Good morning to you..... I wish! I woke up at 5 this morning and was kinda hungry. I made myself a dinner salad with Ranch and enjoyed it immensely. My cardiologist was not happy with my diet so I have to start being more "picky?" on what I eat. I will also tell you that my blood sugar was right on target this morning so it appears I am headed in the right direction. It is extremely difficult to find food that is acceptable to my problems. Diabetes demands low carbs and heart disease prohibits my favorite proteins. That basically leaves me salads, chicken, seafood and vegetables. I will admit I would love to eat more seafood but its too damn expensive for my budget. Right now in the situation I am in Top Ramen is about all I can afford. Oh well, I'll just have to be careful. The foto above is an old one. That is me in the foto and I am guessing it is over 40 years old.
Back then, I really didn't like all the trips to the National Parks and places like that. I wanted to be entertained and Disneyland and places like that were what I wanted to do. I hated going to my grandparents house. Though, I must admit, they did live in California and we did hit Disneyland a few times, so it wasn't all bad. Now, fast forward to today and what do I do? I take the trips I used to hate, to the extreme. These fotos of Monument Valley are luring me to return. In a Jeep. With it being winter, I have returned to my bad habit of watching Moab Jeep videos on YouTube. I really need to figure out a way to return someday. The red rock canyons and plateaus make Moab a giant outdoor art gallery. And, besides the art work, there are the infamous Jeep trails you drive to see the all of the wonderful sights. Southern Utah is probably the best place in the world to have both extreme trails and sights. But, I now toss you Ouray Colorado. The high mountain vistas are spectacular too. I guess if I had to choose I would choose both. What is really nice is the fact that they are like 4 hours apart. In theory, you could run Black Bear Pass in the morning and Hell's Revenge in the evening. Now there's an idea for you!
So, as for today's title, I read some interesting things this morning. There are blogs out there that pull in over $1,000,000 a MONTH. Huffington Post is like the highest money making blog today. They do a measly $5,000,000 each month. How would it be? I can see that it would require a ton of work to come up with a topic that millions of people want to read each day. I have no type of expertise in anything so I don't think it will ever happen to me. I've done this for years and I still haven't reached 10,000 visits. My web site on the other hand has started to take off. I have an average of 60 visitors each and every day. Not to shabby I think. Its too bad I can't come up with something that would allow me to use my blog and website to make money. I can't think of a better way to work than doing stuff you love to do. Oh well, life goes on. Jeep on my friends.
The title says it all. This being unemployed is a pain in the ass. I thought I had landed the perfect job; said he would call me the next morning to tell when I would start. It didn't happen. Yah, I'm kinda depressed about it. I have an idea why, but I wont mention it out loud. If it is true, I hope Karma strikes with a vengeance. I did do all the qualifying work to become a substitute teacher, but it is slow. There was one day I could have and it was that next day mentioned above. Needless to say, there hasn't been anything else. I have about a dozen applications out at the moment so I am playing the waiting game. I check the job boards every morning and then I don't do a lot. Sux to be me! I went through my fotos and picked out 3 random shots so this wouldn't be as boring. This yellow rose was perfect. Full bloom and smelled divine. I have had 2 rose bushes, no wait, 3 in my life. I ripped the one out of my Terrace home cuz it took over the porch. My Garland house had one I ignored and it eventually gave up and died. And here in Tree-town we have one out back. It was wildly out of control so I trimmed it down to nothing. Damn thing keeps growing.
This is a foto of the most expensive car, sticker wise I have ever bought. It was a 96 Bronco and they were closing them out. They dropped the line in favor of the Expedition. It listed at like almost 29k and I got it for 21k. Too bad it had to be sold to move to Colorado. It was an accident magnet anyway. People like to run into it. This foto was taken on a trip to Colorado. It was a sweet ride. Kinda wish I still had it. It had a 351 Windsor in it and they would run forever. Oh, the good old days. It really wasn't that good off road but it was a dream to drive. Just to show how loaded it was, my 08 Wrangler listed for 22k. Oh well.
I believe this is a foto of the road going out of Silverton towards Animas Forks. I have no idea when it was taken but it got chosen so look and enjoy. Please? LOL. I have been trying to think of a way to make money using my website. The damn thing is finally taking off. The first year I had 3900 visitors and transferred 7.83 GB. The second year I totaled 9300 new visitors and transferred almost 29 GB. That's great but.... this year so far I have had 8400 new visitors, but..... my transferred rate is at 79.5 GB. This means that people are actually spending more time reading what is there and going through pages. I used to get like .05% that stayed on for and hour. The rate now is up to almost 15%. That is a huge increase. The object now is how to make money on it. I tried using Amazon featuring the gear we use as well as books and other stuff. Didn't get a single click. So I am trying to figure out a way to make money. Any suggestions will be accepted. I did add a new page today as well as new fotos to Gold Hill. I went through my foto album and scanned them into my laptop. As I have said before, digital cameras are awesome. The biggest problem when I started all this was film price and developing costs. I had to be selective on my shots back then and make each one count. Now, I don't give a shit and shoot like there is no tomorrow. But, I am still a firm believer that film takes better fotos! I also don't believe in Photoshop. I admit to using the foto program on here to crop and do minor adjustments like taking a crooked foto and making it strait, but I don't go in and change colors or stuff like that. So, are you bored yet? As I looked through my site today I realized that I have been to a lot of places. Funny thing is that most of them are here in Utah, followed by Colorado and then Nevada, California and Arizona. Oh, and Idaho. I would love to revisit a few of these places with the digital camera and build my library of fotos. Old Frisco would be a place to return to as well as my my new page today on Sulphurdale. Hopefully one day I will be able to go back before it is too late and the cool stuff is gone. Jeep on my friends!
