Merry Christmas 09, Yeah Right

So the title of my post may be a little misleading. I love Christmas and all of the memories you make during it. This Christmas however has been off to a rough start. Monday I decided to work from home for two reasons one was the snow and the second was I was feeling pretty sickly. I was happily typing away on code to attribute to my latest project when I got a call from my frantic wife where she informed me that my mother had slipped on ice on her steps, that I had just scrapped, and she believed broke her leg. I quickly informed my Boss I was not going to be able to be reached for awhile and headed to her aid. It took about 2 hours to get an ambulance to the house because of the snow and the holidays but when they got there she had been in pain for some time and had what looked like a bone pushing on her skin but not broke through. They with my help then loaded her onto a backboard and then the stretcher. The driver asked how much my mom weighed (as my family is hefty) and then called in for backup. I guess she scared him Soon the entire Bethany fire department was there to help. My Mom was in so much pain she didn’t catch any jokes I tried to crack to cheer her up. We got to the hospital and here is what the break looks like:

After that you may have guessed that my days have been filled trying to get her here and there but that is not it. Monday night after we got back from the Hospital my wife and son got a stomach virus… very bad so now I had three to take care of and I made until Tuesday morning when I myself got it. Now when I get sick I react a little differently than most people I know I simply goto sleep and continue to sleep until I get better. I don’t know why I do this and my wife hates it but it all works out. So after being in a dead-like sleep and missing Tuesday altogether I was able to get mom back to the doctor starting at 7:30 on Wednesday.

Now I must say that the previous paragraphs make it seem like I did all the work. I don’t want that to be the case as my wife and my sister has helped equally if not more than I. I also don’t want it to sound like I haven’t had a good Christmas I have. Spending time with my family is always good no matter what the circumstance and my mom is pretty funny when she is drugged

Now as for today I went to Lowes to do a little last minute Christmas shopping. I got my mom a safety rail for her bathroom so she can get around on her peg leg and got my father-in-law a little something too. I got to eat a nice smoked pork shoulder with the family and now I have to go downstairs and play Santa for my little boy. He is fast asleep with vision of trains and cars in his head.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
David Bates

No More Water?

I live right on the outskirts of Greensboro NC and evidently we are right in the middle of one of the worst droughts ever recorded in our area. I haven?t been to worried about all of hoopla surround the drought until just a few days ago when my wife called me at school and said that there was no water at the house. Even then I thought that it was our neighbors forgetting to pay the electric bill; which has happen twice before. It wasn’t until my Landlord called me and said that he had checked out all the electrical components going to the well that I began to worry.

Well, now I am worried, worried that I now might actually be out of water (*%$#?) and that we may have to move. Let me say before I move on to that my landlord is great and that this entry is in no way intended to reflect poorly on him. My landlord has said that he has hired some “well people” to come and check out the pump as he did not have the equipment to do so and that he should know something by the end of the week. So for the time-being my wife is in VA and I have to stay with my Mom who is now uber-conscious of the drought.

Anyway whish me luck with it and all else is well.
Thanks for reading
David Bates