a few short hours, but the same can be mirrored in our weather, too. We have gone from a period of endless rain to sunshine.


MUSHY
The yards are still soft and mushy from the relentless days of rain and we still have standing water in our back yard and at the east end of the house. The ground is so saturated that the drying process is taking time to occur. As I travel across the lawn, I leave behind muddy looking prints and tire trails from the mower.

As I walked out the back door on my way to get my lawn tools yesterday, I was greeted by some blooms beginning to open on the hydrangeas.  This is mid-November, isn't it?  But, I shouldn't be surprised for the Encore Azaleas in the front yard are still in bloom and serve to remind me that spring will be coming again soon.

HELPING NEIGHBORS?

I have spent the past two days in our neighbor’s yards removing leaves and pine needles. The time spent provides them assistance in preparing their yards for the winter months ahead, but it also provides me with the opportunity to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine and feel the warmness of the light breeze against my skin. It has been an enjoyable time for me to spend alone doing something for someone else. I am not sure who has benefited the most…them or me. Maybe we can “chalk it up” to being of mutual benefit.

ANNIVERSARY AND BIRTHDAY

Yesterday would have been my parent’s seventy-fifth anniversary if they were still living and my father’s 102-birthday would be tomorrow. For many years my wife and I struggled over which date each one was celebrated on until it happened one year that we remembered the alphabet where “A” comes before “B”. After that moment, we no longer had a problem remembering that my parent’s anniversary was on November 14 and my father’s birthday was November 16. How simple things can be if you figure out a system of correlation. (Now if I could do that for people’s names! I am bad at forgetting them as soon as I hear them.)

Until next time…

THE RAINS CAME DOWN

It has been another rainy week in Georgia. I am unsure about how much rain has fallen, but it has been significant. The yard is mushy and there was two to three inches standing in the low spots yesterday afternoon. I haven’t donned my boots and visited the back yard this morning; there may still be that much sitting on the surface that hasn’t soaked in. We always seem to need rain and I shouldn’t complain about it, but it would be nice to have it spread out over the year and not get it all at once.

Granna rose early yesterday and put a cup of coffee into the microwave to warm it. When she went to retrieve the cup, she noticed standing water on the turntable. The cup of coffee wasn’t hot enough for it to have boiled over inside the microwave and it didn’t make sense to her as to how the water could be there. When I got up a little later, she told me about the water and I went to investigate. I found more water and water dripping from inside the top of the microwave. The only way water could possibly be there would be from the roof and running down the exhaust vent pipe.

I changed into some old clothes and headed to the attic to investigate. Everything in the attic was dry including the vent pipe between the roof and the microwave. The only other explanation for the water was the fact it had to be coming down the pipe on the inside. This meant a trip to the roof to see if I could determine how it was getting inside the pipe. It was still dark outside and I found my flashlight, put on my rain gear and rubber boots, and headed to the storage shed for my extension ladder. My trip to the roof was fruitless. I couldn’t see any noticeable signs of a reason for the leak. I finally decided that I would have to wait until daylight arrived before I would be able to see how the water was coming in.

DAYLIGHT
Daylight eventually arrived and I was back on the roof in the pouring rain. I tried the best I could to see any sign of a hole, open joint, or anything else that might allow the rain water access inside the pipe…nothing visible could be seen.

I climbed back down the ladder and retreated to the garage where I stripped out of my rain gear. I don’t think I could have been much wetter if I had not put it on. I took another trip to the attic to re-inspect the pipe. The interior side of the roof was dry along with the outside of the pipe. However, inside the microwave was a different story.

CALL
I ended up making a call to the contractor who was responsible for the roof replacement. I told him what was going on and asked him for any suggestions on what else to inspect. He was as baffled as I and said he would call the installer. He did and suggested that I put a plastic garbage bag over the vent for the night and the roofing contractor would send someone out to look at it the following day. It rained all night and the bag did keep the water out of the pipe.

INSPECTION
The man from the roofing company arrived and we climbed back on top of the roof to inspect the vent pipe. This time the rain was not descending and we were able to do a thorough inspection of the vent pipe. He was as puzzled as I concerning how the water was entering. After some prying and cutting back of shingles for a better look, I suggested re-tarring the base and joint of the cap and hope that it would seal out any future seepage. He did so and now we wait for the next big downpour to see if the leak was stopped or not.

MICROWAVE
How long do you need to let a microwave dry before reusing it? I am not sure what is located in the top portion of the housing that might be damaged by water. I know the electrical controls on the side of the box, but what is overhead? We will wait until tomorrow before trying it again.

Until next time…