Happy Belated Father's Day

Happy Belated Father's Day to all you fathers out there. It's a special day, so I hope you all enjoyed it!

We flew out Friday evening to St. Louis, where we were greeted by some of the nicest mid-June weather I can remember. "Wow! No humidity! Did we take the right flight?"

Saturday, Joyce and Janice did some shopping, and Joe and Neal (Janice's youngest nephew) and I stayed behind to slick up the 4 acres. It's always a tradition for me to cut their grass every time we're there during growing season, and I am always more than happy to help out. I find it's pretty quick work when you have a 15-mph, 52" cut from their mower. These babies are grass-cutting machines!



The grass-cutting was made a little more "interesting" this visit, since St. Charles County and the Missouri Department of Transportation have begun in earnest the widening of Laura Hill Road, on which Joe and Joyce live. The impact on their frontage will reduce their lawn by about 5 feet, but the roadwork had left some "challenges" in terms of new fill dirt deposited along the front of the property. With a mower like theirs, however, it was no problem for me to negotiate the various ruts, holes, giant dirt clumps, etc. I paid special attention to closely negotiating around their many trees, and trimmed up close to everything ... As Joyce said when she and Janice got home, "I think we're going to have campers down on the lower acre tonight, it looks so much like a park."

A good swim is always a refreshing thing after cutting grass, especially when it happens right around the cocktail hour. And what Saturday evening would be complete without a bacon-wrapped filet mignon, baked potato and a nice salad?

Sunday was a lazy day, spent opening Father's Day cards and gifts after a couple of bloody mary's. We then went over to Janice's brother's for dinner of St. Louis style barbecued pork steaks, potato salad, and beans, and a ride around his property's trails in his six-seater golf cart. I even convinced him to bring out his 1935 German police Luger, and made a few 9 mm holes in his pond water. The highlight of the evening though, was getting a call from Liz and Rhys ... it was great to hear from them.

Yesterday was pretty laid back, we all got some much-needed rest, and then we flew back home (delayed about 45 minutes) via Southwest. Last night, when we got home, there were two kittens who just about purred themselves silly when we walked in the door. They missed us, and we of course missed them.

So all told, it was another wonderful trip, but our own bed sure felt good when we finally hit it around 12:15 am.

And An Update From Lee

I've been busy as hell at work, lately, and busy on the home front too. We're getting ready for a trip out to St. Louis to spend a three-day weekend with Joe and Joyce for Father's Day, and are excited to have next Monday off as a vacation day.

Janice has been working like crazy, and A*tna continues to get a real bargain for their money.

I have also been working hard with the Physical Therapy, and have gone two days at work and at home "fully ambulatory" - no cane or crutch. It's time to push forward, since my next immediate goal is yard work (including running the zero-radius mower) this weekend.

I still have a lot of pain in the ankle, but I'm gritting my teeth and bearing it.

The pain seems to be related to two things. (1) The three ligaments shown below are now getting a hell of a workout;




and (2) The talus bone (see below) seems to like to slip a little bit.



The physical therapists have some good routines to work on that ... one of the routines hurt like hell the first day they worked on the talus, since then it has seemed a little better each time they have performed it. So that seems to be progress.

Well, I have to get moving here, since my hot-soak time is about up and I need to grab a shower before my 8:20 appointment with the good Dr. Rubano. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to see the orthopedist. And hopefully means "forever hopefully". LOL

Love to you all.

