Weekly Catch Up

Basketball started for the junior high this week.  Both the boys and girls have played 2 games each at Cherokee about 20 minutes from here.  We went to both games on Monday and Thursday nights.  It is great to watch my nieces and nephews play.  It is also irritating.  They have so much to learn about the game.  Not just them, the whole team, but I want them to excel.

I decided to try to quit smoking again.  I failed last time I tried to quit on my own.  I made it over a month but started again.  This time I am using Chantix to help with the highs and lows that come from smoking.  It blocks the nicotine receptors in your brain making cigarettes useless and stopping your craving for a cigarette.  I have been using it for two days and it makes a huge difference.  Cigarette's taste disgusting now and you get nothing from them.  I don't get such hard urges to smoke. 

With Chantix you keep smoking for 7 days while you are taking it then you stop.  I don't think it is going to take 7 days.  The side effects are a little scary.  I haven't had any yet but I read where it can cause suicidal thoughts and actions.  I am nowhere near that.  I have been having the vivid dreams the doctor's told me I may have.  That just makes it more fun to go to sleep.

Thanksgiving is next week and Christina's family will be staying with us for the holiday.  It will be fun to cook for 15 kids and 8 adults.

We had the opportunity to pay for the processing of part of a deer so we can have the meat from it.  I am excited.  Most of it is getting ground into deer burger. 

I need to find a new way to exercise other than running.  It is dark by the time Christina gets home from work.  I have the kids until she gets home.  I would run after dark but there are a lot of dogs, that are not fenced or chained up that act all crazy when I run after dark.  I don't want to be bitten.  I can't get up early enough to run, so I need to do something different.  Sometime shortly there may be open basketball at the town near here on Thursday nights.  That would give me 3 days of good exercise a week.  I can run on the weekends and play basketball on Thursday nights.

Warning! Pre-Stitches Pictures Inside

If you have a weak stomach you may want to skip this post.  One image shows an open wound prior to Stitches.

This weekend we went down to Oklahoma City to Mizike's sons baptism.  My family got there Friday night.  We hung up and caught up with what everybody has been up to. 

The next morning we got up and went fishing at Thunderbird Lake.  We had about an hour to fish.  It was windy but we found a small area out of the wind.  Mizike was the only one to catch a fish.  He caught a drum, had another on and brought a crappie to the bank before it got off the hook and flopped back into the water.

Gavin's casting and reeling well now.

Leo admiring Mizike's fish

Me holding up Mizike's fish. 

When we got back we got everything ready to clean the drum.  We had laid a piece of cardboard out and Mizike stuck a fillet knife into it.  The wind caught the card board and the fillet knife and sent them flying into the driveway.  Leo took off after the cardboard and was dragging it back before I realized what had happened.  I saw the fillet knife on the ground in front of him and told him to stop.  He didn't, and next thing I know Leo's foot connected with the point of the fillet knife and spun it around.

There was no blood but I knew the knife had stuck him.  Leo said it didn't hurt and wanted to go inside but I told him to wait a minute to see if there was any blood.  About that time the blood started flowing out of the cut.  I got the first aid kit out of the truck.  I held a rag on the area until the bleeding stopped then cleaned the area and put a band aid on the cut.  Leo didn't complain.

I filleted the drum and got the mess cleaned up.  After that we laid around for a bit waiting on the rest of the crew to show up. 

There ended up being 5 couples and kids staying at Mizike's house for the baptism.  Most of us went to K-State so when the game came on we were having a good time.  In the 4th overtime Texas A&M had just kicked a field goal when we heard whining coming from outside.  A couple of boys came in to say that Leo had hurt himself.  He was running and fell on a pipe and was bleeding.

I walked outside to see and there was already quite a bit of blood on the patio.  Upon lifting Leo's hair out of the way I could see that he needed stitches.  We got an old towel to put on his forehead and got him into the car.  The bleeding stopped pretty quickly. 

At the hospital Leo was bouncing around and smiling.  He was excited about getting stitches.  The only time that he got scared at all was when Christina was telling him that they would be using a needle to sew him up.  He hates shots.  His last group of shots he  had gotten were very painful.  We then explained that it will not be at all like getting a shot and he was o.k. again.

Leo hit his head on the gas main in the back yard.

Cleaned and bandaged and ready for stitches.

