Higher Than the Temperature

Rachel can now independently bend her knee to a 138 degree angle!

Teenage Girls

Teenage girls make about as much sense.

Rachel complained of feeling tired and dizzy during physical therapy this morning.  As soon as we got home I began to make her life miserable (per her report), so she walked about a mile to a friend's house.  I'm sure that will help her rest her knee.

Communication Specialist

During our walk around the neighborhood this evening, I reminded Quinn that Mr. C. would like him to water his flowers while he is out of town.  A few minutes later I asked Quinn to take the trash down to the end of the driveway when we got home.  Quinn  nodded, then pealed off to take the shortcut home - through Mr. C's backyard.  A few seconds later, I heard Quinn stomping around on Mr. C's darkened deck looking for his trash can.

Extender

Mr. Rellim's business ships viable genetic material all over the country.  To ensure the viability of the substance, a liquid is added to extend its shelf life.  This liquid is (cleverly) called "Extender" and is stored in a plastic milk jug in the refrigerator.  The other milk jug in the refrigerator holds fresh water that is also used to fill the ice cube trays.

I don't think I should finish this story.  Feeling gaggy.

Transgenerational Communication

Driving the 1995 S-10 (We haven't decided whether to call her "Essie" or "Little Red.") with only a cassette tape player, my daughter has learned how to open a cassette case.  Her first attempt was comical with the shaking and sliding and pounding of the little plastic case.  The windows also take some manual labor to roll up and down.  Rachel told me yesterday, "Now I understand why people make a fist and move it in a circle when they want me to roll down the window."

Little Red S-10

I grew up in a small town.  A town so small that my mother's boss once walked into my bank (where he was not a customer) and cashed a check for ME.  The teller gave him the cash because he knew that I was away at college and that my mom worked for him, and that I would eventually get the money.

A town so small that I could call a car dealership and speak to someone I have not seen for over 20 years and buy a used truck from him - over the phone.  Of course, my parents (who still live in that town) were able to take it for a test drive.  And the salesman told me the name of the previous owners - a couple who just celebrated their 90th birthdays!  I knew them, of course.  My dad actually visited them after the purchase to retrieve the extra set of keys for me.  They handed them over without hesitation.

I'm happy to have a little truck for yard work and rummage sale-ing.  And my kids are crossing their fingers that I may let them drive it to school this year.  And Rachel said, "A 1995?! That's older than me!" 

"So, treat it with respect," I replied.

More Collective Salvation

Since the 1980s, kids have been praised for every minute task accomplished - or nearly accomplished - or tried pretty hard to get started with.  At the end of a game, every participant receives some sort of reward nowadays.  The American culture has succeeded with convincing even the dunces making mud puddles that they are building sand castles (per C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Proposes a Toast).  And now, to round things out, we are telling the successful, the ingenious, the determined, that their accomplishments were not so very special.

Keep dreaming big, kids.  Keep thinking big ideas.  Keep taking chances to make the world a better place.  And make sure your parents get to the voting booth in November.

Angles

Rachel has begun physical therapy for her left knee.  Her treatment is initially focusing on strengthening the quads and gaining range of motion of the knee.  After four sessions, she can do a leg lift with minimal assist and has bent her knee up to 75 degrees.  The surgeon's goal for her was 90 degrees by August.  I think she's going to surpass that easily!

Treatment Option

I've been seeing my chiropractor a couple times a week for about a month for the same complaint.  Yesterday he asked, "Would you say you feel 2% better every day?"  I nodded.  "Good," he said, "then my advice is to come see me again in about 50 days."

Snap!

That might be what I'd say if a tree crashed through my home the same night I moved in.  This family is actually a friend of my sister, Jodie.  Good luck to them!

New Word

Annoyment:  The act of annoying someone just for the enjoyment of it.  For example, "Mom, your friend just called here, but I don't know why.  Just for annoyment, I guess."

Thank Quinn for this new word.

Updates: Heatwave Edition

1.  Rachel had surgery July 2nd to repair the ACL in her left knee.  The surgeon took out the stitches yesterday and physical therapy started today.  She is still in a brace  locked in place and using crutches as needed for balance.  The goal is to have her knee bend at a 90 degree angle by August, then assess the need for continued crutches.  As these things go, we are being told that she is healing well.  She's looks better than Mr. Rellim did when he broke his leg at age twelve.