Good evening all,
A few posts back I guessed that the swelling of my leg would be back to normal by now. As you can see, it aint even close. There is still almost 2 inches of swelling in the bad leg. This is crazy. I thought I would be footloose and fancy free by now. The non swelling measured out at 20 while the hurt one came in at just over 22. I really want it to be over. My best guess at this point will be Christmas day. We will now play the waiting game. I do have a suspicion that it will be into next year before it is back to 100%. As of today, I am now a qualified substitute for Cache Valley and Logan school districts. I could start as early as tomorrow morning, but I really don't want to. My sleep number bed died and I got an air mattress. It kicks total ass. My back doesn't hurt like it used to and thats worth it. Sad thing is...... it comes apart at the seams. I've got 6 patches on this one now. I really need tonites to seal. I need a good night of sleep. So, I guess this is it for today. Enjoy your days people. Jeep on my friends.
Good evening,
As you can see there are no fotos tonight. I know I am being lazy, hold on, let me think. I know which one I will use! OK I really need to learn how to add fotos after the fact. Anyway, I will be on my soapbox again tonight so if you are easily offended, too bad!
Above you see a foto of the parents and the grandson. Friday, the parents were out shopping and both of them fell in the parking lot of a major store. Mom went down first and Dad went down, tripping over Mom. She hit her head really hard and he was able to get his arm out and his thumb took the brunt of the fall. So, being the stubborn people they are, after the paramedics were done the said they would drive themselves to the hospital. So they end up at Ogden Regional in the ER. Dad gets 6 stitches in his thumb and Mom gets a CT Scan. During the scan the doctors notice an aneurysm in my mothers brain. They decided they were done playing and shipped Mom off to University of Utah Hospital. I head down and we finally find her in the NCCU unit where only 2 people can go in at a time. I go last because I am spending the night with her. Shes got like 4 different IV bags feeding into her arm, but despite the hows and whys of being there, she is rather cheerful. By the time its my turn its like 10ish. I did think ahead and brought my charger so I can entertain myself through the night. I did finish reading White Fang but lets not get off the subject. NOW, I should have known better because we all know I pretty much live down there, but the lady is 86 years old. She needs to rest after the day she has had. Nope, didn't happen. Not even close. Every hour, someone would come in and wake her up and begin to ask her questions like who she was, why she was there, and what day it was etc etc. I know, you are all saying well that is protocol. OK I can believe it. But come on. It happened 9 times between 10pm and 6am. On top of that, 3 sets of blood tests. Then at 7, the social worker comes in and here comes the questions again. I blew. I am like, "look, she has had this done every hour including 10 minutes ago. Let her rest for hell's sake." Of course I get a lecture on protocol and Mom gets mad blah blah blah. To add icing on the cake, she began to do eating tests. They make you swallow water like you're chuggin' a beer. Mom tells the lady that she can't do that due to a medical condition that she names. The lady freaks out and says basically that some one will have to come in and verify that. I'm like seriously?????? She was. In comes another lady and they go thru eating and swallowing drills, for lack of a better word. Mom has had it for 20 years and........ I was totally blown away. To add insult to injury, she goes thru the same damn questions again. I lose it and get 2 more lectures. So, she brings in different types of food for the tests. Mom chooses and they get her to eat it and then after 2 spoonfuls, she tosses it in the garbage, along with the other Item Mom didn't choose. Again, why are you throwing it away. Because I can. Why don't you leave it and maybe Mom or myself will snack on it later. NOPE! I do not give anything away. To me, this is a major waste of perfectly good food. Mom could always eat the rest at a later time and why in the hell do you throw away an unopened container of good food??? Needless to say I left the room. Every nurse, CNA or basically everyone else but that bitch would bring me and my niece stuff if we asked. Ice water or soda.... no problem. This hag wouldn't wouldn't even get a cup of ice. I asked the room nurse when I was out in the hall if I could get some ice. He point to a door and says its in there. By the time we left, I was just like "what a bunch of morons!" It was then that I realized that I was just like my Dad. Stupid little things like that drive him nuts too. It made me smile. Anyway, the Doctor decided that the aneurysm isn't big enough to worry about. They told her to come see them in a year but not to take any type of headache lightly. He also moved her out of that unit into a general room for tonight so hopefully they wont be bothering her as much tonight. After any type of injury or trauma, rest is important. But as well all know, you don't get that in a hospital. Jeep on my friends!
ps. My damn leg is still way swollen. My guess of November first is not going to happen.....
