A New Deck has dawned!

Our construction remodel project started in March of 2001 and was completed in August 2001.. and the process gave us a temporary back porch stairs.. they were of just basic grade wood and pressure washing was there only saving grace... and while I don't currently have a starting picture of them, they are ones to forget.. I'm sure there in one of the kids HS graduation party pics... ha ha ...

Brians crew was laid off last week and so he and Greg purchased the redwood on Sunday for Brian and his sketched up changes for the new deck.... below is the picture story of finished back to start..

It's beautiful - the kids and the deckthe happy carpenter who did a fabulous job in two days of demo & construction

Brian gave me the honorary "last nail" in the last board

the clean up has begun.....
The new deck is now flush with the door jam whereas the "temporary" deck was 3-4 in. lower

pounding the braces into the cement with ammo that has no gunpowder (per Brian's explanation)

the new deck is 9 ft. wide vs. the temporary deck that was 4 ft. wide

this is the view from inside the slider door

At 8:00 pm I told him to quit but he said "I have lights" and worked til 9 pm

a man and his tools

this was a slab of cement that is directly behind the house from our remodel in 2001 where the kiddies put there signature and handprints. It was just below the contractors "temporary" porch and was uncovered.. long enough for a picture and than again placed under the new porch

Union break time

back to work - and such good looking workers!

you pull and I'll be pushing
the happy crew during a break
they need something to do.....the supervisor doing supervisor kind of work from the chair
a revolt against the self professed "supervisor"
his able bodied assistant who was studying in between each board
the craftsman at work
progress being made
day one - and first picture I captured

Saturdays are wonderful gut..

Yes, I am currently reading a book about Amish families and love some of the "terms" they use, like gut for good.. so now I've used it. There are others, but wouldn't work in this blog..

Last night Greg said "he only needed 10 minutes for an after dinner nap and advil" and than he'd be ready to go to Home Depot with me to get the flowers for a project I was doing today... well, when I went up to see if he was ready to go, it was so obvious he wasn't going anywhere as he was OUT completely! Had a bit of a headache.. So I headed to Home Depot on my own and got it all together pushing my flat cart fully loaded. And I must say that Home Depot didn't help by making me walk to the lumber section for a flat cart and than all the way back to the opposite side for the garden section which was barely lit.. I had a scrip card or I might have just left for Lowes.. I had taken pain meds ahead of time in anticipation and was looking forward to the heating pad by the time I was done, for sure.. but mission accomplished and I was now ready for Saturday.. When I got home, I anticipated help waiting for the unloading of my stuff, but house was dark and Rip Van Winkle was still slumbering.. ha ha but I'm no shrinking violet so took care of it. Soon he groggily came outside while I was filling the flower bed with potting mix and talking to Shane who had just returned from golf tournament. I still love the guy...

This morning Greg left at 6:30am to work with our Church in Compton cleaning up 30 projected work sights with 1200 people.. He said it was a great day and the house that he worked at was probably the first one he's ever worked on that was in fairly good shape to start and they just repainted, landscaped, and it really looked good when they left. He painted trim above his head for four hours on a ladder, and so he comes home completely sore and wiped out.. justdogood.org is the website for more info on this 40 year vision for the city of Compton.

I left the house at 8am with garden tools, lots of flowers and a bucket to sit on.. An elderly friend of ours who had knee replacement surgery a month ago, but is still in some persistent pain. We brought her lunch last Sunday and I noticed that she had a lot of empty flower pots sitting on her porch.. So I called her this week and asked if I could come over and plant some flowers in them for spring and spruce up her yard? She reluctantly said okay, and today I potted about 12 large and medium containers with individual flowers, 1 gallon impatients and a geranium.. swept off her porch and hosed it all down while soaking the flower pots for a good start.. Looked nice and she really appreciated it, and the conversation while she sat on the patio was good as well. After a little rest and a drink of cold water, I headed off at 10:30 am..

