How Now Brown Cow?

The title has no real significance to today's blog. I just wanted to say something silly that might catch someone's attention who might otherwisw overlook it. I should be reading for class, but I thought I'd procrastinate by blogging. Today was a very trying day at work. I managed to get "chewed out" by two different doctors in two different practices. Neither of them were really nasty, but they are both mature gentlemen who really know how to make you feel seven years old and caught with hand in cookie jar. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. At least the weather here was beautiful today. This evening I put a leash on Morgan and she took me for a drag around the perimeter of the property. I wonder who is training whom. After the "walk" Morgan, Eli and I played fetch. I suspect we'll be doing a lot of that as the weather continues to get nicer. It was a real treat to sit out on the patio and listen to BIRDS! I actually heard some robins along with finches and sparrows. They are true harbingers of Spring. This past Winter was particularly long and brutal in a lot of ways. I'm glad it's just about over. Well, I think I'll head in to do some reading. Just so we all remember why we're so happy Spring is coming, I'll provide a reminder:

Check back soon (and often)
Dave (and the MIA Princess) Julie

New Life

We spent a good portion of today working outside. It certainly feels good to get back out in the sun. Andrew and I started trimming apple trees. Miriam’s friend Jacob came over and was helping Andrew while I headed out into the vineyard. I think I have most of the winter pruning done now. I'm really pleased that life is coming back.
This week has been very busy (as most are around here). Early this week I found that my love of food has finally caught up with me. According to (one of m many) physician(s), I am now borderline diabetic. So I need to loose weight and start exercising NOW (according to him). The Princess had a few physicians’ appointments this week too. Now we find that we both have new dietary requirements. I guess I'm going to have to start paying a whole lot more attention to that soon. I survived a German midterm and wrote my portion of a paper for our Business Ethics group project. I'll be SOOOO happy when this semester is over.


Saturday we welcomed a new addition to the family. Her name is Morgan and she's 5 years old. She's a chocolate Lab with a WHLOE LOT of energy. We are all working to get used to each other. Morgan was a (primarily) indoor dog before. She's having to make the adjustment to living (primarily) outdoors and getting along with Eli. Yesterday she met Tigg'r the Tabby Tomcat. She's never seen a cat before. It did not go well. Hopefully they'll get along in the future.
The upcoming week promises to hold many exciting possibilities too. Tuesday I'm headed back to the eye surgeon to see how things are "progressing". Since my last procedure on my left eye I've now started noticing distorted "spots" (due to histo) in my right eye as well. Hopefully they won't "bloom" very quickly and I'll have enough time to finish my BA while I can still get around independently.
Well, I'm going back outside to see what kind of trouble I can get into out there. Hopefully now that life seems to be returning to the farm I'll actually spend more time blogging. Until then.....

Check back soon (and often),
Dave and (the incredible shrinking Princess) Julie

A Day in the Life

We started the day off early today. The Princess (who is now MY chauffer) wanted to be sure we got to my doctors appointment in Toledo in plenty of time. I’m happy to report that she was very successful. I’m not happy to report that since we got there very early, we got to sit in the waiting room for over an hour before we even got past the front window. The testing and procedure went off without a hitch. On the way home we stopped off for a bite of lunch and I had a DELICIOUS Ruben sandwich. After that the Princess dropped me off at home to remain sequestered and take it easy for the rest of the day. Now I get to stay out of the sun for at least 2 more days (or risk severe burns). Tomorrow it’s back to work and school (German quiz).

Check back soon (and often),
Dave and (the sleepy Princess) Julie

So much for Resolutions.

Well here we are more than halfway through January and it's my first blog entry for AD 2009. It seems that the hurrier I go, the behindier I get. Oh well, here's what you've missed. I'm back in class for the Spring semester. On Monday nights I have a class whose title seems to be an oxymoron these days. The class is "Business Ethics" and I have to admit that it is a very thought provoking class. I worry, however, that we might be teaching young people a poor lesson if 'ethics' in business differ from the 'ethics' in life. There seems to me to be too much compartmentalization in life these days. If we're suggesting to these kids that ethics are different in business than everywhere else I think we're missing something (but that's just my humbe opinion). On Tuesday and Thursday nights I have German class. It's quite humbling to be in a class full of people who are just coming off of four years of High School German when my most common experience with it is being yelled at by the "Dutchmen" in our community. Thus far I'm enjoying it. We'll see how I feel by the end of the semester. My hope is to be able to get enough hours in to get my BA by December of 2010. Keep your fingers crossed!
Good news from the Princess. She has "graduated" from her regular doctors appointments and will only need to go back if she experiences problems. We're all very relieved about that. On the flip side, I went for my regular checkup at my eye surgeon last week only to find that the bleeding has started again. Therefore I'll be going to St. Vincents in Toledo on Wednesday to get it "sealed" again (for the third time). In case you're curious about how they're doing it this time, I found a pretty good explanation here:
http://www.retinavitreous.com/treatments/pdt.html
I plan to be back to work and school on Thursday but I'll have to stay out of the sunlight for several days. To that end I guess I'm fortunate that it's January in Ohio. There's not much sun to stay out of right now. The other fortunate thing is that after Wednesday I'll pretty much have my insurance deductible taken care of for this year.
All of this "stuff" going on has me in a generally foul mood. I'm still very thankful for all of the great things that I have going on in my life, but I'm just disgusted (and tired out) by all of the 'crap' that life is throwing my way over the last year. This too shall pass. I just needed to vent a little. Well, I should get back to my homework.
Check back soon (and often)
Dave and (the ever patient Princess) Julie

