Happy Mother's Day
Mother's Day rolls around but once a year. And this year, I think Heather and I both felt more appreciative of our mothers than ever before. Probably because there have been many more challenges this year than in the past. We wanted to make this mothers day a great one instead of glossing over it like lightly as we have done in the past.
This year, things just fell into place and we didn't have to try real hard. We decided to head up to the "Circle X" (as it's known to a select few in Potter Valley) The Circle X is a gorgeous piece of land a few miles outside of Potter Valley on private property. Fortunately Chris is good friends of the family and we were able to use the Pine Grove for a great BBQ location.
I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect day. It was a perfect 75-78 degrees, sunny, and the grass and wildflowers were in full bloom. Audrey seized the opportunity to collect ladybugs for her "Ladybug Lounge" This is no ordinary shoebox, no. It's a full featured five star ladybug habitat. I wish I had a better picture, but you will know it when you see it in the pictures.
No Aplet family function would be complete without a little redneck adventure right? Well you're not going to be disappointed. Joe brought a couple of handguns, targets and enough ammunition for everyone to take shoot few rounds. For the Naong family, this would be the first time they had ever shot a gun of any kind. So after a brief set of safety instructions from Chris, we let everyone squeeze off a few rounds with the revolver. For those that felt that the .22 cal revolver was too weak sauce, we also had a 9mm. See Nothing says happy mothers day like firing a couple of hand guns at paper targets! Now you may be laughing at me for thinking so, but the proof is in the pictures!
To end the day, we went to check out a secluded cabin that Chris helped to build. It's really out in nowhere land surrounded by beautiful scenery. There is no road to get to the cabin to speak of. Unless you count the 4x4 road that is only passable a few months out of the year during the low river season. To get to the cabin you have to cross a cable suspension bridge that spans about 60-70 yards. With 4 people crossing at once it can get a little bouncy and shifty feeling. Poor Henna was scared to death. She crossed the bridge crouched in a wide spread low crawling position all the while shaking like a leaf. When she made it across and was safe of solid ground, she instantly felt relief and was shaking her tail fiercely as she bounded up the rest of the trail. Clearly she did no like the bridge as much as we did. On the return trip, I practically had to drag her across the bridge giving her lots of encouragement.
I took a few photos of course and posted them to my flickr page. If you don't already have the page bookmarked, here it is. I think I have it set to allow you to order prints (free account may be required) or download large versions of the images. Let me know if you have any problems with flickr.
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Easter Sunday
On Sunday, we went to Aunty Lillian and Uncle Don's for their annual Easter event. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It made for a perfect Luau. Mark and I were even on time this year, so we didn't miss the roasting of the pig. :)
We left before the Easter idol competition, so we missed out on many karaoke performances… maybe next year. As usual, here are some photos from this years event. Enjoy!
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Vacation With Henna
August was vacation time for Mark, Henna and me. Work has been crazy for both of us and we were headed for burnout. When we feel like we need mental therapy, the coast is a natural choice. We went camping for a few nights. Then after camping a few nights, I thought we should end the vacation by staying at a nice beachside hotel. (Pet friendly of course) The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was sunny every single day we were there. The mornings would start out semi-foggy, and then burn off by about 10am. We couldn't have asked for more.
It was Henna's first ocean experience. Watching her play in the water was a riot. She had no fear of the waves at all. And the frigid water temperature didn't phase her one bit I think she liked it even more. She was a little freaked out about the seaweed at first. Then she decided that it smelled divine and proceeded to coat herself by rolling in its briny stench.
Mark didn't take too much video, but you can kind of get a taste of her first ocean adventure.
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Dog Rescue
What an exciting evening. Mark and I are trying to improve our lifestyle and have taken up cycling. Not only is it good exercise for us, Henna gets a pretty good workout too.
Tonight we went out for our evening bike ride and decided to go on the bike trail, which follows the drainage canal leading to the Sacramento River. It was perfect weather, warm but not too warm. It was a hot day, so we like to wait until around 7pm when it starts to cool off.
We were biking along the path and meet up with some neighbors that had dogs too. Dan's dog "DOG" (deeogee), was so cute that Henna couldn't resist saying hello. She did so by pulling Mark off his bike while dragging him over to say "hi". We got to talking and it turns out that Mark and Dan have a lot in common . (Websites, graphic design, photography, videography – to name a few) Another neighbor came by with her dog, "Piggy". After Piggy got in the mix, it was game on and full doggy play began. After a while Piggy and her people had to go.
Dan, Mark and I continued talking as "DOG" and Henna romped around off-leash exploring the area. They weren't very far from us, but the water in the drainage canal intrigued them. As they neared the edge I called for Henna to come back, but when I didn't see her coming, I got a little nervous. I couldn't hear the jangling from her collar either. I went over and looked down the steep embankment; I couldn't see them, but I could hear them splashing around and whimpering. Mark and Dan came over to see how they could rescue the dogs. Mark knew that he had to go down to help them, so he emptied his pockets and proceeded to the edge. While peering over, he lost his footing and went sliding down the bank head first into the stagnant, murky water. Luckily Dan had some rope and a chain that we could pull them up the embankment. First out was Henna, then "DOG" and finally Mark. He was pretty scraped up from the thorny bushes and pretty stinky from the nasty water. The dog's barely skipped a beat and went right back to playing. Mark wanted to head home to shower but not before exchanging a soggy wet business card.
