Monday, June 30, 2008

Jacod si Disxelyc

Jim and I met last week with the doctor who did Jacob’s neuropsychological assessment. His evaluation was very thorough and he wrote up an eleven-page report for us. Whew. He concluded that Jacob is indeed dyslexic, which, in turn, finally explains Jacob’s difficulties with reading and spelling, in particular. (And jeers to all of his past teachers who never identified this and blamed other things instead. In your faces, ladies!) The neuropsychologist gave us lists of resources that we will be able to utilize to help Jacob overcome not only the dyslexia, but several other learning issues as well. Discovering how Jacob sees and interprets written words has been fascinating – dyslexia is actually quite an intriguing disorder. Well, Jacob is in good company, anyway, as we have found out that some pretty accomplished people were dyslexic – like Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, and Thomas Edison, among others.

The neuropsychologist gave us a sample of what Jacob sees when he reads:

An old wom an dakeb some gin gerdreab. She hab some bough left ov er, so she mabe the sha be of a little man. She mape eyes, anoseand a smil ing mouth andpl aceq curra ntsbown his front to look like du ttons. Thenshe laib hi mon a qak ingtray and put himint he oven.

Wacky, huh? The dyslexia also gives Jacob problems when he tries to read a word that he cannot picture in his mind. Nouns are, therefore, easier to comprehend than verbs & adjectives. Phonics? Very difficult for him! It is going to be an exciting ride, but we will prevail. We can only go forward from here!

Friday, June 27, 2008

More Storms and a Leaky Basement

Jacob and I were out driving after an appointment yesterday, when I noticed some dark clouds forming in the sky. I wanted to arrive home before Jim and/or Adam, specifically so I could get one of the two spaces in the garage. Ever since Adam started driving, it has been somewhat first come-first serve as far as the prime indoor parking spots go at our house. Anyway, I did not want to get caught out in our driveway in a hailstorm, or in a raging downpour, and end up having to dash through the inclement weather to get inside. So, we plodded along, hoping to beat either Jim or Adam home.

When Jacob and I were about 6 or 7 miles from home, the wind abruptly picked up. Out of the blue, it was blowing at 30, 40, and then 50 miles per hour. I was pretty sure that my wind speed estimate was accurate because I had learned how to make approximate calculations at my National Weather Service class. Leaves and twigs were flying around everywhere, and it started to rain. Branches began snapping off trees. In about a one-mile stretch, we saw at least ten limbs break off of trunks as we drove by them. I decided that we should probably just stop and wait out the storm, quite possibly in a building, so we wouldn’t be battered by any errant branches. I headed towards a Kroger parking lot about 200 yards away. Without warning, the rain began to come down so fast and so hard that you honestly could not see a foot in front of the car. All the traffic on the road came to a complete stop. Several police cars went whizzing by at about 5 or 10 miles per hour, and I never did find out where they were heading. I also remembered that, as a good “weather spotter,” I should be contacting the NWS office with an immediate report on the extreme conditions, especially the winds, which I later learned were clocked at 60 m.p.h. But, alas, I didn’t have the “spotter” phone number with me, and, yes, I have since placed it in my purse.

The storm eased up a bit after about 10 minutes, and Jake and I were able to resume driving. We started counting downed tree branches, but quit after 30 or so. When we arrived home, Jim was already there. Jacob rushed inside to tell him our harrowing storm tale, but he was not very interested in hearing it. Evidently, Jim had just been in the basement and discovered that two of our sewer drains had backed up, and no amount of plunging or snaking was going to fix the problem. And it was a stinky problem, too. ICK! I contacted four or five different plumbers, but each one was “on another call” or “too busy to come tonight.” Jim finally called Roto Rooter, and they sent a guy over fairly quickly. Thirty minutes and $150 later, our drains were once again running smoothly. Jim did some massive cleaning downstairs, for which I am thankful, but I still intend to bleach the floor today. Fun times.


Jake and I saw this.

And this.

And this, too.

