We are still astounded by the growth on my darker and curlier hair. It's soft and growing quickly. how weird.
we got a steady drizzle of rain on Monday and then last night and tonight a low off the sunshine coast brought us a rain depression and high winds. Good solid falls but still not torrential. I can see the dam level rising. For the northamericans in aus the dam is the body of water as well as the berm that holds it in. Any way they are still saying we need more as it only raised the town water supply dam by a few percent. I think we are down to 25% of the dam capacity so we are still on level three water restrictions. this will really helpthe place look better 'cause all of the bay has not been able to water outside for months.
I'm doing well. I need to lose a bit of weight and I have fallen off my exercise program.
We are pushing forward on the new house. We got preliminary drawing bck from the designer and will look at this weekend I guess.
more later
Chris
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
General personal life stuff
Okay some of you ,I know. will want to skip this general interest and personal life stuff but I may just seed it with health tidbits so be warned! If all your friends are up on the comings and goings of Joyce & Chris, and you are still in the dark you may want to read on.
Joyce is good. I'm good
More later
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Just kidding
We are good, that much is true. I was going to write a bunch of email to day but my fingers are getting tired so please forgive me I'm going to write it here then email my blog address to you as reminder that I've put news up.
It's two days after my 55th birthday and isn't that a kick in the pants! I realized the other day that I am actually looking forward. I don't mean that i wasn't positive about my future and confident in the doctors but I just wasn't really daydreaming on the possibilities, like I have been lately. Let me give you an example....I am so looking forward to getting our new slasher. and using it on the tractor to inilalate the pesky grass along the south fence. Picture a 6 foot wide 75 horse power spinning blade of steel housed in a bomb proof square cutter deck on the back of a four wheel drive CASE tractor. It is the biggest lawnmower you have ever seen. It is seriously MORE POWER ouhh ouhh ouhh. This is something that I haven't thought about until the past week.
I so want to be able to travel. To be at Melissa's wedding, to get to a nice sunny beach in the winter but that is a ways away. Even if I get the go to travel I can't be in the sun 'cause of the drugs. But i've started thinking about it. Looking forward to it.
I'm looking forward to Joyce getting a break. She's back at work having gone from full time carer of me to full time carer of her chunk of the Bay's population. She is definitely the trooper here.
I'm a little worried and I think Joyce is too about the current Flu epidemic in Australia. There are kids dying (okay only 4 and they had complications and they are all, way away from here, but still). I try to stay out of big crowds at the shops, I don't garden and the yard looks it!
I called up some help the other day from a yellow pages ad and got two "Rent a Hubbies" they were great and I just told them what to do and they did it. Who knew that that's what Joyce and I needed was our own hubbie?
I have the house sketches into the draughtsman/designer! We get the first real sketches back next week it looks like we may start the steel shell in October if luck holds. We have a builder but we have to get the approvals and that is a nightmare. Everyone keeps saying that it's not so bad it used to be way worst. You may know all about this but the local guy does the drawing for the interiors based on the engineers drawings from the Steel kit House company, then they go to two places. To the hydraulic designer for the rain water system(required), and the water treament system (required because there is no town sewage). Then that bit goes to council plumbing section for 4 weeks for approval which is pretty much guaranteed because the Designers are also certifiers. The main bit goes to the private building certifier who goes over it in 5 days then to council for 5 days for approval.
It used to all go to council and could take up to 12 weeks for approval so the new private certifers are working out I guess. It looks like council doesn't trust the plumbing certifiers though.
We are putting in solar electric grid connect systems with battery storage, solar hot water, tons of rain storage, and as of 6 months ago we can actually plumb our toilets and laundry to the rain tank but you have to have a "rainwater management system". That is basically a float value low in your tank plumbed to town water so that your toilet never runs dry. Although if we didn't have town water, which many rural properties around us don't have, would they make you have a second tank plumbed to the first tank? Don't laugh some of the building regs are that ridiculous.
Anyway I wanted to reward your patience with news.
More later
Chris
Joyce is good. I'm good
More later
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Just kidding
We are good, that much is true. I was going to write a bunch of email to day but my fingers are getting tired so please forgive me I'm going to write it here then email my blog address to you as reminder that I've put news up.
It's two days after my 55th birthday and isn't that a kick in the pants! I realized the other day that I am actually looking forward. I don't mean that i wasn't positive about my future and confident in the doctors but I just wasn't really daydreaming on the possibilities, like I have been lately. Let me give you an example....I am so looking forward to getting our new slasher. and using it on the tractor to inilalate the pesky grass along the south fence. Picture a 6 foot wide 75 horse power spinning blade of steel housed in a bomb proof square cutter deck on the back of a four wheel drive CASE tractor. It is the biggest lawnmower you have ever seen. It is seriously MORE POWER ouhh ouhh ouhh. This is something that I haven't thought about until the past week.