Luckily nobody was hurt and we get to tell you all a humorous story from our day.
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Gil's in the Hospital: Please Read
Update May 12, 2008
Sorry for the lack of an update. I was hoping Heather would post the final update but she did not :( Feel free to send notices of discontent to her directly :)
Well, Gil was released on Thursday May 8th and is back home taking it easy. He still has to go for walks and do his breathing exercises if he wants to get better. He is doing well and I think he should be back to his old self pretty soon. I am sure he is looking forward to working in his garden again. Thanks everyone for their thoughts.
Update: May 1, 2008, 12:30PM
More great news! Dad is fully responsive. His speech and motor skills are back to normal. When Mom arrived at the hospital this morning, he was prepping for breakfast and she helped him eat his first solid meal since last Thursday. Dad's been taking small strolls down the hallways so he can work his leg muscles and get some exercise. The doctors are very happy with his progress. He is being moved from the ICU today to the CTU (Critical Treatment Unit). Due to age restrictions in the ICU, Audrey wasn't able to visit with him, so now she will finally be able to see her grandpa. Yay! The doctors speculate that Dad will be released sometime next week. We are so relieved that he is getting better. I want to thank every one for your thoughts and prayers. Please wish Dad a speedy recovery.
Update: April 29, 2008, 11:40 AM
Great news! The doctors were able to remove the breathing tube from Gil and take him off the sedation. He is awake, but not fully responsive. Heather and Chris have been telling him where he is, and what is happening. It is not clear yet that he understands but he may need some time to adjust. He has been through a lot. His heart rate is all over the map so that is still cause for alarm but they are watching it closely. Heather will give me another update in a little bit. Thanks for the good thoughts everyone!
Update: Monday April 28, 2008
Just wanted to give you all an update on Gil. The doctors made another attempt to take Gil off the ventilator today. They brought him out of sedation long enough for him to look around the room and acknowledge where he was. I am not sure if he is aware of his surroundings as they have him on pain medication and some form of amnesia medication. This helps him to forget the whole thing and forget any pain he may of had. So that part is good. They were not able to take him completely off the ventilator unfortunately, so I guess they will try again tomorrow.
He has developed a fever and the doctors are putting cold rags on his face and body and have placed extra fans in his room to help keep him cool and comfortable. His other vitals I believe are all stable and doing well. Once they can get him off the ventilator then he can work on his recovery. I hope this comes pretty soon.
That's all for now. I will post again when there is further change.
Update: Sunday April 27, 2008
Hello all, for those of you not able to see Gil in the hospital, I wanted to give you an update as I know it right now. I did not go to Santa rosa today so I am only attempting to relay this info that I got from Heather.
The nurses attempted to take Gil off the ventilator today as his vitals were all good. His blood pressure was good, not great but good. He was breathing with little oxygen from the ventilator. So when they attempted to remove the tubes and take him off sedation, his vitals dropped sharply. The doctors and nurses did not want to take a chance so they sedated him again, and put the ventilator tubes back.
They are mildly concerned about leaving him on the ventilator too long, as some people become dependent on it for breathing. So they do want to take him off it as soon as it's safe.
The doctors were able to identify the strain of bacteria that is causing the phenomena. It is a form of Streptococcus, sorry that I do not know its exact medical name. They are giving him antibiotics to fight the infection, so hopefully it will take care of it and give him the strength to do the rest on his own.
So thats all I know right now. I will update tonight when I talk to Heather again.
Friday-Saturday April 25 & 26, 2008
Hello All, I wish I was writing something completely different tonight, but I am writing instead to ask for your thoughts and prayers for Heather's Father Gilbert Naong. He came down with a severe and sudden case of phenomena. This illness combined with his kidney transplant, and defibrillator has taxed his body to the max. He was taken to Ukiah Medical Center yesterday (Thursday 4/24/08) complaining that he could not breath. He was kept overnight but his health only deteriorated. He was placed in a medical induced coma and put onto a ventilator.
Around 1pm Friday Gil was air lifted to Santa Rosa Medical Center where they are better equipped to handle his unique situation. We met today with two doctors who have seen Gil, and each gave us their own take on the situation. Dr. Lamb the main doctor, took us all into the hall and delivered a very short and to the point opinion that the outlook was not so good for Gil. His myriad of various health issues have really diminished his chance for survival in his opinion. Gil's Kidney doctor Dr. Shiprro however had a more optimistic outlook and felt Gil was going to be ok.
We are all praying for Gil, and hope that you do the same as he and his family can really use the support.
I do not have a whole lot of info for you other than this but will post again when I have more info.
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