Scattered Thoughts . . .

A lthough I still don't feel even close to 100%, I'm feeling far better this morning than I did during my fever last night.  This is very typical whenever I have COVID...  which is far too often...  and we don't go anywhere!  As mentioned in previous blog entries, this time I picked up this insidious virus in the hospital ER waiting room seven weeks ago.  As always with COVID, I feel worse and worse as the day wears on culminating with a fever at night.  Then I get up in the morning and I feel halfway decent.  Within a few short hours, I can notice my health deteriorating again. I made Challah French Toast this morning and it definitely hit the spot! Hopefully, tonight I won't feel as lousy as I did last night.

I 'm still struggling with lingering COVID symptoms that are not only bothersome but they are still rather painful. This all started shortly after my visit to the ER on July 9th for my table saw accident when I amputated part of my thumb.  Fortunately, my thumb is recovering nicely.  It is still quite sensitive but it is definitely healing nicely.  Shortly after we sat down in the ER waiting room, an elderly woman sat down behind us who was hacking up a lung due to a terrible case of COVID.  Sheila and I looked at each other and hoped we would be called into Trauma quickly.  We only had to wait about five minutes before being called back to Trauma but, within a week, I had developed COVID symptoms myself. The left side of my throat was killing me that felt like I had a raw patch of esophagus that was turning into a big hole in my throat.  It is a type of sore throat that I've never felt before.  Within another week, I had mild fevers late each day, sin...

T his year, it seemed like all the grandchildren were really excited to be watching the garden railroad which was nice.  It definitely held their attention for quite a long time!   Lukey enjoys running the trains so he definitely enjoyed himself with this little garden railroad.  Then again, that should come as no surprise since he has always been interested in trains.  I ran one of the trains for a bit but Lukey spent quite a bit of time running both trains. These trains run on battery packs rather than power through the rails.  I made sure both trains were fully charged the night before the barbeque and we had no problem running the trains all day long without a hiccup.  They still had power when I brought them back indoors at the end of the night.  Lukey and I control the locomotive and trolley using apps on two of my tablets so it is all wireless which makes things very easy. This year, the grandchildren got to see a few new structures around ...

B ack two or three years ago, I built a custom Giant Jenga game.  That required some planning, a lot of cutting, a really lot of sanding, and then quite a bit of waxing.  This unique game (because of its size) gets a lot of use whenever we have a barbeque in the yard though! My only complaint about this game is it is heavy.  All the pieces are buttery smooth and slick because of all the sanding and waxing I did which is really nice for this game in particular.  I designed all the pieces to fit inside the overturned base so it is relatively compact when stored but it is quite heavy requiring two people to safely carry it.  The base, when turned upside-down, is its case as well as a platform that can be leveled for play.  It is a great design...  just a bit too bulky and heavy to be considered "ideal".   In this first photo, below, the base is perfectly leveled even though it looks like the stack of Jenga pieces are leaning.  Well, the b...

W henever the grandchildren visit, they like to play on the sailboat.  Well, they enjoy playing on the kayaks and in the playhouse too but they really enjoy the sailboat.  I always gravitated toward boats too so this is an interest I can understand. Lukey and Kenzie were staying with us for the last week of their summer vacation so Lukey helped me with a few little things around the house throughout the week and the sailboat was one of those things.   We had a barbeque this past weekend so Lukey and I got the sailboat all cleaned up and waxed before the rest of the grandchildren arrived.   It would be nice if we lived on a lake so I could take each of the grandchildren out for a ride but, unfortunately, we do not.  They seem to really enjoy playing on the boat in the yard nevertheless.   I had already sanded down the rudder, tiller and centerboard and then applied a coat of spar urethane so those are looking great.  The sail is getting a...

F or the past few days, we've had water heater problems.  There is never a good time for home maintenance problems but this is a lousy week for us to have an added thing that must be done as soon as possible.   First, I made a trip to Lowes to pick up a heating element.  A bad heating element would have been the typical problem so that is what I replaced first.  Even if the source of the problem wasn't the element, it wouldn't be a bad idea to install a new one so I did that.  Theoretically, a new one should be more efficient than one that has been used for many years.  Our water heater is now about 15 years old so it is near the end of its life span.  Actually, it is probably beyond its life span already.   With the heating element on hand, I then went about draining the water heater which was a bit time consuming.  I again had to clear a path to the back wall of the house (like I did to run water out to our outdoor shower a c...

I 've been feeling worse today than yesterday so I assume I overdid it yesterday.  Some of the ear infection pain has returned and I just feel kind of lousy.  Today was just the second day of antibiotics so I know this will take some time even though I seemed to feel great yesterday for some reason.  Plus, the antibiotics will do nothing for the COVID symptoms that I'm still feeling.  I'd really like to get beyond this ear infection pain though. So, while sitting on my butt today, I managed to put some paint on the couple of buildings I built yesterday for the garden railroad.  They are looking a bit more appropriate now. I applied a Barn Red stain on the little train station and painted the windows and doors white.  It is looking much better now even though I still need to install corrugated roofing panels and some trim... You can see the coal storage silos behind the station in this photo below... I applied a brown stain to the upper structure of the silo...

I don't know if I've mentioned it here in this blog, if so, I'll be repeating myself a bit.  Sheila and I had COVID again.  We both tested negative but at this point we're absolutely certain we've had COVID yet again.  I was at the doctor yesterday and they agree that we've had COVID again. When I got up out of bed yesterday, I was exhausted because I couldn't sleep the previous night due to significant pain.  The entire left side of my head was in unbearable pain.  The pain was radiating from my left ear and affected the entire left hemisphere of my head. I was so dizzy that it was making me extremely nauseated.  I took some Meclizine for the dizziness and some of my usual anti-nausea medication.  Then I took about 1000mg of Tylenol.  I was already loaded up on Aleve but that didn't seem to be touching this pain.  After calling the doctor to make an appointment, I even used a warm compress on my ear.  The combination of everything made...