Anyone heard from Bobl

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cre73

Always Lurking, never posting
Joined
Oct 3, 2008
Messages
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Location
Central IL
Just curious if anyone has heard from Bob since all the devastation in Australia? He hasn't had any activity since Nov. 2019.
 
I'm still here - we have had bushfires in our state (Western Australia) but nothing like those on the east coast. The biggest bushfire near us were about 200 miles away and was a piddling 10,000 acres compared to the 16,000,000 acres burnt on the east coast. The numbers of native animals that have died are estimated to be in the billions. Our prices for quite and vegetables are predicted to rise by as much as 50%. Our local December temperature maximum averaging 9ºF above the long term average so we had the air conditioners running continuously. Fortunately Jan is so far only ~1ºF above average.

No milling unfortunately. The last few months have been almost fully occupied clearing out deceased MILs houses. There was a large two storey house plus a 3 bedroom beach house behind the main house and a large garage all crammed full of "stuff". 3 kitchens, 8 bedrooms, 3 bath rooms etc etc. The family helped but my wife and I did the bulk of the work and I did most of the repairs needed to bring it up to something that could be sold. For example MIL kept every Xmas and Bday card she every got plus all her kids text books and other books. One store room was full of "new stuff" ie gifts, bed and bath linen and geegaws. We must have removed more than 100 boxes of books from this place. My wife felt obliged to carefully sort through the stuff and not just throw it all out as some of the stuff was valuable or of family historical relevance. An example of this was hidden stash of silver coins with a bullion value of over $2000 - We're calling this our cleaning fee! We only finished this just before Xmas. When I say finished that doesn't not count the dozens of boxes of stuff that has ended up at out place that my wife still has to sort through!

Apart from all my other health troubles I recently supposedly develop gout! and I have been fairly crippled by this. I've been on the meds (I now take 13 pills a day) for 3 weeks with little improvement so the docs now thinking it might be something else. Even dosed up on meds I can't stand for long or walk without pain or even sit up for too long and have found sleeping difficult. No chance of doing anything even in my own home shop. So lots of dozing on the bed during the day listening to music, audio books and podcasts.

I'll try to catch up with some of the threads when I can.
 
Well, sounds like this advice will be late. I ran out to get something and forgot my Wallet, so I swung past Dad’s house and asked if I could borrow $50. He said sure, but I’ll have to give you one of my $100 dollar bills, and you have to give me a $100 back. When he was in business and people paid with $100’s, he stashed them away for vacation and to buy mom stuff. He went to a file cabinet and started yelling, “ we’ve been robbed, my 100’s are gone” . I calmed him down and called to mom and asked if she had seen his old B-Day cards. He had kept one from his sister from back in the 50’s. She came in the office and said she had cleaned the files out a few weeks ago. Dad had 14, $100 bills in that card and mom threw them away. When mom passed, I went through every thing you could squeeze a bill into, and found 5, 20’s.

When my best friends grand parents passed, he was the last one to leave and was locking up, and turned to every one asked if anyone checked under the carpets. They said no. He went back in and started looking. In the bedroom he found $10,000 under layers of old carpets layered one on top the other. Fred had lost money in the depression, so he kept a nest egg under the carpets.

With old folks you have to look every where.
 
These stories sound like my parents' still unfolding story. Three years since my mother died, going on one since my father died. Over sixty years in the same place, a farm with outbuildings. My sister, the oldest, is the executrix, lives 1500 miles away. The closest one of three boys lives 500 miles away. None of us has much time to spare. We are talking about if we can get together there in April or August for three to five days. A lot does not get done.

Abbott295
 
One of the most fascinating things we found of the MIL's ,about 3 weeks her funeral, was her diary from 1945, which was her final year of high school. In this she came across as highly insecure, and scared of her father. This is in complete contrast to what everyone thought of her as a very confident, no-nonsense business woman, who had no problem telling anyone, especially politicians, what she was thinking. It would have been an eye opener to have read out some of the diary entries at her funeral.

Another interesting find in the garage was a bunch of gold mining gear which belonged to my wife's grandfather and were last used in the 1930w. What tipped me off were the picks with short tines which were commonly used underground. Then we found a bunch of acetylene miners lamp which were initially just balls of corroded steel and aluminium and I decided to restore 3 of them. It was a lot of work as the Calcium carbide has turned into limestone inside the carbide and water chambers. The brass lamps ones date from the 1920's - made in Melbourne and the Al one dates from the early 1900's made in England. There was also some military memorabilia dating back to the Boer War in the equally 1900's.

Lamps.JPG Lamps2.JPG
 
Glad to hear you are ok. Sorry to hear about your MIL and your health issues. Hope 2020 is better to you.
 
Glad to hear you are ok. Sorry to hear about your MIL and your health issues. Hope 2020 is better to you.
Thanks for that.