This was what the wind did to our deck furniture.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Weather Spotting

Ten years ago or so, I attended a class to become an official “weather spotter” for the National Weather Service. Every year since, I have gone to the NWS annual three-hour training seminar to obtain recertification. Adam has always accompanied me, and, a few years ago, he was finally old enough to become a “spotter” himself. Nancy, and, most recently, Richie, are also “weather spotters.” From the time I first became certified, there has never been any bad weather in our area. Well, last June there was a severe storm that blew through our neighborhood, but it occurred while we were at Pattye’s house celebrating Julia’s birthday. On that particular day, the National Weather Service office actually phoned our house, presumably for current weather conditions. We were disappointed that we missed that call, and that we missed the thunderstorm as well. But, hey, Julia only turns five one time.

Late yesterday afternoon, while Adam was at work, and Jim was driving home, some dark, swirling cumulonimbus clouds began developing outside. We are so used to being taunted by would-be storms brewing nearby, only to have them fizzle out when they close in on us, that Jacob and I barely took notice. When the clouds continued to march towards our house, we snapped a few pictures. Some gusty winds toppled the chairs on our deck, but they quickly subsided. It rained a little bit, and I assumed that since the sky was already starting to lighten, this latest squall was already dissipating. As usual. Then, without warning, a few hailstones bounced to the ground. Curiously, they were good sized – almost an inch in diameter – but they were random and intermittent. All of a sudden, as if out of nowhere, hail began pounding the house. It looked like it was snowing outside, and it was LOUD! Jacob and I were running around excitedly, taking pictures and reaching out the door struggling to grab some souvenir hailstones without getting pummeled in the process. I placed a plastic cup on the deck hoping to seize some mementos, but it was immediately cracked by the flying ice pellets. I judged the size of the hailstones, frantically trying to determine if they were large enough to warrant a phone-in report to the National Weather Service office. In my wishy-washiness, I did what every good “spotter” would do. I called Adam. I attempted to describe the hail size to him, and in his calm, wise, yet somewhat condescending tone, he advised me to “just get a ruler and measure it.” The average hailstones were ½ inch in diameter, so, as per the NWS guidelines, I phoned in my report. Jim arrived home shortly after the storm ended, having amazingly driven through it with no visual damage to his car. Jacob and I ran around outside, scooping up piles of the icy balls to keep in the freezer. Adam ridiculed me later for taking pictures of the hail next to a ruler, but, really, how often do you get nice sized hailstones like these?


The clouds are coming.

The "damage" is done. (Kindly excuse the smudge in the picture.)

Some half-inch hailstones.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

New TV for a Day

A few months ago, the tv in our family room began to go on the blink. And I mean that literally. When we turned it on for the first time each day, the picture would blink on for a second, and then go black. Then it would flash on and off several more times before finally staying on. As weeks went by, this flickering thing lasted longer and longer. First, the tv would blink for a couple minutes before it would stay on, then it would blink for five minutes, then ten minutes, then fifteen minutes, . . . you get the idea. The other morning, it took an hour and a half of annoying on-and-off-and-on-and-off crap until the tv set actually stayed on. We checked with our professional tv consultant – Richie – and his advice was simple and clear-cut. “Get a new tv.”

We started television shopping, and decided on a 42-inch, flat screen, plasma, HDTV set. It was a “floor model,” but it was sitting way up high on a shelf, so we assumed very few people had ever even touched it. We saved 10%, and lugged it home; reveling in how lightweight these newfangled televisions have become compared to the old ones with tubes. We plugged the tv in, and observed some sort of writing etched on the background of the screen. The television had been hooked up to a DVD player in the store, and, evidently, someone had left the menu page of a DVD inactive on the tv for quite a while. The image had become permanently burned into the screen. I am amazed that after all those lectures from electronics experts to never, ever leave any computer or tv idle without a screensaver, that a television salesperson would be guilty of this. Sigh. We played around with the various tv features. On “full screen” mode, since our WOW plan does not include high-definition service, everything was stretched out sideways. The United States map on the Weather Channel appeared at least 25% wider than the country is in reality. And Jim Cantore looked quite stubby, also. We changed back to “normal” mode, and the picture looked regular again, but it had shrunk to about the size of a 35” tv with those black boxes surrounding it. After discussing HDTV mumbo-jumbo with both Richie and Eric, we did what anyone would have done in our situation. We returned the new television to the store and decided to wait a bit before venturing into the high tech world of HDTV. Maybe until there is a big sale of some kind. And, in the meantime, we will either switch some tvs around in our house, or, as suggested by Norm, just leave the flashing set on continuously until it fizzles out completely. What do we have to lose?

