Great PET Job and Wedding...

The results came back from my PET Scan. It was all totally negative, from the base of my skull to my mid thighs. So, that is great news - I am totally cancer free right now. This is something that few people can say and prove it...

The device they used was the latest and greatest technology that combines the PET scan with CT scanning detail at the same time. The PET scanners results look sorta like the lights of a far off city from a mountain top. All the radioactive material they inject into the blood shows up with any high concentration areas showing up much brighter. The problem was that it was hard to see exactly where the light was coming from in the body.

Now, with the addition of the high quality CT scan images that are taken concurrently with the PET scan images, the doctors can identify 'hot' areas with the PET scan and then go directly to the associated CT images to see all the detail of exactly where and what was going on.

There are only a few of these new combined PET/CT units around the country and we have one here in DaHo. Well, at least on some Thursdays... It's on a big truck that they drive around the region as needed.

So, that takes a really large load off of my mind. Every time any weird stuff starts to happen, its real easy to be concerned about it after having been around that block before...

So, on this Wednesday, we are off to Boise for a pre-op appointment with my ENT. Then, on Thursday, I get operated on to check out this 'pouch' in my throat and to get my throat dilated so I can swallow better and not have so much trouble with food and pills. He is also going to do a big time scope job and check it all out. I will have to be out for this one. But, after the PET results, I am not worried about there being anything too bad being discovered.

Roberta's wedding was great on Saturday. It was at her long time local 'Church of Life' and was a 'comprehensive' ceremony. I video taped it all and it lasted over 30 minutes. I was afraid that the minister was going to miss something important, but he didn't, he got them all... Vic's two sons stood up with him, but the oldest one didn't show up until after the ceremony had started. When he got there and got in his place, and had finished tucking his shirt in and all, the minister stopped and said "Well, better late than never - Right?" and the place cracked up. There were a lot of family and friends there and it was a very beautiful ceremony.

They had a great cake and refreshment ceremony after the wedding, followed by all the presents being opened. All in all, it was done very well and was over before lunch. They were all packed up and were going up into the mountains for a 'camping honeymoon' at Roberta's request. All of us here in DaHo wish them well...

Lots of fun...

Not much 'exciting' happening here in DaHo. Pam and I took the motorcycle up to Jackpot Nevada last Sunday for a ride and ended up actually bring back more than we took - a unique experience...

I went fishing at the lower dam on the Snake River for large Sturgeon and got ran out by a water dump. While I was there, they opened up the flood gates, with sirens and everything, and slowly flooded the fishing area. It was quite a sight.

Yesterday, I had to go to get lab tests for the upcoming operation at the local hospital. Then, today, I got a call from the doctor's office that they were suppose to also do a EKG, which they didn't do, so back I go again.

They installed the new tile bathroom floor the other day. It was not done right and the end result was that they came back and removed all the new tile and are going to redo it tomorrow. They also have installed the new granite countertop in the upstairs 'Guest Suite' bathroom and it looks great.

This Saturday, Pam's sister, Roberta, is getting married up in Sun Valley. Pam is going to be the bride's maid. So, early Saturday morning, we are driving up there with Pam's mom to the wedding. There will be more on that event and pictures next week.

Last night, I went to the weekly handicap tournament. I again got beat badly due to my advanced handicap - its just not fair (grumble, grumble...) After I got beaten out of the tournament, I got into a 9-ball ring game with the two best players in the area. I learned a lot from that experience - Mostly, not to do that again...

It's been cooler here over the past few days. It's pretty dry, so there have been some area fires, but all in all, the weather has been good, for DaHo...

Heavy PETing...

