Animal Planet

It's getting to be like Wild Kingdom around here. First a snake in the kitchen. Then Dan found a bat stuck to some burdock while mowing. He disentangled it and left it on the swingset to recover for the day. And now Nathan's just gotten two stings, one on his leg and one on his cheek, from a wasp or bees.

Several minutes of ear-shattering screaming have now been replaced with a child happily playing in the tub. But I'm worried about that cheek. It's probably going to bother him a lot at bedtime.

Sun & Wind

I'd love to have some solar panels....
Or a wind turbine.....
But until then, I suppose I should at least harvest a little wind & sun and save on some energy bills.

I think the only reason we hadn't done this sooner was that with the pig farm next door, we weren't sure about the odors. And also, this is right next to one of Zeppo's runs, and I just haven't figured out a better place to move him to. But for now, we'll just go with it. If he causes trouble, we can always use the far half. Or hang things out while we're gone for the day and Zeppo is in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, I spent so much time working out the correct knot for the clotheslines (taut line, btw), that I got the sheets out too late. I wasn't thinking about the fact that the sun sets in front of the house, and this spot gets shady by 6:oo. Well, sheets dry fast. And the rest can go in the dryer for 10 minutes.

And just so you know, Dan's restaurant is doing great. They were serving 60-80 on weekdays, and up to a hundred on Fri & Sat. And that was before getting the liquor license. Last night was the first Sat with the license, and Dan thinks they may have done 200.

The only downside that I know of, is that they had wanted to be open for lunch, but they were having trouble getting staff. And this is impacting Dan because he has to go in earlier to do prep for dinner. If they had lunch cooks, a lot of the dinner prep would be done and Dan could go in at 1 or 2, instead of 10 or 11. So hopefully that will get settled soon. I know that he's managing the extra hours, but it'd be nice if he had some time to himself each morning instead of having to go to work as soon as he's dropped the kids off.

Slight break from typing as I went into the kitchen to get dinner and there was A SNAKE OH MY GOD WHY IS THERE A SNAKE IN THE KITCHEN BROOM BROOM WHERE'S THE BROOM GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT AHHHHHHHHH

I don't like snakes. I reaaaaallllly need to convince myself that it came in while the back door was open for awhile, and that it is not actually from a nest of snakes in the basement or in the walls of the kitchen. Please, please tell me that that is the case, and that it won't find it's way in again. Please.

Sorry

Not writing much, sorry. I wasn't used to Dan being home nights for the 2 months before the new place opened. And now I'm not used to him working nights again. Plus, he now works Sundays, which he used to have off, in addition to Saturdays. I'll try to get back in the habit soon.

Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog

Go watch. Right now. Especially if you like Buffy(Once more with Feeling), Doogie, Firefly, Over-emoting, evil laughs, and love songs that revolve around freeze rays.

Donovan's Steak and Ale

The restaurant opens tonight. They had a practice run last night.

My dish
NYS
Grilled Dry Aged New York Strip
Bacon, Cheddar and Scallion Baked Potato Pie,
Brandy~Mushroom Sauce, Haystack Onions


Janet's
Pan~Roasted Atlantic Salmon
Vegetable Couscous, Cucumber Salad
Roasted Pepper & Tomato Sauce


George's
Grilled Sirloin Steak
Steak Fries, House Steak Sauce


I didn't take a picture of the kid's hot dog and chicken fingers, although the steak fries were artfully arranged. Everything was wonderful. I barely recognized the place from our last visit when chairs were piled everywhere and the floors were covered with drop-cloths. Last night was all white tablecloths and attentive waitstaff. And food that fires off all your taste-buds.

Dark skies and quiet walks

I wish I could take you all out with me when I walk Zeppo at night, it's so amazing.