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Fireworks

Our fireworks party on Saturday was lots of fun. We ate and drank. The kids ran around and swam. Some friends that we have not seen for a long time came over. It was great to get together with everyone. The actual fireworks display was, as usual, very impressive. Our local fireworks gurus always do something strange, though. About 30 minutes into the show, they set off a rapid succession of pyrotechnics that can only be described as a finale. After a slight pause, the crowd cheers, the lights begin to go on in the park, and spectators start packing up their chairs & coolers. THEN, the fireworks start up again. The park lights go off, people sit back down, and the fanfare continues for another 15 minutes or so, until the real finale begins. Afterwards, the crowd once again bursts into applause, the lights go back on, and the masses get up & leave. The same weird thing transpires every single year, so those who have previously witnessed these fireworks realize what is going to happen. The earlier “faux finale” does manage to fool a large number of people, though, and I, for one, will never comprehend its purpose. It is almost as if those setting off the fireworks think they are all done, but then – whoops – they discover a few more cases of explosives they forgot to light during the show. They couldn’t be that absentminded, could they?

My nephew, Muffin, enjoying his very first sparkler.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Recent Happenings

Yesterday I took Jacob for an all-day neuropsychological assessment to specifically check for dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. Who in the world, with the exception of Pattye, has ever even heard of dyscalculia? The neuropsych folks made the testing “fun” (Jacob’s word), and he handled the grueling, 8-hour schedule well. We are looking forward to receiving the evaluation results in two weeks.

Today I intend to spend the day cleaning and shopping for our kind-of-annual hometown fireworks party tomorrow. Besides the usual clutter around the house, I still have a few things to put away from our vacation. In contrast, Jim unpacked all of his clothes, put his suitcase downstairs, and had a load of laundry in the washing machine within an hour of our arrival home last week. Freak. I did catch a glimpse of my seven-pound load of papers from Alaska that caused so much trouble at the Seattle airport check-in counter on our return trip, and wondered if I will ever really look through them, much less make use of any of them. I guess $80.00 would not have been well spent if I had paid Delta's overweight suitcase fee on our flight home, only to never even use the pricey (and heavy) contents of the offending brochure-filled packet. I really must become more of a “thrower away-er” in the future.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Ankle Report

My injured ankle is improving ever-so-slightly each day. The peroneal tendon, which was previously popping in and out of place about 25 to 30 times a day, is only dislocating approximately 10 times a day now. Some websites – my sole (pun not intentional) source of medical information and advice since seeing the doctor on the ship – recommend placing a cast on the ankle for three to four weeks so it can heal properly. Evidently, the ligament holding the tendon in place was stretched, not torn, allowing for this repeated dislodging crap. Dr. Jim feels that the stretched ligament will eventually retighten and hold the tendon correctly in place, although he claims it will "never be the same again." If it does continue to move around, I suppose I will be forced to pay a visit to an orthopedic surgeon, as suggested. In the meantime, I am wearing a lovely ankle brace in my semi-successful attempt to keep the tendon immobile. I must say, however, that this injury is much easier to deal with than those finger stitches I had earlier in the year. Although the ankle occasionally hurts, especially when the tendon is out of joint, at least I can get it wet, can stand on it, and can walk around with barely a limp. I have also learned how to quickly restore the tendon to its correct position, when necessary, with a quick inward & downward snapping twist of my foot. I should actually shoot some video of this, so you can see how disgusting it looks. If nothing else, this has been a valuable experience from an educational standpoint. Jacob has learned a new definition for a word that he assumed only had one meaning – “lame.”