Yesterday, I had my PET scan at 10 am. They are always such big fun. They gave me a sedative when I got there which slowed me way down until late afternoon. They install an IV and put in the radioactive sugar stuff. It comes in this large lead shielded syringe which is always weird to ponder. Anyway, after that, you have to stay still for about 45 minutes so the injection can go all through the body and be
'feasted' on by all the various body parts. As I said before, 'high growth' areas, such as tumors and/or cancer, will consume high amounts of the available radioactive sugar substance. Then, its off to be strapped down onto a narrow automated table that is then positioned and moved back and forth within the narrow, long opening in the scanner. Its definitely a 'closed' unit and is quite confining feeling. You are in there for about 40 minutes. Being a neck breather, and having periodic and unscheduled maintenance requirements to clear out my stoma (hole in neck), using my hand, this is worrisome, since my arms are secured at my waist so I will fit into the scanner 'hole'.

Anyway, all went well and I came home and slept most of the afternoon. We will have to see how the analysis comes out and what additional fun ensues...

Then, in a couple of weeks, I have to go to my new ENT in Boise for an overnight two day event. After the Barium Swallow i did a couple of weeks ago, the doctor wants to do a esophageal dilation and check out the pocket in my throat. I have to be put out for this one, so it should be big fun again. The only good news is that the new Cabela's superstore in Boise will be opened then so we can check it out that evening. Its suppose to be the size of three football fields and will be a great addition here in DaHo...

Getting back to 'Normal'...

Yesterday, I took Oliver back to Boise for his flight home. All went well - The Boise airport is so much easier than the large city airports. It was hard to see him go after all the fun we had, but I must say I am looking forward to some physical recovery time. I'm not as young as I use to be...

So, today I did some chores that have been on the back burner. I also took the shotgun down to a local gunsmith to figure out why it wasn't working properly. I found out that the shells we used didn't have large enough loads to make the gun eject and reload properly - Go figure...

I was checking out the 'estate' grounds and saw a bunch of 'tracks', covered in dead grass, in the lawn. It's from vols, these little mouse/rat like creatures that have invaded the lawn. They have been around for a couple of years, but have never attacked the lawn before. So, I put out some vol eradication stuff and hopefully they will all go away before they do any more damage.

Work was suppose to begin on the new granite and tile work in DaHouse today, but I guess the installers have gotten behind in another job and it won't start until next week. I wish someone would have told me about the delay. If I wasn't so worn out, I could have went fishing today to catch one of those large river Sturgeons - which is my current goal.

Thursday, I am having a PET scan. Its like a CAT scan, but first they inject you with radioactive sugar stuff and track where it goes. I guess they can check for any cancer or 'high' growth areas by looking for concentrations of the radioactive material. I haven't had one for three years, but this will be my third one and they are always BIG fun. The down side is that they often produce 'false positives' that must be researched and resolved. I put it off until after Oliver's visit so there wouldn't be any 'issues' to cause concern during the big trip.

Oliver has grown so much since last year. He continues to grow into an outstanding young man. We are very proud to have him as a Grandson and enjoyed having him stay here with us in DaHo...

Oliver's Visit - Part Six - Sun Valley

Yesterday, Oliver wanted to go do some World Class Fly Fishing for his last full day here in DaHo. So, off we went North to Ketchum and Sun Valley, where all the rich and famous come to play, fish, and all that other stuff they do. They build little log cabins for their visits (that usually sell in the $5M to $20M range) and all fly in on their personal Lear Jets - you know so they can ruff it like a 'normal' person...

I was telling Oliver about the Lear Jets and later we went past the airport and he saw all of them. There were probably 10 of them of all sizes visible on the ground and as we drove past, three more were landing. Life is hell in Sun Valley...

So, we decided to go down this little road in search of a 'World Class' place to fish, and ended up driving for a few miles around lots of very nice 'ranches' and ended up taking this river rock covered little side road that ended up real close to the river where a bridge had been washed out by all the flooding this last year. It was a really beautiful place to fish. There was shallow water and deep places and we could see fish waiting for dinner under the bridge. We decided to fish there, but first wanted to get some lunch and check with a local fishing shop for the 'scoop' on what flys to use there. So, we ended up at the only place that we knew, McDonalds for lunch. There, I met our neighbor and his wife that lives about 1/4 mile from DaHouse - strange.

