It seems like spring is light-years away, and yet it is officially only a little over four weeks to the spring equinox. Snow has been falling regularly for several weeks, usually 6 - 10 inches at a time, so that now we have several feet of ground cover down in the Anchorage bowl. Up at Alyeska the skiers are having a banner year and in-town cross-country is excellent.
I would like everyone to close their eyes now and imagine me in my snow suit, cross-country skis snapped on, sun shining down on me pushing my way through narrow ski trails winding their way through spruce forests plump with piles of white powder. The air smells clean, fresh, and crisp, and I am eagerly pushing forward to see what adventure lies at the other end of the trail.
Ok, you can open your eyes now. The reality is suburban Anchorage, tense city dwellers on far too much caffiene sick of winter and icy roads and impatient with incompetent driving. I alternate each day between working at my stressful 9-hour a day job, riding herd on various kitchen remodel contractors, wringing my hands over teenage foolishness, and trying to contain the flood of paper that threatens to wash me out of my office. I dream frequently of being hundreds of miles away - 225 to be exact - sipping coffee and eating sticky buns at the two sisters bakery, looking forward to a visit to the Homer Brewery or a ski through the park. Sigh. Will winter ever end?
We had a most exciting morning today, one that left me glad for life and grateful for everything. At 5 am my daughter Megan woke us up screaming something we could not understand. The adrenaline surge brought me out of bed and out the door so fast I forgot that I did not have any clothes on. At first I thought she was yelling at our new puppy, Bear, who is sleeps in her room and is still trying to get used to his new home. He is often awake at all hours of the night, whining, woofing, scratching, and otherwise making a racket that keeps her awake. That wasn't it though.
I stood at the opened door of her room in a confused fog while she continued yelling. The smell of burnt plastic made me realize something was very wrong. I flipped on the light to see smoke coming out of an old power strip on her floor that had burst into flames and was still pumping nasty, gray smoke into the room. I ran into the room, traced the cable back to the wall and jerked the plug out of the receptacle. Fortunately nothing else was burning so I threw the burned strip on the front porch and went back inside to see what had happened.
She said she was awakened by the popping and sparking of the device. Sparks were shooting a good foot or more into the air like minature fireworks. We couldn't figure out what had happened but thinking about it later in the day I had my suspicions that our puppy might know something about it. I finished checking the floor around the spot and found nothing else of concern.
As we were leaving her room to go back to bed I discovered that Bear had left us a brown surprise just inside the door. In my alarm I had pushed the door open right over the top of it and wiped it across the carpet about a foot. After going in and out the door several more times it had gotten thoroughly ground into the carpet leaving a thick brown swath of poop about 4-inches wide. In disgust, I spent another 15 minutes spraying and scrubbing and cussing the damn dog until the carpet was relatively cleaned up.
We finally got the house calmed down and everyone back to bed about 45 minutes later. When I woke up a few hours later I couldn't help but think that we had been spared a much worse ordeal. Somehow it made the day all the more special and winter a little more tolerable. And maybe it was all the adventure I needed, for now anyway.
Hope you are all well.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Chad & son's hunt in Idaho
Hello Dixon Clan
Here are pictures of mountain white tail deer hunt in Idaho.Chad & Danny arrived in Idaho on the 9th of November.Left to go hunting with Alfred & Iva's brother Yogi in the mountain's close to Elk City, Idaho.Weather was wet & cold. They spent a week in a wall tent up Newsome creek! Alfred shot a 5 by 5 point with a .222 single shot. Danny shot a 5 by 5 with Grandpa Dixon's m1-30.06 rifle. Both were very proud of there trophy size antlers.They tortured Chad by making him hike the steep mountain's and pay for being out of hunting for awhile!But all had a great time together & look forward to doing so again soon!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
HOWDY
Howdy Y'all! I think I have finally figured out this blogging thing- way past my bedtime =) I just wanted to post a quick "Howdy!" from Texas. The kiddos are finally asleep (for the most part) and Roger is watching sports of some kind (those darned Mavs didn't make it as far as we'd hoped!!!!) so I am enjoying the computer to myself for a minute...
