Odds and ends weekend
Family: my mom’s dad (age 95) had a stroke last night. Augh. The good news is my brother happened to be visiting my parents (where Papa lives); since he worked as a nursing home administrator he’s in the know, and will definitely help Mom cope. Erin has planned a trip to Florida in two weeks. I guess I may be going down there even sooner.
Last night we picked out more pictures of Madelyn and uploaded them to Walgreens for grandparents to print. They’ll be on the web soon as well. My uncle has been continually printing out photos as well, and sharing them with my dad’s dad (who’s still in good shape), which is super.
Garden: tulips and lilies are showing themselves here and there, even though the past few days the lows have dipped back into the 20s. Recently Erin cleared out the dead tomatoes and peppers from last year (which I have to burn because the city has closed its yard waste dump). She’s also been looking at seed catalogs, making lists of things to buy, and talking with John Curtis about the upcoming growing season. Soon I’ll spread out a bunch of leaves and compost and turn them into our garden plots. I am really looking forward to fresh tomatoes and greens.
Running: hope to get six miles in this afternoon, once it warms up a bit. Was 19° at 6am; it’s 32° now and is supposed to peak at 45° around 3. I might take the girl out; I haven’t run with her in the stroller yet. (I ended up doing 10K solo, 0:51:42, for 8:15/mi.)
Nerdliness: Erin and I are moving towards the replacement of most of our audio and video equipment with a digital system. Maybe a Mac Mini with a combination tv/monitor. So many variables to think about; it makes my head hurt. HDTV? Analog or digital cable? I’m glad I work with simpler stuff, like writing.
March 4th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Madelyn is a beautiful baby; thanks for the link on my blog! And my sympathies to your father, you, and your family; a stroke will require lots of coping. Best wishes to you.
March 4th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Thanks.
It looks like Papa is fading quickly. In some ways, that’s good. But for the foreseeable future, I will be kicking myself for not traveling to Florida recently.
March 5th, 2006 at 9:19 am
Many condolences. Is this the side of the family that experienced a loss last year?
March 5th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Thanks.
Last fall Papa moved into my parents’ house, after having some problems which seemed darned severe at the time. I bet that’s what you’re thinking of.
March 5th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
My condolences as well. My grandparents aren’t planning on going to my sister’s wedding this June for health reasons, so going to stay in Colorado longer than I should. Neither my dad’s mom nor my mom’s dad are doing well.
March 5th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Ditto.
On the lighter manner at hand: The new Mac Mini with all its wonderful Frontrow DVR capabilities would be an awesome spec next to the boob tube. Throw in a simple 6.1 audio system and build your own speakers (fun math nerd diy project that involves power tools) with the help of partsexpress.com. When the LCDs drop in price again sometime right before football season starts, pick one up with DVI and never look back.
Oh and finally, forget cable. Take an axe to the trees and install a dish.
March 6th, 2006 at 7:56 am
I like cable because I can shut it off when it ain’t football season. At least here in Nowhere, that doesn’t work with the dish.