Made a trip to Armstrong Nursery afterward, going there for a couple of strong wrought iron pieces for two vining plants that need some stability and some better thinking on appearance..I had seen them there before, but thought I'd find them cheaper elsewhere.. wrong, but instead of getting them, I came home with 4 sturdy vining sticks and about 6 plants for our yard. (I'm never done). Shane on my request this past week had stripped the driveway narrow flower bed of some old plants and corroding bark (eliminating this). Friday night I had also gotten 96 quarts of Miracle Gro potting mix and filled this flower bed and so it was ready for the 4 plants that I got at Armstrong.. Might add some little flowers or might not.. I also got a sunflower, and two rosemary trees for the front flower bed which is full sun all the time. The rosemary smells so good and can be used for cooking. So they are all now planted and the yard is pretty much as I want it and have no more time to dedicate to it prior to graduation. Well, okay except the vining project, but that should be just tedious hand work! And will also be pouring lots of water onto the pathetic grass to have it reasonably decent for the outdoor seating for dinner at party.. Someday I envision it to look alot different, but for now it's just as it is. I quit at 2:30pm..

After washing up, I took a seat in our room to "chill" turning on a old Sam Elliot movie, the movie wasn't all that great but who doesn't like Sam Elliot... Of course, I can't just "sit still" and so soon notice that our book shelf could use some straitening out and pull my chair over to it and clean it up.. amazing how sometimes you just get used to seeing something amiss, and don't notice it anymore.. While cleaning, came across an old book that I had tucked into it a homemade computer mothers day card from Ashley that was undated. It's handwritten note were such sweet words blessed me then and now as I re-read it.. I walked out to Gregs office and showed him my treasure.

Of course there are two projects that I should have dug into today, but this week while Greg is gone to Tulsa,OK.. I will make that my goal to get done. One is cleaning out our master closet (can't be that hard) and the linen closet in downstairs bathroom.. ugh this one I have been avoiding for some time.

Tonight Greg and I went out for and shared a Delicious Rib dinner at Lucilles Restuarant.. Made it home in time to watch the start of the Laker game and we are both wiped out and wishing we had a jacuzzi.. Greg added that as a good item for wish list just behind my wish for the new furniture.. ha ha ha ha ha ha

well, crank up the heating pad and go Lakers! Saturdays are wonderful gut

a legacy of faith...

It's been awhile since I sat down to write, but yet after today I decided to write about a woman whose funeral I attended this morning.

My good friend Sandra Mae has in the last two months buried first her dad Martin Phernambucq at age 87, and today it was her mother Phyllis at age 85.. They had been married just about 64 years.. That is a long time in a world of disposable everything. They had 2 sons (Steve and Stan) and than 2 daughters (Sandra and Sue).

They were the kind of parents whose legacy is that they loved well, trained well, and have shared their complete love of Jesus with their children who are all believing followers of Christ. Proud grandparents of 11 and great grandparents to 12.
And today they are in the loving arms of Jesus, no more constraints of this world, no more need for faith, no more of needing hope... they have only to experience love in the presence of Jesus and those who have gone before them..

Martin showed his sons how to be a Godly man, a love of his was fishing, the outdoors, camping and to his daughters how a true man will treat his wife.. He made sure there were enough working bikes/toys at his house for the grandkids and encouraged there visits. Treated them with respect and learned who each of them were and interacted well in order to speak of Jesus into there lives...

Phyllis was a generous woman with her witty personality, infectious smile, made creative crafts for boutiques in order to provide the "gift" money towards each of the kids and grandkids.. She was a garage sale treasure hunter.. loved the hunt and shared this with Sandy/Leah the treasure hunters of another couple of generations.. But Phyllis's gift was prayer warrior. And she didn't just give you a flippant "oh I'll pray for you", she did it with a perserverance. If she knew you, she was praying for you. She was inquisitive about you and asked questions and from this she knew what to pray for.. One of her grand daughters shared that this was something grandma was so good at doing, drawing from you in honest conversation about you and than be praying and checking in with you.

What an amazing family the Phernambucqs have been over the years. And yet through the celebration of there lives we are once again reminded that life doesn't need to be so complicated to be so genuinely treasured by those who we leave behind for a short time. They did all of this because they knew they needed Jesus and shared that with others.

