Saying Goodbye to the Dodge: Memories of a Family Truck

1997 Dodge Dakota Truck Donation

Dad passed on December 30, 2014 (see Remembering) and we have had his truck since he passed. The 1997 Dodge Dakota truck mainly sat in the driveway at my parents house. Every now and again Betsy, or Mom, would start the truck to drive around the block or run it for a few minutes. Most of the time though the past few years, it would not start at all. It was time to let the truck go and put the parts to better use.

Repair Work on Truck

I have so many memories of the truck. It is hard to believe my Dad bought that truck in 1997. He was never a big fan of the truck as I recall through the years. It would wear the front tires down bald quickly and I am not sure how many times he had to replace the tires faster than he thought should be necessary. There were other things about the truck he was not happy about, but he kept it and did his own repairs on the truck to keep it going. 

We used the truck for working at the cabin loading the tractor in the back, hauling rock, or hauling things to or from the cabin at Lone Star Lake. The truck was his primary mode of transportation as he had Mom driving the Accord. When Dad would go somewhere, he was usually in the truck. 

I remember driving the truck with the boat hitched to Clinton Lake with friends. Or, taking the boat to the shed where we kept the boat at rental properties. Tim and I would say how nice it would be to have a lift at the dock, but Dad wanted to keep it in the shed.

We were able to donate the truck to Washburn Tech. I believe the truck is too old for recycled rides that Washburn Tech does, but they can use it for instruction, parts, or scrap. If you have an old car you are looking to part ways with, I would suggest you reach out to Recycled Rides with Washburn Tech. 

The truck served us for many years and held good memories. Thanks to my sister, Betsy, for the pictures included in this post. I know it was a sad day for Mom and Betsy as they watched the truck be loaded up and hauled off, but I think it is best that it is no longer rusting in the drive.

Have You Had Your Colonoscopy? Get It Scheduled. Not As Bad as Others Have Told You… Get It Done!

It’s s official. I am old! 

I had my first colonoscopy this past Thursday. I was not nervous to do the procedure, but nervous for the preparation for the procedure. It is nothing to be concerned about for the process or the procedure. 

The preparation started two days before on Tuesday evening when I took four laxatives at 4 pm. That night I did spend some time in the bathroom, but again, it was not bad. I did decide to work from home on Wednesday as I was not sure what to expect. Not a bad Wednesday either although good to be close to the bathroom. 

I started the process of trying to get the colonoscopy scheduled back in October or so. I am not sure if the doctor was backed up (no pun intended) or miscommunication with my doctor and referral, but it took a while. Finally, in December I was able to confirm an appointment for January 26. I was all set and ready to go through the process.

As the days led up to the date, I heard from family and friends about how awful the process was and what they went through. Good news is that my friend, Brenda, had shared with me who to go to here in Topeka that she had used and it was not bad at all. I got a doctors referral to use Dr. Challa here in Topeka. While it is a two day prep, I would be drinking Gatorade with the mixture. So, Brenda was right that it was not bad at all.

All that was needed for preparation was purchased over the counter. Again, I had heard others tell me that was the worst part drinking prescribed power with some people telling me they had to force it down. I had no issues with the following:

• Dulcolax laxative tablets 4mg
• MiraLAX 8.3oz 
• Gatorade or PowerAde 64oz

The Dulcolax I took four two night prior to my scheduled appointment. The day prior, I took Dulcolax again at 4 pm and then followed it by drinking MiraLAX and Gatorade combined for 64oz that I had to finish before midnight. As I mentioned, the process was not bad at all other than having to drink 64oz of Gatorade, the process was not bad at all. Usually, I would have no issue drinking a lot of Gatorade, but doing so when have to do it during a certain amount of time did make the last glass or two take a while to go down. 

I went with the Cherry Flavored Gatorade. I had to stay away from red or purple. I also had to stay away liquids in general. One day out and it was an all liquid diet through the day. I stuck to Sprite, Jello, and Chicken Broth. I was surprised that I stayed content through the day and had no issues with being hungry.

