Collin Dean Loftus
by Troy on Mar.20, 2012, under Collin Loftus
March 9th morning-
We went to Dr. Jolly’s office because you were a week overdue. You got to take a non-stress test and have (yet another) ultrasound. After finishing the test we met with Dr. Jolly. She talked to us for a few minutes and then stepped out to let us discuss how we wanted to have you born. We talked about it a bit and decided that the safest way to have you would be via Cesearian section. Laura was very worried about when your birthdate would be. Your doctor took all of the choices away at when she came back in and said your birthday was going to be March 9th. She sent us away and told us to be at the hospital in a few hours. We came home and Mom decided to clean the house to get ready for you. Mom says, “Dad read his book.”
March 9th afternoon-
At Valley Medical Center, they were moving the C-section area to the hospital to a new ward. We had heard rumors that the rooms in the new ward were not as nice and it was a hike to the Birth Center proper. We talked with Mom’s friend Debbie, who works at the hospital, and she was able to move us to the better part of the Birth Center. We checked in and were nervous anticipating your arrival. Mom was nervous about the spinal tap for the C-section. She didn’t like the thought of not being able to feel or move her legs. Around 5:15 we wheeled Mom to the operating room. Dad had to wait outside while they did the spinal, but there was a window to look through to watch. After getting Mom strapped to the table and ready for surgery they let Dad come in. The C-section started at 5:44. The doctor soon told Dad, “If you pass out and end up on the floor you’ll stay on the floor until we are done.” There wasn’t much chance of that. If Dad had the chance he’d probaly have joined in the surgery. At one point there was a couple of arteries that made little blood geysers that Dad laughed at with the doctors and nurses. Mom was behind the sheet and (thankfully for all of us) didn’t see any of this display. Surprisingly quickly your little head was poking out. One of the nurses pushed hard on Mom’s belly and then you were born. It was 5:50 PM. Hard to believe but start of the surgery to born was 6 minutes. When you cried a little for the first time Mom started to cry. Dr. Jolly cut the cord and then held you over the sheet for Mom to have her first look. Everyone in the OR was commenting on the cleft chin, they thought it was very cute. Mom thought you looked like a little alien. Mom is currently ammending her story to say you are a cute little alien baby.
Collin getting cleaned up
There are more pictures here.
The nurses then grabbed you and took you over to get cleaned up a bit. Dad headed over and got a few pictures while they started sewing Mom back together again. After you were bundled up Dad got to hold you (first!). Dad brought you over see Mom and you got to see each other upsidedown for a bit. After a bit of sewing and stapling Mom was ready to head back to our room for recovery. When we got back to the room, Grandma & Grandpa Collins were waiting. Auntie Debbie also checked in to make sure we were in good hands. We were all settled in for our first night as a family and chased everyone out to have a little family time together. Later Uncle Steve & Aunt Cole stopped by to meet you. Uncle Eric dropped in for a while and stayed to visit. In a perfect world Dad & Mom would then have gotten to go to sleep, but since this is not quite the perfect world we imagine we didn’t get much sleep.
Dad stayed in the room with Mom at the hospital and got to head out to the ice machine for cold water for Mom every 5 minutes or so. Since you are starting to cry now, we’ll continue this a little later.
Photography class
by Troy on Sep.07, 2011, under RandomStuff
I took a photography class last quarter. It inspired me to start up a photography website. Have a look . . .
Now I’ve got a bit more free time and will post update a bit more frequently.
Thanksgiving Vacation
by Troy on Jan.06, 2011, under Vacations
It appears as though my blog will be more of a monthly update. Thanksgiving in Idaho was, as always, relaxing and fun. Big things to remember from the trip home were the eternally malfunctioning microwave, rewiring the house, and Xbox dancing.
The microwave works okay when it works, but apparently would just turn itself off every once in a while. Dad and I pulled the covers off and started poking around. Imagine squirrels digging for nuts that they can’t quite remember where they buried them and you’ll be pretty close. So we looked at the wires, the connectors, random electronic parts, the wires again, the connectors again, and then the wires. Nothing was obviously broken. After jiggling the relays the microwave stuttered a bit. We took apart the relays and rebuilt them. Small parts are such a pain. Finally it we had it all back together and it seemed to work pretty well.
After warming up our electrical skills on the microwave we moved on to bigger and better projects. Time to install a new breaker panel in the house. The old breaker panel was old enough that parts were hard to come by. And since when you ran the toaster and the microwave at the same time, it was the end of the world it made sense to fix it all. It appeared the last time the panel cover was off Jimmy Carter lived at the White House. I turned the power to the house off by pulling the meter, because the last time I change a breaker box with the power on the big blue sparks were pretty disconcerting. Tanner got there to help Dad & I, but his first task was to change out a leaking fuel injection hose on the Subaru. And then we hooked up wires for something like 4 hours. Since the house has electric heat, it was starting to get cold inside. The ladies retired to the basement with candles to sit around the fireplace. Laura will alway find a warm, cozy place to crash. Finally it was time for the big power on. Nothing caught fire. No big sparks. Uneventful, as all electrical work should be.
