Crow’s Blog

I guess this is what it looked like on Jan 27 @ 8am. That was the day I had Arthroscopic surgery done to my right knee as I said in my previous post. The whole deal was first class in my opinion, I mean the staff and the organization the team had. I only remember the pre and post version, but I am putting high hopes that the rest went as well.

I put in a full week of work this past week and everything feels fine. I have been doing my regular workout on the elliptical with no issues. Today I watch a similar surgery on Youtube and it was pretty cool how they can trim the cartilage with minimal invasion. Pretty damn cool. So now I have had both knees cleaned up within the last ten years, I should be good to go for a while now.

While I was recovering I had to assume the family duties that Michele normally looks after since she went to Mexico for that week. It was a long week without her. I think the worst part was figuring out everyday what we were going to eat for supper. What a shammauzel that is. I wasn’t stumped by no means as I love to try my hand at that skill, but I was getting sick of that block of time everyday that it requires. Michele returned early Sunday morning (4:30am) so I put my best effort forward for one last day and prepared a meal for a queen. I won’t get into the details, but I can tell you she was very impressed with the fresh flowers, the roast pork dinner and so was I! I even baked a cake; Now is that over the top or what?

I can start to feel spring even though winter showed up for a couple days. It was not a very good home coming for Michele with snow and cold, but we are just about to turn the seasonal corner, I can start to smell it.

We are very close to completing the apartment for Trev and Rachel. Finishing details this next week and I think we will be done. I am looking at getting a forced air system installed but that is a month away. All is looking very good next door. Rachel has been a good little helper as she now knows how to paint!

We decided to leave my mother at the LTC facility she is at. The staff have been treating her great and as of yesterday, she got a private room. Problem is she also ended up in the hospital with pneumonia the same day, so we have to get her feeling better then get her back to her new room.

So that’s it for me, what about you?  Why don’t you  send me a comment and let me know what you think? Comments are very, very few. I don’t really understand. I will be watching over the next month. If I can’t get a response from the readers then I need to seriously consider the delivery. Stop or continue.

This past Friday I underwent minor surgery to clean up my clunky right knee. The experience was a good one, I was very pleased with the medical team that looked after me. The anesthetist also did a fabulous job ensuring I would feel no pain. He did such a good job I didn’t even know they worked on me. I remember them saying that’s it, your all done. I said no way, did the Doc even work on it? They said oh yeah, he did what he intended to do. I asked what time it was, it was 8:20am, the went in shortly before 8am. Wow, he gave me some good stuff , put me temporarily out I guess. I am still dumbfounded that I never recognized they worked on me, but I am impressed as well.
No sooner did I get out of the operating room when the fire alarm went off. The pa announcement said the fire was on my level, and in the operating room! It was a false alarm, faulty window switch or something. but as I sat in recovery in my gown, the firemen were soon heading to the Op room to check out the alarm. I was glad it didn’t happen during my procedure, but I wouldn’t have even remembered lol. I was out of the hospital by 9:15 am and on my way home, really amazing how fast and efficient they work around there. BTW, this was a Brantford General. I have follow up appointment next week but I feel good about my recovery. Should be no longer than two weeks.

An update on my mother; she is in a LTC facility in Mt.Pleasant which is 25 minutes from home. An opening became available for a semi private room at the Hardy Terrace and ma was transferred on Jan 20. It has been just over a week and the situation is calm. Mother is nestled in and we are slowly making her room feel a bit like home as we bring pictures and stuff. Although this particular LTC unit was #4 on our list, there is a slight chance she could move again if an opening comes up at #1 thru #3. I hold the odds of that happening to slight possibility – none. Anyways, all there is to do now is visit.

Now that it is official that my mother will never be coming back to the ranch, we offered the apartment to Trevor and his girl friend Rachel. We are pleased that they accepted as this was our goal (Marian, Shawn and Michele) when we made all the renovations 12 years ago. Try and keep the ranch in the family and someday Michele and I will retire here and one of the kids will live in the big house.
We went into high gear cleaning and organizing my mothers contents. My sisters will be having a chance to load up their vehicles with any possessions they may want.  I wanted to freshen up the place for my new tenants, so Trevor, Rachel and myself have been steadily making progress on the face lift. We are cleaning, painting, and installing new trim. It should be ready to move in by mid Feb – Mar 01.

I can’t complain about the weather here, I have only had to blow the driveway out a couple of times this winter. We have been getting more rain than snow this winter. The temps have been above normal and I am not complaining. We got a bit of snow this morning, I could try and blow the driveway out, but I know it is going to warm up and rain in Tuesday. Crazy weather!

