Yesterday my brother-in-law died after a short fight with an exceptionally aggressive form of cancer.  He was feeling ill in October and then diagnosed over Christmas.  In the few short months since then, it just tore him apart.

I had spent some time stopping over at my sister’s house to help out.  Mostly just with repairs and little things.  This past week he had been in the hospital and I went to see him there.  The room was always filled with people who came to see him.

I can’t begin to fathom what my sister is going through.  There are more complications to the situation even now, which I can’t help with.  The funeral is likely to be a seriously large affair because of the people that both he and my sister worked with and were associated with.   My sister is used to the people, but not in this situation.  Yesterday, there were two nice stories in the local online paper about my brother-in-law, although the timing seemed a little fast.  My sister had to hurry from the hospital and get to her kids (both under 10 years old) so that someone wouldn’t tell them before she did.

I got a text yesterday afternoon and there were phone calls all day long to people.  I went to her house last night after work and again the house was full.  Neighbors were all outside in the yard and people were inside the house.  I changed light bulbs in the garage and fixed her flat tire.   I’ll be going there again tonight.

Ok, I’ve been away far too long from my blog.  I’ve been distracted by the internets and other stuff.  Bleh.

Let’s see.

I ran a 5K and managed a 7:56 pace (yea me, because I am majorly out of shape).

I started lifting weights again and running in the morning.

I blew out my back about two weeks ago, so that nixed the running and weights for a while.

I climbed a mountain this weekend (no back issues).

I’ve been working on my book (yea!), but its slow (not so yea!).

I watched the Da Vinci Code after reading the book.  Loved the movie.  Everybody and his brother was in it.  Just marvelous and very little schmaltz.

Um, that’s it.  I guess.

how far do i have to run, to be a runner?
how much do i have to write, to be a writer?

I spent the week camping with the Boy Scouts.  The mosquitoes were plentiful and the rain was too.  Not too bad though.  I survived.  And I passed the swimming test yet again.

I ran three miles this morning.  Felt like lead.  Bleh.

I brought my laptop to write while I was there.  I got much work done on character background and theme development.  This writing stuff is hard work.  I keep changing the plot, trying to adjust things so that it makes sense and doesn’t simply meander through random themes.

I have a bit of writer’s block at the moment.  I think that’s because I’m not sure where things are going. When I have something how it should be, then the writing comes easy.

I ran my personal 15K race this morning. As it turns out, it was very hot and I almost died. Yeah. I ended up walking during the last two miles, because I felt so awful. I would walk in the shade and then run when I got to sunny patches. It seemed to keep me in the shade the longest. But I finished.

I guess its good I am not running tomorrow. I would not have been able to handle both heat and the hills. Another year.

a cluster fork of scheduling conflicts has ruined any chance I had of actually being able to get any sleep or dinner the night before. Being out of shape was bad enough. This just killed it for me.

Not happy at all. :(

When my parents leave for a trip, they ask me to water the plants.  Well, my mother asks me, they are her plants.  My father doesn’t care either way.  I go to their house after they are gone.  I bring in the mail and newspaper.  I water the plants, which are everywhere in the house.  I pick up the clothes in my father’s bathroom, which my mother either cannot see, or cannot lean over to pick up.

My mother always leaves a note, telling me where the wills are located in case they should “take the ultimate exit” on their trip.  She says to help myself to anything in the cupboard or the fridge.  However, I know there is rarely anything to eat there.

Don’t be mistaken, the cupboards and fridge are filled to overflowing.  There is food stacked on the counter because it wouldn’t fit in the cupboard.  And there is barely enough room in the fridge to fit an apple because its so full.  But everything there is never directly edible.

In the fridge, she has jars and jars or marmalade, pickles, capers, mustard, mayonnaise, and relish.  There is wine vinegar, lemon juice, baking yeast, half sticks of butter in little plastic bags, Parmesan cheese in block and grated form.  Onions, celery, lemons, and dried up onions, celery, and lemons.  Pepperoni, string cheese, bleu cheese, Italian salad dressing, ranch dressing, caeser dressing, and maraschino cherries.  An empty can of whipped cream.  A bottle of a lemonade alcoholic drink (half empty).  A very large container with one tomato in it (rotten).

Oh yes, the rotten food.  The fridge is so full, that I spend much of my time, emptying it out into trash bags.  The pepperoni that has turned brown.  The onions in a plastic bag that have become liquid.  The spoiled half of an avocado that smells like a rotten skunk.  Curdled milk that expired last week.  Moldy cheese still in the original package (yes, I know moldy cheese is not poisonous, but moldy sharp cheddar taste like kaka).  Rotten broccoli, and the carrots that it was stored with.

They have a small three-season room that is not well heated.  So since its cold in the winter, my mother keeps food in there.  Sometimes this works, but keeping a pineapple in there for two weeks, just makes a rotten pineapple.  And more rotten broccoli.  I remember coming into their house once and it smelled like death.  I was sure someone had died in there, even though they had both gone on the trip.  The smell was coming from a giant plastic bag of onions that had liquefied while rotting, and had then broken through the bag and oozed out all over the floor.

I needed to borrow my parents’ van to take some gear to scout meeting.  Unfortunately, the van was in for repair.  However, the shop said we could pick it up at night (after closing) and just bring it back the same night, since the work hadn’t started yet.

While driving to the shop, my car engine began to buck and kick and lose power completely.

Arriving at the shop I discovered that the shop owner had left the van inside the garage.

Wife is not stuck without a car, so that I can drive to work today.  No loaner from Mom and Dad.

If this is another broken head gasket, I am dumping this car.  I can’t take any more of this.

First post of the year.  I was hoping for something spectacular to say but haven’t got anything.

I replaced the faucet and drain in the downstairs bathroom.  I had to make only one trip to the hardware store.  Whenever you do plumbing, the broken part is always connected to something else that is about to break.  I had one spare part in the basement, but had to go out for another.  Faucet and sink working now.  No more dripping.

I also fixed a pin-hole leak in a water pipe in the basement.  It was very strange.  My son found a giant puddle on the floor and I thought we had leakage from outside.  There was water all over the wall and on the workbench.  I couldn’t figure it out.  Then we heard this strange hissing sound.  It was water hitting a plastic bag on the workbench.  I followed the water up to the pipe with my hand, because the spray was too fine to see.

I didn’t have parts to fix it right then (have bought spare pieces since then), so I hooked up a plastic bag around the leak, with a hose running from the bag to a bucket on the floor.  The bucket was filling at a rate of about 1 gallon every four hours.  So I could empty it when I went to bed, when I got up, and then when I got home from work.  Although, we had to empty it during the day because it was getting too full.

I ended up fixing it by just cutting the pipe at the hole, and then reconnecting the two ends with a union joint.  Soldered correctly the first time (in tight quarters too), with no swearing.  A first for me.   :)

Today its 50 °F outside and I am going for a run.  I don’t have long before I have to leave for church, so I will need to hustle and get my butt outside.  I may wear shorts and long sleeved shirt.

I hope everyone had a safe New Year’s Eve.  Hoping you all have a great 2011.