Although Easter brought with it a touch of Spring, the mood around here has been pretty somber. Even though Cliff tries to be a grouch at times, the holidays always bring out the best in him. This Easter was kind of quite without him around. The kids still had their egg hunt though, with the little ones getting a head start (and some help from the moms LOL).

But Spring didn't last too long. Of course, this is Ohio, so just because the calendar says it shouldn't be snowing doesn't mean anything. (I'm still just glad that it wasn't blizzard-ing on my birthday last month. Out of the 16 years that I have been living up here, 7 of the March 14th's have been blizzards!) First, it snowed all night and then a fine coat of ice was added. Ick! To top it off, DO was called that morning to come to the hospital (Cliff wasn't doing well at all; more on that later) and she slipped and fell in her rush to leave her house. Without her cell phone to call me with, she laid on the sidewalk for a while before she could get up. When she finally got to the hospital, she ended up having to go to their emergency room. Of course, the was the other leg injured from the one that she had surgery on; so once again, she ended up in a wheelchair to visit Cliff.

Another "Mike" helping clear DO's sidewalks

Spring in Ohio

I know these next pictures should go onto the puppies' website; but they are just too cute,
so here are some pictures of them in the snow.

Checking out the snow in "their" yard	"Thanks for clearing off the patio, mIkIE!"
"I wanna go back in. I'm cold."

My friend Jim had some problems with the Waikems this past week. Seems although he's one of their best salesmen, his manager doesn't seem to want to make money. The manager decided to let Jim go because of his bad attitude and he wasn't wearing a tie (although we haven't "officially" switched over to the Spring/Summer dress code). This decision smacked of discrimination since another guy in Jim's department, sitting barely 2 feet away, wasn't wearing a tie either. Many of the other managers have already quit wearing ties themselves, too. Also, Jim probably wouldn't have such a bad attitude about things if his weak, in-effective manager would handle the problems in the department rather than letting them fester. Since the Waikem brothers were all out of town, Jim had to wait nearly a week to talk to them about this. As it stands now, they may offer him a position at our Kia/Hyundai/Suzuki location, which is a position that Jim would like to take. I'll let you know how this all works out with my next update.

As I have been writing this update, I've been thinking about what all to tell you about the situation with Cliff. I guess I should break it down into several sections:

His Health:

To begin with, Cliff had previously been diagnosed with emphysema and high blood pressure and he had been developing pneumonia. He was almost in an accident and the sudden stop caused the seatbelt (under his arm instead of over his shoulder) to crush one of his lungs. Within a few days, the pneumonia and bleeding lung sent him to the hospital.

The Situation up to this point:

The first few days in the hospital, Cliff nearly passed away several times. He improved slightly and held stable for about a week. Then, the crushed lung began to fall apart, and a piece clogged his airway causing him to nearly die again (that was the day DO slipped on the ice rushing to get to the hospital). The family held a meeting with the doctors when they were finally resigned to only giving Cliff "comfort care". Amazingly, Cliff began doing better and was awake and conscious enough to give his opinions on his situation - he wanted to keep on fighting to stay alive!

Current Condition (4/14):

Unbelievably, Cliff is actually doing ok. Although he is still in ICU, he has been stable for about 10 days now. Unfortunately, he is still on the ventilator and gravely ill. Because Cliff is stabilizing, the doctors have moved him to another hospital (in Akron, OH) that provides longer-term ICU/ventilator care.

Cliff's Friends and Family:

Even though this situation has been hardiest on Cliff, it's not been a "cake-walk" for any of his family and friends. The hospital has had the family in three times within the last 6 weeks, when they were sure that Cliff would soon be dying. His sister, and her family in NC, have been up here twice - she stayed with Cliff his first two weeks in the hospital. I keep a cell phone with me now at all times, in case DO needs to reach me (after falling down the steps, she understands that she might need someone around if she has to make another rush to the hospital.) Other friends, Mary and Sally, have been staying with DO most of these last weeks. Everybody has been pitching in whenever they could - cleaning, cooking, etc. (see below) Fortunately, things haven't been quite as anxious and angst-ridden as earlier, now that Cliff has been stable for such a long time.

Since DO and Cliff aren't getting any younger, Jim and Mike and I got together and gave their back and front yards a good cleaning. Soon we'll be getting together with some of the family to clean the inside of their house (if Cliff does make it back home, we need to get the pet hair and cigarette smoke out of there.) Here's some pictures of the yard cleanup (originally it was supposed to be a much warmer day than it turned out to be. Brrrr!). If you scroll back to the top of this page, you can compare and see that we pitched the broken swing set and raked the heck outta the yard.