Michele is finalizing her packing and she is starting to get excited and nervous about her trip. I wish her well, she works hard and she deserves a vacation. She will be in the sun in Mexico a week from today.

As I said I have been cleaning up my mothers property and possessions. I have a huge job ahead of me scanning her photos. She has a ton of pictures I need to scan and digitize for safe keeping. Until the next video or Photo Booth project, this will be my main focus.

Take care
CuL8tr
Crow

It has been quite awhile since my last post hasn’t it? Well the truth of the matter is that we have been dealing with some family issues. My mother has suffered several strokes and has been in the hospital since Sept. From Hagersville to Hamilton and now to Simcoe. We try to get up and visit her when we can. This experience has been quite an eye opener for us, learning about strokes, cause and effect, treatment and recovery. We also learn about the health care system and the pros, the cons.  You never think much about this stuff, or are exposed to it until it happens to you, a family member or loved one.  At least that’s how I see our situation. I can only imagine that other families are not much different. So, mother is stable and is done rehabilitation at Hamilton General Stroke Rehab. That is a super department with a brand new building. Mother did have to endure a stay on the acute side of the hospital, I can’t say it was as nice. My sister has a good comparison; like going from the Jetson’s to the Flintsone’s. Mother is now in Simcoe hospital awaiting a placement into Long Term Care. That is another journey we are just starting to learn about.

So what else has happened since October?
Well Taylor finished her fall semester and earned all B+ marks. Things are progressing well on that front.
Jenna has earned good grades as well for her first year in high school. I think she learned how easy elementary school really is compared to secondary. Jenna has a boy friend now and most recently a pierced belly button. The development our teenager seems to be on track.
Trevor and Rachel went to Vegas for a week to live the UFC experience and for Trev it was his first vacation after working a full year. They had a good trip and were making plans to return in Feb ’12 to see Canadian George St. Pierre fight, but he has injured himself and has been taken off the Feb card. That means no trip.

Speaking of trips, Michele is going to Mexico in February with a group of family and friends. I have opt’d to  stay put. Mexico would not be on my list of places to visit inspite of all the violence that is taking place there every day. No thanks, but knock yourself out.

Crow Multi-Serv Inc.
How could I forget this? This has been a huge time consumer this past fall. Since the evolution of Digital Affair Photo Booth I felt it was time to register as a business. I have enough services going on that they could all it under one umbrella; hence the start of Crow Multi-Serv Inc.  I registered the name and secured the domain name. It is easier said then done, especially today when you almost certainly need a website. That website is currently under construction.
The photo booth is getting more exposure and I anticipate that 2012 will be the break out year as I have pretty much everything ready to go. I did a Christmas party for our good friend Andrea and the reviews have been very positive. Everything worked out well for both of us.

Health wise I have been struggling with a damn kink in my shoulder/back area. I have had lots of treatments from bone cracker, but the nagging pain is not totally gone. I may seek alternative treatments. I also have a bit of cartilage that needs trimmed out of my right knee after I finally got it checked out. We have that procedure lined up for the end of January. It sucks getting old, I know this for sure.

I was asked to capture the Hagersville Santa Claus parade once again by good friend Tim. Tim started this event last Christmas and the community positively responded.  Tim and his committee put a lot of time and energy into the event. This year it was a cold night but not snowing, so that was a plus. It took me a week but on Christmas morning I had a DVD ready for Tim to review. I got the thumbs up! (y)

So that is a quick snap shot of the last 3 months in my life. I will try to get some pics up with in the next month.

Take care and Happy New Year and all the best to you and your family.

Crow

You know you are on top of your game when you make the local newspaper. To my surprise this picture was in the local Hagersville Press. I must admit the colours were eye catching when you approached. I guess all the hard work watering these babies during the hot summer days paid off in the end!

Yes, I am congratulating myself, what’s wrong with that? Unfortunately with the non existence of comments left by you the readers, I am leaving one for myself.

There’s is not much more I can say other than to confirm it has been one year since I made a decision to change my lifestyle. During this past year, I have fielded several questions as to why; why did you quit drinking? The answer may not always come out right as I struggle at times debating how much information people need. I basically say that more good comes out of not drinking, than if I did drink. I know this very well because I have lived on both sides of the fence. I do not regret my decision and I respect others who choose to drink.
For me, I like challenges that are tough to achieve as these are the ones that offer a greater reward. I feel completely satisfied knowing I achieved this goal. My next goal is to continue on this journey and not waiver from the path. You know, I never even had a sniff of a drink this past year. I remember Michele tried a new wine a while back and wondered if I wanted a sip to taste the flavor. I couldn’t do it. I felt that I would have cheated myself and I couldn’t do that.
One thing I have noticed (whether it is coincidental or a direct side effect) is the amount of friends and family we received at the ranch this past year had dropped off the scale. Kinda strange but it is what it is … maybe it has nothing to do with that?

