Watercolour Landscapes of the Yukon
So, tomorrow is surgery day and there’s no internet at the hospital. Therefore, I’m going to be offline for a bit, so this will be my last post for a while. The estimate is that I’ll be in hospital for about a week, so I assume my next post may be longer.
Other than that, take care all and I’ll catch you next week.
All the best, Doug.
Well, I got a phone call from the OR scheduling people this morning. I go for surgery Wednesday morning. Now, I get to run around like a chicken with its head cut off for a few days to get everything ready before hand.
I have a few things to do. I have to check the forecast to see if I’ll be able to get the boat out for a last run tomorrow… sometime between seeing the dramaturg about my play at 8:30 and pre-op clinic at 4. If not, I have to put my motor and boat away for the year since boating season will probably be over by the time I’m back in business. A few lawn things have to be taken care off before hand too. I have a few things to wash (my new jammies are washed already though) and have to get packed as well as other minor things.
Oh, well. They could have called and said I had surgery tomorrow…
I had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon today and got a few more details. I now have a date of sorts: next week or the week after. I realize that this isn’t still pinned down too tightly but it’s better than what I was working with the day before.
The doctor commented on Clara’s point that Dr. Poole, who is on vacation until next week, said that he would probably want to do it. “Of course, she said. This is rare. Since you don’t commonly get to do one of these, it’ll be fun.”
“Fun?” I asked.
“Oh, yes,” she said, “unless something goes wrong.”
Hopefully, nothing goes wrong. And, quite frankly, I always thought the “fun” in surgery was directly proportional to how vertical you were during the procedure…
Having had unhappy dealings with the new netbook I bought in February, I finally opted for just starting over and buying another computer. It was an Acer and it took from February until June to convince them that it should probably get fixed because, when using the computer with it plugged in, you’d get a shock whenever you touched the bottom. However, sending it back would have cost $140 plus about another $40 in packing materials and, tax included, the computer only cost $250. I waffled for a while and then Clara convinced me to just send it on, parcel post. It came back last week with a new motherboard and you can use it without getting curly hair now.
I ordered a new Dell laptop and have been quite happy with it. However, two of the keys on the keyboard started to stick and one, the letter “M,” became almost unusable. (Note my continued use of this letter in this blog post). Therefore, on Friday, I called Dell technical support. The guy on the other end of the line was cheerful, and started off with an apology that the keyboard was defective. The only such thing I got from Acer was, “Sorry, you have to pay to have it shipped.” I explained the problem and he put me on hold for a few minutes. Seems he was trying to find a technician to install the new keyboard and had some trouble. I told him that, since I teach that sort of thing, I had no problems with installing it myself and… wait for it… he thanked me for making his job easier. Then, since it was Friday morning, he apologized that, sadly, there was no possible way to get it to Whitehorse before… here it comes… Monday. It arrived about 10 this morning. I just have to repack the old one for returning, which Dell, by the way, pays for.
I’m now happily using the letter “M” as needed. I gave Clara the netbook and she finds it a bit faster than the older laptop, which is missing the letter “K” key from a run-in with out granddaughter. Katrina now has that one. It’s the circle of life, computer style…
I figured that, by now, I would have found out when my surgery would be scheduled. The main point for waiting was the results of my biopsies; however, they were back a week ago. I know I was happy when they were clean but I’d like to get the surgery done and over with. I will be out of commission for at least six weeks afterwards and without knowing the date, planning for this is impossible.
Therefore, I guess I’ll try to get out fishing tomorrow or Wednesday and I’m aiming to go camping this weekend, since it’s difficult to determine whether or not I’ll get out again. At least, I’ll feel like I’m doing something other than just waiting.
I did come up with a new description for my upcoming surgery, though. Everyone seems to wince when you tell them you’re having a small piece of your colon removed. Therefore, I’m trying out the new alternative: due to the number of complaints about its length, I’m going to have surgery to have an organ shortened. Same thing, worded differently…
I popped into work today to do a few adminstrative things and to see the Dean. She’s actually not back until tomorrow so I get to go back in again tomorrow.
But, while I was there, I went into HR to see about converting some of my holiday to sick time since I’m sort of stuck waiting for surgery. I was told that it would be no problem and all I’d need was a doctor’s letter.
Clara and I both went to the doctor’s and did a few things, including getting my letter. However, my doctor also mentioned that he had gotten back my biopsy results. These confirmed the scope I had almost two weeks ago that there is no malignancy, so all is happy with the world. Since my family doctor has them, the surgeon has them too. The results were what was holding up scheduling my surgery and their results would dictate how they approached it. I should be receiving word on when my surgery is sheduled soon.
Actually, all is not totally happy with the world as I’m cleaning the oven, but I’m sure I’ll get over it…
I’ve been busy working on the boat. That being said, I had two biggish jobs to do. I got them done, only to discover two more biggish jobs. OK, one was a big job.
