Tommy and Sammy...Firefighters!

This past weekend we went up to the Twin Cities because Sammy's cousin Tommy (Anne's grandson) was in town. Since it was Tommy's birthday, we all went to Bill & Bonnie Daniel's Firefighters Hall & Museum. Both Tommy and Sammy enjoyed being firemen for the day.

The firetruck we all got to ride in...

Notice the smoke goes one way in the wind...
...and the flag goes the other...
...what are the horses running from?

...perhaps it was what Tommy smelled something coming from Sammy...
...luckily we rode on the top of the fire engine...

Grant & Diane on the fire truck...

Sammy practices driving the back end of tractor drawn aerial...

Tommy demonstrates the safe way to steer the trailer to an appreciative Sammy...

Tommy drives the fire truck to the scene...

Sammy mans the stick shift...

Tommy and Sammy prepare to rescue their aunt Diane...

Sammy reaches to switch hats with Tommy...

Tommy slides down the fire pole...

Sammy does the same...

Remember, only you can prevent overflowing urinals...
...please flush...

Sammy the fireman...

Paul is in the kitchen....

Don't have anything in the refrigerator for dinner? Too late to run out to Ye Old Butcher Shoppe? Not to worry. Tonight Paul made a recipe with SPAM that his father used to make for dinner years ago when Paul was a boy. Here are the exacting ingredients to this culinary delight:

• 1 can of SPAM
• 1 can Campbell's Pork & Beans (why isn't it called Beans & Pork?)
• 1 can of peaches
• 1/2 onion
• some ketchup
• some brown sugar
• some mustard
• a generous amount of cinnamon
  

The steps Paul followed (per directions from Sammy's grandfather):

1. Dice up the onion, saute on a frying pan.
2. Dice the can of SPAM, add to frying pan, and brown it.
3. Side-step any questions exploring just what SPAM is made of.
   
4. Add to frying pan the can of Pork & Beans. Mix.
   
5. Add in some brown sugar, mustard, ketchup, and a generous amount of cinnamon.
6. Dice up peaches (1/2 of the can) and add in at the very end.
7. Serve to a once skeptical but now totally amazed wife (Sammy already ate Macaroni and Cheese).
8. Accept lavish praise from wife gracefully. Don't let success go to the head.
   

The SPAM browns on the heat...

Flashback: Italy Trip 2004

Here's a link to some photos from our 2004 trip to Italy. The link has descriptions and such so we won't post them here. We went with our good friend Johanna and Michele's cousin.

Johanna, Paul, Michele, and Justin on our last night in Italy 2004...

Grandma and Grandpa Go Home

Paul's parents went home this past Wednesday. They spent a few weeks with us. It's always great visiting with them and the time spent is always too short. Here's a few pics from the Rochester International Airport a few days ago...

Sooner or later...
...Sammy Sammy was bound to discover vending machines...
...here he asks for $1.25...

Grandma & Grandpa hug Sammy goodbye...

Sammy tries to go back to Austin with his grandparents...

Paul's Mom goes home...
...but where did she leave Audrey?

Be brave, not beige...or how not to buy kitchen cabinets

Today we introduced uncle Andy and aunt Diane to Ikea..."a privately-owned, international, low-cost home products retailer that sells modern, utilitarian design furniture, much of which is assembled by the consumer." Ikea stores are an experience in themselves. They are exceptionally large, full of interesting things, and you can get Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria. As an example of what an adventure Ikea can be, this time we saw a sale where they had two fly-swatters for just 29 cents!

Since we are close to finalizing plans on our kitchen, Paul made one last ditch effort to make a compelling case for the less expensive, though highly recommended by Consumer Reports, Ikea kitchen cabinets. But viewing the cabinets again up close (for the n-th time), accompanied by the impartial vantage of uncle Andy and aunt Diane, we decided that they are not the best option for us.

A sign outside the bathrooms at the Ikea store...
...should it be taken figuratively or literally?

Enjoying the living room display...
....uncle Andy, Sammy, aunt Diane, Michele

Uncle and nephew...
...Godfather and Godson...
...hanging out...

Uncle Andy tries out the $199 POÄNG...
...will he buy one?
...stay tuned...

Aunt Diane points out why not to buy Ikea cabinets...

Aunt Diane on a $279 Holstein inspired stool...
...what will Sammy learn from this?

Uncle Andy measuring up the table...

Aunt Diane helping Sammy map out his future ambitions...

Sensing our hunger, aunt Diane takes charge in the kitchen display...

Michele at the famous Ikea cafeteria...

Our meal...
3 potatoes, a Swedish substitute for cranberries, and Swedish meatballs...

Sammy ready for eats...
...wearing his Ikea bib...

Sammy with the puppy-dog eyes...

Aunt Diane and uncle Andy relaxing in Ikea comfort...

Uncle Andy and aunt Diane on the New England Coast...

Uncle Andy and aunt Diane at the Big Apple...

You say Köttbullar...I say meatball...

Where in Rochester is Aunt Diane?