To conclude, I wish that my friends make goals and health decisions that work for them. Reaching goals are a lot easier if you have the commitment to see it through to the end.

Good luck and if you drink, please have a couple for me.

Wow! The weather this thanksgiving weekend was unbelievable with clear skies and hot sunny days. It truly was awesome to be able to ride my bike both Saturday and holiday Monday as I went for 30km rides both days. I changed my route to take me through some rural roads where the autumn leaves were in full color. There were farmers were combining their beans and other areas were calm and quiet. I have told you before how I love to think on my rides and once again I found my ride to be very fruitful with lots of ideas.

As you can see in the picture we had a table full!

Big sis Cyndie and nephew Devan came north to share Thanksgiving weekend with the kin folk. Michele prepared the traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings topped off with her homemade pumpkin pies!
It was nice to spend Thanksgiving with the family as we all shared what we were thankful for on this day.

Well it’s about time eh! Wow it has been almost 3 months since my last update. I can’t apologize because I have been just plain busy and with few comments left on my blog, I really can’t get excited about keeping updates if the readers don’t keep me motivated. Yes folks, it is you who help motivate me, so please leave a quick note if you are visiting.

So, where do I start. This may get random but I will start with recent

Pool is closed! We had a great hot summer and the pool was a blessing to have at our disposal. We used it quite often just by ourselves, although there were days when we had family (Vanderburg girls with babies) and friends drop by for a dip. I was determined I was going to close it labor day weekend but it was very hot out Friday and Saturday so we used it instead of closing. I can’t remember doing that before?

I read a great book this summer! I have been inspired by the book “The Leader Who Had No Title” author Robin Sharma. This is a book that everybody should read as it not only inspires you to be a good employee, but it also awakens your inner soul and inspires you to be better human being.  On the last day of your life will you be filled with accomplishment and satisfaction, or will you be filled with anger and regrets? Seriously when I read this it made me take note and evaluate where I have been and what direction I was heading. MMMmmmm this book was like cotton candy to me. I highly recommend you read it, contact me if you want more info.

Digital Affair Photo Booth has been running awesome. I took in on the road a couple weeks ago and everything went well. It loads up great in the trailer and the trailer pulls well loaded. Since that event, more inquiries are coming in for rental. Gotta luv it when a plan come together.

If you don’t already know, I am a guy who will try to do just about anything before I would pay for it to be done. So when it came to providing more curtain options for my Photo Booth customers, who better to make them than me. I did have the first curtain altered by our neighbor and friend Jill. As I looked on and watched Jill work her skills, I concluded that this was not out of reach for me. In fact, I rose to the challenge. I set out a plan and and began to execute by ordering the main ingredient, a new sewing machine from Costco. I then visited the local fabric shop and picked out material and supplies. I was thinking what have I become? Here I am looking at fabric, thread and needles in amongst little old ladies. It didn’t matter because I was determined to learn and accomplish…. and I think I did a good job on my first curtain. So much that I re-visited my friends at the fabric shop and bought two more colors. I am Rolling now!
Better yet is I also moved up to hemming pants! After a quick You Tube tutorial I was ready. In this picture I am actually hemming Jenna’s school uniform pants! There were a couple of nervous people (Mich & Jenna) wondering what the outcome would be as these were brand new pants and school started in 1 day. Like I said before, I love the challenge. Short story is I did an awesome job, but I have to admit, without the tutorial the results may have been different. I think I earned some points with my wife lol

Our 14 year old daughter Jenna started high school this fall and it didn’t take long before I heard these words “Dad, I need a cellphone but it has to be a BB”. Michele and I had wondered when this moment would come and we pretty much knew it would happen exactly like this. Jenna’s school is about 45 minutes away, so keeping in touch with her on days that she didn’t take the routine bus ride home is a challenge. So last weekend we ventured to the city and picked up a BB for Jenna. We also got new phones for Michele and Grandma as they wanted phones with a full keyboard. Now everybody in this house has their own cell phone and there should be no excuses of poor communication within this family.

The parents!

