Mourning Two Family Losses

It was ten minutes before 4 PM this past Saturday when I got the call. My Great Uncle Les, who was diagnosed with colon cancer a few months ago, had passed away. I was prepared for his passing because I knew his cancer was terminal. So that didn't come as much of a shock to me. However, to hear that my Great Aunt Midge also passed away, just 12 hours later of her husband, was a total shock. She had undergone a leg bypass vein surgery that day and suffered one heart attack. She was stabilized and then suffered another heart attack which ultimately lead to her passing. As you can imagine, it wasn't easy to take the news so suddenly. I had gotten to know them both very well the past ten years at least so to have them both gone in such a short span of time is a difficult pill to swallow. However, I think with them passing in such a short amount of time together is a sign of their undying love for each other. I think it was meant to happen the way that it did.

Les and Midge were born and raised in the Upper Peninsula, eventually moving to Lower Michigan to raise their family, and would often come back to the U.P. in the summer and fall seasons. Approximately ten years ago, they purchased a home to live back in the Upper Peninsula full-time. My dad and I ending up doing a lot of work on their home for them, including mowing their grass, picking up the leaves in the fall, shoveling the snow off their roof, installing a new closet in the hallway, and painting the siding on their house, among other things. For me, I ended up becoming quite close with both Les and Midge during the past ten years, more so than I had earlier when my visits with them during their trips up north were fewer. I enjoy sitting down with them, hearing their stories, and even catching up on present day events. I sure am going to miss those visits with them.

Ever since moving to their new home in the U.P., I was entrusted with the yard work. There were only a select few times since they owned their home that I did not mow their grass. They liked the job that I did and the yard ended up looking better cut with a push mower. Their yard was not an easy one to mow, especially in the front near the highway. It was a steep grade and it was necessary for me to have decent shoes with good treads to tackle such a yard. But I can say that I've had a safe record mowing their grass. There were times where I didn't get over to their yard in a quicker fashion to mow, resulting in a yard that looked like a hay field. But they did not seem to care - and I could take care of it whenever I had the chance. They were good that way, not rushing me to get the job done and paying me whatever price I asked. They always provided me good refreshments for when I was done and I always enjoyed their company. They even provided me with dinner on occasion which proved to be an extra-special treat. Yes, mowing grass was a physically exerting job at their house, but for me it was all worth it, getting the chance to spend time with them.

Uncle Les wasn't in the best of health, particularly within the last year, even prior to his cancer diagnosis. He had gotten pretty weak and frail. But he still had a great desire and interest in life. Aunt Midge had one leg amputated about a year in a half ago due to veins in her leg being blocked. It was due to having diabetes. But other than that, she was in great health. And now, they are suddenly both gone. The blow of losing them both within 12 hours of each other came as a total shock to the entire family. For me, it was like losing a pair of grandparents that I never had. Both of my grandfathers passed away when I was five years old, so I never had the chance to really get to know them. For my Uncle Les, he kind of filled that role for me. Both Les and Midge led full lives, being married together for nearly 65 years, and were lucky to spend every possible moment together right to the very end. Wouldn't it be nice for all of us to experience that? I feel blessed for having known them and having gotten to know them better these past ten years. Maybe that's why it's been a lot more difficult saying goodbye to them both than I thought. R.I.P. Great Uncle Les and Aunt Midge. Until I see you again.

A Brand New TV

I've had my eye on a new television for awhile; ever since I moved into my house. The living room can accommodate a big TV, but I made due with my 27" Toshiba that I had for awhile - the one I received as a gift from my parents six years ago. It's still a nice TV; a flat screen with a nice picture. But compared to today's TV's, it was still a behemoth to move around. And it isn't compatible to today's HDTV standards. As I mentioned, I had my eyes on a new TV for awhile but I wanted to wait until after Christmas before I bit the bullet. Now I finally have that TV I had been looking forward to having.

Best Buy opened a store in Marquette this past November and I had been keeping my eye on their sale's paper for a good deal on a TV. It seems like every week, they have a deal on a different brand of TV. A few weeks back, I was looking into the Best Buy brand on TV's, the Insignia. Overall it had decent reviews, but they weren't over the top. So I decided to hold out for a little while longer. Then, last week they had a sale on the Sharp brand of TV's, specifically the Quattron, which uses a fourth color subpixel, that being yellow, in addition to red, blue, and green. It produces a much clearer and more vibrant picture. I went into Best Buy and took a look at the picture in person. Yes, the Quattron TV's had an equally, if not better picture than the rest of the TV's. I was pretty happy with how they looked, but I wanted to ponder my decision a little more, so I left.

Not only was I looking at a much bigger TV, but one that also conserved energy. TV manufacturers nowadays build TV's with LED technology, thus using less electricity to run. The LED technology wasn't quite there last year - if it was, those kinds of TV's were way expensive. LED TV's have come down in price since, but they are still higher than their plasma counterparts. But hey, no matter what you buy in regards to LED technology, it will always be more expensive in comparison to something that uses the standard methods of powering something up. I wanted a TV at least 50" big, so I settled on a Sharp Quattron TV that was 52" in size. I suppose I could have went with a 55" or even a 60" TV, but I was satisfied with the 52". So, I ordered the TV on-line and within a few days, went and picked it up at the Best Buy store in Marquette. It was as easy as that.

You can either put the TV on a pedestal that comes with the TV or mount it on a wall. I had it on the pedestal for a few days but ultimately wanted it mounted to the wall. And honestly, it looks the best of all being on the wall. I got rid of the old clunky TV cabinet which the old TV sat on and purchased a new shelf unit that mounts to the wall where the cable box and DVD/VCR player sits upon. Everything in front of the living room takes up so much less room now, I've added more space in there. I waited awhile to buy a new TV for my house and it was certainly worth the wait. Now I'll able to enjoy the comforts of watching anything I want on that TV for many years to come. I certainly have to regrets in making that purchase.

Christmas Greetings to You

Hello all and Merry Christmas! I hope today has allowed you the time to spend it with the people that matter the most in your life. Unfortunately for me, I have to go in for a 12-hour shift in a matter of a few hours, so it's not exactly the most joyous of Christmases for me. Never the less, I was able to spend a little of my day today with members of my family, so all was not lost. And even yesterday, I had the entire day to be with a large group of people that matters the most to me. So even though when you're an adult and have to juggle around work in order to celebrate Christmas, you do what you have to do to enjoy it as much as you can. Oh how nice it would be to be able to have the week between Christmas and New Years off just like when we were kids.