It's 2:40 am here in Mtnmad Land and I can't sleep. So, with nothing better to do, I will catch you up on life the past few weeks. Not a lot has happened to be honest. My daughter got screwed over by some shady ass home repair dude that charged her $450 to finish a new wall in her house. Now, I don't claim to be the best, but the job he left her with was worth about a $1.95. She originally wanted me to finish it but with the worthless leg I had I had to say no. Skip ahead a month and I was called in to finish the mess. The foto doesn't show much but this side is almost done. He put way too much mud on the wall and left if full of air pockets. So I have been sanding and smoothing it getting it ready to prime. No, I wont fix your drywall for you. I came out of retirement just for her. Besides, you couldn't afford me!
While I was there, I managed to have some fun with the grandkids. Wyatt just loves to play in the Yellow Jeep. He is being raised just right. Get them hooked on Jeeps at a young age and once they get older, they wont have money for drugs. It will all be spent on Jeep parts. It is a nasty addiction, but it could be worse, in my opinion. Its fun to watch him while he is in there. First thing he does is try to put on his seat belt. He can't quite get it hooked but it's close.
It has been fun being able to hang out with them while I work. They are full of questions and want to help do everything. Taleigha was my light girl last Wednesday. She is in kindergarten so she was home at 11 and helped me by shining the lights where I needed it. For some unknown reason, the person who did the work before me failed to put tape in a few places so that kept me from finishing the wall this last trip. Speaking of trips, I tripped over the rolled up rug and landed on my bad leg. Needless to say, I was done for the day. I wish this damn thing would heal. And no, it's still swollen quite a bit. I have to wear sweats when I want my leg covered because no Levis I own will fit over it.
And now, the shitty news. Emily wasn't feeling well so she finally gave in and went to the Dr. He did the usual lab work and it came back with some really bad numbers. I don't know what the test is called but for shits and giggles it is an indicator of kidney function. Normally it should be like .5. Hers came back at 5.5. Not good. The"5" signals that your kidneys are not working well at all. Dr commented saying that those numbers indicate it is time for dialysis. He contacted a specialist we saw 5 days later and he did another blood test. Number was above 6. Not good. He told her to hit the emergency room in Ogden so they could further evaluate her. We went the next morning and she was admitted to the hospital. They put a catheter in her just below her collarbone and hooked her up to the machine above. She stayed overnight and got another session the next day. She was released Sunday night and began the 3x a week visits to a dialysis center in Logan. The stupid thing is that no one has a clue to why it happened. Theory's have been given but the answer isn't known. Reminds me of my lovely infection that has no answer. So, next on the agenda is a biopsy of her kidneys. This is still 11 days away and I think that sux! It should have been done Sunday while she was at the hospital so we would know what the hell is going on. I am anxious to know and she is too. But until 31st, she has to do her dialysis 3 times a week. This is just crazy. I would love to be able to make it a year with out anything going wrong. I must admit it feels weird to sitting in the visitors chair and not the hospital bed. I just wish none of this was happening.
Finally. Today I was given a reprieve of my "stay off your damn leg" sentence for a few hours. Needless to say I took advantage of it and got the hell out of Dodge. Now, this freedom came in the afternoon so there wasn't a lot of choices on where to escape to but with it being fall, we headed up Logan Canyon to the Temple Flat trail. This used to be a real kick ass trail years ago. Fact of the matter is I had to be winched back up on the trail many moons ago after a driver error. Since those days, the government has come in and totally changed the whole trail system in the valley. If you go back a few years, you can read about me bitching that they had made the trail so nice that cars were now driving where we once played.
Not anymore. I think if you had a crossover type vehicle and you paid really close attention, you could get it into Old Ephriam's Grave. Heaven forbid if it gets wet tho, you will not make it. Needless to say they haven't maintained the road since then it looks like so unless you have some good ground clearance, I'd stay out of there. The hills were packed with all sorts of people. Hunting season has started so they were everywhere. Now I am not sure what big game hunt is going right now, but we ran into a lot of bird hunters searching for the elusive Grouse. And elusive they are. No one we saw had shot anything.
I honestly think that the population in the mountains east of Logan is higher than Tremonton. I mean there were trailers everywhere. They ranged from the little pop-up tent trailers to the "they cost more than my house did" type. Every flat piece of ground down on the valley bottoms were full. I don't really know if I would camp in a pop up this late in the season. The bed areas are basically mosquito netting open tents 3 feet off the ground. You would have to have a very nice sleeping bag to stay warm in one of those. And honestly, I don't know if they are waterproof if it would happen to rain. Now, the huge ass mansions on wheels would be nice to stay in. They have forced air heating, tubs, showers, queen size beds, home theaters and more. Its like being at home, away from home. It would be nice to have one. Oh, and a nice truck to pull it. Since we are dreaming, might as well throw in a few good horses and mules to make the hunt even easier.