After lunch, we drove around to show Oliver some of the 'sites' of the area and ended up at this 'World Class' fishing shop. If there was a 'Fishing Shop' on Rodeo Drive, this place would be it. It was worth the price of admission just to check it all out and listen to the salesman talk. He was quite a guy...

Then, we drove back to the little place we had found to fish and got all ready to fish with our waders and new flys and all. We sprayed lots for mosquitoes, since they were everywhere and we had got bitten a little on our first exploratory visit to the river. Oliver had killed one in the car that had been visiting one of us...

When we got to the river, I decided to stay around the bridge and Oliver decided to venture north to find a big one. It was a beautiful place but there was lots of trees and brush down and in the water all over from the flooding last winter.

The first fly I used was one of the new ones that we got. It seemed to attract a lot of interest and I hooked up almost immediately. The fish broke the fly off and that was that. I then went down by the bridge and after fishing for a while finally did catch one of these 'World Class Trout' - See the picture below...



It may look small, but don't let that fool you. It was at least 5" long and a real fighter... Actually, I didn't even know that it was on the line until I tried to cast my line...

A bunch of people showed up to play in the water and with their dogs, so I fished for another hour or so, and I got tired so I started looking for Oliver. He was coming down the river and we met up and went back to the car. He said he had been up the river about 1/2 mile and had been checking out a Beaver dam and was pretty tired.

When we got back to the car, I noticed a red Jeep that looked familiar. Anyway, we were getting changed and stuff put away, when the owners of the Jeep came back and started to drive past us. The driver, then yelled my name. It was Pam's sister, Bertie and her fiancee Vic and their dogs. We were 75 miles from home on this little off the beaten path road and end up parking right next to Pam's sister. That was weird.

After getting home, We fixed a special dinner of Beef Fillet, Chicken sausages and Moose steak. Pam cooked scalloped potatoes, garlic bread and a great salad. Oliver even wore his Moose sweatshirt to dinner. He tried the Moose and thought it tasted pretty good, but didn't chow down on it. He did really like the fillet and potatoes and salad though. We played pool and watched TV until late and had big fun in general...

Oliver's Visit - Part Five

Friday, we went fishing again, after doing some exploring. We ended up back at Riley Creek. Oliver went wading and fly fishing while I caught a couple more Sturgeons. My boots had a cracked toe protector and was bugging me, so we took them back to Sportsman's and they gave me a new pair. While we were there, we looked around and picked up some more fishing stuff and Oliver got some paintball supplies.

Then Saturday morning, Oliver wanted to do something new, so we ended up getting out all the guns and crossbow for a little target practicing. So, we went back to Sportsman's to pick up shells and also got a clay pigeon launcher and pigeons. We had to assemble the launcher which is quite a device with a big spring for power. Anyway, we took it all out into the desert and set up targets for the 22 and air rifles and the crossbow, and the launcher for the 12 gauge shotgun. Oliver is a pretty good shot with the rifles and did very well with the shotgun. He hit about 80% of the clay pigeons which were flying pretty erratically since the launcher wasn't properly held down. His shoulder will probably be a little sore today...

Then, last night, we went to the local NASCAR races. One of my pool buddies was racing in the main event and ended up getting 2nd place. Between races, he came over and got to meet Oliver and we chatted for a while. From the stands, you really don't get the full impact of how fast these cars go. As we were leaving, Oliver and I went down close to the track, where the cars were starting into a turn, and watched them. We both got a new appreciation of really how fast they go. We were impressed...

When, we got home, we watched part of the Dallas/Seattle NFL game. We have been watching a lot of pre-season NFL football as Oliver is learning and focused on his fastly approaching football season.

I am not sure what is on today's agenda. This is his last full day here, and its up to him what we are going to do - once he wakes up...