It's been a particularly hectic month in a half for me, which is why you haven't seen nearly as many blog postings here as I would've liked. They have been forcing a lot of overtime on us at work lately, including the past two weeks where they had us working 68 hour weeks. When you're working a lot of 12-hour shifts, it really eliminates a lot of your personal free time. During that time, I still had Christmas shopping to try and complete as well as to find something for my mom's birthday. I did manage to find a few items on-line, but I had to resort to being one of those last-minute shoppers to get everything done that needed to be completed, in the shopping sense. No matter, though, as there sure seems to be plenty of last minute shoppers in the world out there.

I have also been trying to work on projects around the house and to keep up with the shoveling and snowblowing outside. Yes, winter is in full force here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It's amazing how quickly things can change in just a matter of a couple of weeks. The first week of December, we basically had very little , if any, snow. But then the lake effect machine started kicking in and we were even hit with a significant winter storm at one point. So yes, it's like the dead of winter around here - which isn't any surprise seeing that it's December after all. I have a couple of rooms in my house which I am looking at painting here very soon. When I have a stretch of days off coming up, I'll be looking to get that project completed. So as you can see, things have been very, very busy for me. Hopefully once we get into the New Year and beyond the holiday season, things will begin to settle down. No rest for the weary, as the saying goes!

I sure don't plan on this being the final blog posting here at Luke's Ponderings for 2010, but ya never know considering how things have gone since November. But here's hoping your Christmas holiday has been worthwhile and filled with joy. The New Year is coming upon us quickly, so make sure and enjoy the remainder of your holiday season and here's wishing you a joyous 2011. It's hard for me to believe that 2010 is just about over; how quickly the year went! Here's hoping for a wonderful 2011 here at Luke's Ponderings with plenty of new blog postings to come. Cheers!

My Dad's Accidents

My father has had his fair share of accidents through the years, some requiring trips to the hospital. Once such accident I was a witness to - and that night I thought I lost him forever. It was a harrowing experience I'll never forget but I will say this, he's taught me very valuable lessons in most of his incidents. I wouldn't say my dad is overly clumsy - he's no Tim Allen by any means. But I am sure if he could do it all over again, he probably would've thought things a little more thoroughly before each incident occurred. But that's life, isn't it? You may have regrets about certain things, but you can never go back and change things. At least in these circumstances, everything turned out alright for him.

One incident involved him cutting the top of this large flower pot with a box cutter. It was a huge pot that was very difficult to carry around. The top of the flower pot got damaged somehow - I don't remember how. Well, it was just the very top of the pot that had a chunk broken off of it and my dad was cutting around the entire circumference of the flower pot and then it'd be as good as new. I wasn't there to witness this particular accident, so I don't know the exact details as how he got cut - and I never did ask him to recount the exact details. I think what happened is the knife slipped away from the flower pot and cut him right in his left arm muscle. It definitely required a trip to the hospital for stitches, but nothing worse than that.

It was several years later that another scary incident occurred, one that could have been much worse than it was. We were at my uncle's garage, just a short drive from our home. We were dealing with this cement mixer that was jamming up and we were needing to use it (it was my uncle's and he has practically everything a person could never need). My uncle had turned the mixer on and my dad was standing in close proximity to it. As the mixer became jammed again, the handle and the spinning drum began to slowly flip over until it was in the dumping position. Well unfortunately my dad wasn't paying attention and the handle of the mixer struck him in the stomach. Luckily it only left a red mark on his stomach and didn't impale him. I think because it was moving at a relatively slow speed, it didn't stab him like it could have. Still, a very scary situation to watch as it happened. Yes, I was there during that one.

And the scariest incident of them all occurred during a cool, fall day at my grandma's farm. It was in 1994 when I was 12 years old. We had just remodeled a part of the house and had brought a ton of demolition material out to my grandma's farm and stored it in an abandoned building that was ready to cave in. My uncle who lived with my grandma allowed us to store the materials there, which then we could set on fire and burn it all. It would be like this one giant bon fire. My dad and I had already transported all of the demolition debris there, so all we had to do is go there and set the building on fire and watch everything burn. We were planning to have a good time with it, so we brought candy and sodas with us. He also brought along gasoline - plenty of gasoline. Actually, TOO MUCH gasoline. He poured way too much gasoline inside the building and the biggest mistake of all was that he lit the fire with him still inside the building. I had my back turned away from the building when suddenly there was a huge explosion and I was pushed down to my knees by the force of the explosion. I turned around to see the building in flames and me quickly in a panic wondering where my dad was. I thought he was a goner but then suddenly, I see him walking through the flames and out of the building. Yes, he was burned, but thankfully nothing too serious. Just first and second degree burns. But my god, that was probably the scariest night of my life, the night when I thought I lost my dad.

So needless to say, I have a fair share of memories involving my dad's unfortunate circumstances in life. As I mentioned, thankfully they have all turned out okay. He has a few scars but nothing that has lead him to be disabled or disfigured. He's been able to enjoy his life despite a few hiccups along the way. And I am hoping to have him around for a lot longer into the future. It's incidents like these, especially one in which you're a witness to a potential fatality, that makes you realize how precious life can be. You can't take life for granted and it's very important to live life to it's fullest. That's probably the greatest lesson of all that my dad has taught me.

Dealing with Anxiety

You honestly don't know what having anxiety feels like until you experience it first hand. I remember when my ex-brother-in-law took medication for it - and we'd secretly make fun of him behind his back for it (there's more to that particular story though, partially because he is no longer married to my sister). But having anxiety is no laughing matter - especially once you realize you have it. I have no doubt in my mind that I am suffering with anxiety these days. I've probably had it for some time but the sensation that the disorder brings has been getting worse and worse for me. Lately I just have not been feeling normal. I have been tense and worrying a lot lately - and for no apparent reason for it. My blood pressure is elevated, have been more irritable, especially at work, and have had certain bouts of headaches. I honestly believe it's related to work, although things there are better than they once were. I don't understand why people have to suffer from it but I know there are medications out there to help it. I certainly think that will be the next step I need to take.