Tempus Fugit

I find it difficult to believe that the holiday season that was upcoming when I last updated this blog is now almost over. For that matter, 2008AD is almost over. It seems that for the last few months the Princess and I have been running really hard but not really making any forward progress. We’ve had to run that hard just to keep up. Here’s a quick recap:
The Princess has had several more appointments with several physicians. She continues to heal very slowly (but surely) for unknown reasons.
We hosted the family Thanksgiving in November and it was a rousing success (as usual)
We lost a neighbor and longtime friend to a freak accident in November. We will miss him and his willingness to help out.
I bottled the first run of “Tomorrows Promise Red”. It looks nice and shows promise for great things to come from the winery.

The family was all here on Christmas morning. I think a good time was enjoyed by all. If not, at least I had a good time.

Today we go to the Princess folks place for Christmas festivities there. I’m eagerly anticipating eating WAAAAAAY too much. I think for New Years I will resolve to keep up on my blog. School starts in 2 weeks. I hope my brain will be ready. I’ll keep you fully informed (unless I break my resolution). We’ll see how it goes.

Check back soon (and often),
Dave and (the ever patient Princess) Julie

Ugh!

That’s about all I can say about that. I snapped this picture of the vineyard when i walked out to get the mail yesterday. Once again we are reminded of what it’s like to live in northwest Ohio. Snow and wind are part and parcel of living here between November and April. Personally, I’m never really ready for it these days. The only real good thing it does is get me ready in the mood for Christmas. I enjoy the family get togethers that occur around the holidays and regret that we don’t make time for them more often. As we all grow older, I know that the number of holidays we can all spend together is growing very small. With this in mind I resolve to enjoy each one to the fullest. To paraphrase what the sermon series at church has been about lately:
“Life is kind of like a board game. When it’s over, everything goes back in the box”.
I’d like to leave the world better than I found it before I have to get put ‘back in the box’. I guess I’d better get busy then.

Check back soon (and often),

Dave and (the infinitely patient Princess) Julie

The Julie Report 3.0

Well as you can probably guess from the title of today’s post, the Princess got to go “under the knife” yet again. Fortunately this time it was relatively minor and I’m pleased to report that all went well and the Princess is now sleeping soundly at home in her comfy jammies. Without going into too much gory detail I’ll tell you that this surgery (like the last) is a direct result of her not healing correctly from her surgery in June. Hopefully this will be the last invasive procedure she’ll have to undergo. The question that remains to be answered is why it’s taking her so long to heal. Her doctor has ruled out the most common (thyroid, diabetes, etc.) reasons for not healing so the Princess has yet another physician who is looking for any other potential problems. To this end she went in for lab work last week and had about EIGHTEEN vials of blood drawn all at once. With luck they’ll find something that is simple to correct. Thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers, well wishes and offers of support as we work through this time of rather annoying health issues.
Now, on to the happy news. The Princess is looking forward to a trip to the Big Apple this upcoming weekend. While there she’ll be spending some quality time taking in the sights and sounds of Manhattan with her friend the Naubinway Queen. I’m sure she’ll give a full report upon her return. And things won’t slow down for the Princess when she does return. She’ll have to go into high gear in her ‘occupation’ as a party planner and hostess. With the Thanksgiving Holiday fast approaching she’ll be scurrying about making preparations for the Rettig family gathering here at the farm, and she’s also taking on a new “chore”. The Princess will be preparing for a Thanksgiving feast for her ‘adopted granddaughters’, twins Cora and Kate who currently have their mother bedridden until they arrive. I’m sure the Princess is looking forward to it far more than either of the girls. And once that’s behind her she’ll go ‘full bore’ into the Christmas season.
Holidays are times filled with gatherings of communities made up of family (the people with which we share DNA) and friends (the family God gives us to sort of make up for what we got with DNA). Either way, community is what it’s all about. I had an interesting conversation with a friend lately. What came out of that exchange was the thought that ALL conversations are either agenda driven (what can we GET from it) or community driven (what can we GIVE to it). I’ve started trying to be mindful of the motivation of my conversations. I won’t tell you what my ‘batting average’ is, but I will tell you that I working to improve it.

Check back soon (and often),

Dave and (the sleeping with ‘Prince Valium’ Princess) Julie