Last year MIL was 93 years old, seriously sharp and alert and still living in her own home and still driving a red Subaru Imprezza. On the day she turned 93 she had driven to her local Bridge (playing cards) club, something she had been doing 4 times a week for a couple of decades. While playing she had a minor heart attack and ended up in hospital. Over the next few weeks she had several more attacks but being a tough old bird this did not do her in. Eventually, after about 2 months the docs managed to stabilised her and she was able to leave hospital but had to go into a high care facility. By then she was a shadow of her former self, and slowly went further downhill, in and out of hospital several times trying to stabilise her condition. A few months later she had another attack and refused point blank to go to hospital and even though she was well dosed up she died a few days later in a lot of pain. We, and I'm sure she, were pleased for her that it was all over.

On a more positive note, I managed to get into my shop for half an hour this morning. The place is a BIG mess and its going to take some time to straighten it out so I can work. I might be able to have a bit more of a crack at it later today.
 
Here's hoping your health shows a dramatic improvement SOON.

Gout? Pain in the big toe or elsewhere?

I suffered with big toe pain for about a week one time. Thought I had gout and could barely walk. Then, it went away and has never returned. Also developed pain in my heel that I thought was Plantar's. It went away after a week.

Everything will probably all come back on me in the same day in the future but - on the bright side - I qualified for Medicare three weeks ago.
 
Here's hoping your health shows a dramatic improvement SOON.

Gout? Pain in the big toe or elsewhere?

I suffered with big toe pain for about a week one time. Thought I had gout and could barely walk. Then, it went away and has never returned. Also developed pain in my heel that I thought was Plantar's. It went away after a week.

Everything will probably all come back on me in the same day in the future but - on the bright side - I qualified for Medicare three weeks ago.
That sounds like what my doc calls gouty Arthritis... it can come on and then leave quickly.... usually in feet around old injuries.
 
That sounds like what my doc calls gouty Arthritis... it can come on and then leave quickly.... usually in feet around old injuries.

old feet. Don't remember any old injuries on that toe. Others? Yes, but not that one.

I have a finger knuckle that was once screwed to a board. It aches and stiffens every time the temp falls below 35 degrees.

Got a middle toe I almost cut off 50 years ago that never hurts but always keeps me aware of it. Knee with the 50 year old scar. bugs me when climbing long
 
The house my grandmother built in Miami mostly by herself in 1951 of cypress and adobe block, which my aunt lived in her whole life, has been tied up the last three years by a black sheep cousin suing the rest of us inheritors to try to get a larger share of the estate for herself. (The house was donated to be preserved, she wants it sold to get more money.) But everything in it is cataloged to the smallest detail and the rest of us have put our dibs in, so won't be much trouble divvying it up when the time comes. As my family's historian, I already got most everything of historical value out of it years ago to do a biography of my pioneering grandmother, which is finally coming out this year. She was one of those people that seemed to do just about everything in life - was perhaps the last reporter to interview Amelia Earhart in 1937, got a degree in Physics the same year, did social work during the Depression, raised four kids during the war, adventured the Everglades and became one of the best friends of the Seminole Indians, built her own house, helped pioneer scuba diving in Florida, became an award winning investigative journalist in the 1950's, did a 104 mile solo beach walk for six days in the 1960's, wielded a chainsaw all over her property in the 1970's cutting down and killing all the invasive trees, and about a million other adventures.

Bob, those are beautiful miners' lamps. I had a problem the last day or two with my temperamental 045 Super I keep rebuilding and rebuilding, which stopped running near the end of a cut only to discover both the muffler AND all the cylinder bolts had come loose since I put a new piston and replacement cylinder on it last year. Getting that all locked down again got me going again, only to have one of the milling clamps come loose and rub one side of the chain a bit. Thought, well, cutters are still sharp, no problem. Then when I got a short way in to a cut, the chain just stopped cutting, spinning but nothing happening. Tried from the other end of the log and same thing after a short distance. Read an old forum you had commented on Bob about this happening to a guy while cross cutting. I believe you suggested that one side was cutting more than the other, and/or that it might have been an .050 chain in an .063 rail. I remembered something screwy about the 32" bar I'm using, that it had a .404 tip on it when I got it that I switched out, so it would be an .063 bar and sure enough, the last chain I got for it was an .050. Just keep learning new ways to screw up every day.
 
Well. . . . the gout medications were not reducing my ankle pain so I went to the doc again and he sent me off for a CT scan. Turns out I have fractured ankle and am scheduled for surgery next week to have a plate inserted across a spur on end of my right tibia that connects the lower leg to the foot. Apparently for a senior like me who takes cortisone if I don't get a plate it is likely to break again! I have been walking my dogs, climbing stairs and ladders, driving, and lifting furniture etc with this ankle pain for some 6 weeks. No wonder it wasn't going away.
 
Good thing you went back in to the doc.
Hope the surgery goes smoothly and you recover well.
I’ve had a few surgeries over the last 30 years including one last to repair my elbow.
Things sure go better than they used to.
Thank the gods for modern medicine Improvements!
Take good care mate!
 
Good news is surgery has been cancelled.