After I put our house to my back, there's only one house in my sights. They're far up the road, and don't turn many lights on, so my eyes adjust to the dark pretty quick. I get past our trees, and there are fields to either side of me for 2/10 of a mile. Tonight, there was still some straggling fireflies floating around. The field on the left has new bales of hay scattered all around. I think once they bring those in, they'll put some cows to pasture there. A small sliver of a moon was there tonight, a bit orange as it was rising.

That's the only direction that I get a "city glow" from Potsdam, and it's not much of one with only 10,000 residents. Sometimes there's some more glow to the north from Massena, but that's 30 miles away so it's not very strong either. Looking to the right is always totally black. There are no towns between us and the Adirondacks in that direction. Even though I can't see the mountains, the dearth of human activity is evident at night. Because the moon was just a crescent tonight, and there were no clouds, it was a fantastic night for stargazing. I've never seen as many stars anywhere else I've ever lived or visited. And the milky way stretching over it all.

We usually walk for 10-15 minutes, and hardly ever see a car or hear any sound of humans or machines. Dogs, yes. And coyotes a few times, they call them coy dogs here. Last week, at dusk, a car did come by and scared out a deer that had been hiding in the field as we passed. Poor Zeppo really wanted to chase it back down to woods.

That's where I live. And why I live here.

Country-style wedding

 

Just got back from the wedding of Dan's cousin Meg down in the Rochester area. I think this picture captures the mood of the reception pretty well. Meg got out of the dress and into a tank top pretty quick. The cake is layers of cupcakes with sugared violets. The father of the bride is just out of the shot and wearing a John Deere T-shirt. And we've just finished our ribs and are about to start the square dancing.

All this was at Uncle Norm and Aunt Mar's house. Norm had built a barn a few years ago to house some vintage tractors, so that gave us plenty of room for dancing and the bar. And the side yards had some lawn games for the kids. At the time we left, they were firing up the tiki torches and I think there was going to be a firepit going. Aunt Mar must have started planting flowers and planning the gardens since the engagement announcement last year. The yard looked absolutely beautiful.

I know Dan has been looking forward to this visit for a long time. Even though we're not separated by many miles, it's still an ordeal to get the kids down, so we haven't seen many of his cousins since we moved back. In fact, there were two other weddings in the family this year that we missed. But he got to see a lot of the family the night before the wedding when they had a boat cruise on Canandaigua lake. I missed out, but I'm not dissapointed to be spared the 1 1/2 traffic jam leaving the fireworks show.

But I must say, having a 3-4 hour trip take 6 1/2 hours is really making me rethink the camping trip to Maine next year.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

We just got our hot water back on today. Part of the delay was that we decided to go with the tankless. Here she is.....



It's very small, only about a foot wide and two feet tall. The water is instantly heated by propane as we need it, rather than having a tank being heated constantly. Our electric bill is going to plummet this month. Now I can finally give the kids baths, which I must to soon because we have to get ready for a weekend trip to a wedding near Rochester. Happy 4th!!!

Brrrrrrrrr

Our hot water heater died Friday. We're certainly giving Roto-Rooter a lot of business since we moved. New well pump, all new pipes, plus a patch job on the sump pump. And now a water heater. You may think that since it's summer, we don't necessarily need the hot water. If you think that, you've obviously never tried to shower with 50 degree well water.

It should get installed tomorrow, although there's been some wrangling over the expense. We've been wanting to switch to a tankless water heater, but they're mega-expensive. Although they quickly pay for themselves in reduced electric costs. But we either need to be approved for financing tonight, or get a rental agreement to get those. Otherwise, we'd have to go with a traditional electric heater, which is such a waste of energy. I'd thought that if we had to go traditional, we could at least switch to propane, but apparently we can't get that installed in the basement.

It's really never a good time for a heater to fail. All of Dan's thoughts are on the restaurant opening next week, and we're off to a wedding this weekend. Hard to organize our time when we're also traveling to Canton every day for a shower.