I've had certain instances prior to this year where I've had anxiety attacks - but they've been brief and I've gotten over those particular attacks on my own. But I'm not much of a social person, especially in larger groups. Those certain situations make me tense, and most nervous. For awhile I was a fill-in boss where I work and it got to a point where I just became too nervous and stressed out to deal with that particular job. At work, especially in the industry I'm in, you deal with a variety of personalities. And when you're a boss, you try your best to make everyone happy. Well, ultimately no matter the decisions you make, you still manage to upset someone. I have to deal with a co-worker everyday who is very unpleasant to deal with and who I'd rather not having anything to do with. So to be his boss, even if it's on a temporary basis, is something that is a monumental challenge for me. So I gave up the fill-in bossing job because it became too much of a hassle and was stressing me out more than I was liking.

Earlier this year, I switched to the current crew at work that I am currently on. That's when the anxiety got to be more pronounced than ever before. It wasn't just a one-day thing; it lasted for weeks. Finally I began to get comfortable with my surroundings and the anxiety went away. Much of this summer, I was fine. But now, within the past two or three weeks, it has come back, and I really can't pinpoint a certain reason why that is. Like I said, I am comfortable with the situation at work now and my personal life is fine. So why am I feeling so lousy, like something bad is about to happen? I guess we don't understand why the brain acts the way that it does. I certainly don't understand why I am so affected by anxiety. I am a pleasant person with good intentions. Why am I targeted by this?

I have not yet gone to see somebody about this latest bout of anxiety but I think I ought to and the sooner, the better, too. No person should ever feel this way - and I'm not the least bit comfortable dealing with it, either. But I guess I am at a loss at where I should go. Do I go see my family doctor and talk to him about it? Or do I make an appointment to see a therapist? Part of me doesn't want to see anyone about it - thinking that it'll go away on its own and knowing that I'll need to take medication for it on a regular basis. Yet, it becomes a health concern for me. If I continue to ignore it, I know my health will go down hill. And I am hopeful that if I do see someone about it and get prescribed something for it, that it will change my life for the better. I guess all that remains to be seen. But yes, I have decided that I must see someone regarding my anxiety. It will lead to a much calmer life for me.

Midwest Wind Storm

It was a memorable, history-making storm that many people across the country were affected by. Some say it's the worst storm to hit the Midwest in decades and it produced the lowest atmospheric pressure on record in the state of Minnesota. Its pressure was as low as a category three hurricane - and yet, it was purely a land-based storm. What an incredible storm it was. Not only did it produce a fury of wind and rain, but it also spawned severe weather further south along the cold front. North Dakota and Minnesota were hit with early season snows, even causing blizzard conditions with the high winds. Waves on Lakes Michigan and Superior were as high as 20 to 25 feet. We probably won't see a storm like this for quite some time - if ever again!

I was in a couple of different locations through the duration of the storm. In the area where I live, we were spared the worst of the damaging winds. Don't get me wrong, the winds were still very strong. But no visible damage could be seen around the neighborhood. I have a bunch of jack pine trees on the east and north side of my property and I was certain that at least one of those would come down in the wind event. But they held strong and not one fell. Some of you may not know, but jack pine is a soft wood and they are very susceptible to breaking in high winds. I had a flag pole come apart and the American flag on it was whipping around in the storm. The flag got a bit tattered but it looks to be usable next summer. My windsock also disappeared from the hook I had it attached to, but I later found it in the backyard, the strings all broken from the wind. But that was the extent of "damage" I found at my house.

Out at my parents house a half-hour drive away, they lost power for about a half hour on Tuesday but that was the longest the power was out. A few other locations around the area were without power for a few days. I noticed part of a pine tree had come down in my great uncle's yard - the one that I mow their lawn and rake the leaves in the fall. But even out there, the damage was fairly minimal. Just a few trees down here and there and some scattered power outages. Other than that, we seemed to have survived the wind storm quite well.

Other areas of the U.P. weren't so lucky, though. Areas in the southern U.P. appeared to be hit the worst from the storm. Lots of trees and power outages there. I know many, many radio stations had gone off air after losing power at their transmitter towers. Thankfully though, it was a storm that could have been much worse. You look at the destruction many communities dealt with after severe weather moved through their respective areas. October usually isn't a month where you see a widespread severe weather outbreak. But for a storm like the one we saw this past week, anything is possible.

We can all rest easy now for the major wind storm of 2010 is all but history. The National Weather Service station in Duluth, Minnesota is calling the storm the North American Extratropical Cyclone of October 26-27. In all honesty, the storm was deserving of its own name just like a hurricane because of its ferocity. However, memories of this storm will live on for a long while as people continue to clean up their yards, their communities, and their homes from the damage. The storm definitely lived up to its hype and it won't soon be forgotten by many people.

Adults vs. Children

It's amazing how your perspective on things changes from when you're a kid to an adult. As a child, you might have thought that any adult that was in charge was against you, whether it was your parents, a relative, a teacher, or even a day care worker. You just didn't have the freedom as a child and couldn't get away with what you wanted. Oh how nice it would be if we could fast forward time to get a glimpse of what life would be like as an adult. Or even if a time machine actually did exist. I know there's always that risk of altering the past by visiting the future - but so long as you don't bump into your future self, there's really no harm in seeing what you may end up as an adult. But would any child really understand what the future may hold, no matter if one could advance time to the future?

Back when I was a kid, I always enjoyed trips to my uncle's garage just a short drive from home. I refer to it as a garage because that's basically what it is. Two separate pole buildings where my uncle stores an incredible amount of stuff in. And when I was a kid, it was like an indoor playground. One of my cousins was about my age and the other was a little bit older. But we always had a good time together. Whether it was riding go-carts and mini-bikes, to playing with matchbox cars, and even playing statues. There wasn't a game we didn't play together. And it was always special when I was able to stay over a night or two at their place because we always had a good time together. And then we grew up and now we hardly see each other anymore.

I remember discussing it with one of my cousins when I was a kid about how much fun it was to be over at his place while I was bored at my house. And then yet, he felt the exact same way as me, except that he was bored at his place while he had a blast being at my house. I guess I never really understood why that was when I was a kid. I mean, he had everything and anything to place with at his place. Heck, he was even able to swim everyday of the summer out at their family camp. Yet, he would rather be at my house. Well, I guess that was because we were together, and typically you have more fun playing with someone else than being by yourself. And it's also a new environment, a place completely different than what you're used to. And you may be able to get away with more mischief because whoever it watching you is not your parents. As an adult, it all makes sense now.