Now that the power was back on we could dance with the Xbox. As life would have it, I have ZERO sense of rhythm. In fact, I can probably suck rhythm out of a room by walking into it; I’m that bad. Occasionally I’ll sense the beat, but only if the music is loud enough the alter my heartrate and make my ears bleed. Laura had a good time laughing at my attempts to dance. But then we got Mom and Dad up dancing. This was also pretty funny as well.
Of course, we had to obligatory Turkey dinner.
And finally Laura and I had to depart. The drive start off nice. Well, at least a nice and you feel you can get when you have 13 hours of sitting in the car in front of you. I let Laura drive once we got near Washington. And then the snow and ice on the roads piled up. And so did the cars in the ditch. Mostly the ones who’d gone zooming past us, so I didn’t feel too bad. I took over for some more the slippery stretch and then let Laura drive again. It got cold going over Snoqualmie summit just before home. It turns out it was just cold enough to freeze the windshield washer fluid. And then we were next to a semi. And then we smeared mud all over the windshield. And couldn’t wash it off. Laura is not okay with driving by feeling where the other cars are. We pulled over at the next stop. Then (edited for Laura’s benefit, you owe me). 13 hours, 720 miles, and another excellent vacation was coming to a close.
The Long Drive to Idaho
by Troy on Nov.21, 2010, under RandomStuff
First on the news ticker: We caught the last Raccoon a while back. After relocating them though, I think they (or others like them have returned).
Laura and I decided to drive to Idaho this year for Thanksgiving. Actually, Horizon Air decided for us when they cancelled the flight that goes into Idaho Falls. There is still one flight via Delta/Skywest, but as is the case in most monopolies they know they have the only game in town and charge appropriately.
I picked up Laura at work at 5 and we headed for the hills. Based on the traffic on the freeways, about 900 billion people live in the suburbs of Seattle. We finally started our ascent of Snoqualmie pass in the pouring rain. As we rose in elevation the rain started to get slushy and soon we got to enjoy the novelty of people driving the snow that really have no business driving in the snow. You’ve got basically two types of people. First the “Oh, it’s snowing and I’d better slow down to Galapagos Turtle speed.” While I have no problem with people driving slow on the interstate, the far left lane is not the place. If you want to drive at 3 mph in the right lane be my guest. Driving this slow in the left lane is just as dangerous as the next group, the 85 mph group. “Four wheel drive is not the same as four wheel stop.” I learned this in the Jeep. The Jeep will go 120 mph, but the odds of impending death quickly approach unity at this speed. And that fulfills my ranting needs for the day.
We stopped in Coeur d’Alene for this night. After pulling off the freeway, Laura noticed that the roads looked funny. Funny like covered with ice. It was significantly colder than the balmy Seattle weather we are used to.
The next morning the first 50 miles of the drive were great. It was sunny, we were full of breakfast, not too many people on the roads, in short all was right with the world. And then there were a couple of snowflakes, and then more of their friends joined in, and soon it was a snowflake fiesta. And then the wind started to blow, but the roads were still just wet. When we arrived in Missoula we found out there was a football game starting soon. We could tell by the immense numbers of people lining the freeway exits, the die-hard fans dressed to sit for 3 hours in weather people in Seattle wouldn’t leave the house in. Imagine 25 mph winds and big snowflake and you’re pretty close.
After leaving Missoula the weather went downhill from it’s already not too wonderful state. The snow and wind must have placed a call to San Francisco to have their buddy fog join them. Soon I was looking for dark colored cars to follow, because the white one’s kept disappearing.
We stopped in Melrose, MT long enough to Laura to decline the single gas pump and what ever surprises the associated restrooms had in store for her. We made it to Dillon for a quick footlong roasted chicken, lettuce, spinach, olives, and SouthWest Chipotle sauce Subway for me (Mmmmm!!!) and ham sandwich for Laura. Who would have guess the driving conditions would get worse, but they did. The road quickly became just a more level flat patch of white in an endless, formless sea of white. I used the whole road. The rumble strips on the side were my guides. On Monida pass the crazy CanXpress driver in the semi appeared. He must have been more used to the bad weather because he really like 70 mph. I thought for sure I’d see him in the ditch, but my hat is off to his driving prowess as I didn’t see him wrecked. We did see him again after we crossed the pass. On the far side of Monida, the snow cleared, the fog lifted, the snow on the roads was melted, the sun came out, angels were singing. I set the cruise control on the high side of the 75mph speed limit and we blew into town.