I remember years ago when I went with my father. He had a 64 Chev half ton with an old shell on it. It was only 2 wheel drive so we never got too high up on the mountain. Eventually he got an old trailer that was a wee bit more comfy and warm that made it better. Our last hunt was in the early 90's. He had a nicer trailer but still was stuck in his 2 wheel drive Chev. So I drove up my Ford 4x4 and we stayed down low in the trailer and used the Ford to hunt high on the mountain. Those were good old days. Jeep on my friends!
There is no reason whatsoever for posting the above foto but, I have decided that fotoless posts are dumb. Besides, it is fall here in paradise so it fits right in. The odd title to today's post is relevant tho. It is the difference in inches between my two legs measured just above the knee. So,lets look at it time wise. The accident occurred on September 4th. Today is October 6th, so it has been a month and 2 days. That is a lot of time and yet it still is not even close to being normal. I think we should all take a guess on when both legs are equal. I am going to say it wont happen till sometime in November. Lets say............. the 14th. Yes that is over a month away but this thing is taking its own sweet time on healing. I still don't have full range of motion yet but it is getting closer every day. Stairs are still a pain in the ass so until I can do them with ease, I wont be better. As for life itself, I am beyond bored. So many things to do and I still can't do them. I may try the lawn tomorrow but I really need to be careful doing that. If I step into a hole or trip on something it wont be good. I might even say some naughty words. Who knows? All I do know is I am bored. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. Sad part is, tomorrow weather wise is supposed to be 70 and sunny. Next week it will be down in the 50's starting Sunday. Until later.........0lllllll0
Look everyone, it's a foto. Good evening or morning or what ever it is to you. It's just past 2 am here and I woke up and, well, uh, here we are. It has been one month since the little incident took place. Seems like so long ago. I decided to take a foto to show how freaking swollen it still is. A selfie of the knee is kinda difficult to do by yourself. I suppose I could go get a tape measure of some sort and physically measure it and give you exact numbers but, it's 2 am and not gonna happen. Lets just say it's still quite swollen, tho not as bad as it was.
As for mobility.....it is getting easier to walk. I don't limp as much but it still a ways to go before it is healed. It still lets me know when it gets tired of being used, but the time I can use it is getting longer. On September 15th of 2005, I had a similar incident take place at work. I bruised the left leg down in the calf/ankle area when I slipped while climbing on a machine. This bruise to this day can still be seen as a shadow on my leg. I think that this accident was more bruise than any internal damage. I didn't tear anything i just turned my legs black and blue.
My right leg took the hit changed to this remarkable color too. I only took the 2 fotos of this issue and forgot about it. The calf/ankle doubled in size color wise and the above did the same. I am beginning to think I am a clumsy SOB.
The boredom factor is still going strong. I can only watch so much tv or read so much of my book. I did go out Sunday and took the Jeep out for a short ride. It wasn't too bad on the knee but I switched to shifting clutch-less to make it easy on the leg. Maybe I'll go out for a longer ride this coming weekend. The Jeep goes in for recall repairs Thursday. The damned clock-spring is being replaced as well as something to do with the airbags. I have been ignoring them just because I wanted to go as long as possible before I had them switch the clock-spring. With all the dust, mud and water that gets driven through, the life span on those are not very long. I had to replace it once already when it went bad and shut me down. Hopefully this is a new and improved style that will last longer. Hmmmmmm still not sleepy. Oh well, enjoy your day, I am not!
Saturday September 30th. I am so damn bored it is pathetic. As you can see, I have been a bit busy. Well, slow busy. I felt good Thursday and made the decision that the top needed to go on before this weekend due to forecast rain. (Yes it did rain today) It hadn't rained forever and I didn't even think to check the top and see if it was dry. I assumed wrong. I undid the last clip and the top emptied a few gallons of water into the Jeep covering the drivers seat and making nice lakes in the floorboard. Damn it! So, I pulled the drain plugs and put it back under the carport to wait for it to dry out. Early Friday morning I pushed it out into the sun to let it sit and completely dry out. I went out to the shed and got the top and noticed that the side windows were crumpled. Due to that, they had to sit in the sun for a few hours before I could use them. The actual process to put the top on is fairly easy. Well, it is easy when you have two healthy legs. Never the less I got it on to the point above and decided to try something new.
I have in the past finished putting the main top on and then put the rear window in. This time I left the top in the halfway position and put it in that way. It was a wee bit easier in my opinion so I think I will keep doing it this way. I got that done and took a lunch break and called Troy for help with the doors. My great luck prevailed because he was home and came over and they got put in. Thanks Troy. Again, that's a job for 2 legs. By this time, the side windows had heated up in the sun and I got them to lay flat. they go on quite easily so I was done in a matter of minutes. I got out my little 1 gallon shop vac and got as much of the summers fun vacuumed out as I could and called it good. It bums me out to put it on each year because it means I've given up on summer and winter is coming. We have had snow down to 7000' already so I guess its the right thing to do. I know of a few guys that pretty much stay topless year round. I'm sorry but I'll be damned if I am gonna get snowed on. Besides, the electronics in these new Jeeps do not like moisture.
