Last update was:  7/14/2010

 

July 14th, 2010

 

Sandy and Kate got home Sunday evening July 11th. Kate is doing well, but has to be restrained from running and jumping for about six months to make sure there's enough natural growth around the artificial hip joint. That's no easy task for a 1 1/2 year old dog, especially now that the pain is gone.  Sandy has to be with her most all the time. 

 

July 1, 2010

 

Kate had her third hip surgery on June 25th, in New York by the very best and most experienced in the world, specialist in small dog hip replacements. The operation was a success as he replaced the failed rotator cup in her left hip. She now has two artificial hip joints that are working properly. Sandy and Kate will remain in NY (Long Island) until the 11th of July to be sure all is healing well before coming home.

 

June 21, 2010

 

Sandy and Kate leave tomorrow morning by plane for New York to visit a special surgeon there who will fix Kate's displaced artificial hip. We just couldn't leave her limping around with discomfort. Sandy spent over a week doing research to find this specialist who performs hip replacements on small dogs and cats and who is recommended by the hip manufacturer as the best for small animals.  She will be gone for about two weeks and we hope Kate will be fine when she gets home.

 

 

June 12, 2010

 

Sandy and Kate arrived home Thursday.  Kate's problem with her left leg now is with the new hip. Something happened that it popped or slipped out of the correct position and the vet claims there is nothing they can do to fix it. She will always limp somewhat on that leg. She doesn't seem to mind and gets around just fine.  Other than that, all is back to normal and life is good again.

 

 

May 30, 2010

 

On Friday the 28th, Sandy was on her way home with Kate (from visiting her daughters) when Kate tore her left rear knee cap.  Sandy turned west on I-10 instead of east, and headed back to Houston to see Kate's surgeon.  She managed to get there before they closed and the vet confirmed that problem.  Kate will go into surgery on Tuesday morning.  Meanwhile, Sandy is sick in bed in the hotel.  She's been sick for three weeks.

 

May 8th, 2010

 

Tomorrow's Mother's day and I'm very grateful I still have mine. Yup!, we've been together for over 69 years. :-)

 

Griffie is having digestive system problems, but Kate is doing well with her two new hips and one rebuilt knee.

 

March 22nd, 2010

 

A friend of mine Jack Ryals, went fishing this weekend FISH:

Jack Ryals is available for real estate transactions in Melbourne Florida @ National Realty 321*795*7534. He's the best!

 

March 19th, 2010

 

Sandy and Kate arrived home on the 17th in the afternoon.  Kate had the 2nd hip replacement on March 3rd and is doing pretty well. She is now walking on both rear feet well and would take off running if she wasn't restricted. Photos at the bottom of this page HERE.

 

March 16th, 2010

 

Two members of the first band I ever played with back in '63 came to visit at the Man Cave. There was a full four piece band to entertain us, Organ, Drums, Guitar, and Sax with the sax player and guitarist singing. It was wonderful to visit and party with my lifetime friends, Mel (Mousy) Erickson, and Dick (Tweety) Lupien.Several local friends came to join us.  The music was great and the social we wonderful. Photos HERE:

 

March 8th, 2010

 

On February 22nd, Sandy left for Houston again with Kate. Kate wasn't using her new right side hip very much and the vet thought she should have physical therapy. So off she went. On March 3rd, the surgeon replaced Kate's left hip joint and she is now recovering in Houston.  Sandy and Kate will stay there until the surgeon removes the stitches and gives her the o.k. to head back to Florida. After six weeks at home she will have to go back to Houston for evaluation and possibly physical therapy again for a couple of weeks.

 

January 25th, 2010

 

As stated previously, I sold the most recent RV. It went to a very nice couple, Wally and Karen. They've been to Vegas to the Consumer Electronics show and stopped in Quartzsite.  While there they took a photo of the rig. Here it is: Click

 

January 25th, 29010

 

Sandy is still in Houston with Kate and said Kate is doing pretty well.  Today she put some weight on her foot.  That's very good considering she had Patella rebuild and a complete hip replacement just 56 days ago.  Sandy thinks they'll be ready to head home by Friday.They are driving!

