Day 642, Sunday and feeling better

Free Happy Chickens.

After a miserable day on the couch I woke up feeling slightly better.  I still needed to carry a Kleenex box with me everywhere I went, but I had energy and was able to get a few chores done.

I skipped church not wanting to give anyone the crud.  I was supposed to be an usher, but I canceled the day before. It was nice to stay home and recover.  I had a growing mound of ironing that I needed to tackle and that was first on my list. 

As the day moved on I was really feeling better and I was able to work outside in the yard.  I let the chickens out and they super excited to be free.

It had been almost 11 days since I mowed the lawn last and it was in desperate need of mowing.  I had to run to town and buy buy gas for the mower, $17.89 later I was heading home to mow.  I can usual mow the entire lawn and only have to dump the bags twice.  I had to dump 5 times and I haven't even fertilized the lawn yet.  I hate to let the grass get that tall as it makes it harder to mow and then the lawn looks scalped once it mowed, but the lawn looked great and I was glad to have that job done. 

Sonic's

Today was so much better than Saturday and I actually felt like the weekend wasn't a total waist.  Around 5 pm my friend Christian got of work and called to see if could come dig through my spare sprinkler parts and look for a sprinkler head for Tracy.  Tracy mowed over one of her sprinkler heads and he had temporarily fixed while I was in Oklahoma.  I was sure I had what when he needed, so found the head and then went over to Tracy's to fix the sprinkler and a few other odd projects.

To cap the day off we all went to Sonic's, Tracy doesn't eat, so just our enjoyed our company.

Day 641, Down with a bad cold

Watching the Kentucky Derby

I was up almost the entire night with a sever cough and bad sinus and head congestion.  I was really surprised how fast this cold developed.  I had really thought it was just allergies but now I knew it was a virus.  I spent the entire day laying on the couch, floor and in bed.  I had the two cats to keep me company, but I really felt like crap.  I used an entire box of Kleenex a loaded up on medication.  The good news was I still had my appetite and was able to eat and keep my strength.  I ventured out of the house twice during the day to take care of my neighbors cats, but other than that I was flat on my back.  I had really planned a full of weekend of projects and chores, but it is all going to have to wait until I felt better. 

The highlight of the day was watching the Kentucky Derby with my cat Harris.

Day 640, Woohoo it's Friday

I was just glad it was Friday, my sinuses were really starting to feel pretty bad and I couldn't tell if I was just suffering from bad allergies of if I was getting cold.  By mid day I didn't feel to bad and I figured my allergy medication must be working.

After work I came home and let the chickens out. They were so happy to be out free and to be able to scratch around in the yard.  My folks ask me over for dinner, so I left the chickens to their freedom and headed over for a great dinner.

It was so nice to have the weekend ahead and tomorrow I desperately need to mow the lawn. I was back home around 8:30 pm and checked on the chickens and closed them in for the night.

Day 639, Thursday

It was going to be my usual Thursday, with several meetings throughout the day and then I hope to squeeze a workout in at the end of the day.  I was starting feel like I was a getting a bad cold or allergies and my voice was getting that deep gravely sound to it.

At 3:30 pm I was able to drop off some of our new Visitor Guides off in Bend at their Visitor Center and then head over for a workout.  I was really starting to feel congested but figured I could handled it.

The workout was a killer and with my head plugged up I struggled to get air.  I hate the feeling breathing in out, but not feeling like you can catch your breath.  I managed to survive the workout and my legs were screaming from the lunges and hamstring exercises.

Tonight is also our Sons of Norway Board Meeting and I had a feeling it was going to be a little contentious.  Tracy has had enough with the demands being placed on her as Treasurer and is going to resign.  I am in full support of her decision as the time requirement is ridiculous.  Tracy and I both were responsible for the refreshments and she brought a huge cheese and cracker platter and fruit bowl and I brought the two almond caked.    The meeting went fine and everyone agreed we need to simplify things and understood Tracy's need to resign.

It was nice day, but I was starting feel crummy.

Day 638, Back to work

It's always fun to get back to work and sort through the mounds of mail, email and news papers.  I had several meetings and the day flew by.  At home the peartrees were blooming in the orchard and the chickens were happy to let out to run around and scratch in the yard.

