Sam & Sammy...

Little Sammy with his namesake and his Grandpa (Samuel) are whooping it up. Paul's parents are here for a few weeks to visit and little Sammy is enjoying it immensely (as well as our cat Veto...who also 'competes' for Grandpa's attention). Here they are in our living room roughhousing in our living room. The fancy chair? It's from Paul's dorm room from when he was at college...we brought it down stairs to add additional seating with all of our visitors right now.

Sammy, Grandpa, the barcalounger, and the greed dragon puppet horseplaying...

What have you done with my mother?!?!?

Where is my mother and what have you done with her?!?

Yesterday Michele took Paul's mother to her hair stylist for a haircut. We don't know who she brought back, but she definitely does not look like Paul's mother. Take a look at "Audrey" who seems to have taken the place of Paul's mother. Be sure to phone her, compliment her hair, and tell her to keep it the new way (we really, really like it).

Hair Studio 52 is no longer located on Route 52...fyi.

Who is this woman? Can she really be Paul's mom?

Medical Update on the Godfather: Part IV

Here is the latest update on uncle Andy. It continues from here...

1. After a short reading of David Sedaris' Christmas story about the Netherlands this morning, Michele drove uncle Andy and aunt Diane back to the Mayo clinic.
2. They arrived at the 10th floor of the Gonda building. At the appointed time they went into the examination room. To pass time they read all the diplomas on the wall. Looking the photographs aunt Diane realized that she had seen him in a side room they passed on the way in viewing uncle Andy's CT scan.
   
3. Dr. Aneel came into the room with a very serious demeanor. But once he opened his mouth a transformation occurred...he was compassionate, exceptionally sharp, and very thorough. He asked questions and gathered more history from.
   
4. Dr Aneel explained that based on the history before him and the current set of test data, he need to have more tests taken so he can chose the most appropriate course of action for uncle Andy. So it's back to more tests (bone marrow biopsy tomorrow at 10:30am, PET scan at 6am on Monday, and then a meeting Dr. Aneel at 11:30am on Monday).
   
5. At around 11am they left Dr. Aneel's office and went directly to the urology desk where they started at the front desk attendants until 3pm. Uncle Andy has an appointment for Monday, but why wait until then?
   
6. Surprisingly, a large majority of the people in the urology waiting room were old men wearing golf shirts and suspenders. (uncle Andy was wearing a t-shirt by the way which said, "Have a nice day").
7. A woman behind desk in the urology department had "bed head." Her hair was sticking up in the back.
   
8. Michele went down to the subway level of the Gonda building to get some refreshments. She saw that the lady with the massive eye glasses was playing the grand piano. She rushed upstairs to get uncle Andy and aunt Diane so they could see her too. They followed Michele down, but by that time the piano lady was mysteriously gone.
9. When they returned to the urology waiting room, they opened the sandwiches Michele brought. As the aroma from their sandwiches wafted through the air and the sound of the wrapping crinkled, all of the other patients wearing golf shirts and suspenders in the waiting room stared at them...longingly...very longingly.
   
10. While uncle Andy and aunt Diane waited hoping to get into see a urologist today, Michele had to briefly leave for an eye appointment of her own. Sadly Michele has poor eyesight, which explains how Paul managed to get her to marry him.
11. Michele also dropped Paul's mother off to get her hair styled (we'll follow up on a later blog about this!)
12. Michele returned to the Gonda building at about 3pm. Since she left for an eye exam, when she came back she was wearing what uncle Andy called, "cereal box sunglasses."
    
13. Michele noticed that "bed head" had her hair sticking up. She said to aunt Diane, "Oh my goodness...she must have had a power nap, someone should tell her." Aunt Diane replied, "Oh, no...it's been that way all day." Aunt Diane and uncle Andy had been watching all the old men in golf shirts watching "bed head's" for the several hours they were there.
14. Unfortunately there were no cancellations so uncle Andy did not get in to see a urologist today.
    
15. They all returned to our house for dinner where Paul mistakenly made 3 (three) pounds of cheese-filled ravioli. It was so much that it literally erupted over the sides of the pot he was using.
    

Sometimes it is an exceptionally good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...with a Jimmy John's sandwich shop across the street...

The Case of the Bowed Window Sill

Earlier this week we had a new window installed in our kitchen in preparation of the remodel we hope to do. The workers seemed to do a good job...but after they left Michele's aunt Diane and Paul's mother both noticed that if you sat in a chair, you could see the window sill was bowed. Paul called up the window installer and they sent a repairman today.

As the repairman was leaving, he noticed Paul signaling to aunt Diane asking if it looked OK to her. The repairman turned around...