When I went to position the height of the keel roller, I noticed the boat is actually sitting on the wheel fenders. That meant that I needed to raise the bunks the boat sits on. This is fun since the boat is actually sitting on them at the time. With a little ingenuity, and a tire jack and some 2×6 blocks, I raised each side high enough to be able to lift the bunks to the next height. It should actually be a bit higher, but I might get by. If necessary, I’ll get 4 aluminum blocks cut and use these under the bolts the bunk height adjusters rest on. This should give me a bit more height.
Next, I was getting a bit panicky on the weight on the trailer tongue. That’s because there really wasn’t any. The trailer is for a 14-17′ boat so it’s a bit longer than the boat needed. So, I moved the axle back another 7″ which should give me a bit more tongue weight. I really have to road test it to be sure whether or not it should come back a bit more. Why 7″? I couldn’t make up my mind as to whether to bring it back 6″ and 8″, and I am fond of compromise.
All in all, I have probably overdone it again but I did get all done. Now, there are only two things left. First, I have to attach the boat seat to a milk crate. Next, I discovered that the tie down I bought for the boat is too short. I eyeballed it and said 10′ would be fine. Actually 10′ 6″ would be more in the realm of practicality. Back to Canadian Tire, I’m afraid.
Now, I am having a beer and thinking of taking it easy for the night. A shower, since I had to douse myself with bug dope to work in the shelter of under the trailer, would be the next totally strenous thing I have planned on the agenda…
There is no place in town to get a T-connector for connecting the trailer light connector in the truck in an easy manner. So tonight, I went out, with my electrical tools and spliced in the wiring. We have lights on the trailer and all is well.
There are still two more jobs to do. However, it’s late so I decided to have a beer and wait until the morning to do the last. With a little luck, I should be able to finish things up tomorrow and head out to Fox Lake (61° 15′ 49″N 135° 28′ 48″) and get the bottom of the boat soggy for the first time. The alternative was to turn it upside down in the rain, which is not as satisfactory…
I thought that having a brand new boat and trailer would be quick and easy to get ready to take it off to the lakes. I must rethink that idea.
We did get the boat inflated and the floorboards in and we got the motor on and installed, mostly. I am going to bolt it to the transom rather than rely on just the clamps but want to run it to make sure that it’s properly centred, etc., before I do that.
I also need to arrange a seat for the driver, since the boat came with only one seat and you need something for your passengers as well. We went to the dealer to see if they sell extra seats. They have one in stock on the computer but after a diligent search, could not find it in the shop. I found one online, but they don’t ship outside the continental US. The dealer will order one but it won’t be in until sometime in mid- to late August. So, I bought a boat seat at Canadian Tire yesterday and it is extremely comfortable. I’m going to mount it on a swivel and mount that to a milk crate for the time being. This is a rather easy job and I stole the idea from Derrick McKay, who did the same for his inflatable. The swivel is already on the seat and I just have to clean a milk crate and bolt it on.
Next, I need to move the keel roller and post on the trailer. I bought it without it being configured since it came from a different place than where I bought the boat. This is not a big job but I haven’t got to it yet. This will only take about half an hour so it’s not the huge bit of work you might expect.
The big problem is the lights. I went to test the trailer hookup plug on the truck and there wasn’t any power coming out. I did the automatic assumption and bought a new connector to hook in. When I cut the old one off, I discovered that the previous owner must have had one hell of a short, since the wires are burnt. That’s OK, since there is (supposed to be) an easy fix. Several companies make the quick snap T-connectors for adding trailer wiring to a vehicle. You simply disconnect the wiring plug in the back of your vehicle, snap in the connector between the two plugs and “Voilà!” However…
Canadian Tire had only one on their computer inventory for a 2006 Ford Ranger. It doesn’t have a location so the clerk figures it has been long sold. “By the way, Sir, it’s been discontinued.” NAPA and Bumper to Bumper sell a different brand, but that doesn’t make one for my truck. Ford can actually get one, but it has to be ordered and will take about a week. I tried one of the RV places but they don’t sell them, as is the case for the third auto parts store in town. I’ll phone the other two RV places today just to see, rather than run down the Alaska Highway to find out they don’t have them. Looks like I’m just going to do the old-fashioned splice in a new trailer connector thing that I was hoping to avoid.
Hopefully, we’ll get it wet tomorrow or Monday…
I had my tests this morning and have come to the following conclusion. It’s amazing how good the words “no malignancy” and a coffee and muffin after 28 hours of fasting can make you feel. There is a bit of not good news, in that I need to have surgery to repair the colon and bladder in about two weeks time. However, we knew this had to be done anyway, so this is not a suprise from out of the blue.
I’ll be in hospital for about a week and off for about six weeks in total. That being said, this has probably been why I’ve been miserable since last fall and it will be nice to have it out of the way. On the other hand, I just sent off my cv and head shots for an audition that I will now have to cancel and I was looking forward to it.
There’s another good thing. Maybe, knowing all is well, I can undo a bit of bad behaviour. I somehow, with the stress of this, managed to start smoking again last weekend. I think I should go back to behaving myself, or at least behaving myself as well as I am capable…
Doug Rutherford 