Goodbye Dad

Kenneth John Kalishek, March 20, 1942 – March 8, 2021

So, the long ride to and from Memphis with the emotions stacked was very much a tiring ordeal.

Dad was cocooned in a “bed” that allowed them to rotate him, and apparently they had him sleeping face down, as his numbers were better that way, but it caused his nose to be a red bloody mess. My first visit, we got no real response from him, but he was still under the sedation used at night. The nurse for him, Nelson, said he’d responded right after rotating him but didn’t think he’d be “around” until later. My middle sis had also driven up from Atlanta and went up a after I had left (limit of 2 visitors), and got a squeeze of the hand from him in response to questions. My other 2 sisters also got responses from him (they’d both been up several times already), and they Face Timed with my Nephews, so they could say their love.

Monday was still up in the air on how it was to work, but a Nurse Practitioner ensured us she would get all us kids into his room with Mom so we all could be there. The doctor was also up for this plan, so she had no worries, he said he would take any heat for violating silly rules. Mom and I went in early (before we were certain all of us would be allowed in) and they had gotten Dad out of the mummy bed, and he was a touch more aware. Nelson had move the nurse monitors out into the hall, and other than is regular routine, left us to visit with him. He gave me a squeeze when we told him the tubes were coming out, the N.P. got my sisters in (the people controlling the access to the place also were lenient allowing all 3 girls to check in and get their arm bands at once, even though it is two at a time only, and Ma and I were already there), we had a bit more of a visit, and we got a few more replies, especially after saying the time was near to remove the intubation. At 12:30, Mom told them she was ready for it to be removed, they got it out at about 15 minutes later, and about 45 minutes after he breathed his last. The nurse who had spent most of the time with him came in (to hug Mom and say his quick goodbye), and left to notify the doctor. Mom and one sis left to use the restroom and the TV that had been on suddenly went to static. My other two sisters said Dad finally got to turn off the thing. His doctor came in, did the final checks and verified the death. Passed his condolences, and we left them to dealing with him. Saturday we bought Pizzas, but the rest of my time there we were fed by Ma and Dad’s friends (which was continuing after I left) and much great food was on hand. We were infested by Southern Ladies. cake cookies, brownies, cheesecake, lemon pie, oh my

I want to thank the Doctors and Nurses of the Memphis V.A. hospital. They, and most of the administration people did their very best. Thanks to Mom and Dad’s friends, who fed us. And thanks to everyone here and elsewhere who offered their prayers and condolences in this difficult time.

Now the silly. Dad’s wishes were no funeral services, and to be cremated. Mom and middle Sis got the Funeral home set up and once everything was set up, they went to acquire the body and the driver was told no such body was available. He called his office, they called us, we called the V.A. and the morgue lady hit the ceiling, demanded to know who said he wasn’t there. It turned out to be a driver for a competing funeral home trying to poach the body. We were in a bad ’70s comedy movie for a bit.
Again, thanks, y’all

old news

Yeah, I don’t post much. I comment

Should get a roof on here before winter, once it is done, I can go adhd on anything else or do nothing and feel less guilty. I can also get decent insurance for the house. Roof too old so they wont give me good coverage.

Not much else changed here.

Oi oy hoi

So. How goes?

I’ve been workin’ on the rail roa. . .  err . . .Garage all the live long evenings and weekends so I can fix an oil leak on the  “Black” motorcycle (rode bike and it was fine, parked it for a few days, ride to work, and oil pours out. WTF?) so I can change the clutch in my truck (gee, only 160,000 miles plus on that clutch. Why’s it need replacing?) so’s I can finish working on the other motorcycle (A freaking year and some it has been in need of fixing) and by then I can get back to working on the inside of the house. I built a new work bench in the northwest corner, added outlets, some cabinets, and lighting. I would also like to add more peg board and a folding work bench to the south wall, but not needed at this time to get me work space.

Ah, well.

At least work sucks.

Um, Ouch

So, yesterday, I thought I should probably make some sort of update about things here, but I didn’t get around to it, then got a bit of a headache, so I went to bed a bit early, say 7:45pm or so.
Woke at maybe 10:30pm to a pain in my lower back.
Got worse.
Got really worse.
To the E.R. worse. Cold and painful drive, but closer than it would have been in Texas, luckily.
Before drugs got into me it got bad enough to nauseate me, so I filled one bag.
Kidney stone likely so instead of Morphine, the doc had the nurse give me something else. CAT scan confirmed, no infection once I was able to give a urine sample (dry as a bone until 2 liters of saline were I.V.ed into me) so no antibiotics prescribed. One for urine flow, and one for the pain. I.V was wearing off so pills were given to me so I could drive home, getting here about 2:30am, then take the pain pill and blessed sleep again. Woke about 6:00am.
Think it might have passed, but still some pain there, and I’ve got a scrip to fill.
I worry as the doc has a clear signature (~_^)

So, an update of some sort eventually, but for now, a whine.
Want cheese with that?

I’m In

My new home. I’ve finally gotten moved into my own house.

The cats are happy. new nooks and crannies to search out and hide in.

Now to get fully unpacked.

and buy a few things I really need.

and fix a few more things.

and. and.

It never ends. But it’s MINE.

as long as I pay the taxes.

I’ve moved

So, the big move came . . . finally.

I got up here on the 14th of May and started work on the 16th.

All my stuff is packed still, as I bought a house, but am renting as well, because I bought a HUD home for Cash (well I loaned myself the money), and need to do a few things before I can move into the place. For the most part it is fine, if a bit old and somewhat worn, but I need a refrigerator, it will need a roof soon (no leaks though), and I need to sort out some of the electrical. They updated a lot of the wiring, but then afterward it looks like someone ran power to some of the 1949 wiring to get power out to the garage. I will trip all the breakers, find what that is on, and sort accordingly.