Repairman: Is that all right m'am?
aunt Diane: I don't know, is it level? Did you put a level on it?
repairman: .:grunt:.
(he pulls level out of his belt and puts on window and it reads level)
aunt Diane: OK, then thumbs up!
repairman: .:grunt:.
(repairman exits)

Paul's main concern was to not anger the repairman...as he is the same man who comes to measure for the new windows. Since we still have a few more windows to go, Paul doesn't want him to measure smaller than necessary so we have less glass on the windows! D'oh!

The bowed window sill *before* being fixed today...

Chopsticks

Paul's parents are here visiting for a few weeks and Sammy is enjoying them being here. Yesterday, Sammy's Grandma was playing on our Baldwin piano and one thing led to another. Next thing you know the two are playing a duet together!

Sammy getting a kick out of playing in tune with Grandma...

He sticks to the sheet music...
... even though he is more of an improvisational jazz player...

Paul's mother used to do the same with him...

Medical Update on the Godfather: Part III

Here's the latest on uncle Andy as of tonight (as continued from here):

1. Yesterday at 11:30am we met with the impressive Dr Elizabeth on the 17th floor of the Mayo Clinic building.
2. Dr. Elizabeth came in and said that it was a lymphoma. She said that was an encouraging thing because it should be treatable.
   
3. We asked Dr. Elizabeth numerous questions (none pertaining to the location of his pancreas, having solved that mystery already).
   
4. Dr. Elizabeth then told uncle Andy he would next go to a hematologist on the 10th floor. Unfortunately the earliest she could get him scheduled was two weeks away. We knew that the Mayo would not make the godfather of Sammy wait that long. She suggested we go to lunch and present uncle Andy at the hematology front desk so he could be seen sooner.
   
5. Dr. E wished uncle Andy the best. Michele, aunt Diane, and uncle Andy hugged Dr. Elizbeth. -- Paul, being leery of hugging anyone besides his wife, sisters, and mother simply shook her hand. We later noticed our clothing had faded somewhat from being in the presence of the brilliant Dr. Elizbeth.
   
6. We adjourned to Jimmy John's sandwich shop across from Mayo's Methodist Hospital (where Sammy was born). The young lady at the order desk asked if it was our first time in the restaurant. We mistakenly said yes and the entire staff of about 10 people started whooping and cheering.
   
7. While eating our tasty sandwiches, uncle Andy read portions of a Dave Barry piece on the wall.
8. We headed back to the 1oth floor of the Mayo Clinic building. While aunt Diane and Michele worked on getting uncle Andy in, Paul somehow found a terminal and was shopping online for the same chairs the Mayo had in the waiting room. No one seemed to notice him turning the chairs upside-down to read the manufacturer's label.
   
9. Unfortunately we could not get uncle Andy in yesterday at hematology (no cancellations), so we returned home.
10. The next morning (today), after uncle Andy had breakfast with Sammy, Michele took them and aunt Diane back to the 10th floor of the Mayo Clinic building.
    
11. After some waiting, the front desk said they had an opening tomorrow morning.
    

Sometimes it is a very good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...where you don't have to hug the doctor if you don't want to...
...even if they are a damn fine physician...

Breakfast with Great Uncle Andy...

Today Sammy had breakfast with his great uncle/godfather Andy. While they ate they told humorous stories to each other.

Sammy and Uncle Andy laughing at their jokes...

Sammy using hand signals tells uncle Andy that he wants "more" honeydew...

...honoring his request, Sammy's godfather grants it...
"Some day, and that day may never come,
I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But , until that day --
-- accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day."

Medical Update on the Godfather: Part II

This is a continuation from the original "Medical Update on the Godfather":

1. Today Paul dropped off Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane at the 14th Avenue entrance of St Mary's Hospital of the Mayo Clinic about 8:37am.
   
2. Michele met them inside the hospital and took them to the desk where Uncle Andy was to have the tests taken.
3. Uncle Andy bravely endured 9 (nine) biopsies.
4. Meanwhile, Paul worked from home while the new kitchen window was installed.
   
5. The Schwan's man came to the house (while the window guys were here) and Paul bought some turkey, fish, chicken strips, and asparagus ($67.45).
   
6. After spending time in the recovery room, Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane crossed 2nd Street to eat lunch at the world famous Canadian Honker. They bought Honker T-shirts while there.
7. Paul's cousin Pete showed him where the pancreas is in a CT-scan. Pete is not a doctor...he's a self-diagnosed hypochondriac.
   
