rjones28 

just trying to help

truckstop

good tips. the color i'd like to get it to is a "dirty turquoise" so this should work pretty well.

patentcad

Long day in Cresskill NJ helping to move my 90 year old terminally ill Dad and my 85 year old stepmother back into their home. The house was crushed by a falling tree last October, they have been staying in a nearby one bedroom apartment since then, in the meantime my Dad was diagnosed with two inoperable cancers, so the stress of being out of their home has only compounded the nightmare. My Dad has only weeks left (we figure he's down from 180 to about 110 lbs) but he is not in pain, and the move back made him so happy (and of course my stepmother). He was quite alert after dinner and we got to spend some quality time together as a family, probably the last time we'll all be able to do that (most of us were there, two of my three stepbrother and their wives, my brother Graham's two grown kids Scott and David). We really all pulled together to support them over the past couple of months, all made efforts to get them back into their home my March 1 (which involved some pushing and prodding of contractors and town officials). We were there breaking up and moving frozen solid snow from the driveway, reassembling shattered bedrooms, etc. But in the end the house looked better than ever (it's a very modest 60+ year old postwar colonial that badly needed the new interior paint and carpets that this mini-disaster wound up providing).

Reminded me of why I love my extended family and how much it has all meant to us over the 40 years they have been married. I was 16 when they married, I wound up with three stepbrothers, Graham who is 5 years older, Keith a year older and Greg a year younger. And we have stayed close as an extended family for four decades through thick and thin. It was great. My Dad is so happy to be home, he said to somebody today: 'Now I can die' - in other words he feels at home, and that's how it should be.

Hard for the family emotionally, still it was a good day for all of us today. We all love him so much. But he's dying with much love and support around him. Most 90 year olds die alone, and thinking of that makes me sad. I'm sorrowful about my Dad but happy that he feels so loved. Only if you're lucky now, as in the Ryan Adams song, which seems to be about getting old, feeling strange, and breaking hearts.

Dannihilator

Impressive... Nature can be brutal.

gnome

that's a tiddler. needs to be a proper sized one like:

Rowan

I know I am healthier and fitter for working in a fruit orchards.

Rowan

Machka has talked about our 100km ride in the Weekend Rides thread.

It was quite tough. Steep hills -- some around 17% and quite a few more than 10%. Over 5,600 feet of climbing in 60 miles.

She's sorer than I am. But there were some good long-distance riding lessons learned.

Nice scenery helped (although not much).

RollCNY

Yes sir. And congrats on ditching clyde status. I am hovering right at the 199-201 range, which is better than the 207-209 I hovered at in December.

patentcad

Eff nature.

nondes 

I read that the insecticides used in fruit orchards are pretty nasty for the people who apply them - or has that changed?

3alarmer 

...a lot of the local orchards here in NorCal are managed much more with IPM now, reducing
both the applications of various insecticides, and their risk to workers. Not every one, of course.

Interestingly, the cost of the poisons and their application has been one of the things driving change.

Apples, for example, are subject here mostly to codling moth, which can be trapped and the reproductive
cycle disrupted using pheremonal lures which turn out to be cheaper than spraying, done properly.

TMonk

Great post pcad... Glad to hear your Father is at peace.

Also that golden eagle vid: holy **** lol

BillyD

+1

LesterOfPuppets

34 degrees F and raining here. I think that rounds off to 0 degrees C.

ls01

Its like the road crews have thrown in the towel. Everything is still covered, well I havent been on the e-way yet, but will be in short order. It was bad last night, worse with all the idiots out there today. The only clearing is due to traffic. Man, I am ready for spring. I am just sick of winter, sick of shoveling it, sick of driving in it, sick of working in it, sick of the sight of it, IM SICK OF IT D'YOU HEAR MEEEE???!!!!!!!!



(sigh) Ill feel better after the medication starts working.......

LesterOfPuppets

I wish it was snowing here. I ride in snow but not in 34° rain, unless I really have to.

WhyFi

Some lady got her minivan profoundly stuck in my alley, in zero inches of new snowfall. The wheel ruts are pretty deep and she somehow got caught diagonally between them, unable to go forward or back. After about 10 minutes of me helping, another neighbor showed up - that didn't do any good, either. The 3rd neighbor showed up, another 10 minutes later though, and we finally got a good heave-ho to break her free. Good deed done for the day.

Ramona_W

It's not just the chafing, etc. I try to look moderately cute/attractive when I go out with LoP and especially when I go somewhere by bike. I'd like to represent the idea- maybe less true in this climate than in other parts of the country- that it's possible to transport yourself on even a mountain bike and not arrive looking like a drowned rat or an Eddie Bauer spokesmodel.

LesterOfPuppets

I'd say you're good for the year. Enjoy the remainder of your 2014 with much debauchery.

rjones28 

Good to hear that your dad is back home Pcad.

Ramona_W

They're thinner than regular pancakes but not as thin as a crepe. They come with the option of Lingonberry jam as a condiment. They're smaller and these in particular are served at the Sons of Norway Hall making them especially and officially Norwegian.

WhyFi

Awesome - I'm going to go mug a nun.

Ramona_W

That's Norwegian *cheesecake*. Silly.

Ramona_W

I thought you were moving more routinely because of the colon self-massage.

WhyFi

I assume that they are the same as Swedish pancakes? If so, they're considerably more eggy than regular pancakes, too. My wife's family does various berries in addition to lingonberry and whipped cream. The tart/acidic toppings really help to cut some of the richness. They're great.