Leo laid on the exam table and watched as they stitched him up.  He didn't complain or cry.  They were very impressed at how he acted.  I was too.  Christina cried a little when they were injecting lidocaine into the wound area but Leo was calm.

After the E.R. visit we stopped by McDonald's for supper.  We let Leo pick out what he wanted.  He got a cheeseburger, a 10 piece chicken nugget meal with a coke and a chocolate shake.  He must have been hungry because he polished off everything but the shake by the time we got back to Mizike's house.

The next day we had the baptism, then a lunch at Mizike's parents house.  On the way home we did some grocery shopping and filled the back of the Explorer with groceries.  We got home fairly late and after unloading the Explorer we went to bed.

Scaredy Cakes

Cakes are scared.  It seems like there is a birthday every few weeks.  I guess there is.  With 11 kids and 4 adults between the Reeves and us, we have a lot of birthdays.  We had a combined party for 2 last night since their birthdays are only 2 days apart. 

This was our 2nd get together since we moved out.  Before the party I had the opportunity to run.  I took advantage of the opportunity and pushed myself hard.  I think I ran between 3 to 5 miles.  It has been a while since the last time.  Now that it gets dark by 6:00 I won't have many opportunities.  I pick up the kids after work and Christina doesn't get home until after 6:00.  I might be able to get up early and run before Christina leaves for work.  I need to keep exercising.  The town next to us has a basketball court and I might be able to start playing basketball once a week.

My legs feel like jelly today.  It's a good feeling.  I don't want to gain back the weight that I lost this summer.

I'm excited about heading down to Oklahoma City this weekend.  There's only been 2 times that I've gotten out of town since moving into the new house.  On the way back we can stop at Enid to do some grocery shopping and stock up on some lower priced grocery's along with the Thanksgiving meal supplies.

It looks like we are going to have Thanksgiving at our house this year with Christina's family.  Her sister is coming in from Missouri and her Mom and Dad are coming down from Northern Kansas.  It is exciting to be hosts for the big meal and the weekend.

Weekly Catch Up

There are several little things that come up every week that I don't put on here.  This title Weekly Catch Up, will be my entries adding the random things that I am thinking about or go on throughout the week.  If you can think of a Catchier, fishing themed name, let me know.  

I haven't been fishing in quite a while.  There is a chance at a little bank fishing this weekend coming up.

I have lakes not too far from here that I can bank fish.  The water is still too low to get a boat in.  I hope that changes by next spring since I have to put the boat in the water to fix the boards on the trailer.

This next weekend I will be going down to Oklahoma City to visit Mizike.  His son will be getting baptized on Sunday.  I'm taking my fishing poles and hope to sneak out for a couple hours to try a little fishing.

We did have a fish fry this weekend to eat up some Sept, 2010 crappie out of the freezer.  Our brother and sister in law and kids came over.  I fried hush puppies, five pounds of crinkle cut french fries and 4 zip lock bags full of crappie and white bass.  It was great to have family over for the afternoon and not have to worry about a 20 hour drive afterwards.

I woke up Saturday feeling under the weather.  Strep throat has been running through the family and I must have gotten it.  I took some ibuprofin to help my fever and sore back that accompanied it so that I could cook fish that afternoon.  It started wearing off after the company left and I laid around the rest of the weekend trying to recuperate.

Saturday night while we were watching TV the floor started rolling.  My recliner was moving and I looked at Christina thinking she was messing with me.  She looked at me at the same time and I said we must have felt an earthquake that happened South of us.  Sure enough, Christina's sister called us to see if we had felt it.  By the time I went to bed everybody was posting about it on facebook.  It hit fairly close to Oklahoma City near where Mizike lives. 

It is time for me to winterize my boat.  I won't be taking it out any more this year.  My gear lube and gear lube pump have been lost in the move so I need to find a new one.  I would like to get that taken care of when it's not snowing on me for once.  I always wait too long and have frozen fingers.  It's not hard to do, but it is hard to know you are putting the boat away for the winter. 

Pheasant season and ice fishing will be around the corner.  That will give me something to look forward to.  We have also gotten netflix recently.  We don't have cable or satellite and have decided not to spend what they are asking for it here when we don't like to watch that much television anyway.  I haven't found many fishing shows yet but haven't looked too hard for them.  I would like to watch the FLW Tour and B.A.S.S.  We have ESPN3 free through our internet provider so I still get to watch college football.

