Prostate Cancer Anniversary

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of my prostate cancer diagnosis. Other then a slight hiccup last year, everything has gone very well (knock on wood).

It seems so long ago.

I learned my diagnosis on a Friday morning. The weekend was spent becoming an instant expert, so that I could ask questions on the next Monday's session (90 minute) with the Urologist going over the options.

My PCa was caught from a life insurance physical.

It should have been caught from a regular annual physical.

Of course, that's something I never did, even though Marlys had been urging it for a number of years.

I can't stress enough that this is a very treatable form of cancer, if caught early. I would urge you that if you are over 50 years old, a member of a high risk group (African-American, 1st degree blood relative of someone with PCa), to get in and get a PSA test. It is a simple blood test! I now get one every 90 days (for the foreseeable future).

Pat

Front Range Morning Alpenglow

One of the benefits with commuting into the city each day, are the amazing morning alpenglows. Today was no exception. The entire Front Range was a great soft red. There was even a little snow blowing around in the upper bowls of Mount Evans.

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

Sunday night I finally had to make the call to Mike to hire him and his frontend loader to remove snow. It has never gotten to this point before, but well...It's an El Nino Winter. The tipping point came Sunday when we were leaving. I nearly got stuck TWICE going DOWNHILL on the road from the house. For the last month (since Christmas) we have been breaking a trail with the ATV to make the it up and down from the road, but over time it is just been building up.

Friday nights drive in was very reminiscent of going up to Lutsen on the north shore of Lake Superior in that it was snowing (hypnotic in the headlights), the roads had not yet been plowed and it was -5F.

By morning the skies had cleared and everything was covered.

As the day went on the wind picked up and "snow devils" were evident everywhere. It was interesting to watch them kick-off down valley and then work their way toward us, ultimately engulfing the house.
By Sunday morning...guess what, it was snowing again.

Since we were in the house all weekend we actually got quite a bit done. Marlys was on glue patrol, removing adhesive from the hardwood floor. She has tried just about everything, but guess what worked...WD40.

We also had the bathroom mirrors and shower doors installed last week. They turned out good.

The drive home on Sunday was epic in that it was flat light and the roads from our place, out the 12 miles, to C9 were snowed over with an occasional drift from Saturday. If it hadn't been for the dirty tracks the cattle left in places I am not sure I would have known where the road was. The snow let up a little near the Springs, but started up again at Monument Pass.

I have to think this will help with the on going water shortage in the West.

Long Time No Posts...We've Been Busy.

So what has been going on the last two weeks? The answer is quite a bit.

The stair rail is finished, finally.

Caulking of the woodwork has begun. Using custom mixed caulk (done by yours truly) to match the paint color.

Finishing of the glulams continues, at least as far as Marlys is willing to go on the ladder (she is sometimes height adverse).

Mirrors and shower doors have been ordered and should be installed this week.

Touch-up painting on the interior is complete, until the next wall scratch.

Drawer pulls and cabinet handles have been installed, with only one mistake which I challenge any visitors to find.

The sauna was heated up (and used a number of times).

Oh, and Christmas and New Years.

You probably also heard about the snow here in Colorado the last couple of weeks. Well our street in Parker still looks like a goat path. We finally got a garbage pickup yesterday (first in over two weeks). The mail delivery since December 19 has been sporadic with a delivery last Wednesday again on Saturday, hopefully another one today.

And the "Solar Shovel" that is relied on to rid the streets of snow... well it was on holiday too, so we are hoping its back at work this week.

We also received a little snow (~12") at Autumn Creek which made for a real beautiful scene.

While it was snowing the electricity also went out up here, which a couple of years ago was not all that unusual, but can be real inconvenient in the middle of winter.

After about an hour I started to think of moving the generator from the barn to the house, and ways the fireplace (gas) could be lit without power. As I went through the user guide on the fireplace (which kicks out enough BTU's to heat the upstairs) it was obvious that not only wasn't there a way to manually light it, but it was designed (and mentioned so) to keep from being manually lit.

I did though wonder about the two "D" cell batteries in a holder beside the electronic ignition.

After a few minutes of being frustrated with the situation, I went over and flipped the wall switch for the fireplace and guess what...it fired up. The battery backup was a nice surprise.

For the next three hours, Marlys took down the XMAS decorations, I read a book (couldn't use any power tools), it snowed hard outside, and the fireplace fired away providing atmosphere. All-in-all is was a nice afternoon.

Here in the mountains (vs. town, e.g. Denver, Parker), Chris was out plowing the roads before sunrise the next day. I used the ATV to break a trail out of our place to the road. I will need to get a plow for it sometime in the future.

We also inaugurated the sauna.

For me it was a little bittersweet because two years ago in December the friend who introduced me to this Finnish tradition passed away. With that in mind Marlys, Derek and I christened it Krank's Cave, in memory of John "Krank" Koskinen. He hated being called Krank, when we were sober, but it was a term of endearment.

It brought back memories of sitting in his folks Caribou Lake cabin sauna after a day of skiing at Lutsen getting heated up, drinking beer and then running out into the usually sub-zero weather and jumping into a snow bank. Or the time we rode the motorcycles to Hibbing and broke up his sister Jane's retreat with her friends, taking over his Grandparents wood burning sauna, on the dock by the lake, listening to Stevie Wonder on the radio, and reaching through the trap door in the wall for a cold beer, conveniently stored outside in a cooler. They got fed up with us and left for home.

He would be proud that in Finnish sauna tradition the door faces west (setting sun).

Until next time, when we will tackle the burning question of the need for a "Man Mall".