Beautiful Alaska #2

While in Alaska, Tony saw the usual Alaskan wild animals. This moose was at his hotel - I think every time he's there he sees a moose at his hotel.

This fellow provided them with some entertainment while they were at the Kenair River.

Tony has some particularly interesting stories about bears on these fishing trips. Last year, he looked out into the river and a bear was floating down the river on his back with only his head sticking out of the water - I guess that's quicker than walking...

The bears know what coolers are. You're not supposed to leave coolers unattended but it happens. Last year, he saw a bear find a cooler, open it, take a candy bar out, take the wrapper off, and eat it.

The bears also know what fish stringers are. Why not? Let someone else do all the work, catch the fish, put them on a stringer where they can't get away, then the bear only has to get the stringer. (I could make a political joke/statement here but I won't).

This bear found a stringer of fish and had a nice lunch. Then it found someone's shirt lying on the ground and decided that would be a good place to take a rest. I guess it does get old lying on rocks all the time.

You can see the shirt in this picture (pre-resting bear photo) in the left lower quadrant of this picture.

After you have eaten a stringer full of fish, it almost feels like naptime...

If I could just get comfortable.

Beautiful Alaska

As I mentioned earlier, Tony has been in Alaska. For two weeks. He is not very good at taking pictures (by good at, I'm not talking about picture quality - I am talking about pictures. Period.) He gave the camera to a friend on this trip and that's how I ended up with some pictures.

Like this one...

Isn't this beautiful? It is taken (obviously) from the airplane and he is not sure where in Alaska this is, but aren't those glaciers gorgeous?

This picture was taken at Jim Creek. Jim Creek was about 45 minutes away from their hotel so this was the most accessible place to fish. You can see a glacier right in the middle of this picture. It almost looks like low Smoky Mountain "smoke" but it's actually the glacier.

This is another picture of Jim Creek. Can you see the houses back just a little off the river? I think they were built for me. That looks like a great place to hole up with a good book, eh? This is not what I was expecting Alaska to look like. Where are the polar bears, igloos, eskimos? It almost looks like South American terrain. I'm thinking Chile. With an East Tennessee crispness in the air.

This is the Russian River, which runs into the Kenai Peninsula and the Kenai River.

And this is the Kenai River. It was about a two hour drive from their hotel and they only went there one time. This river was best for the last of the "run of the reds." Like my fishin lingo? The Kenai River is the most popular fishing destination in Alaska.

I am always interested in the details... but, given this is coming from Tony, this is all I got. The temperature while he was there was 55 to 65 degrees and it was only dark from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. In the area where he was, they lose daylight at a rate of 6 minutes per day. And there wasn't 20 feet of snow on the ground. And there were no igloos. Or polar bears.

Is It Just Me?

Today, as I was sifting through this week's mail, I came across the Explanation of Benefits for Anthony's ER visit when he was diagnosed with pneumonia. First, I should say that he was diagnosed most expeditiously and I am very grateful that we have the ability to visit the emergency room and and receive the quality of care that we do. Second, I have to tell you that I was robbed. Ripped off in the most legal of manner's.



The total charges for this one hour visit to the emergency room was $647.38, of which our plan allowance was $343.00 (the insurance company got a discount of $304.38 - don't get me started on that), and our portion that we actually have to pay is $51.45. Sounds pretty good, unless you actually read your EOB. One of the items listed, the one that we are actually having to pay for, is for a "prescription drug" at a charge of $65.38. Well, I racked my brain trying to remember what kind of medication he received in the emergency room, then it hit me. When we went into triage the nurse asked about the medications he had taken that day and I told her he had taken ibuprofen about an hour earlier. She then walked around her cart and prepared a medication cup with Motrin to give him. Since I had JUST told her he had ibuprofen an hour earlier I thought she might be upping his dose so I questioned her about giving him more. "Oh, you did tell me he had ibuprofen, didn't you?" Whew... that was close. So, nope that wasn't the mysterious medication charge. Then, I remembered... Before we left the emergency room, after the doctor had given me Anthony's prescription for a Z-Pak, the nurse came in and gave him his first dose - two tablets. Remember, we are leaving, script in hand, to go directly to the pharmacy to pick up his medication to start his treatment. Anyway, he took the first dose, we left the hospital, and went straight to the pharmacy. His prescription was filled (six tablets to be taken over the next six days) - for the grand approximate total of $3.50 - about $0.59 each. Versus $65.38 for two. Had we waited and taken that first dose of two pills when we got our prescription filled, it would have added $1.18 to our prescription bill. Instead, it was filled at the emergency room for the price of $65.38 - with a plan allowance of $51.45. That is $25.73 each pill. So, while our portion of $51.45 sounds really good compared to the total submitted charges of $647.38, it's really just legal thievery. We payed them $25.73 for medication that we could have gotten for 59 cents. Is it just me???

