Great Day With Dad

My sister, brother-in-law and I took my dad to The American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Library and Museum in Harrison, OH. nearly a week ago.  It is not only a library that gives individuals and groups tours of the museum but it is also a school for future watchmakers and clockmakers.

My dad, who has suffered a series of mini strokes in the last few years, on top of being in the early stage of dementia, seems to be doing better these days.  This is not only great news for my sister, my cousin and I, who have taken care of him and endured many trials and errors, it is also good news for the assisted living staff at the place he currently lives in.  He still has trouble walking, but the new doctor he's going to now seems to be putting him on the right track, health-wise.  For one thing, she has taken him off some of his medication that was causing side effects inside him that was making matters worse.  Dad still has trouble walking because of the mini-strokes and because of this, my sister arranged to get him a mobile chair, recently, through his insurance.  Dad loves it.  He gets to go places he wasn't able to in the past.

Speaking of the past, I know I've complained quite a bit about dad's belligerent behavior and how it has affected my sister and I's lives but it seems he has finally calmed down and allowed us to help him without debate and angry protests about pretty much anything.

It has also been more pleasurable, recently, taking dad places, other than the ongoing doctor appointments we are accustomed to taking him to in the past and present.  We still have to take him to these important appointments- but now we have an opening- a bright spot, if you will, now, in all of our long suffering lives these past 6 years since Mom passed away.  That sorrowful story has been told, one way or another, so many times on this blog, but I'm going to refrain from getting into it.  I've grown weary talking about it, in truth.  And I'd rather look forward instead of back.  My family and I have all suffered enough.

This is a post of joy and discovery, after all.

The mechanical insides of a working clock.  Yeah, that's my reflection in the glass.

My dad, who was a Master Watchmaker for close to 30 years, before having to close his watch repair/jewelry store in 1982, was delighted that we took him to this Watchmaker/Clockmaker's Museum.  He got a big thrill out of it and it warmed our hearts to see him happy and interested in something again.  Our tour guides were very thorough when they explained where each watch and clock came from and how watchmaking and clockmaking began so long ago.

I might add that my grandfather was a Master Watchmaker, too, for forty odd years.  It is meticulous work, utilizing and moving tiny parts in a mechanical watch.  Sometimes, it may take a minute to fix a watch.  Other times, anywhere from a half hour to an hour.  You need an eye loop magnifier to see the parts, in fact.

After dad closed the store, he learned how to become a mailman, to support our family, and was a rural route mail carrier for 17 years.  I'm very proud of him for what he accomplished in his life and how he went from doing one thing he was comfortable with to something entirely alien to him, learning a new profession, altogether.   My dad was a strong father figure to us, only weakened in his later years by mini-strokes and dementia.  We love our father, through the tough times and the good.

This school, library and museum had many fascinating things within it.  Such as: Clocks from the 17th century.  Sundials from the year 600.  Slot machine clocks from the late 1800's. Ropes and candles, which acted as time keepers and more.  Not to mention a humongous pendulum and ball that sits in the middle of the museum. It is attached to a working mechanical clock tower that sits on top of the building.  All of the clocks and watches you see in the following pictures and video clips come from all over the world.

There are only four watchmaker/clockmaker institutes such as this one in the entire country.

It is my hope that you'll check out the pictures and video clips below.  Enlarge the pics to read about how each time keeping item worked.  The videos are short but interesting.

Rope clock- which would be placed between a person's toes.  It was lit and would slowly burn until it got to your toes.   Each knot would represent a certain amount of time that had passed. A rough way to tell time, I would imagine.  lol.

Regular sundial at the top and a sundial cannon time keeping item at the bottom.

As the candle wax melted, a little bell would drop and make a jingling sound, signifying that another hour passed by.  Created by the Chinese, long ago. 

Below are videos of our various tour guides explaining how some of the watches and clocks worked, where and when they were from and so on.  We also visited a classroom where an instructor/guide was giving my dad and the rest of the family some info on what the watchmaking class was working on and learning that day.  I sneakily videotaped the classroom with my new digital camera when the students and instructor weren't looking.  Aren't I the devious one?  Ha ha ha.

In conclusion, we had a wonderful day. A fantastic reprieve and excellent experience with dad. It was well worth going there not just for us, but for dad, especially. My sister thought of the idea and I am forever grateful to her.  I provided the transportation and I was the camera man that day.  :)

I will be posting the entire album of pictures and videos, taken here, on facebook, soon, if anyone is interested.  Have a great day!