YardWork part 2

Not to leave a job unfinished, Jim and I headed back to DO's on a nice afternoon and completed some odds-n-ends. Jim repaired the front screen door and hung a clothes line, while I hammered up some loose gutters and fixed the drooping awning. Jim brought his camera along and decided "turn-about is fair play". Since I posted shots of his butt when he was up on the ladder at my house (back in the Fall), now here's a shot of my butt up on a ladder. (Hmmm. I still don't think I was too cruel to Jim. The shot of his posterior is certainly smaller than this picture of my butt. LOL)

And one last update about Cliff for this week. He's still hanging in there pretty well. He even got out of the hospital!! But . . . only to be transferred to a hospital up in Akron that supports longer-term ventilator usage and rehabilitation. Of course, the traveling isn't going to be easy on DO; but Cliff will be getting the care he needs as he continues to recover - and he did get a little bit of fresh air after being in Doctors Hospital, in Massillon, for nearly 7 weeks.

This week is starting with the completion (hopefully) of a couple of long-standing projects at work. My boss' printer is dead - Monday I either ship it back to be fixed or I'll get to go shopping for a new one. WooHoo! This has been on my list since he got this computer printer for Christmas. Another problem I hope to resolve is networking some computers for a local body shop. (March '02, week 2) I've run into a few problems making their software run across their network ; but with some luck, and help from tech support, I plan to finish this project. Speaking of tech help, between everyone's DSL, Palm Pilots, monitors, RoadRunner, etc., I've gotten to be a pro dealing with tech help - and I usually find that tech help is pretty happy to be speaking to someone with some knowledge of computers.

What an odd month this has been. We started with Spring, slipped back into Winter, jumped to Summer, and now we're back to a late Fall. The four days of Summer weather were the best part of the month; however, I worked a bunch during that time - and not at Waikem's. I got all of my Spring yard work done, along with mowing twice and taking down the burned out lights I had strung around the fence in the backyard. Not only did I do my own yard work, but I helped Jim as he drained and scrubbed his pool, getting ready for Summer when it really comes. (Of course, I helped with the pool! Not only did I get the start of this summer's tan; but I made sure that I'm elgible for plenty of pool-time by helping out. )

Boy, this month has been really busy for me. I swear I've already had to mow my tiny little yard 4 times within the last two weeks. I also had Jury Duty this week. WooHoo! A chance to perform my Civic Duty. Too bad there was only one case this week, and out of 40 potential jurors, I wasn't one of the 8 that were picked. BooHoo!

It's also been a busy week in my neighborhood. There was a drive-by shooting just down the block last weekend! (I live on one side of the school, and this happened on the far side. See the picture to the right.) About 1:30 in the morning, I heard what I thought were firecrackers (and boy, do I hate firecrackers. They drive the dogs crazy!) Within a few moments, the sounds were much louder. I glanced out my upstairs bedroom window and saw a white four-door car (a Ford Focus perhaps) floor it around my corner, while a passenger in the back leaned out and continued firing a gun behind the fleeing vehicle. No one was killed; but one lady was grazed by a bullet. Of course, it was gang-related. The upside to this incident is that there has been a much higher police presence in the area lately. Just four nights later, several policemen arrested a man right in front of my house. I still don't know what that was about; but the man was taken away in cuffs and the car towed away.

I know this isn't the best picture I've ever taken; but I wasn't about to go outside so it was shot from behind my windows. Plus, I turned off the flash, so I didn't startle the police and get shot at myself. LOL

UPDATE on CLIFF: Things are much better for Cliff here at the end of the month. Although he's been through several smalls bouts of bad-stuff this month, he's sitting up now. He has been out of bed, and sitting in a chair for while. Heck! He even stood up for a short time the other day. He seems to really be heading out of the woods.

UPDATE on mIkIE: I have been feeling a little punk-ish the last couple of days (not I didn't get that feeling from the techno music I've been listening to, either. LOL). After a visit to the doctor's, I now know why I'm feeling this way - my blood counts aren't so good. Yeppers. The Viral Load count went up again. This time from about 20,000 to 28,000. It wasn't a large jump actually; but the doctor is worried because the count has been creeping back up during the last 6 months. My T-Cell count was, unfortunately, down by half - from 172 to 92. That count explains my tired-ness and all the little sicknesses that I've been experiencing the last few weeks. The doctor is going to check to see if there are any clinical trials I am eligible to participate in (out of University Hospitals in Cleveland) that might be helpful. The meds that I am currently taking are still effective; but the effectiveness might be dropping.

The first of next month, I'll tell you all about seeing Paul McCartney in concert! WooHoo!