Mandy at Blueberry's

Mandy and I walked down to Blueberry's for lunch, on this chilly day. Here she's wondering what else she can mooch from me, after polishing off half my sandwich. The Cheerio doesn't seem to be making the grade...

Walk

Ken and I enjoyed another cool snowy walk with Mandy around Johnson Reservoir at Clement Park, on this beautiful sunny day. Here's Mandy, just after checking out the shoreline. I still can't get over how cold it's been around here this Winter. Around here the lakes don't usually stay frozen for long, but it's been weeks, if not months, this time.

SDO Launched!

We launched AV-021, an Atlas V rocket carrying the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) payload, after an early morning countdown that started not long after midnight. See the writeup at Space Flight Now.

Johnson Reservoir

Ken and I took Mandy for a cold and snowy walk around Johnson Reservoir. The lake and the path are both frozen over, which made for a slippery adventure in walking. Mandy had a great time sniffing the snow, though. Can't stop her from having a good time, wherever she goes!

Sterne Park Lake

We passed through Sterne Park, on our way to Blueberry’s for lunch today. The lake is still frozen over, since we’ve had quite a cold spell this winter. Notice all the geese who took refuge on the ice in background, shortly after a rogue Italian Greyhound Chihuahua flushed them off the grass, a few minutes ago.

No visible progress yet, on getting K back on the kidney-pancreas transplant list. One assumes the wheels are turning in the invisible background. We’re still wrestling with the question of where to have it done. That might be a no-brainer, if once they get going on this, they assume we want it done at Porter Hospital here in Denver, instead of at University of Chicago.

The "H" Word!

I just finished watching the Apple Keynote video where Steve Jobs introduces the iPad tablet computer. Seeing a picture in the newspaper this week, and reading some of the hype written by journalists, I had no sense of just how cool it really is!

Mandy and I had a nice walk down to Blueberry's Cafe for lunch with Ken and Freddie this morning. Mandy got to flush some geese. Here's a picture of Goose (and other) footprints on Sterne Lake, which has been frozen over for some time. We watched Equilibrium, with Christian Bale, this evening. What a dark film.

Oh. And did I mention... K's doc finally got up the courage to use the "H" word. She's pronounced K's foot "Healed" from the surgery months ago. She'll be wearing some huge protective boots to protect her feet for the foreseeable future. But here's the really exciting part: The wheels are being put into motion, to get her back on the PK transplant list!

Recap

I apologize to those who've been following this blog, for the lack of timely updates. I've been on Facebook quite a lot this year, since I found out everyone in my Family is there, and I'm afraid the blog has suffered a bit. Here's a quick summary of what's been going on...

We're doing pretty well overall, although life continues to be somewhat complicated.

You may recall that K's left foot got infected a few months back, and they had to amputate her big toe. The surgery wound didn't heal for a long time, and it was looking pretty dicey for a while, but it's finally getting around to healing now. She's had foot wounds continually since late 2007, just about the time her kidneys failed, and they've prevented her from getting a transplant. After going so long, always with one wound or another on one foot or the other, we're starting to think that she may actually be back on the transplant list soon. An exciting but scary thought. The current plan is for the University of Chicago to do a dual Kidney/Pancreas transplant, but she may opt to change that and have the local Porter hospital do it here in Denver, to avoid having to travel to Chicago for three months, and all the associated logistical complications.

I bought K an iPhone for her birthday last October, and I think that's partly why her foot's finally healing. With the help of all the distractions available on the phone, she's been able to successfully stay off her feet most of the time for the past few months. Of course I had to get one too, since I figured she'd be looking to me for help on figuring out how to use it. ;-) These phones are very fun and useful too.