Now a days, I'd rather be at my house than out at my uncle's garage. I mean, it's nice to visit there from time to time, but to spend long periods of time there like I did as a kid; well, it would just get downright boring. More often than not I'm put to work there than anything else. And my cousins just aren't around as frequently anymore. They have their own lives and just can't come up to the U.P. like they could as kids. That's the disappointment in growing up. Things change and yet they ever rarely remain the same.

R-40 Thinkpad

I believe I discussed my attempts at getting my R-40 IBM Thinkpad working again in one of my random topic blogs. It's been a good three years since it last worked, so I decided it was worth one last shot in trying to get the laptop functioning again. I mean, when it worked, it was a good laptop. Obviously it's not doing me much good now. I decided to track down a new system board for the machine, because everything pointed to that being the problem. The machine would proceed to start up, but nothing else happened. No beeping, the screen would remain blank, and the laptop would not continue the start-up procedure. I would insert a CD into the tray and it would try loading up. But obviously the machine was not responding.

I received my "new" system board in the mail about a month back and proceeded to put the machine back together. It wasn't exactly new; more along the lines that it was used. But the outfit I bought the board from had tested it before shipment and it worked fine. After I had everything put back together, I attempted to turn the laptop on. It ended up doing the exact same thing as it did before. Absolutely no change, no difference. Talk about a frustrating turn of events. So I am lead to believe that it might be a different problem, an issue that I am unaware of and that I plan on tracking additional information down on it.

So that particular project is on a stand-still for the time being. My hope was to have a back-up to my existing desktop unit which I discussed before as recently being slow. However, that machine has performed much better lately, partly because I unloaded a bunch of unused programming. Yet I still haven't given up on getting the R-40 Thinkpad up and running. I have read recently that that particular machine has had its fair share of issues and is probably not the most reliable laptop out there. Honestly, if I can't get the problem figured out, I am not going to go any further with it and will end up scrapping the project altogether. The prices of laptop computers these days are fairly reasonable and if I feel the need for one, I can always buy a new one.

So as we all know regarding life, not everything goes as planned. I was hoping that buying a new/used system board for the laptop would solve the problem and it'd be working today. However, that has not happened and I am still planning on digging into the problem further. I am beginning to wonder if it might be a power supply issue or something along those lines. Maybe there's a faulty wire or something. Whatever the case, it may take some time figuring out. And if I don't ever figure it out, there's always the trash bin where it can end up going.

Fishing Adventures

Recently I've had fishing on my mind and how I'd like to start going again. It was a reminder of all the fun experiences I had when I was a kid and proved to be a great activity growing up. It's been years since I last cast out a fishing rod but it really would not take much for me to start going again. I have a fishing rod back at my parents house and all I'd have to do is buy the lure, find a river, and start fishing! I'm really not sure that I'd actually keep the fish because I don't really have much of an appetite for fresh fish, only when it comes to fish sticks. But still, the excitement of having a fish on your line and trying to reel it in - it's really a great feeling.

I believe the last time I went out on a fishing adventure was when my sister and I did some fishing near the old family farmhouse a short distance from my parents house. This was back when I was in high school and she in college - so over ten years ago. A river boarders the property line and there had been reports of trout in the river in the past. More often than not we never ended up catching anything, other than a sucker fish here and there. My sister ended up catching the suckers while I caught nothing. But despite the lack of catching anything, it was always a great experience being there with my sister. Now, it would be too difficult for her to break away from her family.

Those fishing experiences with my sister weren't the only ones I had. Back when I was about six or seven years old, my Great Uncle Elmer took me and my cousins on a few fishing trips. One trip it was just him and I, in fact. I was too young to really appreciate the time I had with him, but I remember having a ton of fun hanging out with him. My dad made a home video of one of our fishing trips. In the video, I had caught a fish but was having such a horrible time taking the fish off the hook. It was so slimy, gross, and dangling there wildly that I would just rather leave it dangling on the hook. Eventually my uncle came over and took it off for me - him chucking at my reaction to the fish. Now, I wouldn't have an issue taking a fish off the hook because I can grab the thing and twist the hook right out of the thing's mouth. But that was more of an issue back when I was just a kid.

I remember another memorable fishing trip when I went out on the lake at my cousin's camp to do some fishing. We ended up finding an excellent spot and caught an incredible amount of perch. Every time we'd cast our line out into the lake, we usually ended up with a bite. I remember us having a bucketful of perch before the day was out. I still remember that time with my cousin's very vividly and it's one of those trips I'll always remember.

So who knows, maybe next summer I'll get back into the swing of going out fishing again. But a lot of things have changed and even more things may be changing in my life before long. Will I even get the time to go fishing? That will remain to be seen. Whatever the case, I still have plenty of good memories regarding fishing adventures I've had in the past. And if I never go fishing again, at least I'll always be able to hold onto those.

Go-Carts and Mini-Bikes

Back when I was a kid, one of my favorite places to go in the summer time was to my uncle's garage. Needless to say, it wasn't a typical garage. There are a couple of buildings situated on a plot of land and in those buildings are stored a variety of things. One of the most enjoyable activities myself and my cousins were able to do there is to ride go-carts and mini-bikes. My uncle had two different go-carts, one was a larger, yellow two-person go cart and the other was a smaller, black one-person go-cart. And then, if there were even more people out riding, there were a couple mini-bikes to ride, which were basically small, motorized dirt bikes.

My cousins and I would go riding all over - but we never went exceptionally far away and weren't overly reckless either. But that's not to say that we didn't have a problem arise. I was riding with my cousin Craig in the yellow go-cart, him driving and I riding behind him. We were driving along a gravel road when I began to notice the go-cart slowly drifting towards the edge of the road. I think my cousin was looking at something off to the side of the road and became distracted. By the time I alerted him to what was happening, the go-cart drove off the road and stopped part-way down an embankment, just above a river. How fortunate we were that the go-cart didn't continue down into the river or even flipped over when we went into the brush. We were startled at the situation but thankful it wasn't more serious. My other cousin was riding in the black go-cart and noticed that we disappeared. He soon found us and helped us retrieve the go-cart from the embankment. I don't even remember anymore how we actually go it out of there. All I know is that we pretended like nothing ever happened and never told my uncle about it.