I had dinner with my folks and then went home to bake two Almond cakes to take to the Son's of Norway Board meeting tomorrow.  The cakes are extremely easy, but take time to bake and cool before you flip them out of the pan.  I only had one pan so I had to bake them one at a time.

While the cakes were baking and cooling I was able to get some laundry done and the kitchen cleaned up.  I was very tired and managed to be in bed by 10:30 pm.

Day 637, Flying home

Oklahoma heading to Salt Lake City

Time flies when you are having fun and my four days in Oklahoma were coming to a close.  Robin and Brad both had to work and custody of me, was given over to Ann.  Robin and Ann both like to have me help with small projects around the house and they both joke over who gets custody of me.  Today was Ann's day and she picked me up around 9 am.  Dr. Nick and Ann have a spectacular home on a beautiful ranch.  I helped Ann get chickens a year ago and now she knows about chickens then me.  She has over 24 and gets about 3 dozen eggs a week.

Ann had several small projects that she needed help with and we quickly accessed what we needed to pick up at Lowe's and to accomplish our list.  We had a pretty good list going to pick up and I was sure we could get everything done before I had to head to the airport around 4 pm. 

We met Robin for lunch in town and then headed to the ranch to get the projects accomplished.  We quickly repaired a large teak wood screen that had blown over outside by the pool and then headed to the garden shop.  The shop is about a year old and needed some shelving.  We had bought some "L" brackets and pine boards and quickly put up 5 shelves.  I had suggested hooks to hang the bicycles to get them out of the way.  It took about a minute and get the hooks in and the bikes hung up, Ann loved it.

Plane flying over us at 33,000 feet.

At 3:45 pm it was time to head to the airport and I was on my way home.  Delta Airlines had great service between Oklahoma City and Redmond.   I got through security with my large concrete plaque by 4:30 pm.  The first leg of the journey is from OKC to Salt Lake City and the first flight departed on time at 5:45 pm.  An hour and 30 minutes later we landed in SLC.

Back home in Redmond

The connection time in SLC to Redmond was exactly one hour and by the time I walked to the gate I only had to wait about 20 minutes before the plane started boarding.  While waiting I accidentally knocked the plaque off my suitcase and it hit the ground with thunk.  Luckily it didn't break, but I did have to seriously wonder why I purchased a 35 lbs piece of concrete.  Anyway it will make for a good a story.

I landed in Redmond at 8:30 pm and it was nice to be home.  In a little less than 5 hours I was home. Delta Airlines was great all the way.

It was nice to be home.

Day 636, Norman and Thunder.

The Diner

Today the plan is to go to Norman, and check out the antique stores on Main Street.  Ann came over around 10 am and we were off to Norman.  Norman is the home of Oklahoma University and is where I earned my Economic Development certificate from in 1996.  Norman is a great college town and recently has has some severe weather activity and several tornado's have caused damage.

It takes about 30 minutes to get Norman from OKC and we drove around some neighborhoods where Ann's sister lives. There were several areas that had tornado damage, but for the most part the damage was minor.  We parked on Main street and walked several blocks and to Ann's surprise all the antique stores were gone.  It was still nice to walk the street and we ate at the "Diner" that was featured in Drive ins Diners and Dives.  While the look of the building could qualify as a Dive the food was great. 

The Oklahoma Thunder in the NBA Playoffs game two.

After not finding any antique stores, we headed back to OKC.  I was fine it, the only old things I want to buy are for the trailer.  However, we did stop off at a nursery garden shop and ended up buying a concrete plaque that said Vineyard, that I thought would good in folks wine cellar.  I figured it would fit in my suitcase, but I would later find out it was way to big.

Tonight is game 2 of the NBA Playoffs for the Thunder and we headed to the Chesapeake Arena around 6:45 pm.   I have been spoiled rotten by my friends Robin and Brad and the experience to attend a Playoff game in such luxury is an experience I will never forget.

The Thunder were playing much better in game two and lead most of the game.  At halftime, the Thunder were up 16 points over the Mavericks, but quickly lost it in the third quarter.  At the final buzzer The Thunder won 102, to 99.  Game Three will be in Dallas on Thursday and is sure to be a great game.