"Hand, Foot, Mouth"

So, what started as an 18-month-old,
3 day fight against the HFM disease,
has now turned into a total kid-dom of
mine fighting HFM for almost a week.

Sore throat, fever, just plain tiredness.
It's not overly concerning, it's just not
what the normal body wishes to deal
with.

Slowly they have begun to recover.
All but the oldest have gotten better.

Why to write this? Well, here's
the thing. It's not some chronic
disease. It's not a part of life.
It comes and goes.

What do I have in my life that
keeps me from a healthy walk
with God? Things that come
and go? Things that seem so
major at a moment, but are really
just that... a moment?

Now, I'm not desiring on goings.
But I wonder, would I be better
with that than these things that
come and go?

"C-a-n Y-o-u S-p-e-l-l?"

Remember hooked on phonics?

And do you remember the t-shirt
that followed:

"Huked on fonix reely wurkz fur me."

Everything goes on a t-shirt.
Ads. Slogans. Quotes. ETC.

Maybe someday I can come up with
the next great must-have tee shirt.
Not that I want to be famous...
or be overflowing with money.
Just so I can say:
"Been there, done that, designed the tee shirt."

"Baseball"

I played baseball all my life from
5-years-old until I graduated high school.

NOW, I help coach t-ball and and
8 and under coaches pitch.

Baseball's boring. Really, it is.
You could spend a lot of time
in game as a kid, without ever
having a ball hit to you. That's
a fact.

I wish some major league team
would allow dandelions to grow
in their outfield. I bet there would
be a lot of millionaires pulling
dandelions... and popping off the
heads of their teammates.

For kids, I don't know how they
do it. Dirt. Grass. Flowers. Mud.
Whatever it is, it's got to be
more exciting than watching the first
baseman get his 1,990th chance to
field a grounder.

And let's face it, baseball has "situations."
"What's the situation?" Every baseball
coach has said it.

"If there's a man on first, and on third,
and there is 1 out, and the ball is hit
to the third baseman, where's the play?"

OR, "One out, man on second, the
sister of the catcher is cute and wearing
shorts, the mother of the batter is
smiling, the concession stand is selling
hot dogs on sale for $1, and the ball
is hit to the right fielder, where's the
play?"

HO-HUM.

No wonder kids so small rather dig
in the dirt than play baseball.
IT'S BORING!

And I blame the Pirates.

Maybe if you live in Boston or
New York or St. Louis, you want
to play baseball because you have
seen winning baseball.

Do you realize that if you are a
sophomore in high school or younger
in the Western Pennsylvania, you've
never seen the Pittsburgh Pirates
have a winning season?

Yeah, give me dandelions.

"Thank You, Jesus"

Really, that's all I want to say.

"The Swing Set"

Our neighbor is moving.
They and their 2 children have to move.
It's a sad story why they are moving.
Bad landlord, black mold... it's just not good.

They asked us if we'd like their
swing set/jungle set/slide.

You bet!

Went to the neighbor today and he
helped me move my new swing set
to my yard OR I helped him move
his old swing set to my yard.
It really doesn't matter.
It's mine now.
In my yard.
And as of 9pm, staked and secured for use.

Why do I bring this up?

Well, until yesterday, when my
neighbor's wife came to ask if we
would like their
swing set/jungle set/slide,
I had never once (as I would later
find out in talking with them) in
6 years did more than wave or
say hi or hello as I would go take
a walk.

6 years. Lived in the apartment
building diagonally across the street
from my house.

Nothing.

How sad.
I'm sad... or should I say pathetic.
No State Farm here.

"Would You Explain That For Me?"

All right. It's been... what day is it?
It's been 8 days since I last blogged.
It probably wouldn't have been 8 days,
but this little thing happened to me
that must be written about.

Good Friday, came and went.
Had a great service at church
on Good Friday. It was awesome.

Saturday was a beautiful, warm
day. Easter Egg hunt. Time spent
on the mountain.

Easter Sunday. HE IS ALIVE!
Woke up in the morning with some
discomfort in my lower back.
Took some drugs, motrin.
Went to church. Went to mom
and dads for dinner.

Back came the pain to my back.
More drugs. advil this time.

Around dinner time, I started
having some real serious pain.
My lovely bride said we should
go to MedExpress and have it
checked. No reason to wait until
Monday.

The Docs at MedExpress told me
not to pass go, don't collect $200
and go straight to the ER.
"It's all but confirmed, Mr. Trimble,
You've got a kidney stone."

YIPPEE! I mean really.
The ER hooked me up good.
IV Drugs are wonderful when
the pain gets that intense.
Of course, people (doctors, nurses,
wives, etc...) like to ask you questions
when you're all doped up on ER drugs.

Apparently, and I do vaguely remember,
the doctor asking me how my pain started.
To which I said, "I woke up with some pain
in my back. Then I took some drugs."
To which she responded, "Would you
explain that for me?"

Apparently you don't tell doctors
that you took drugs to ease the pain.
It starts they're over-educated brains
fishing for a way to say: "get out junky,
no drug seeking here!"

But I didn't get tossed. My lovely wife
explained it all to the doctor as I drifted
back to Neverland and the 7 Dwarfs who
kept me company while I got a Catscan
of my kidneys. It was great...

Well, the pain wasn't.
And the drugs they gave me to help me
deal with the pain at home as I passed
my 2mm stone did nothing.

And by the way, 2mm stones are about
the size of red piss ants... without the
six legs of course.

SO, tuesday morning at 2am I final urinated
out the little red piss ant... went to the
urologist at 10am, who assured me
that the Catscan did not reveal any other
stones in either of my kidneys... and
that the little red piss ant that I passed
would be analyzed for its chemical makeup.

It was very undulating Easter weekend.
The best part is this: God is good...
no matter what! Period.

4.1.10

Okay, so it's what some call April Fool's day.
Really.
I've never googled why, and don't plan on it.

But it was 78 degrees today in Pittsburgh, PA.
It's April.
And warm.
Shorts. Sandles. Sunglasses.
It's April 1st.
HUH?

I'm not complaining. I'm just saying.
And oh by the way, it's suppose to be
a carbon copy of today, for the next
2 days.

Sunshine in western PA in APRIL?
No that's usually fool's gold.