Our first snow (in AZ)

Around 10 AM Saturday morning Jonathan, myself and Jackson loaded into the truck and headed North to the Mogollon Rim. Departing Phoenix the sky was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the 60s. An excellent day for a road trip. As we drove Jackson napped, the temperature dipped and the cloud coverage increased. No worries, it would still be a lovely trip. Turning off in Camp Verde we continued our climb in elevation and starting driving through thickening fog patches.   Not too long after we started noticing sparse patches of snow, our first snow sighting in AZ!

 

The closer we got to the Rim turn off, the thicker the fog coverage and the higher the snow level. Perhaps this wasn't going to turn out as we hopped. We had already traveled a good hour and a half, so there was no use turning back now. Upon reaching the foggy, snow covered, off-road turn off to the rim we decided enough was enough. As we got out of the car to touch the snow like first time tourists I noticed that it was starting to sleet. The combo of semi slushy snow, sleet, thickening fog, and a relatively light truck encouraged me to keep our stop relatively short.

Jackson didn't quite know what to make of the cold substance below his feet, but put up with our mandatory photos quite well. In one picture he is looking particularly pathetic, but you'll noticed he isn't as dramatic in the others.

What is this???

Look Ma, snow!

Back on the paved road we headed South and noticed that areas that hadn't been foggy on our drive North were now considerably so. After about an hour the temperature increased a good 20+ degrees and Phoenix greeted us with high 60s and plenty of sunshine. Home sweet home. We'll surely be back to the Mogollon Rim but perhaps we'll wait till the spring or late summer.


 



A little highway Chirstmas spirit.



Another wild weekend

This past weekend started off with a bang on Friday at 3:30 thanks to some complementary libations courtesy of work. Not having won any prizes and missing out on dessert, I scampered out of the work party as soon as the last prize raffle was finished.  Thanks for the free drinks and snacks employer, but maybe next year I'll simply take the early departure.

A dashing shot of Mr. Jackson post park.

Saturday morning, post insurance house inspection, we took Jackson for an exciting trip to the dog park then made our best effort to get in some holiday shopping.  Out of 6 intended purchases we made one, ok well I made one and one was a gift.  Time is ticking.

  



A Mini face off outside the REI parking lot.  Other Mini is clearly over the line!



The highlight of our weekend was certainly Saturday evening. Jonathan, myself and some friends made it to Lets Roll bowling alley for a rollicking good time. I fared far better than I expected rolling with my left arm, my highest score being 139, and Jonathan was sure to impress all with his ball spin maneuvers and multi lane bowling.  During the always necessary cosmic bowling our DJ was the one and only ex Suns player turned Suns announcer, Cedric Ceballos.  Being Phx/Suns newbies Jonathan and I hadn't a clue who he was but one of our bowling compadres was quite impressed and entertainingly chummy with the DJ.

 Sunday we returned to the dog park where Jackson met what appeared to be a "Jackson 1.5", the slightly
larger model. This other little dog, seen below, is Jackson but a little taller, a little longer and a little hairier.


Jackson 1.5 (real name unknown)

 

The real Jackson is on the right, but if you look close they are in the exact same stride. 

 

When we got home we decided to mix it up a little and rearrange the living room.  To be honest our previous arrangement was always very cold and, I felt, pretty unwelcoming.  First we moved Frank to another room.  Love our trusty little turtle but he just wasn't the living room decor I was hoping for. The TV/cabinet moved to a different wall which now creates a more distinct living room area instead of an expansive room with a TV at one end and a couch at the other. Since we are lacking a formal dinning room the table was moved to Frank's previous location, and thanks to its collapsability (new word) it looks just fine sitting in the corner. We still have plenty of work to do to finish the room (remove massive window air conditioning unit, replace glass, finish floor, and buy a rug and a new coffee table) but as with most of our projects I'm sure it will come together sooner or later. 

Oh, and did I mention the temperature was around 78 on both days, hate to rub it in, but sometimes I just love living in the desert.



So much for enjoying the great outdoors.

  

The kittys visit Tim.