Flikr Mosaic

I liked Joy's Flikr Mosaic based on those "get to know me" lists that are always flying around the internet. And since I was off today, I did one too. You answer the following questions, then plug them into the Flikr search. After picking an image from the first page, you load the photo into Mosaic Maker.

1. What is your name? Amy, so glad I didn't have to use an Amy Winehouse photo
2. What is your favorite food? mac & cheese
3. What high school did you go to? Maloney
4. What is your favorite color? green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Henry, the Super Accountant
6 What is your favorite drink? coke
7. Where is your dream vacation? Sedona, (too bad McCain lives there)
8. Favorite dessert? Ice Cream
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? restauranteur
10. What do you love most in life? my kids
11. One word to describe you. quiet
12. Your Flickr name. saffry-had to cheat and use saffron



1. Cupcakes from Amy Sedaris' 2. gotta be KD, 3. Sarah in the Band, 4. Verde no Aquarius, 5. christopher_gorham, 6. return for refund, 7. Cathedral Rocks, 8. Homemade berry ice cream 9. Juanita Musson 10. Bless from above 11. A Winter's Landmark, 12. saffron

Graduation

I think every grade now does some kind of moving up ceremony, which will soon get tedious. But this first one was fun anyway. Here's Nathan with his teacher, which is a counterpoint to the photo in this post.



The ceremony was rather elaborate. The kids sang songs (except Nathan, who just looked around while everyone sang). As they were giving out diplomas, they played a recording of each child saying what he/she wanted to be when they grew up. Behind them, a large sceen showed them each dressed up as their future job, then a picture they'd drawn. Lot's of veterinarians, doctor's, nurses and fireman.

I'm sorry that this video came out so strange, the camera couldn't deal with the projection screen. But the audio makes it all worth it.

Roughing it

Have you been wondering if we're still without power? Sorry I didn't update, we got it back Thursday afternoon.

I'm finding it ironic that after two days of complaining about no heat or water, that Dan and I are talking about going camping sometime. Not this summer, since he's so busy with the new restaurant plans, but next summer.

I've started looking at campsites near Acadia National Park. And trying to decide if we should spend a whole week in one place, or break up the trip by also camping somewhere between here and the Maine Coast. It's a very long drive, but we really would like to see the ocean again. Especially the wild, rocky Maine coast.

I'm also trying to get a sense of what type of campground suits us. On the one hand, we like peace and quiet and would not want to be in an RV-centric place with lots of organized activities. But I think with the kids, we'd want a place that was big enough to have a pool/playground and convenient bathrooms and showers.

Of course we have no gear to speak of. Not even sleeping bags. Dad might have some camping supplies we could borrow, since he and Kyle go weekend camping a lot. But we'd need a bigger tent, and our own sleeping bags. And an air mattress. Definitely need an air mattress. We'll probably find that the cost for the gear will outweigh the savings of a campsite over a hotel the first year.

Anyone gone camping recently who could give me some tips? I went on week-long trips every year when I was a kid. Until about the age of 13 or 14 when Ray and I started going to Scout camp instead. I loved the quiet mornings when Dad would get the fire going and make breakfast on the camp stove. Dan's experience is limited to a few overnights, and his most lasting impression was that it was hard to get the tent up. Well, we have awhile to plan and think and decide if this is what we want to do.

No power

We had a storm rip through the area on Tuesday afternoon, and our house has been without power since. For us country folks, no power means no water, so we've de-camped to the in-laws in Canton for a few days.

Luckily, the storm missed the more populated Canton and Potsdam villages, but it did a number in some of the nearby towns. Here's a news article with pictures of some of the damaged houses.

At our house, the storm only polished off one of our maples, the one that got damaged the week after we moved in. The trunk is still there, but all the limbs came crashing down onto our power line. Oh well. More details when I'm back on my own computer.

Hey Batter, Batter, Batter Swing Batter

I think he learned that follow through from Big Papi.

