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~ The adventures of Richard and Julie Lary

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Monthly Archives: April 2007

End of the Accident

29 Sunday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Health and wellness

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This was my first week back to working full-time, on-site. Monday was a little tiring and Tuesday didn’t seem so bad. By the end of the week, I was trotting off to the bathroom and other buildings without thinking about the length of the walk.
 
I also went to the gym twice to ride a recumbent bike and Elliptical trainer and do exercises on the floor with resistance bands and an exercise ball. While some stretches continue to be painful, for the most part, my strength and flexibility are nearly normal.
 
Even though it’ll be several more weeks before I can walk, garden or do housework for several hours at a time, I’ve decided to officially say "good-bye" to my accident on April 30th. For that day forward, I’m going to blame all stiffness and aching not on my accident, but on aging and being out-of-shape!
 
My x-rays on April 19th showed that my bones are almost knitted together and there’s no misalignment of my pelvis or sacrum. It’s now up to me to do daily stretches, keep physically fit and watch my weight.

Monkey

29 Sunday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Cat Diaries

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After weeks of discussion, Rich and I had Mongojerrie (Monkey) put to sleep. She was going to be nineteen in August and in recently weeks had grown thinner with a ravenous thirst and appetite, indicating her kidneys and undoubtedly other organs, were failing. In addition, she would often howl as if in pain.
 
She originally belonged to Beaverton, Oregon councilwoman Sarah Drake. My mother had been involved in local politics and was visiting Sarah’s house when she saw Monkey outside. Sarah didn’t want the kitten because she was climbing on the drapes so my mother took her home.
 
A few days later, Monkey became very ill. A visit to the vet revealed that she has severe pneumonia and that her rib cage had been crush – probably squeezed too hard by Sarah’s young children. The vet gave her a 10% probability of surviving and advised putting her to sleep.
 
It took six months of antibiotics to cure Monkey. In addition, every time she coughed, either my Mother or I would put her over our shoulder and pat her back to loosen the phlegm. All this attention turned Monkey into a very clingy and loving cat that like a dog would follow me from room-to-room and sleep on my pillow – often purring with her front feet flopped over my face.
 
Her distinct yowl could be heard from across the house or when she was outside wanting to come in. In her final years, she enjoyed occasional jaunts in our flower and herb garden; sleeping under the rosemary bush was a favorite pastime. Because of her age, the other cats never bother her; although, she relished yowling and swatting at them.
 
While she’ll be missed, we’re happy that she went quietly to sleep with both Rich and I in the room.

Hot Fuzz

29 Sunday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Movies

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Every quarter, my group has an off-site. On Friday, we went to an Alamo Drafthouse, which are combination theater/restaurants, primarily located in strip malls. In other words, third rate McMenamins. Although, Alamo Drafthouses have larger selections of imported and domestic draft and bottled beers and wines than McMenamins; the latter focuses on serving their own and local microbrews and wines.

It was the first time I’d been to an Alamo Drafthouse and since I’m extremely partial to McMenamins, I didn’t go with an open mind. Nevertheless, it was an afternoon off from work and the chance to a see a movie – Hot Fuzz.

Released this year and featuring British comedian Simon Pegg, Hot Fuzz was so good that I rushed home and convinced Rich to see the 10:15 showing that evening!

The first two-third of the movie is humorous with the actors taking their parts very seriously. The big-city police officer goes by the “book,” interpreting the law and seeking out suspects in a picture-perfect English village with a cast of colorful and congenial shopkeepers and professionals. But everything isn’t storybook perfect and when the truth is revealed, the flick turns into a shoot ’em up, super-cop spoof.

It was hysterically funny, fast paced with twist-and-turns and subtle British humor that turns ordinary words like “hag,” “grasshopper,” and “swan” into memorable punch lines. Curious? Check out where it’s playing in your area!

Gotta’ Post My Website

23 Monday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Computers and Internet

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Last year, I spent many months creating a web site to house Austin Adventures (the newsletter that I started writing in 2002), photographs from our travels, and samples of the marcom I’ve produced for a plethora of companies. It was created using Microsoft FrontPage and was going to be hosted on Rich’s Linux server.
 
