Long time no post...

I haven't posted a blog entry in quite a while it seems. There has been a lot going on.

• My ankle - I visited the doctor after injuring it almost two months ago, I've got a torn Achilles Partial, but still torn. For the last two months I have been limping around. My doctor said he was shocked I hadn't injured it even worse, or torn it completely. An x-ray showed no broken bones. Now I have a follow up with Ortho Arkansas to have an MRI. I borrowed a walking boot, and am wearing it as my doctor recommended it. I'll find out later how long this will take to heal I guess, if I am gonna need surgery, and I am sure I'll have to have rehab. Frankly I'm worried, I'm coming up on 35, and my back injury and then this, it makes me feel like I'm falling apart. I hope I don't have to have surgery, I have insurance, but still there is some cost involved.
• My motorcycle - My Vulcan 750 is still leaking from a seal at the rear drive shaft. I had to take it back to the dealer, and they're supposed to be working on it. I really hope the cost isn't expensive, this will be the second time I brought it in for the same problem and they said it was nothing last time. It's been leaking SLOWLY on the garage floor and soaking into the tire. So I had to put down oil dry to prevent it from doing that as it slipped in a curve slightly because of it. I love the bike, it's paid for and I can't afford to replace it with a new one just because a seal failed. So I hope they get it fixed, and they're supposed to re-moly the rear splines while they're at it.
• My dad - His health isn't much better, he has his good days and his bad days. He's starting to get very forgetful, he lost his winter coat the other day because he left it somewhere, and then he lost his wallet in the couch and couldn't find it. It's worrying me. I love him, and don't want to lose him. He justed turned 70.
• My grandma - I m starting to really miss her worse than normal, the holidays really make me miss her more. I was out today and looking at Hallmark ornaments, and there was a remembrance ornament which reminded me of her. It said something about those who are no longer with us. I'm sappy, yes, but I miss my grandma. As I seem to get older I seem to reflect a lot on the past. I'm starting to understand why my dad and other people do that.
• Gas prices and the economy - $1.89 in Maumelle at Kroger the other day for regular, ALMOST back to pre-Katrina prices. Never mind that the stock market is going to hell, unemployment is at record levels (6.5%), and people are tightening their belts. Companies are laying off like crazy, no wonder consumers are getting stingy, when you don't have a job Christmas gifts are the least of your worries. I've got friends who have lost their jobs, and are going through this stuff right now. It's actually quite ridiculous how many friends I have. In my circle of friends it's almost like 50% unemployment! I'm trying to control my spending, to rein in costs, but it's hard with the motorcycle repair hitting this month, and now medical bills for my injuries... Toss in trying to figure out how to afford Christmas gifts, and it's shaping up to be a bleak holiday season. It really seems like it needs to rain on Christmas day. I'm really wondering if the Black Friday sales will help retailers, or if they're all gonna still be in the red.
• Garden - I built a garden gate, and sectioned off part of my backyard for a formal garden finally. Dad was good enough to donate scrap wood, wire, etc... so I could build it. It turned out nice, I just need to fill the beds with more soil (free from Maumelle), and get another muscedine vine for the other side of the trellis gate (I've got to dig one up at Dad's house, I already planted one from there, black or dark red muscedine off the old family farm from 100+ years ago). I'm trying to do my garden on the cheap, free soil and using found materials. I'll still need to buy some more dwarf tree twigs, and seeds for watermelon, squash, tomatoes and other stuff for the garden... but I am hoping I can do that cheaply. If I could have fresh vegetables and fruit from my own garden, and maybe muscedine, pear, cherry, and nectarine preserves someday that would be nice.
• Netbook - Still using it, good little device. I have a cordless mouse for it now, and a nice case that wraps it. I installed GIMP instead of photoshop, since I don't really want Photoshop running on it and GIMP runs lighter than Photoshop. Should be fine for what I need, which is cropping photos for my blog.

That's it for now, I'm signing off. Keep me in your prayers, those of you who have been.