Scattered Thoughts . . .

January is always our "train show month".  This is when we head down to Springfield, Massachusetts every year for the largest train show in the northeast.  Actually, I would not be surprised if this is the largest train show in the country every year.   The Amherst Railway Society's Annual Railroad Hobby Show is a very large and amazing event which is not only a lot of fun all weekend long, but it is also a very productive fundraiser.  The primary beneficiary of this fundraiser is always a children's hospital.  Since we have been attending the show I believe the Bay State Children's Hospital has been the recipient each year. Additionally, a dozen or two historical railroads and railroad museums receive proceeds each year as well.   In the years we have been attending the show, I believe we have seen between 50,000-60,000 visitors at each show.  Considering the problems we had this year in finding hotel accomodations, a few months in advance, I suspect this yea

The wind chill outside is now at -20 degrees but it is sunny and clear out there!  It looks really nice from the living room window so I decided to pick up one of my cameras to shoot a few photos.   These photos are shot with my old camera body with the Kodak sensor in it.  I love the color tonality and depth that this sensor produces.  What I don't like is that I really should be using this particular camera body on a tripod because it does not have any image stabilization capabilities.  My shot of the mountains has a bit of camera shake in it so it is not as sharp as it should be... I had opened the window in the living room so I could shoot the photo of the mountains without shooting through the dirty glass window...  Turns out the heat that was escaping the house through the open window was causing those visual jello-type waves you see coming off hot pavement in the summer!  So, I had to step outside to shoot the photo of the mountains.  Yes, it is cold out there! Hope yo

Today, January 1st, 2014, this blog passed the 10,000 page view milestone.  Considering that many websites get this many page views in one single day, this really isn't any sort of amazing record.  That being said, I started this website just to babble about my health, our family activities, and just to keep my family and friends updated on what is happening in our lives here in Vermont so, considering the purpose of this blog, reaching 10,000 page views is actually pretty impressive! Reaching 10,000 page views is interesting but what I find more interesting is where all these people reading my blog are located.  Of course, the US is where the vast majority of people are located.  Next, however, is Russia, United Kingdom, China, Canada, France, Germany, Malaysia, Sweden and Ukraine. I've had page views from a lot more countries but those are the top 10 locations. For a blog that is just about my own scattered thoughts and family activities and not about anything specific, thi

As many of you know, I enjoy photography.  The arts, in general, can be a great tool for those struggling with chronic illness, chronic pain and/or incurable illnesses.  For me, photography provides a way to express myself and to be productive during a time when I can't seem to get anything right because I am struggling so frequently with health issues and associated debilitating symptoms.  Perhaps more importantly, it is also a way to distract myself from my health issues.  Needless to say, I enjoy the artistic and creative aspects of photography and I try to stay as active as my health will allow with this expressive hobby. Part of this hobby is knowing your tools.  Actually, 'knowing your tools' is a part of everything in life.  Not only must I understand my own tools completely, but I must also understand what is available to replace my tools when they break, wear out or just start acting finicky.   Currently, I use camera gear from multiple manufacturers...  Fuji,

In a previous blog post, I briefly mentioned "The Spoon Theory" which accurately, and yet in an almost heartbreaking manner, describes how I must manage my energy each moment of every day. This spoon theory was written by Christine Miserandino who struggles with Lupus.  In this case, the illness is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that most chronic illnesses sap all of our energy and we must figure out the best way to manage and minimize this problem in order to "live", not just "survive".  Although I have always struggled in finding the best way to describe this ongoing problem to family and friends so they can accurately understand my now often flaky behavior, Christine has concisely and eloquently found the words to graphically describe this struggle in energy management in her "Spoon Theory".   Before you continue with what I have written here, I urge you to read Christine's "Spoon Theory" so you will understand

I have been very fortunate this Christmas season!  We have had an exceptionally busy, hectic and exhausting December and, for the most part, my health held up surprisingly well. Now, however, we are a few days past Christmas and my health has crashed... and it has crashed spectacularly. I had a few bouts with anaphylaxis causing dizziness, palpitations, tachycardia, and breathing difficulties which all leads to exhaustion.  Whenever my heart responds to anaphylaxis, my heart-rate jumps to the 120-180 beats per minute range and it can stay there for an hour or two. Having your heart-rate at this chest pounding level is similar to running for a couple of hours... or playing a basketball game for a couple of hours... or any other strenuous activity for hours.  I am left feeling exhausted and my entire body aches for days. The degranulation of mast cells which caused this anaphylaxia also causes nerve irritation and inflammation.  Needless to say, in addition to the overwhelming fatigu

As some of you have already seen in my Facebook posts, I managed to get the fireplace project finished just in time for Christmas.  Actually, I don't think it was finished until 4:30pm on Christmas Eve!  Then, after cleaning the house of all the construction debris and sawdust, we carefully carried an ice-covered Christmas tree into the house and decorated it.  Between wrapping presents, putting together toys for the grandchildren and decorating, I don't think we made it to bed until 1:30am on Christmas morning.   Since we started renovating the house about five years ago, we have seen various parts of the house in multiple stages of construction.  So the purpose of this post is to show some photos of the progression of the living room project over the course of a few years.  There is no doubt that the living room is a much more comfortable and 'warmer' room today than ever before. Of course we still have a lot to do... ceilings, floors, another wall which is shared

The last real progress made on the fireplace... concrete backer-board for the tile... Well, just about everything is on hold now.  My health has hit its limit with this living room/fireplace project and Christmas preparations. Compounding my problems is the fact that we are expected to have icy road conditions for the next few days which means there is little chance I will get up to Williston and South Burlington for more building supplies, presents, etc.  Of course, if I lack the energy for this it doesn't matter much. My health has crashed quickly this time.  I managed to have a fairly productive morning but then I seemed to hit a wall.  I didn't even have the energy to clean up anything at all.  I just laid down for a few hours and then figured I needed to jump back into working on cutting tile for the fireplace...  no luck. I couldn't even think straight. I needed to measure things multiple times... over and over again... I couldn't draw a straight line no

Taking shape... notice the new custom paneling in the background where this fireplace will reside... (don't mind the dirty floors... I have really been beating on them this week!) I had an exceptionally productive day yesterday as you can see from these photos.  Not only is the maple and aspen paneling stained and finished looking warm, inviting and beautiful, but I have a good chunk of the fireplace and shelving unit cut and assembled. The mantle will also be aspen to match the walls.  The plywood sides of the fireplace and shelving unit is cut from birch. Much of the rest of the fireplace will be douglas fir and pine. I hand selected all the wood but did have to make some substitutions from my original plans because I could not find what I desired. The finished product should still look beautiful albeit a bit more expensive. Between the price of my substitutions and the time wasted trying to find what I needed, collecting materials was a long, tedious and frustrating proces

Today was a relatively productive day for a nice change!  I'm a little more optimistic that I can finish this fireplace project before the end of the weekend.  That will leave us a day or two to decorate for Christmas and wrap presents...  hmmm...  presents...  I might need to buy some of those soon... The new aspen and maple paneling in the living room is now stained and I have applied three coats of a satin polyurethane.  Ideally, it could really use another two or three coats of poly but the wood grain is filled in enough and sealed enough to make it through the next month or so. Besides, I just might add a coat or two while I am applying poly to the fireplace and shelving unit. That would finish the walls completely. In the meantime, it is looking great tonight! The house is a mess with construction materials all over the place but those new walls look nice! Tomorrow I plan to start cutting the latest batch of finish lumber for the fireplace, mantle and shelving unit.  In b