Aug 1/2 - from the hotspot

I'm at the wireless hotspot in Starbucks in Parry Sound right now ... why am I here ? Well, that's because Aaron has had a recurrence of his irregular heartbeat problem so I've taken him into the Parry Sound hospital this a.m. He's fine ... put up with it all night ... but it's gone on too long so ... into the hospital we go. I really should back up though and keep this in chronological order ...

Ok. Aug 1st ... Saturday. We got an email from Jeffrey at 7am that he was on the road. That was the good news -- his car had been fixed (cat's going) and he'd left. Then we heard from him that he'd stopped, returned to get his EZPass, stopped again because Emma had gotten sick all over herself in the back seat, hit the road again, Emma got sick again -- but this time he continued on after getting some advice from Mom re ginger ale etc. Long story short -- or long story long -- he had a long trip of 16 hours including stopping a number of times for Emma, a long wait at the border, you name it. It's tough traveling with an almost-2-year-old by yourself. Sara couldn't get the entire time off work so she's flying up Tuesday after work.

Jeffrey and Emma were tired, too tired. It was a long night for both of them as a result, since Emma didn't sleep well. In addition, Jeffrey made a huge mistake, forgetting to call Sara to tell her that he'd arrived. Sandy would have given me heck for that too. They were both up and about on Sunday, but the day was a bit disjointed for Emma I'm sure since she had a couple of random naps.

That was the Jeffrey & Emma saga.

I don't remember whether I mentioned it in the previous blog, but Philip got in after 8pm sometime while David, Meagan, Keri and I were out fishing. I did not get to visit with him much that evening because when I got back of course I was filleting fish all night. Did I say yucch ?

The kids played in the water on Saturday; I got out the Bayliner and took Olivia wake-boarding; the kayaks got a lot of use; I built the table out of the 4x8 sheet of plywood; went to Mass; deep fried a turkey -- the day rushed by. What didn't I do ? Well, I opted to NOT go biking since that would have taken me away too long.

Philip got in a ride with his mountain bike on Osprey Road and the bush trails.

For most of the day Saturday Ira and Meagan were soul-mates, prowling the waterfront with a net and trying to find minnows to catch. They did catch some frogs, a clam (they don't move very quickly !), and generally had fun. All the kids got good use out of the kayaks. We had our two out as well as two from Jim and Bonnie. On Sunday Stef & Aaron's two came down from the barn so there was a veritable flotilla of kayaks.

The turkey was excellent -- much better than the first time that I'd done this. I think that later in the week we'll be doing chicken wings, making good use of the peanut oil again that I brought up from Orlando. I saved a few liters in another container that will be good for fondue later in the year.

Stef, Aaron and Lauren arrived just in time for the turkey dinner and the noise level increased. It's good noise -- talking, dogs having fun, general family hubbub. Now if it went on all year ... hmmm ... but then it's something that you get used to. Also, it was better than last time since the basement being finished adds soundproofing (drop ceiling) and TV being downstairs as well as upstairs gets the gang away from the open area. The Wii is downstairs too, so any Wii'ing, which is generally noisy, is also not in the open area. Later that evening, 11pm-ish, Jeffrey arrived and ... the gang's all here ! -- except for Sara and Philip's Meagan. I think that at this point we're doomed to never having everyone, absolutely everyone, together at the same time. I'll have to work at photoshop to make up family pictures !

I hit the sack soon after Jeffrey arrived. I was played out. Others stayed up until 1am or so.

Sunday morning dawned cool but sunny. Philip and I had coffee in the gazebo. Meagan came down to tell us that "she had a plan" -- she was going canoeing. I told her that we don't have canoes. She was going kayaking. A few minutes later she told us that she had a plan -- she was going canoeing. I told her that we don't have canoes. She was going kayaking. I'm repeating myself ? Yes, she was repeating herself. I think that after a couple of tries, all in good fun, she's got it ! Kids are funny. She is as focussed as Ira.

I went for a bike ride. The roads were wet so I decided to use the Hummer. I bustled about getting it ready. Getting to the narrows I set off -- darn, forgot my glasses was my first reaction to the wind in my face -- darn, forgot my helmet too ! Without a helmet, I decided to just go to 69 and back, so my planned 70 mile ride shrunk to 34. Oh well. I pushed the 34 to make up for the fact that I wasn't going as far, thinking that I'd get out for a longer ride the next day. Of course the "next day" is me here in Starbucks -- but realistically I wasn't going for a long ride today either since it's supposed to rain -- but I do see blue sky ...

Another day rushed by. It's just as well that I wasn't gone for 5 hours. After getting back and getting cleaned up, I got out the Bayliner again and took the kids tubing. It was quite windy and rough so the little ones -- Meagan, Daniel, Keri and Lauren tired quickly. Aaron got himself thoroughly chilled windsurfing -- which is probably what had triggered this irregular heartbeat thing -- it was a "brain freeze" from an iced latte or something that did it to him the last time.

Of course much happened in between though ... back to the story.