 

January 12, 2010: Last evening Kate while jumping up and down on her hind legs, tore a knee ligament off her right knee. This morning when they x-rayed it they also found that both her hips are deformed from birth and she will eventually have to have hip replacements. I'm just sick about it.  She's barely a year old and already she's in pain.

 

Sandy will leave for Houston as soon as the surgen there can fix her knee, probably around a week from now. IN the mean time Kate has to live in a crate to keep her from doing further damage.

 

January 3rd, 2010: My brother Rick from Tucson came by with his wife Irene to visit for a few hours. We had a nice time and he entertained us playing the guitar and singing. My nephew John and family joined us. It was very nice!

 

December 23rd, 2009: The Christmas party at the Man Cave was awesome! If you missed it, you missed the best party of the year. Sonny Petrillo did two Sinatra shows. Kenny Michaels sat in with the band and did a soul music review with Paul Santa Maria on lead guitar. Kenny Clarke played Hammond organ, Tommy DeQuartro on drums and Mark Korpi on guitar and vocals were the house band (so to speak). They were awesome! 

 

September 10th, 2009: Sold the RV today. I'm done traveling for a while. Thought I wanted to do that again, but realized I don't.

 

Sandy is still in TN trying to get her mother's old house fixed so she can close it up for the winter.

 

The boys are here in FL with me and doing fine. kate is with Sandy in TN and doing fine.

 

July 15th, 2009: Sandy's youngest daughter Sarah, is coming to visit for a few days with her first child - Sandy's first grandson.

 

July 12th, 2009: Griffie and Affie got their teeth cleaned.

 

June 20th, 2009: We bought another RV. It's a bit larger than the last one, but lots smaller than what we've used to.  This one has 3 slide out so there's quite a bit of room when camped.  Photos on Photos page under 2008 BT Cruiser! We hope to meander up the coast sometime this summer. A few miles a day and lots of local food!

 

 

April 2nd, 2009: Joe's DogHouse Garage is about complete and we've had some very successful band rehearsals. See photos page: Art Festival and Garage Band 1, Also, take a look at the series of photo albums covering the conversion from warehouse to playhouse.

 

Kate is growing and she chases Affie around all the time. Affie has lost 3 pounds in the last two months (he's also on a low carb diet). Griffie is a grouch and doesn't want anything to do with her, but he'll come around.

 

February 16th, 2009: Okay, so we're nuts! Today we got another baby - a female Brussels Griffon puppy 15 weeks old. Her name is Kate. Affie and Griffie are not happy about having a stranger puppy in the house, but they'll get used to it and love her too.  We'll talk some photos tomorrow and post them from the Photos page index, and give her her own page from the index on the left. See "Kate"

 

January 23rd, 2009: There are some new photos of the garage conversion project being posted tomorrow. However, I've decided on a new name for the garage: 'Joe's DogHouse', for a couple of reasons. One: my boys will be with me there frequently and two: is obvious. :-)

 

January 20th, 2009: The holidays have come and gone and my project at this time is to convert some warehouse space into a personal garage and playroom. A Man-Cave some would call it! You can follow along with the progress. Go to the Photo Albums page and scroll down to Joe's Garage pages.

 

Griffie is doing very well with his hips and he is free of the itchy blisters he was troubled with most of his life. Affie is also doing very well, but a little heavy. Sandy is doing great with tennis and is winning frequently.

 

Today we have a new president who is going to fix everything. Just remember this: 

 

"The government cannot give to anyone anything 

that it does not first take away from someone else!"  

 

 

September 27th, 2008: Where has this year gone?  Fall is upon us and it's cooling down here in FL - good motorcycle weather now until mid-December, then its a bit chilly in the morning and evening. Griffie is doing better. His nose is healing nicely. Sandy is doing well with tennis and my organ playing is getting better. It'll never be good enough for me. I'm thinking about starting another business for something to do. I seem to be busy enough in retirement, but have a need to be productive.