The Liebster Blog Award and The Last Day of The Challenge

Yes, at last. Thanks the gods! This is the last day of my self-imposed blog challenge where I have successfully met my goal of putting a new post up on the blog every day for the month of April. I tell you what. I have to say hats off to those bloggers that can post everyday. Either you guys that can do it are lucky enough to have an extra back pocket full of expendable hours or you have the stamina of an enraged bull elephant- whatever it is- kudos to ya! I really admire ya. Whatever it is, I'm impressed.

At the beginning, it wasn't that hard to post everyday. The first two weeks went like a breeze. That third week- a little tougher. But that last week, all hell broke loose and I didn't think I was going to make it. During the last week of April, everything was coming at me and the Mrs. from every direction. Health scares involving blood clots and risk of heart failure... check. Wife getting a new job with some unexpected problems accompanying that bit of good news involving the new job... check. Family gathering tensions around Easter... check. Being lied to by my wife's present-for-the-moment employers (for only another week) and thus creating panic and problems for several days... check. Lack of sleep from all of these worries and then some... check. All of that- in one week. And yet, here I am, hanging onto my last shred of sanity. I even managed to do a successful, hilariously twisted guest post, during this self-imposed blog challenge, on LilPixi's blog, It's a Lollipop World, while she is still mending from her surgical procedures.

Damn, I'm the man. Insanity and grace under pressure. Sure, I cheated a bit with a couple video-or-pictures-only-kind-of posts. Any monkey can do them. But overall, I'd have to say, I'm the greatest. And I'm modest, too. Wink. Wink.

Oh, and did I mention that I got not one, not two but three blog awards during this one month period of time? Man, you love me. You reeeeaaally looooooove meeeeeee. :P

This last week, I have fallen behind on commenting on my fellow bloggers' blogs. I will make reparations for this after today. Because of all the personal trouble and lack of sleep going on in the background, I fell woefully behind in my usual up-to-date blog post commenting. I apologize for this. I'll be taking a break from posting on my blog this following week because I need the rest from all the troubles and also because I want to gradually catch up on the blogs I've been missing out on.

One blogger, in particular, I want to point out, now, is DocStout. He is the blog author of What's Next?- The Unemployed Geek. This guy runs a terrific blog about gaming, movies, comics and many fun, zany subjects. His blog is a fun, informative read that shouldn't be missed and I truly appreciate the award he just gave me not long ago. I can now add the Liebster Blog Award to my nearly exploding-from-within trophy case. Look in the furthest right hand column for said bulging case. Tee hee. Gosh, I'm modest.

A special thank you to DocStout for this special award of acknowledgement. You're pretty damn cool, dude.

I thanks the gods the rules for this particular blog award are simple and to the point:

The Liebster Blog Award. Like many other blogging awards, this one asks you to "pay it forward" by passing it on in turn to deserving blogs, particularly 3-5 blogs with less than 300 followers.

Hooray! No redundant questions or over reiterated facts I have to answer and say about myself, for a change. What a relief!

In accordance to the rules and because I like to spread the awards around a bit when I pass them on- I want to award these three very worthy award recipients and I ask that my readers please check these awesome bloggers out. I only award those who I deem worthy. Here they are:

* Pickleope is a recent blog I've come to befriend and enjoy. The writing is extremely funny and entertaining. "Sketch comedy in written form, a Pickleope is the charmingly absurd offspring of a pickle and an antelope."

* Drama Queen from White Trash Chronicles writes this blog. This blog features funny subject matter and down-to-earth true life tales. Drama Queen offers a fresh honest approach in everything she writes. Highly recommended.

* Porkstar from Le Porkstar has a trippy, balls-to-the-wall outlandish blog that really jibes with me in both it's humor and outright wackiness. If you want to read humorous stories and unique observations on life, check out this dude's blog.

So there you have it, folks. I'm taking a well deserved week off from posting on my own blog but I'll be back after that. Meanwhile, I'm going to rest up a bit and gradually catch up on the rest of your sites. Don't worry. I haven't forgotten any of you. Take care, all of you and be well.

Kelly's Crock Pot Beans Supremo

Eegads! I'm under the gun, tonight, so to speak. I have less than two hours to create a new outrageously fascinating post because of my self-imposed blog challenge. Click the dang darn link back there if you don't know what in tarnation I mean. And why in the heck am I talking like that cartoon character, Yosemite Sam?