We've been watching the latest version of "Deadliest Catch" (the boys' favorite show), and it reminds me of my Alaskan relatives =) We are enjoying the blog site. The pictures and stories are great-- It's like one giant family scrapbook! With everyone so far away, it helps us keep "in the know". I'll post pics of the kids (when I figure that out) and I'm sure you'll be hearing from the rest of my "Clan" in the future.
Until next time...
Chris and the Southern Folk =) =) =)
We've been watching the latest version of "Deadliest Catch" (the boys' favorite show), and it reminds me of my Alaskan relatives =) We are enjoying the blog site. The pictures and stories are great-- It's like one giant family scrapbook! With everyone so far away, it helps us keep "in the know". I'll post pics of the kids (when I figure that out) and I'm sure you'll be hearing from the rest of my "Clan" in the future.
Until next time...
Chris and the Southern Folk =) =) =)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Dad is back home
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that Dad has been released from the hospital, as of yesterday. He went through the bone marrow sampling at Providence Hospital, which he said went smoothly and was surprisingly pain-free. They drilled a little hole in the bone of his hip and drew out 4 or 5 cc's of marrow fluid. They will be testing it over the next five days, so he won't have any new information until then.
When I talked with him on the phone today he was sitting in the sun on the front porch taking his ease and enjoying being back at home. He was minding his own business - trying to figure out how to entertain himself without being able to read, watch TV, or walk very far - when Chad arrived with a surprise visitor. At first Dad thought it was me but quickly discovered that it was Alfred! He decided to pay a visit for the weekend and surprise everyone, including Adrian, who still doesn't know yet (unless he reads this blog) that he is in town. Alfred is also here to renew his electrician's license in Alaska so that one day he might be able to move back.
And Adrian and I and our families will be heading off to Homer this weekend. It is Shorebird Festival weekend and the first chance we have had to get out of town to see how the cabin fared over the winter. Susan and I are definitely excited it but my kids, particularly my daughter, would rather eat worms and die. Oh well. One day I hope she feels differently. Both of my kids have been under the academic gun these past few weeks as the school year draws to a close at the end of next week. They are a little on the testy side.
I will post some pictures of Dad, Alfred, and Homer later on.
Love,
Jed
I just wanted to let you all know that Dad has been released from the hospital, as of yesterday. He went through the bone marrow sampling at Providence Hospital, which he said went smoothly and was surprisingly pain-free. They drilled a little hole in the bone of his hip and drew out 4 or 5 cc's of marrow fluid. They will be testing it over the next five days, so he won't have any new information until then.
When I talked with him on the phone today he was sitting in the sun on the front porch taking his ease and enjoying being back at home. He was minding his own business - trying to figure out how to entertain himself without being able to read, watch TV, or walk very far - when Chad arrived with a surprise visitor. At first Dad thought it was me but quickly discovered that it was Alfred! He decided to pay a visit for the weekend and surprise everyone, including Adrian, who still doesn't know yet (unless he reads this blog) that he is in town. Alfred is also here to renew his electrician's license in Alaska so that one day he might be able to move back.
And Adrian and I and our families will be heading off to Homer this weekend. It is Shorebird Festival weekend and the first chance we have had to get out of town to see how the cabin fared over the winter. Susan and I are definitely excited it but my kids, particularly my daughter, would rather eat worms and die. Oh well. One day I hope she feels differently. Both of my kids have been under the academic gun these past few weeks as the school year draws to a close at the end of next week. They are a little on the testy side.
I will post some pictures of Dad, Alfred, and Homer later on.
Love,
Jed
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Dad's hospitalization, update #3
Hello One and All,
I paid a visit to Grandpa at Providence Hospital today. He is doing well, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. Up until this past Friday he had been recuperating at home from the last hospitalization at Elmendorf hospital. He had been receiving home treatment by the visiting nurse who, once again, became concerned with the condition of his eye and his overall health. He was admitted to Providence because the urgency and the fact that his doctors at Elmendorf would not be available until Monday. Here is the latest installment of gruesome photos. Double-click on them for excruciating detail.
It may not be obvious, but even though his eye looks gross it is actually healing relatively well; especially considering the class of bug that got to him. And in that matter I have a little more information for you all.
