Category Archives: Family

A Sisyphean Task

May 4, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

68 bar steady 29.78 0mpn SSW dewpoint 22 Beltane

New Moon (Hare Moon)

The day has passed as we both tried to get our arms around this notion of Gabe as hemophiliac. As a dedicated user of the internet, I have looked up and printed out several different articles, brochures, information handouts. Canada Health Services had some good stuff; so did the CDC; and, the World Hemophiliac Federation. The amount of data, good data, available quickly astounds me every time I reach out for it. I have not had a disappointing search, ever.

The emotional problem is this: lifelong. This tiny guy, still in the hospital from birth at 35 weeks, now has a mountain to climb every day, every hour for the rest of his life. This is a Sisyphean task because every time he rolls the ball up the mountain, it will come right back down. There is no cure. There is only amelioration. After looking at the various treatments, I became even more convinced Gabe has the right Dad. It will require fortitude to climb this mountain, go to sleep, get up and climb it again.

So, life will proceed. We will all come to some terms with this and develop ways we can support Jon and Jen, Ruth and Gabe. We all need to learn a lot more right now.

Daffodils have begun to pop open everywhere, so yellow and white is a dominant accent to green here now. Tulips should come into bloom any day now and the magnolia is out in all its snowy fineness. Working in the garden, even for a bit, literally grounds me, draws anxiety out and replaces it with the strength of life’s eternal cycle.

Faith and Spirituality, Family, Great Work

Hey, Buddy, Got Any Pictures?

May 1, 2008 Charles 2 Comments

55 bar falls 29.59 8mph NE dewpoint 36 Beltane

Waning Gibbous Moon of Growing

This is Grandma and her descendants, Gabriel and Ruth. Gabe still has to learn to suck and swallow. He also needs to wean himself from the canula that deliver an oxygen stream. Both of these are maturational tasks that would have completed on their own in the womb, so he just needs to grow and get older. Right now everyone wishes he’d do both quicker, unmasking one of the many contradictions in human development. As we age, no one wants to get older and grow bigger.

Kate came home last night. She was sad. Ruthie now knows her and runs up with a smile and arms out, “Grandma!” That’s tough to leave. Gabe, too, is in a vulnerable place even though she’s confident he’ll be fine. She also helped out Jon and Jen with domestic matters like cooking, grocery shopping and Ruth care when Ruth was not in daycare.

Having a child in the hospital creates stress just because, but there is stress, too, because work goes on while the daily routine gets disrupted. No one gets enough sleep. A tough time for the Olson family, Denver branch. It will receded into the past, someday, and become the stuff of family legend. When you were a baby, Gabe, you were in the hospital so long and we were so worried.

A reader from the Webiverse asked to see some photographs of my hydroponic setup. It occurred to me that it might be the feds trying to catch a not too intelligent dope grower. Go, ahead, buddy, show me your pictures. Heh, heh, heh. I hope so, but because boy are they going to be disappointed.

From this and the next angle all you can see are lettuce and tomato plants, but there are also morning glories, cucumbers and three varieties of beets. These last are not as far along in the growth process and will go outside as soon as the weather warms up.

As I’ve begun to work with the hydroponics, this setup seems small. The megafarm is the larger of the two; the smaller is sold as Emily’s farm.

Here’s the whole deal, including the seed sprouting area. The halide bulb and shield are just out of sight near the top.

It’s amazing the charge I got out of working with seeds and young plants when snow and cold weather blew around the house. I plan to branch out (ha,ha) a bit over the year to include flowers and, maybe, carnivorous plants. No, I don’t know why.

Family, Garden, GeekWorld, Great Work

Hazards in the Learning Process

April 29, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

41 bar steady 29.96 0mph ESE dewpoint 24 Spring

Last Quarter Moon of Growing

Spent a good part of the afternoon on mechanical and electronic stuff. It was time for the first changing out of the nutrient reservoirs in the hydroponics.