We had other relatives in the area that would come up during the summer time and stay. The old family homestead was mostly vacant, but served as a location for family to use when they liked coming up for vacation purposes. Uncle Norman and Aunt Dorothy would come up every summer, usually around the time of the local Homecoming Celebration. My cousins and I would often ride the go-carts and mini-bikes over there to visit when they arrived. On one such occurrence, Uncle Norman offered us gas for the mini-vehicles. Just the way he said it, is something I will never forget. "Want some gas?" He smoked for years and it gave him that rough sounding voice that's common for smokers. I don't have a lot of memories of that man, but at least I have that one in particular that I can remember him by.

Needless to say, we're much too old for go-carts and mini-bikes now and they quietly sit in storage in my uncle's garages. However, now my nephew gets to ride one of them now that he's old enough and when my dad is able to take him over there. A new generation of children are getting the chance to enjoy the things we used to like as kids. It's amazing how that works and how fast time flies, isn't it? Hopefully someday in the not too distant future, I'll have kids of my own doing the same things that I did as a kid.

Hiatus Over

I am sure the regular visitors to "Luke's Ponderings" noticed that things were pretty quiet around here during the past few weeks. I was having such a struggle staying motivated and thinking up new topics to write about, that I decided it was time to shut down and enjoy a little downtime for the blog. One week became two weeks, and thus, that was the period of time without any postings. So, apologies for those regular visitors who were looking for something to read here during that time. I feel refreshed and ready to devote my time to the blog again. If you noticed, 2010 has already became the year with the highest amount of blog topics written within it. That's all thanks to my specific theme topics during the week, which started during the summer.

I feel there is one new development that has happened in my life while I was away from the blog. I have been in contact with a girl whom I have gotten to know in a short period of time and is someone who has made me very happy. We have the potential to form a real close relationship - something I have been longing for. Right now, we are in the early stages of our relationship so I won't jinx things and say we are an item. We have a few hurdles before we get to that point. But I feel a real spark between us and I can't wait to get to know her more. She has truly made me feel happy and makes me smile every time I talk to her. Right now, I enjoy spending those kind of moments with her.

It has gotten exceptionally chilly in the Upper Peninsula ever since the calendar flipped the page to September. The 70's and 80's we experienced for much of the summer has quickly been replaced by 50's and 60's. We have gotten quite a bit of rain recently, too. It's amazing how big of a rainfall deficit we were in during the month of May. Ever since then, the floodgates have opened (well, not literally, but almost). We now have a rainfall surplus that will likely stand until the end of the year. I'd have to say that farmers in the U.P. had an exceptional summer season for growing crops. The warm, humid days and nights surely helped that cause. And now some are wondering whether we'll be in for one doozy of a winter all thanks to the warmer-than-usual Lake Superior waters. I think that all depends on how cold we get to start the season. If we get cold, Arctic air so early in the season then yes, we could get a lot of snow this year. But it's hard to say yet exactly what will happen.

So there you have it, just a minor update of what I've been up to these past few months and just to let you know that new topics will be appearing regularly again here on "Luke's Ponderings." Every now and again I need to wind down and recharge my batteries when it comes to writing. And I thought that September was as good a time as any for it. I hope everyone is enjoying this autumn season and I'll see you around again soon here on the blog.

Refrigerator Repairs

Ever since I moved into my house last summer, I've had trouble with my refrigerator. Even when I first moved in, the freezer was awfully warm. Anything I bought frozen seemed to get all mushy and the temperature hovered around 30 degrees, no matter how high the thermostat was set. After talking to my dad about it, he suggested defrosting the freezer, as it appeared to be full of ice. Well, he was right. The coils in the back of the freezer were covered solid with frost and ice. After thawing it that first time, the freezer seemed to stay cold for awhile - but eventually it would start to warm up and the ice again formed on the back of the wall. This has been ongoing for quite awhile and I've probably thawed out the freezer about five or six different times now.

Needless to say, the process of thawing the freezer out is getting to be quite tiresome. Each time, I've been gradually emptying the freezer out, then when it's nearly or entirely empty, I unplug the fridge, take off the back panel of the freezer, and use a hair dryer and direct it at the ice in the back. In all, it probably takes an hour to an hour in a half to fully thaw the freezer out. The freezer typically stays cool enough for two to three months before the process starts all over again. Well, hopefully I bought the right parts to fix the problem.

Once again, the internet proves to be a wonderful resource in locating parts for appliances and well, anything else, too. And it's also a great resource tool in finding information about these kinds of problems. There's appliance manuals, parts lists, and appliance parts websites out there that gets you everything you need to repair your failing appliances. Last fall, I bought a new timer for my washing machine that was giving me issues, and it's been trouble-free ever since. Today, I purchased a couple of parts for my refrigerator that should stop the freezer from icing up. After doing a great deal of research on the issues plaguing my fridge, I do believe I have the right parts to correct the issue. Now, all I have to do is wait for the parts to come!

It just goes to show you that appliances and electronics today just aren't made as well as they used to be. I know my parents had a Montgomery Ward refrigerator that lasted them a good 20 years before they decided to buy a new one to match their newly-remodeled kitchen. Well, that new fridge barely lasted 10 years before they experienced a similar problem that I'm having with my fridge. They opted to buy a new fridge instead of fixing the problem. I'm hoping to save a great deal of money by trying to fix the issue myself. And if all else fails, I'll go out and buy a new fridge. I'd hate to do that, but it'll be my last resort if I have to. We'll see what happens once those parts come.

Slow Computer

Lately my computer has slowed down to a crawl and it's getting to the point of being unbearable. I bought it three years ago and I figure it shouldn't be this slowed down already. Often when I first turn it on, I have to wait a good 10 to 15 minutes before everything is fully loaded. Even then, sometimes Firefox takes a painfully long time to open. I have to wonder if I have some sort of malware or virus stuck in my system. Whatever the case, this computer really needs some attention, otherwise I may be forced into a very evasive maneuver: throwing it out my window!