Time is money

Insurance statements continue to roll in from my shoulder dislocation, and as of today I learned that 4.5 hours spent in the ER costs $5,927.00.  I wish I had those kinds of pay rates.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year Jonathan and I hosted our first official Thanksgiving in our house. We started off the holiday weekend by welcoming my parents to our little casa the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. As I pulled into the cell-phone-waiting parking lot I spied an absolutely beautiful Rolls Royce. No one was bold enough to park by this gem so I took it upon myself and pulled into the stall to its right. I thought about sneaking in some photos from my car but realized it was silly, this was a car you wanted people to notice. The driver was more than happy to oblige my photos and gave me a brief run down of the car. Built in the 50s, previous and only past owner was Bing Crosby, all original interior and wood work. The new owner said that the carpet was a little worn when purchased but when they went to replace it, upon removal they found that the "real" original interior carpeting was still sealed in plastic and had only been covered by the other carpet. Pretty cool stuff.

Parents and luggage smooshed into the Mini we headed home where my parents would be the first official guests to stay in our newly completed guest room. It took quite a few weekends/week nights to get the guest room finished for their visit, but it turned out great! (More on this to follow, with pictures of course.) Mr. Jackson let out some home defending barks but quickly warmed up to my parents and was happy to show off his cuteness/playing skills almost every moment of their visit.

We spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday running errands and preparing Turkey day dishes. After a coffee pot purchase we headed to the Ranch Market for roasted hatch chillies as well as a little lunch. I'll have to admit lunch was a little lack luster, and I was disappointed that they were clear out of hatch chilies, but the tour about the market was entertaining as always. My favorite sight of the trip was a food turtle. Clever use of a fish head indeed. 

Thanksgiving day's high temperature was darn near record breaking low, matching a temp set in 1924 (or somewhere around there). 50 degree weather was certainly not the Valley of the Sun I was hoping my parents would enjoy, but at least it was sunny. We were joined by Hares and Caetanos and enjoyed quite a tasty feast, accompanied was a glorious assortment of desserts that Jonathan and I are still working on.

On black Friday we avoided malls and made our way to Home Depot and Moon Valley Nursery to pick up some Queen Palms, which are the first of many additions for our back yard. Jonathan being youthful and able to work with both arms did most of the work while my mom, dad, and I, and Jackson at times, aided via supervision. Sure we held a measuring stick here or there, and verified that the trees were straight but Jonathan did most of the digging. Post tree planting and over the weekend that followed we watched many a zombie movie, and toured about Phoenix. We visited some local artist boutiques, checked out Mercado Mexico, and enjoyed some tasty tacos at the much raved about "La Condesa Gourmet Taco Shop" on 16th St. I can't say the carne asada was anything worth repeating, but the fish taco, shrimp taco and pork taco were delicious.

On Monday afternoon we drove over to a rather unique looking church on 7th Ave, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Jonathan and I have dubbed it the Klingon Church as it looks like something straight out of Star Trek which, upon first sight, my parents readily agreed with. The building is impressive when you see it from the road, but even more impressive seen up close. The attention to detail, pattern and flow of the structure and its surrounding landscaping is quite beautiful and exceptionally well done. Not being church goers the only reason we wanted to enter the massive building was the view the intricate stained glass that lines a spire jutting out from the center of the roof, but alas all doors were locked, and we weren't daring enough to attend a church tour.

Just as the weather was making a steady crawl back into the 60s and 70s I took my parents to the airport for their trip back to California. We enjoyed their visit very much and look forward to their next, hopefully warmer, visit to the valley. Jackson was uncharacteristically mopey on Tuesday evening, as he surely missed his new friends and entertainers, but is steadily perking back up. We are thankful to have been able to host our first Thanksgiving with family and look forward to many more!  (See slide show on right for more pics)

MRI results

The last time I met with my orthopedist he told me that based on the E.R. x-rays as well as their x-rays there was no indication of torn ligaments. Broken bones, yes, and way over stretched ligaments, yes, but not tears. This week I returned to the orthopedist following my very first MRI and learned a little more.

