A little knee news.

Terry and I packed up and left the Bolt Hole yesterday (Saturday) morning. Five hours later we pulled into the Aerie. Terry did all the driving, of course, while I sat there in the passenger side staring out the window. The pills the doctor at the ER gave me may not get rid of all the pain in my knee, but they have a marvelous way of distracting my brain from that pain.

Don't expect a lot to appear on these pages in the next few days. Between the pain, doctor visits, and the drugs (Hydroco/APAP)--but mostly the drugs--I'll be in the first floor bedroom either reading or--more likely--sleeping.

"One tablet every 4-6 hours as needed for pain," it says on the label. I've been taking one every six hours--stretching to eight if I'm asleep or merely reading. The stuff doesn't make the pain go away completely, but after a while you really don't give a sh*t. The hydroco also seems to be cumulative in that if I take one pill every six hours on a regular basis--at 6 AM, noon and 6 PM say, by the third pill I'm pretty much out of it.

First thing Monday morning, Terry will escort me to the doctor's office. There I'll tell my tale of woe with some visuals--sort of a show and tell. What happens then will depend upon what the doctor determines is necessary. I'll be rooting (?) for an MRI just for piece of mind if nothing else. Certainly, the level of pain still present tells me there may be something in need of repair. Though, I DO have the ability to bend the leg at the knee indicating things are still (pretty much) attached.

Back from ER

Got to the St. Luke's Hospital ER just about 5:30 this evening. No one in the waiting room. Very helpful staff that began processing and assisting me as I walked through the door. They had my name, DOB, address, and everything from the last time I was here (2009) so it was a snap to check in. They even had my vitals before Terry got back from parking the car.

I was whisked off to an examination room and then taken for x-rays before you could say "Boo!" The Doctor came in and asked questions about where and "how much does it hurt when I do this, or how about this?" Then he went off to look at the x-rays.

Half hour later he returned with his diagnosis: Severe sprain of the lateral cruciate tendons, possible tear but without an MRI he couldn't be sure. He prescribed pain killers (which don't seem to be living up to their reputation) suggested I keep off the leg for a couple of days and see my physician on Monday or Tuesday. Then, should the pain continue, I should get an MRI to determine if any tear took place.

Can't say it was a "pleasant" experience, but I was treated efficiently and with care by some nice people.

******

Luckily, Mark showed up this evening. We filled him in on what's what and he told me not to worry. He'll take care of things around the cabin. He also recommended I not bother with a NY hunting license. Three weeks and he got just 48 pictures on the game cams--all bears. The three deer he's seen are tame as house pets--and all female. He even petted one after calling her in using kissing sounds.

I still hope to be able to come up and close the camp up in a couple of months, but right now there's no way I could possibly drive down to get the mail let alone do anything else. Still have to figure out how to get the truck, trailer and ATV home. (Although Mark said he might be able to do that. He's about t-h-i-s close to quitting his current job at Remington Arms. (BTW: Word of advice from the "inside" Do not buy Remington rifles and/or shotguns made in the last year. That includes the Bushmaster and Marlin guns, too. Trust me on this. Just don't.)

Uh-oh!

Damn! This is NOT good!

So I decided the roof wasn't going to get painted by itself and hobbling knee or not, I would have to get up there to get 'er done. Started making preparations by getting into my painting clothes. (The pants can stand my themselves! Now if they would only come when called.) Went out and moved the ladders. Talked to Terry on the phone. Mixed up the paint. Poured a gallon or so into the "roof" bucket. And started to walk toward the ladder.

*PING* went something in the back of my right knee and suddenly I can't put ANY weight on my right leg without a great deal of pain. Straight leg, bent leg...it doesn't matter it will not bear any weight.

I leaned against the bucket, the house, the porch and s-l-o-w-l-y made my way up the two steps into the house. Packed everything away, struggled out of my painting clothes and here I sit contemplating my navel and another trip down to St. Luke's Hospital in Utica.

Been there. Done that. Two years ago on the left knee. Same sort of action after slipping on a wet rock during the last day of muzzle loader season. The diagnosis after an MRI was a severe strain. Rest and rehab. And pain killers.

This time it seems worse. Then I managed to get back out of the woods using the smoke pole as a crutch. This time I'm damn near crawling.

Funny, the left knee suddenly feels fine.

In '09 I needed to get Terry up here to help get all my hunting gear packed. Now I've got ladders on the roof and a trailer with an ATV. (Firewood's still in the woods and likely to stay there for some time.)

I'm going to just sit here feeling sorry for myself for awhile, if you don't mind. As soon as I get in touch with Terry (Curves) I'll make up my mind about what to do.


UPDATE: Terry is on her way. Then it will probably be a trip to the hospital's emergency room. Fun times!