We had the pleasure of meeting the family of Taylor’s boyfriend Ian,  parents Tom and Jean Bethune and brothers Cory & Phillip. We had invited the family to the ranch for meet and greet and dinner, which would allow us an opportunity to interrogate the family and see if there were any wrinkles in the DNA. We had a great visit as it was a hot Saturday afternoon in September so we sat outside around the patio enjoying stories and laughs. I cooked up some chicken wings and sweet potatoe fries and Michele prepared an awesome pear salad. Deep frying sweet potatoe fries was a first for me so I had to find a recipe on the internet. I was lucky to find a good one which provided a tip for extra crispy fries. Apparently most go soggy when you deep fry, but this turned out great. Jean had brought an awesome desert which we had not had before. It was a nice light lemon and pecan creamy yummy dessert. The meal was a great hit and afterwards we all shared some fun time in the Photo Booth.
We had great time, it was nice to meet the Bethune family and see who Taylor has been spending the other 50% of her time with. I wonder if Tom and Jean seen any DNA issues with the Crozier’s ? lol, I up’d my meds that day.

Today is October 1st if you can believe it. Wow. I cut the lawn wearing two layers of clothing and a coat, it was cold! It is time to clean up and winterize around the ranch, so I better cut this off.

Remember, if your down and not feeling your best or if your dealing with some personal issues, make sure you surround yourself with Family and Friends, not a Fence. Just think about how much better family & friends will make you feel versus a fence.

Take care
Crow

It is Saturday in the summer, and I just thought I would pass along a thought that I had this morning.
Today I was up at 5am. I went to Hamilton to pick up Michele for 6am (she had a sleep over). When we got home I watered the flowers around the pool and in the porta-backyarda. Next I went for my secluded bike ride. I have been riding for the last three weeks. Today I did 24km and when I got back home it was 9am.
I said to Michele…. who is this new guy. Who would have thought I would have done all this by 9am on a Saturday morning?
The Life style change has surely transformed me. Funny thing is I actually enjoyed that bike ride as it’s a nice time to think; and I luv to think!

Just thought I would share that with you. Ever ask yourself, why not you?

There has been lots of talk lately about the space shuttle program coming to an end this week. They had a great run over the last 25+ years. Well I am happy to report that The Digital Affair Photo Booth journey officially blasted off last Saturday evening without a glitch.
I took the booth to a fundraising event at the BR164 Legion where a benefit party was taking place for a family friend. A good size crowd showed up to support and have a good time. The patrons seemed a bit nervous at the start about using the booth, but it wasn’t very long before they were going in and having a ball. Rachel helped coordinate the booth and it ran pretty good. It was good exposure for the booth plus it gave me another chance to look for any needed improvements. I did come up with a few.

Check out the gallery of photos on the digitalaffair.ca website as there are some good ones.I had to laugh when one of my old school buddies actually put the giant soother in his mouth. I guess I have to sterilize the props before the next event, lol.

Remember what I said before, something magical happens when patrons get behind the curtain.
Pass the word on to your family & friends if they are looking for the wow factor at the next event they are hosting.

Crow

Well it is early Friday morning of my second vacation week and I was just thinking of how different this summer is than previous. To list a few changes I have made:
Alcohol free for 9 months: giving will power a test with the hot days of summer! 3 months to go until I hit the one year goal.
Running: Introduced and could barley run .5 km, now up to 2 km non stop. Who me?
Biking: Easier on the knees, I like it. Riding 24 km which surprises the hell out of me.
Benefits are natural weight loss, feeling better, more energy, new clothes! I am slowly getting new clothes but when I am working outside there is a really good chance you will see me with plumbers butt as my work shorts are still a large size and they tend to hang quite a bit. I am short of belts so I apologize if you see my happy bum.

It has been a different kind of summer for me, but I enjoy the challenge and have been enjoying the outdoors.
Oh yeah, the scales have tipped 40 lbs. Good timing as we had family pictures taken a couple weeks ago.

Family Pictures

I had met photographer Tracy Gibbs at a recent wedding where we were both working. She was young, cute and a local gal from Cayuga with a out going personality. I further learned that Tracy had went to school with our nieces and nephew, so she is like family lol. I was telling her about how Michele and I had just celebrated our 25th anniversary and then it hit me; I could hire Tracy and we could get a family portrait done. The last portrait we had done was so long ago I can’t remember when but I know we only had Trev and Taylor and they were pretty young. I ran my idea past Michele and she agreed it would be a good time and a good present to both of us.
Family pictures were booked and we included our extended family to join us; Rachel and Ian and of course Grandma. You can have a look at a few of our photos which Tracy has posted on her blog. Visit Tracy’s Blog
Visit Tracy’s Gibbs Photography website if your considering hiring a professional photographer for any occasion. I made a new friend, hopefully you will too.

Life is all about connections with the people we meet and often how we can help each other. I am glad I met Tracy, she helped me out. I helped her at the wedding we were at, she needed my light! lol.

The Crozier family, started 25 years ago