Wednesday, June 19, 2019

These are the Days

First, I did get to the Orthopedist on Monday, x-rays show that nothing was broken in my leg but there was some tenderness. They want an MRI to see if there is any tearing of the muscle or ligaments that connect right behind the knee. I got a knee brace, I'm wearing an ankle brace too just to be safe. It's harder getting around so I'm taking everything slow and generally trying to fight the mental fatigue that my body is falling apart. Falling off of the roof is a major trauma, and it could have been much worse.

This time of year, the days are upon us and I am way behind in posting family photos. First, we had Mothers Day

with my youngest niece


and back home - Kelley, Ella, Evil Genius, and Neena
Neena moved back to SC. After 3 years of living primarily in Raleigh near us, she sold her condo here and moved back permanently into the lake house that she's always had in South Carolina. We hated to see her go, especially now that we don't have a guest room anymore. After we loaded the uhaul, drove the 5 hours down to Lake Murray, then unloaded the next day, we drove up to greenville to see my parents on Mothers day. Hence the picture with my niece. Neena came back to Raleigh with us for the closing a few days later, then eventually EG's birthday! She turned 12, and I don't think I got any pictures from my phone.

Kelley and I had a nice getaway. One of my fraternity brothers opened a brewery about an hour outside of town, so we stopped in to see him on opening day, and then went on to Boone for the night. It was nice to get away, even if only for a short time.
Inside Bright Penny

I got a hat

Kelley driving my drunk ass up the mountain. Note the super cool reading glasses hanging from my rear view mirror

Bright Penny Brewing is a beautiful place, I hope the small town of Mebane is enough to support such a venture for a long time.

also noteworthy, I got no pictures of the mountains. The car said it was 95* when we left Raleigh, and 69* when we got to Boone. The next day it was the same story, 65* when we left Boone around noon, and 93* when we got back to Raleigh. it was a beautiful trip.

Next, I got an unexpected visitor at the office

This tiny baby deer got separated from her momma, I hope she found her again. A deer this small on campus at NC State university won't last too long, but it sure was cute!

Ella had her 8th grade graduation and semi-formal. This is terrifying, I have a high school kid now. But the dress she wore to the dance was adorable
She looks like an actual adult now

EG's outfit was cute too

Kelley and I at graduation

Ella walking across the stage during the ceremony
So this is completely terrifying. Only 4 more years before I have to start paying for her college and it will just be the three of us at home. High school sports. High school BOYS! She's about to turn 14, that's only one more year until she's driving. This feels like a roller coaster that just started going downhill and is really picking up speed. That was a day!

The last day to note was Fathers Day this past Sunday. I really wanted to get down to SC to be with my dad on Fathers Day, but it just didn't work out. Kelley's sister came up to visit us for the weekend, and I got to spend plenty of time with my girls. Of course, I got the annual picture with them on the couch.

They are growing up so fast, I am so proud and love them very very much
The best way to wrap up this picture heavy post may actually be more pictures. Here's some random other stuff I've got in the photo bag

Out on one of the long runs at the NC Capital building

My hair was angry that day

Yes my hair is growing longer on purpose. Not sure how long I want it to get, but it's hitting ponytail length now

The Evil Genius on the porch

Holy shit my wife is hot

The offending wall along with all of the stuff that I managed to avoid when I fell

My new fashion accessory
The wall - All of that lumber and shingles are full of exposed nails. If I had fallen to the right of the ladder I would have landed on that. The ladder was over that hose pipe reel, I could have landed on that. Another 6" to the left and I would have landed on that big pile of rocks. There are stumps from azaleas and boxwoods next to the path, I landed inside of them. Since I spun around to land facing the yard I didn't hit that window ledge on the way down - that could have been really painful. I did get that gutter repaired today. Scary stuff, I got really lucky.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Shut down for a while

Running has been difficult for the last few months, really below the knees. I got in a 13 mile long run, marathon training is in full swing. Then I limped for the next 2 weeks. Got home from work on a wednesday and it was only 73* outside, so I got in a quick 4 miles. Limped around after that for 2 more weeks. There's just no way to feel good anymore, it seems.

I'm almost finished with this front porch project. I finished the cedar on the front side, and had a bird nest in the roof framing. The little baby birds finally flew the nest on Friday, so I could go ahead and finish the ceiling this weekend. Run trim around that, paint the whole thing, install the ceiling fans and I'm done. I just have to fix this pesky roof leak on the last cool day in Raleigh before the summer heat sets in.

Happy to be done with that cedar siding


I got up to the roof and ripped off all of the problematic area of shingles where I was getting the leaking. Then I got rid of the framing. So now there are a lot of tools on the roof, and I need to start measuring to install new framing members.

More tools in hand, I get up to the top of the ladder and get my hands on the shingles. That's when the ladder shifted underneath me. I tried to grab onto the gutter as I was going down, so now I have to repair the gutter too. That spun me around, so I landed on a pile of rocks & bricks with my back to the wall. I remember thinking that I needed to land soft on bent knees, and crumple into the ground to soften the blow. It's an 11' high wall, I'm 6' tall, so I really only fell about 5 feet down, but that was plenty to do some damage.

Kelley was working in the yard so she saw the whole thing. The kids were drawing on the porch. How strange that after building this entire porch by myself the entire family gets to witness me seriously injuring myself. Kelley came running, she saw the whole thing and said that my left leg hit first and bent in a way that knees are not supposed to bend. It kind of crumbled under me.

Kelley spotted some scrapes on my right hand & wrist, and bandaged them on the ground. I gently moved off of the rocks onto a softer surface before trying to stand. After a while the adrenaline rush went down and I was able to get a valid assessment of what was wrong. It didn't feel like my leg was broken so I did try to stand and walk back inside. After ice and rest for the afternoon I was able to gimp around some.

The offending gutter
The pain starts behind my knee on the outside back of the leg, and runs down towards the heel. No clue if it's muscle or tendon, will require PT or a cast or a knee brace. I know I won't be able to run for a long time. My September marathons are probably shot. Tomorrow I'm going to call the orthopedist if this pain persists. If it is muscular, rest may be all that is required. Falling off of a roof is no joke, I'm usually resistant to these treatments but I could have some real hidden damage here. This is pretty scary.

On a lighter note, today is Fathers Day. I hate that we didn't get to go down to SC to see my dad today. He had a very bad car accident last weekend and spent a few days unconscious in the hospital. Then today he fell down the stairs, just rolled into a ball and took a bad hit to his ankle. Parkinsons and diabetes is really kicking him hard right now. Ok so that's not a lighter note. But mom & dad don't need the four of us underfoot while he's recovering like that. I got to spend plenty of time with Kelley and my girls!