Of Pain and Rain

Tossed and turned and woke up often in pain during the night. My knees are still throbbing and I'm stiff legging it around the cabin like Festus in an old Gunsmoke episode or Walter Brennan in Rio Bravo. I'm very reluctant to go back up on the ladders.

So I check the weather forecast at weather.com. What the...! What happened to all the bright sunny days forecast a week ago. First Saturday and Sunday slipped to the dark side with 30-40% chance of rain and now Friday? And Monday? And Tuesday? But they are listed as "Scattered" and "Isolated" meaning what exactly? A storm might pop up over there...or right on top of me but NOT over there?

No wonder my knee joints are aching, throbbing, pulsing...Heck, they're sore as Hell!


Okay, so the next 5 days have some chance (30-40%) of precipitation. How about the next five? So I go to the 10-day forecast and.... Egads! Now, before you get excited about the "Partly Cloudy" days down there near the end, the chance of precip drops to 20% on those two days. For the rest it's between 30% ("Isolated") and 40-50% ("Scattered").



Betting on the weather is worse than playing at a casino. At least at the casino, you are aware that the house wins the majority of the time. Weather forecasters? Not so much. Then again all it takes for an excellent shot at getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame is a .300 lifetime batting average but I'm not sure a meteorologist even hits that on forecast beyond 24-36 hours.

More progress on the roof painting.

I had to wait on the weather a bit this morning. The rain took its sweet time clearing out over night and things were pretty wet on the roof at 8 AM. It wasn't until 10 AM that the roof over the south side of the kitchen and the covered porch was dry enough for me to go up there and slather on a coat of aluminum.

Naturally, my knees started complaining immediately. I expected it from my left (that's the one I twisted two years ago while out in the woods hunting), but the right one was the loudest--and sorest--of the two. Still, I soldiered on knowing that I've got a reduced window of opportunity now that the forecast has changed for Saturday and Sunday.

BEFORE: South kitchen and porch roof.

AFTER: South kitchen and porch roof.

Three hours of up and down, down and up on the ladders and I had finished the kitchen and porch roof. I took an extended break for lunch and hoped my knees would forgive me enough to let me get a good chink of the living room roof done this afternoon.

BEFORE: East living room roof.

They didn't. I managed to get about 1/3 of the east side of the living room roof done in two and a half hours before I finally had to call it quits. This roof is a bit of a challenge to start with as the ground slopes from the main body of the house to the southern end of the living room on the left. The drop is only a couple of feet, but it's fairly steady meaning the climbing ladder's one leg is firmly planted on the ground while the other needs to be propped up two to four inches. I've got some 2 x 6 boards for that purpose but it's just one more thing that makes me nervous on the ladder. And with bum knees, it's bad enough.

PARTIALLY DONE: East living room roof.

Still to do: East living room roof.
(Plus, the west side of the living room roof (not shown) needs doin'.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go get another Yuengling Lager and put some dinner in the microwave. Then it's an extra dose of pain killers and off to bed.

Rain? What do you mean "rain?"

For two days the forecasters said Thursday through Sunday had 0% chance of rain. Then the system from the west slowed down extending Wednesday's rains into the wee hours of this morning. And, miraculously, the forecast changes to 40% chance of T-storms on Saturday and Sunday. Where the heck did that come from?

Things are still very wet outside as 8 AM approaches. The sky is that leaden gray the bodes ill.

******

Got up this morning at 6 AM when I heard something thumping in the back. I thought a bear might be in the apple trees, but was surprised to see a young deer running around--gamboling, if you will--at full speed. It came racing from the area behind the barn on to the lawn did a quick loop and raced back out the same way and into the woods beyond. Looked like it was just stretching its muscles. I was jealous as I struggled with the morning bending of stiff knees to put my socks and pants on.

The youngster appeared to be on its own but Mom might have been over where it disappeared from sight. I'd peg it as a fawn of this year but without its spots and obviously an early drop based upon its size. Beautiful little animal with a joyful spirit.

Raindrops keep falling....

I arrived at the Bolt Hole shortly after 1 this afternoon. My trip was about 5 miles shorter but nearly half an hour longer than the route I usually take. And my mpgs were down to just 16.2 due to hauling the little utility trailer and its ATV load.

Got all my groceries and gear in the house, the ATV in the garage, the trailer unhitched and the truck parked just as the rain started to fall. (It had been raining south and west of here on highway 12 and Route 17 earlier in the day, but stopped once I cleared Utica.) It looks like it might rain a good portion of the night. That's okay by me. The area is still inches below normal for late June and July. Good thing we got so much rain in April, May and early June! Let it rain, I say--as long as it stops in the morning so I can get some roof painting done.

******

Terry is in western NY today with an ANG (American Needlepoint Guild) meeting. She left the Aerie an hour before I did and probably ran into more rain. She's returning to the Aerie this evening and will again be traveling in rain. It also looks like the Aerie is getting some much needed rain.

