Geothermal and great room

Tim came and worked some on the geothermal system, doing some piping hookups,and working on the ductwork for the house.

The drywall finisher came and put some mud on.. He will be back tomorrow.

Mountain man festival pictures

Some pictures from the Mountain Man Festival I previously posted about.

Sitting around a campfire, some in time period clothing.

A blacksmith working making tool from that time period


Splitting some wood for a campfire to cook on.

A black powder rifle demonstration.

A wood whittler, boy he was fascinating to watch.

Hectic 1st half of the morning

I went out a 6am and watered the new grass I put in yesterday. I saw all the dirt had pulled away from the shed, so piled some up real quick so it would not destroy the concrete.

Tim got here to start on the geothermal, then in about an hour the unit showed up. t was fortunate I was here, it weighed over 300 lbs, and in a non lift bed truck. A quick switch into the forklift, the explored in the road to protect us from the Homer lake express, and it was set into the garage. Then the fun began. Tim, the delivery man, and I mud wrestled the unit into the basement. Now I am really sore.

The drywall finishers are coming at noon, so have to get the great room ready before then.

Off to do more basement cleaning, and water plants.

Delays....

The geothermal will be starting today at 715am. The contractor had delays on his previous job, which carried over into my job. Its been a long wait, and am excited its finally here!!

I dont know what happened on the great room, nothing happened for 2 days now, and no contact with the contractor. I'm frustrated, I want to get to work on painting and putting the hickory floor down. I'm excited to see the final result, but as with the geothermal, it always seems to be well into the future.

My day off wasn't a total waste however. I worked several hours on the landscaping, and got a large area graded and seeded. I guess I'm getting older than I want to admit. A few years ago, that kind of work would not bother me that much. Last night, I was so sore I could hardly move, totally spent and used up. I'm really draggy this morning as well. I want to get the grading and seeding done, its been hanging over me for a couple years, and need to get it done!

Geothermal, greatroom, and landscaping

The geothermal unit for the house is being delivered, and the installation should start today. Tuesday, the electrician came and started some of the wiring, and hopefully will be back today as well. I cant wait to see how much difference in operating cost this makes. SHould be interesting.

Great room-Tuesday some patching was done on the drywall. I expected them back yesterday, but no one showed. Hopefully today as well.

Landscaping-After I got home yesterday at 4, I measured and set the corner posts for the yard and garden. After that, I graded and prepared to seed some more yard.

By that time I was pretty tired, so went in and watched a CSI-NY with the kids.

Kim update

I realize that I havent updated about Kim. She is out of the hospital, and now at home. SHe is doing well, just tired and rundown. The doctors said that is to be expected considering what she has been through. She is going back to work, slowly ramping up her hours. SHe is still not her normal wild self, but improving slowly.

Our April RV trip

We wnet to Terre Haute for camping April 25-27. We hung around the campsite some, went to see the covered bridges in the area, and then ran across a mountain man festival. Boy, that was fun.
Deb and Kim working with Sweet P

Great room and geothermal-preparing for Tuesday

Deb, Chris and I are tired tonight! We had a big day preparing the great room for the drywall finishers. We took the faux beans out of the old family room, that was a chore in itself. All the books on the bookshelves are now piled in tall stacks in the office.

Then, to prepare for the electrician, the garage sale items went to Mandi's garage.

During breaks, Deb worked on potting plants in the poolroom and preparing them for the yard/garden.

I had some work to do on the mower, then Deb mowed while I trimmed. By that time we were spent, so showers, supper, TV and blogging became the priorities for the day.

Great room and Kitchen

The drywall was put on the beam today, and all the other places that were left open were patched. We finally got to take down the plastic corridor, and uncovered and moved some furniture around so we can watch TV the next couple nights. We have a LOT of work to do before Tuesday! The drywall finishers are coming in, so we have to take all the fake beams down from the old family room. One of the hardest decisions we have to make is the color of the walls, 2'nd will be what we want the lighting plan to be. I might let the 2 boys start tearing out the floor also. We have floors at all different levels, so I am going to go down to the original subfloor, put down plywood and then the hardwood. That will be later, after the drywall is finished and walls painted!

Kitchen-they installed the LDL laminated beams in the basement, there was a section of the floor sagged very bad. They got most of the sag out, its hard to get 100% of it out. Its much better than before!

