Dougs medical (cont)

The biopsy did not show any cancer. It also didn't show what the spot was. So the Dr. is going to schedule another test called a PET scan. Hopefully that will take place on the 8 th of March. Then there will be another cat scan so she can compare the 1st on and this one. That will be done on the 22 nd of March. I will see her again on the 23rd of march to find out whats happening. she is hoping that it might be scar tissue from when they had to drain my left lung 3 or 4 times after my heart operation. I will keep you all posted.

Dougs medical (cont)

Well I went and had my biopsy yeasterday.It took about 5 1/2 hours. 2 hours prep time (paperwork, blood test, etc.) The procedure took about 1 hour. Then I went back to recovery for 2 1/2 hours to make sure there were no complications from the procedure. I got to go home at 5 pm. I will find out the results next Thurs at 10:50 am. I will keep everyone posted.

Motivation

Hey all, have just been playing with the numbers and thought I would share them with you. Basically I use this as a motivating tool. Below is an example of the awesome potential of the nursery business. The term RC's stands for Rooted Cuttings.


SPRING 06
Buy 50 Stock Plants
SUMMER 06
Propagate 5,000 RC’s from Stock Plants (100 from each Stock Plant)

END OF 06 INVENTORY
5,000 RC’s from 06
5,000 Total

*******************

SUMMER 07
Propagate 5,000 RC’s from Stock Plants (100 from each Stock Plant)
Propagate 15,000 RC’s from 06 Plants (3 from each Plant)

END OF 07 INVENTORY
20,000 RC’s from 07
5,000 1 Yr old Plants from 06
25,000 Total

********************

SUMMER 08
Propagate 5,000 RC’s from Stock Plants (100 from each Stock Plant)
Propagate 30,000 RC’s from 06 Plants (6 from each Plant)
Propagate 60,000 RC’s from 07 Plants (3 from each Plant)

END OF 08 INVENTORY
95,000 RC’s from 08
20,000 1 Yr old Plants from 07
5,000 2 Yr old Plants from 06
120,000 Total

**********************

SUMMER 09
Propagate 5,000 RC’s from Stock Plants (100 from each Stock Plant)
Propagate 75,000 RC’s from 06 Plants (15 from each Plant)
Propagate 120,000 RC’s from 07 Plants (6 from each Plant)
Propagate 285,000 RC’s from 08 Plants (3 from each Plant)

END OF 09 INVENTORY
485,000 RC’s from 09
95,000 1 Yr old Plants from 08
20,000 2 Yr old Plants from 07
5,000 3 Yr old Plants from 06
605,000 Total

************************

SUMMER 10
Propagate 5,000 RC’s from Stock Plants (100 from each Stock Plant)
Propagate 125,000 RC’s from 06 Plants (25 from each Plant)
Propagate 300,00 RC’s from 07 Plants (15 from each Plant)
Propagate 570,000 RC’s from 08 Plants (6 from each Plant)
Propagate 1,455,000 RC’s from 09 Plants (3 from each Plant)

END OF 10 INVENTORY
2,455,000 RC’s from 10
485,000 1 Yr old Plants from 09
95,000 2 Yr old Plants from 08
20,000 3 Yr old Plants from 07
5,000 4 Yr old Plants from 06
3,060,000 Total

**************************

So you see IF all I did was GROW plants and NOT sell any for five years, I would have over 3 million plants in inventory. Just to be clear, this is NOT my intention. I only show this example to show the potential of the nursery business. It has the same concept as compounding interest in financial savings. It would be nearly impossible for me to try to propagate more than 20,000 - 30,000 RC’s each year, considering that I have no employees and would be relying on only myself and possibly some nearby family and friends. It is very time sensitive. All the propagating should be done from June 1st to July 1st each year. I could do 1,000 a day if I had the whole month to do it, or if I had 4 - 5 helpers (Alie, Esther, Barb, Tim, Keven, John, Amy, Chris, Susan, Justin…etc.) we could do 7,500 - 10,000 each weekend. So if I only grew 20,000 new plants each year, the potential is still great.

Anyway that’s all for now. I am going to get my cholesterol checked.

Fred

My New Kitchen

I just wanted everyone to see my new kitchen. I began working on this a year ago December. My neighbor and good friend (Monica) helped me paint all of my cabinets. They were originally dark brown (very dark). We took all the doors down and painted them white (2 coats of primer and at least 2 coats of white paint). Before we could paint the cabinets on the wall, Dave had to repair and spray the ceiling. There were 2 areas that had water damage. After that, we painted the part of the cabinets that were still on the wall.

We then took down all the wall paper and painted the walls red. That took 3 coats as well since the color was so dark. The next step was the floor. We pulled up the old vinyl, then had to repair several areas of the floor that had been sagging (Dave did this). Then Monica and I began laying tile on the kitchen floor. We were doing this in the evenings after work and on weekends. It was VERY hard work. But somehow we managed to get through it and still remain good friends.

