June 10, 2015

Today started out early - Linda was up a little after 04:00 because Kojak was being a puppy and again chewing on things that he shouldn't be chewing on. In this case he managed to pull up some vinyl and fortunately Linda caught him early enough that the damage was kept to a minimum. None-the-less, she was up and there were things to be done so she didn't come back to bed. I managed to sleep in until a little after 06:00 and decided to get up, since I was the only one in bed... ;-).

I need to get up early, anyway, as I wanted to get Jason's new track chair on to the carrier, which needed to be mounted on to the van. This also meant that I had to clear things in the garage so that I could get the chair out. I managed to do this, despite the fact that Jason's truck was parked right out side the garage door and limited my maneuverability.  I moved a bunch of things and there was my clear path. Before bringing the chair out I decided I should get the rack mounted on to the van. Because it weighs about 120 lbs. by itself I went over and asked Paris, our next door neighbor to help me with it. We had actually made this arrangement yesterday, so he was waiting for me, and it was now closer to 07:30. We were able to get the carrier mounted on to the van, with a little work and then I went to move the track chair. Everything was going great - I thought. Just as I broke the plain of the garage door, with the chair, it stopped working. The best I can figure out is that I must have had my hand on the power switch, because that was the end result. At the time I didn't know what I had done, nor did I know what to do to get it corrected. The display was not providing me with enough information, so I called the service number, and got their voicemail. I did my best to figure out what was wrong but to no avail.

I finally decided that I would instead load up the paramobile. We were headed to Nick Kimmel's ground breaking ceremony and this would be an alternative that would work in place of the track chair. Problem is that the paramobile has a set up like a trike with the rear wheel mounted in the center and the ramp on the carrier is not set up for a 3-wheeler. I had to jury rig a ramp that would hold it getting up to the carrier, and that only took a few minutes, and I was back in business. Or at least I thought. The platform on the carrier is set up for the track chair, not the paramobile and I came to discover, the platform is too small for the paramobile. Now I had to get it back down, and that was only slightly easier than getting it up on the carrier.

Now I had to get everything back in to the garage and we were running out of time. All the moving and lifting had caused me to get a little bit of a sweat going, so I also needed a shower, and then to get dressed. We finally did get in to the van, with an empty carrier on the back, and we were headed down the road. Traffic wasn't an issue, but then we really didn't know where we were going, as we had not been there before. We finally made it to the event, and it was already underway. We didn't mean to make a noisy entrance, but in this case we really didn't have much choice. The ground breaking was still done and it went off very well. The San Diego Padres even had people there, as that is where Nick is working now. The fun part is that I knew some of them and it was good to get a chance to catch up a little. We had Stacy with us and she had fun, and kept busy "helping" with a shovel digging in the dirt.

After all this, and taking a few minutes to visit and talk with a bunch of friends we decided to go on over to Jason's smart home. As it was, the contractor wanted us to go over some of the concrete work that was planned, and it was a good thing we did. Some changes were implemented and Jason was able to express his plans for how he wants to put up his fence (He wants to fence in a pretty large area so that the dogs can have a place where they can run and have fun while outside). Another thing was shown to us, and that is the flag pole location. We found out that the Gary Sinise Foundation would like to offer people a chance to buy a brick, that will be used to help build the base for the flag pole. Each brick will be "bought" as a donation and this will help with some of the costs of building Jason's house and other expenses, and at the same time provide some recognition to people who would simply like to help. For all those interested, please contact Gary Sinise Foundation Events Coordinator, Hannah Hauserman at (818) 432-8975 or email hhauserman@garysinisefoundation.org. Or you can contact me, though that would probably be a slower process.  After heading back home (traffic was really kind of heavy on the return trip, and it wasn't even 12:30 yet) took a little longer than the trip up. Once we got back to the house we fixed lunch and I went out to work on the garage and the track chair. I had received a call from the service folks and the "fix" was actually very simple, and the chair was working again. I will have to wait until tomorrow to get the carrier off though, as it is just too awkward for me to attempt to do it alone.

Finally, this evening there was a promotional ceremony at Jackie's pre-school and we went over to watch the program, and Jackie's moving along. Jason also had an appointment to attend to so he was still being kept busy. After the ceremony, we took the girl to the Olive Garden, as that is what they asked for. I was okay with that, as I enjoy the food there. We came back home and the girls simply went into their room and played until it was time to go to bed. Linda read them a couple of stories and effectively the day was over for all of us. Obviously Linda and I didn't go right to bed, though Jason did. In fact he was asleep before they were - he had had a very busy day. Thank you, for all the continued support and prayers. Take care and stay positive.


Comments

  1. Sorry you had so much trouble! Glad you finally made it.
    Always keep your eyes on the Lord! Lifting up prayer!
    Psalms 62:1-2 Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

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