First things first, there may be a few programs that are causing it to slow down. My Adobe Flash Player was crashing pretty frequently until I downloaded the latest version yesterday. Now that program doesn't seem to be having an issue. However, my Adobe Acrobat reader has always malfunctioned, yet whenever I need to open a PDF file, it still manages to open. I do believe that when the computer is downloading automatic updates, that really slows the computer practically to a halt. Also, when I try opening a few different programs at once or try loading several different websites at once, it slows to a snail's pace. So obviously something is slowing it down. Yet at this point, I just don't know what.

I've tried the typical remedies, such as scanning for viruses, running my free malware software, defragging the system, and clearing cashe/cookies. Yet no dramatic results have occurred. The next step will involve removing unused programs and deleting or transferring large files. I have a few video clips saved so it just might help to save them to a disk. Heck, at this point anything should work, I would think. Yet one thing still is rather baffling to me - I still have a ton of memory on my computer, but it's still painfully slow.

Needless to say, one of these days I'm going to have to sit down and try working on this computer. I don't want it to get to the point where it's unusable, or the system completely fries itself. I had a laptop before that had similar problems and eventually, it never turned back on. I want my computer to last a little bit longer than three years. I'll try doing some research on the internet to see if there's other solutions I can try, otherwise if all else, I might have to bring it into a computer shop, which can sometimes amount to big bucks. But that is a last resort kind of situation as I'm going to try my best to resolve my computer issue. Wish me luck and if someone out there has any tips, please post them in the comments section!

Potential New Pet

Lately I've had animals on my mind more and more - and I think I might be ready to own a pet here pretty soon. As of now, I am leaning towards getting a cat, although I'm not ruling out a small or medium-sized dog at this point. But I have to look at the accommodations I can provide. Obviously I have a big enough house since it's just me living here. But I am gone pretty frequently to work - so the animal would be by itself for long periods of time. Plus, I like to take trips home to my parents' house often, so if I had a dog, I'd have to take it with me. A cat, however, can pretty much fend for itself. Which is why I am leaning towards getting a cat.

Growing up, we've owned plenty of pets as a family. We had countless number of cats and a few dogs - and if you include goldfish, we've had lots of them, too. For the most part, we never had any of those animals stay inside the house. The cats stayed in the house during the daytime and we'd let them out at night. That's probably why we were never able to keep a cat around for very long. The longest we were able to have a cat around the house was six years - otherwise they either got ran over by cars from the nearby highway or they disappeared, probably taken by foxes, hawks or coyotes. As for our dogs, my dad had built a doghouse for our first dog. I don't remember much about our first dog because we got him when I was pretty young and unfortunately, he got hit by a car and died. He was a collie; a gorgeous breed of dog. The only real memory I have of that dog is when we had a water sprinkler running, he'd be chasing after the streams of water that flew around. We'd have to compete with a dog to run through the sprinkler on those hot days. Still, a collie is a beautiful dog and it was unfortunate we weren't able to keep him around for a long longer.

Our other dog is one I wrote about before - but it's been quite awhile since I discussed him. His name was Spike and he was a mutt mix. We honestly weren't sure the kind of breeds he was comprised of - but we're sure he had cocker spaniel in him. He, too, was hit by a car when he was a year old, but luckily he survived. Although I don't believe he was ever the same afterwords - but he lived to be a very old dog when we had to put him down - 12. Our family had plenty of adventures with that dog while he was alive. I was probably about nine years old when we got him and at the end of his life, I was 21. That's a substantial amount of years to have a pet, so you can imagine how hard it was to make the decision to put him down. But, sometimes you have to make those decisions and move on. It's a simple reality to being a pet owner; you have to take great care of an animal in order for it to survive. That means feeding it, giving it water, providing it shelter, and bringing it to a vet when it needs care. And when an animal is terminally ill, the decision needs to be made to have it put down. I know that's not going to be easy with any pet, but it's going to have to be done sooner or later.

So there are a lot of things to consider when owning a pet. I know I'll still be pondering whether or not I'm ready for a pet at this stage of my life. It's only a matter of when and not if now. It probably won't be right away yet - maybe more this fall. However, I know if I keep looking at the local humane society pages, that decision may come a lot sooner than planned. There are a lot of great looking pets that need a home! And the last thing I want to see is an animal put down because nobody wants it. I guess that would be an incredible struggle to deal with for those working at an animal shelter. As for me, you'll definitely know when I bring that pet home and when that time comes, I'm sure there'll be plenty of stories to tell about it in the future.

Annual Family Picnic

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day to be at the beach. With temperatures in the middle 80's and high humidity, people were taking advantage of a day by the shoreline. Where I live, I'm probably only a half-mile from Lake Superior. But I cannot go directly to the lake because there are other homes in the way. Some people are lucky enough to own property along the shore! But further down the road from where I live, there's plenty of state-owned beach front to enjoy. And if you were to look, you can see white sandy beaches for miles. It truly is a spectacular sight.

My family and I have started a new tradition that began last year. My sister and her kids, along with my parents and I bring along some food for a picnic at the beach. My dad does the cooking on the grill and we all eat there. After that, we head down to the beach for some swimming. Last year the weather wasn't quite as warm as it was this year - in fact, there were more clouds out than sun. And the water temperature of the lake was quite chilly. I didn't even do any swimming it was so cold! But the kids did - they don't seem to be bothered by the cold lake water. With the warm air temperatures this year and the unusually warm lake waters, it was hard not to do any swimming this time around.

I am typically not a fan of putting on sun screen, even if I'm out for a short while. But yesterday I kind of wish I did, because I got a bit burned. My arms, face, top of my head, and neck all got a little red. It wasn't quite noticeable at first, but later on in the evening, you could definitely tell I got red. Ah well, it'll go away in a few days. I'll just have to be more careful if I venture out in the sun. Like I mentioned, the swimming was fantastic. The water didn't take your breath away as much when you entered. Isn't it funny how long it takes a person to get adjusted to the water temperature when older? When you're a kid, you jump right in. But for adults, we slowly wade into the water until we're finally neck-deep. Still, one could not complain about Lake Superior's water yesterday. There were a few waves here and there, but all in all, it was a nice time to be on the lake.

My nephew was even playing with a few other kids that were there - but he gets along very well with just about anyone. My niece doesn't quite have that same personality, but she's funny in her own way. Because my dad and I are on vacation this week and my sister is off from work today, we just might make a repeat trip to the beach again this afternoon. It appears we'll have another day like yesterday - so why not spend it at the beach. We have to enjoy these days while we can.