I first tried the way the setup suggested, that is, drain the reservoirs onto the plastic shelf on which they both sit. This is not as crazy as it may sound since the shelf has grooves pressed in to carry used nutrient mix and water toward a drain plug at the end of the shelf. So, I hooked up some plastic tubing by cutting a small hole in the end of the cap and opened the taps. This is slow. The drain hose is not too big. It’s also messy since the hole in end of the plug allowed a bit of the liquid to drain around the tubing and drip on the lights (electric!) and the floor.

Hmmm. Had to be a better way. Then I thought of all those car thieves hard at work stealing gas. Siphon! By chance I had one hundred feet of plastic tubing and it fit inside the drain tubing quite neatly. I pushed this tube through the hole in the drain cap, sucked on it a bit and voila! Both of them drained all by themselves. Still took a while, but it is a handsoff operation.

As I read somewhere, I took the used nutrient mix out and poured on the garlic, garlic is a heavy feeder and impervious to the cold weather we’ve had. That’s important because you can’t encourage growth in most plants when the temperature can still go below freezing. That possibility exists here until May 15th. I also poured it on some daffodils about to bloom.

Then I made 9 gallons of fresh nutrient mix and poured it back into the reservoirs through the pots holding the lettuce, tomato plants, three kinds of beet and morning glories. A tip I read in the hydroponic bible (according to the folks at Interior Gardens) suggested swapping out the nutrient every three rather than four. So, I did. This is fun.

The treadmill still has some hiccups. I had to rewire it again this afternoon. Landice apparently thinks they may have sent me a bad rheostat. If so, that means I swapped a bad one for a bad one rather than a good one for a good one. More work ahead there.

I also put away all the material from the Weber tours and the bronze tour I have a month or so ago. The library is neat. (in a manner of speaking. That is, my manner.) I have a file to read for the three hour bronze session I have for Family Day on the 11th. I also have a number of articles and objects to use as reference while I write something about Urania visiting the MIA.

Kate called today, too. Ruthie ran out of the kitchen yesterday, into the dining room and tripped, falling on the corner of the coffee table. Big cut. Lots of angst. But super grandma was there to be calm. She and Jon took Ruthie to urgent care for stitches. This is a busman’s holiday for urgent care doc, Kate Olson, but it gave her a feel for the other side of the examining table. As she often does, she felt guilty. Not her fault. Ruth is a puppy, running and playing and trying out the world. There are hazards in that learning process and none of us escape.

She comes home tomorrow and I’m glad. The bris has been delayed because Gabriel still has not decided to eat enough and he’s still on some oxygen. Until he can eat and breathe on his own, he’ll remain in the level 2 nursery.

And. No snow!

Family, Garden

Morning Glories in the Lead with Cucumber Right Behind

April 23, 2008 Charles 1 Comment

52 bar rises 30.13 0mph S dewpoint 39 Spring

Waning Gibbous Moon of Growing

The moon of growing has fulfilled its role. Daylilies have popped up everywhere. A few magnolia buds have popped open. I found a couple of daffodil’s with flowers still furled around the stalk, but visible now, where they were still hidden a day ago. No tulip flowers visible yet but the plants themselves are in full leaf. A few aconites bloom in the front, hidden by the asters of last fall. I have to cut them down so we can see the blooms. Leaves to rake. Last year’s perennials to cut down. The growing season outside is slowly getting underway.

Kate’s getting ready for her Gabe trip. She’ll probably head straight to the hospital to see the little guy. I’ll feel better when she’s there. She’s got a lot of experience with infants. A lot.

I’ll take her to the airport, then return here and probably work in the garden for a bit.

The morning glories have begun to rocket up. I only planted them four days ago and they’re already an inch and a half above the plug. The cucumbers race right along behind them with, for now, the cylindria beets. I can see evidence of seedling’s emerging from most of the other plugs, too. The vegetable garden has begun to grow, right here in our house. Meanwhile, the lettuce and tomato up top with the halide bulb and the hydroponics continue upwards as well.