God is so good.. and I am so glad to have gotten to know them through Sandy.

end of jury duty and beyond.... yea

Okay, so I survived three FULL days of jury duty for what was a mindless case of justice (for the state) verses a drunk driver.. Now I will just preface that if you read my previous blog you will already know that it started out as less than a fun first day. Now that the trial is over, I am free to speak of what a load of crap that "freedom" can put the system through at quite a price. And I'm sure that the interpretors/linguists who paraded in and out every 10 minutes switching off for the defendant weren't cheap. But they were annoying and distracting.

The defendant would be glad I was alternate #2 and only had to endure the trial and not vote!

The driver (who is no longer alleged) was pulled over by a motorcycle cop for non working tail-lights in the summer of 2008. In the prosecutions case, there were very view facts to confuse us with, only for the lawyers to keep going back and forth so that one could bring it up, the other to distort and than the rebuttal to remind us of the facts. He was unable to produce a CA drivers license, but he did have a CENTRAL AMERICAN ID card (that's not the same dufus). The officer noticed slurred speech, and that he smelled of alcohol, he changed his story from I haven't been drinking to I had one beer.. So he has him get out of the car, and while giving him commands to spread his feet (3 times), put his hands over his head (3 times) and he's just not following commands, the defendant pulled away a couple of times and than turned on the officer.. who took him down and made a slight bloody mess of his eyebrow on the sidewalk. We never saw the wound only that he had a bandaid to cover it.

Evidence: a) his alcohol level was .13%, 30 minutes after arrest. b) He was driving with a level over .08% limit c) resisting arrest charge; struggle was iffy as to whether he was reacting to the twist of arm or fighting (the reasonable doubt part)

Two days of hankering back and forth and the defense had one witness from the car of defendent who's story was unbelievable for what she saw/heard verses what is possible to see/hear from her vantage point and the place the officer and defendant were standing. She seemed to just be trying to save him..

So after very enchanting readings by the judge about law and interpreting law (yawn) and then the closing arguments, and than more readings by the judge as to the law (more yawning) the real jury goes to deliberate at 3pm day 3.. we the two alternates head up to the empty jury room on 4th floor to wait and yea.... watch Oprah, and about 15 minutes of the 4pm news and we're started to sense that WE ARE POSSIBLY going to have to come back the next day and we're bummed, BUT EUREKA we are called back to dept 2.. please please please don't just be calling the end of day and sending us home... But no there is a verdict - Hallelujah...

Results to three charges: two guilty verdicts related to driving while intoxicated, and with a level over .08% and a not guilty to resisting arrest.

As a funny comedian said tonight on the comedy station "you can't fix STUPID"

I'm curious as to what the sentencing will be for the defendant BUT not enough to stick around. Maybe I can google his name, but than again, maybe he's in the deportation process.. or he's just back to his old life of drinking and driving without a license...

what a day what a day..

I have been on call for jury duty this week and when I called into the jury duty phone number Tuesday night, hopefully assumed that I would be clear or I was overly optimistic. Why I thought that really had no basis, except that I am to busy at work to be away from the office.. But I was told to report at 8:30am Wednesday to the Bellflower court (how convenient .30 from home).. Now I have been known to enjoy serving on a jury trial, but the process from check in to actually getting into a courtroom is just tedious and monotonous. It can be somewhat obvious how difficult it is for some people to survive on their own out in the world when simple instructions are mind boggling for them and therefore you are the recipient of delay because of them. And than the paperwork they hand you to read upon arrival, they end up READING TO YOU in it's entirety.. (see comment one sentence prior). Perhaps this is to kill time while the courts are dilly dallying about details in pre trial motions... But I am not one for "down time" that is forced on me, nor sitting around waiting.. and tick tock tick tock it's torture.

So at 10am we are informed that perhaps 1/2 of us will be transferred to the Downey court to fill the need they have with jury trial pools.. come 11:20 am they announce that EVERYONE is going to go to the Downey courts EXCEPT for those who were dropped off or took public transit ~ they apparently were given there green one day completion notices and home they went. Why didn't I think of that, I could have ridden my bike or walked since it's close to my home.. but no, I had to drive so as to get some time in at the office afterward. We are now given a map to new courthouse and a lunch break (from doing absolutely nothing) and were to report at 1:00pm to Downey Courthouse. So home for lunch, grab a sweater and over to Downey to report like the obedient citizen I am.