Play Day

On Saturday, Alex's softball team had a play day. A day when they played three ball games - unfortunately spread out throughout the day so that we couldn't do a whole lot else. We met some of the girls at El Jimador for lunch.

Alex pitched some and played shortstop. I love this picture of her making the play and the umpire making the call.

They had a good time at Play Day but it certainly was a long day.

Crop Circles

Tony,

Since you have been gone for two weeks and we have been a little busy with ball games, practices, emergency room trips, doctor's office visits, open houses, and rain that seems to come only on the days we COULD HAVE mowed the yard, it is a little out of control. So out of control that mother nature is now sending us messages, mysterious crop circle-like messages.

This is what she's sayin' to us...

"MOW ME."

A Few More Vacation Pictures

Yes, I still have more vacation pictures. They will continue to show up when you least expect them.

These two, above and below, were taken at the public beach where we swam.

This is the pier at sunset, the very pier, about three or four sections over where Anthony caught this. His second shark of the week. This one is a little smaller than the first one. He caught it using squid. (Stinky, smelly, dead squid that we kept in our refrigerator beside the stinky smelly, dead shrimp).

One thing that I loved about camping at Jekyll was the freedom Anthony and Alex had. They would jump on their bikes and head to the pier "just to see what they are catchin'." You knew they were catchin' something if they came back and grabbed the poles and left again. Fast. One night, though, Anthony came back to the camper with a new (new to him) reel. He was kinda excited and said, "This man just gave me a reel." He said the man told him that he was on the pier looking for someone to give his reel to. He had bought it in the early 60's and had used it for many years. He told Anthony what all he had caught with it and told him he was looking for a boy to give it to. A boy who was dressed nice and had a good haircut. What a definite honor this was to Anthony but thought inducing at the same time. It makes you wonder why this gentleman has decided not to fish anymore. Why would he no longer need his reel? He was an elderly man but appeared to get around well and if he could walk out onto the pier you would assume he could still fish. Does he not have a son or a grandson who would cherish a gift like that? Maybe he could sense that Anthony is an 80-year-old in a 14-year-old body and would appreciate the gift as well. And he does.

Top Secret Mission

As I mentioned, Tony is out of town. Where is he, one might ask? It's a top secret mission in the general "Russian" area. They spend hours on end fighting/capturing their opponents. It is an exhausting job that will bring him home needing weeks to recover. Weeks, I tell you...

These are some pictures he sent via top secret phone messages.

They are at the Russian River in Alaska wrangling those great Silver Salmon!

The Infirmary

We have a tradition around our house - one that we follow very closely when Tony is out of town. We MUST visit the emergency room or doctor's office if his trips are over one week long. We have been working on this tradition for years. And years. And years. We have had two broken bones, and one hospitalization for dehydration in addition to the "normal" stuff like strep throat and ear infections. It has turned into a joke to some degree. "Hey kids, Daddy is leaving for a week, whose turn is it?"

Anthony's...

Two weeks ago when school started he was really tired every night. He was not just tired, he was dragging, going to be early, sleeping late, and just flat worn out. He was running cross country every day but what 14-year-old can't run 3 miles a day and still have energy to do lots of other stuff afterwards? Last Saturday, a week ago, we were determined to let him sleep in since he had been so tired all week. When he finally woke up, he complained that his chest was hurting. It hurt when you pressed on it. We, being the great diagnosticians that we are, decided that he had pulled a muscle - probably doing something very strenuous like fishing or playing XBox. Then - Tony left. It all medically goes downhill from there with our kids. His chest pain continued to get worse and when he couldn't walk through Wal-Mart standing up straight Monday night I decided it was time to go to the doctor. On Tuesday morning he had x-rays done and a rather involved physical examination. His x-rays looked good and his doctor could find nothing else that could be causing the pain so, "Come back in a week if it doesn't get any better." And, since Tony is out of town, it kept getting worse.