Great room-good progress

Good progress was made on the great room today. They took the drywall off, built a temporary wall, and then put in the 2 LDL laminated beams. The electrician came and unhooked all power in the circuits that was in the wall. When Deb came home she marveled at how much different the room looked and seemed pleased. We still have our plastic corridors, but should lose that by tomorrow night.

Great room project is starting.

The wall tearout was supposed to start today, but they ran late on the previous job. Thursday at 730 they will start tearing out the wall. they plan on building temporary walls on each side of the wall that will be removed, remove the wall, put the support beams in, then remove the temporary walls. Right now, we just have narrow corridors between the plastic protection walls, trying to contain the drywall dust.

Tuesday - Again

Kim called to tell us that she may go home tomorrow. The doctors are calling her a miracle patient since none of them thought she would survive Wednesday night. She will be going home with Grandma and Grandpa so that she is not alone in the house and also because the construction should be beginning in the great room tomorrow. Grandma will be good for Kim, get her up and out and keep her on a healthy diet!!

Tuesday - May 20

Kim sounded much better this morning - except for the coughing. She convinced the nurses to let her try to sleep without the CPAP and they agreed as long as her O2 didn't drop. It didn't and she slept all night with just oxygen support. Another big hurdle passed! Now it's down to breaking up the congestion in her chest and building her strength back. Maybe she will be right and she will be home by Friday!?!

Kim-improving slowly

I went to see Kim after work, she seems to be doing better slowly. Her blood pressure is holding, which is good news. They are doing a lot of tests for kidney function, not sure when results will be in. She still sleeps a lot, but thats OK, its what she needs. Her biggest issue right now is her lung function. As soon as the oxygen is taken away, her oxygen level drops. She does not like the c-pap mask, finally convinced them to take it off of her last night. They also took her off the nasty pain med, and went to a less powerful one. We are definitely glad about that! She is DEFINITELY looking forward to coming home, thats for sure. We are all looking to the target of the end of the week.

Monday Musings

Kim is doing better this morning. They feel she might get to come home at the end of the week. At least when you talk to her she coherent and not falling asleep. She is asking about Sweet Pea and says she misses her. Dad went into see her this morning and was glad to see how much she had improved since Thursday. It's been a long week and I'm sure she will be happy to get back home to her own bed and the seasons of 24 she and Chris still need to watch!!

Kim Update-better news

Just called Carle, They are moving her off of ICU to the 6th floor. She is still sleepy, and is still on c-pap, but the blood pressure is not as big an issue now.

Food for thought...There was a tremendous prayer surge from church members Wednesday night, Kim at least stabilized from near death. There was another strong prayer surge in service today, she improved enough to get off of ICU.

THIS IS A HEATER NEWS ALERT

We have 3 empty seed starting trays!!!! Count them---3!!! Must plant more seed to fill them!!! Today!!! Actually we found seed packets we didnt know we had, so no problem there.....

Kim-still in ICU

We didnt update last night, too tired. Talked to the nurse this morning, her CO2 level is up, which means her lung function is still not good. They changed the c-pap a little and started putting medicine through the c-pap to try to break up the fluid. She is still real groggy, probably due to the low O2 levels. Her blood pressure is still not stable so that is another big issue. It dropped again, so more blood pressure medicine. It sound like her renal functions are doing better, so thats a good sign.

Yesterday, while Deb was with Kim, we were told Kim is now MRSA positive. When Deb called to let me know, there was some consternation and mild panic, since I had no clue what that meant for Kim and our family, since she is living with us. After talking to the Doc and a good friend that is familiar with dealing with MRSA, reasoning was restored. We just have to be religious about our hygene around here. We cant share cups, not eat after each other and so on, and frequent hand washing. ALso if we get a cold, or infected cut then we have to let doctors know we were exposed to MRSA.

Off to church now, then a big day in the yard and garden. We will update tonight if possible.

Kim-a setback last night

Kim had a setback last night. When she would try to sleep, her oxygen level would drop to 85, so back on c-pap and another day in ICU. Will update as conditions change.

Now out to plant garden, yard, trees, or cleaning to prepare for construction.

I picked up the tomatoes for the tomato tasting in September, have to get them planted soon.