I plan to thouroughly enjoy the rest of the week here in Idaho Falls.
Deportees
by Troy on Oct.21, 2010, under RandomStuff
- Being deported
We decided not to do anything last night since I had the pleasure of a 6AM safety meeting. Only one more left to relocate, we’ll see how tonight goes.
Deportation!
by Troy on Oct.18, 2010, under 2010, Weekends
This weekend was relatively mellow. I got up early on Saturday and did some work in the basement while Laura went out antique shopping. When Laura got back she also helped, but we don’t also see eye to eye when we are working with wire. If that’s the worst thing I can say about Laura I’m doing okay.
We then stopped by Bill & Carol’s place for Laura’s Birthday lunch / dinner. We were a bit late so I didn’t get a birthday card, but I’ve promised Laura a card soon. And then it was off to the basement to relax for the evening. Our remote controls have multiplied in the basement, but I finally was able to find a remote that would control all of the various parts of our cobbled together entertainment system. This is a hazard when you grow your own DVR.
Sunday evening is where things start to get a little more interesting. After mowing the lawn, we found several “desposits” that we couldn’t figure out. We knew that there was a raccoon living somewhere close, we suspect the big cedar tree based on evidence we’ve collected over the past 6 months or so. Laura borrowed an animal trap from her friend Linda. The trap was set in the backyard with a bit of cat food in a bowl.
Fast forward to 5:45AM when Laura was getting ready for the gym. I woke up to something like “You’ve got to get up and help me take the raccoon away.” Now I’m used to some strange greetings in the morning, but this may take the cake. Stumbling into the spare bedroom revealed not one, but 4 raccoons in the yard. Unfortunately only one of them was in a cage. Two were playing rough & tumble game on the lawn while the third spent some time climbing over my wood chopping block.
Laura had heard some stories regarding the viciousness of raccoons, but this one was a model inmate with one expection. The raccoon had done its very best to move the section of our lawn under the cage into the cage leaving us a disturbing hole in the yard.
Next stop China
At this point I attempted to interest my wife in raccoon skin outerwear. She declined based on “cuteness.”
We loaded the cage up in the car. This was after some discussion of why its not safe to pull a trailer with the Jeep front axle only partially welded on. Safety is 27th (Steve A.) after all, but it’s still on the list. The raccoon traveled well, especially after the heat came on in the car. I got to hear all about “Rocky” and his little black mask.
Finally we pulled the cage out of the car. The vicious, snarling beast roared out of the opened cage. Or, if you prefer your stories with a bit more truth in them, it just ran off into the woods as fast as it could.
One deported, three to go. We’ll see how tonight goes.
Jeep, Yard work, and The Met
by Troy on Oct.03, 2010, under 2010, Jeep, Weekends
A couple of week ends ago I had my buddy Dennis over to help with the front axle. It was a long day of picking up the axles installing it, pulling it down, drill a bit here, grind a bit there, wash, rinse repeat several times. We got nearly everything installed and the new tires (old actually, but new to me) on.
Last weekend, I got the steering built up enough to drive to the end of the street and back. Turning the larger tires with no power steering proved to be challenging. I’m working on the PS gear, but having a few issues.
Laura took advantage of the last vestiges of summer to work on the raspberry hedge. She needed me to go through it first and remove last years ties. At least this is what she told me, but I think it was more to ferret out all of the spiders making their webs in the bramble. Laura hates the spiders.
This weekend has started off pretty well. We keep a standing invitation at the Adams’ place for Friday nights. Not that I’ll ever totally understand the obsession with Project Runway, but to each his/her own. Saturday was sorting out things to sell on Craigslist vs. donate vs throw away day. I’m slowly getting better at tossing things, but don’t expect miracles people.
We drove downtown last night and had dinner at The Metropolitan Grill (aka “The Met”) courtesy of a gift certificate from Christmas. They are billed as the “best steak in Seattle” and I’d say they rank right up there. We followed up in our typically fashion with movie night in the basement. We spend a lot more time down there now that it’s finished. I thought Laura had blogged about it, but I just check and didn’t see it on her page. She will be reminded to publish soon.
Now it’s 5 in the morning and I’m getting tired again so I’ll be signing off.
Thanks for playing.
Jeep Maintenance & Cinnamon Rolls
by Troy on Sep.12, 2010, under 2010, Jeep, Weekends
This weekend it was supposed to rain on Sunday. My Jeep fixing buddy was stuck doing some work this weekend, so I thought I’d work on the Jeep Saturday and hang out with Laura on Sunday.