After finishing the job I came in and laid down to relax. I am good for about 15 minutes of standing time before it lets me know I am done. I ignored it quite a bit yesterday so I was sore. Then, I am half asleep laying there and I decide to stretch. You know, the full body kind. Yah, I did that and my knee exploded in pain. Shouldn't of done that. I was hurting still this morning. I am running out of patience. Sitting here is driving me nuts. I have stuff to do and its not getting done. Oh well, nothing I can do about it I guess. Summers gone and I'm not happy!
So, me and the wife's nephew were watching YouTube last night and we came across an old, old video on Kennicott Copper in the Oquirrh Mountains of Utah. Back when it was filmed, huge ass dump trucks and giant sized tractors did not exist. Back then, everything was either steam powered or electric. There were miles upon miles of electric train rails as well as steam engine track. At the bottom of the pit there were numerous electric shovels,(think steam shovel only electric) to load the electric trains with the ore.
Watching it all work in the movie was amazing. A guy sat in an observation booth and controlled all this work using nothing but his eyes. Back then, this was the best way to do it. One of the bad parts of using an electric train was that after every blasting session, new track and overhead electric wire systems had to be put into place. The video stated that at that time there were approximately 4000 workers at the facility each day. That's a lot of people compared to how many work there today. They followed the ore train as it delivered the carloads full of rock to the crusher and then through the process of making solid sheets of copper. I recommend that if you get a few minutes you go to YouTube and watch it. Then watch the new version and see how much it has changed. It's really quite fascinating.
I can only guess at how expensive it would be to run the mine today using the equipment of the past. Electricity is not a cheap power source. So, what does this have to do with the fotos I posted today??
Today's fotos were taken in approximately 1930. They are of the U.S. Mine and were taken by my grandfather who was an engineer for the mine. I was lucky enough to save the 40 or so I have. Apparently he had already tossed quite a few before I got to them. Now what's really interesting is everything in the fotos is gone. The U.S. Mine no longer exists. The mountain that housed the mine does not exist. It is now part of the hole in the ground of Kennicott Copper. It is so mind blowing to try and figure this out. Think about it. In 1930 there was a 9000 " high mountain with a silver mine in it. Now, in its place is a huge hole that gets deeper everyday. The old video says that at that time, the mine had removed more dirt and rock than the digging of the Panama Canal. Who knows how much they have removed now?
Anyways, I returned to the Dr. yesterday and he seemed pleased at the progress I have made healing. My goal for the next two weeks is to slowly try and get full movement back in my leg. The range of motion it has now is next to nothing. So each day I need to work with it and try and regain full motion. I am still swollen like no other but the pain isn't nearly as bad as it was. Hopefully I can get enough movement this week to put the top back on the Jeep. It has already snowed in the mountains so its time to button it up. Maybe in 2 weeks I'll be able to drive it again........
Hello and welcome to the continuing saga of How the Knee Heals. I bet a lot of you were expecting me to bitch everyday, but alas, it probably wont happen. Monday, a friend put out an SOS on FaceBook about a friend of hers needing a presentation video for her daughters 30th birthday. I looked at that and said, I think I could do something. So, I volunteered to do the deed. After a slow start, I received about 45 fotos in like 28 emails and began the task. Now, most of you know I bought a new movie program and I figured this would let me play with it and learn it for future use. So instead of being totally bored the past 6 days I have been working on said video. I let the lady see it and she asked for a few edits, which this program made super easy and now it is done awaiting Sunday and her daughters birthday. This program has soooo much to offer. I really need to make a foto video of my own and see what all it can do. I didn't experiment too much with the lady's cuz its a gift. So, instead of a shitty week, I had one that was full of challenges and kept me busy. Keeping me busy is important.
As for the leg, the 2 biopsies that the dermatologist did showed, as usual, nada damn thing. It did eliminate 2 extremely nasty infections that were possibilities so I guess that is good. The overall swelling has gone down, sort of. My knee is still 4 times its normal size. Just below that there is a baseball sized lump that will be with me for a while I am thinking. The area that was infected is healing so I guess we now get to play the waiting game. Just how long till life is back to normal, no one has a clue. It can't come soon enough for me!
For those of you who speak Doctor, here is the MRI review of just my knee.
FINDINGS:
* Bones: Small subchondral cysts to the proximal tib-fib
joint.. No acute abnormality.
* Articular Cartilage: Mild irregularity of the anterior aspect
of the medial femoral condyle.. No acute abnormality.
* Menisci: Mucoid change especially to the posterior horn of
the medial meniscus. No evidence of tear.
* Cruciate Ligaments: Increased signal in the ACL.. No evidence
of tear. The medial meniscus is partially extruded demonstrate
degenerative intrasubstance tearing.
* Collateral Ligaments: Mild MCL thickening and edema.. No
evidence of tear.
