Everythings coming up Roses… so far

Don’t mind me if I seem to have quiet reservations when it comes to my Wife’s health or our son’s mental health for that matter. While not a Debbie Downer or a Doubting Thomas I am genuinely relieved that things are going smoothly and both my wife and son appear to be doing well….. I can’t help but wait with quiet reservation for the Hammer to fall…again.

For those that don’t know, our son had a large brain tumor and had surgery January 7th 2013 to remove it, the surgery was a success and other being partially blind in his right eye and left an emotional wreck he is doing just fine, he is now 13 years old and in grade 8, he loves school and is an almost straight A student.

February 28 ,2014 my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 (end stage) Lung Cancer,and for the last 8 months she has been in and out of the Cancer center receiving Chemo, we almost lost her back in early March,She is on a 2 month break from the Cancer center and doesn’t have to go back until November 25th for a CT-Scan.

So know you can understand why I have my quiet reservations, after 2 years of constant Hospitals and doctors, and almost losing the 2 people who mean more to me than my own life itself, I find it very difficult to be overly optimistic or to let my guard down,I watch over them like a hawk, I ask both of them how they are feeling and doing multiple times per day, every day.

But at the moment our son is doing so well he doesn’t require bi monthly appointments with his counsellor, he is holding his own quite well and seems happy and able to cope with life quite well.

My wife is also doing very well, she only uses her oxygen machine at night when she sleeps, she’s got good control of any pain with twice daily doses of both Morphine and Oxycodone, she is doing so well that she now can share our bed (first time in 8 months) and we are getting back some normalcy in our lives.

This is all great news, but I still can’t bring myself to relax and get complacent, I worry about every little cough or sneeze, I worry that our son will bring home some virus (cold or flu) and I will have to have him stay at a friends until he is better because my wife’s immune system is so severely compromised from all the Chemo, I worry about me getting sick and not being able to look after them or drive her to her many doctor appointments, the rule around this house is if you have a cough you can’t come in, if you have a sneeze you can’t come in, we ask that you wash your hands for at least 60 seconds with soap and water every time you use the washroom (surprisingly many folks don’t do this) and to use hand sanitizer before touching food or while working in the kitchen.

To say I am somewhat stressed would be an understatement, I keep a full tank of gas in the car and the doctors on speed dial. But despite this, I do enjoy spending quality time and conversing with my wife and our son, I stay positive and upbeat for them and listen with a smile as my wife talks about next year being a better year for us all.

So far everything seems to be coming up roses, and I would like for it to stay that way for awhile, I seriously need to decompress and relax a bit and be able to enjoy life being relatively normal for us at the moment.

I blog quite abit about many different things, some are light hearted some a tad more serious, and yes I’ll be posting more recipe’s again in the next little while, I blog for many reasons, one being it is my therapy, I’d go nucking futs if I couldn’t blog!! another reason is, I want the world to know about my wife and son (and I guess me) and how happy they make me and what a blessing each of them are to everyone they meet. I want the world to know that,yes, it is possible to find and marry your soul mate and to love someone more than life itself, it doesn’t just happen in fairy tales, it happens in real life too ,but unfortunately the outcome is not like the fairy tales, in real life the two lovers don’t always live happily ever after, no matter how hard they pray for it to be. I want the world to know that same sex couples can and do raise perfectly normal heterosexual children. I want the world to know that same sex marriages are not the end of heterosexual marriages and in fact have zero impact on them at all. There are lots more reasons that I blog,and if you stick around for the long haul those reasons will reveal themselves.

Anyway, that’s all for tonight folks, so remember :express your love often,never take tomorrow for granted,and be kind to others.

Butch
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Catching up again

So here I am again, late in the evening playing catch up on my blog, I am truly sorry for the sporadic and inconsistent blog writing, but until I get my work schedule sorted out, I may very well be writing more update and catch up blogs in the near future, please bare with me as I will get some sort of consistent blogging schedule figured out … eventually.

cartoon3My wife continues to do well, she is feeling good and strong, trying to get her to relax and get plenty of rest and have afternoon naps is akin to herding cats, she will have non of it and wants to help with the house work and has insisted that we at the very least go for daily walks (weather permitting) , her walks usually involve a couple of miles down the grid (gravel) road. As for the house work itself, I have been able to keep on top of it, but let her do the light duty stuff such as dusting (only because I hate dusting) and she makes the meals most often.

The Cancer in her lungs doesn’t seem to be bothering her at the moment, I still worry about her being on a two month break from treatment, I worry that the Cancer will act up again and she will become very ill again, especially if I am at work when it happens. But so far so good, she is almost a full month without treatment and is doing well, her hair continues to grow, she used to be a light blonde but now her hair is coming in darker, how much darker exactly we don’t rightly know yet and won’t be able to say until it grows in a bit more.