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Airplanes

We arrived back home Tuesday afternoon - not only on time, but early! Our return flights were on Delta, and I must say I am pleased that they are merging with Northwest. Delta's aircraft had individual video screens at each seat, so you could watch tv, listen to music, see movies, play games, monitor your flight stats & progress, etc. I absolutely loved that feature. In contrast, the nearly-six-hour flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage on NWA did not offer entertainment of any kind. (Except for the monologue from the charming senior citizen next to me describing in great detail how excited he was about the salmon fishing excursion he had booked in Ketchikan.) Neither airline lost any of our luggage, which is a miracle considering there were five of us traveling on a total of four different airplanes. Both Delta and NWA, however, insisted that we switch items between our suitcases when one weighed 51 pounds on our outbound trip, and one was 57 pounds on the return. The airlines take their 50-pound weight limit rule very seriously, which is somewhat silly since the suitcases are all going on the same aircraft anyway. (In Europe, they weighed all our bags together and took the combined weight.) If we had not removed that pesky one pound pair of sweatpants from that outbound suitcase and placed it into one of our other bags, NWA would have charged us $80.00, yet checking an additional 50-pound bag would have only cost $25.00. Go figure. I was also able to meet the Delta weight limit on the return leg by simply removing my collection of brochures, maps, Princess daily activity sheets, etc. from the 57-pound suitcase. I cannot believe I had packed seven pounds of papers. I just stuffed them into my already-heavy carry-on bag, which, in turn, made it feel like I was toting around a bowling ball or something. Long gone are the days where you could simply check two pieces of luggage for free!

Anyway, here are the pictures that I snapped while we were on the Boeing Tour on Monday. Being an airplane enthusiast, I found the whole experience phenomenal. I think Richie did, too. Jacob was fairly apathetic during the assembly line visit, but he perked up in the “gallery,” where you could see & touch actual planes up close. In the plant, we saw the very first 787 Dreamliner that is due to roll off the line for its test flight in October. We also caught glimpses of the second, third, and fourth 787s in various stages of development. We were prohibited from photographing anything inside the assembly building, and could not even bring cameras or cell phones with us on that part of the tour, but it was exhilarating to see the new jets being built just the same.


Jim in front of a mock 787 fuselage.

Jacob, ready to take off.

The Captain and First Officer.

Jacob standing by a 747 tail fin.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Ziplining, then off to Washington

Below are a few more recent pictures. After we disembarked our ship in Vancouver, B.C. on Saturday, we checked out the city a bit. We certainly encountered our fair share of colorful characters there. One bum ambled up behind me and Adam, and mumbled, "I hope you're enjoying your God damn vacation." We laughed until we cried. We took the Amtrak train to Seattle that night. On Sunday, we attended the Seattle Mariners vs. Detroit Tigers baseball game at Safeco Field. (Tigers won!) Today we toured the Boeing Plant in Everett, WA. I will have to post the Boeing photos later, as I messed up while uploading pix this evening and am too lazy to start over again!

Jacob sitting by the aft pool on the ship. He did swim. The pools were all heated.

Jim and Adam hiking across a skybridge while on their Ziplining excursion.

Adam zipping.

Jacob at Safeco Field in Seattle. Look how low those railings are next to him!

Jacob posing with our rental van in Seattle.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Finally - Some Pictures!

In Skagway, AK, we rented a car. First we drove through British Columbia.


Then we entered the Yukon Territories.


We saw this bear on the side of the road.


Jacob played with some Huskies at "Dog Musher Camp."


Jacob and Richie went for a "Dog Cart" ride.


Then we drove back to the ship in AK.


The next day we toured the Mendenhall Glacier. (That really is glacier ice.)


We trekked to a waterfall - over these treacherous boulders.


The waterfall was awesome. (See Jake in the green shirt.)


I did not make it to the waterfall. This is as far as I got, when I injured my ankle.


Here is my new ankle brace.