The working on the Jeep began with no real hiccups. I waited until about 9AM to start as I was going to be using an impact wrech extensively and I want my neighbors to not hate me. Step one: remove the front axles. Step two: put a new one in. After a couple hours I had step one nearly complete. My neighbor Jeff stop out front for second, took a look at the Jeep and asked if was doing some “routine maintenance.” I had a good laugh at this, almost nothing on the Jeep is routine. I didn’t get any good pictures of the removal, it’s pretty standard stuff: impact wrench on the bolts until they stop turning, get a big wrench on them and turn until it gets too hard to do that, get a 4 foot cheater bar and turn until it comes off or breaks off.
Something like this . . .
The next step is the hard one, the Jeep needs to have front tire to drive down the road. In order to have front tires I need somewhere to mount them. After putting the axle under the Jeep, it’s back down to the garage to make some parts to hold it in place. Fast forward 2 hours while I tinker on the milling machine. I’ve still got a few things to iron out. I’m bring in some expert help next weekend. Dennis mounted a new front axle a while back and had some similar issues to solve.
Spring Perch to Work On
Steve, Nicole, & Jack stopped by for dinner. Apparently when Nicole saw the Jeep she told Steve something to the effect of “Well, that won’t drive very well!” It’s good to see that Adams’. Steve was working some brutual hours finishing a project at work and he fell off the planet for a couple of months. Steve brought over a new card game called Fluxx, which I really enjoy. It’s a game where the rules change as the game goes along. You can go from losing to winning with any other player setting down a single card (with some bits about Martians thrown in for good measure).
Sunday was baking morning. Laura and I made cinnamon rolls, just like Mom’s. We are stocked up in the freezer for at least a day or two. We have also decided not to every make Lo-cal Molasses cookies again. They look extra tasty, smell great, and cooked up well. The also happen to be drier than the Sonora desert. I ate one and needed 3 cups of water to replenish what the cookie drew from my body.
Mmmmmmhh
Again, mmmmmmhhh!
Yucky!
Well now I’ve got my first real entry for the blog and I’m headed off to bed.
Thanks for following along.
I’m finally getting my Blog going
by Troy on Sep.08, 2010, under RandomStuff
It’s probably time to get my blog started. I suspect I’ll be silly busy again once school starts . . . .
Summer Vacation (pt 2)
by Troy on Aug.16, 2009, under Vacations
You should read the first post and then this one. (<a href=”/Blog/?p=15″>pt 1</a>)The next day of camping (see the earlier blog for more background) was started correctly with a cup of hot chocolate. I like hot chocolate for breakfast, food isn’t really even a requirement if you have enough to drink. We drove down the only paved road, through the burgeoning metropolis of Stanley. Not really, it’s got a hundred (100) people. Just outside of town we turned off to go to Stanley Lake. We left the group, so that TylerB could call into work. He ended up having to go back early. Because we’d separated from the group and I’d never been there before we got to take scenic drives through a few campground. Finally we saw everyone on the beach. Not that the road we were on went to that beach, but at least we could see them. I wasn’t sure Tracy & TylerB’s Honda Pilot was equipped with the flotation option so we didn’t try to raft the vehicle to them. We drove.The beach was fun and had a COLD stream feeding into it. I think Tanner said something about it hurting because it was so cold.<center><img src=”/CM_Photo/albums/userpics/10004/normal_IMG_0818.JPG” /></center>Laura and I wanted to hike a bit more so we started up the trail that lead away from the lake. We started off along a nice well marked wide path. After a mile or so the path was just a dirt rut in the meadows. We had to walk quickly to keep the bugs away from us and so we made good time. We found a few other people heading down the trail who said the river crossing was a couple of miles ahead. After walking about a quarter of the way around a mountain the trail had a distinctly upward slant. It turns out there is a lot less oxygen at 7500′ as compared to the 235′ that my house sits at. Just because of who I am I calculated it out. 24% less oxygen at 7500′. Laura had some concerns about being left at the lake by everyone. I assured her that we’d have a ride home. She finally convinced me to turn around. The trail was significantly easier on the way down. We stopped at a small stream to refill the water bottle. The water is so good up in the mountains. A few more floaties, but it tastes so good.On our way back across a big meadow we saw two people and a brown dog headed our way. They thought they’d be funny and hide off the trail. It was Tanner and TylerB. We didn’t get left behind. Although, everyone else had piled into the other cars and headed back. This did make Laura partially right. But we didn’t have to stay in the woods, eat berries, and make a hut out of pine boughs.Back at camp dutch oven lasagna was being prepped. Cooking over the campfire has kind of a primal feel to it. Not that we don’t use matches to start it, but use your imagination.Well Laura and I are going to watch a movie tonight so the rest of the story will just have to wait until a later day.
