January is slipping away.......

January is almost over. Cody is having fun playing basketball. I think we are taking him next week to a local cardiologist for a test.

In other news around the place, we have had a lot of rain and snow the past couple of weeks which has pushed many of the rivers over flood stage.Our little creek flowing down off of the hill went over it's banks and cut a small path through our driveway but the damage was not too bad.
Queenie (our dog) is doing ok although she doesn't have a lot of energy. The chickens are giving us plenty of fresh eggs.
After many years of putting up with a less than perfect stove and oven, we purchased an "upgrade"

Lorelei is quite happy with the new addition!

As for me, I am busy at work and as always way behind on my chores around the place. Jon is doing well up at Seattle Pacific and he was invited to a banquet that is exclusively for the students in the top 5% of the class. Wow..........nice job Jon!
Adam's job is doing well in Portland. They have changed ownership and it sounds like things are improving.
Lorelei is getting over her 4th cold of the season! Her job keeps her around sick kids all the time and she has had a heck of a time this year staying healthy.

That's about all for now,
Glynn Jr.

Going back a few weeks......

I wanted to go back a few weeks and get caught up on the end of the year stuff. Jon and Corina wanted to go up to the mountains and play in the snow before they headed back to college after the Christmas break. There was only one problem........there was no snow! We had one of the driest Decembers on record. So when I got home from work on Thursday Dec. 29th they had changed the plans to Geocaching at the coast.  Jon got online and located some caches and on Friday away we went! Corina's family joined us later in the day. We had dinner at the Otis Cafe to finish off the day. We finished up the day with a total of (6) caches found for (6) attempts!

Below, Jon racing for the cache at the fish hatchery.

Even though Jon is fast, Corina found the cache.

Not to be outdone, Lorelei finds the next one.

Then Cody with a tough find, a snail hidden on top of an old growth stump!

It was a wet and windy day over on the coast, but it did not deter us at all. We had a great time with friends and family!

Glynn Jr.

First post of the New Year.....

Well.....several of you have inquired about Cody and his last doctors visit. We took him in to have a simple physical so that he could play basketball for the middle school. Our regular pediatrition who has looked after all 3 boys for the last 17 years was out of the office so another doctor filled in. We thought ok it's just a quick physical. I wasn't there (probably a good thing) the first thing she wanted to do was give him a shot for STD's? Hmmm.....no we don't need that, we need a physical? She listens to his heart and hears a murmur. Then because he is tall and lanky she measures his wingspan and then checks his spine and says that she suspects Marfan Syndrome and we need to travel to Portland for testing and that she will not pass him to play basketball!

Ok so the first thing we do is begin researching Marfan. First off only 30% of all cases DO NOT have family history of Marfan. A wingspan wider than your height is a symptom of Marfan's, Cody's wingspan is 2" longer than his height. Mine is 2" longer and Jon's is 3-1/2"! He has slight scoliosis (another symptom). Jon has scoliosis.

So.....out of about 20 symptoms of Marfan's he only has 3 and 2 of them run in the family! So we set up an appointment to see our regular doctor. The doctor checked Cody over carefully and yes he could hear the murmur (which is quite common in young people). He concluded that Cody does not need to be tested for Marfan's and that if it was his son, he would let him play basketball. We may still see a cardiologist just to be sure. I'm going to stay off of my soap box about our health care system but if we had just listened to the doctor without researching on our own and taking some initiative we would have been spending time and money on needless testing. Keep Cody in your thoughts and prayers, he is one speacial guy!

Glynn Jr.

Christmas 2011

Jon came home for Christmas break from SPU. Adam and Pam showed up late Friday night the 23rd.

So Adam and I have this idea to make Lorelei a hanging pot rack for the kitchen. Just like many of our other great ideas, it turned out to be more interesting than expected. We did some internet research and looked at some designs. We had a branch or two laying around so we stripped the bark and started sanding. The interesting part came in when trying to find the right hooks for the pots. Lowes had no black hooks that would work! So we wound up sanding (Pam did most of the sanding on the hooks!) and painting the hooks. It was fun figuring out how to get the holes straight on a round, uneven branch. We spent most of the day down in the shop working on it and Lorelei was quite beside herself wondering what in the heck we were doing!

Lorelei's new pot rack.

Cody got the felt hat he had been wanting.

Pam and Adam

Lorelei got a pretty bracelet from her sister Penny.

I got a very nice rain jacket!

Jon with his new waterproof jacket.

You can see all the pictures from Christmas day by clicking  HERE
So we had a great weekend. We celebrated Adam's birthday also which we missed the week before because he was out of town. Adam and Pam cooked up some yummy chicken dishes. We tried out our new coffee making machines. It was a great weekend.

In other news around the place, it has been the driest December on record here in the Northwest. Queenie is doing better and she has more energy. Lorelei is getting over her 3rd cold of the season, so it seems she has been sick most of the time. Cody went to the doctor for a physical to play basketball and they heard a heart murmur. The doctor (who wasn't our usual doctor) wanted to send him to OHSU for testing. We are going to take him next week to our usual doctor for a second opinion. So keep Cody in your prayers please.

That's all for now,
Glynn Jr.