The MRI confirmed the bone facture, which was explained akin to cracking the shell of a hard boiled egg. The shell shatters but stays intact, opposed to crumbling apart. I also managed to bruise the bone pretty well, which was explained like smashing a ping pong ball and leaving a divot. Nice. The cherry topper of the analysis was that I did manage to tear a ligament. The injury is called a "Bankhart lesion". I never felt like a wimp for my massive drug intake on the day of the injury, but the list of traumas sure helps justify my narcotic consumption. I still do not require surgery, but was told that with this type of extreme initial dislocation, a second dislocation is very possible.

This whole second dislocation factor has me quite concerned. The Dr. said that its not "likely", but possible, however, scarring and strengthening should help to prevent future dislocations. He said it could happen at any time, even mid simple tasks like when I'm reaching for a glass in a cabinet. Not cool. The thought of repeating the pain and immobility of my arm is frightening to say the least. I've been released from using the sling 24/7 but keep it with me in case my shoulder starts getting tired.  I'm allowed to use my shoulder/arm to an extent but do not start PT until the week after Thanksgiving, making the time between injury and PT 4 weeks of recovery, Dr.'s orders.

I'm looking forward to starting PT to get this little guy strengthened up and functioning but not too thrilled that it could take 6 months to regain 80% of my past mobility and possibly over a year to get to 100%. Who would have thunk one fall off a beach cruiser would do so much damage.

Below are two images from my MRI showing the various injuries

The good word

I meet with the orthopedist today and was told that surgery would not be needed, hooray! Turns out my very loose ligaments, which generated an "oh boy" of surprise when testing the flexibility of my left arm/joints, helped, more than hurt, my dislocation. Because my ligaments are so lose nothing snapped or tore, however, the looseness also allowed for a rather extreme dislocation. This diagnosis was affirmed by: the fireman's befuddled reaction at the dislocation, the required drugged-up-and-knocked-out method of re-location, and the 4 person team needed to re-insert my shoulder.

One of the x-rays revealed a break to part of my bone, but the little bone bit just chillin there will not require surgery and should heal in place. I get an MRI tomorrow to confirm, but overall it doesn't seem to be a big deal.

The first image below is of my dislocated shoulder. The dislocation was forward and down, waaay down. When I felt the gap between shoulder and arm it felt a little larger than from my pinky to my index finger held together. The second image is after they put it back in. This must have been another sneak procedure as I have no recollection of it taking place. The third is a close up to see the break. Its not as clear in this x-ray from a week ago as it was in today's but you can still kind of see it.

I have two more weeks in the sling and then will start 4-6 weeks of PT. The Dr. wanted the extra sling time to allow the ligaments to heal a little tighter than the average joe since they started out so loose ,and he was concerned that PT now would push me too hard, too fast. The sling isn't really my favorite fashion accessory, but thankfully its fall instead of summer.



The thing that looks like 2 paper-clips is a part of my sports bra, and you'll notice, that is where my arm bone is too.  X-ray was taken straight on as I sat in the hospital bed.



Back where it should be. 

That little bump is actually free roaming, broken bone.  ok, not that free roaming.

Halloween 2010

Below are some pics from Halloween 2010, better late than never, right? 

 Last year we spent the day moving into our house, but this year we donned zombie makeup, and passed out candy with Jackson.  Jackson was dressed as a little dragon/dinosaur, but wasn't too happy about the costume, so despite lots of cuteness complements we took his costume off rather early in the evening.  Jonathan was a zombie lumber jack, and I, well, I was a last minute zombie damsel/princess.  The center skeleton was our only decoration last year, so we've definitely  made progress in terms of decorating, but still have a ways to go!  Till next year...

The pipe in his head was his new accessory.  Do you notice that he is kind of smiling?  Not cool supposed-to-be-creepy skeleton!



Jackson doesn't appear to keen on my brain craving zombie impersonation.  Either that or he has already turned...



Note the iconic zombie foot drag in the bottom left of the frame.  Nice attention to detail.

Strangely Arizona-tropical

Life as a lefty, and I'm not talking politics

Tuesday, November 2nd I was happily peddling myself to work, when I came across a car who was pulled out too far on the sidewalk.   I cautiously maneuvered around the car, attempting to stay out of the road, but as I cut back onto the drive way, my front tire must have caught the curb wrong, which caused my bike to go right, and my body to go left.