Kim medical update

Kim is doing much better, and hopes to be out of ICU tomorrow. She is mainly off of the blood pressure medicine, and is off c-pap. She is taking some oxygen, but minimal. The Critical care doctor said her infection was e-coli, fairly common. He also felt the stones could have been a side effect from her migrane medicine. They still have more tests to run, but overall her condition is improving greatly. It will be nice when she is out of ICU, it will be easier for more family and friends to visit.

No new news on the grandson, which we believe is good news.

Update on medical emergencies

Kim is still not totally out of danger, but doing better. Doc pulled her off of the heart meds, but her blood pressure is dropping, if it drops much more, she will need to go back on. As of 945, her blood pressure is stabilizing, and hopefully will not have to go back on.

Deb and I finally got a better understanding of the whole situation. It was basically a perfect storm of issues causing an emergency. First, the migrane medication dulled the normal pain of a severe kidney infection. Also, because of her throat problems last week she was on steroids. These suppressed her immune system. When the infection started, it was able to increase unnoticed. Wednesday morning, when the pain was intense she went in to the ER. When tests were done, the tests came back slightly high, but didnt indicate the severity. The docs knew there was some infection so started an antibiotic. The antibiotics started killing the bacteria. Due to the dead bacterial bodies breaking down, this can cause a shock to the system. This started causing the issues with her breathing and heart. The docs indicated tonight that it was a gram negative bacteria, possibly a mutated e-coli or pseudomonas. They are running a LOT of tests, and have an infectious disease specialist on the case. What they DONT want to find is a bacteria that I cant remember the name of-starts with P-that is a stone causing bacteria. The bacteria forms a stone, and then other bacteria lives in the stone crystal lattices. If she has this it will be difficult for her kidneys to be "disinfected", and her recovery will be much slower. She may be in ICU for 24-72 hours, and in the hospital for at least a week. Due to the risk of a major backslide, she is still in critical to guarded condition but at least we are headed in the right direction.

Deb just found some statistics on gram negative sepsis. It accounts for 1% of admissions, but is fatal in 50-70% of the cases. The bacteria respond to antibiotics, but the system is overwhelmed and shuts down. This is what was happening to Kim, but we have hopes she has beaten it.

Now the grandson. We have a report that he is doing better, and there is hope that surgery will not be necessary.

2 for 2 looking up, we could not ask for better news. Maybe tonight we can get a good nights sleep.

A scary and exhausting night

Wednesday, Kim had a lot of back pain, and went to Carle ER. Debby went there about noon, and Kim was found to have kidney stones, and was scheduled to have surgery at 5 pm to deal with them.

Finally, about 630pm, Kim was taken into surgery, so Deb and I went to grab a quick bite to eat. Around 715, the doctor came out to talk to us, and the news wasn't good. Doc said they could not even deal with the stone, there were much bigger issues to deal with. Kim had a raging bladder and kidney infection, and as bad as it was, it was a life threatening situation. Deb started making calls, and other family started arriving. The next news we got was even worse. Debby only was allowed to go back, things were spiraling out of control. Kims heart started racing, and her blood pressure fell to dangerously low levels. Also, she started swelling up, and her lungs were filling up with fluid. She was also coughing up blood. At this point Kims condition was unstable, we were told she was going into heart failure and her survival was in doubt. A few more calls, and all the family, plus Pastor Rich, Larry, and Larrys mom Chris came for support.

While the family was waiting for Deb to run in and out with updates, a lot of praying was done, and stories were told. Then it happened. I went to the bathroom and my zipper stuck. The middle of one of the scariest health emergencies any of my kids have faced, and I have no way to zip up. I had to walk back into the waiting room, holding my fly together, say my zipper was stuck, and throw a coat over my lap. Finally, a pair of pliers was borrowed, so I tied the coat around my waist backwards, and headed back to the bathroom to fix the zipper successfully. I've always been a great source of comic entertainment for the family, last night was no exception. The big laugh at my expense was just what was needed to break the tension, and was glad to oblige. I told Pastor he has sermon material for months.

In the middle of Kims crisis, we received a call that our grandson is in the hospital in Peoria dealing with his own health emergency. If he needs surgery, we may be making a trip to Peoria Thursday to see him before he is taken in.

The doctors were finally able to stabilize Kim enough where the family could see her 2 by 2 for short visits. Most of the family left by 10:30, but Deb and I stayed until around midnight. We felt she was stable enough for us to get home and get some sleep, which we did.

