July July 2006 July

Week One  |  Week Two  |  Week Three  |  Week Four
Week One: Happy 4th!
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There isn't a July update quite yet, so you'll need to go back to my latest update with my latest good health news. ;) wink, wink

IMPORTANT!
Soon I'll be announcing the date for Pooltag, so I hope that you're all thinking about building a float! ;) wink, wink Even if you don't have an entry into the contest, Jim and I are planning tons of games and fun times to celebrate his big FIVE-OH!  :O Surprised!
Pooltag!
I've really started working on the planning stage of Pooltag. If you click the Pooltag logo above, you'll get an explanation and the schedule of events for the food, fun, swimming, games, contests, prizes, and  pizza cake! (The Pooltag Page that will open is currently under construction so check back ocassionally.)
Partying! Partying! Partying!
As you can see in this picture, I've already starting prepping items for the games. I made "wrappers" from plastic canvas, and stitched point amounts onto them with some leftover yarn from some old craft project. These will be for the Ring Toss Event.

Although I was just at the doctor's office, I still have one health issue that hasn't really been addresses yet - that infection in my hand. Now, Jim and I DID talk to the doctor about it; but like taking a car into the mechanics, every time I show the doctor this problem, it's pretty much healed, so he hasn't been able to determine what to do about this problem yet. Two days after the trip to the doc's, and I had another outbreak. :O Surprised!
Needless to say, I called my doctor back after the 4th to ask what I needed to do to get a culture of this infection so, hopefully, something can be done about it. The doctor had the good suggestion for me to go to Stat Care next time this flairs up. They are set up to run these kinds of tests faster than a hospital would be and would more likely be open when I needed this test (it usually acts up on a weekend or holiday it seems.). So my plan now is to wait until the next outbreak and then get this tested. There is a big downside to this plan though. See, to get enough of the serum in the blisters for a test, I'm going to have to really let the infection set it this next time. I've learned over the years (since it happens so frequently when I can't get to my doctor), that as soon as I see a blister, if I prick it with a needle and get that serum out, then the wound heals up much quicker. Without doing that, my hand swells up, turns very red, itches, burns, aches, and hurts. I've never even let it go long enough to find out what happens after that because it hurts too much. Sometimes I also have some other side effects including nausea, my all-time favorite sick, irritability, and an all-around malaise.

Hopefully, you had a nice 4th of July this year. Most years, Jim and I are on vacation this week, and usually are in an amusement park on this holiday. Because Jim is still fairly new to his company, he couldn't get away for any vacation time yet. Plus, with the weather as rainy and stormy as it's been here lately, I'm pretty glad we weren't in either of our normal roller coaster parks (Cedar Point or Kings Island) since both had horrible weather for the 4th.
I spent most of my day working on those bottle wrappers for the Pooltag games and watching the showers that kept sprinkling my lawn. Finally, late in the day, the weather broke and we got some sun. There was enough clear weather that we all ended up meeting at DO's for a burger cookout and cards.
As dusk fell, we all headed out to the front yard. All around the neighborhood, people were shooting off small fireworks, bottle rockets, and jumping-jacks. Linda had brought a bag full of the explosive goodies to make sure we had a BANG on the holiday. (It's not illegal to BUY fireworks in Ohio; although it IS illegal to shoot them off. Go figure that law. @-) crazy)
Kayle started the show by lighting off some colored smoke bombs.  She's got that rock star look about her as she plays air-guitar in the plumes of smoke.
Doing an "I Dream of Jeanie" impersonation Kerrie and Kayle both make a rude joke with the yellow colored smoke. ALERT: Two GBSs!
As darkness settled in, we all played with sparklers and roman candles.

MouseOver Kerrie CloseUp

MouseOver Kayle CloseUp
The Grand Finale
was this
Fountain of Fire

I can cross another item off our list of things to do getting ready for Pooltag. We got the PoolCam webcam moved out of the window and back onto Jim's roof. As you can see, this will provide a much better view of the pool. MouseOver to see how we mounted the camera in an old floppy disc holder that we picked up at Goodwill for a buck. ;) wink, wink :)) LOL Laughing Out Loud
Maybe we should start a new fund up, one to re-shingle Jim's roof. The weather in Ohio is pretty rough on houses, and the economy sucks. Jim struggles, like I do, to keep things going, and an expense like re-roofing a house is something that is just impossible to get done until it can't be put off any longer.