The initial fall didn't hurt but then came the self evaluation.   With my legs bent to my right and my newly acquired road rash stinging away I propped myself up on my left arm.  I then attempted to move my right arm which was resting in a brush pile, and nothing happened.  Never a good sign. Using my left hand I cautiously felt up my arm and discovered the void between where my shoulder should have been connected.   After shaking off the heebie geebies I attempted to move my limp right arm closer to my body with my left hand and was stopped short by excruciating pain. 

Two women who had witnessed my fall stopped and while one called the police, the other did her best to comfort me.   I'm grateful for their consideration and kindness, and wish I could thank them further, but I  was in no state to jot down contact info.  As we all listened to the approaching sirens a few thoughts ran through my head: How does one person get in a bike accident less than 3 weeks after a car accident?  I’m glad that these ants crawling on my limp arm are not the biting kind.  How gross is it that my shoulder is separated like this?  Well, I'll just go to the hospital, do what needs to be done, and call Jonathan when I'm ready to go home.  Mid internal ramblings, the woman who called 911  asked if she could call my work, but for the life of me I had no idea what that number was and really wasn’t that concerned.

The firefighters/EMTs who came to my rescue were fantastic.  While the lead guy kept trying to figure out just what kind of dislocation I had,  three others got ready for the big move.  Lead guy had my limp arm, second guy had my shoulder, third guy had my backpack and fourth guy was crouched behind me with his arms around my waist.  Never before have I cried out in pain until the first pick up attempt.  Fail.  Attempt two was a success but started with me blubbering that I couldn’t stand up.  Right after I said it I was a little embarrassed that I'd actually said it out loud. 

The short, bumpy trip to the ER included 4 units of morphine to “make the pain tolerable”. Despite the chaos I was impressed with my low blood pressure and very low heart rate of 51 , but I don't think the EMTs shared my sentiment.   Another 2 units of morphine were provided when it came time to move me from the gurney to the bed.  A friendly, well inked x-ray tech took a few x-rays and placed my backpack on the bed. This was the first time I was within reach of my phone and knew it was my chance to make a call, but I just couldn’t seem to transfer the thought into either words or action. 

The very friendly orthopedist came in, evaluated my situation out loud for the crowed of nurses and made a slow attempt to re-connect my dangling limb while I was sitting.  The pain was a no-go.  He then told me I would be getting more drugs  and they would try another approach.  A small cadre of nurses again entered the room, and as I rotated to my stomach to drape my arm off the side a nurse rambled off  three pharmaceutical names and started injecting into my IV.

Not sure how much later, but eventually I woke up on my back, alone in my ER room and noticed my arm was back in its proper place.  I was quiet the content little camper.  I’ll admit, it’s a little blurry from here, but I know some nurses came to check on me, then Jonathan arrived, as did his aunt and uncle, followed by my brother.  As it turned out, my not calling work led to Jonathan getting a call regarding my no show status and all hell breaking loose.  Parents notified, missing persons reports in the works and hospital searches galore, finally ended with Mike locating me by “Caetano”.  I don’t know how many times I repeated the spelling of my last name complete with hyphen, but apparently the hyphen and the letters that follow were completely disregarded. 

After arriving home I proceeded with a drug altered, barely memorable conversation with Jonathan’s aunt while he ran to pick up my Rx, then napped for a good 3.5 hours and started my experience as a lefty.  I’m grateful to be healthy, and for the dents in my helmet instead of my skull, and that I only dislocated my shoulder, but I tell ya, everything I do with my right arm in a sling takes a little extra effort, and a lot more time.  Eating is mildly entertaining as I likely look like a cave woman, shoveling my food with a death grip on my fork.  One handed typing has been a hoot and left handed scribbling is quite slow going.  Home improvement tasks are a bit more challenging, but I'm pretty impressed with my lefty painting skills.  

