LDKBox

Hi there out there in Internet land.  Long time no post.  No excuses here on my part.  I simply did not feel up to the challenge for quite some time.  Again no excuses.  Hmm…who am I trying to convince.  At this point anyone who may read this most likely would understand what I am trying to say.  Those who do not know me most likely will think what they want.  Oh,  I almost forgot,  this is a blog for me to send out this message of …hmm..what is the message.  I remember …I am supposed to express my feelings.  Well,  I guess I did not have any feelings to express for some time.

That would not the be the case in this instance of my blog.  Today marks the end of a two week stint in Iowa and other points of interest.  Experiences that will be forever cemented into my son’s memory to mark something special in his life with his aunts, uncles, and cousins from the Hage side of the family.

Everyone one of my siblings gathered in Inwood, Iowa to have an estate sale of my Mother’s personal belongings, pictures, assorted cookware, furniture and whatever was left after Kim had packed up the entire house into boxes.  Kudos to Kim’s wife Judy for all the work that was involved in getting everything packed up and stacked for a quick line up for the the sale that would be held on the 6th of July. 

Thanks cannot express the gratitude that I have for all that had a hand in completing the task of setting up for the sale.  My brother,  Kim,  had his whole family there to aid the old uncle(me) that could not really keep up with anyone.  Believe it or not I did not try to keep up.  Yet, I did what I was able to do and felt sheepish in it, I must say.  I slept most every afternoon while everyone else was doing something that either involved the estate sale,  food preparation for  up to forty people, or golf.  It has been a very long time for this old dirt head to have be inundated with so many varied and tasty food dishes at every meal.  I had potato salad every day that I was there and the container only shrank to a two quart dish after seven full days.  I was so sad to see the end of the potato salad.  There were a lot of other salads during the week but this potato salad had that rare combination of salad dressing, potatoes, and eggs.  I do not think that I had had one spoonful of potato salad that did not have a piece of hardboiled  egg .  Now that is what I call good potato salad. 

More tomorrow with stories of LD and swimming,  cousins and fireworks, aunts and uncle aplenty, friends from the past and continuing into the future.  Plus stories of storms and travel all to come in the days ahead.

Comments (0) Jul 13 2009

Upon wakening this date I came upon the dog(Nick) anxiously awaiting my appearance in the Kitchen.  At least I hope he was anxiously awaiting my arrival.  That is why we have animals is it not.  To be fooled into thinking they are happy to see you.  Well,  it is working on my end.  Nick was HAPPY to see me.   It is my story and I am sticking to it.  So we went out into the back yard.  One would think that playing fetch would be a happy occasion for both the master and the pet.  You have to know that my pet does not want to play Fetch.  He would rather play Keep A-way.  Very frustrating on my part.  I refuse to chase the dog.  Enough said on that particular instance.

LD has started swimming lessons at the local Boy’s and Girl’s Club in the area.  This is a new and wonderful facility.  The Optimists of the area have taken the club under their wing and support it financially.  LD will be spending a large part of his summer attending activities sponsored by the Boy’s Club.  Public school ended the previous week and LD was looking forward to the summer activities.  Yet on Sunday the day before the swim lessons were to begin he entered the kitchen and informed me that he had done enough learning for one year and that he would not be attending swimming lessons this summer. ( Even as I type this it is hard to stop laughing ) Well I kept my composure and kindly let LD know that swim lessons were not an option.  Monday arrives and it is nothing but complaints about having to attend swim lessons.  Tuesday is another day and…another LD for this date it is nothing but roses coming out of LD.  “Boy,  I am sure glad that I am going to swim lessons.  Gosh is this fun.! Did you see me swim, Daddy?”  For me this little story is why I love being a Father.

At the end of the month LD and I will be going to Iowa.  It is going to be a Father/Son adventure.  We will be trying to do tourist things as we go.  Camping and cook outs will be the order of the day.  Since the dog will be with us we are not even going to try a hotel.   We also will not be using the interstate to travel back to Iowa.  We will be visiting small town USA .  A part of my life that I would like LD  to experience but know in my heart that it will pale to my memories of the life of my past.  We will try never the less.  With all of the cousins, their parents, the farm animals, and the fourth of July activities in Inwood, Iowa I think LD will have a very memorable experience that he will share with his dog and his Dad.

Comments (0) Jun 11 2009

Hi there everyone!!  Since I last posted I have been to the brink.  Having been there I can honestly say that I do not like that particular area.  So since I have done that I really hope that I do not do it again.

I have been losing weight since January.  Then in May I got a cold.  I did the normal thing and took a bunch of over the counter aides to help mask the cold symptoms.  Those items did a good job or masking.   The problem sits,  as I see it,  in my bodies ability to cope with all of lifes obstacles.  My bodies will not adjust as it once did.  How many times in my life have I willed my body to do something even though my body was telling me to do something entirely different.  I am not able to do that anymore.  Now my body fails my mind.  Fighting the cold symptoms and continuing my normal life is not an option for me any more.  At least that is what I have come up with since my last appearance at the emergency room the other week. 

I have been fighting weakness of my body.  The doctors have finally come to a consensus that I need to do something about my thyroid.  I have been taking a medication for a few weeks and it seems to be having an effect.  All I can really tell you is I am feeling better.  I wish that I could say that I am feeling stronger.  I do not think I will ever feel strong again.  The last statement probably has more relevance to my road to recovery than almost anything else that I have done since completing the chemo and radiation treatments over two years ago.  It is really all a mental thing.  Gosh I hate it when all the responsibility rests in my brain. 

LD and I will be returning to Iowa for the 4th of July activities and meeting with family.  Poor LD will have cousin over load this year.  I look forward to the drive home when LD starts talking about all of his cousins.  I know he will have all the names on the tip of his tongue and I will try to keep them all strait.  Which is impossible for me to do.  My memory is just that …. a memory.  I try to keep things strait.  Yet I find that asking questions repeatedly is the best way for me to keep up.  Yet that is a slippery slope  because I can get in trouble for not listening when in fact it is not a problem of listening but a problem of remembering what was said when I was listening.

UPDATE:

All lawn and garden projects have been implemented.  I managed to kill the peas.  Stymie the potatoes.  Shrink the three onions that decided to grow.  I did get some string beans that were good.  Unfortunately a two foot row only produces so much product.  We did get a meal serving out of the crop.  I have three stalks of corn that will be knee high by the Fourth of July.  My carrots are growing but seem not to be growing large.  The one shining spot for the garden is the spaghetti squash.  These were seeds dried and germinated by Ellen, my wife.  These plants are growing as if the were demented.  Ellen and I have come to the conclusion that the seeds of the other plants were old thus producing sickly plants.   Even though we did not produce enough to justify the cost this year.  Next year the costs will be lower and the experience will be higher and the outcome will be a better harvest.  All in all it has been fun to watch everything grow.  It is the same feeling that I felt as a young boy when I watched all the fields change each day as I went to school.  I know it now.  I did not know it then.

Comments (0) Jun 10 2009