Oliver's Visit - Part Four

Yesterday, we did more exploring and ended up at Riley Creek again to do some serious fly fishing. Oliver got on his newly fixed waders and went out into the water flowing from the fish hatchery to Riley Creek and I worked the flows from the hatchery.

First, I used the little outfit Tara and Aaron got me last month. I put on a fly and ended up catching two nice sized rainbow trout with it. There were a couple of other fisherman close by, who weren't catching much, and when they saw me catch those trout, they ended up giving it up and leaving - grumbling...

I was trying different flys and finally found one that was working well. See the picture below for a look at the biggest golden trout I caught. It was the hardest fighting trout I have ever caught. I have caught bigger ones, but not harder ones...



Oliver came back just in time to help me land it. Then he said that he had caught a bunch of them and the last one was larger than mine. But, he had no pictures, so... :-)

Then he showed me a fly he was using and I tried it. They were going crazy with this fly. I was getting hits every few seconds, so maybe he was telling the truth after all. There are lots of big fish out there...

The other night, after a day of fishing, I was walking over to sit down at the bar and looked down and jumped. It made Pam jump also, and she was wondering what was going on. Well, in the picture below is the answer.



It was about 4" long and not something you normally see hanging around in DaHouse. Pam got some BBQ thongs and put it outside and I ended up putting it in a bush. Then, Calicat left us a slightly used mouse in the hall and I have seen a couple of beetles on the carpet, all in the last couple of days. We have never seen anything but spiders in the house before. Weird...

Then, last night, Pam's mother came over and we all went out to Rock Creek restaurant for dinner and visiting. They always have great food.

Pam has been working on a big presentation for work and was practicing last night when I went to bed at 9:30 - the earliest bed time for me in a long while...

Oliver's Visit - Part Three - Box Canyon...

Yesterday, we went to Box Canyon. Its a beautiful place that you have to walk about 1 1/2 miles from the road to where it starts. Its a natural spring that comes out from the canyon wall and underground that flows at 180,000 gallons per minute. In the last million or so years, in the water's 2 1/2 mile path to the Snake River, it has created a very large and deep canyon through the rock. Here are some pictures we took on the trip...

First, this picture is looking down from the start of the canyon. About 30 feet from what you can see in this picture, there is no canyon - just flat land.


Here is a waterfall that is in the middle of the canyon.

Further along, the water creates this beautiful clear lake.



Here is a picture of the next little canyon over that shows the Snake River and the fish hatchery on the other side that the Box Canyon water feeds. Also, you can see the steep road that we had to use to get out of the canyon.


Going in to the canyon, we had to climb down the canyon wall on a path. We then walked through the entire canyon, stopping at the lake to fly fish. Then, we walked over to the next canyon and walked out. Overall we walked about 6-7 miles, a lot of which was seriously up or down. Oliver loved it and we had big fun. But, I must say it was a little more 'fun' than I was expecting...

Oliver's Visit - Part Two...

Yesterday, we went back to Riley Creek where the Sturgeon are and there is also good fly trout fishing. I caught two Sturgeon and had a pretty large one on that broke my line after a good fight. That will teach me to not check my reel drag settings...

Oliver went wading and caught 3 trout. Here is a picture of him getting ready to land one.



That pole that he is supporting himself on is part of a series that they can put boards in to raise the water levels and create ponds for the fish. It ended up catching on his waders and tore a hole in them, giving Oliver quite a thrill with the cold water...

So after that, I fished for a while longer while Oliver played with the new RC toy boat. Then, we went to Sportsman's Warehouse to get some wader repair stuff and fixed his waders. They, hopefully, are as good as new today.

Last night, I fixed Rack of Lamb, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Pam made a great salad for dinner. It was great. I was pretty worn out so bed came pretty early. Today, its yoga and we are again off to find more fishing fun to get into...

Oliver's Visit - Part One...

Oliver arrived in Boise without problems and after Pam and he hooked up, they drove home. He saw the large Fireworks factory along the way and was impressed. My pool team placed 2nd in the tournament. It wasn't our best showing, but we did end up in first place as a team and Steve and I did end up tied for first place in the individual standings for the league.