2.  Quinn is excited to enter his first Yu-Gi-Oh tournament this Saturday.  I drove him to the store last week to check it out and make sure it wasn't just a front for a drug operation.  I was amazed to see so many 25 year old men playing a monster card game.  It was unclear whether, though highly likely, they still lived in their mothers' basements.


3.  Twenty years ago today, I married my high school sweetheart.  Here we are at my junior prom in 1987.  Who knew we'd still be having so much fun?

Among Other Things

Rachel has a complete tear of the ACL in her left leg.  We didn't suspect this.  Certainly an atypical presentation of symptoms.  Anyhoo - surgery on Monday, rehab for about six months.  She is very sad about missing her junior year season of basketball.  Orthopedic surgeon said that soccer in March is a very reasonable goal.

Met the Orthopod

He reviewed Rachel's knee x-rays, evaluated her himself and decided that the lateral collateral ligament is what was connected to the tibia.  He suspects possible ACL involvement, but won't know until after an MRI - which is scheduled for this Thursday.  I asked him to state in detail what Rachel may and may not do in basketball practice for the rest of the summer.  His face got pretty red.  I'm not sure if he was annoyed with me, embarrassed for me, or if he was trying not to laugh.  "Well," he began, "she can't run.  She can't walk.  She pretty much can't do anything."  That pretty much clears it up then.  Estimated rehab time depends on what MRI reveals.  Best case scenario is three months until she is able to participate in competitive sports.

Upside?  Rachel is looking forward to "bedazzling" her bulky knee brace.

I'm Up!

I was jolted from sleep less than one hour ago by a teen pounding on my bedroom door and shouting, "Where's the pen?!  I'm going to die!!"

"Epi-pen!" shouted Mr. Rellim, "Shoot him with the Epi-pen!"

I dashed to the stash of Epi-pens and quickly realized it was Rachel who woke me, not Quinn.  She continued shouting, "I'm going to die!  These mosquito bites are so itchy! Where's the pen?"  My adrenaline surge switched to annoyance.  My search then changed from Epi-pen to Benadryl anti-itch stick (which was not in the medicine bag where I left it yesterday).

"Oh!" said Rachel, "I guess it's over here at the computer where I used it last night."  She applied the topical Benadryl then went back to bed.

But I'm up.

Rachel's Knee

Possible avulsion fracture of the tibial attachment of the PCL - or something like that.

Looks more like that photo you see in psych class that could be a picture of an old hag or a beautiful woman, depending on your perspective.  We see an orthopaedic surgeon on Tuesday for treatment options.  For now, it's ice, elevation, ibuprofen and crutches.  Too bad it happened during the first game of the summer season.  But perhaps Rachel is meeting surgeons in order to investigate future professional opportunities.

Would They Do That If They Had Won?

"We aren't going to go away. We're not going to pull a blanket over our head and pee in our pajamas."

Marty Beil, executive director of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, talking to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about the loss of the power to strike and force state workers to pay dues.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/07/dems-cant-make-it-without-government-worker-unions/#ixzz1x8jwrYdu

Guess What?

Quinn and I just repaired the leaky faucet in the bathroom!  Thank you, online video.  Of course, we had to ask a strong football player friend to turn the water off (the handles had rusted shut), then drive to three different places around town to look for a replacement washer, then call a handy neighbor to check the work, but we did it!  Next time, it shouldn't take three hours.

Startled

I was working in the yard when I heard the sound of a man make a cough-sneeze-clear-throat-scream-because-I-was-just-stabbed-between-the-shoulder-blades-by-my-crazy-wife noise.  I've never heard a sound like that, but I found myself making quick steps toward my house.  Since I was in a portion of our yard that was sort of "echo-y," I was unable to determine the direction from which it came.  All I knew is that with Mrs. Neighbor on the left and Mrs. Other Neighbor on the right, I needed to find shelter.

Alas, my worries were unjustified.  For just as I made it to the driveway, the sound was heard again.  And this time, I watched in amazement as it came from Mr. Other Neighbor's body - his fully awake, alert, and presumably whole and uninjured body.  Pollen must really be getting him down.

This is What Democracy Looks Like

Both Walker and Kleefisch kept their jobs after the recall vote in Wisconsin.  Click here to watch a short speech from the Lieutenant Governor.  I'm not opposed to big labor.  I am a member of the teacher unions.  However, I am opposed to union leadership that places its own needs before the state's and country's need to maintain financial solvency.  I am also opposed to the mandatory membership that puts me out about $750 a year.