* Tendons: Mild patellar tendinopathy. Medial gastrocnemius
tendinopathy and probable partial tear. Biceps femoris muscle
tear. Mild popliteus tendon strain. Lateral gastrocnemius tendon
strain and partial tear.
* Other: Large soft tissue hematomas lateral to the knee in the
subcutaneous soft tissues, extending beyond the margin of the
study. Probable vastus lateralis muscle tear. Soft tissue edema
superficial to the lateral gastrocnemius muscle consistent with
strain and partial tear. Thickening of the medial patella plica.
Prepatellar soft tissue edema.
IMPRESSION:
1. Large soft tissue hematomas lateral to the knee in the
subcutaneous soft tissues, extending beyond the margin of the
study. Probable vastus lateralis muscle tear. Lateral
gastrocnemius muscle tear and tendon strain/partial tear. Biceps
femoris muscle tear
2. Intrasubstance/degenerative tearing to the medial meniscus
with mild discal extrusion.
So, there you have it. To put it in plain English, it says my leg is totally screwed up as far as the MRI can see. I tell you, this is not how I planned this autumn to go. I wanted to finish up exploring Indian Springs and visit Death Canyon again. Guess its not gonna happen. Besides patience I need to figure out how to get the top back on the Jeep before the weather gets really nasty. Not that I get to drive it but the better half can't see herself driving it to work in a rainstorm. No sense of adventure, I tell ya. Oh and yes, I am still bored beyond belief.
I am officially "laid up" for lack of a better word for who knows how long. In order to entertain myself I just decided to write a paragraph or 2 describing my day and what emotions are high on the play list. Today's emotion was frustration. OK, it has been a total of just over since I ended up with my leg immobilized. It is already driving me nuts. I am not a person who likes to sit around and honestly I really need to be doing something to occupy my brain. Today had nothing to offer. Well, that is kind of a lie. I ordered another book on railroad history a few weeks back and it did show up today. I got some good reading in and then the boredom returned. My highlight of the day was my shower. It let me rid my body of the restrictive leg wear and I was free. I took advantage of it and left it off and took a nap. It is so much nicer sleeping normal than doing it with 15 pounds of crap on one leg. I enjoyed that bit of freedom. I learned today that my Lazy-boy isn't going to work with this set up. It is almost impossible to get out of with all this shit on. Heaven forbid I get stuck in my chair and can't escape. I honestly do not see any good coming from this accident. It cost me my new job, its costing me a shitload of money for medical bills and what its going to do to my brain over this time period is yet to be seen. I do have hopes of figuring out something I can do to pass time but as of tonight, I don't have a clue as to what it would be. Suggestions will be accepted. Hey, click on the ads on the page and help me earn money. I don't get a lot of money from the clicks but it will add up. So stay tuned and follow along as I rot away while my leg heals.
Man where do I begin? These have got to be some of the ugliest fotos I have ever posted on here. On September 4th, after returning home from my job I took a spill. My poor left leg took 96% of the fall and it's been Hell around here ever since. I really had no idea how big a leg could get until now. I hope to never find out information like this ever again.
The worst part of this whole affair, no, I guess 2 bad things happened, so one of the worst things was the infection. Anybody that has been following me on my adventures knows that I have had issues this year with 2 unknown infections. They spring up and within an hour you begin to have serious damage to the skin in that area. As you can see, the evil nasty bug is now on my leg too. And like the first 2 on my chest, it will not grow anything in the culture dish.
So what are we dealing with??? No one knows yet. I was sent over to Logan to see a dermatologist and he was dumbfounded. His exact words were "If I didn't know your background, I would say this is a sever case of poison ivy". My response to that was sorry but no. He decided to take 2 biopsies of the infected area and send them to the University of Utah and see if they could figure anything out. The stupid part of this whole thing is I was on high doses of antibiotics when this happened. So in reality, it shouldn't have happened. Anyway, thus goes the story of my life.
I have the 4 stitches now in my leg and cant lose them for almost another week. Back to the fall related issues, my leg has me back in the ER due to pain that will not stop. The area between the top of my thigh and my toes is still swollen like no other. One of the most painful things about this whole affair is that every time I go from laying on my back to on my feet, as the blood rushes into my ankle area, it triggers a pain that is damn near equal to my first kidney stone. I did find out that this was "normal" yesterday afternoon but I tell you what, there is nothing normal about it.
My insurance company finally gave in to the Dr and authorized an MRI to see what damage I have done in there. The tech running the machine was amazed at how it had been 10 days and was still swollen so much. They had to change the fixture on the machine for knees because I couldn't fit my fat leg in to the one they had set out. The test took about 30 minutes and as for what they saw, they wont say.
Earlier this week they did an ultrasound test on my leg to make sure there was not a blood clot hiding in my main veins or artery's. I did pass that test and she told me that all was well from that point of view. So all I can do now is wait. I'll know the MRI results today and hopefully continue on the path of being able to drive my Jeep. But knowing my luck, I will have destroyed something in there and it will have to be fixed. That's just the luck I have. Now usually at this point I tell you all to Jeep on..... not gonna happen today. There will be no Jeeping till I get to participate too. So HA!