Due to time limitations, I'm gonna have to scrap the award post idea for tonight. Award posts tend to take me forever to create. Gary, from the blog, klahanie, was kind enough to pass along an award to lil' ol' humble-as-hell me last night but I was unable to post about it, earlier, because my wife threatened to cut my penis off if I didn't spend quality time with her most of today and tonight. So, in respect to her and to the beloved one eyed trouser snake in my pants, I opted for the "quality time". :) Beats going without a penis, I always say.

Now then, I wish to share with all of you my original, secret crock pot recipe, affectionately called Kelly's Crock Pot Beans Supremo. Pretty fancy title, eh? Impressive, you say? I've been making it for the wife and I for a couple years now. It's MMM MMM good and packed with that extra fart power that you and everyone else is craving these days. Your significant other will especially appreciate this hearty, delicious meal when you both get beneath the sheets tonight. Swear to God!

This is a very real, very tasty recipe- SO PAY ATTENTION, GODDAMN IT! And don't pass this along to anyone. It's a seeeeecret.

First off, you'll need a crock pot. If you don't have one, steal one. Or, I guess you could buy one but where's the fun in that?

Ingredients and Directions

3 cups Great Northern Beans (beans are to be soaked in water overnight)

1 lb. Ham chunks

Diced green peppers, red peppers and yellow peppers (however much you desire)

8 oz. chopped onions

3/4 cup of light brown sugar

1 tablespoon of Emeril's Original Essence

4 tablespoons of sweet n' sour sauce

Make sure there is at least 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches of water covering the top of all the ingredients in the pot. Set crock pot for 10 hours.

That's it. It's a simple recipe. And trust me. It's for real. And it's extremely yummy for the tummy and a blast for the ass. Enjoy!

Sorry If I've Caused Concern -Part 3

As mentioned before, I felt guilty for not being able to get up to mom and dad's place in time. I felt I let mom die.

This and missing Mom for her unconditional love and advice started my depression. Sure, I was told by friends, co-workers and family that it wasn't my fault. But there were a few who gave no response. Which I didn't know how to take. Most of the time, I felt they were judging me. Either that or I thought they were androids from some unknown galaxy. Anyway, I felt responsible no matter how much logic was thrown at me.

So while my depression was literally killing me in health and spirit, my time on my last few jobs was pure hell for one and all. On more than a few occasions, in the middle of putting together a brake part, I would either cry or have a fit with myself. I would even talk and answer myself. What fun! It's always so nice when you have a bunch of people you know (and semi-respect) give you that look of dismay and extreme confusion. In the old days, when friends would give me that look, I would treasure it like a badge of honor. But a little over two years ago, those days had been long gone. This is what I found out.... in hard and unusual ways. I was not fit to work anywhere.

And my next two jobs, after that brake assembly job, made that judgement call all the more true.

I would throw things, yell at people, break stuff and create some type of verbal chaos now and then that would result in being reprimanded in some way. Never before had I acted so irrationally on the job. Now.... I would have a confrontation with a person or two, in the past, if I thought they were doing something wrong, but this shit was something different.

I remember pushing over twenty, ten foot high stacks of plastic crates over a catwalk type area and causing most everyone in the warehouse to shit their pants, at once. No one died, if that's what you're wondering. Twenty plus years of working hard in the retail business and warehouses and now I was having a fucking meltdown. Sing ta BuhJesus and halley-yoooo-ya!

Now here's another element to the story you should know: I have two and a half inch heel spurs in both of my goddamn feet. They have been causing me tremendous pain for most of my life. And yes, I have used every kind of cushion, foam or whatever footware contraption to help with the pain. The podiatrist I have been seeing, off and on since my early twenties, said they were the biggest he had ever seen. He still says that. I saw the x-rays. They look and feel like curved railroad spikes. The podiatrist has said both verbally and in health records that they cannot be removed due to the fact the spurs have grown so large, they have connected completely to the bones in my feet.

Little medical lesson:

Spurs are formed at the at heel by way of calcium deposits travelling down your leg. Your brain is responsible for sending a message to your feet (by way of sending these little bits of bony crap) as an attempt to somehow "protect" your damaged heel area. Unfortunately, your brain fails miserably in this scenario.