Well, anyhow, I got the locks changed, and will get blinds for the windows.

Hey, you know that bit about “If I didn’t need the Work …”

Well, my job is moving and I will be moving with it when ever it does. I guess I could ask Da Yoopers to change the lyrics to “Because I need the work, I had to move back here, to be back home on the last frontier”
That last rant about folks leaving the place and positions not filled came to a head and the parent corp. decided to shut down operations at our location.
Some jobs move to Port Arthur, Texas, others are moving to Wisconsin and it is right on the border with the good ol’ U.P.
I can be a Yooper again.
I looked at living in Wisconsin but going to Michigan I can get an “Enhanced” drivers license and hop over to Canukistan without the need of a passport (maybe do the round Lake Superior run for a vacation or something.

Thing is, I currently have no clue as to a time line.
A year to 18 months is all we got at the announcement.
Not entirely happy about leaving Texas, but I’ll be about an hour south of what I still think of as Home (where I spent 18 of my now 49 years)m and a few more relatives will be closer than right now (one sis lives near me, the folks are in Memphis with one other sis there, and my third sis living in the Atlanta area) with several Aunts, uncles and cousins all still living in that area.

I’ll miss the Texas BBQ, riding 365 days a year, and 75-85 mph speed limits.
I wont miss days like recently where although it isn’t over 100f the “real feel” heat index is 110f because of all the rain we’ve gotten.

Well, that’s all for now folks.

Bit of an Update. Okay, it’s a whine/minor rant. You’ve been warned.

Work has been hell. I’ve never been a fan of working for a major corporation. They tend to do the lowest common denominator with solutions, and either overreact or ignore situations.
Anyhow, a while back, they fired the salesman/manager of my department … I could see why. Liked the guy, but yeah. BTW, they still list him as the contact for sales and marketing … oops.
They fobbed some of his duties off onto the manager responsible for making the stuff I deal with to make stuff.
Then, they fired my supervisor for following the instructions of that manager they fired. That guy was okay, but really didn’t know what I did fully, but then didn’t really need too. But they again fobbed his work onto that same manager who already was doing someone else’s work. I was told (can’t get the website to work to confirm) they never listed his job for a replacement. It was suggested I take the position … not just no, but hell no.
In this time period they also fired a guy for doing something ordered by the previous owner well before they bought us out. Yeah, that was stretching things a good bit.
Remember the manager who got all those extra duties? well only one minor one got added to him from this but it wasn’t like he needed it, and well the fired guy was who he went to to get the solutions for that duty. Then he didn’t like the way things were going, got a hinky feeling, and decided to go elsewhere. So now I have no direct bosses left who have a clue as to what I do and what to do if there is an issue in my, or the foam department.
One of the day shift guys moved over to testing, so one of the shipping guys moved over to production.
Then, one of the guys working the second shift with me quit as well (it was on the same week he and the manager gave their notices) leaving me and one other guy the only ones on that shift. With a major order in the other dept I didn’t do my work much and worked overtime, and went in on one of my days off. They did bring in a temp so they were actually over staffed on days, but two are trainees. The temp has been slotted into the nights position. Hope he works out. I’d like to take vacation soon.
This extra work has caused much running about and that has been rough on the joints.

Now for other things
After the last post (yeah, don’t expect them too regularly) I did get a riding mower.
Used it today. Far better mowing acres with it then a 21″ push mower.

Been riding my first ST1100 lately. The second one needs some attention, and has hit 99,000 miles. I was going to get the CB400 onto the roads, but Texas is changing the inspection laws and I will wait to see how that works. It is now ready to go though.

Did a bunch of work on the house for the owner. I put house wrap on it, and put skirting with a bit of insulation. The power bills this winter were still steep, but the house was far more comfortable. Something about siding is needed, plus the soffits and fascias need work too. I also need to fix the floor in the Kitchen/laundry section as it had a water leak that damaged it.
I should get an oil burning heater. I need to do oil changes on 3 motorcycles, 2 lawn mowers, and my pickup.

There. You now know a load of useless stuff in regard to my grumpy self.

grumbles and what

lost a hard drive so I am now trying to run a pc without any version of windows on it.

Need to buy a lawn tractor for mowing the place. The back yard is rather large, and had horses in it so is pock-marked with hoof sized pot holes.

My back and joints are not happy right now. a sneeze is an exercise in trying not to throw my back out.

I have a bit of hay fever so the lot next to me being mowed doesn’t help.

Okay. I’m done whining.

Just a “Who’s This?” post.

I’m known as JP. Been that all my life. I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and much like the song Culture Shock by the Yoopers: “If I didn’t need work, I wouldn’t be here, I’d be back home on the last frontier.” But the place needs too much fixing, and I left in 1984 and moved to Louisiana starting in N.O. then moving out to the ‘Burb of Kenner. After a disastrous buyout in late 2003 I left my favorite job of fueling airplanes in early 2004, bought a small pickup truck, wiped out my savings buying tools, and moved to Burleson, Texas. The job here was also involved in a buyout, and I left it to go broke as opposed to staying and working my ass off to go broke.
I ended up going to a temp service who sent me to my current job. Again I have suffered a buyout of my employer, but so far it hasn’t gotten bad enough for me to leave. I have now been living in Alvarado, Texas in a rental on a small horse ranch since May of 2012.
Politically I am Conservative, while personally I am libertarian. While I would prefer a real libertarian paradise, I know that like communism, it will never work in the real world. It also doesn’t help the “Big “L” Party seems to only run full on nutcases who have only a glancing brush with reality.