I smelled a distinct sewer odor. Oh no. I opened up the effluent tank and my heart sank (but not into the tank) because effluent was way up into the second large well tile. It should never get beyond 3/4 of the first -- literally 2+ feet of water in these tiles translates into a few hundred gallons of effluent. I checked the breaker and found that it had tripped. It's a GFCI. I reset it ... and it tripped again. Oh oh. I got an extension cord and plugged the pump into the shed -- whew, it ran. It took the better part of 15 minutes to pump all that up to the weeping bed -- that would have been the largest flood of effluent in a long time, I'm sure -- and then the float shut off the pump. So far so good. Later in the day I reset the breaker again, and it didn't trip, but the pump is still plugged into the shed. One of these times septic problems are going to shut us down, but not this time and not last New Year's Eve ... but one of these times. I don't have a mechanism for draining that effluent tank either, other than dropping a submersible utility pump in and pumping into the bush -- don't want to do that. I should come up with an alternative as a backup, because it that pump fails at any point I'm sunk -- not into the effluent, thank goodness, but sunk anyway. If there was a "T" at the effluent pipe that runs to the bed I could pump up into that "T". with a garden hose. I'll add that to my list of future projects !

So ... with that much liquid in the effluent tank, the septic tank must have been seeping right out of the lid at the top into the ground. The pump in the basement would continue to empty the sump and increase the level of the effluent tank until it ran over or the back pressure from effluent to septic caused the top of the septic to lift the earth on top of it -- that wouldn't be a pretty sight !

I remember a conversation with Chris the electrician about that GFCI breaker. He said ... and this is paraphrasing, not a quote ... that after inspection (which never happened), I should replace the GFCI with a regular breaker because if that ever tripped I'd have no way of knowing that I was about to have a problem. Yes, I remember that conversation. I'll add that to my list of things to do -- yes, I will -- that's at least easier than digging out the effluent line down three feet in the ground, or putting in a warning bell !

As I was standing over the effluent tank watching the level go down -- which took more than 15 minutes -- Tracy and Susan arrived. When I went inside Susan was getting a tour. Uncle Phil and Aunt Ruth arrived shortly after, with Christine & Maurice and Steven and Paul -- their two boys. The boys ended up using the kayaks -- by that time we had six in the water / on the beach (that flotilla). Ira isn't that comfortable with large crowds so he kept to himself much of the afternoon ... but after dinner David and I took Ira and Daniel fishing. I'll come back to that.

We had a great visit with the representative Phil Thompson and Tomenson gang present, getting updates on what's happening in the families. The Phil Thompson gang -- six of them -- left shortly after 5pm, but not before we'd taken a group picture. I'll have to get that processed and loaded. Tracy mentioned that at her graduation (Masters program) surprise party in CA that her dad had shown up -- what a wonderful surprise and reunion -- so that was part of the conversation. It's amazing when you think about the fact that they had to negotiate with Tracy's high school teachers for marks to get her out of high school ... and now she's about to start a PhD. No wine shall be served before it's time ...

Hamburgs and numerous salads made for dinner and we were finished soon enough to go fishing. It was a very successful trip -- 3 catfish (yes, I'm getting better at these) -- and a bunch of crappie -- totaled 1 pound 14 oz of fillets. Daniel caught a small pike that we let go -- 14-16 inches -- Ira was the last one to get a bite -- his only of the night -- but it got away. I think that David caught the most fish, but I lost track. That are sure produces action -- for me, much better than sitting somewhere and only catching a pickerel every few nights if I'm lucky.

The minnows were dying faster than we were using them. Mike Davies told me that in captivity the stress affects their immune systems -- well, they were falling prey to something -- I'll have to get some more today if I'm back soon enough. I expect that 2/3 of the minnows died from "natural causes" if you can call this natural causes -- as opposed to dying from a hook through them.

Cleaning didn't take quite as long, but it was still late. Philip said his goodbyes, since he was going to be leaving whenever he woke up. Aaron mentioned that he heard Philip around 4am. Before I went to bed, however, Aaron told me that he was having this problem again. I got some aspirin from Jason -- that's one of the things that they give him, along with beta blockers and an IV -- but at 5am Aaron woke me up it was to tell me that it was still going on. His heart isn't racing -- more like 50-70 due to the great shape that he's in -- but irregular the same. After I post this I'll head over to the hospital and see how he's doing -- probably "text" him in the meantime to see if he's plugged in.

We got to the hospital and amazingly enough there were a half-dozen people in the waiting room at 6:30 a.m. Before Aaron could send me a test text message though, they were taking him in. I guess that they don't fool around with heart issues ...

The sky is almost completely clear. Who knows, it might turn out to be a good day -- hopefully the hospital will help Aaron get this under control without a lot of fanfare. One of these days he may find out what causes this and have a way to control it ... or not ... it's not life-threatening, but shouldn't be left too long.

So ... our numbers have dropped -- with Philip and Olivia leaving that leaves us at 11. Tomorrow night Sara arrives ... back to 12. Wednesday, Sheryl and Jimmy will take us to 14. Arlene leaves and Wayne and Mary, Willie and maybe Mark ... we'll be up and down all week.

Onward ...