Canton Dairy Princess Festival

Went to a small festival in Canton yesterday, the Dairy Princess Festival. The town green was chock-a-block with vendors selling hot dogs, pretzels, sno-kones etc. A lot of it was fundraising for the small-town groups that keep small-town life going, like Kiwanis and the Lions club. Plus a bounce house with a reallllllly long line. That we had to go to twice.

There was a cake walk to raise money for a playground. I've never seen this kind of fundraiser anywhere else. They put stakes or safety cones with numbers on them, and then 20 people form a circle and walk around while the music plays. When the music stops, you pick a number to stand by. The organizers than draw a number, and if it's your number, you win a cake. So it's a simple raffle, but with an exercise component to make it seem like work.

The main event was a band sponsored by the local John Deere dealership. They close off a few blocks of the street and park a variety of tractors for the kids to climb on. And hand out a lot of green and yellow balloons.


But the more exciting event for us was the Big Wheel races. We watched most of the 4 yr old level, as they ran 6 heats, and several semi-finals to narrow the 30 kids down to three. There were probably more in the five & six years groups. Although, as you can see by Nathan's attempt, we didn't need to stay past his heat to wait for the semi-final rounds.

Owwww, don't do that

New Favorite Show

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations

Feeling Old

I made Dan feel his age awhile ago, by telling him that this young man getting cross-checked in the neck is heading off to college this year. The young man is question is the son of Canton's Lacrosse coach, and Dan remembers him being born. That was back when Dan was the Golden Bear racing up the field a step ahead of the Shamrock player.


And I have to say, after watching them play, that Shamrock is the least accurate sports name I have ever heard in my life. Shamrock implies something small, that can easily be crushed under foot. Not six foot powerhouses with broad shoulders slamming sticks against sticks to shake a ball loose. Actually, those sticks were hitting arms, heads and anything else the ref wouldn't see. Full Contact Sport.

Today's game was the Section X finals, and although Canton kept the game close, Salmon River is ending the season undefeated. Not surprising, since many of their players are Akwesasne Mohawks.

So will this be Nathan next year....


and in 13 years.....


Or do I encourage him to take up Canada's other great sport and enduring pastime, curling?

nana na na, nana na na, hey hey hey, goodbye

More upheaval at home, this time on the job front. Dan couldn't stand working for his boss for one more minute. I won't get into all the details, because that's generally a bad idea on public blogs, but it's really best for his mental and physical health not to keep working for this guy. When the Lodge burned down, we joked about how coming here and working for this guy was an option, ha ha ha. And here it is two years later, and Dan was going crazy from the lack of respect, lack of benefits and general bad management. Even after getting an out of the blue raise, he just couldn't take it anymore.

Meanwhile, another guy that he did respect is opening a restaurant a few towns over. The former owners ran it as a family restaurant, which would be a big step down for Dan food-wise. They're going to upgrade the menu a little, although I'm not sure how far they'll be able to take it in a town with a pretty low median income. There are still a lot of people around here who distrust food that seems too fancy. So instead, Dan will probably have a menu that looks like a steak joint at first glance, but has hidden depths with it's sauces and sides.

I just wish it wasn't so far away, and that gas wasn't so expensive. But if the place takes off, Dan will be getting a cut of the Revenue, so that should take the sting out of the commute. If it doesn't take off.......

R.A. round-up

Quite a bit of upheaval and change after my Doctors appointment today. Problems in the short term that should lead to good news long term. If you want all the boring details, read on.

First, I need to lay out the case for why I've never like Methotrexate(MTX), the drug I've been on since March 06.

1. I have to remember to take folic acid supplements every day or my hair will fall out, I'll get sores on my mouth and I'll get nausea.

2. I have to get a Bilirubin & CBC count every two months to make sure my liver isn't getting damaged.

3. I feel like I have "methotrexate coma day" within 12-24 hours of each weekly dosage. My thought process gets fuzzy and I just want to take a nap.