Now when your supposed to be somewhere at 1:00pm I am generally of the opinion that you show up about twenty minutes earlier... well that's great except at security they inform me that the jury room doesn't open until 1:30pm here........... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! We all assemble, quick roll call, and than within 10 minutes they are calling out two courtrooms for two groups to report to.. second group I am called into and away we go...

In this courtroom they started jury selection yesterday (Tuesday) and there are 11 people still standing from that group, and it's still dragging on. Apparently they need ONE juror and two alternates out of our pool of fifteen people.. that seems easy enough.. but the questioning just goes on and on and on, cause 6-8 people have issues with the subject matter, or past jobs or we served on a felony trial (me) and need to answer really important questions.. Three people right off the bat are dismissed back to the jury assembly room cuz nobody wants them. One yokle was pretty impressed with his tawdry life and the similarity to the case and he was a sidebar more than once, and called into the hallway to explain his vague responses... Frustrating thing was he never took a jury seat cuz they both exercised a preemptive something something when he went to fill a seat left vacant.. Now really, couldn't they both have just decided that with the initial three they dismissed. Now I am JUROR #26 of 27 in line as they eventually get to filling a seat, eliminate someone, fill that seat, eliminate someone.. and so on.. as this process goes forward, I'm feeling at first like theres no way I will be put into this.. The lawyers like the twelve they have and swear them in ~ we are out of here, right, and than.... they need two alternates, and the process of the last six of us starts with dismissing etc, can you believe it, I get the last alternate seat mainly I think because #27 was not understanding the english questions nor very easily understood when he responded and so I was the last best hope they had.. BUT I'm thinking, please not me, take him, it would be good for him to participate in the justice system... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.. next thing I know alternate #1 and I are standing with our right hands up to be sworn in... At 3:25 pm...

Now, I'm all for calling it a day for the jurors, let the lawyers finish up there pre trial stuff and start in the morning.. (so I can get to the office). BUT NO, we are given a TWENTY MINUTE break, and than witness #1 comes in and we start.... During the break I asked a "yesterday" juror picked "did they ever give you an indication as to how long this trial will last?" cause I'm thinking 1 maybe 2 days tops. His response was "4-6 days" WHAT??? OMG I can't believe that and my mind is racing as to how is this possible that the case based on these charges could go that long. Hopefully they are including the two days just to pick a dang jury in that estimate.

So I'm cut loose at 4:30 for the ten minute trek to parked car and am at the office in Cerritos at 5:05.. Where I hastily put in 2 hours on a project, speak to supv about what items I need to move forward and than out the door to head to church for phone calling for the next Alpha session.. Now lets see, Friday is good Friday services at 7:30pm with family dinner beforehand at 5pm.. I guess I will be at the office on Saturday instead.. geez..

Make that $15. a day jury check out to ..........

UPS medical review committee ~ decision is in

Today an envelope came from UPS, Glenlake Parkway, Atlanta, Ga.. it was with great anticipation that I opened it and read the two page letter..........

several paragraphs of blah blah blah about medical standards and than this;

"Upon receipt of your appeal, the Committee requested that a peer physician review all submitted documentation. The specialty reviewer is board certified in orthopedic surgery. Based on the peer physician's review of the information submitted, the proposed ACI of the ankle is considered experimental and/or investigational at this time. This procedure uses Carticel implantation cells provided by the Genzyme Corporation. Their official literature notes that Carticel implantation is to be used to repair symptomatic cartilage defects in the knee only. The rationale for its use in other joints is the lack of any long term, multi-center, randomized controls or long term multi-center, many patient observations, nor is it recommended by the FDA at this time for your condition.

After a thorough review of the information submitted and the opinion of the peer physician, the Committee finds that the proposed ACI ankle implantation is experimental and/or investigational and is not "medically necessary and appropriate" in accordance with the terms of the Plan, as interpreted by the Committee. Therefore, based on the records and the terms of the Plan, the Committee has denied your appeal."