 I have an appointment scheduled with an orthopedist on Tuesday, and am hoping to get out of this sling before the possible 6 week duration listed on my ER paper work.  The two aspects of this experience I'm most interested in seeing are my x-rays and my hospital bill…
  
P.S. As much as I'd like to post a few more pics, I'll leave out the pictures of my road rash : )

ALWAYS wear a helmet when you ride!  There just so happened to be a curb/lot divider where I feel, which is what my helmet hit.

Wed morning I discovered 3 of these hidden on my body still.  Fun.  I also discovered a band-aid where they had snuck in a tetanus shot.  Slippery nurses.

My bike road on the fire truck to the hospital. 

Safety First

Check out Mr. Jackson's new seat belt!

True, it probably works better when he is connected to his own seat belt instead of mine, but he is a little guy and would require a doggy booster seat to view the great outdoors.  Not sure we're ready to make the canine booster seat purchase quite yet.

Rico Suave...

Mini

This past Friday marked the first full week of my bike commute to work. As much as I’d like to attribute my eco-commute to wanting to add an extra helping of green to the Hupp routine, its certainly not my real motivation. The reality is, about two weeks back my Mini and I were in a car accident. (Because the accident is still under “investigation” by the insurance companies, details will be provided at a later date).

Despite the passage of time since the accident I can’t seem to type this without, a lump in my throat, and the familiar rapid blink of fighting back tears. My perception of feeling like I had ruined a gift took quite some time to get over, but I try, despite seemingly continual bad news to remind myself how lucky I am to have walked away from a car accident, but, it sure isn’t easy.  


Back in October of 2004 I became the proud owner of a 2005, British Racing Green, Mini Cooper given to me as a gift by my parents. Many a drive included basking in the glory of my opened sun roof and smiling at fellow Mini motorists. In past years I’ve been asked if it was a Saab, a BMW or my favorite, a “Cadillac?”. In the past 6 years my Mini transported Jonathan and myself, as well as our animals at times, around eleven states (NJ, NY, DE, MD, VA, TN, AR, OK, TX, NM & AZ) and the District of Columbia.  I never expected that here, in the Valley of the Sun my Mini would find its final resting place.



Below are a few pictures of the damage done to my Mini. After the first, appraisal (pre-opening of the hood) the good word was that it wasn’t totaled. A little over $4,000 would bring it back to new. Wonderful, I’d have my much cherished car back. Then came the popped hood evaluation. The price rose about $3,500 bringing the cost of repair to over $8,000. I was a little nervous at the steady creeping of the cost, but again, I just wanted my little Mini tucked safely back in our driveway, and was happy to hear the news. The straw that broke the camel’s back. was the third appraisal. The results of which were delivered with, “Hello, I’m calling from the Total Loss Department, and I’m sorry to inform you…”"Devastation" doesn't capture the emotions felt.


This week Jonathan and I made the trip to clean out the car at the auto body shop where it has been parked.  As I gently patted its raised trunk lid  I said my farewells to be comforted by the autobody repairman’s comment of its new "donor" status. May my Mini parts bring joy and vitality to fellow Minis in need.

Hood was pushed up.

Top of the mornin Turquoise

Its taken just short of a year but we've finally managed to eliminate all traces of what Jonathan calls "smurf blood" blue from the interior of the house. Our work in the hallway started with the removal of the linen closet doors and the stripping of the wood surround.  We tend to shy from heavy duty chemicals for nature's sake, but boy oh boy nothing removes thick layers of funky paint better than good ole fashion chemical stripper.  Check out the toxic chemical bubbles.  

 

We called in expert help, Mark Foster to repair and refinish the dry wall in both the hallway and the guest room, which turned out great. Following his completion we primed, then slathered on a coat of none other than Honeydew in the guest bedroom, then shifted our focus back to the hallway. (More on this "dew"sy of a room redo to follow soon.)

    

     As for the built-in section of the hallway, we went for an atomic ranch-esque turquoise.  We had a bit of a hiccup with some replacement light issues, but as of this past weekend we were up and running with a new, more appropriate hall light.   

 

In addition to the bold paint choice, we added a little extra class to the linen closet doors with stylish new handles. No plain vanilla in this section of the house!  The finishing touch in the hallway will be the finishing of the floors, but this is a large project has yet to reach the top of the to-do list. 

Up next, hello honeydew!