New Shoes in the Rain

Happy Monday to all.  This is the last week before we change our clocks back to "standard" time and lose that hour of precious sleep! It's already been pretty dark around here these last couple of days.  After several days last week of skies so blue and clear that they resembled tourism board postcards, it was rainy most of Saturday and overcast most of the day yesterday. The weather did not deter us from doing some stuff over the weekend.  We attended our grandchildren's soccer game Saturday morning, and I managed to play a round of golf with a friend and then do some yard work afterward yesterday afternoon.  The soccer game was the next-to-last of the season, and both kids play on the same team, which is helpful for scheduling.  But it's a bit sad that it's almost over, just like the younger grandchild's T-ball games ending a couple of weeks earlier. But spring will be here before we know it! The round of golf was good fun and I actually played rea...

Greetings, friends.  It's a beautiful fall Tuesday afternoon here in central Kentucky.  Had a bit of a cold snap over the weekend, and it's still pretty cold early in the morning, but the afternoons have been glorious! When last we visited, I was negotiating a few minor issues and resolving them gradually.  A couple more have cropped up and I always like sharing how I/we resolved them. First up is a major bout of sciatica, which is still not resolved.  As you recall, I woke early on a Saturday morning about ten days ago with searing pain down my left leg.  Since that time I had what felt like a perpetual cramp in my left calf, and numbness through my foot.  Now the calf has eased up, but I have spotty numbness in my foot and the back of my leg.  The back of my thigh is still sore, but I'm functioning pretty well overall.  I expect that this will eventually calm down to a normal set of sensations, but given that I've had some back problems over...

Good Monday, everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend. I find this time of year to be a little disconcerting, particularly, as is often the case, when the Cincinnati Reds are not playing post-season baseball.  The regular season mercifully ended a week ago yesterday, and while there are playoff games going on right now, the Reds are done until the spring.  Couple that with a bye week for Kentucky's football team and there's something of a void to be filled, if those things interest you, as they do me. I had a strange weekend.  Around 5:00 AM Saturday I was awakened with what I would describe as piercing pain all down my left leg.  It lasted about an hour, and finally subsided enough I could go back to sleep.  When I woke again, my leg was largely numb and my lower back ached significantly. My wife has experienced symptoms similar to this due to two bulging disks in her back, but I have not had any significant problems like this.  As Saturday wore o...

It's hump-day, everyone!  And I know that I don't often post midweek, but had a couple of funny things to share that I think you'll enjoy.  Plus I'm kind of marooned where I am, so this is a good use of my time! In the midst of my computer issues last weekend, I noticed that I had a light flickering in my office.  And it's not just any light.....it's the undermount fluorescent fixture on the underside of the hutch that sits on my credenza in my office.  When I first got that office furniture MANY years ago, I kind of chuckled about that light, but it didn't take long before I was using it every day. Anyway, it began to flicker, as it last did four or five years ago.  I reached up under the lip, removed the cover and spun the bulb out of its fitting.  Last time this happened, I simply took the bulb to a home improvement store, found a match, and brought it home and put it in.  Easy. But THIS time?  Not quite. Went to a different home improv...

Happy Monday, everyone.  The sun reappeared over central Kentucky yesterday after an absence of more than five days.  About time, in my humble opinion! Sadness here in the Smith house today--the baseball season is over.  Oh, there are multiple rounds of playoffs yet to occur, but for me, the season is over, as the Cincinnati Reds played their last game of the 2015 season yesterday afternoon and lost, again.  It was a difficult season for a dyed-in-the-wool fan such as myself, but we always have the comfort of knowing that next April, the Reds (and everyone else) will be in first place.  For at least a day! The Kentucky Wildcats eked out a win Saturday night against a seemingly overmatched team from Eastern Kentucky University.  If you're interested, EKU is located in Richmond, a scant 20 miles away.  They were a football power in the 70s and have remained competitive at their level for years.  Anyway, this was one of those games that should ha...