Hi All!
Just thought we should contribute to this at least once a month so here goes.....
We've all been really busy lately with both Devon and Morgan out of school and into summer camp. Morgan seems to be having issues with an older boy, Roddy, at school who keeps pelting her with balls during outside play. With Morgan you never know what is the truth and what is dramatized so I'm waiting to see a bruise before I act.
Devon and Dave have fallen in love with our local Minor League baseball team. This is the 1st year for the Lancaster Barnstormers (could the name be more Amish?). I was given a wad of tickets to the Monday and Tuesday games this week by Greg Royer (Royer's Flowers company president) because he knows that Devon is into sports. They brought Grandpa Berk and Uncle Mike to both games and had a blast. Apparently the stadium is very nice and they did all kinds of stuff before each inning started. I fear that Dave will be going to many more games this summer with Devon. He is trying to sign up for this campout night where you go to the game then move onto the field with your sleeping bags and watch a movie on the big screen and sleep there. Then they serve breakfast at 8am the next morning. Sounds interesting. I think he's waiting to see if Michael (Devons friend down the street) and his Dad want to come with them. Morgan seems to enjoy the time alone with me so we all win.
Our house addition plans seem to be moving right along. Our builder was out again this week remeasuring some stuff so we should have some basic plans and cost ideas by the end of next week.
I have a few vacation days this week so today I took the kids to Toys R Us to buy Morgan a new bike and then we went to the movies and saw Madigascar. I thought it was really cute and the kids loved it. Tomorrow I'm finally going to the doctor about my poison ivy problem. It's on my arms, legs, feet and hands. To top it off I now have what I think are hives all over my stomach and the insides of my arms. These "hives" don't really itch as bad as the poison but they look pretty weird and they come and go. Maybe I'm allergic to benadryl cream or the Alavert allergy medication they have me on. I'll keep you posted.

Dave seems to like his new job that he started Monday. He has all kind of training stuff he's doing this week that is driving him nuts bacause he's already done most of it. His side job he has going with his 2 friends that started their own business seems to be taking off. It seems that most of his clients from his old job are being transferred to him at this new practice and now he'll have to open up a Harrisburg office just to deal with all of the new referrals from his Dauphin County contacts. He really seems to be building quite a niche for himself.

Take care everyone!!!
Love, Sue

Other News

I spoke with Diana (mother of Melissa) last night, to get an update on Aunt Maxine.

I haven't heard back with her, as yet, but I do know AM has been moved to a psych ward at the hospital in Evansville.

Last I knew she was in stable and improving condition, the 80 pills she swallowed were antidepressants given to her in a 90-day prescription by her doctor. Ugh.

I will keep you all posted once I find out more details.

If anyone has any further details, please feel free to let me know.

Übergeeks Unite!

I don't know if anyone else uses DSL and a wireless router at home.

However, if you do, and you experience a long-term power outage that your UPS ... oops ... "Uninterruptible Power Supply" ... can't handle, here are some handy tips. We found ourselves in this shituation earlier tonight, thanks to our utility company, CL&P "Connecticut Lack-Of-Light and Power".

(1) Make sure your PC is turned off - shouldn't be hard, if you've had a power outage;
(2) Unplug the incoming phone wire, power cord, and network cable from your DSL modem;
(3) Unplug the power cord from your wireless router;
(4) Wait two-to-three minutes;
(5) Plug the incoming phone wire, power cord, and network cable to your DSL modem;
(6) Plug the power cord back into your wireless router;
(7) Power your PC back on.

Weekend Update - Lee

You know, I read Olivia's blog post and thought to myself, "How wonderful! What if we all made conscious decisions in our lives to do just three things better to affect those around us?" We all know we can do more than three things to make everyone around us better ... but what if we start with just three?

I think I've done one ... starting "The Brookhart Blog". I have enjoyed doing this, and seeing the interaction between all us far-flung "Brookharts". I have enjoyed every minute of it, sending "silly" postings, or postings of news and progress, or having it as a forum for my thoughts. I've never really kept a journal (as do many people I know) ... and I guess in some ways this is that journal I've never kept. The most important thing I've gotten from it is a better "connection" with all of you ... I've really felt we're keeping in touch better as a result of this.

I'm doing another nice thing, today ... I'm consolidating our cell phone plans here. I've been an ATT Wireless customer (now swallowed up by Cingular), and Janice has been an Omnipoint, then VoiceStream, and now T-Mobile customer for years. It's a "common cents" thing, I know, but it is a good one. We are going to a Cingular Wireless Nationwide Family Talk Plan, which includes some really nice features:

Unlimited Mobile to Mobile Calling - meaning anyone who is on Cingular can talk cell-phone to cell-phone with another Cingular customer at any time, for free. Cingular has 50,000,000 customers.

I don't know who all your carriers are ... but here is a thought - If we were all on Cingular, our calls to each other would be free as a result!

Rollover Minutes - unused minutes from the "Anytime" portion are rolled over to the following month. If, for example, you have a plan that includes 1000 "Anytime" minutes, and you only use 800 "Anytime" minutes, you carry over 200 minutes to the next month or months. Very cool.