The last paragraph was a regret for the unfavorable review, and that I do have the option to bring a civil action in federal court.....

So there you have it.. The lesion will remain in place, I will not be relieved of the pain level in activity and normal usage.. But I will just have to take that risk with returning to an active life and if necessary use pain meds.

Thank you for the years of prayer in this situation. I appreciate you. Now let's move on.......

Monday madness

Well, after being home a few days from the midwest, the drastic change in weather and the exhaustion of my body collided today and I was just not very energetic. Feeling more like a hollow shell trying to function. I got to the office after a morning of deciding on and ordering announcements (late) for Ashley's graduation, she was off campus for clinicals when Jostens came with the info and apparantly the nursing staff didn't pass it onto the students. By the time I asked her about it, I am now going to have to be ready to get them in the mail the same day we receive them in 2-3 weeks!

This morning after a vacation week and supposedly on call for jury duty, I was already wishing that JURY DUTY had called my number to report.. but when it came down to it, the phone message was only to call tonight after 7pm. And again, I will not have to report to jury duty for Tuesday.. why not, I actually enjoy jury duty and getting on a trial... I know bizarre, but I am a TRU TV court tv follower and actually DVR it..

I put a roast in the crock pot this morning as tonight will be the only night we are all together for dinner, which once was a rarity and has now become the rule.. I miss the regularity of being at the table together. Ashley is leaving Tue-Thur to Las Vegas and than to Havasu until Sunday. Tuesday night we are going to the Angels game with the boys, April and my mom.. my dad is working the game so he will be there somewhere.

Last week in the midwest I landed with the temp at 24 degrees.. and it crept up to 44 at it's best. I arrived back in OC on Friday night at 11pm and it was perhaps 55 degrees, and on Saturday it was a hot flash of mid 80's.... It would have melted the saturday 14 inch snow storm of the midwest in record time.. I know that I was melting.

It's currently halftime of the college basketball finals and if I last until the end of it without having crawled into bed I WOULD BE surprised... But with the score as it is, hard to imagine that I will be missing anything!

a week in the life ~

It's been a while since a blog has been worked through but yet there has been alot going on.. and not much time to write it out .. I had a weeks vacation and used it to go to MN and see my grandma Lorraine Cook who just turned 85 last week. Decided at the last minute and was able to get a good price on airfare/car ~ who would have thought. pictures will be posted on flickr soon.

I left Saturday March 28th at 6:45am from OC John Wayne to Minneapolis, a bit of a layover before the connection and onto the Omaha airport at 3:30 pm, where I rented a car. I drove quickly to the Worthington Auditorium where my mother in law was waiting for me to meet her for a review show "Gone Country IV" that started at 7:30pm.. My father in law was in Florida and so I was her "surprise date". I wasn't sure that I could make the short time frame between landing and performance time but I made it at 7:15pm! It was a nice show. And than we stopped at the Blue Line truck stop with the four others who had tickets to the performance. So by the time we arrived at my inlaws home it was after 11:30 pm... and I was feeling pretty good for having been up since 2am.

Sunday morning woke up at 8am having laid in one position all night from exhaustion, to find that the electicity was OFF from the phone call of sister in law asking if me if we had any.. I was barely awake and so did discover the answer was no, which in rural america also means no water. But before the city kid realized this connection, I had already brushed my teeth with the water left in the pipes, and so that was it. So church starts at 10:30am and I was sooooo very lucky that "yesterday's hair" and a little hair wax and finger combing looked okay.. But while we were having breakfast and reading the paper at 9:50 suddenly the electicity starting charging through the appliances and I was glad I had 10 minutes to try something with hair dryer/curling iron to the hair.. (so vain) After church all of the Symens family came together meeting at Godfathers pizza in Windom for noon dinner and than to the house for some visiting and celebrating niece Katie's 20th birthday. Char & Jack, and youngest son Jason came from Morgan, and Gales family, and Kim were there for my visit.. which was so nice.