8. Paul picked up Uncle Andy and Diane and brought them back to our house at 12:45pm.
9. Aunt Diane and Paul's mother found a problem with the newly installed window...one of the boards is not completely straight. Paul wonders if the appliance gods are involved in this.
   
10. We had tasty Schwan's Breaded Blue Hake "Wild-Caught" fish for dinner. Paul's mother entertained Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane with stories of dating exploits from her youth.
11. Paul and his father go to Wal-Mart to purchase some things. While unpacking the items on their return, Michele mistakes a shirt Paul bought for being a tablecloth.
    

Sometimes it is a very good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...which is just across the street...
...from the Canadian Honker...

I can see clearly now...

Step one of our kitchen remodel is to replace the window above the sink. This way when we put tile on the counter back-splash we won't have problems replacing the window at some later date. We made a choice some years back to replace our windows with "Renewal by Andersen" windows. We do full-frame replacement which involves removing the old window frame and casing. This gives us a better install than typical sash-replacement most people do. Also, it ends up giving us close to the same amount of glass surface as we had in the original wood window. Most salesmen never tell you the drawbacks not doing a full frame replacement. We now have about 7 original windows left to replace.

The local Andersen Renewal franchise...

The original 47 year old window...

According to the workers...
...our frame is in great shape...
...though our sink was then a mess!

Exiled to the sun room while work progresses, Veto plans his return...

The new energy efficient window...
...we'll paint it once we remove the existing cabinets...

"SPAM-my"...

Today we took Uncle Andy (aka Don Andrew aka Sammy's Godfather), Aunt Diane, and Sammy to the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota. In the end...we weren't able to reach a conclusion on what SPAM really is (or perhaps we were afraid to find out)...but we sure saw that there is an awful lot of history (and aftertaste) to SPAM. When a canned "meat" product has such a long shelf life, you have to wonder.

Here are some photos from the trip...

At the SPAM Museum...
Uncle Andy, Aunt Diane, Sammy, and Michele...

How many cans of SPAM is too many?
...some say just one...
...the "wall" of SPAM at the museum...

Octopus-boy Sammy pushes a button...
...which somehow cut-off the audio to the SPAM video we were watching...

Making two mistakes...
(1) Sammy accepts food from a stranger
and
(2) Sammy eats SPAM

Aunt Diane and Uncle Andy try to figure out...
...just what *is* SPAM?

SPAM cans through the ages...
...Paul really misses the ones with the pull-keys and sharp edges...

Octopus-boy Sammy climbs on the display...
...and puts his hands on *everything*...

Sammy the meat packer...

Aunt Diane ensures Uncle Andy has proper protective head gear...

Uncle Andy shows the proper canning technique for SPAM...

Uncle Andy coaches Aunt Diane on how to handle a pressure situation...

Sammy learns the value of hard work...
...we hope...

A public service announcement...
...how to read a SPAM can...

Aunt Diane and Uncle Andy test their SPAM knowledge...

There is such a thing as too much SPAM...and Sammy has had enough...

Medical Update on the Godfather

This week Michele's Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane flew into Minneapolis Minnesota on Thursday. Uncle Andy is very ill and is in need of first class medical diagnosis. We are all hoping and praying for Uncle Andy's diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Uncle Andy is little Sammy's godfather.

Here is a short summary of events to date:

1. This past Thursday, Paul picked up Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane at the MSP airport and sped directly to the Mayo Building where Uncle Andy went to the admissions desk. They stopped very briefly at Cannon Falls for some vittles at Paul's favorite Scottish restaurant. Paul drove considerably faster than he normally does.
   
2. Michele arrived on the employee shuttle and we all went up to the 17th floor (internal medicine) to try and get Uncle Andy into seeing a doctor right then(he had an appointment for next week, but he needs talented medical attention now). Unfortunately it was late in the day and no openings were available.
3. We retired to our residence where Paul's parents are visiting for dinner. Paul prepared tasty chicken using an old family recipe. Paul's Dad prepared a garden salad.
   
4. For the first time ever, the medical professionals in Michele's family got online across the country and viewed Uncle Andy's CT scans using Microsoft Technology (NetMeeting). Despite the collective efforts of the best medical minds in the family, we were unable to locate Uncle Andy's pancreas. We abandoned our own attempts at self diagnosis and placed our hopes in the Mayo Clinic. We then brushed our teeth, and prepared for bed.
   
5. Uncle Andy & Aunt Diane spent the night in our "presidential suite" with a detached bathroom. Sammy managed to only wake them up once during the night.
   
6. On Friday morning at 7am, Michele took Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane back to the 17th floor and literally parked themselves in front of the nurses' desk -- determined to to see a physician. A nurse they refer to as the "border collie" kept corralling staff away from Michele and Aunt Diane's persistent pleas for help.
   