Realizing he didn’t have the correct software to host my site and knowing it was going to be "hassle," Rich recommended in January that I find a web hosting company. Convinced that what looked good on my monitor would turn into gibberish once pushed live, I procrastinated.
 
I’m now back to square one. I’m trying to apply for jobs that require strong communication skills. Instead of sending possible employers to a web site to see my work, I only have this text-heavy blog site.
 
Tonight, I came up with the bright idea of posting sample of my work. As you can see in the first album to the right, they look dreadful. Dreadful! Which means, I better work up the courage to find a web hosting company, push the site live and make changes to text and design elements that turn to mush?
 
If you’re reading this blog, please write a comment admonishing my cowardliness and the ridiculous notion that I can place samples of my work on a blog site! Thanks!

Au Natural No Longer in Vogue

16 Monday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Health and wellness

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For the last year or two, I’ve been receiving the Forbes lifestyle email newsletter. I find the articles amusing because… I’m absolutely not the target audience. Three million dollar condos, $2,000 slings, $60,000 sports cars, and $750 a night hotel rooms border on preposterous. Rich and I think we’re splurging when we choose Red Roof over Motel 6 and a Mexican restaurant over the dollar menu at Taco Bell.
 
Nevertheless, I do occasionally find something of interest in the Forbes newsletter. Most recently, they showcased the newest cosmetics for men. What! That’s right, today’s metro-sexual man can add some color to their checks with Male Species Starburst Face Bronzer or cover up those pesky blemishes with Males Species Tinted Crème Foundation & Concealer.
 
Naturally Man offers Aye Aye with "biomechanical properties" to stretch and firm the skin under tired eyes. There’s nothing feminine about this product. It’s a "masculine mixture of botanicals" to reduce "darkness and pouches."
 
Ken Cosmetics invites men to "dare to be" with colour (their spelling) foundations, lip glosses, mascaras, and eyeliners. For the lips, chose Nexus – copper gold stick, Sexus – sunkist brick stick or Plexus – luminosity gold stick. You can also correct what nature didn’t make perfect with VoLIPtuous Lip repair Serum, X-Treme Lip Service and FULMONTY Lip balm.
 
You can also get some Blo-Job Bronzing Powder from Ken Cosmetics in four pleasing colors: Caramel/earthy, butternut, spice, and sunkist. Add a brush of Glo-Job Body Glow in gold, ice (silver) or bronze (copper) and you’re ready to hit the town.
 
With 4VOO Men’s Eyelash & Brow Styling Glaze, your "eyes come alive," especially if you follow their application tip and "apply a second time for added thickness." They also offer eyeliner, shine reduction power, face and body bronzer, lip serum, shimming tint, and moisturizing lip protector.
 
Now when I see a man with flawless skin, bronzed checks, glossy lips, and long, dark brown, eyelashes, I’m going to wonder "is it him or is it Maybelline?"

Fields of Bluebonnets

10 Tuesday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Texas Life

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As I mentioned in earlier blogs, we’ve received an unprecedented amount of rain in Texas in January and March, making everything very green and awakening the wildflower seeds buried deep in the ground.
 
Along the freeways, you can see large patches of wildflowers. Bunches of Bluebonnets are popping up in people’s lawns (like our next door neighbor’s). Pastures, which are usually brown from lack of water are now carpets of color with emerald green grass and brilliant, red Indian Paintbrush, sapphire Bluebonnets, and delicate lilac blossoms.
 
Last Sunday, we decided to take a drive and capture the beauty of Texas’ wildflowers…

Fidori

10 Tuesday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Cat Diaries

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Do you know what it’s like to live in a house with seven cats? No wonder why I lost all of my feathers!
 
While I may look like a small plucked chicken, I’m really a ringneck parakeet. Just a few months ago, my entire body was covered with chartreuse feathers. One day, I started pulled them out and couldn’t stop.
 