Note: I also have neuropathy of the feet. Look it up if you're curious. I'm also 80% deaf in one year and have astigmatism in both eyes. And don't forget the high blood pressure. Eight pills, two insulin shots and still counting. Have I mentioned the depression?

I'm 46, in case you're wondering.

Life is grand. Sarcasm. Yes, I know I could have it much worse but when you put everything altogether, it does make an impressive list.

But I'm not done yet.

I also have a condition called "equinus foot". Click the link if you're interested in knowing more about that. The short version is... It's a deformity of the feet. Because of my "equinus foot" condition, my heel spurs formed. When I walked or stood, I was growing spurs and suffering from them as they developed over the years. I was told long ago by my podiatrist that if he were to operate and remove my heel spurs, they would eventually grow back in a couple of years. This is why I didn't have the procedure done. Too costly and ineffective.

While my working years ached onward, my condition worsened. I was often asked by people I knew, co-workers and people I didn't know, why I wasn't trying to get social security disability. I had told them I wasn't going to try that because (1) I didn't think I would get it. And (2) I had too much pride to accept it. In my mind, you were a lazy, cheating piece of shit if you got it and you were still able to move.

But now I understand the truth.

Cutting to the chase of the story, I had become convinced that I should try to get social security benefits. It took 3 attempts, a judge on a monitor from an out-of-state web cam, an asshole for a lawyer and lots of legwork (from me) but I finally won the case after a year and eight months.

As for my physical health, I am exorcising on a Nu-Step bike/rowboat thing at the Community Center. I do 35 minutes of that, putting in close to two miles. They have an excellent compilation of exercise equipment. I also take walks, stopping occasionally, behind my apartment at a city park.

I am fighting.

I don't feel as guilty about things I've done in the past, either. In fact, I feel very non-guilty about anything I do or say anymore. I never felt like that in the past. This feeling may be a very bad thing for everyone involved. We'll see. Or, I'll see. See. Told you I was crazy.

The best piece of wisdom I had ever gotten from a psychiatrist was just recently:

To fight.

Don't wonder or care how you're going to get through it. Just fight. He told me he could tell I was a fighter by three different signs. The first was: I was there, in the room, talking to him, seeking help. Two, he had me perform a test that seemed incredibly simple the first few seconds. My psychiatrist gave me five pieces of folded cardboard. Then he told me to rip them in half. It was a thick and bulky block but I thought it was going to be easy. I must have tried ripping the shit apart for five or more minutes. I was gritting my teeth. Cursing. And so on.

Then I asked him if I could unfold each piece and rip each individual piece of cardboard apart. He said, "And that's the other reason you are a fighter. You would do anything to accomplish anything you wanted. You tried brute force. That didn't work. You went at your objective at every angle. No luck. You even tried to cheat, in a manner, to reach your goal. Your passion, no matter how deep you bury it, is still there. You do not stop."

And then I knew what he meant. It hit me. Lightning bolt. Boom.

It really isn't the end result you should concentrate on. It isn't the horrible hurdles you have to go through. It's the fighting to get up in the morning and live is what matters.

There was a third sign but it had to do with a personal story of his own. Unfortunately, I could hardly understand it due to his thick foreign accent but he already had me at the second sign. Heh heh.

And now I've changed again in my life, still with some bad thoughts, but not like before. I'm still negative about this world's populace and I'm still crazy, maybe even more so, but now my depression has lessened and I'm working on getting healthier. So there you go.

Cool New Widget

The World Clock widget I've added below in my footer is an entertaining, informative gadget I snagged off of poodwaddle.com. It's much more than just a clock that tells you the time in all the major cities of the world. The statistics that are continually displayed are mind boggling. It would behoove you to hit the Pause button on the upper right hand corner to really check out the numbers and information-- unless you can read a hundred words a second.

I know I can't.

The side panel on the left features a variety of buttons. Such as: World Time. Population (totals). Environment (global warming stats). Food (for stats on production, including how many and what kind of animals are being slaughtered on a daily, monthly, yearly basis). US Crimes (wow!). And more.

Being the voracious carnivore that I am, all the info presented in the Food stats made me want to go out in the forest, grab an animal and start devouring it's flesh, right away. Yahoo.

You'll just have to play around and have fun with the World Clock. Of course, all the statistics given are estimates, calculated and provided by various sources. Click the Help button for more on this. To see what sources the information has been collected from, click the Sources button.

Scroll on down and check it out. You may want one for yourself.