A Reunion No-Show

If you've been following the blog for awhile now, you know that I've talked about my 10-year class reunion. It was held this past weekend and I was contemplating the decision to attend the event. To be honest, there's probably only one classmate that I've talked to within the past five years and without Facebook, I probably wouldn't have known where any of them lived and what they're doing. With the advances of social networking, we've come along way in keeping in touch with others. When it came down to it, I decided not to attend the reunion. As we progress through this blog entry, I'll explain why.

Back when we were scheduling vacations at work, I was wondering whether or not I should take the week of the reunion off just so I could attend. Would my anxieties about the event go away and would I be compelled enough to take a week of vacation off around the event to go. Ultimately I decided not to - and if I felt the urge to go, I could use one of my personal days. The reunion fell on one of the weekends I work 12-hour shifts. Yes, I could've used a personal day but I would've had to turn right back around and plan to go to work the next day which once again, was a 12-hour shift. I just wasn't up to that idea, so I decided to work after all.

Yes, there were a few people I had wanted to see after all these years. But then there was a larger group whom I didn't care to see after 10 years. Honestly, I did not feel the urge to attend an event, try to brag myself up, and explain the reasons why I'm working where I'm employed and why I'm still single. Even though we were close as classmates ten years ago, I feel a bit disconnected from them all. Heck, the majority of them don't even live in the area anymore. I read some comments on Facebook from a few of my old classmates who seemed a bit bothered about the "when are you going to have children?" questions. I think I would've been just as bothered with similar questions and felt by myself. I guess my biggest worry was attending an event and being by myself, sitting way back in the corner of the room as everyone else mingled amongst themselves. Anyways, the group gathering later that evening was held at a bar - certainly not my scene. Although yes, ultimately it would've been nice to see everyone together once again and to be involved in some of the activities that went on, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. So I decided to pass this time around.

It's still hard to believe it's been ten years since we all graduated high school. Those years have flown by. Everyone appears to be mostly successful and nobody has passed away. Let's see if our class is able to keep that trend alive as we march towards our 20th class reunion. A few of my classmates have discussed the possibilities of holding other smaller gatherings between now and 2020 - just so that we don't have to wait another ten years for such an event. And I'd be up for something like that. All in all, I just did not get a good feeling about attending the reunion this time around. That might sound a bit selfish on my part, but it's just the way I am. Who knows, in another ten years, I may feel better about the circumstances. By then, enough years should've gone by to where I feel like I don't know anybody there anymore. And it'll be like a whole new start.

Hand Injuries at Work

Where I work, we deal with several different pinch points and constrained spaces. We also deal with a lot of moving equipment, so the dangers exist in regards to potential injuries. I was standing above this rather large bin into which a conveyor belt drops material into. The conveyor stopped because a roller which has a sensor on it stopped moving. A bunch of dirt had built up around it, so I had to take a hose and spray water around the roller to remove the dirt build-up to get the conveyor going again. In front of this roller, a spray bar had been installed, but it wasn't doing a very good job in keeping the dirt build-up at bay (a spray bar is basically a pipe with nozzles installed on it to keep a conveyor pan free of dirt and mud). So I went to temporarily remove the spray bar, but it was stuck in the mud. I quickly yanked up on the spray bar when I caught by thumb on some metal that was sticking out. Instant pain. The white part of my thumbnail has a rather large blue spot on it and its still quite sore. I imagine it will be sore for a few days if not longer. But I can guarantee its not broken, otherwise I know it'd be in excruciating pain. Still, it's no fun to have a hand injury.

This isn't the first time I've gotten fingers bruised. It seems like it was only three or four months ago when I suffered a similar injury with the middle finger on my right hand. I've pinched fingers against a bar and a wall while trying to unclog a feeder and I've even jammed a thumb while yanking on a chain valve to open it. Finger and hand injuries are common in the line of work that I do. Luckily and thankfully, I have yet to break a finger - and its not something I'd want. Hopefully I can keep these injuries to a minimum and try to be more careful on the job.

Our department has a nice streak going for it, though. We are currently three years and two months since we've last experienced a lost-time accident. A lost-time accident consists of an employee being injured on the job and being out of work for a day or more because of that injury. The last time it happened was when an individual fell through an opening in the floor. Luckily he survived but was severely injured and missed quite a bit of time from work. He's back to work but he still experiences discomfort from the injuries he suffered in the fall. The sad part about that particular incident was that this employee basically fell right into a trap. The area around the hole in the floor had not been barricaded off. A maintenance employee lifted a covering off the hole and had left the area. Thus, leading to the individual in our department falling about ten feet to the level below. Certainly a scary situation and hopefully one that none of us will have to encounter in the future.

So it's easy to see how a person can get hurt while working at a mine. After all, we do wear hardhats in case falling objects hit us in the head. But they're mainly there in case we bump our heads into anything, because we certainly do have our fair share of constrained areas. Mining is not for everyone. It's hot, dirty, there's a potential for injury, and there's often a lot of heavy lifting. It's not glamorous that's for sure. At least it pays well; or I should say, it better pay well, anyways.

Wild Dreams

It was a humid night and I had the window fan going the entire night. It seems that when I have the fan going full blast, I have a difficult time sleeping because it gets to be quite noisy. But with the fan at the lower speed, it's not so loud. Still, with it being so humid, I didn't have a peaceful sleep. Lots of tossing and turning, especially later in the morning. And I had some wild dreams, too. It's really amazing how these dreams can correlate to what's going on in your real life. I had visions of being back at high school, yet I wasn't in high school - but with my old classmates as we were having a reunion. The reunion isn't for another two weeks yet, but it's still on my mind.

And then I got to dreaming about "her." She's a mysterious girl that had entered my dreams and I honestly have no idea who she might be. This isn't the first night I dreamed about her either as I recall I had similar dreams about this female the previous night. She had brown hair and was very attractive. She was attracted to me and it seemed as if we were an item. We were acting like a couple fresh into a relationship. And then suddenly I woke up and realized it was all just a dream. I was mad at myself for waking up so soon and disappointed, too, that it wasn't for real. I wonder if it's a sign that things are about to change in my favor? I have been single for quite awhile now and have been making strides in finding my life-long partner. We shall see if it was a premonition.