 

September 5th, 2008: Good news so far, Griffie still doesn't have cancer.  All the tests aren't back yet, but there's no cancer.  We are very happy! 

 

September 2nd, 2008: Griffie had surgery again on his nose.  The vets don't know why bumps keep growing on it and other parts of his body, but hopefully with this biopsy compared to the last one, they'll figure it out.  He has to go back on the 16th for follow up work.

 

July 31st, 2008: Quit the Eau Gallie Yacht Club and needless to say why here.

 

July 15th, 2008: Sold the little RV.  We aren't using it and it doesn't look like we have much interest in traveling any more.  

 

July 13th, 2008: A couple of months ago I bought a new Harley (again).  Here's a photo: HERE

April 6th, 2008:  Good news; the bump removed from Griffie's nose is not cancerous.

 

March 27th, 2008: Griffie had to have surgery again. There was a bump growing on the side of his nose we had removed and sent for a biopsy. The vet who did the stem-cell procedure took a scraping and was supposed to send it for a biopsy a month ago didn't send it out and the bump was getting larger since.

 

March 11, 2008: Griffie seems to be doing fine!

 

March 7th, 2008: Griffie got his stitches out and he is a happy boy!

 

February 29, 2008: Griffie had the stem-cell procedure on his left hip this week.  Monday they removed some fat from his groin area and Thursday they injected the processed cells into his hip.  He's limping since the injections, but gradually getting over the soreness.  He and the process will be evaluated at the 30, 60, and 90 day points to see if it's working to correct his arthritis.  He's doing fine, but the challenge is to keep him from licking the incision area and chewing out the stitches.

 

February 7th, 2008: Griffie was evaluated for a stem-cell procedure to his left hip and it will be performed in 10 days.  We are hoping it will cure or at least relieve the arthritis in that hip.  We'll post the results ASAP.

 

Dec. 31st, 2007 through Jan. 20th, 2008: Visited friends and relatives in Tucson. It took three weeks going and coming in the new RV. Traveled mostly the side roads through the Florida panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi, and LA.  Stopped in New Orleans, but the weather was terrible and it was Sugar Bowl day so we didn't go to the Cafe du Monde.  However, we did stop there on the way back and the weather was very nice.  There is a lot of rebuilding along the beaches through AL and MS.  Most of the old southern mansions are gone and new high-rise condos are being built.  The beaches have been rejuvenated and look great.

 

November 20th, 2007: We went to the Florida Keys for the week to give the new RV a shakedown.  It worked out fine and the little Mercedes diesel got around 15 miles to the gallon.  The nicest thing about it is that it's small and can go just about anywhere a car can.

 

November 13th, 2007: We bought a small RV so we can go places with the boys.  It's a Winnebago View.  You can see one here: Winnebago View We bought the 24J model.

 

October 19th, 2007:  As new members of the Eau Gallie Yacht Club, (pronounced 'O golly') we went there for lunch yesterday.  The people (employees) were happy to have us and were very nice.  However, twice they overcooked my cheeseburger, served a bad draught beer as the first glass (probably the first pour of the day) and got the check wrong twice.  Other than that, it was very nice.  Sandy already knows several of the members as she and they are in the Brevard Symphony Orchestra guild, so we feel comfortable there already.

 

October 18th, 2007: Griffie is doing fine now.  His rash is just about gone and he's much happier and playful.  Today we will go to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club for our orientation and finish the membership process.  The house upgrade is nearly done and the new dining room set should be delivered Thursday. I'll take photos and build a new page in the photo section around Christmas when Sandy's family is here.  There are two new pages in process.  "Self-centered" - from the Index page, and "Memories" of my boating friends from Key Biscayne around the early to mid 80s.  That page is accessible from the "Photos" page.