As of this writing, Kim is being pulled SLOWLY off the heart medicine, and her heart is staying stable. She is still in a lot of pain, and is still having breathing problems and coughing up blood. The doctors are cautiously optimistic that she will be out of ICU tomorrow, but has at least a week hospital stay ahead of her. The last we heard the stones may not be dealt with for 3 or 4 weeks down the road.

Chris and Kim went storm chasing!

Saturday, Deb and I were going out of town. Kim and Chris were going to go with us, but woke up feeling "bad" and didn't want to go. I had already seen that it was going to be a stormy day south of us, and could see right through them. I said fine, Deb and I will go. We hadn't been on the road 30 minutes, and the pleading to go chasing started. We relented, so off they went in Kims vehicle.

They first went to Cairo, then decided to drop into the bootheel of Missouri. After a Sikeston stop, they had a decision to make. Were they going to sit, go west, or South into Arkansas. Chris made the decision to go to Jonesburo Arkansas, some storms were big and heading there. They got there just before the storm hit, and happened to meet up with a SKywarn chaser, a couple of police officers, a fire chief, and a TV mobile weather crew. They were near the interstate, at an overpass, and were directed by the officer to go under the overpass. All of Chris's training knew this was the worst place to be. The officer, chaser and fire chief were very grateful that the kids had laptop moving radar, and looked closely at it to decide where the tornado was going. (it had been warned for a while already). That was when the officer directed them under the overpass. Chis was driving, and basically ignored him, went to the top of the overpass, and started to go down the ramp to intercept, lights flashing. Kim realized he was going the wrong way, and was going to drive in it. After a brief screaming match, Chris realized he was going west instead of east, did a u-turn and went the wrong way up the ramp and took off east. Kim got some pictures of the wall cloud, and the tornado, unfortunately a clear condensation funnel is not visible. A clear debris cloud is though. SO Chris and his Midscar team has their first intercept. They stayed overnight in Arkansas and then drove home today. When they got home I told them if they had been honest about what they were doing, I would have left the video camera for them, and could have had some great pics of the rotation. Live and learn, they did learn a lot, and hope to be better prepared next time!

Long tiring day

First thing this morning, I fueled up the tractor and cub mower. I figured that the snow plowing was over, so I took off the blade and put on the tiller. Boy thats always a fun chore, the PTO shaft tends to be stubborn and not go on. Finally success, then off to the house to take the dog on her morning walk. After breakfast with the kids, it was time to work! I mowed the areas where the garden was going to be, then tilled about half the veggie area. After that, I started working on the side yard where it needed grading, preparing to seed later. Till and grade a couple of times, but my string is a tangled mess, so some new string for the year is in order. Mandi was anxious for the tiller, I told her it would be available at 9am, I think the tractor disappeared at 901. Then off to MTD to drive. Debby got all the pototoes in, I think she said about 250 ft of row went in. After getting home at 7pm, I seeded all the garden walk paths in preparation for a rain, and had Chris help me back the RV in. I'm tired, time for bed.

On the geothermal note, all the well drilling is done, boy talk about a sloppy mess, water and slop may be almost 2 ft deep in spots. Sheesh.

Tomorrow, I may get to finalize the contracts for the pool geothermal and get the unit ordered and the down payment made. It may not arrive for 4 to 6 weeks though.

Geothermal construction begins!!!!

Let the construction begin. I've been waiting a long time to get started, and am relieved its finally here. The geothermal drilling began yesterday by Durbin Enterprises from Beecher City. It was fascinating to watch, and have some pictures and video to post later. They are drilling 9 wells 200 ft deep for the loop, then in a few days the trenching crew will come in to connect the loops and get the pipe into the house. This will handle both the house and pool geothermal heat pumps. They drilled 5 wells in about 12 hours, so its not a real fast process. Its is a very messy process though, water and slop are everywhere in that area.

Looking ahead, we have to get the basement prepared for their work, all the ducting will have to be torn down and replaced, since geothermal moves a lot more air. I also need to prepare the wall of the garage for the pool geothermal, and they have to build an insulated room in there for it. So much for a 2 car garage.

As soon as they get the geothermal unit in the basement and most of the duct in, we can turn the boys loose to demolish the kitchen floor. They cant wait, boys love to destroy things, especially when they have permission to do it.

We still have the pool geothermal unit to finalize and sign contracts for, I hope to get that done this week. Delivery is in about 5 to 6 weeks, so need to get it ordered, but dont want to make any costly mistakes either.