The doctor in charge of him at Providence specializes in treating infectious diseases. He said that he had been infected with two bugs: serratia, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), otherwise known as staph infection. The first is actually a secondary infection that sometimes happens to patients treated in hospitals. The second is the more serious of the two, and it what he is receiving antibiotics for. It is the bacteria that his foot was being treated for and that may be the source of the infection in his eye. Here is a link to more information about MRSA Infection at the Mayo Clinic's website. It is treatable, but is highly resistant to all but the most effective of antibiotics. The danger is, as I mentioned in my earlier posting, that his diabetic condition makes it very risky to treat him with such a potent drug and his blood sugar level must be carefully watched. He is getting tired of being poked for blood.
The doctor also suspects a more subtle underlying condition for his frequent infection is that his bone marrow is not working properly to manufacture white blood cells. He said this may have been the case as far back as two years ago though they have they have not yet made any conclusion about it. It would, however, explain why he has been so susceptible to infections and so knocked for a loop when they occur.
Here are a couple shots of his foot and legs. This infection is definitely healing and is a very positive sign of recovery.
Please be reassured though that Dad seems to be doing well and is recovering, albeit slowly. Personally I would feel much better about having him receiving treatment at home than being in the hospital with so much other bacteria floating around. Even under the best of circumstances at home his antibiotic regimen will need to continue perhaps as long as six months. It is one persistent bug.
In other news, my daughter went to the prom with her boyfriend Brian. Here is a picture of the two of them:
She is, needless to say, growing more beautiful every day. I am proud of her but am far from ready to let her go.
And finally, for those of you who want more information on how to post pictures, I would be glad to help you out with specific tips by phone. Many modern digital cameras have the capability of taking huge poster-size pictures, which aren't easily viewable in a browser on a monitor. In general you can prepare your photos ahead of time by setting your camera's pixel size to "VGA", or no more than 1 m in size. If you double-click on Dad's photos above you will see the VGA size displayed on your computer screen. The photo of Brian and Megan is saved in a size of 1280 x 720 pixels.
When you are ready to upload the photo it will load into your post at the top of the edit window. Scroll up, cut it to the clipboard, then scroll down to where you want paste it. Right click and paste. It may seem tricky at first but practice it a little and you will get the hang of it. Call me if you want more detail than that.
I am glad to see the posts of the kids. Keep em coming!
Love,
Jed
I paid a visit to Grandpa at Providence Hospital today. He is doing well, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. Up until this past Friday he had been recuperating at home from the last hospitalization at Elmendorf hospital. He had been receiving home treatment by the visiting nurse who, once again, became concerned with the condition of his eye and his overall health. He was admitted to Providence because the urgency and the fact that his doctors at Elmendorf would not be available until Monday. Here is the latest installment of gruesome photos. Double-click on them for excruciating detail.
It may not be obvious, but even though his eye looks gross it is actually healing relatively well; especially considering the class of bug that got to him. And in that matter I have a little more information for you all.
The doctor in charge of him at Providence specializes in treating infectious diseases. He said that he had been infected with two bugs: serratia, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), otherwise known as staph infection. The first is actually a secondary infection that sometimes happens to patients treated in hospitals. The second is the more serious of the two, and it what he is receiving antibiotics for. It is the bacteria that his foot was being treated for and that may be the source of the infection in his eye. Here is a link to more information about MRSA Infection at the Mayo Clinic's website. It is treatable, but is highly resistant to all but the most effective of antibiotics. The danger is, as I mentioned in my earlier posting, that his diabetic condition makes it very risky to treat him with such a potent drug and his blood sugar level must be carefully watched. He is getting tired of being poked for blood.
The doctor also suspects a more subtle underlying condition for his frequent infection is that his bone marrow is not working properly to manufacture white blood cells. He said this may have been the case as far back as two years ago though they have they have not yet made any conclusion about it. It would, however, explain why he has been so susceptible to infections and so knocked for a loop when they occur.
Here are a couple shots of his foot and legs. This infection is definitely healing and is a very positive sign of recovery.
