Pics from Limberlost and Update

Isaac got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon. He is doing better. They believe it was a stomach virus. He is feeling better and playing. Melissa is not doing too good though. She has been sick today with the same stomach thing. I have used a couple of cans of Lysol hoping I won't be next in line. Here are some pics from our Amishville trip the other day. Notice the hitching post at Mickey D's and the tag on the back of the buggy.

Return to the Land of the Limberlost

Yesterday, Isaac got to go for a three hour get away. This is the first time in 14 months that he has been more than 30 minutes away from the hospital. After hearing of my story from the Amish country the other day, he decided he wanted to go there. So we did. We went back to the Land of the Limberlost. We rode around for a few hours just checking out the Amish area. We saw a one room Amish school with about 30 kids playing outside. It looked like something right out of Little House on the Prairie.(Not that I watched that show when I was a kid. Well maybe a few times. I didn't really like Nelly though, she was pretty much spoiled. Half Pint, now she was my favorite. I liked Mr. Olsen too. He was too hen pecked though. He really should have stood up for himself more. Anyway back to my story..) We stopped at a McDonalds in the town of Berne and behind the restaurant was a line of hitching posts where the Amish would park their buggies while they ate their Mickey D's. Who'd of thunk it? Amish eating with Ronald.(I took pictures I will post tommorrow but I am at the hospital with Isaac and don't have my camera.) We stopped in several Amish stores along the roadside. It was a step back in time. No lights, no electricity, no electric heat. They used natural light and wood burning stoves for their stores. We visited the horseshoe putter on person. Not really sure what you call him. We were at the Amish hardware store and a couple pulled up in their buggy to get a new wagon wheel. Pretty cool to see. We stopped at the Amish bakery and the food was delicious.

Two things that really struck me about the Amish: 1. They probably were the nicest people that I have ever met. 2. They displayed a level of humility that I don't believe I have ever seen before. I would like to be like that.

Some interesting facts about the Amish
1. When a couple gets married, they spend their honeymoon night at the home of the bride's parents so that they can get up at dawn to help with the morning chores. And yes the brides parents stay at the house also. Not more to say here.
2. An Amish young man keeps his face clean shaven until he is married and then he will grow out his beard but never a mustache. Mustaches are forbidden.
3. The largest population of Amish is in Ohio and not in Lancaster,PA as many people believe.
4. Their church services meet every other week in one of the family homes. But when they do meet their service starts at 9:00 a.m. and lasts til noon.
5. They have nothing inscribed on their grave stones but rather they have a map that is passed down from generation to generation telling who is buried where.
6. And last... this is my favorite.... On the morning of a wedding, several ladies arrive at the family home just after dawn and begin food preparation which usually consists of 250-300 pounds of chicken. Now that is one meal I want to go to.

Back in the Hospital

We awoke this morning with Isaac experiencing vomitting and diahrea. He has not ran a fever as of yet and is going to be admitted. If all goes well we will be out tommorrow. They believe it is a stomach virus. With him being a BMT patient, they usually will hospitalize him just to be on the safe side.

Sissy? Again

So after my recent post on men with small dogs in their man bag/pouch, my friends the Holders have come up with this wonderful picture of exactly what I was talking about. The sad thing is that he had this picture taken months ago before I even posted about this. His wife was kind enough to post it on her blog crystalholder.blogspot.com . Please drop them a comment and let him know how Sissy he is. The sad thing is that he takes the dog to doggy day care and to get its nails done.

Check in Tommorrow

Melissa,Isaac and I had an interesting day out today. Check back tommorrow afternoon for "The Return to The Land of Limberlost - Part Deux". I am tired and going to bed.

The Big Crash

Today I took part in an age old ritual that occurs this time of year. I started off my New Year with riding my bicycle again. I used to ride about 12 or so miles a day but last February I pulled a Forrest Gump and just stopped. I didn't start riding every other day or anything like that, I just stopped. Since that time I have picked up a few pounds and lost a few breaths. I think it really hit me when I was playing basketball a few weeks ago and was winded after H. Today though, I began to ride again. And for the first time, I experienced what one would describe as a dramatic crash. I was going about 25 miles an hour and suddenly I leaned to the right and down I went. I wasn't wearing my helmet. Luckily for me, the boxes in my basement cushioned my fall. Yeah, I was riding in my basement on my stationary trainer(it's too cold up here to ride outside) and I got tripped up while standing on the pedals. Doesn't sound too dramatic does it? Sounds kinda clutsy dorky. Well that's where my imagination comes in. And thanks to my imagination, I'll provide you with an embellished third person account of "The Dramatic Crash". (The scene is set at Le Tour de France in the etages mountaigne( I think that's French for mountain stages). And the story begins......... (remember this is being told in the third person and is not me telling these dramatic events) Sammy Clary was in fourth position as he passed the 72 km mark. The peleton is dropping further behind this frenzied pace that this breakaway of four riders has set. As the breakaway approaches the summit of L'Alpe de Huez, Clary appears to be making a pass. He is now up to second place in this, the 16th stage of Le Tour de France. We'll be back after these messages from our sponsors. (At this point a new Chia Pet commercial airs featuring a new cyclist Chia. Simply apply the Chia paste to the legs of the cyclist and watch him grow manly leg hair. Ch Ch Ch Chia.....commercial ends) And we're back. We have just witnessed a horrific and dramatic crash. After, cresting the top of the hill, Sammy Clary and Jans(pronounced Yons) Fleiterik of team Hergossi became entagled when an over enthusiastic fan was run over while trying to hand Fleiterik a bottle of steriods laced water. The crash sent Clary careening off of a 45 foot cliff. Luckily, several boxes had just fallen off of the back of a UPS truck and were there to cushion his fall...............The End. Now doesnt't that sound better than I fell off my stationary bike in the basement.

The best thing that I saw in 2006

The best thing that I saw in 2006 happened on December 31st at 11:45 p.m.. Melissa, Isaac and I were laying upstairs in the bed watching the New Year getting ready to arrive, when I asked him if he wanted to try and climb the stairs in the house we are renting. This is a big deal for us. We had made a deal with him that we would give him $20 when he was able to climb the stairs by himself. For those of you unfamiliar with his story that would sound relatively simple. Climb 10 or so stairs and you get $20. When Isaac was in the hospital, he went through chemo and was on high doses of medicines that broke down his muscle tissue. He got to the the point where he couldn't walk at all and was in a wheel chair for most of the summer. Gradually his muscle tissue built back up until finally he could walk without his walker. He experienced a couple of big falls because his muscles would just give out on him. Anyway, he got out of the hospital and we moved into a rental house while he still continues his treatments. The house is two stories and for the first couple of months I carried him up and down the stairs. He eventually got to where he could crawl up and down the stairs and let's just say that this has been better for my back. As incentive for him to keep working at getting his muscles back, we made the $20 deal with him. So last night at 11:45 p.m., Isaac walked all the way up the stairs by himself. It was like watching him take his first steps all over again and was the best thing that I saw this past year.