Then, we had dinner and planned our first day of fishing. We got up early to be sure to get 'the spot' at Riley Creek. I woke up Oliver with my usual wake up line - "Hey, get up, someone is catching our fish!". It always works...

So, off we went, stopping at McDonalds for breakfast. We got there before anybody else and got the spot. We rigged up for some Sturgeon fishing and Oliver started getting his waders and float tube all setup. They we caught a nice Sturgeon which Oliver fought and landed. It was a nice one about 3 1/2 feet long an weighed about 30 lbs. He did a good job and was pretty excited since that was the biggest fish he had ever caught.

Then, he went tubing and wading with his fly outfit. He hooked a large golden trout on his fly outfit. As he was fighting it, which is a challenge on a fly rod, the rod couldn't take it and snapped off the tip. He was still able to land the fish with the broken rod. See the picture below...



After that, we hung up fishing and went to a local restaurant and had alligator and Sturgeon for lunch.

Then we went to another favorite fishing spot, Billingsly Creek, to check it out and look at all the fish. We didn't fish, since Oliver's rod was busted and it was getting hot and late.

Then, we went to Sportsman's Warehouse to get Oliver a new, and better, rod and other needed fishing stuff.

Then yesterday, We took off up north for some world class trout fly fishing. We checked out a lot of spots and ended up wading Silver Creek. It was a beautiful place and there were lots of good sized trout swimming all around. Its one of those types of places that has lots of bugs, like a wetlands, and the 'hatch de jour' is what the fish are eating - and we didn't have the knowledge or flys to do any good, but it sure was big fun. That was my first time wading and was pretty thrilling.

Then, last night, we had this amazing wind storm here at DaHouse. It was the worst one I have ever seen here. Oliver was impressed. It blew everything that wasn't tied down, away and took some shingles off of the roof. Today, Oliver and I have to find all the lawn furniture and bring it back. Then, after the big wind storm, we had to clean out all the dried bushes from the front of the house that filled it up. After that, the power went off and we had to use candles and flashlights. It was quite a storm, but only lasted about 10 minutes or so.

Well, its getting late and is time to go do my 'famous' wakeup line...

The County Fair and Pig Wrasseling...

Last night we went to yet another event that we had never seen before at the local County Fair. Its called Pig Wrasseling. The basic deal is that there is this fenced in pen, or 'ring', with a very wet mud filled bottom. The contestants consist of 4 person teams that are grouped by age and/or sex - ranging from the 3 to 6 age group, to adult females or males, and everything in between. They have these trailers full of pigs which are sized to fit the contestants and are oiled down prior to the event. The pigs are then placed in the pen along with a plastic barrel. The contestants are given a starting line, depending on their size. Below you can see the basic setup...



Then, it all starts. The contestants must jump into the pen, confine and grab the pig, and lift up and put the pig into the barrel, ham side down. The events are timed and the the teams that get the pigs in the barrels the quickest win 'fabulous' prizes. Its hard to 'grasp' the excitement in still pictures, but the videos are too large to email, so hopefully the below pictures will give you an idea of how it went...





We didn't stay for the whole thing, but the top time for the adult women was 10.79 seconds - that's really slinging Ho Pork...

Another pretty funny thing at the fair was in the Commercial Products Building. There was this booth that was selling hearing aids. I walked past, and the girl sitting in the booth asked me "If I wanted any information or had any questions?". I walked over and said "What?". She again asked me the question and I looked at her and said "What?". After about three trips around that block, some of the local vendors were laughing and she finally figured it out and asked me, "Your kidding right?". I again said "What?" and started snickering. She has a lot to learn about hearing aid booths...

I got a 10' Sturgeon rod and am ready for Grandson Oliver's trip here this Saturday. I would have gotten a larger one, but that was the largest one that would fit in the Jeep sideways. That's how we analyze needs here in DaHo...