I really like Rich. He’s my friend. I don’t care for the other birds; although, sometimes I make "eyes" at Midori, a male ringneck parakeet. I’m a female so my name starts with "F." His starts with "M."
 
Midori is green in Japanese. Fidori probably means hideous.

Walking… Finally!

07 Saturday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Health and wellness

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For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing therapy three times a week in a heated pool. In a short time I’ve gone from feeling miserable and having very tight, painful muscles in my left leg to being able to move and bend the leg, and lay on my stomach and both sides.
 
My therapist, however, haven’t allowed me to put any weight on the leg, based on a physical therapy prescription written in late March by my rehabilitation doctor. We have another prescription from my orthopedic surgeon written in early February that refers to being able to put weight on the leg if the pain was tolerable.
 
For two weeks, my therapist has been trying to get approval from the orthopedic surgeon to allow me to start walking in the pool, where most of my weight is supported by water. He hasn’t had much luck so Rich interceded and got a hold of the x-ray technician in the surgeon’s office. He pulled out my chart and essentially read what was on the prescription… "weight-bearing if tolerated."
 
My therapist, insisting that he can only "work off of one prescription," obviously never bothered to read the orthopedic surgeon’s instructions!
 
Hearing the conversation Rich was having with the x-ray technician, I exclaimed "Enough is enough. It’s over!" With that proclamation, I arose from my wheelchair, grabbed by walker and put weight on my left leg. Its held and surprisingly didn’t hurt!
 
Moments later, I was hesitantly walking using the walker. Thrilled, I decided to try it sans-walker. No such luck! My attempts were painful and awkward.
 
Happily, the next morning, eight weeks after my accident, I had an appointment with the therapist’s assistant, Mia. Marathon-runner thin and in her 40’s, Mia not only assigns challenging exercises, but watches every movement I make, ensuring they’re done correctly. The other therapists simply sit by the pool and tell me to do scissor kicks or bicycle for ten minutes.
 
Mia confirmed what was written on the orthopedic surgeon’s prescription then put me through my paces, including, when I was in the pool, teaching me how to correctly walk.
 
When you’ve been sitting in a wheelchair for two months, you need to retrain your muscles to walk heel-toe, swing your opposite arm, keep your "core" tight, and not rotate your hips. It’s humorously hard considering I’ve been walking, running, hopping, and jumping for decades.
 
It’ll be at least a week before I can dispense with the walker and walk comfortably on my own. By the end of April, I should be back to norm. Meanwhile, I’m doing lots of exercises at home and concentrating on every step I take to make sure I’m not learning bad habits.

Turning an Ugly Duckling into a Swan

07 Saturday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Texas Life

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No fears. This isn’t a story about some poor duckling that survived a horrific event only to grow up and become the envy of the pond. It’s about our driveway. But no one wants to read about a driveway so I had to catch your interest somehow! Can you blame me?
 
Our driveway has been a source of distress since moving into our house. First, it’s huge, starting at one side of our property and gently circling to the other. At either end are iron gates. One is padlocked; the other has a recently installed solar gate opener.
 
We’d always believed that our driveway had been poorly asphalted and had been deteriorating for years. It had large patches with no asphalt, just gravel and dirt. With each rain storm, more of our driveway washed away. Construction across the street, in the past year, had irresponsibly and radically re-routed water runoff to our property, exacerbating the situation.
 
The arrogant local municipal utility district had not only built a street and failed to provide a way to capture and divert the runoff water, but allowed their silt-filled water retention pond to overflow, rundown a culvert, into a pipe then stream across the street and washout everything in it’s path − our gravel walkways, decorative rocks, plants, and driveway.
 
Once Rich solved the water runoff problem by working with the county and utility district to construct a ditch that routed the runoff water into the creek behind our house, he investigated repaving our driveway.
 
After a few phone calls, he chose a family-run company called Poor Paul’s Paving. They came out within the day and used a small bobcat to prepare our driveway for asphalting. They also informed Rich that our driveway had never been paved. It was composed of gravel and tar that had been flattened to form a drivable surface.
 