The morning of my appointment, I could not eat or dink anything. I was able to brush my teeth. My appointment was at 9 am. I checked in and it was over before I knew it. I was told they found some polyps and I would need to have another one in three years. Awaiting the results from the tests that will take two to three weeks to process.

The basis of this story is to share how easy the process is and that I should have started this five years ago. It was the recommendation to do this at 50, but the recommended age has dropped to 45. If your family has a history of colon cancer, get your appointment scheduled and get it done. It is not bad and can help to keep you healthy.

Months, Days, Hours, and Minutes Fly By… Here We Are at the End of October 2022 and 2023 is Right Around the Corner

The second to last Sunday in October and the year marches on as we prepare for November. Please, pump the breaks a little bit, we are moving way too fast through the days, months, and years. The days only seem to going faster and faster. Seriously, it seems as though 2022 just began and only yesterday that it was 2020 and we were in the middle of COVID. Yet, here we are with just two months to go in 2022. Before we know what is happening, we will be halfway through 2023.

I remember as a kid thinking the days were dragging and saying such things as “I am so bored”. Oh, what I would do to go back to those days and slow movement of time. Of course back when I was a kid, when I was doing something fun such as being on vacation, playing a sport, or playing in the back yard, time would seem to fly. Pleading to stay up another hour past bedtime because I was having fun. The days that would run long were days in school, Church, etc., where time would drag. As an adult who is now 50, I find time flies no matter what it it that I am doing. Having fun, work, or chilling around the house, time flies.

I have written about how time seems to be going faster and faster as I get older, so I am not sure what it will be like when I am 60, 70, or 80. I know and understand time is not changing, but it is the perception of time that increases or decreases as we are doing other things. As I get older, will time continue to advance for my perception of time passing? When I talk to my Mom each evening, we usually talk about the day and what happened. She talks to me about how fast the days move, so it makes me think it will not get better. It makes me think I should research how to slow down my perception of time possibly with mediation. 

For today on this beautiful Sunday where I was able to run this morning I am trying to slow down the day. Keep the Sunday from moving fast before the week starts again and before I know it I will be posting about the first weekend of the first weekend of November. Slow down! Pump those breaks and keep this ride of life from going fast.

What do you do to keep the days from going too fast? How do you relax and slow down the sense of time moving too quickly? Do you meditate? Read a good book? What do you do to help with this feeling? Finally, if you are getting older, do you notice that time seems to be going faster as you get older?

Have a great week and I will talk to you next week!

Freakout Control Diminishes As I Get Older... My Experience on a Swing

Following a nice lunch at Cafe Holiday in Topeka with Carrie, brother-in-law Greg, Erin, and then new friends Francie and Jamie, we all decided to head over to the park across the street to get on the swings. Well, a few of us decided to do so anyway....

I am not sure I remember the last time I got on a swing and actually went all out on the swing.  Although the picture to the left does not show it, I was going very high.  It was only a reminder that I am getting older because I was kind of freaked out as I was swinging and not sure how to stop.

I have heard from others that use to love roller coasters that now they cannot go on roller coasters when they are older because of the changes that happen in "older" people.  Yes, I am older at 43 years old.  This was the first time I have felt that feeling... a feeling I really cannot describe... but it felt as though I was out of control and going to get hurt.  I had the feeling I could not stop the swing or control what I was doing.

Now, maybe it is because I am older I do not recall feeling this on a swing when I was young, but this felt like a brand new experience for me.  An experience I did not like too much, so I did some searches and found that it was likely a form of motion sickness.  Or, at least the start of motion sickness anyway.

When I was young, I loved roller coasters, riding anything at the amusement park whether it was a roller coaster or not.  I still think that I would like roller coasters, but this certainly had me wondering if I would be able to handle the roller coasters if I ever make it to an amusement park again.  The feeling I had on the swing was not something I want to have happen again.  Sure, it was fun to start on the swing, but once I got going, I was freaking out inside.  Look at my face in the picture and you can see that there is a little bit of freaking out on my face!