While the irises are dying out in the front yard, things are just getting started out back. The cosmos are finally starting to bloom a bunch and are about half of their full grown height now.
From this picture, you can see that, also in the backyard,
the mint, morning glories, and Asiatic daylilies are doing well too.
MouseOver to see how beautiful the morning glories are looking this year.
Although we've had a lot of rain lately, and some severe thunderstorms, I don't mind the rain too much. My flowers that have already bloomed, bloomed two weeks early and lasted an extra week. I'm guessing it's been all that water with intermittent bouts of sunshine and warmth that did the trick. (Our friend Bonnie, in Kentucky with the horses, agrees. All the rain there is keeping the pastures growing well, and the horses well fed.) Look how the wet weather has helped the hollyhocks. They are the tallest that they have ever grown, and the plants look much healthier than other years when we hardly had any rain. This is definitely their BEST year since I planted them.
You can't even tell that I woke up this morning sick and barfing sick, can you? Even though my blood work numbers are really good, I still suffer from my biggest health complaint - it sucks being "half sick". I really never know what days I will be sick all day, part of the day, or even none of the day. That's probably why I enjoy getting out, doing things, and enjoying my flowers - anyplace is better than my bathroom and everything is prettier than staring at the toilet bowl.
All in all, not too shabby looking for a sick 44 year old, huh? ;) wink, wink

Week Two:
This past weekend was really barely nice enough for Linda, Kerrie, Kayle, and their cousin Cody, to join DO and I to play in the pool for a few hours. The water was a little chilly, and the sky was partly cloudy; but everyone had a really good time splashing about. PoolCam, mounted on the roof now, has a really good view into the pool. Click any of these pictures to see them larger.
Here's a picture of Jim's Nami-dini (like Harry Houdini). After I spent some time fixing up Jim's front screen door, about 5 minutes before we all left Jim's house, Nami ripped through the screen and took off. For nearly a day and a half, we kept trying to find him. He's been known to escape before - that's why I had to fix the door - but he usually comes back within a few hours. This time Tsunami stayed out hiding for quite a long time. I saw him once, and finally found him the following afternoon before another thunderstorm struck the area.

If you ever want to see a yellow finch, it seems all you have to do is plant some Cosmos. I've had them at my house over the last few summers, and while DO and I were working on Pooltag floats, I got this picture of a finch munching at the early seeds of some of Jim's Cosmos. MouseOver for a CloseUp to find the birdie!

Believe it or not, I haven't been reading much lately. I've been too busy. You'd think with all the rain we've had off and on lately that I would have had plenty of time; but it just seemed there was always something better to do (plus all the rain keeps the grass and shrubs growing, so I've had to clip and mow whenever we had nice weather And I have found that in between showers is a great time to get out and try to pull the weeds around my sidewalk). However that doesn't mean that I haven't been reading at all. I'm nearly done with a Douglas Copland novel called "JPod" right now. This book is about a bunch of tech geeks and is extremely odd.
Now that we're into the Summer doldrums of television (nothing but re-runs unless you're watching "So you think you can dance?"), Jim and I rented a good movie the other night. "Eight Below" is about a sled team of dogs that gets left at an Antarctica station throughout the winter. Most of the movie is about the struggles of the sled driver to get back to rescue the dogs, interspersed with scenes of the dogs fending for themselves, as a caption shows how many days they had been left on their own. Even though Disney did that horrible movie about "Old Yellar", this Disney movie has a much happier ending. Of course, I had some tears in my eyes as the guy was re-united with the dogs that survived the brutal weather.
I'm such a sucker for dog movies.

Jim and I almost took a trip like we did last June to go canoeing; but I'm sure glad that we didn't. Several times in this update I've mentioned that we've been having a lot of rain lately. Thankfully, it's not every day, although it seems that way at times. Since the weather was a little "iffy" on Jim's last day off, we decided not to go down to the river yet - and what a good decision that was. A huge thunderstorm/tornado tore through the area we would have been in, and dropped about 7 inches of rain! So much rain in fact, that most of the surrounding campgrounds were flooded out, and 8 people actually had to rescued from the river! I'd still like to go (and maybe try a kayak this time); but I think we'll wait for that area to dry out just a bit first.
We had much better luck by staying in town. We got Jim's screen door even better repaired and safe-guarded against another cat escape. I finally found Nami out in the back bushes, lurking about. After a downpour, I got most of Jim's gutters cleared out and draining again. Plus we replaced a broken kitchen faucet in Jim's kitchen, along with replacing his broken vacuum cleaner (which is very good since my vacuum cleaner broke a few weeks back when I sucked up a couple of shoestrings!). We even worked on Pooltag some by getting a hoola-hoop for the ring toss, and a new float for the ring toss game. (A little less than three weeks now until the big Pooltag Party!)

