Neighbors!

 I am VERY fortunate to ,so far, have great neighbors... I would say that 98% of my time with past and present ones have been great!!!! My current ones Jimmy and Lynn ROCK like Van Halen at Rich Stadium in 1988, I know, because I was THERE!!!! They have introduced me to so pretty cool people and he has showed me how to do a few things around casa de McBride. He works for the natural gas company in the next county and he has some great 'toys' at his disposal. LIKE this!!!! A freaking backhoe!!! WOO HOO!!!!

 The guys is 'OBI WAN' on the thing.... He knows what to do and what it's capable of doing..

I, on the other hand, am very clumsy with it but with some more practice, I will be okie dokie.

 I helped him remove a tree and make a driveway to his workshop. He also removed some old tree stumps around his house. Next time he will bring it home and do the same around casa de McBride.

And in the 'hey I have no job so I have plenty of time to do (INSERT PROJECT HERE)'. One day, I decided to fix my borders in my front yard.

And this is the result after spending a few hours...

I also was bored one day and painted some of the floor in the garage.

"I went to the doctor today, guess what he told me"1 Shout out to Prince RIP! Anyways, Mrs. Boike and I went up to Duke earlier this month for a Dr. appointment and.... AH HELL, this is why I love Mrs. Boike, She explains stuff so much better then me...

" Kate, Andy’s summation below is pretty accurate.  The MD however did explain some more detail that I wanted to share with you.  When he looked @ the MRI, he said that pictures show the atrophy (or decrease in size of the cerebellum) and that the space that is lost is replaced by fluid (as opposed to nothing or air) & we could see that clearly on the pictures of Andy’s brain.  He was, as Andy mentioned, very impressed with no alcohol consumption and Andy being so compliant with doing all of the PT exercises.  Both of these efforts on his part have led to Andy’s status being very stable and also slightly improved.  Dr. Scott says that the progress of the disease shows different rates for different people, but it is not a rapid progress.  What is most important is how Andy is functioning.  Good nutrition, taking multivitamins, exercising, getting adequate rest are very important and will help make deterioration slow.  Andy is doing a great job @ all these things.

PT—he didn’t feel it necessary to go back to PT @ this time, but PT is advised every once in a while, just to make sure that Andy’s techniques and habits are continuing to go in the right direction.  I actually think that Andy’s diagnosis is shrinking cerebellum.  The ataxia is just a symptom of the shrinking cerebellum. 

I’m very proud of how Andy is handling all of this and being so very proactive with the way he has addressed the issues and problems, as I know you are.

Hope all is well with you and Ron.

Pat"

 As you can see, I'm doing A LOT of stuff around casa de McBride. I decided, while painting the garage floor, to wait to look for a job AFTER I go on two trips, one next month and then another in July for a wedding. THEN I will start the search. If you are really bored and want to hear my rational on this. CLICK HERE.

AND FINALLY, in the 'deuce' department. KRIPES just let the picture do the talkin'...

Have a GRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT month everyone...


1. From the song "Nothing compares 2 U" that was written by Prince and performed by Sinead O'Connor