All this makes me wonder if maybe I had the feeling on the swing simply because it had been so long since I had been on a swing.  If I start swinging daily, would I eventually get use to that sensation or would I always feel freaked out about feeling out of control, flying off of the swing, etc.  It makes me wonder about if I am ever on a roller coaster in the future... Could I ever get use to the the thrills, movement, and fast motion of a roller coaster?  It makes me want to at least go out and try a roller coaster this summer.  If it makes me feel like I did on the swing, then I doubt I will ride the coaster more than once.

So, along with needing reading glasses (or bifocals), I also get to experience freaking out on swings, amusement park rides, and unknown future experiences that happen as I age.  Fun!  

Old iPhone 5 and Wanting the Newest Features... Why Not?

Don't you love it how technology tries to keep you "current"?  Well, more accurately put, the companies that produce the technology that we (I) like to use keep us current by forcing us to upgrade our phones, computers, cars, etc.  Just so we can get the new gadgets, new features, or just look "cool".

OK, I admit, I have an iPhone 5 which at this point is over three years old.  In terms of a phone, it is old.  A friend of mine just recently upgraded their iPhone 4 to the iPhone 6.  I am not that bad, but it does make me frustrated when my iPhone 5 (released September 21, 2012) can no longer do the fancy new features that are being produced for the "new" phones.

Case in point, my phone will not do the WiFi calling nor will it do the newly published iOS 9.3 feature of Night Shift which was released earlier this week.  So, I have the new operating system and I have been providing feedback for likes, dislikes, and suggestions for features, but my iPhone 5 will not do the new cool feature.  What's the point of allowing me to test my "old" phone with the beta software if the cool new feature will not work?

I have been part of the iOS public beta program since it was released.  I have the Mac OS beta installed too along with the iPhone beta.  Overall, I have enjoyed the experience.  I got tired of reporting that the phone app on the iPhone with the beta software is slow or crashes.  I think I have reported this issue every other time the beta has released.  Once again with 9.3 I am seeing the slowness with the phone app.  It either takes forever to change from contact, keypad, or voicemail or simply crashes back to the home screen.  I provide the feedback and the next release it is fixed.  This makes me wonder if it is because I am running an old iPhone 5 and it works great in iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, but who knows.  It keeps happening to my old phone.

I still remember when I was a BlackBerry fan.  I really enjoyed the Blackberry!  Well, more appropriately the BlackBerry 8330.  It was probably my favorite phone and never thought I could start using a phone without a keyboard.  The only frustration with that phone (BlackBerry) was that not a lot of people were using it, thus, there were hardly any apps for the phone that I could utilize.  The funny thing now is that with my iPhone, I use a core set of apps.  When I could not get those other cool apps for the BlackBerry, I jumped ship to get the cool new phone.

The core set of apps that I use now include email, Twitter, browser, calendar, FaceBook, fantasy sports, and a few other odds and ends.  Probably all apps that could easily have been done back in the day on a BlackBerry.

Back to my current phone of iPhone 5....  It is over three years old.  It is an old phone by any standards.  I plan to keep it at least until iPhone 7 which is due to be out in September 2016.  I am sure I will continue to test and complain about future iOS beta installations.  I will continue to complain about the horrible battery life my phone maintains (i.e. it dies with anywhere from 5 - 10% battery life).

The Night Shift feature released in iOS 9.3 public beta sounded perfect.  I have a bad habit of as soon as I wake up I grab my phone to check email, Twitter (see previous post), and a glance at FaceBook.  Even though I have auto dim set on my phone, the screen is usually so bright that I can barely look at the screen without my eyes watering.  It does not matter whether it is 3 am or 6:30 am when I wake and grab my phone to see what has come through since I was sleeping, I still am drawn to the phone to check what was happening.  Not the best habit, but so far I have kept from responding to email or Tweets at those odd times.

Anyway, because of my old phone and the fact that Apple decided not to release the Night Shift feature to anything less than a iPhone 5s, I miss out on this new feature.  Granted, as some friends said, this is likely because the iPhone 5 is unable to handle this feature and I agree, but I feel like I am missing out with this old phone.