Saturday the 5th of August opened bright and early as we hit the road to the Simpson Mountain Range. Our goal for the day was an area called Indian Springs. Research can't make up it's mind and it was labeled as an Indian area as well as a mining area. We didn't find any mines, but we did encounter some old buildings as well as, for lack of a better word, an oasis. The area leading up to Raul Canyon where it is located is as desolate as can be found. As we began the climb into the canyon the spring began to show its face and things got green, and sometimes muddy. I didn't shoot a lot of fotos because I was counting on the Action Cam to film it all. My luck prevailed and I lost the best part of the film. I have shitty luck when it comes to making movies. Above is a lone steel cabin along side a kind of marshy area. We didn't stop in because we already knew we would be back.
Above is looking back across the marshy area and down the canyon. There were 2 different trails to get across the marsh. I chose the least muddy of the two. This is no place to get stuck. Hopefully when we return we can have another vehicle or two and play a little more in said mud.
Proceeding up the canyon led us to another old site. the building above was probably 15x30 feet. It had, at one time, wooden floors and roof built on a cement base. Behind me in the foto was a descent size cooling room built out of cement too. I have no idea what this was for so I will have to do more research on the area and see what I can find.
At the top of the canyon we came across this old wooden cabin. Again, no idea what it was used for other than shelter. The road forks here and we took the right fork at first. Don't do it. Dead end. Backtracking we went left and followed this road over the top into the next canyon and then up it til we went right over the top. The road continued down the other side of the mountain and we eventually found our way back to Simpson Spring Road. All in all it was a good trip. I am still pissed over the loss of film but what the hell, now I have to go back.
Yesterday, the 12th of August was a spur of the moment kind of trip. I woke up wanting to do something but I didn't know what or where. I got on Google Earth and began surfing the area of northern Utah. To the east of me I couldn't find anything I hadn't visited numerous times. I began to look west and somehow got to the Utah/Nevada border and came across some fotos of what they called the Jackson Mines. The fotos were kinda intriguing so I said what the hell and we took off. As usual, I missed the right turn and had to back track. The GPS was right on today and before we knew it we crested a ridge and saw the area above. I was like WOW. The usual for old mines and ghost towns is they are pretty much gone by now. Very few remain and even fewer with this much still left.
We wandered around this place for about an hour which wasn't even enough time to see it all. The temp played a huge factor in what we were going to do. The deserts here in the west have a tendency to get hot. This place was hot. And, there were no signs of water.
Like I said, we wandered around and decided to follow the road north. We were soon rewarded with another prime mine site. This one looked newer but research again is very sketchy. History says the area was "discovered" in 1906 or 07 and others say mining began in the early 50's. I had figured on it being a gold mine due to the quartz infused rock but this is where all histories agree, it was lead.
The 2nd mine had the shaft open below the hoist and it went down a fair distance. There was a ladder as you can see but I sure as hell ain't climbing down on that old thing. I did read that a group was there a few years ago and rappelled 75 feet before it became unsafe to continue. They had to be skinny guys because this shaft isn't very big.
Directly behind the hoist it looked like there was an entrance to the mountain but it was just a man made cave. After looking at it for a few I realized that it was the motor room for the hoist. They had built the room and then put a hole in the roof of this cave so the cable could run the hoist up and down. The foto above show the tiny little wooden roof over the cable hole. That had to have been a lot of work to build that.
At the south end of this area was a honest to goodness mine entrance. So we thought. Well, it was in a way I suppose. We went in and it went strait back about 25 to 30 feet. Then nada! At about the 20 foot mark there was a wooden bench that wasn't a wooden bench. It was an adit to a lower level of the mine. There was a ladder that went down but it was worse than the one at the hoist and this one didn't make it to the floor below. Even with the good flashlights we could hardly see what was down there. It would be interesting to find out but I don't think that will happen. The whole area was covered in some type of rodent poo among other things. Kinda gross. This mine was one of the dirtiest I have been in. Bats didn't even like the place. All in all it was a great trip for being spur of the moment. And the killer part of it was that the Action Cam finally did what we wanted it to and we got 2 great videos of the area. Maybe that's the idea.... go spur of the moment and everything will work out. You can see the videos on my YouTube channel "Jeep Peterson". Plus both trips on on the www.mtnmd.com website. Life is good my friends, Jeep on!
Yesterday dawned bright and sunny and we knew it was going to be a good day for a raid. Our objective for the day was to overthrow the ruling leader of Zaqistan and annex it to our own country of Jeeplandia. We left our home-base mid morning and headed west to our destiny. We would either survive and be heroes or dead and forgotten. The trip to Zaqistan was, as usual, boring. We did notice that surrounding areas near our target were absolute ghost towns. No one roamed the streets of Terrace or Watercress. Our brains took note of this as we moved ahead in our attack. Could someone or something have beaten us to the goal of taking over Zaqistan? We would soon find out.