A senior Orthopaedic surgeon has looked at my scans and says my bone density is OK for my age and just to wear the moon boot for 6 weeks, keep the foot off the ground and when possible elevated and check in for an x-ray every two weeks.

When I was in emergency they gave me some conventional under arm crutches to try but I was deemed "too old and unstable" :eek: to be sent off home with these and had to wait for a Hospital Physiotherapist to come assess my competency on walking aids. I was sent home with a (wheeless) walking frame :( which are a PITA to use especially in our crowded house.

The next day I sent off an sternly worded email to my GP asking why it had taken so long to diagnose this and while I was at it complained about the walker. He then asked me if I would like to try some calliper type crutches to which I said yes. He must have felt guilt because he delivered them to our place in about 10 minutes, so am no hopping around with these at the moment. To show you how unfit I am my arms, shoulders and even stomach muscles are complaining loudly every time I use them. The stomach muscles are sore because I have to constantly hold the broken ankle up off the ground so I am basically hopping around on one for stabilised by the crutches.. My balance has also deteriorated in the last couple of years which doesn't help and I am at a greater risk of falling over. Fortunately much of my "hopping is up and down the house passage which is narrow and contains my chances of falling. On a more positive note I may end up after all this with one weakened leg but my upper body strength and core and balance should improve significantly.

FWIW apart from the GP visits for which we have to contribute a 50% copayment, all of this treatment (Xray, CT scans, emergency treatment and followup visits) are completely covered for by public health. We do have have private health insurance but only use it to cover hospital admissions, and dental and optical treatment.
 
Thanks for that.

Last year MIL was 93 years old, seriously sharp and alert and still living in her own home and still driving a red Subaru Imprezza. On the day she turned 93 she had driven to her local Bridge (playing cards) club, something she had been doing 4 times a week for a couple of decades. While playing she had a minor heart attack and ended up in hospital. Over the next few weeks she had several more attacks but being a tough old bird this did not do her in. Eventually, after about 2 months the docs managed to stabilised her and she was able to leave hospital but had to go into a high care facility. By then she was a shadow of her former self, and slowly went further downhill, in and out of hospital several times trying to stabilise her condition. A few months later she had another attack and refused point blank to go to hospital and even though she was well dosed up she died a few days later in a lot of pain. We, and I'm sure she, were pleased for her that it was all over.

On a more positive note, I managed to get into my shop for half an hour this morning. The place is a BIG mess and its going to take some time to straighten it out so I can work. I might be able to have a bit more of a crack at it later today.
Sorry for your Family's loss Bob.
It's very hard to see a loved one suffer. We took care of my Dad for over 22 years from head injury from a car wreck so I know how it is.
Mom just passed 2 years back from 2 heart attacks, back to back ones.
Hope you do get feeling better. We all miss you here and want you to be well again.
I always read your knowledge tips and stories of Chain Saw Mills and have only just started doing it myself so I have lots to learn.
I do enjoy cutting my own firewood to keep my wife and the pets warm and dry in out Winters here in Ontario, Canada.
Hope to see more of you on the site.
 
Thanks Marine5068.

I'm stuck here with the broken ankle in a moon boot and my wife decides to have massive vomiting attack :baba: last friday evening. She spent half an hour laying on her side and being repeatedly sick on the floor of the bathroom. She said it was probably Vertigo as she has had this before but nowhere near as bad. Anything that went in by mouth come straight back up and I was worried she would dehydrate. I was just about to call an ambulance when I spotted our neighbour who is a doctor returning from vacation pulling into their drive so I called him and he came over and said it would be better if she went into emergency. I could of course not drive so a couple of family members that lived nearby came over and took her. After 6 hours in emergency on a drip, after running a bunch of tests she was able to come home, being sick agin in the car, and lay in a nauseated heap on the bed. The docs said it was vertigo and just rest.

For 3 days wife could do zip except crawl to the bathroom every now and then and I had to step up and prepare food for myself (wife was eating a couple of crackers or dry toast and a slice of apple as a meal,) and feed dogs. I ended up doing too much around the place so that my good foot suffered (I have flat feet) and so for a day neither of us could do squat and lay on the bed. Fortunately family kicked in, a sister brought over food and fed the dogs, my niece brought over groceries and walked the dogs.

By wearing a walking shoe with an orthotic insert I was able to start using my sore good foot and my nephew drove me to a specialist appointment and also walked dogs.

My wife is only just now able to do a few simple things like prepare meals and feed dogs but she has to keep her head upright, and she is a long way from driving. This morning a brother came over and walked the dogs, brought a couple of boxes of groceries ,and took me to see my mum at the nursing home about 10 minutes away. When we got back my wife was sitting up watching TV provided, there were not too many camera pans which made her sick, so every now and the she had to close her eyes.

We've discovered an on-line grocery store near us that does free delivery for orders over a certain amount so we will use that if we need to.
I guess this shows us what we have to look forward to s we get older. :(:D :cry:
 

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