My Sister and her husband came to visit for two weeks after Christmas, and I took off some extra vacation time to be with them. We had loads of fun, roaming as far as Rocky Mountain National Park for a short day hike around Bear and Nymph lakes, in light blowing snow. After three weeks off for the holiday, it was a little difficult going back to work on the 11th! Bob returned home on schedule on the 10th, but Mikele offered to stay two extra weeks, to help us with the overwhelming task of organizing everything that was thrown into boxes, in preparation for finishing our basement in 2008. She's been a godsend, and with her help, some amazing progress has been made. I can finally use my new workshop, which has been piled high with "stuff" for the past year and a half. We'll really miss her after she leaves on Saturday. I bought her an iPhone too, a couple of days ago. It feels like the least I can do, after all the progress she's helped us make, over the past few weeks. She's very excited about it, since she's been lusting after ours while she's been here.

I just heard that Kiyoshi Hamai will be in the Denver area on Tuesday! We're talking about trying to get together for lunch.

Visitors coming

Mikele and Bob are arriving tonight! We're looking forward to their company, and to dinner at The Melting Pot on Tuesday night!

Gorgeous Day

Woke up to a gorgeous sunny day! Of course, it was 5°F outside, but the few inches of snow on the driveway were pretty light and easy to shovel away.

I tried to take Mandy for a walk this morning. Knowing it was too cold for her little Chihuahua feet, I tried for the 2nd time, to get her to wear the little booties we got her over a year ago. Once again, they turned into anti-gravity boots, as she refused to keep them on the ground. We only got about 20 feet, before I had to take them off her and stuff them in my pocket. And sure enough, we only got another few hundred feet, before she was lifting her paws off the ground again, because they stung from the cold.

Wishing everyone the Merriest of Christmases tomorrow!

Snow Continues

It was snowing and 17 degrees F when I picked K up from dialysis this evening. The snow's been accumulating on the roads and it's very slippery. Kinda fun, when I only have a few miles to go, mostly on side streets, and not in a hurry. And it's *so* nice to have the CR-V, in these conditions. :-D

K's foot wound from the surgery is healing nicely, according to the nurse that came to the house today, to change the wound vac.

Snow Starting

Slept in late, on the last day of my pre-Christmas vacation. Walked Mandy down to Blueberry's for lunch, and met several very nice people, hurrying into the postal annex for those last minute mailings, who stopped by to say hi to Mandy. K and I went in for our annual eye exams this afternoon, and closed them down. I decided to try testing some of the iPhone ad hype, and searched the Map application for "indian food". The search produced two nearby restaurants. I asked it to find the route to the nearest one, India's Clay Oven, and we found ourselves sitting down to a very pleasant dinner in just a few minutes. I tellya, I'm sold on this cool phone. The snow started while we were having dinner, and we came out to a delightful scene of snowflakes lightly falling. Overall, a very pleasant day...

Fluffy Forecast

I just heard the weather forecast for the rest of the week: snow, snow, and snow... it sounds like we're heading for a white Christmas!

A Little Warmer

It's been a bit warmer this week, up into the 40s and 50s most days. K's been having difficulty with nausea and gurgly stomach lately. She couldn't imagine being trapped in the dialysis chair for four hours on Friday, so she skipped that session, hoping to make it up Saturday morning, but didn't feel much better then, so she skipped Saturday too. The plan is to try for her regular Monday evening slot. Mandy and I went for a nice walk around Johnson reservoir with our neighbors Ken and Freddie, then us humans drove over to nearby Hops for lunch. I brought K home some french onion soup, which she seemed to like quite a bit. Then Freddie did K a favor, and unpacked our garlands from some boxes in the basement, and decorated our staircase, which now looks wonderfully festive.

D-346 Launched!

We successfully launched D-346, a Delta IV rocket carrying the WGS-3 payload this morning.

AV-024 launched!

We successfully launched AV-024, an Atlas V rocket carrying the Intelsat-14 payload, today.

Launch scrubbed

We scrubbed our first attempt at launching IntelSat-14 early this morning. Something wrong with an electrical component. See SpaceFlightNow for info. This was a late night countdown, so my sleep cycle for the weekend is turned a little bit upside-down.

Fire Grill

We had dinner at Fire Grill, in the "Streets of SouthGlenn". I had a very tasty sweet and sour chicken dish, over fried rice. Mandy enjoyed exploring the North side of Streets. We'd go back here, too!