7. Eventually they got into see a physician, Dr. Elizabeth. Michele being a pharmacist at the clinic has seen some of the best physicians that the Mayo has to offer, but this one wowed the socks off of her. Dr. E took Uncle Andy in by himself to examine him. She was able to read him like a book. She said it is rare that she would admit someone directly to the hospital like this but given Uncle Andy's condition she wanted to get an ambulance and send him directly through the emergency room at St. Mary's hospital.
   
8. In the end, Michele drove Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane to the admittance desk at St. Mary's hospital (a mile away). Uncle Andy was given a private room with a panoramic view of Caribou Coffee and the Canadian Honker.
   
9. Aunt Liz remarked to Michele with amazement about the speed at which the Mayo Clinic moved for bringing Andy from an examination to admittance to commencement of testing. We would expect nothing less than celebrity treatment for the Godfather of our little Sammy. We realize that this was all happening as a result of Dr. E.
   
10. Various consultants and a resident who dressed impeccably came in to begin diagnosis of Uncle Andy. One of the consultants remarked that Dr. E was one of the best physicians at the clinic. Michele, Uncle Andy, and Aunt Diane all agree.
11. Uncle Andy is told he will spend the night there. The wonderful staff at St. Mary's hospital provided a cot for Aunt Diane to spend the night with Uncle Andy. They are also told that the plan is to get his blood levels proper, conduct a biopsy on Monday morning at 9am, and then meet with with the impressive Dr. E on Tuesday afternoon to review the results of the tests and biopsy...and the next step.
    

Everyone please keep Uncle Andy and Aunt Diane in your hearts and prayers.

Sometimes it is a very good thing...
...to work for a premier medical facility...
...where members of the family can benefit from its excellent medical care...

Sammy and the Spoon

Sammy was displaying his utensil prowess tonight. Later he read an after dinner book

Sam and the spoon...

He likes his rice...

To those who'd foon...

Use the proper utensil is his advice...

Sammy is starting to make sure books are the right side up...
...as you can see, he's starting to...

Paul has limb severed!

(AP) Rochester - Today Paul had a limb severed. The final procedure was successfully performed around midday today by the best professionals in Med City. When asked how he planned to adjust to life without the aforementioned lost limb, he put on a brave face, "I reckon I can get on in life with or without a wooden limb." Later in the day, he was seen resting peacefully.

Well, sort of...but that goes to show how tabloids at the grocery store get sold. Our tree in the front yard had one of its branches break in a recent storm. So Paul called the tree guys and today they came to trim it off. Luckily the damage to the tree was minimal.

The view from Sammy's room of the broken branch...click on photo to see it...

Before and after...

The picture window framing the tree guy as he cuts away...
...note that the sofa looks messy for a reason...

A Stroll on Old College Street

This week during Rochester Fest, a local Rochester man (Ken Allsen) is presenting a walking architectural tour of 4th Street SW. Originally the street was called "College Street" but was later renamed to 4th Street when Rochester switched to the numbered street convention. It was over a balmy 90F last night when we attended. Sammy's friend Linda accompanied us, helping him keep his cool. One of the highlights of the tour was going on the grounds of the Mayo Foundation House. According to our tour guide, it is not often that Mayo Security allows tours on the property.

The "College Apartments" were once the tony place to live in Rochester...

The entrance door to the College Apartments...

The Mayo Foundation House...

The walls around the Mayo Foundation House...

The carriage entrance to the Mayo Foundation House...

A view from the north at the side of the Mayo Foundation House...

Looking east at the back of the Mayo Foundation House...

A gazebo on the back lawn of the Mayo Foundation House...

Sammy demonstrating the "gift" he has for human anatomy...
...here he shows Michele where your nose is...

A fountain on the east lawn of the Mayo Foundation House...

A low quality video of the back lawn of the Mayo Foundation House...

A nice brick house on 4th Street SW...

Sammy is always getting attention from the ladies...

A Victorian house on 4th Street SW...

Another nice house on 4th Street SW...

One of the many trees in SW Rochester this year sentenced to the toothpick factory...

Our tour guide in front of the Furlow Apartment Building on 4th Street SW...

Linda rubbing Sammy's back...
...Sammy's new trick is when you stop rubbing his back...
...he gives the sign language gesture for "more" (really!)...

Paul, Michele, Sammy, & the Med City Skyline...

Med City...some day the sign to the city will say...
..."Rochester, birthplace of Sammy and--oh yeah--home of the Mayo Clinic too"...