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Our son “Hammy” went to the city today for the Punt Pass and Kick regional tournament, he had a blast but Victory eluded him, he came in 4rth , but only the top 3 get to move onto Nationals, he wasn’t very bummed about not making it to the nationals, he said he gave it his best and had a lot of fun and that’s all that really matters to him.

We are very proud of him as he is turning out to be a fine young man, he is very thoughtful towards others, and has a good work ethic, he babysits full time for a couple hours a day after school and has been going around getting clients for his new snow shovelling business that he is starting up this coming winter, he is saving up for a new home desktop computer and a playstation 4 as well as setting his Christmas money aside.

Our son doesn’t get an allowance, he never has, he has always had to work for his money be it house chores or helping me with the yard maintenance business, we taught him early that nothing comes for free, he buys all his own video games and anything else he wants, we just feed and clothe him, the exception being his Birthday and Christmas (Santa goes all out) and yes occasionally we do buy him something such as a game, or bike etc. just because he is a good kid who deserves it and we do love him very much. ( I am bursting with pride when thinking of him )

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So I wish I could say my job is the ultimate Butch job, but alas it isn’t, the only power tool I get to play with is the shop vac….which I blew up tonight! , yeah imagine my surprise when that happened!! vacuum motor parts launched across the room! big BANG!! I ended up having to run home and grab my own shop vac to clean up the friggin mess the work vac left.

I also get to play with the deep fryer , grill and gas stove oh and a pizza oven !! ( I’m trying to make this sound as Butch as I can….and no matter how I word it I fail!) basically my job is Head Cook (hell I’m the only cook) and Butch Chamber Maid (picture that) and for the record I wear jeans, tee shirt, runners(sneakers) and my Camo Base Ball/Hunting Cap that says Git-R-Done ( I bought it at a Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall tour show about 3 years ago).

Other than blowing up the shop vac (not my fault) work goes alright, it’s just part time 3 or 4 days per week , I like the hours it’s usually from 3pm til 10 , leaves me the mornings to slip into the city with my wife while the kidlet is at school, or to sleep in or do pretty much anything I please.

As I said in the previous post, free beer, free food and a pay cheque…what more could a Butch want?

Well that’s about all for tonight, so remember folks: express your love often,never take tomorrow for granted,and be kind to others.

Butch
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Ketchup or Catch up

Sorry for being away for so long but as you all know our 11 year old son “Hammy” was diagnosed with a brain tumour November 5th 2012, and had surgery to remove it January 7th 2013, he is recovering nicely, to look and talk to him you would never know that he had recently under gone major surgery, the only effect left from the surgery is the fact that he is partially blind in his right eye. Its his peripheral vision that is affected at the moment, he is in therapy for that and his surgeon says that his vision should improve if not return.

To say things have been chaotic and frantic around here the last few months would be a drastic under statement to say the least. Things like getting wifi or wireless internet out here have been put on the back burner and had fallen into the “things that are not important category” as has repairing the car and van, repairing the house etc, but as the days go by I am slowly catching up on the not important file and getting things done such as home repairs, acquiring a reliable vehicle, getting internet access, catching up on bills etc.

Yesterday I borrowed a friends car and took our son to the city of Regina for a day out together, we went on a small shopping spree , he had saved up enough money to buy a couple games for his PS3, he wanted Black Ops 2 but E-B Games was sold out of that, so he bought himself Modern Warfare 3 and Battle Ship, we forgot to buy a keyboard for my Wifes PC and a battery for her DS thing, ah well next week. We also went to Visions (major electronics store) and I bought a wireless internet stick through Bell and a router so we can run more than 1 computer at the same time online, not that there will be more than 1 online often.

I also went and looked at another car , a 1998 Chevrolet , it only has 78,000kms ( about 60,000 miles) on the motor, the guy wants $1500, I didnt buy it yet, but have been emailing back and forth finding out why he wants to sell it.

I will get my trusty red DORF repaired, its the exhaust manifold that cracked, I have the new one and the gaskets for it but more or less have to wait for spring to install it as it has been minus 45C ( minus 49 F ) just a tad too dang cold to be working on a motor. So the plan is buy another car, repair the red DORF and use it as a spare car.