One last note for this update- currently PoolCam is offline. I think the recent rain has affected the cam mounted on the roof. Next time this week that I'm over at Jim's, I'm going to check out this problem. If this cam has died, don't worry. I have another webcam that I can use on the day of Pooltag.

Week Three:

Maybe you heard the recent news of a new HIV once-a-day pill. Although I can't take it, I thought I'd give you a brief medical talk about HIV drugs (and why this new pill isn't for me). There are three types of HIV meds - Protease Inhibitors (PIs), Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs), Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs). Essentially an HIV drug regime is a combination of these three types of meds - sort of a "pick one from column A, one from column B and one from column C" - known as HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy). The pharmaceutical companies are always trying to improve these medications so that they will be easier to take. The easier they are to swallow, the more likely a patient will stay on the regime, and that's a huge factor in fighting HIV. Ninety-five percent adherence, or greater, to the drug regime is necessary for the medications to be effective.

Though the years, me and my doctors have picked quite a few meds from each column. Some have made me very sick with side effects and some I have become resistant to. When I first started meds in 1993, there was only one medication (AZT) which had to be taken every 4 hours (I'd have to get up in the middle of the night for a dose). Eventually, as these new categories of drugs were devised, I was taking up to 32 different pills a day, with varying schedules of with and without food. ("Pills" is kind of a misnomer. Although some are regular pills almost like aspirin, others are caplets, and some are big old "horse pills". No offense to Bonnie's horses, but a couple that I was taking were just so big that they have to have been designed, not for humans, but for some sort of larger animals.) Some days I could hardly choke them down and, let me tell you, there's nothing worse than one of these meds dissolving too soon!

Now my med regime is down to 8 pills a day. Since I don't eat breakfast (I'm often sick in the mornings), I take 3 of the meds first thing in the morning that needed to be taken without food - Videx EC (ddI), Viramune (nevirapine) and Bactrim (an antibiotic to help prevent another case of PCP pneumonia). With dinner each night, I take the other meds - Norvir (ritonavir), 2 caplets of Reyataz (atazanavir), Viread (tenofovir), and a second dose of Viramune

I have taken quite a lot of the available HIV meds that are on the market. Many of them gave me terrible side effects from rashes to throwing up. A few I've had to quite taking because my strain of HIV has become resistant to the medication. The combination that I'm currently taking has remained very effective against my HIV. That's why my viral load (the amount of virus in my system) has gone down to undetectable. Undetectable does not mean that the HIV is totally gone; but that it has been eradicated enough that there is as close to none in my system as medically possible. And this regime seems to have the least amount of bad side effects on me - an occasional rash from the Bactrim, and occasional nausea and throwing up from the others.

This new once-a-day pill that they are touting unfortunately contains a medication that I've already taken before (March, 1999) and which caused a lot of bad side effects for me (insomnia, incredibly bad nightmares, and many days left me in a daze, stumbling about my house). My doctor frequently suggests that I try this med again; but the side effects of that med were really ruining my life and were a big reason why I quit taking my meds at one time. For now, I'll stick to these meds I'm currently on and put up with the occasional barfing, since that seems to be the worst side effect I'm dealing with these days.


I mentioned in my last update email that I'd been having more pictures from my yard, and sure enough, here they are! The cosmos have really started to bloom well now, although some bugs have been eating away at the flower petals. MouseOver this picture for the second doggie GBS this month. (Did you miss the triple GBS from the dogs in the first week's pictures? )
The hollyhocks are really blooming to beat the band (I think that must be a mixed metaphor there ). I don't think this picture really does them justice though. In the bright sunshine of this very hot week (still with a few rain showers on-and-off), their pink and burgundy blooms can be seen from blocks down the street.
Even living in a city, there's plenty of nature to see. As in previous years, my little yard of colorful flowers has attracted another interesting insect. This moth found shelter down in the Asiatic daylilies just before an approaching storm hit. As you can tell from the picture of Jim holding this moth, it was pretty big. I just wonder if the moth realized it was hiding out just under the bird house, which probably isn't a very safe place for this big tasty moth.
Speaking of moths, we saw this big guy outside of a pool store this week, lying on the sidewalk. This one was twice a big as the one in my yard. We were at the pool store, as DO was letting Jim pick out something for his birthday present (he got a new pole of the net and pool vacuum, since his old one had finally broken).