It's amazing how our brains continue to think as we sleep, yet it's disappointing how we are not able to remember these dreams as clearly as we would like. Sometimes we are lucky enough to wake up and remember these dreams quite vividly. But for me, I went back to sleep as soon as I woke up, and most of these dreams were earlier at night. But I do recall another glimmer of a dream where I was in charge of a bike race of sorts in my neighbor's backyard. The yard is bordered by a variety of jackpine, and the race course I was creating zig-zagged these trees, like a slalom course. I was in charge of the entire operation and I think that's where this girl entered into my dream, as she started helping me out and talking to me. And then suddenly we were in item. I can't remember exactly what happened anymore, but it's something along those lines.

And then the reunion dream. We were at our old school, yet we were all aged. I saw many good friends and we were taking a walk out to the playground. Heck, we even started playing on many of the items in the playground. But yet everything looked so old and worn. Everyone was talking about the next day's activities, yet I couldn't be involved because I had work the next day - a 12-hour shift in fact. But it was just so weird to be thinking about it when the event hadn't even taken place. Yet it's still very much on my mind.

So there you have it, the power of our dreams - there is nothing like it, if we happen to remember what went on. I know this isn't the first time I wrote about an epic dream on my blog, but I experienced several of them that I could remember and so I thought I would share them with you all. I wonder if that girl will enter my dreams for a third night? Maybe the humid conditions and uncomfortable sleeping weather played a part in these dreams. Tonight I'll be back in the comforts of my house with central air, so I have to believe that I'll sleep somewhat better. I guess I'll find out again tomorrow morning who or what took place in my dreams, if I happen to remember.

Busy Times

I hope everyone visiting Luke's Ponderings has enjoyed the increase in blog topics since the re-branding started on June 1. June 2010 goes down as the month with the most blogs since I started blogging. Needless to say, July has started off rather slow on the blogging front for me. After I've completed this blog, it'll only make for the third blog entry of the month. But lately these days, I've found it extremely difficult trying to find time to blog. There's just been so much going on that it's been hard to fit in time to sit in front of my computer and type! Which is why tonight, I'm actually getting a head-start on tomorrow's blog topic (which is Luke's Tuesday). And I know lately I haven't really been following along to the specific days in which each topic is supposed to be. That is why I created the new graphics to accompany each blog topic so it'll be easier to see where it fits in. And, for the most part, they've all been in order except for when I've missed a day (or two, or lately three).

One of the bigger projects I've been working on is a new deck off the back of my house. With a plan I created at one of the home improvement retailers in Marquette, I created a design for a 10' by 16' deck. I started by tearing out the old set of cement steps and then with the help of my dad, we leveled the area where the deck was going to go. I will say this, the old steps broke apart fairly easy with a sledge hammer until I got to the steps themselves, which were solid concrete. There's no way I was able to break them apart unless I totally ruined my back. So my dad and I took a four mile drive to a local hardware store and rented a jack hammer for a little less than an hour. It only cost me $22 to rent and it was such a handy thing to use to break up those steps. I'm glad my dad thought of renting such a machine!

Then, while my dad and I were both on vacation from work, we started building the deck. I decided that instead of pouring cement for the foundation of the posts, I was going to use the block foundations, where the posts sit ontop of. The challenge with these is that you have to get them all level, and that proved to be very time consuming. However, we finally got all six blocks leveled and we began to assemble the deck. We ran into our fair share of issues along the way that slowed us down - but what project doesn't have delays? We're not the fastest do it yourself-ers in the world, but by the time our vacations were over with, we had built the entire deck and stairway. All that we had to do is build the railings around the deck and we'd be all set.

It took us a couple of more days to build the railings around the deck and now all we have left is the railings along the stairs. Once that is completed, the deck project will officially be done! So we don't have much more until my first major project on this house is completed. All in all, I'd say the deck project was very worth-while and I'm glad I decided last year that I wanted a new deck back there. It offers much more privacy than the deck off the front and it's also the cooler side of the house and that deck will mostly sit in the shade. I'm definitely looking forward to spending many warm summer days back there.

Summer & the Fourth of July

We are quickly approaching the Fourth of July holiday and for me, once we get to that point of the summer, the rest of the season goes by so fast. That's not to say this summer hasn't already gone by quick, because it has. But that's pretty much how it's always been. The greatest season of them all in the Upper Peninsula (for me at least) always goes by way too fast. That just gives me all the more reason to enjoy it while I can. Because by the time October and November roll around, it won't be long until the snow starts flying. Even more unbelievable to me is that 2010 is nearly half over. The first year of the new decade is about half-way through the books! Honestly, where does the time go?

I am rather disappointed I wasn't able to snag the Fourth of July holiday off from work this year. Last year I happened to have that weekend off and my sister from Wisconsin also came up - so we were able to enjoy the holiday together as a family. It didn't work out as well this year, but I still do plan on enjoying the holiday as much as I can. Growing up, it was always my favorite holiday of the warm season. We'd always go to this small town parade in one of the nearby communities and although the parade was small, at least the floats made up for its shortness by going around the parade route twice! We always picked up a ton of candy from the event. I think there were only a couple of other times where we went to a different community with a larger Fourth of July celebration - otherwise we always went to this small town. We knew plenty of people there and it really was the epitome of a small town - everybody knew everyone!

But probably my most favorite part about the holiday overall is the fireworks. The last five years, I've been able to enjoy the fireworks display that the city of Marquette lights off. I think there was only one year where the fireworks disappointed me - and that was the year they didn't receive near as many donations as in previous years, and it really showed. Lately though, the fireworks displays in the city of Marquette have been spectacular. I'm not sure if I'll venture into the city this year as the Fourth of July lands on a day where I have to work a 12-hour shift, so I guess it'll depend on how I feel that evening as to whether or not I'll make the short drive into town to watch the fireworks. Then once it's over, I'll have to go right to bed for work the next morning. We'll see; it's not that far off now.

So whether you have the holiday weekend off or are one of the unfortunate people to be working, at least try and set aside some time to spend it with family and friends. It's never a good idea to be alone on an important holiday like the Fourth of July. Of course it's not like Christmas or Easter, which are important religious holidays. Yet, it's the day we celebrate our country's birthday, and it shouldn't be forgotten. July 4, 1776 was the day we declared our freedom from England and we're still going strong as a country. Sure, we've had our fair share of bumps in the road, but I don't see us going away as a country for a very, very long time. God bless America indeed.