Fathers Day 2009 was the
BEST Fathers day I ever had.

Last year on August 2nd mid afternoon I talked to my dad on the phone. He lives about 45 minutes away in Georgia. Dad is a retired electronics engineer with broadcast experience. We were discussing the then pending switch to digital television. We chatted a bit then wrapped up our conversation. It was the last phone call I made to him.

A couple hours later Kristie and I were at a church Homegroup cookout when we got a hurried call from mom saying dad had fallen and was being taken to the hospital. No one really knows what happened. Dad went outside to check on the weather, he wanted to see if it was going to rain. Sometime passed and mom went to check on him, finding him face down on the pavement of his driveway, bleeding seriously.

Dad had fallen face first and had fractured his skull around his cheek and eye socket. It was very serious. He had bleeding on his brain and the surrounding areas. Dad also fractured his collarbone and shoulder. It was serious enough that after only a few minutes dad was transferred from the local hospital to the Neurological hospital at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta a couple hours away.

Dad stayed there a few weeks and was then sent to the first of several care centers to complete his recovery. He had suffered serious brain injury which compounded his until then very mild Parkinson's. There have been a lot of up's and downs, mentally, physically and emotionally. And on twice between Thanksgiving and Christmas we were told he was in his final hours.

But dad wasn't ready to give up. And he has fought back. After the first of the year we were able to get him transferred closer to home and that seems to have triggered a miracle like change. Dad still can't swallow, every thing he receives is via a feeding tube, and he still can't walk, but dad has gotten stronger both in mind and in body.

Last week the doctors released dad to venture on short trips about once a week. When we ask him where he wanted to go his only wish was to go to church. So he did. After 292 days inside all dad wanted was to go to church. Dad was there right down front wearing his brown pants and sport coat and tie. The first time he had worn "Street" clothes. I know the angels were rejoicing as we sang.Pastor Todd and wife Amy

Liberty Church , dad's home church is in a massive building program the old scantuary seats around 90 to 100 people. The new one will seat 450. I am amazed 450 seats. This is in a little rural town of 850 people. At the new construction they had dad sign his name to his favorite scripture, on the stud which support the main entry door frame. It was an honor I'll always remember.

Dad was tired afterward but happy as I've seen him. We still have a long way to go in his recovery, but days like this are better than medicine. For the whole family. I am so proud.


So after almost a year of trials, I got to be with my dad at church on Fathers day. And that makes this the

BEST FATHERS DAY EVER

I have grown rather slack with the blog lately. I could make various excuses like I've been more involved in the day to day remodeling of my parents home, and managing the affairs of my father are taking a lot of time. It's tax time of year, for him and for me. Dealing on behalf of dad with the military retirement system, social security, the medicare system and the VA
( Veterans Administration) and the other various agencies is exhausting. They all have confusing, and confounding rules with plenty of hoops to jump through. Then there is an almost over whelming project for work. Yeah my well oiled personal system has seen too many recent changes. I could continue to list maybe 1000 great excuses. But the real truth is I have become sorta lazy about writing. Also I am afflicted with that silly social media disease Twitter. I have plenty of things to say. My notebook has 20 pages of blog ideas ready to go and there are maybe 75% finished blogs saved to my blog draft file. One massive catch-up posting a week doesn't cut it for me so I will try to do better.
Lately have been traveling back and forth "across the river" to Georgia as my father-in-law puts it. A lot! That involves driving along the shore line of Lake Hartwell and crossing the bridge next to the dam. I have noticed a big change in water levels over the last three weeks. Just a couple months ago our lake resembled a pitiful little pond. My friend Jane posted some photos on her blog that showed the situation near her home very well. From the plane flying over the lake makes the big picture clear, and truly showed how bad the situation had gotten. Not only were people with lake side homes suffering, but most related industries have really seen hard times. Many many ramps have been closed and most docks sit high and dry.

The recent rains ( and snow ) along with a major change in the Corp of Engineers lake management policy has quickly made a big, noticeable difference in the lake level. And Lake Hartwell is a big lake, with over 960 miles of shoreline. Just two months ago the lake level sign near the dam was more than 10 feet out of the water. Yesterday afternoon not only was the sign back in water but it lacked only a foot or so until the part with the level markings get wet again. That still leaves our beautiful lake about 11 feet below full pool. We've a long way to go, but it's a start

Chicken Truck, Chicken Truck, behind it I'm stuck Chicken Truck, Chicken Truck, ain't it just my luck Chicken Truck on Highway 29 Well I got behind a chicken truck from Georgia And the feathers were a fallin' like snow out of the sky Chicken Truck on Highway 29

- John Anderson

That's was the way I felt this morning. Trapped on the highway by a slow moving snow storm of feathers. That's a regular thing in North East Georgia the unofficial chicken capital of the world. Anyway I finally got around him passing quickly only to again be slowed a moment later by a logging truck. Never get hurry around here, because that's a sure fire way to bring out the chicken trucks, logging trucks, farm equipment and other slow moving things to block your progress.

