The Big Day

Today was the big day, got the steroid injection in my foot.

Doctor had given me an injection into my ankle to deaden the foot, then he marked it with ink so he knows where the mass is.

And here it is after its all finished. Pretty swollen up after the stuff went in. He said it worked perfectly, was like putting air into a balloon.

I need to get a photo of it without the bandage but I don't have any.

And heres my new boot and ride.

I just want to run again, without pain.

Ironman Texas

A good friend finished Ironman Texas yesterday, his 11th attempt. Finish time 12:50.  34th in Age Group 55-59.

Ironman & Barn updates

Lan hasn't been training for Ironman at all while we're replacing the floor in the house. There are a million little things he's got to do to be prepared for the wood and with his calf injured it's OK that he's not training and giving it a good long rest.

 

Yesterday Dave came by to help with the Trump Wall and ceiling repair. He made it look nice and professional, unlike the way I had it but I BUILT A WALL. Its not dry so I can't sand it yet or apply the texture, maybe tomorrow.

 

My own injury is irritating the hell out of me. It feels like my sock is folded over all the time and lately if feels like the sock is thinker and thicker. I've decided to go with injections, or, ONE injection, and see how it feels after that. If there is no significant improvement I'll schedule surgery in mid October. Then I'll have 2 weeks off, go back to the doc for stitch removal and checkup, then 2 weeks vacation in Arizona where I can laze around in the sunshine, walk on flat ground and ride pedal bikes on perfectly flat ground and if its OK, I'll swim in the 85* pool outdoor pools. I'll have a knee scooter for when Lan races and I'll put a race bib on it. Then if its healed well enough after my vaca I'll return to work, if not I'll still have 2 more weeks I can take off work.

 

In the barn there isn't a lot going on but we did find a cement guy who will do it extremely cheap. His dad owns a cement company so he's got all the stuff and all we have to pay for is the cement. All the forms and equipment will be free to use. I can't wait for the floors to be finished so we can begin the barn!!

 

I've got 6 chicks in the old water trough, all supposed to be hens. Julia and I are going to hatch a bunch more to sell at the small animal exchange next month.

Barn Floor Work

I've got 2 new guys coming out to give bids on the entire barn or barn floor, Can't wait to get it started.

In the house, we have all the old flooring up in the living room, office, dining room & old kitchen area. There is a lot of damage to the subfloor though so we're thinking we need to replace all that and get new, about $800 we hadn't previously planned on. We don't even know if the old floor is glued down or just nailed down, glued down will be just as bad as the condition as whats there now.

Today I'm painting the Ombre brown on the stairs wall, can't wait to see it finished.

Flooring Ordered

Finally, we have made a decision and ordered our new flooring. We chose Bellawood engineered Acacia.This has been a long and drawn out process; we wanted solid hardwood but with a 185# dog we can't get just anything, it needed to be strong and resilient. Acacia is a harder wood but we were told the solid wood could warp in our damp weather and both our floor guy and the store guys said engineered was tougher.

 

This is what it should look like when its installed.

 

So there won't be a lot of Ironman training going on for a while, we've got to get the floors in shape for this new topping. The parquet is gone, now to clean it up, remove the carpet, sand and or treat them and then we're ready. Of course, we've still got a lot of furniture to move too.

 

Stall Fronts

After returning from Disneyland and the land of sunshine, I spent a grumpy day at home. I just wanted to see something, ANYTHING, happening with our home updates.

 

So I sat at my computer and did a Craigslist search, STALL FRONTS, in the greater Seattle area and found this:

 

Retiring thoroughbred farm,20 stalls ,stall fronts are 12x8,we will help remove and load call or text for a look, these are locally made, heavy metal ,fabricated in the 80s ,angle iron frame ,instant stall

 

I called and he still have most available but some had already been sold and more people were showing up all the time. Called Karen:

 

Me: Want to go get stall fronts with me?

K: Yes.

Me: Can we use your flatbed?

K: Yes

Me: Can we use your truck to pull your flatbed?

K: Yes.

 

We left home at about 1pm, I had to call in to work that I couldn't make it in, just in case, and headed to Granite Falls.

 

These stall fronts are dang nice. Heavy duty, truly 2" thick, they include the wood and the sliding tracks on top. Each door weighs about 100# and the stall fronts are easily 250. Some of the wood is rotten from having had horses spitting water onto it for 30 years but most is just fine.

 

I'll need to clean them up, maybe sand blast & repaint the metal then purchase bolts to attach these to the barn, replace a few boards and then they are done.

 

I paid $1100 for 5 stall fronts ($220.00 each)

plus $100 for a single and a double window bars that can opened.

The fuel was $40 but I'm going to pay more for that

and I owe Karen my firstborn child.

 

I have search locally for stall fronts and the only ones I could find that were sturdy/strong enough are in Graham and cost $550 for the frames and are a foot shorter, I'd still have to purchase and install the rollers/sliders for each door ($125) and wood.

 

These were a bitch to get out of the barn and onto the trailer but there were 3 big guys to help, they had a welder to get rid of the old rusty bolts holding them in place and they were much stronger than us and had tools.

 

I saved over $500 per stall.

I have a lot of work yet to do on these, the entire barn needs to be built, but to have these makes my heart happy. No shitty shed stalls for my horses.

 



Disneyland

 

I'm getting pretty excited for our upcoming Southern California trip.

 

 

We leave here Tuesday morning, go to Disneyland Wednesday & Thursday, then have 2 open days for whatever. Lan wants to go to Santa Monica Pier.

 

The weather is supposed to be in mid 70's, PERFECT for us.