Jim, DO, and I spend a nice
hot afternoon in the pool
(Jim was playing hooky from work this day)
a basket full of koosh balls
Jim picked up a couple of new floats for the pool. The big seashell and star ring are really nice for relaxing in the cool water.
When all the of beach balls and other floats are in the pool,
there's hardly any room to swim around in anymore.

Jim had played hooky from work on Sunday (only a half day of work anyway), and still took his normal Monday off, so we invited a bunch of friends over for a day at the pool. (The rain has finally stopped and it's been really hot - in the upper 80's and 90's - all week).
We also brought Joxer and Zeus along to Jim's house for the day. I was pretty shocked when both dogs immediately jumped into the pool when we put them up on the deck. Zeus wasn't so keen on being in the pool; but had to feel a lot cooler. However, Joxer LOVED the pool. He even learned how to climb up and down the steps, so we had to watch him closely all day, so that he wasn't in the pool without us knowing.
Joxie was really happy playing around the pool, and getting attention from everyone (DO, Linda, Kerry, Kayle, Pam, Mike, Jim and myself). Instead of Pooltag, we had PoolDog.
Here Joxie is kissing up to Kerry.
While everyone was playing in the pool, Joxer keep watch all around the edges of the pool, when he wasn't in the water himself. He was keeping an eye on all the balls that we were playing with.
Actually, Joxer was "watching" the balls a bit too much! He was really excited about all the BIG beach balls, and kept trying to get them as they would bounce near the edges of the pool.
Some Joxer Movies
Almost got one! Barking for a ball!
Joxer nearly nabs some balls Climbing out
Linda, Kerry, and Pam
splashing about
DO, Mike and Linda
keeping an eye out for Joxer
That's me,
under the shadow
of a giant beach ball
Everyone had a lot of fun, especially Joxer. We only lost two beach balls to Joxer during the day. Afterwards, we all headed back to DO's house, and grilled hot dogs for dinner.

A Surprise Vacation Trip

I didn't think that Jim and I were going to get to an amusement park this Summer like we normally do (you know, with gas prices and my money problems); but we did get to go after all and with good friends too! Our friend, Mike Poland, who worked way too many hours at a terrible job for the last year, surprised us with tickets to the park! So Jim provided the car, gas, and parking; and I provided the drinks and picnic lunch for the trip. To make sure no one had to ride alone, Mike also invited a friend of his to come along. Want to guess what the friend's name is? Well, there was me (Mike) and my honey (Jim), our friend (Mike) and his friend - Jim! I guess you could say that it was a M-squared J-squared trip.
But we weren't the only ones going on this trip either. Linda and her kids (Kerry and Kayle) have season passes to the park, so they made plans to meet us for the day. We were about half way to the park outside of Sandusky, Ohio, and Jim (that would be my Jim, or Jim1 as we called him during the day. :)) LOL Laughing Out Loud) mentioned that he kept expecting to see Linda's blue neon zooming past us at some point. MouseOver this picture and notice the car in front of us!
Obviously everyone had the same thought, because when we stopped at the Service Plaza on the turnpike, we parked right behind Linda. We were all heading inside to stop at Starbucks for some serious caffeine to get us woken up before we got to the park.
Unfortunately, we didn't quite to the park at the same time though. In our car, Jim1, Mike1, Mike2, and Jim2 were talking just a bit too much and didn't notice that we passed the exit off the turnpike to the park. Instead, we took an extra half an hour drive into Sandusky and had to double back across the bay to get to the amusement park.
Usually you can see the park from the causeway (Cedar Point is built on a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Erie); but, as it was shaping up to be a very hot and humid day, we could just barely see some of the coasters through the haze across the bay waters.
MouseOver for a CloseUp
Learning our lesson from a previous trip to the park a few years back, we took a picture of where we parked, just in case we couldn't remember where the car was later in the day.
(there's Mike2 behind the car, getting ready to head into the park)
Using cell phones and text messaging throughout the day, Linda and the kids knew we were arriving late to the park, so they were already in line for one of the coasters. We started our day by riding the Raptor first (a hanging coaster that turns you upside down nine times!) WooHoo! That's the best way to start a day at an amusement park. Next we headed over to an indoor (air conditioned) ride called Disaster Transport (it was already in the upper 80's and very muggy), until we could meet up with Linda and her crew at one of the park's newer rides, MaxAir.
The kids had gone on to another ride, but we met up with Linda, who took some pictures of us on MaxAir. This ride is just like one Jim1 and I rode at King's Island (called Delirium). It's a big spinning, swinging wheel, and it's a lot of fun!
Left to right, that's Jim2 (in blue), Jim1 (in white), Mike2 (in white), and Mike1 (in blue)
Hot, but having fun!