Family, General

The Mohel Is In Israel

April 22, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

63 bar steady 29.99 1mph W dewpoint 29 Spring

Full Moon of Growing

Interior Gardens, where I buy hydroponic supplies, has two Australian Heelers, a dingo related herding dog. I met Lili and her buddy. They were friendly and happy to see me from their perch on bags of stacked potting soil. I bought some more pots so I can make the megafarm a bit more versatile and some trays so I can start more seeds. So far the hydroponics seems pretty straight forward, but I’m sure the future holds challenges.

The bris will be May 4th. The mohel is in Israel. Little Gabe has some respiratory distress. Jon and Jen will be glad when Kate gets there.

Today or tomorrow morning is repair the treadmill day. I have a harness to replace and it demands matching colored wires with the right sockets. It seems straightforward, but I confused three colors on the back of the TV.

Family

An Earth Day Baby

April 22, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

54 bar steady 29.98 2mph WSW dewpoint 38 Spring

Full Moon of Growing

Gabe is an earth day baby. To have a grandchild born on earthday is auspicious. His generation will bear the full brunt of the policy decisions now taking place in homes, cities, states and the nation, in fact, all over the globe. We have the chance to mitigate and in some instances reverse the earth damaging human footprint, but if we don’t, Gabe and his demographic cohort had better learn to swim early, though he resides in Denver, the Mile High city, so ocean rise would have to get severe to reach his front door.

He’s in a level 2 nursery with oxygen, an IV for fluids and possibly anti-biotics. Kate says if he has trouble it will come within the first 24 hours. She doesn’t think he will. He weighed 6 lbs, 8 oz and is 19 inches long. Lean and long. Just like his dad. This is a good weight for a 35 week baby.

Kate spent this morning in whirling dervish mode, controlled but rapid, making phone calls and deciding how to wrap up stuff around here so she can fly out tomorrow. I’ll stay through Monday AM when I’ll drive out in order to be there in time for the bris on Wednesday.

We had a solid rain last night and though the temps are not as high today we’re still warm enough to encourage growth. Several of the seeds I planted on Sunday have already sprouted. I’m not sure what will happen to them left to their own devices for three days, they’re still vulnerable in these first few days, just like Gabe. Got to think on it.

Family

Oil and Gas Operator

April 21, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

76 bar steady 29.79 0mph ESE dewpoint 53 Spring

Full Moon of Growing

This land baron business creates decisions. Just got an offer in the mail, unsolicited, for our land in Texas. On one level it appears to be a generous offer for 40 acres of mesquite, sand and rattle snakes. On the other hand, how did somebody in California whose business card reads Oil and Gas Operator decide to send us an offer? Gonna check out the oil and natural gas situation in Pecos County quick.

The reporter for the Ft. Stockton newspaper who wrote up the scam that sold off a 5,000 acre ranch in 40 acre allotments said to me when I spoke with her, “My biggest hope is that oil or natural gas will be discovered under that land. Would serve’m right.”

My siblings and I got this land as an inheritance from a ne’er do well step brother. We still don’t why. He died and we got the land. He bought it on e-bay.

Gosh, I hope we have more suitors out there. The ideal situation would be for us to lease our land to an oil company so they can put in a well. Who knows?

Faith and Spirituality, Family

A Tradition Thousands of Years Old

April 20, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

59 bar rises 29.84 1mph NE dewpoint 46 Spring

Full Moon of Growing

Kate and I observed a tradition thousands of years old tonight. We got out the Haggadh, put the horseradish, cilantro, haroset, boiled egg and lamb bone (we substituted a chicken leg.) on a Seder plate. A small egg shaped cup held the salt water, the Elijah cup stood ready for his return. We had matzoh and we hid the aphikomon for the dogs. They were, as the passover ritual suggests, children unable to inquire. We worked together within the limitations of our planning and availability of certain goods to produce a meal, to read the Seder ritual and retell the timeless story of enslavement and liberation, the Exodus.