We have 6+ feet of snow on the ground, and the snow banks that make up the wind rows are almost 12+ feet high, some of the snow drifts in are yard are in excess of 8 feet, it has been a cold snowy winter and when spring arrives the village of Pense is going to flood for sure, I know that our property will be under at least 2 feet of water for sure, thats okay though, I am ready for that, I have spent the winter shovelling a 4 foot path around the house and have a couple sump pumps on stand by, no water will get in the house or the crawl space, the house itself is perched on a foundation that lifts the house a good 4 feet off the ground, the crawl space itself is all concrete and sand, even if water breached the foundation walls, there is nothing in the crawl space that could be harmed, there is no electrical wires there, no furnace, just plumbing and sewer pipes. All I would do is simply pump it out then spread lye across the sandy floor to prevent any mildew or smells, open the outside access doors, put a screen and chicken wire across the opening and let it air out all summer, be good as new when done.

The Sundown Optimist Club of Regina is having its 33rd annual classic car draw, this year they are raffling off a 1968 Ford Mustang, so I bought 50 of them, the money goes to support youth programs so I figured it was money well spent, I dont have a snow balls chance in hell of actually winning the car, my chances are 20 in 46,000 , but hey thats alright. Last year I entered for a 1974 Corvette Stingray ...didnt win that one either lol its like the lottery, I never win but play each week, cant win if you dont have a ticket, its more of a waste of money but its only $6 per week. Chances are slim to non that I will ever hit the jackpots, but through the years I have won $50 here and $1500 there and loads of free tickets but never the “big one” I just play for the fun of it and never expect to win, if I win something , even a free ticket, then bonus, if not, oh well nothing ventured nothing gained play again. I enter pretty much every draw that the village of Pense rec board hosts, and have won various things, from candles to custom pedal bikes and a small sculpture from local artist Joe FaFar.

Well guess thats about all for now , yall have a good day

Butch


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Good Bye Red Dorf

Sadly the Family Unit has decided that it is time for my Beloved Red Dorf to be passed along to someone else, so with a heavy heart< I put the old girl up for sale today.


Butch
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Catching up Again!

Sorry for not writing in awhile, there are a few reasons (excuses)as to why I havent been writing lately, #1- out here in the country we lack Cable internet or any other form of land based internet, we rely on a wireless internet mobile stick, (like wifi) , which has many advantages over land based connections, such as complete control over who uses your internet (no stick no internet simple no?), also you can plug it into any pc or laptop ipad or any internet able device and boom youre online instantly, your not restricted to any buildings, grab your laptop and sit in the middle of a field day or night or use it in your car etc, its mobile.

The downside? we have only 1 internet mobile stick and we have a 12 year old who "needs" to electronically amuse himself, (he plays games posts kid type stuff on his facebook and writes his pen pals ) , I am also married to a wonderful wife who has a pretty bad You-Tube addiction, she is hooked on 80s music and funny videos, so that means (even though I pay for the device),I get the last dibs on the internet! (dunno how or why that came to be, I just come to accept it as fact)

Sooo, since I dont get use of the internet often (as much as "I" would like), I have been keeping busy winterizing the cars, the house, the work sheds, the yard etc. getting ready for another 6 to 7 months of pure Canadian Winter HELL, (okay so Im getting old and the winters are getting harder on me with each passing year) I tell you unless you live in Alaska or the North Pole, or Siberia, you just can not fathom how bitterly cold our Canadian Prairie Winters can be, imagine 12 foot tall snow banks on either side of your 135 foot long driveway, that you have to shovel by hand at times because its so bitterly cold your snow blower and tractor are froze up solid, now keep that image and add a balmy minus 45 to minus 50 temperature, much colder if the wind is blowing quicker than 10 miles an hour ,and it does, it usually gusts 40 to 80 miles an hour, yeah, well there you are ,Welcome to HELL and yes it does freeze over!!

I shouldnt curse our luck just yet by mentioning snow just yet (yes snow is a 4 letter swear word , in fact it is the foulest of swear words known to human kind), I mean there is None YET!! this time last year we were buried up to our asses in it, so I count my small blessings,this is October so anything is possible.

Nature sure is pretty this time of year though, all the leaves have turned bright crimson reds and bright yellows,except for the evergreens, blue spruce, white pines, and majestic douglas furs who defy the seasons and remain vibrant greens and blues, the grass is still green though dormant now, hordes of wild geese and other warm weather fowl are gathering in the now empty fields preparing for their journey south, while the summer birds go the winter birds are arriving, chickadees,snowy owls,etc, the rabbits are turning from browns and grays to white, it really is a pretty sight.

I will purchase a new camera (since I drove over my last one) and take photos and post them this winter,I would like to get even more wild life photos than I managed last winter,if I can get a good enough camera I will get you all some photos of our winter storms too, I would also like to get a cheap video camera so I can post videos to this blog, Im working on that, maybe Santa will be nice to me this year.

anyway, thats all for now

Butch
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