M2-J2 on MaxAir
My Jim (that would be Jim1 - confusing isn't it? ) thinks it odd that he and I think so much alike sometimes. At times we even finish each other's sentences or say things at the same time. Although neither of us can see each other too well because of those shoulder harnesses, Linda got a picture of us making nearly the SAME silly face.
Only one word for this picture-
WHEEEEEE!
After this ride, the kids were back and we all went over to ride the Wicked Twister together. When we got off the ride, we swung by the old aquarium tank to watch a dive team performing.

Jim2, Mike2, Linda, Jim1, Kayle and Kerry
Since this is my blog, you know there has to be a GBS* somewhere. I figured this shot of one of the swimmers from the dive team would work for this update.
Since the day was already so hot, we headed down the left side of the park through Frontier Town next - mainly because that side of the park is very shady and has some water rides, which we hoped would cool us off. We passed on riding the Millennium Force since the wait was so long and headed to the newest ride in the park, SkyHawk.
The kids and Jim1 posed for some silly pictures as we strolled through Frontier Town.
SkyHawk is a really just a big swing; but it's a big swing that goes at about 60mph and swings you up about XX feet into the air.
Next we took two rides in a row on White Water Canyon, until all seven of us were drenched thoroughly. Finally some relief from the heat! We decided to head back to the parking lot for lunch; but stopped and got onto the Millennium Force since the line was so short. Kayle didn't want to ride (although she has ridden it once before) because she was a little scared of the huge 308 ft. high hill on this ride. I promised to ride with her and got her to change her mind. Not only did she ride it then and have a good time; but I saw her from the corner of my eye, as she kept her hands in the air and eyes opened for the whole ride. WooHoo!
We took the cable car SkyRide next so we didn't have to walk all the way back to the front of the park and headed out to our cars for lunch. Although no one had gotten sick from the heat or the rides, I didn't fare so well with lunch. Within two bites of my sandwich, I was sick and barfing. Not from the rides or heat but from a problem that I have sometimes when eating. It seems to mainly be triggered by bread. Personally, I think the problem seems to be when food sticks in my throat, perhaps at a spot in my esophagus weakened from some of the thrush I was having years ago. Until I can expel the bite of food, my chest and throat burns and I keep heaving. It's no fun at all. The only good I can say about these "attacks" is that most times after I get the offending food out of me, I feel almost normal again. Thankfully, by the time the guys were done with their lunch, I was feeling okay again, just not hungry any longer though.
Back in the park, we hit the Power Towers, while Linda and the kids went to ride the Antique Car Ride. There are two types of tower rides. All four of us went on the one that flings you up 240 ft. and slowly descends. Mike2 and Mike1 (that's me! ) got right back in line and rode the other side which runs you up 240 ft. and then drops you - FAST! WooHoo! There's a great view from the top of the Tower, and all that rushing air as we descended sure was cooling.
We met up with Linda's crew again and all rode Magnum XL together. For nearly 10 yrs. this WAS the biggest ride the park had, and is still a great ride. Many of the park's coasters have cameras that capture a picture as you are riding. Afterwards we always check out the monitors to see how silly we looked. Kerry has been to the park so often with his season pass, that he always hams it up for the picture spot.
MouseOver and you'll see Jim and me right behind Kerry.
All afternoon we kept checking the wait time for the park's tallest, fastest ride, the Top Thrill Dragster; but the wait was just too long, so we continued riding other rides. We all think that the Mean Streak, a huge wooden coaster, really deserves it name for beating you around too much, so we passed on that ride. Instead, as a thunderstorm blew past the park, we went for Snake River Falls. Not much of a "ride", this attraction's best feature is the huge splash at the end. And boy what a splash it was! Standing on the bridge afterwards, we all caught a second splash and weren't so hot anymore.
We (the Mikes and Jims) left the kids and Linda so they could ride White Water Canyon again. We were all starting to tire out and wanted to check back in at Top Thrill Dragster one last time. The line was short enough finally, and after a quick phone call to Linda, the kids were in line with us to jump on this ride.
Walking back after the ride to meet up with Linda, you can see that we all enjoyed the thrill! Kayle's hair is all messed up from the ride. As we crested the top and plunged down, I broke out laughing as all her hair blew forward (actually her hair was just falling down, since we were plunging and twirling straight down to the ground from 285 ft. up in the sky).
My Jim and Mike2 had split off from the kids and I and ended up riding a few cars behind us.
I got my camera back from Linda, and took this picture and a movie as Jim1 and Mike2 took off on Top Thrill Dragster.
By now it was about 7:30pm and the longest day that Jim and I had spent in an amusement park in a long time. We were all tired and hot, so we called it a day. And what a great day it had been! The park hadn't been too crowded and we got to ride all of the rides that we had wanted too, without wasting too much time in long lines. Although it had been a really hot day (just after lunch, the temp had already gotten up to 95), whooshing on the rides, being splashed on the water rides, and a little bit of overcast skies had kept the day bearable.
Back on the turnpike (I-80) heading toward I-77 and home, we rode just behind the thunderstorm that had passed over the park late in the afternoon. As we turned off 77 and onto to Route 62 into Canton, we came up behind Linda and the kids again. A couple beeps of the horn and a lot of waving, and we all headed back to our homes for a nice shower and bed.
Thanks again to Mike2 for the great trip , and thanks to Linda and the kids for hanging out with us and sharing a lot of fun.