This Haggadh, the language and shape of the Seder laid out in book form, is hopeless. It is sexist in the extreme; sexist where no law of faith requires it. Kate suggested I write one of my own and I just might.

It is a little strange for me, metaphysically speaking, to participate in this ritual with solemnity, which aspects of it requires. Once I get in the flow of it though the ritual and the language and the songs blend together and become a hymn to the life of a people and their relationship with their highest and best sense of themselves. It is a story which acknowledges human frailty as well as longing for the divine, bravery as well as fear. It is their story, but also our story. Bondage, liberation and the struggle for freedom belong not just to the Jews, but to everyone.

Family, Garden, Travel, Weather +Climate

Compounding Pharmacies

April 17, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

44 bar rises 30.06 2mph N dewpoint 31 Spring

Waxing Gibbous Moon of Growing

A gray, cool start after a shirt sleeve day yesterday. We’re still in the hurry up and wait phase of gardening. It’s a bit too early for clean up, certainly too early for planting anything but cold weather crops. We don’t tend to do those, at least not so far, so the hydroponics are our primary entry in this years vegetable garden. The lettuce seedlings and tomato plant I put under the light first have grown rapidly. Not ready for harvest anytime soon, but on the way.

Kate made me aware of compounding pharmacies, a vestigial remnant of that which all pharmacies used to be, independent pharmaceutical manufactories. There are six in Minnesota including one in St. Paul, St. Peter and Wayzata. The Wayzata pharmacy has a glitzy name, RxArtisans. I knew a few of those when I was in college. The growth and reach of pharmaceutical companies has reduced the average pharmacy to nothing more than a retail distributor of already compounded drugs. This results, of course, in a matching of patients to available drugs and their available dosages, whereas the compounding pharmacy matched drugs to patients both in dosage and delivery vehicle.

The Delta buyout of Northwest, not a merger, will not be certain for some time to come. The pilots association of Northwest and the other unions flight attendants, ground crews and mechanics are about to become part of a larger, non-unionized pool. This creates probable labor and culture conflicts from day one. Also, congress and the regulators still have to approve, as does Wall Street. Both companies share price dropped the day after the announcement, an unusual event. Also, both airlines have an aging fleet of planes and debt hangover from their respective bankruptcies. The State of Minnesota wants its incentives back since Northwest, with the merger, violates the remain in Minnesota provision. All this reflects the turbulent nature of an industry who excels in nothing quite so much as an uncomfortable experience delivered for hundreds of dollars.

Family, Travel, Weather +Climate

Air Conditioning

April 10, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

33 bar steep fall 29.69 7 mph NE dewpoint 32 Spring

Waxing Crescent Moon of Growing

Just got a call from the Sierra Club inviting me to my own party. I said, “OK.”

The rain turned to part snow around 4:50PM and looks like it’s mostly snow now. As soon as the temps drop, it will transition to full snow and if it comes up this rate, it will accumulate.

Checked out airfare to Dallas/Ft. Worth in July. Only for family would I go to Dallas/Ft. Worth and only for a family reunion would I go in July. Once, long ago, I took the train from Indiana to Ft. Worth where my Dad’s brother, Charles, lived. On the way I got molested while taking pictures with my Brownie camera, but I said, “Don’t do that.” to the guy who put his hand between my legs and he went away. It was not a big deal then or now.

I hit Ft. Worth just as the temperature racked up 107. I didn’t know the temperatures in the world really got that hot. I knew it theoretically, but empirically? No way. This would have 1956/7 and I’d only experienced air conditioning on rare occasions. I remember repeating after I got back: I went from an air-conditioned train, to an air-conditioned car, to an air-conditioned house. This was remarkable.

What the temps will be like this time I have no idea, but air-conditioning has gone from a comment-worthy rarity to a personal necessity. I have no doubt we’ll be well cooled.

That weather seems a long way from the winds today, which hit 34 at 2:10pm, and the driving snow that builds up on our lawn as I write this.