Tasty food at Saj

Had dinner with K at Saj, a Mediterranean restaurant in the new Streets of SouthGlenn. I really liked the Shawarma dish!

After dinner we sat at our table and played with our new iPhones for too long. I wonder if "there's an App" to remind us to get up and go home! ;-)

Broken Toe

Took K to urgent care on Sunday night. Her toe and foot were swollen and red, and we feared the worst - another infection - but it turned out to be yet another twist: somehow the remaining 2nd toe has gotten broken. That put a bit of a damper on our supposed-to-be-fun visit to the Apple store that night.

She went to see the Ortho doc today. They think maybe the redistributed load (from the great toe being missing) was a factor in why it fractured - basically, it got overloaded. Still not ruling out the possibility that an infection in the bone might've weakened it. Still considering additional amputation options. Apparently thinking those remaining toes are just in the way. Heavy sigh...

Chilly Walk

Went on a chilly 4 mile walk in the dark with Ken and Mandy Friday night, in search of dinner with outdoor seating. We were disappointed to find Abe's was closed for a private party, Merle's didn't have their patio door open, and BB O'Reilly's has closed permanently. So we went home, and drove to good ol' Marie Callendar's. I warmed up with a piping hot broccoli chicken Alfredo entrée, and a hot cherry pie. Yum!

Halloween

Fun day, Halloween, although a bit more action-packed than I'm used to. Shoveled what was left of that foot of snow off the front walk. Went and got the shared snowblower from our neighbor, and used it on the driveway, then knocked down the snowbanks in the road in front of our house and a few others. Walked the dog around the neighborhoods. Had breakfast with Ken at IHOP. Went hunting for Halloween candy, and had a bit of an adventure, trying to find everything on K's grocery list in a Super Target I rarely visit. Brought the Halloween decorations out of the back of the crawl space, and got everything setup by sunset. Walked Mandy down through the icy path in Lee Gulch. Cooked up a couple of pizzas, and enjoyed handing out treats to 30+ kids. Wound down with a cup of tea, then packed up the all decorations, and stashed them back in the crawl space. Now, what to do with that friggin' dragon?!

Snow day

It snowed most of the day today, but hardly any of it stuck, at least around our neighborhood. It was a fun atmosphere.

Recovering

K was in good spirits today, all things considered. They haven't unwrapped her foot yet, maybe tomorrow. Her brother visited in the morning, before heading off on I-70 for parts West. We watched a VCR movie this evening - "Lovely and Amazing" - and slept through part of it. Mandy waited patiently outside in the car, all snuggled up under her blanket in the back seat.

Out of Surgery

K got out of surgery late this morning. She's minus her big toe. The Ortho doc says he had to take quite a bit around the toe as well.

K at St Jo

John and I took K to a doc appt at noon. He looked at her foot, and admitted her to St Joseph hospital for IV antibiotics, and set the Ortho guys loose on her. Some kind of foot surgery looks likely. She got her Friday dialysis in the late afternoon, then they sent her back to her room. She's pretty much wiped out. They gave her antibiotics during dialysis, but they also started IV antibiotics in her room, as I was leaving tonight. They took X-Rays of her foot for the Ortho doc to review before tomorrow's 7am surgery. =(

Not Good

I just saw K's left foot for the first time in awhile, as she was changing the bandage tonight. The wound has grown a frightening amount, wrapping up around the side of her foot, her foot is swollen and hot, and her temperature is up. I tried to convince her to let me take her to the ER tonight, but she balked. She didn't want to go until after the shift change later in the morning.

STSSdemo Launched!

We launched (actually I was sleeping, while my delegate provided support) MV-344, a Delta II rocket carrying the STSS-Demo payload, this morning.

Cooling off

K's feeling a little better, after her low glucose of 37 this morning. Mandy and I walked with our neighbors down to Blueberry's for breakfast. It's getting a bit cooler out there, these days.

PAN Launched!

We launched AV-018, an Atlas V carrying the PAN satellite, from Cape Canaveral this afternoon. Check SpaceFlightNow for more details!

Delightful View

I caught this sweet view of the mountains behind the water, while traipsing along the Platte River trail with the dog just now.