One week till Pooltag!


Week Four:
Speaking of Linda and the kids, a few days after our adventure to the amusement park, and they went on an adventure of their own - to the Pittsburg Zoo. Jim, Mike Poland and I were going to go ourselves with some tickets that we won from McDonalds; but we waited too long and they expired back in April. I haven't spoken with Linda yet; but we did look through their pictures and it sure looked like they had a great time.
Borrowing DO's digital camera, Linda took quite a lot of pictures (she's obviously listened to my advice: if you have a digital camera take a lot of pictures, one of them is bound to turn out good. ) and some of Linda's pictures were quite unique and good. Here's a sampling with some pictures she took of a tank of jelly fish, a shark swimming in the murky water, and a peacock showing off it's plumage.

I just heard an interesting statistic about amusement parks that I thought I should share
How many people were killed
on an amusement park ride this past year?
How many died from
falling out of bed or a chair this past year?
3 785
Interestingly, it's much more dangerous to get out of bed in the morning.

Jim's 50th Birthday and Pooltag 2006

I hope that all of you who were unable to attend Pooltag remembered to check in and watch some of the fun events from PoolCam. We had a full day of fun, games and food and everyone left slightly burned and damp, but happy, full and smiling.

Check out all the pictures at http://reigningpages.com/pooltag/2006/pix.htm

The birthday boy and me are all smiles as the sun finally broke through the clouds when our guests started to arrive.
Along with some great games (water volleyball game, ring toss and koosh ball toss), there were six entries into the Pooltag float contest.
Jim riding the StarShip Pooltag
Before a cookout of hamburgers, hotdogs, grilled cheesy potatoes, birthday cake, and my special "pizza" cakes, we had the entertainment of a professional Magician - Trent (Randy's younger brother).

I would like to thank everyone for helping to make this a very special 50th birthday party for Jim. Just building the floats and joining in the games with us made the day a whole lot of fun. It's not every day that you could con your friends into such a crazy idea as Pooltag. I'm so proud of all the effort you put into your floats, costumes, and skits.

Special thanks have to go to Linda for the costumes and to DO for those yummy potatoes and helping with the cleanup after the party. Of course, I can't forget to thank Trent so very much for a great performance that really helped make this party extra special for my honey Jim.


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