Dad Update : It's been a long while since I updated on my fathers condition. Mainly because in the big picture not much has changed. We got dad moved closer to home and a major benefit is that he gets a lot of visitors. One of the nurses told me he is in the top 5 in visits. That is a great thing. Dad is feeling pretty good and is alert much of the day. It was night and day different a couple weeks ago but the doctor attributed that to dad having a rather nasty chest cold which caused him to sleep most of the time. Today he was laughing and acting like he felt good. That warms my heart. Thank you all for your continuing prayers.

Snow is about gone now. But we still have some on the back side of my house. They say if it stays on the ground three days you'll get more. Today is the third day. ( or forth depending on how you count ) I doubt it'll last much longer. The forecast is for 78 degrees this afternoon. It was 14 degrees and windy just 36 hours ago, 64 degrees in 36 hours. No wonder my sinus' are buggin' me.

One of the things I like about my blog hosting service is that with Blogger you can prepare an entry in advance then have it post at a specific time automatically. The bad news is for me this can lead to time stamp errors. Garbage in garbage out type things.




My Happy Birthday wishes post for Jungle Mom is one of those victims. Written two days ago and scheduled for post at the proper time. But alas I time stamped it wrong and did not notice my error until this morning.

So HAPPY ( belated ) BIRTHDAY ... Sorry I was late, but I was thinking of your special time.


P.S. I hope you are feeling better by the time you read this

I've heard of Disco fever but never Dengue fever. Get well soon.

In a heartbeat it was gone. Lost forever.

While sitting quietly sipping hot chocolate the relaxed holiday truce was shattered in an unprovoked sneak attack. While the damage to our unoccupied snow fort was major, our engineers feel it can be repaired within a few days. Fortune was with us as no vital supplies were compromised.

Surveillance cameras failed to obtain clear photos of the event, however one of our operatives in the field returned this captured photo of the so called Snow-a -saurus upon it's return from the raid.

Clearly this new escalation shows that we can never be too vigilant in our defense. Taking quick action we have moved our HQ and our battle operations center underground at a location known only to senior staff, and milkshake drinking people who detest shopping at Wally World.

In response to the newest threat we are dispatching another in a long line highly technical of top secret snow heaving weapons powered by giant rubber bands and fueled with marshmallows.

Those who dare to attack us are quaking in their dark fake fur lined lairs.

Other historical battles

Too Late



Incoming Rockets... No Problem. Notice the fly swatter.

Giant earth-based mirror... It is to laugh..... Sunglasses !!



Surrender !!!

The snowball war continues....Until NOW !!!

This morning at exactly Twenty-Seven before the hour of Eleven-Fifteen, my mostly brilliant crew of Radio Shack, Circuit City, Best Buy, and or Fry Electronic dwelling far-thinking Techno-speaking pals, gathered together and launched the "Charles Sat 1" into high earth orbit.

"Charles Sat One" is a video surveillance platform ( A SPY SAT) with hunter killer abilities to seek out snow forts anywhere in the civilized world ( soon in California too ) then render them into a giant slush pile.

Here is a highly classified look at the Charles Sat and it's secret weapon.

Snowball throwing people of the world shall now tremble.

The great snow debate of 2008 continues.

Over the early weekend it seemed my faithful opponent was on the edge of surrender. It could only be moments until victory would be mine. But with a valiant shout they were able to withstand their fortress bombardment and mount a smallish comeback. This counterstrike fell slightly short of the mark causing little real damage. But my HQ had to be evacuated briefly for cosmetic reasons.
In a situation briefing on Monday my generals and I agreed the time had come to employ more sophisticated weaponry.

The semi-automatic rapid-fire Whamo snowball launcher and most importantly the agile Sharper Image Storm crusher assault transport system.

The road to victory is through greater technology.

The great virtual snowball battle has reached a pinnacle. Allies are forming along side in epic proportions. The final end is nearing.

Though my coalition has suffered some minor hits, we shall stay the course.

Below is a secret SPY shot sent to me by one of my many undercover operatives.

As you can see the opponent's gaggle of confederates are becoming bolder. And may be creating a "super snowball" W.M.D.