Riding along in my automobile Tundra

The ride up along state highway 12 was pleasant enough. It was getting to highway 12 that was frustrating. US Highway 6 and state highway 220 have half a dozen construction crews on each doing everything from filling cracks with tar, putting reflectors in the mid-line, and just digging up random sections of pavement where gas/water/gravel trucks have caused depressions to appear. Each job requires traffic be reduced to one lane and that means stopping at the command of a flag person if you're not lucky enough to catch it j-u-s-t right.

Even when you clear the construction zones, there are the gas/water/gravel trucks with which to contend. If they are loaded with material, they have a difficult time with some of the hills along the way.

Yeah, there is a back road I could have taken even with the utility trailer in tow. But the last two times I tried that route, there were detours due to construction. And the last time was just a week ago and since it's bridge work being done....

I figure it took me almost half hour extra to get to Route 17 in Waverly.

Route 17 is also called the Southern Tier Expressway and will become Interstate 86 as soon as they finish upgrading a stretch near Elmira, NY. This highway runs east-west from Orange County to near Erie, PA. Much of it already has a 65 mph speed limit and the truck traffic has increased as the years have passed. The Future I-86 has two things going for it:

1) it is a direct link from the west to I-81 and/or I-88. The former can take you north to Canada in the Ottawa region, while the latter can get you up to the Albany and the Northway (I-87) and, again, to Canada (Hello Montreal! and points east.) Alas, unless and until they rebuild the bridge over Lake Champlain, there's major highway connection to the rest of New England except to hop on the NYS Thruway (I-90) and go down to the Mass Turnpike (also I-90). (TOLL ALERT! On both of these roads it costs a trucker an arm and a leg. Maybe even a kidney.) Smaller vehicles can find enjoyment tooling along state highways heading east.

Which brings me to the second thing I-86 has going for it:
2) it has no tolls. The more they raise the tolls on I-90, the more traffic there will inevitably be on I-86. Just as has occurred with I-80 in PA.

I do like cruising along the highway. If I didn't love my truck, I wouldn't mind cruising in one of these.

Signs of the times. It's all natural.

Having hitched up the utility trailer, loaded the ATV aboard, and packed my gear for another work-cation at the Bolt Hole, I was about ready to get in the Tundra when I looked down the Aerie's driveway to the road. There loped a good size black bear heading down the hill. Every so often it would stop and look up the hill and soon I saw why. The first bear was followed by an even larger bear which strode with a purpose in pursuit.

It didn't take me long to figure out what was going on. The first bear, perhaps 200-250 pounds must have been a female. The second, which I estimate at being 350 pounds or more, was a male. It's the mating season and he strutted down that hill with his nose waving in the air as he scented that female. She played coy, however, and was leading him on a merry chase. Alas, they moved on before I could get the camera out of its bag and snap a shot of their "courtship."

As I drove out and down the road, I saw them behind the building of the hunting camp adjacent to the Aerie's property. She hadn't given in--yet, but I sensed it was just a matter of time and finding a more private locale.

Signs of the times

Driving up to the Bolt Hole today I opted to take Route 12 through New York's Broome and Chenango counties. This area sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation and is ripe for gas drilling. There were lawn signs along the way both for and against exploiting our natural resource. Most were the size of the typical political sign. Some said things like "Friends of Gas NY" or "I [heart] NY, NO Fracking," but one larger billboard sign--perhaps 3' tall and 6' wide--made an excellent point. Along side the traditional peace symbol, it read "Bring a soldier home, Drill for Gas."

Tundra Timing Terrible

With 67K miles on the odometer, the Tundra has given me no serious mechanical problems and for that I'm thankful. Sure, there was that thing with the low roof in the hotel parking garage in Toronto but that's physical not mechanical. It's hauled the travel trailer from NY to Alaska and more--probably 15K of those 67K have been with trailer in tow. It's bumped along gravel, dirt and mud roads in PA since it was purchased.

Still, I make the last of the 0% interest payments in November. If it could have waited just three months I wouldn't have minded so much.

Ouch!

So. I took the Tundra in to have them look at the brakes. Two hours latter I left with four new discs, calipers and pads and a much lighter bank account. (Okay. I'll be honest. Like Congress, I put it on the Cabela's charge card and I will have to pay it off somewhere down the road. At least I'll accumulate points with which to purchase slightly over priced stuff at Cabela's.)

They did give me a discount of 10% when I mentioned I had been there just a month earlier and they had told me everything was fine. Still, the total damages were just north of $900. Ouch!

******

Meanwhile, I'm back at the Aerie for the night. Early tomorrow, I'll hit the local Lowe's for more supplies (brushes, rubber refinishing gloves, and brush cleaner), get the utility trailer hitched to the Tundra and load the ATV on board, and then gas up the Tundra and head back north. The powers that be are forecasting some showers and T-storms during the day and along my route. I'll bring a tarp with me so when I get to the Bolt Hole I can at least cover up the ATV.