Today aunt Diane decided she wanted to walk from the hospital to our house. The walk is about a mile. It was a broiling 95F outside...but she insisted. Michele told her to go south down 4th Avenue. Unfortunately aunt Diane went down 4th Street. This took her on an unexpected and extended walking tour of Rochester where she got to see:

• The county office complex
• Rochester's Zumbro River
  
• The railroad tracks of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad
  
• Soldiers Memorial Field golf course
  
• The corn cob water tower
• K-Mart (where she bought mechanical pencils for uncle Andy)
• Catholic Church of St Francis
  

Eventually she obtained useful directions (her second attempt) from local police officers outside of K-Mart. Luckily she had brought a drink with her.

The blue is the optimal path...the red is the path aunt Diane took...

Medical Update on the Godfather: Part VIII

Just a quick update since earlier today on uncle Andy. We know you'd all like to see him, so here's the best we can do given the distance involved...a few pictures taken about an hour ago in the 10th floor ICU (just below the ultra-posh 11th floor VIP unit).

Uncle Andy's vital signs @6:57 CST...

Uncle Andy and aunt Diane...
...VIPs in our minds...

Sometimes it is a very good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...that has a posh 11th floor VIP lounge...

Medical Update on the Godfather: Part VII

Here's some additional information since our last posting:

1. The critical care consultant, hematologist, and the cardiologists have all seen uncle Andy since being checked in this past Friday.
   
2. There was a big pow-wow his morning with all the doctors, Diane, and Michele (and of course uncle Andy).
   
3. There has been much discussion about what is going on inside his body (in particular his heart)...but currently uncle Andy is off of Amiodarone which has resulted in his heart rate rising to a reasonable level. So although the medical staff was talking about the possibility of putting in a cardiac pacemaker, they don't see the need right now and would like to solve his heart issues without it.
   
4. The color has come back to uncle Andy's face. He is still in the ICU (so they can monitor his heart condition properly). But the main thing is he is feeling much better.
   
5. Uncle Andy now has less back pain...due to the steroids they've been giving him to shrink the lymphoma.
   
6. Uncle Andy's nurse is a tall dark handsome man with curls who looks Greek, but is not. When asked if he is Greek, the nurse replied, "Well I have been called a Greek god before." Aunt Diane now refers to him as "Onassis."
   
7. For the near term, the Mayo doctors will focus on uncle Andy's heart...to figure out what is going on. Once they reach a thorough diagnosis, they will start the chemotherapeutic drugs.
8. When uncle Andy told the hematologist the food was good, the physician replied, "You've been here too long."
   
9. Here is the patient room/telephone number for Mayo Rochester Methodist hospital: 507 266-7067 (no collect phone calls please).
   

Sometimes it is a very good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...where even the nurses themselves are Greek gods...

Medical Update on the Godfather: Part VI

Here is the continuation from where we last left off. Today:

1. Michele took uncle Andy and aunt Diane to the Mayo building for an MRI of his lower spine this morning.
2. Walking by where an electrician was working, aunt Diane took a wire from a spool and pulled it behind her the length of the hallway, released it, and then tried to act inconspicuous.
   
3. Uncle Andy, aunt Diane, Michele, and Paul went to see the head of Mayo's department of hematology. Dr. "L" said that uncle Andy has two types of lymphoma. One is very aggressive and life threatening. The other is slow growing. The good news is that the first one is treatable, even curable. The second is not curable, but can be managed analogous to diabetes. He wanted uncle Andy admitted today and starting treatments immediately focusing on the aggressive lymphoma.
   
4. Dr. L was very tactful when telling uncle Andy to exercise caution when well meaning people suggest non-medical treatments/cures.
   
5. Interestingly, Dr. L is of Italian heritage and went to medical school at Syracuse. Two big thumbs up...besides the fact he is a department head at a world class facility.
6. Uncle Andy then went to a neurologist for a scheduled appointment before going to to the hospital. She was impressed that uncle Andy traveled with such a large entourage. Although the neurologist will be out next week, she identified things that need to be done by the hospital neurologist, orthopedics, and physical therapists. She had nice hair.
   
7. We took uncle Andy from the Mayo Building to the Gonda Building to Mayo Rochester Methodist hospital without having to step outside. Uncle Andy already had a room ready for him. The resident was in the room literally in seconds after we arrived to start things off.
   

Sometimes it is a very good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...which puts electrical wiring in the halls...
... for the enjoyment of some...

Never...

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

Winston Churchill
@ Harrow School
October 29, 1941

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

Medical Update on the Godfather: Part V

It's been a while since we've last put an update on uncle Andy's medical care at the Mayo Clinic here in Rochester. Here is what is going on since our last posting:

1. On Saturday some beautiful flowers arrived for uncle Andy from his sister Evelyn (Michele's mother), Paul (her father), and Grandma (uncle Andy's mother). They now sit on our dining room table where remarkably Veto has not attempted to eat them.
2. Monday morning at 6:00am Michele took uncle Andy and aunt Diane to the Mayo Gonda building where a PET (Positron emission tomography) scan would be performed. Check in time was at 6:15am, but a sign at the desk said the staff would not be there until 6:30am. Rummaging around the desk they found a sign in form and started filling it out.
3. Dan the nurse came in and took uncle Andy to be scanned.
4. The secretary arrived at 6:30am as well as other patients. An older man wearing suspenders, a golf shirt, and Bermuda shorts was in line. He had a huge hole in his sock. In fact, it was more hole than sock, with the hole extending all the way up to the elastic part around his calf.
5. Andy emerged from the PET scan. While Michele worked on the schedule, uncle Andy and aunt Diane went down to get a soda in the main atrium. They finally saw the elusive piano woman with the large glasses. According to Diane, "I have seen car windshields smaller than the glasses she was wearing!' Uncle Andy dubbed them the "Tweety Bird Signature Series Spectacles."
   