We crested the mountain that separates the free world from Zaqistan and headed down into the valley of the shadow of death. The only living objects seen were 2 Black Tailed Jackrabbits and they took off like the proverbial bats outta hell! Something wasn't right but we had our mission and we forged on ahead. Upon arrival to the border, we found nothing. Not a soul in site. Inspection of the country found all of the border guards lifeless and missing their arms. Strange, strange indeed.
Our plan of using their own jails against them went south. With no one to fight, meant no one to capture. With no one to capture, their jail cell, complete with toilet would go unused. How disappointing this all was to our battle hardened warriors. All this way in the hot desert sun for what? Nothing! So what had happened? Who beat us to this country and took it over? We might never know.
Odd things were afoot here and we needed to figure them out. One thing was certain, the place had been silent for a long time. The Zaqistans', evil as they are, are usually a clean and proper people. They would never allow their country to become dirty and downtrodden. They had prided themselves on keeping their country clean and pristine, but it was this way no longer. Even the statue of their Deity was covered in filth from birds...... or was that the sign of who's work this was? What we did know was the place was now ours. Birds or no birds we have it to ourselves! Zaqistan was now an entity of Jeeplandia. As we headed to the country's flag pole to hang our colors and claim it as ours, we realized one of us had made a mistake! Where in the hell was the our flag? It seems everyone forgot to bring a flag so we could claim the place as our own. Now who does that? Apparently, we do. DAMNIT! After a few minutes of each one of us looking at the other we decided it was time to leave and try it again at a later date. And the next time, someone will have to bring the flag.
We chose a different route to go back to civilization. Instead of back-tracking to the hiway, we went cross country on the old Central Pacific Rail Bed. It has been made a road since they tore up the tracks so long ago and is quite good road at this end. As I mentioned before, the bed between Kelton and Locomotive Springs was hammered but this end was smooth sailing. They have added a bunch of markers along it now pointing out where places used to be. As I said on the web page, they have to be new cuz there ain't no bullet holes in them yet. If you want to see them, click on my website icon up above and look at the Central Pacific page.
As you can see, many of the bridges are still standing. In fact, you even drive over one of them. On this trip I did notice something new. A lot of the culverts used to allow water to go under the track were made of stone. I had read about this and placed that idea over in the Sierra Nevada Mountain area, not here in the desert. I was wrong. There were quite a few of them and like the bridges, they still work. If you ever get a chance to go out this way I suggest you do it. Spring or fall work the best because to be honest, it was too damn hot yesterday. The Jeep said the temp was 97 and I'm thinking that was low. This area is as desolate as can be. Tell someone where you are going and always carry a working spare. It seems that some spikes still exist in the road and they love to take out tires. Cell service is ok in Kelton as well as Watercress and Terrace. The 30 miles between them is blacked out so go prepared. The attack failed but the trip back was well worth it. Jeep on my friends!
Monday dawned bright and beautiful and it also meant that this trip was almost over. Since we didn't make it to Winter Quarters Saturday we had decided to try on the way home. Good plan, eh? Well the town was rather quiet on this visit and we had no trouble finding out which road to take to visit the old ghost town. Trouble was, they didn't tell us, it too was locked behind a gate. I am not mad about this tho. It seems that the coal mine that is on the other side of the mountain has reached where Winter Quarters had stopped and that they were going to move coal out both sides. So, yes, I understand. The foto shows what is left of the warehouse from the original town.
This is the sign that greeted us upon our arrival at the gate. Like I said, I understand. The town is situated in a nice canyon with a lot of trees and some sort of creek. It would be a nice place to build a cabin there and just relax. The town of Scofield is a nice place too. It isn't a very big town in fact the 2010 census has the population at 23. Since it was a holiday weekend, I would be willing to bet the population was well over 1500. The lake there is fairly good sized and there were a lot of people playing on it.
Scofield was a mining town. Coal being the mineral that the town was built around. Some reference the town as a ghost town now, but it really isn't. There are a few old buildings left standing from its beginning in 1879. It's not very big and kind of reminds me of Ophir Utah. The people we ran into were quite friendly and answered any questions I asked.
The building above is from the 1920's. There was a plaque that pointed out the various buildings left standing along with when they were built and for what purpose. I swear I took a foto of it but I'm not seeing it.
The store above was a "General Merchandise store and I can't make out the guys name on the sign that owned it. I can't believe I didn't take that foto.
I did save the best for last. This was the public school building. As old as it is, it still looks capable of holding classes this day. The grounds are fairly well maintained and you can only imagine how it would have been to go to school there. I would be willing to bet that winters there are extremely cold. The town sits at 7700 feet and that's pretty high up there. After we browsed the town we decided to go home a different way. We went over the mountain and came out in Fairview Utah. It was new territory for both of us and quite an enjoyable ride. Once we left the mountains and returned to I-15, the reality of the trip being over hit us like the 100 temperature we drove into. Still a lot of exploration to do down in that area. Who knows, I may just head back again and pick up where I left off. Jeep on my friends!