I so want to be able to travel. To be at Melissa's wedding, to get to a nice sunny beach in the winter but that is a ways away. Even if I get the go to travel I can't be in the sun 'cause of the drugs. But i've started thinking about it. Looking forward to it.
I'm looking forward to Joyce getting a break. She's back at work having gone from full time carer of me to full time carer of her chunk of the Bay's population. She is definitely the trooper here.
I'm a little worried and I think Joyce is too about the current Flu epidemic in Australia. There are kids dying (okay only 4 and they had complications and they are all, way away from here, but still). I try to stay out of big crowds at the shops, I don't garden and the yard looks it!
I called up some help the other day from a yellow pages ad and got two "Rent a Hubbies" they were great and I just told them what to do and they did it. Who knew that that's what Joyce and I needed was our own hubbie?
I have the house sketches into the draughtsman/designer! We get the first real sketches back next week it looks like we may start the steel shell in October if luck holds. We have a builder but we have to get the approvals and that is a nightmare. Everyone keeps saying that it's not so bad it used to be way worst. You may know all about this but the local guy does the drawing for the interiors based on the engineers drawings from the Steel kit House company, then they go to two places. To the hydraulic designer for the rain water system(required), and the water treament system (required because there is no town sewage). Then that bit goes to council plumbing section for 4 weeks for approval which is pretty much guaranteed because the Designers are also certifiers. The main bit goes to the private building certifier who goes over it in 5 days then to council for 5 days for approval.
It used to all go to council and could take up to 12 weeks for approval so the new private certifers are working out I guess. It looks like council doesn't trust the plumbing certifiers though.
We are putting in solar electric grid connect systems with battery storage, solar hot water, tons of rain storage, and as of 6 months ago we can actually plumb our toilets and laundry to the rain tank but you have to have a "rainwater management system". That is basically a float value low in your tank plumbed to town water so that your toilet never runs dry. Although if we didn't have town water, which many rural properties around us don't have, would they make you have a second tank plumbed to the first tank? Don't laugh some of the building regs are that ridiculous.
Anyway I wanted to reward your patience with news.
More later
Chris
Sunday, August 5, 2007
More good news, CSI technigues and BD Week.
Okay the good news is not very dramatic but still good. Doc Shoozenbootz doesn't want to see me for another four weeks AND he doesn't want blood tests until that time so no weekly monitoring! I've gone from looking at my blood on a daily basis (the 4am vampire run) to weekly to monthly monitoring. Okay I know you folks are going soooooo? But it means I'm doing well enough to not need to be on top of my bloods. It also means I don't need to be jabbed! Granted my Hickaman's kept me from getting some jabs, but I've been tested for blood levels about 154 times in the past 9 nine months. Anybody want to stick their arm out that many times? I sure didn't. I'm so relieved.
On to the CSI bit. I have been wondering about my DNA and got some answers. The Doc must get this all the time because I brought up that I have some questions about DNA and he sat back and said" right you want to know that if you rob a bank and they get some of your blood whos' on the hook?". He was right on the money! The answer is if I leave blood at the scene of the crime they may think it's Rick that did it? Cool eh! If I leave tissue they will think it's me that did it. My sister Melissa asked me about the fact that we all replace cells over time, the most obvious being hair and skin etc. but all things that get repaired are changing. Does this mean I'm slowly changing into my brother? Nope. The bone marrow T-cells can become various kinds of blood cells but they are already diferenciated into bone marrow type cells. The t-cells in your liver are only going to make livel cells, the t-cells in your skin are only going to make various parts of your skin.
There are grand progenitor cells (I'll pause here for the Monty Pytohon fans to go on about the Grand Inquisitor for a minute......finished? Okay) These GP cells can turn into any t-cells but we don't have lots and they are all mine. So that's the deal on DNA.
As a post script I should like to thank any of you that have given blood in the past especially the universal donors that have type O blood . I have been the recepient of about 20 bags of blood in the last year and all has been type O. Besides the red cells they mine the donated blood for platlettes and other cells so each donation helps three patients. Thank you! if you haven't given blood please consider making a donation before the uncoming long weekend.
it's my Birthday on August 8th and I've made it to Age 55! As you can imagine I've been "reflecting" lately and realised as I looked out on the sunny and warm but not hot day this morning that I was really looking forward to things again. I had been positive these last few months but I was taking thi8ngs one day at a time and not looking forward too much. and This morning I had a real flash that I'm thining way ahead. I wat to plant 50 trees on the new property to offset our own carbon foot print. and to provide income in ten years, I want ot get out on the tractor and mow things down with the new slasher that's coming, I want to build our new house! It'sa pretty good birthday week I rekon and bluey is making it grand with little cards and pressies and mysterious giant boxes arriving by mail!
More later (anybody notice my repeated and purposeful use of this little affirmation these past few months?)
Chris
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