While all this was going on, I was also buying appliances. I already had a stainless steel glass top whirlpool stove, so decided I wanted all stainless appliance. So I bought a Whirlpool stainless refridgerator from Lowes on clearance. Then I got a Whirlpool stainless dishwasher.

After all that, I took a long and much needed break. Got back at it after Dave and I separated. I bought a Whirlpool stainless combination microwave / hood. Had to remove 2 of my cabinets to install this. Then I began getting quotes on counter tops and tile backsplash. This was installed last week. And it is beautiful!!! My counter tops are called Silestone (that is the brand name), they are made of quartz. Nicer than Corian, less expensive than marble or granite. They are black w/ shiny specs in them. They match the stainless very well. I love them. And the colors for the tiles and accent pieces were perfect (thank goodness my one friend is very good at this type of thing - she helped me alot). I can certainly see why people hire decorators.

Anyway, I'm attaching some pictures. Let me know what you think . . .

Dougs medical problems

David and Peg said that I should put this on the Blog so here goes. On Dec. 1st I had a I C D (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) put under the skin in the left shoulder area. Before leaving the hospital on the 2nd they took an x-ray to make sure the leads were attached to the heart ok. They saw a spot on the lung and notified my primary Dr. and suggested that he take another x-ray or a cat-scan. He took another x-ray and when he couldn't tell anything from that he ordered a cat-scan. The people at the hospital that did the scan read it and were unable to tell anything positive or negitive. They sugested doing another scan in 6 months. After reading the results my Dr. disagreed with this and sent me to a Pulmonologist. She read the results of the scan and said that there was no way that anybody could say what the spot was without a biopsy. I am scheduled to have that done on the 17th of Feb at 11:30am. I have an appointment with the Pulmonologist on the 23rd to get the results. I will post again when I find out whats happening.

Yoo Hoo! Anybody Home?

I'm just sitting here on a boring Thursday afternoon wondering what's happening out there and why there seems to be so little activity on the family blog lately. Here is a quilt top I just finished in the Mosaic Star pattern. This is the fabric I bought while in Seattle for ThanksChristmas. I ordered backing fabric by mail and it arrived today... just barely enough, but I think it will work. They didn't have as much as I wanted. This fabric collection seems to sell out fast.

I'm also cutting foam board and letters to make new signs for the latest puppet program we're working on at church. Right now I've painted the boards black and have to cut out some more letters to glue to the boards. I made 3 signs last night and am working on 5 today.

The first meeting of the reorganized Chiefland Poetry Group went well last week. We always have some ideas for inspirations to get us writing. One was "even the bad days are good". Here is what I wrote on that theme.

Challenges are but opportunities
we face throughout our lives...
growing, learning, doing,
becoming mothers and wives,
trying to work within a team,
side by side with others.
Black or white, yellow or pink,
God made us sisters and brothers.

Surviving the death of a child,
so innocent and so pure,
is so very overwhelming,
so impossible to endure.
Your faith is tested day after day
as you pass along life's highway.
There is no easy, gentle path,
no firm footing upon this byway.

We each can slip and fall,
or be led in the wrong direction,
for our minds and bodies are weak
as we've not yet reached perfection.
But there's a little seed inside us all,
a seed planted long ago,
just waiting for us to realize
its need and desire to grow.

A little nurturing is all it needs
for God's love to take control,
to grow and bloom within our hearts
and forgiveness to take hold.
Love can wrap around our sorrows
and take the pain away
as he reveals his handiwork
in the birth of each new day.

He points the way through the Bible,
our guide in times of need.
He teaches us to show his love
in every word or deed,
and shows us that helping others
in whatever way we could
would make life a little bit easier,
make even the bad days seem good.
-------------

Another inspiration was "yesterday's childen" and here is what I wrote on that theme.

As the young man buckles the last strap, and slips on an oversized coat, he praises Allah for being chosen the one to kill these infidel folks.

As the masked man enters the bank, waves his shotgun around and shouts, he knows that now he must "do or die" for that's what robbery is about.

As the desperate woman prepares the needle and shoots the drugs up her veins, she knows release will come soon for this addict's unending pain.

As a tormented drunk climbs the bridge rail and watches the water below, he knows the world is against him and there's nowhere else he can go.

Can these be yesterday's children... once cuddled and loved and adored?
Can these be yesterday's children... who had the whole world to explore...

Who wanted to be doctors and lawyers and athletes, or firemen, or Hollywood actors?
What caused them to change as the years rolled by? What were those unknown factors?

Once innocent babes in their mother's arms, these unfortunae souls now rage.
Yesterday's children bereft of hope, caught in the snares of an uncaring age.
-----------------

Okay, I've rambled on enough for now. Hope everyone is doing well. Don't forget to post!