Needing to use the bobcat to lay the asphalt, they left it overnight at our house. No sooner had they driven away, Rich put on his work clothes and was outside using the bobcat to do additional work, like burying a water pipe under the driveway to attach a water hose. He also smoothed out an area by the garage, which we’d used to park our motor home and cars. We decided to pave this area instead of leaving it gravel.
 
A few days later, the Poor Paul crew − four brothers, their father and a niece − showed up. They also brought a paving machine and steamroller. An hour later, a truck showed up with the steaming asphalt, which was loaded into the back of the paving machine. Working quickly, the asphalt is laid down and somewhat smoothed by the paving machine. The brothers, on either side of the driveway, used shovels to build up and form the edges of the driveway.
 
The asphalt is super hot and we were told that if you accidentally touch or fall in the asphalt, you will instantly get a third-degree burn. After an area is asphalted, the steamroller goes over it several times. Everything is done very quickly.
 
Because of the size of our driveway and the thickness in which they laid down the asphalt, we needed three trucks full of asphalt. After they were done, and for an extra price, they sprinkled and "brushed in" fine cement powder so the driveway is now medium grey cement, instead of heat-absorbing black asphalt.
 
Our house with its new "cement" driveway looks amazing! Click on the pictures below to see the difference. A duckling driveway really did turn into a graceful swan.

Great Food Inventions

04 Wednesday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Food and drink

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Prepared and novelty foods rarely catch my interest mainly because I think everything tastes better and is healthier when made from scratch. However, sometimes a food comes along that changes my mind.
 
A few weeks after coming home from the rehabilitation hospital, my entire digestive system went on strike. Simultaneously, I decided to stop taking my Hydrocodone (Codeine) pills, which probably contributed to my general malaise.
 
My doctor told me to eat BRAT: Bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. The bananas were okay. The rice was agony and I gave up eating it after a few days. I don’t particularly care for applesauce and eating plain toast is like eating an entire hard boiled egg at once. After a few chews, you wonder how you’re going to swallow.
 
My mother recommended eating boiled potatoes. Rich thought it was a good idea, but wasn’t ecstatic with peeling and boiling potatoes. Since I could barely tolerate hearing the word "food" let alone prepare it, I wasn’t about to start peeling potatoes. Rich therefore bought a box of Idahoan Baby Reds Flavored Mashed Potatoes, complete with diglycerides, stearolkyl, lactylate, pyrophosphate, sodium bisulfite, and other charming ingredients.
 
Skeptical, but very hungry, I opened a package; added two cups of water then tossed the bowl into the microwave. It was love at first bite. For two weeks, my lunch and dinner of choice was powdered mashed potatoes.
 
Recently introduced and also dear to my heart is KRAFT Grate-It-Fresh Parmesan Cheese. The container is about the same size and shape as conventional grated and questionable Parmesan cheese (it doesn’t melt so it’s more akin to plastic than cheese).
 
Inside the clear plastic KRAFT Grate-It-Fresh container is a chunk of Parmesan cheese. When you turn the built-in grater in the top of the container, incredibly thin, long strands of luscious Parmesan cheese float onto your plate like snow falling from the sky. A few twists and you have a delicate pile of cheese that melts in your mouth.
 
Finally, I’m always harping on Rich for the amount of fresh ground pepper he puts on everything. After welding a pepper grinder, you have to shovel away the refuse to find the food beneath. I purposely over-pepper food just to see if he’ll add more! And not surprisingly, he does.
 
Rich gets the last laugh because I’ve now become a compulsive "grinder." My habit, however, is more gentrified. I’ve discovered the Kirkland Signature (Costco) Lemon & Tellicherry Pepper Grinder. This delectable blend of Tellicherry (no ordinary) black pepper, dehydrated lemon peel, dehydrated onion, Mediterranean (forget Morton’s) sea salt, dehydrated garlic, and citric acid peps up everything.
 
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