Monday morning I left for Edgerton, where I planned to visit my grandma through Wednesday at the Edgebrook Care Center. I made a run through Leota, to the cemetery and took a picture of the headstone of my grandparents Case and Angeline VanEssen. It was extremely windy and cold and so there was no exploring for any other relative headstones, just back into the car. I arrived at the nursing home just after she returned to her room from noon dinner. She's very quiet and reserved, hears you and has just some basic responses. So I told her about my trip; where I landed, the type of car I rented, the play I saw, how the kids all were, what they were up to, what there plans for the future were and what they were doing to pursue them and than the classic stand by of the weather as it was windy, snowy, sunny in different amounts over the three days.. I read the town newspapers to her, stories from her country magazines, Took her to coffee/cookie time in dining hall, visited with some others in the home I knew. She was very alert on Monday & Wednesday, it was Tuesday that she did alot more sleeping. I was staying Monday night in Edgerton with a 2nd cousin Dean and his wife Ardeth Fransen. Tuesday/Wednesday nights I stayed in Luverne with a cousin Rhonda and her husband Dave Wynia who are always so gracious to do when we are in the area. Wednesday morning we met Uncle Alvin/Aunt Gladys in town for breakfast and that was nice. I spent about 15 hours over the three days at the home with grandma, it's a great care facility in a small town that does a tremendous job in what is a difficult situation.

Wednesday when it came time to say goodbye, I told her that I was going to be leaving and this time for home to CA., which brought tears that I told her were okay and not to hold them in. I assured her that I would stay until she was okay or fell asleep. The smart cookie than seemed to lock her eyes on me as if she stayed awake I wouldn't leave. She settled down , for which I was than wondering how long she could manage to hold out not having slept much during that day. I stayed a little while and than I stood up and kissed her goodbye and she lets out a wail of a cry "don't go".... oh Lord I sat back down and just started praying outloud with her for peace and calm over both of us in the separation, for the life that she had led and the love we both felt for each other, for the caretakers who would be with her daily that she would trust them and that they would be worthy of that trust. That she would always know she was in my heart. She told me "thank you". It was with that I stood up and kissed her cheek, told her I loved her and than had to walk away. As I was crying down the hall, her nurse Maryann DeGroot came out of a room and I asked her to check on her.. Maryann assured me it was harder on me, which is good I'm sure, but for the time she could remember, it would be hard on her. In Gods timing, Greg called me just as I was leaving the building, so that helped to work through some emotions before driving out of town.

By the time I left, I was surely needing a good stiff drink but headed back to the Wynia farm and instead went for a walk to use some adrenaline against the head wind blowing... Rhonda and I did some talking and than we enjoyed a great dinner and some table games over the two nights..

Thursday morning as I was leaving town, I drove out to the Luverne cemetery and took a picture of grandpa Cooks headstone. I than headed back towards Windom, stopping in Worthington's Walmart for a couple bouquets of flowers for Marlys from her son and I.. This has become a regular thing over the years.. When I returned home later that week, I found a dozen red roses from Greg in our room.. he knows what touches my heart and is so good to speak to it..

Gregs dad returned from Florida Thursday afternoon and the local family came for supper at the house that night. Friday morning was a quick packing up and than I left for the Omaha airport after meeting Gale and Patty in town for dinner. It is somewhat odd to drive for hours and to really pass about 100 cars total.. the roads were good, sunshine and 45 degrees, my flights were on time and I arrived home in OC airport at 11:00pm April 3.

The next day they began to receive 9-14 inches of snow in the MN/IA/NE path I would have had to travel and so that was good to hear that I got out of dodge just at the right time.

Saturday the routine began with alarm ringing at 5:30am for a quick shower and off to the two study groups, and home to finish getting ready for a 1pm bridal shower for Steph Hyink in Temecula which is an hour twenty minute drive. Ashley was to be back by 5:30 to leave for her 12 hour shift at hospital, but we got stuck in traffic and she was too late for that. Greg and I went to dinner and than to Valley Christian High for a baseball game of friends son.. Yep, I was ready for bed when we got home but it was sort of "early" by the clock... soooo well it worked out.

That is the week in my life ~