Restricting physical activity, oops he did it again, this sucks

Since I  just had my shoulder cut into on Tuesday I was supposed to still be very careful with my physical activity so I don’t inadvertently rip the sutures. (not that it matters now, more later) So the first two days after the surgery I laid low, skipped the gym, etc.  Friday I went back to the gym and had no major issues.  This weekend I restricted my activity by painting the front concrete deck, cleaning out the shed/garage, and redecking the outside deck.  How’s that for restricted?  Yes I did more than you would expect only a few days after surgery but the good news is I only did it because the wound felt fine, it must be healing well.

It was a pretty exhausting weekend.  I wanted to repaint the front deck to match the trim that was repainted last year.  This also was in anticipation of getting the front door landing screened in.  I used the same concrete/stucco paint that I used on the trim.  This is special paint that has an elastic agent that allows it to stretch. 

To prepare the area I cleaned it off with the pressure washer and allowed it to dry.  Then I used my little roller seat to sit on as I painted the concrete with a combination of brush and roller.  I didn’t worry much about the line between the wall and the pad since repainting the outside of the house is also on the to do list.

Getting the first coat on wasn’t bad.  Applying a second coat was more of a challenge since I didn’t want to stand on it.  Instead I was on my hands and knees besides the pad reaching as far as my gorilla length arms would reach.  I got it done although it wasn’t without ample amounts of grunting and groaning.

I noticed that the monthly cleaning project for January was the shed.  We have been doing a piss poor job of adhering to the monthly cleaning project initiative that ironically was implemented by Ali a couple years ago.  If I don’t initiate the cleaning project it hasn’t been happening. 

So anyway I pulled stuff out of the shed and swept it out.  The project morphed into something even bigger as I migrated some more items that formerly resided in the garage to the sheds as well.  Slowly I have been emptying out the garage so it will have the space necessary to house two vehicles in it eventually. COUGH, CAMARO, COUGH

Anyway these projects ate up the majority of the remaining daylight hours. Saturday night we just drilled through some material on Tivo.

Sunday was another busy and even more laborious day.  We agreed to get the material to address another item on the “list”, redoing the outside deck.  The decking was very beat (on the one side) from the 5 or so years in the harsh Florida conditions.  My goal for awhile had been to replace the deck with the plastic composite “lumber” made by Trex.  I’m sure you have seen this decking in the home superstores.  If you happened to see it you may have also seen the price tag, the stuff is VERY expensive, at least double if not close to triple the cost of pressure treated lumber of the same size.

The advantage of Trex is it should basically last forever.  It won’t splinter, crack or rot over time.  As time has gone on, I find that I am more inclined to spend more money for materials that don’t wear out as opposed to something I have to redo every few years.  The less maintenance the better as far as I’m concerned.

While we were at Home Depot in addition to seventeen 12 foot sections of Trex we also loaded up with various other items that loaded down the Tacoma to the max.  The 12 foot sections hung way out beyond the tailgate and bounced in a way that did give me much reassurance.  Luckily we managed to get everything home without anything falling/blowing out the back.

Replacing the deck wasn’t technically difficult, it just involves cutting and screwing, lots of screwing.  By the time I got done my hands were raw from driving a couple hundred screws in with the power drill.  The screws they use for composite lumber have a stupid square socket.  They provide you a custom bit to use.  It strips out way too easily.  I would have much preferred a star or even a phillips head pattern.  I had to keep the majority of my weight on top of the drill to keep it from stripping the head.

I finished up as sunset was approaching.  Ali set up the two new cheap chairs and table we bought on the deck.  I enjoyed a beer as we sat there with the dogs watching the sky start to light up.  Ali and I were both very happy the way the deck turned out.  Hopefully we get some more use out of it now.

Sunday night I watched the Vikings/Saints game.  The game lived up to it’s billing.  There was a lot of action including a TON of mistakes.  I could not believe how many fumbles went down.  However the mistakes on both sides balanced out and the game was tied at 28 with a couple minutes to go.  The Vikings got the ball and promptly marched down the field.

They were within long field goal range.  Brett Farve who took a beating the entire game had the ball on third down.  He was flushed out to his right.  He had an easy 10 yards of open space in front of him that he could have run for.  Instead he committed the cardinal sin of quarterbacks, he threw back across his body. This bonehead move resulted in a crushing interception, squandering a golden opportunity for the Vikings to win the game.

The game went to OT, the Saints won the toss and promptly scored, game over.  The game seemed strangely familiar to 2007 when Farve threw a back snapping INT against the Giants in the NFC Championship which also lead to his team’s demise.

I felt weird about seeing Farve go down in flames once again.  Part of me was cheering for the old guy to complete what would be a fairytale season. However there was another, bigger part of me that was glad to see Farve fail after all of his ridiculous retirement / unretirement soap opera.  I lost a ton of respect for him these last couple years as a result.  I’m sure once again the bullshit will start back up all over again, will he return or not….

So this morning I had an unpleasant trip to the dentist.  The dentist has declared that it is time for my old silver fillings to come out as there was decay under one of them.  Well today I was scheduled to have two more popped out and replaced with composite fillings.

I didn’t have the normal female dentist I prefer, instead I had another female dentist that was brought in a few years ago to help with the workload.  Well I think in the future I am going to insist on seeing only MY preferred dentist.

I’ve had a few of these fillings replaced before and it was a painless process.  Today was not.  I don’t know if this woman is not as adept at administering Novocaine or is just rougher with a drill but there were several times I was squeezing the arms of the chair, HARD.  It was not a fun time.  The great news is I have another 4 or 5 that are scheduled to be replaced yet.

When I got back to the office I got even more great news.  There was a message from the dermatologist office to call them.  The woman tells me that the sample of skin that was sent out revealed that all of the cancer was not taken out. Although I knew what this meant I repeated it to the woman, “So this means I have to get the same area cut into again??” Yep. I hung up as I though to myself , “Well that f’ing sucks.”

I was excited that my wound was healing quickly.  Now it didn’t mean shit since it was all going to happen again in a few weeks. Plus it was a bit worrisome that with as much flesh as he took out he still didn’t get all of the cancer.  Needless to say I’m not a happy camper right now.