4. And just to rub salt in the wound, this drug is why I had to stop breastfeeding Claire. (It would also cause servere birth defects if I got pregnant, but that boat has definately sailed.)

Still I have to take it. It did help when I was first diagnosed, although not as much as the Enbrel and Rituximab have helped. I've continued to take it while taking those as well. I thought it was because MTX helped their efficacy, but my doctor gave me a different spin today.

You see, when the FDA does testing for the new biologic R.A. medications, they can not ethically give a placebo to half the test subjects. So all the test subjects get MTX and half also get the new drug. Which means that FDA formally approves it ONLY if it's given with MTX. And my insurance company follows suit. My doctor disagrees. In the case of Rituximab, he feels that the MTX is unneeded and somewhat dangerous given it's side effects. And even though he is on the Board of Directors for the insurance, he can't get the head pharmacologist to agree to dropping the MTX as a requirement for receiving the Rituximab. So for the whole time I was on Rituximab last year, I was still on MTX even though it was really against my doctor's wishes.

Okay, back track a month. I got my labwork for CBC & bilirubin as usual. I do it in Canton, and a copy goes to my doc in Saranac Lake. Someone probably should have checked it more carefully, because my white cell blood(WBC) count was 1.8 (normal is 4-8, er....somethings per somethings...., anyway, it was low.) He had them run another check today and it's down to .8, not good. This makes me very prone to infections, so it's a bit scary.

There are two things that cause low WBC in R.A. patients. The less common is Felty syndrome, which the Doc would treat with Rituximab. More common is MTX toxicity. The MTX is starting to fight off my folic acid supplements and folic acid is necessary for WBC production. So as of today, I'm off the MTX, off the folic acid supplements, off the blood tests every month. WOHOOO. And I can celebrate by having a beer, because I no longer have to worry about the sixth reason I didn't like Methrotrexate.

6. You're not supposed to consume any alcohol while on MTX. Some people have the occasional wine, but with my Mom's history of liver disease I never wanted to risk it. Since I went from Pregnancy, to Breastfeeding, to MTX, I don't think I've had more than a few glasses of alcohol in almost four years. I also thought I'd be on MTX forever, and although nothing would stop me from a champagne toast at a wedding, I didn't think I'd ever have more than one glass at a time, of anything, ever again. (And I'm actually still going to play it safe by holding off on any celebratory beers for another month until I'm sure it's out of my system.)

And to follow up on the low WBC, I got an IV push of folinic acid today. I'll take high doses of that for another ten days, with CBC's done every week to make sure the WBC is up again. Whew!

And that's not all. I'm back on Rituximab today after an ill-fated attempt to use Humira. The Rituximab was wearing off after only 4 months, when I was hoping for a good 6 months, basically because I'm overweight. Plus, it's not too convenient to drive to Saranac Lake for a 4-5 hour treatment 4-6 times a year. I thought the every other week dosage of the Humira would go smoother, but instead I got less relief and giant rashes at the injection site.

A long chat with the Doc confirmed that the Rituximab is probably my magic bullet, and I just need to deal with the more frequent dosage. Or lose weight. And part of the reason for that was the sad updates to my family medical history. Doc uses Rituximab for treating Sjogren's Syndrome (which my Mom and her sister had) and for treating Dermomycytosis (Sarah) and although I'm fuzzy on the details, I know that Uncle Richard was getting an experimental Rituximab treatment last year for a form of anemia. So it makes sense to stay on a treatment that not only helps the R.A., but may stave off other auto-immune diseases that my family may be prone to. Especially the Sjogren's, which is often seen with R.A. patients, and if I do have Felty's instead of MTX toxicity, I'd need it for that too.

I should really invest in some Genetech stock.

No trauma

Nathan came downstairs with a very satisfied smirk on his face and his hands cupped together this morning, tooth #2 clasped firmly between them. No blood, no crying, no fuss. He just yanked it out before getting out of bed in the morning. The tooth fairy is getting extra mileage this week.