 

October 14th, 2007: Griffie is doing much better running and playing and his rash is almost gone.  This evening will be our first Yacht Club function - Member Mixer

 

October 8th, 2007: Griffie had his cholesterol tested today and it's down 140 points (over a three week period).  That's good news as we can expect that it will drop further in the next three weeks, and hopefully back to normal.  He has new medication for his rash and something to keep it from itching.  He is playful and doing some running in the house.  It looks like he'll return to normal soon.

 

October 7th 2007: Griffie's knee is healing, but his leg is easily hurt if he moves wrong. His rash is back and he doesn't seem to feel very well.

 

September 27th, 2007: Our application for membership to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club here in Indian Harbour Beach, has been accepted.  Now all I have to do is decide if I accept them and if it's worth it.

 

September 17th, 2007: Sandy and Griffie arrived home safely.

 

September 14th, 2007: Sandy and Griffie left Houston for home.  We expect they will arrive by Sunday.

 

September 13th, 2007,  Update on Griffie:  His knee is healing very nicely.  There's good news and some not-so-good news about his blood!  The good news is he doesn’t have Cushing’s disease, but the not-so-good news is they still don’t know what’s wrong with him. They're sending him home for six weeks with a new special diet. In six weeks he has to go back to Houston for more testing. The vets are hoping with six weeks of rest at home, total recovery from the surgery, and a new diet he'll show some improvement in his Lipids.  Thanks for being concerned! It means a lot to Sandy and me ‘cause you all know how much we love our little boys.

 

September 2007: We will assemble and add two new sections to this site one each about each of our dogs from pups to date - Griffie and Affie.

 

September 2007: The redecorating and upgrading of the house is coming along while Sandy is in Houston.

 

August / September 2007: Sandy is in Houston with Griffie for surgery to his right knee.  He tore a ligament off his knee cap. In doing the blood test they found he has high lipids so Sandy and Griffie will stay in Houston until they can find the cause.

 

Between June and August 2007: Sold the two Lowrey organs and the Hammond A-100, and bought a new Hammond B3 with Leslie.  I love the B3, but doubt there are enough years left to learn to play it well.

 

July 2007: Instead of building a new home here in FL we've decided to upgrade this four year old house with some modifications and all new furniture. We like the location and under FL law, our real estate taxes will remain relatively low and only can increase at the rate of 3% a year. Moving to another home would cause us to loose that benefit. (It a bit complicated.)

 

June 2007: Sold the house in TN.

 

May 2007: Sold the Prevost bus RV

 

March 2007: Sandy is back in Florida with the two boys (my dogs who I love more than life). We've decided to sell the home in TN as it's too cold there in the winter and too hot in the summer. Now we'll build a new home here in FL as soon as the house there sells.  We'll probably sell the Prevost (bus RV) too.

 

Lately, I've been trying to learn to play the organ between my going to the gym and getting back in shape.  Now I have three organs and an electric Yamaha piano.  Good grief, I never know when to stop buying things I enjoy. :-)    

 

Update: On March 31st, 2006, my dad passed away in Tucson where he was living.  The oldest of two boys and the second oldest of the family (five girls and two boys) he out-lived them all. He was 89 on January 1st, 2006.  My dad was a great guy who always tried to help people and who loved animals like no one else I've ever know.  He was my best buddy and I will miss him greatly.

 

Update 11/6/2005 - Ya' know! I'll be 65 January 7th, 2006.  I've retired three times and they just don't seem to stick.  I'm about done with this Internet business and will sell it soon. My plan is to be retired (like normal people) when I reach my 65 birthday. I've had a wonderful life and accomplished so very much more than I ever imagined possible. There's been periods of retirement at a young age whereby I've been able to live life like it should be (enjoy life while young and then work later). Life is good for a guy who was kicked out of high school in my senior year as a loser.  I have a beautiful lady and two wonderful dogs, and financial security to enjoy the rest of my life with.  Everything worked as planned!