On Friday night, he woke me up at 1 a.m., after already having taken his temperature, to tell me that he had a fever. And his chest was hurting really bad. And his back was hurting really bad. More ibuprofen and back to bed he went.

On Saturday, I took him to the ER where they greeted us at the desk with, "Oh, Tony must be out of town." (just kidding).... But after a very brief examination he was found to have pneumonia. After two days of Zithromax and a little Lortab he is back up playing XBox and arguing wtih Alex. All with a smile on his face.

This trusted air soft gun is never far away - kinda like the bat that Tom Cruise uses to help him think in "A Few Good Men."

Since he ran almost every day for the last two weeks after school with his cross country team - though just a mile on Thursday and none on Friday - I am thinking he might be a little like Lance Armstrong. Just think what he will be able to do with two whole lungs!

Alex's Scrimmage Game Against Carpenters

This morning Alex had her first middle school game/scrimmage of the season. We lost the scrimmage but it certainly served its purpose of getting the jitters out. And MAN WAS IT HOT!!

One of the highlights of the day for Alex was getting to play 1st base. She hasn't done that since her 7 and 8 year old season.

We are now READY for season to start on Monday. Go MUSTANGS!

TAKE MY PICTURE!!!

"TAKE MY PICTURE!!"

(Let me see it...)

"HEY! TAKE. MY. PICTURE!!!"

(I wanna see it.)

"I'll take your picture if you'll smile pretty."

"TAKE MY PICTURE!!"

(Let me see it!)

First Day of School (was last week)...

This is Anthony's first year of high school. How did that happen? Yesterday, this is what he was doing...

Yesterday, I took him to kindergarten. I took pictures of him waking up, riding in the car, walking into school, meeting his teacher, and meeting his friends. After we dropped him off at school Alex and I went to Burger King for breakfast. She played in the outside playground for a little while but it wasn't nearly as fun to play there alone. She repeatedly asked me where Anthony was. It was a little lonely for both of us without him. When I picked him up from school that first day, I asked him how he liked school. He said he liked it fine but, "we didn't learn any stories about Jesus today."

We were prepared for this long haul in the elementary school. Six years? Seemed like a lifetime. Graduating on to middle school seemed like an eternity away. We just settled in. Propped our feet up. Enjoyed the ride. And the next thing we knew... we were registering for middle school. What?

Middle school was an even quicker version of elementary school and two shakes later - we were finished with that, too.

I know that in no time at all he will also be finished with high school. I want to stop/capture/remember every moment to make sure I am fully appreciating the time we have been blessed with. I would love for him to stay with us forever but our job is to prepare him to do just the opposite. While our hearts are hanging on as tightly as they can, we are charged with preparing him to leave so that he can enjoy what we know to be a wonderful journey.

Even More Vacation Pictures

The waves at Jekyll Island were the hardest thing to figure out. My family (aside from me - I take a passel of books and a comfy lawn chair) loves to body surf. At times the waves were quite calm and it wasn't really possible to do any body surfing. But when the waves were big - they were very, very big. And Rough. Alex got tossed once and ended up with a huge sand burn on her belly.

Look at these waves! They weren't like some beaches where you get one good one, then a few small ones, then another good one. These were rolling in, one after the other. If you weren't prepared for them you were tossed. I saw more bare bottoms from surprised wave riders than I cared to see. There were actully people surfing one day.

I took this video as the waves were waning but they were still pretty good. Anthony was still enjoying them.

When the tide was in, the waves went all the way to the rocks at the sand dunes. We had to put our stuff on the rocks to keep it from getting washed away. After a couple of days, we figured out that the best waves to play in were the waves right after high tide. We/they made sure to be there as high tide was peaking and then we/they had several hours of really good fun. When the waves starting easing up a bit the kids had a contest to see who could find the most sand dollars. The last day we were there the count was around 85. We did have Alex with us so you can be sure we didn't keep the live sand dollars. If they are alive they have "hairs" on the edges and if they are dead they are smooth. Several other sand dollar hunters got "the look" from Al when they had their hands full of live sand dollars. I love that about her.

Oh, look who went with us!! I think this is the only picture I'm in...

I still have lots-o-pictures from the beach. Sorry, I took MANY...