6. At 11:30am they went to see the hematologist Dr. Aneel. He claimed he wanted to palpate uncle Andy's lymph under his arm pit. He did so in such an aggressive manner, it almost seemed like he was trying to remove it with his bare hands. All that was missing was some chanting and it would have been like a scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom. As a result Andy was unable to raise his arms for the rest of the day. All kidding aside, Dr. Aneel is a great doctor, but unfortunately he will be out the rest of the week. Not to worry, he talked to his colleagues and they all agree...it should be the head of Mayo's department of hematology who sees Andy then. And thus it shall be on Friday. Dr. Aneel also talked to surgery about getting a sample to biopsy.
   
7. After seeing Dr. Aneel, they all went down to the floor where nutritional info is. Aunt Diane saw the most beautiful bouquet of roses. When she tried to smell it, there was no aroma. She then realized they were fake.
8. They then went to the urology department. The new residents have started, and a herd of them went by wearing their new suits from Men's Wearhouse and shiny new shoes from DSW.
   
9. After waiting in the examination room for 40 minutes, the urologist finally came in. Without any explanation for such a long delay, he glanced through the papers. He then scribbled a picture of a stent placement on a piece of paper and tried to hand it to uncle Andy, behaving as if it were a van Gogh. Andy tried to decline it, but the urologist insisted he take his artwork. Five minutes after entering the room, the urologist left.
   
10. The three then went to see the surgeon. A fellow (above a resident) was telling them that they could not get Andy into surgery before the end of the week. Then the consultant came in. She looked at the PET scan, turned to uncle Andy and said, "First thing tomorrow, your my first surgery. One way or another we will get a good biopsy so we can get a proper diagnosis so you can start the appropriate treatment."
11. They headed home, we ordered pizza for dinner from Nick-N-Willy's. It's strange out here...there are pizza places where you order pizza, you pick it up...and when you get home you still have to bake it. But it was good pizza.
12. Tuesday morning at 5:45am, Michele brought uncle Andy and aunt Diane to Mayo's St. Mary's Hospital. There was an admitting desk with 3 stations...and a sea of people all to have surgery that day.
    
13. At 6:30am uncle Andy was taken into pre-op. They him put in a room...in a bed...in a sea of beds (roughly in 4 rows of 8).
    
14. Meanwhile Michele and aunt Diane took over the waiting room. The secured the only two reclining barcaloungers, turned on Fox news, and settled in. They watched Tony Snow's press conference.
15. At 8:30am uncle Andy went into surgery. The surgeon looked in his neck first, but said it wasn't cancerous so she had to go to the groin where she was successful getting a sample
16. At 11:00am while uncle Andy was in recovery, the surgeon called aunt Diane. She told her it would take 5 days to get a proper biopsy due to the number of stains they needed for the right diagnosis (needed to prescribe the best suited treatment).
17. At 11:30am uncle Andy went from the recovery room to a hospital room. He slept for many, many hours. He did not take a leak for a very, very long time.
18. At 1:30pm Michele has to leave aunt Diane's side to start her shift.
    
19. At 5:30pm uncle Andy was able to discharge urine. As a result the hospital was able to discharge him.
20. At 6:05pm, Paul and Sammy picked up aunt Diane and uncle Andy from St. Marys and took them home.
21. At 11:45pm Michele got home from work. She was surprised to see everyone (except Sammy and Paul) still awake.
    
22. At 12:15am Sammy woke up everyone. Paul stumbled down the stairs and provided him with some milk. Sammy slept the rest of the night.
    

Next steps:

• Thursday - Echo cardiogram, a stent will be "installed" between his kidney and bladder, and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of uncle Andy's spine.
• Friday - meeting with the head of Mayo's department of hematology.
  

Sometimes it is a very good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...that has a lady with massive fishbowl glasses...
... who plays the grand piano in the lobby...

I'm a Sammy Doodle Dandy...

Sammy's aunt Diane brought sparklers for the fourth of July! So observing all safety precautions, we put on a show for our little Sammy. You could say we displayed our patriotism burning sparklers made in China.

NB: No toddlers were injured in the festivities...and yes, our fire hydrant was just repainted this year!

Aunt Diane places the sparklers in the ground...

The first set of sparklers lights up...
...they sure don't make them like they used to (back in the old USA)...

A safely restrained Sammy cheers on the show...

Sammy sets up the next set of sparklers...
...no, we didn't let him light them!

Sammy shows us where the fire hydrant is for safety precautions...

Aunt Annie and little Sammy...