Jeez! It was only one week ago today that the temp reached above 80 degrees. I said honey would you put the snow shovel in the garage for now as we won't need it for a while.



April 18th 2011

Cataract Story

Once upon a time my moms baby sister had to bring my grandmother to the Mayo Clinic in Mn. to have cataract surgery. By train no less. All of the other siblings were off working or off to war and she was all that was left to accompany grandma to the clinic. It was a very new procedure at the time and she was very scared. She tried to cheer her mom up and told her to have faith, that all would be well and not be afraid as they were going to make her see again. Well grandma told her she wished that she had 1/2 as much faith as she did.
Well my aunt had grown up in a mining town and never traveled anywhere before this experience. They were on the train in a sleeping car and my aunt was the one who was now scared half to death. Grandma asked her what on earth is wrong child? My aunt replied, that man! That man is going to get me! You see my aunt had never seen a black man before in her life and she thought it was the "Bogey Man" that was going to get her. Grandma re-assured her that the porter was not going to do her any harm and to come to bed. It all turned out well and grandma did indeed get back her sight thanks to the surgeons at Mayo Clinic.

Cataracts

Well today we went and got your mother's right eye done as she was informed whilst eye glass testing that she had cataracts in both eyes. The right one was much worse, we were told. In fact the eye doc said she should not even be driving her car.
We went to the specialist and got her tested while I sat there. I could not believe she could not see the giant letter M on the screen. We made the appointment for Friday morn. They gave us a cd to watch about the procedure. Unfortunately we stuck it the dvd player, lap top the pc's and it did not work. We even tried the Wii with no luck. I woke up early in the morn and went to youtube and watched the surgery being performed. Yikes! I told the wife not to watch but she informed me that she already saw in the night before. Anyway all went well so we headed back from the eye surgery to the doc's main office a few miles away to get post op instructions and pick up more eye drop scripts w/instruction on the do's and the dont's post surgery.
While there they also tested moms eye to see how her vision was. It was a very emotional experience as just a few days prior she could not see the big M out of her right eye and now she is breezing thru the small alphabet lines. We both bawled a bit. I think the girl testing shed a few tears as well.

How I Met Your Mother! Aka My Version

As I recall it was toward the end of of 72. My younger sister was trying to play cupid and was constantly trying to get me to meet her husbands older sister. I always declined and told her I needed no help and declined her match-making goodwill.
Well I had to work on their wedding day and was living at home at the time and came home from work to a wedding reception going on. I was pretty grubby from working and I noticed this hot burd with long legs in a blue dress that looked to me was batting her eyelashes at me. A quick intro to all those at the reception and I headed for a fast shower so I could spend a little more time with that hot chick that was at the home I grew up in. As luck (fate?) would have it I cleaned up and was all set to turn on my charms when she had vanished. Where did your sister go I inquired to my new bro-in-law?
Where is your new sister-in-law I asked my little sister? Oh she had too much to drink and had to go home asap I was told. To say I was bummed out would not be fair.
I was devastated! Naturally my sister gave me an unneeded "I told you so".
The new year was fast approaching and I had nada any plans. So I called her up and asked her if she would like to go to a party at my cousins crib. She answered in the affirmative. We planned a small meeting for coffee so we would not be complete strangers at the big night out.
We attended the party and from there things got rolling pretty regular. We ("dated") for a spell and I was a schmuck. I would call her with no notice and leave her hanging more times than I care to remember but in the long run she was my squeeze.
I proposed whilst driving southbound underneath I-75 and London street in L.P.
She accepted and we wed in a group ceremony in downtown Detroit City County Building on January the 25th 1974. A couple of family members or friends needed to witness the event for legal purposes.
I would do it all again in a heartbeat and consider myself extremely lucky to have a wonderful wife/lover and soulmate/mother of our four children.
Nailbender711 who loves Arial the Font

The big move

Well we knew that the move was going to happen on Tues. Sept 13th. They had no parking signs out. Trouble was Uncle Nail was a late sleeper that Morn and did not rise til pert near 2 pm. Just in time to get a few pics of the house in the middle of 3rd and Maple across from the Yack Arena. But I do take you on the route the house took to get there. A small crowd was already gathered and wiring was taking place on Biddle where the Labidie house had already passed by.
I tried to circle the place and before I knew it the flip cam said ALL FULL UP
The house is a 1894 old Victorian. This is the second time this home has been moved. It used to be on Antoine and Biddle then moved to Spruce St. in 1946. The bloody house has more miles on it than my old 82 Chevy Van.
It took most of the day but they slid it onto the corner of 3rd and Maple after chopping down a few trees. Brick layers were on the scene a couple of days later installing new footers. One shot you will see I was tapeing from Pats backyard and alley area.

Moving a House

Vincent's B-Day bash