Those same powers say the weather is supposed to dry up for four or five days starting Thursday so I'll be back up on the roof hoping to get the south side of the kitchen finished. The kitchen roof is the oldest on the building and really looks it. From a distance, you'd swear it's nothing but rust. This south side gets the most sun even in winter when the large sugar maple drops its leaves. It also gets a lot of snow as the stuff drifts to the lee side of the roof and just sits there. I've never seen any snow slide off this particular side. (Snow doesn't slide off the north side either, but that's because the lower and less slanted wood shed roof holds it in place.) This should be a brief job of three hours or so.

Then it's on to the living room roof. The highest of all, this roof is about 25 years old but is already showing rust. The snow regularly slides off this roof...when I'm there and have a fire going inside. Last winter I wasn't there and Mark says the snow was two to three feet deep on this roof and, until he used a rake on it, wasn't going anywhere. The rust may help hold the snow in place so a new roof coating may get it to slide more easily. Or not. At least the coating will seal some small leaks around the roofing nails...I hope.

The living room roof is probably an 8 to 10 hour job because of the need to move the climbing and roof ladders frequently as I work my way down the roof's length. At approximately 20 feet, it's also one of the longest roofs on the building.

With persistence and luck, I should be finished with the roofs by Friday evening. Then it's wood hauling time.

Compromise, they said....

...over and over.

The last couple of weeks we've been hearing talking heads and politicos from the inner circles of Washington talk about the need to compromise on the debt ceiling and budget cuts. Knowing how words get twisted by those groups of folks and the media, I finally looked that word up at Dictionary.com to see what it really means.

com·pro·mise
   [kom-pruh-mahyz] Show IPA noun, verb, -mised, -mis·ing.

noun
1. a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.
2. the result of such a settlement.
3. something intermediate between different things: The split-level is a compromise between a ranch house and a multistoried house.
4. an endangering, especially of reputation; exposure to danger, suspicion, etc.: a compromise of one's integrity.


verb (used with object)
5. to settle by a compromise.
6. to expose or make vulnerable to danger, suspicion, scandal, etc.

[Emphasis added.]

There's quite a bit of difference between the assumed meaning (definitions 1 and 5 above) and what the word "compromise" can mean (see definitions 4 and 6).

The Democrat participants in this little theater of the absurd that has played out daily on cable and network news shows would tell you that when they called upon the Republicans to compromise, they meant the Republicans should do as definitions 1 and 5 would have it. (Minus those pesky little words "mutual concessions" found in the first definition.)

The Republicans, stood fast, no doubt believing that to "compromise" would be akin to definitions 4 and 6. Indeed, if they had gone along with the Democrats and ceded additional points, they would have compromised their standing with the folks who went out in 2010 and elected them to stand up to the profligate spenders across the aisle. No doubt, quite a few of those compromising Republicans would have found themselves facing stiff challenges in 2012. Some may yet.

Between now and that 2012 date, however, there are still more battles to be waged about spending reductions. It will be interesting to see how this plays out between the stubborn as an ass Democrats and the ever mindful Republicans. They (the GOP) had best remember and remember well, the 2010 elections.

Monday at the Bolt Hole

The Bolt Hole did not get the 40% chance of rain that was forecast so the applied roof coating is getting a chance to cure nicely. After two strenuous days on the roof and in the glaring sunshine, I'm going to take today off and do some house cleaning. This will give the (very) red top of my head and backs of my ears a chance to stabilize. I had strips of toweling and a square of the same on my sparsely follicled pate but that that did not cover the tops of my ears. The one time I wore a ball cap, I forgot that the rear of said cap was nothing but loose mesh and the sun could--and did--easily shine through. Even my face, which I seldom raised to the sun, got a nice reflective burning from the roof surface. (Maybe I can get the muscles in my buttocks to unclinch and my toes to uncurl, too. Standing on a sloped roof for hours fearful of that one slip that might carry you over the edge followed by a half full bucket of paint will do that to ya.)

At the moment, the sun is attempting to break through the cloud cover. The temperatures are in the upper 70s after an overnight low close to 60 degrees. The humidity is close to 80%. T-storms are still a 40% probability for this evening.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) calls for a trip back to PA to see what's causing the Tundra to suffer the shimmies when I apply the brakes (dirty discs?) and to the Aerie to pick up the ATV--should there be no serious problems with the Tundra--as well as some supplies.

Wednesday I'll be heading back up to the Bolt Hole. The forecast is fro some T-storms on Wednesday followed by four days of sunny weather. I should be able to finish my roof painting on Thursday and Friday giving the coating a chance to cure before the next rain is expected on Monday.

Those are the plans at any rate. Subject to change as always.