Since we have moved into our house the post office has on multiple occasions insisted that we put a mailbox up on the curb.  I have not changed my address from our brother and sister in laws since I have not been able to get it put up. 

Wednesday night I got home and saw another sticky note saying that since we are new residents we have to put up a mailbox or get a mail slot at the post office, they will no longer be bringing the mail to the mailbox on the porch for new residents.  I was a little upset as they are requiring that new residents have to do this and have been leaving us sticky notes in our mailbox since we first moved in.  They didn't give us any time to get a mailbox shipped in, find post hole diggers and get a mailbox put up, along with unpacking all of our belongings and get our place habitable to live.

Thursday, I had to go to the post office to mail out the las vegas advisor I sold.  The lady at the post office asked if we have gotten a mailbox put up yet.  I let her know that we had one on the way and would be putting it up soon.  She said they have all new residents put mailboxes on the curb.  I said o.k.  She took my money for the package then asked me about a change of address.  I filled one out and gave it to her.  The first thing she said was, "She will start holding your mail until you get your mailbox up." 

I was pissed.  My hands were shaking, and my blood was boiling.  I had just told them that I was in the process of getting my mailbox put up and she still had to go the extra mile to make sure I changed my address so they could hold my mail.  I told her what I thought of the multiple sticky notes I had received and how that made me feel as a new resident.  I also told her she could go a step further than just hold my mail and ship it back to where it came from, because I wasn't coming in there to pick it up. 

For somebody that works in a service industry, that was some poor service.  If the post office wonders why they cannot make money, when they have a monopoly in a certain industry, I would suggest they take a deeper look at how their employees treat people.  I'm not saying it's everybody that works in the postal service.  I know it's not.  I have worked with many postal workers on a regular basis, shipping items that I have sold, and the majority have been friendly and helpful.  In fact I have only had a few negative experiences, but the ones I had were bad.  If I got that type of service from a restaurant, I would never return to that entire chain of restaurants. 

I can't do that with the post office.  What I can do though is limit my use of their services.  I have free online bill pay, I can have my bills and statements sent to me electronically.  I can use fedex or ups for shipping larger items.  I don't want them to go out of business.  They are the most practically priced option we will have, and they offer good paying jobs to those who get hired by them.

  

Back From Las Vegas

I made it back from Las Vegas safe and happy.  It was fun and slightly different than what I'm used to out there.  The difference being that I went to bed most nights around 10:00 and got up around 7:00 except the last night.

We also played more slot machines and a lot less poker.  Usually poker is where we make our money to support doing everything else there.

I was going to try to play the Caesar's Poker Classic on the first day, but my flight was delayed 2 hours and I didn't get into Vegas until late so I decided to do just a couple small tournaments later in the week.  I also didn't have as much money as I was hoping to take, since I have to repair the boards on the boat trailer. 

We ate a couple different buffets with the coupons from las vegas advisor and had steak and lobster one meal for 11.99.  We ate at the food court several times at the Riviera since it was right there and had a good food selection.

We did play 2 poker tournaments at Circus Circus.  There were about 14 people playing at each.  I ended up chopping 3 ways in the money both days.

 

On the last night, with the extra money from poker, I decided to stop betting a nickel to a quarter at a time on the slot machines and play for some real money.  I stuck a hundred into a quick hit machine and spun it a few times.  Then the machine lit up and sirens started going off.  At first I was confused, then it hit me.  I had hit the progressive jackpot for 1650.00. 

8 Quick Hits, 9 would have been 10,000.00

I had my buddy go up to the room and get another 100.00 bill for me so I could play the machine beside it while I was waiting to be cashed out.  On my first pull I hit another 50.00.  I cashed both machines out and on the next machine hit for 292.00.  Everything was hitting for me.  I was too excited to go to bed, but I should have.  I stayed up all night making max bets on every machine I could play.  It was a blast.  I had a waitress following me around making sure I had a fresh drink as soon as I finished mine.

I blew through a little bit of the money but still came home with 1500.00.  Not bad for 1000.00 invested in the whole trip.  I was out having fun expecting to only bring home a few hundred.

I've also have the Las Vegas Advisor listed back on ebay.  Hopefully that will get me another 25 to 30 dollars when it sells.