No Roaming Charges or Long Distance - also very good

Extended Unlimited Night Calling Period - For a small charge, the Unlimited Night calling segment which is applicable to any calls, made to any number, are extended from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM. Most of the time, since I've been studying our cell phone patterns, we make calls before 9:00 PM at night. Janice always likes to call her mom and dad on her way home from A*tna in Middletown. This sometimes occurs before 9:00 PM, and in those cases, these calls would then be "free", not counting against the "Anytime" minutes.

Now understand, I've not taken a sales job with Cingular, but I have taken the time to see what works for us, and what as a result will save us at least $100-150 per month just as a couple.

Anyway ... my "doing a nice thing #2" is this tip.

I am looking for a third thing to improve upon ... I'm not quite sure what it will be.

Other than keeping my blog posts shorter, does anyone have suggestions?

And An Ankle Update

I have a new physical therapist, Anita. Karen has left Eastern Rehabilitation Services for a two-month trip through Alaska with her boyfriend, then for far-distant adventures with him on his 800-acre cattle/sheep ranch in New Zealand, afterwards.

Anita is a bit more aggressive in her plan for my rehabilitation. Friday, she announced we would be starting to work on my "gait". As part of the exercises, she took away my cane, and after showing me how to better balance myself with load-bearing on my right foot, asked me to try walking to her ... no cane, no crutch ... from across the room. The room is about 50 feet long.

During this trial, I thought back to the Star Trek episode where Spock performed a mind-meld on the semi-lava-state female rock where he exclaimed "PAIN!!!! PAIN!!!" ... but I made it. It involved about 15-18 steps on the right ankle.

I don't consider myself a wimp, by any stretch of the imagination ... but it was the most challenging thing I've done since starting therapy.

It's going to be a long road "back" ... but I'm getting there, by God. (Or by Allah, for those so inclined)

Momentous Anouncement

You know how you have friends who sometimes piss you off, just to spur you on, in "your best interests"? I think we all have them, at some times in our lives.

Today, after some horrific "spurring", I said "%$#& you" to him and did something I hadn't done since 3/19. I took two steps on my own power. No crutch, no cane, no "assist". Three-inch long steps they were, mind you, but it won me $5, after much haggling over how many steps, how far, etc.

My only caveat with him was "If I go down, butthead, you will have to catch me."

He didn't have to.

Goal for tomorrow? Five steps. Hey ... it's our pay day tomorrow ... heh heh heh heh heh

Another Update

I thought I would give everyone the good news that "Lee's D-Day" went off without a hitch - no accidents, no maimings, no fatalities, no insurance claims! I drove to Physical Therapy for the first time, yesterday morning, then to work, then to a drive-thru to pick up a quick lunch, then back to the office, and then home with no problems from the ankle at all.

I used the cane, all day yesterday, and MAN oh MAN the ankle was "barking" at me by the end of the day. I may have over-done it a little, and it was very swollen last night. But, the frozen bag of peas trick brought the swelling down a bit before going to bed, and it looked pretty good this morning. Right now, I'm doing my flexibility exercises in a hot soak, and it feels like it's loosening up fairly well.

While my arrangement with work is currently to go in on days I have therapy and today I do not have a therapy appointment, I do have a couple of projects going on at work that require my being there to use the label printers. I haven't developed "super-sight" yet (in fact, I haven't gotten my two pairs of glasses as previously prescribed by my opthamologist - but that's a different story), so it's hard to see what the effects of layout changes are from 3.6 miles away. So I'll wait for Janice to finish up getting ready then hop (well, not really hop) in the shower and get ready to go in to the office.

NOTE TO JOHN & SANDI

Sandi, it's always a bad thing to use "Time For A Break" and "orthopedist" in the same breath. Trust me, I know! LOL Sounds like you and your sisters will have a great time in Florida - ENJOY!

John, it sounds like the knee is really giving you fits. Let me know how that cortisone shot works, if that's the route you end up taking. I have wondered if that wouldn't help me with the tendons in my ankle ... might not be the right thing to do - I'm no doctor. I hope the knee feels better.

I trust you'll be taking advantage of the drive-thru over at Bobe's, so I'm a bit jealous about that. :-)