Please be reassured though that Dad seems to be doing well and is recovering, albeit slowly. Personally I would feel much better about having him receiving treatment at home than being in the hospital with so much other bacteria floating around. Even under the best of circumstances at home his antibiotic regimen will need to continue perhaps as long as six months. It is one persistent bug.
In other news, my daughter went to the prom with her boyfriend Brian. Here is a picture of the two of them:
She is, needless to say, growing more beautiful every day. I am proud of her but am far from ready to let her go.And finally, for those of you who want more information on how to post pictures, I would be glad to help you out with specific tips by phone. Many modern digital cameras have the capability of taking huge poster-size pictures, which aren't easily viewable in a browser on a monitor. In general you can prepare your photos ahead of time by setting your camera's pixel size to "VGA", or no more than 1 m in size. If you double-click on Dad's photos above you will see the VGA size displayed on your computer screen. The photo of Brian and Megan is saved in a size of 1280 x 720 pixels.
When you are ready to upload the photo it will load into your post at the top of the edit window. Scroll up, cut it to the clipboard, then scroll down to where you want paste it. Right click and paste. It may seem tricky at first but practice it a little and you will get the hang of it. Call me if you want more detail than that.
I am glad to see the posts of the kids. Keep em coming!
Love,
Jed
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Greetings From Texas
Junior and Gideon
Adrian, Cara, Chris and the Grandkidsat Mathew's hockey tournament.
Grandma and our princess.
Joe, Bev, and Junior (Wesley).
The Happy Couple.
Hi Ya'll,
First of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to Dad and Mom during this time of trial. The pictures look nasty!!! I'm glad he's making progress, but I'm sure it's driving him nuts to just sit and wait.
We finally joined the digital age just before thanksgiving with Joe and Beverlyn's wedding in Las Vegas in November. Sooo... I can now attempt to post a few picture for all of you to see. I wish I has some of Katie and Matt's wedding to post also, but unfortunately that was pre-digital. I'm trying to get everyone signed up so they can post also. Hopefully, Katie will post some when she has some time.
The pictures above are taken at Joe and Bev's wedding held in a little Chapel just outside Las Vegas. Would you believe, we had a bowling party reception afterwards! It was fun! Joe and Bev are both avid bowlers. They even brought their own balls with them.
I guess I need some education on how to post pictures. I can't get them to go where I want them. Jed!!!!!! What's the trick?
Anyway. The above are just a few pictures from Joe's Wedding, Mathew's hockey tournament in November, and Christmas 2006. I thought you might enjoy seeing some recent photographic evidence that we're still here. As you can see, Joe has inherited Grandpa William's hair genes!
All are well here. Matt and Katie are in the process of moving into a new condo in Miami in a couple of weeks. They finally sold their current condo after almost a year on the market. Miami real estate is crazy. She'll have to tell you about her experience. Apparently things like light fixtures, ceilings, flooring, faucets, etc. are considered add-ons in Miami, but appliances are included! Who knew! Katie is getting close to completing her courses and will get her Nurse Practioner's liscense soon.
Roger and Chris are busy with their family. The kids are very active in sports, church activities, and Gabriel is involved in community play productions and sings with the All City Choir. He has been in the Christmas production at the Meyerson Symphony center for the last 2 years. Chris and Roger spend most of their free time running the shuttle service.
Chris still teaches 4th grade in the Garland ISD and just completed her Master's degree in education. she takes after her Mom. Roger works for Paladin Consulting which is a recruitment firm for IT people. He just got a promotion and is doing well. He's also the gardener in the family and keeps us supplied with fresh veggies in the summer.
Mary and I are just keeping busy being Grandma and Grandpa. We enjoy our grandkids and love our empty nest! Mary still teaches 1st grade at St. Pius X School (22 years now.) She's ready to retire anytime. I'm working for a new concrete company in Rockwall, Texas which is a town just across the lake from where we live. I'm heading out into the country everyday when everyone else is heading into the rat race. I love it! Anyone need some concrete?
Well, I need to cut this off. Sorry for the arrangement above. Maybe next time it'll be better after Jed educates me. Come on ya'll, let's blog!
Duan