A massive " Elf" ( the Movie ) style rapid fire volley may be needed to put down this uprising.

Round THREE continues

The opponent is on the ropes. The reality of 40 hours of uninterrupted "Frosty the Snowman" video shall weaken all resistance.

My virtual snow fort is ready notwithstanding some minor technical issues ( ineptitude ...naw )

Here was the plan

It started off well



but some kink in the instructions caused it to become this.









No matter with the next volley I suspect my very worthy opponent's own snow fort shall transform from this

to a shivering pile of wet frosty slush.

Then I will emerge as the new evil dictator of all Slushyonia ( slushy ona ya ) and rule the virtual world of .....

Ok Ok Ok !!

I will be in charge of the TV clicker. A man's right guaranteed by federal and moral law since the beginning of time ( or the last five years ... whichever is shorter )

On to victory

Victory is mine..... Almost

My snow hating victim ...er ahh Friend
has returned with a strike of equal force. But with an athletic ability equaled only by Jabba the Hutt, I was able to avoid a direct hit and emerged mostly unscathed.

It's time to now rally the troops

Let the second volley fly !!!Unleash the snowballs

What is that white stuff I see falling from the sky? I don't see much yet butI am pretty sure it's not just my eyes playing tricks. Yep it is snowing here today. Just a few flakes, and that's not sticking. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

Dad Update: Life on the roller coaster of emotions continues. This past Thursday we visited with dad for thanksgiving. He was doing pretty well and when we left to go home I was in good spirits and feeling pretty good about him. That was at 6:30. Around 10 O'clock dad became very restless and once again pulled out his feeding tube. After trying to reinsert it for about an hour with no success, and noticing dad had begun labored breathing the center called for the EMT's to transport him to the hospital. He was readmitted once again. Stabilizing dad took most of the night. As it was a holiday weekend official reports were hard to come by so I hopped back in the car and drove back down.

As of late Sunday night dad is doing fair.. His lungs seem clear and he is alert. In fact the most alert I've seen him recently. But there are two conditions of serious concern. Dad's foot has become infected at the heel. This appears to be a result of the heel rubbing and creating an open wound while elevated. Test are being done to determine how bad the infection has spread and if it has made it into the bone. The second issue are two blood clots, one in each leg. Those are near his knees and can't be treated with anti-clotting drugs because of his healing brain injury.

Obviously both issues are serious. We appreciate your prayers on his behalf once again. Also remember my mother who refuses to leave dad's side. She is not up to this task, but insists nonetheless. Pray that she'll have strength to endure here and keep a positive attitude around dad.

It's COLD outside today. I think homemade soup is the order of the evening. So I gotta run and set the pot to cooking.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!!

I hope you all had great one. We all have so many things to be thankful for. As I said in a post a few days ago this has been an unusual year for me and my family. We had highs and lows sometimes in the same days. But we've seen it through with Gods help and guidance.

We celebrated our blessings a little differently this year. Dad is still in the rehab center and not currently allowed to leave except for doctor visits. So we moved our family get together to my sisters home which is closest to where dad is. It started early yesterday and continued this morning as Kristie prepared a massive feast worthy of kings. We hauled it all down to sis where she added her own cooking delights. Needless to say no one went hungry. While things were done in a lower key style it still seemed like Thanksgiving for us except dad's absence at the table leading the charge to eat until you burst.


Quickly as soon as we all had our fill and dishes were cleared we all piled into our cars and dashed off to be with dad.

He is still restricted to a feeding tube. He's been that way for four weeks now, since his last close call at the hospital. But next week we hope he'll be green lighted by his doctors to return to eating. It'll build both his strength and his moral. Dad had a great day today and all enjoyed spending time together.

God has blessed this family, and honored our prayers concerning dad. This situation has taught me so many lessons. Most of all it has taught me NOT to take for granted things in life.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. And I pray that you remember the real reasons for the celebration.

DAD UPDATE

It started with a distorted cell call, dropping out badly. It was my sister on the road and calling about our dad. Through the distortions, drops and static I was able to make out that dad may have had a massive stroke and was in serious danger.

That was a total shock. We had moved dad to the hospital a few days previous when he was having labored breathing and a raspy cough. At that time the rehab center was concerned he had congestive heart failure. That turned out a false alarm and it was just the ordinary but severe congestion that comes with the change in seasons. He seemed to be recovering. Then this.

Immediately I called his hospital room and the nurse picked-up. Though she was busy she took the time to talk to me. There was obvious concern in her voice. I could hear other people working in the background. She told us the entire family needed to get there fast. We dropped everything and jumped into the car. We headed out in the middle of the night, wondering if dad would be ok when we got there.

It’s an hour and a half drive in the best of conditions. I’ll not tell you how long it took, but thankfully God was protecting us from possums, cows, deer and other night creatures. We arrived and finally found an open door (it was late night). In his regular room dad was sitting-up in the bed and talking. The early tests were ruling out a stroke. It was another false alarm. A prayer answered. But the danger was very real. Dad’s blood pressure had dropped so low that for a while they thought he would not make it. He did, the problems were a result of reactions to some meds.

Dad is more or less back on track after all this. There have been a couple other related setbacks but his outlook is good once again. But for almost two weeks it has required almost continuous monitoring. I have fallen well behind once again with everything, including my blogs. But I am now back home and will soon be catching up.

The good news is that we got dad placed in a much better rehab center. They have proven caring and are proactively involved in his recovery.

Please continue to remember my father in your prayers. Not only for his eventual return to a normal life, but that we as a family make the correct choices during his care.

Dad Update:

Once again quicker than I could return home to request it my prayers concerning dad have been answered. This past Friday we got a call from the care center where dad takes his rehab that they were admitting dad to the hospital because of suspected heart failure. Needless to say we dropped everything and dashed off to meet him in the ER. Dad has no history of heart related problems, but it was scary thought

It turns out to be a false alarm but it's always better safe than sorry. Dad does have some serious breathing issues and is still in the hospital undergoing treatment for that. But they appear to be related to the sinus' and throat and he should recover quickly. As a part of his treatment however they gave dad some medications which cause him to become very agitated. So for the past couple nights we been sitting, holding and helping prevent him from hurting himself while in this restless state. It is an exhausting task.

But today dad is much improved, up and walking around with minimum assistance. A prayer request answered before it was even asked for.

God is great.

"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B."
--James Yorke, mathematics and physics professor


Time for plan "B". I am off to White Jones for lawn mower parts in the morning.

The grilled pork chops absolutely rocked

The photo of Sherlock Holmes in my previous post is actually the incredible Jeremy Brett who stared as the famous detective in the BBC Granada series back in the 90's. For most people he IS the definitive Sherlock Holmes. They made forty-one episodes and all are amazing. I bought the entire series on DVD and watch them over and over. Since they tend to stick very close to the original story lines I sometimes keep my Conan Doyle volumes open and follow along. And I never watch one with out my Encyclopedia of Sherlockiana handy.

Actually here is a shot of the real Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in the sitting room at 221b Baker street, London.

Bet you did not know he looked so much like me

Kristie and I visited there a couple years ago .. Yes the actual address is 221b Baker Street London.

















Hi Taco Girl you rock

Dad Update: We had wonderful news back at MCG hospital Wednesday. We all traveled the 2 1/2 hours to be with dad as he once visited the neurosurgery clinic for a follow-up visit with the doctors. His fresh C.T. scans confirm the swelling and bleeding on his brain has stopped and is reducing. They also show that the additional concerns we were watching have disappeared and are no longer a factor.

What this means is that as soon as he is a little stronger dad can safely enter much more aggressive rehab and that translates into heading home once again. The doctors still refuse to put a time line on this but we all know he is much closer than before.

Prayers are being answered.

As promised here is more DecembeRadio at NewSpring last Sunday.

All the photos here were taken by my friend and team partner Wayne Richardson

I don't think too many people realized there was going to be special music this week. Here is a typical Sunday crowd.





This one was shot from the balcony





Here is a shot of the production crew and the band, Can you spot me? Hint: it's very early in the morning.

See I really was there on Camera

Wayne shot this one standing right beside me on the camera platform. I had pretty much the same view all four services.

Isn't this a cool shot? We use two large screens in all our services

Another shot of the band and the production crew early Sunday morning just before run through.

and finally

A hiker has found the wreckage of Steve Fossett’s plane. He’s been missing for more than a year after he took off on a routine flight on Sept. 3, 2007. The sheriff’s office has confirmed the plane was Fossett’s. It appears he flew head-on into the mountain side, near Mammoth Lakes, California Most of the plane a small two seat Bellanca was destroyed upon impact. The main portion of the wreckage was found around 9,700 up the side of a 10,000 foot plus peak. The crash was a nonsurvivable.

The Transportation Safety Board will use a team to recover the wreckage as an aid to try to determine the reason for the crash. The investigation could take several weeks or maybe even months.

I will be following the investigation as it progresses and will be very interested in the final report.