Hangin' Out With Dear Ol' Dad aka The Golden Years

So, Monday night at about 6:30pm I get a call from Dad. He said he had left a message earlier, but I missed it. He said about a week ago he woke up and his vision was blurry in his left eye and the lower half of his vision was gray. He couldn't read small print. And he's getting frustrated. So on Tuesday morning I call my optometrist and try to schedule an appt. Booked up until Saturday. Can you refer me? Yes, to an ophthalmologist. Cool. Even better. They can get us in on Tuesday afternoon. Call Dad. Come on down! So he comes out to our house and we go to lunch and then to his appt. Apparently there is some type of blockage in the blood vessel behind the eye and the doc wants to run some tests. About six different blood tests. And he refers him to a specialist that can see him on Wednesday. Good. Let's get this figured out. So Dad spends the night with us on Tuesday night and on Wed. we go to see the specialist. Turns out it was possibly caused by something like a small stroke, possibly caused by his blood pressure being slightly elevated and this dr. wants to see him in a month. Time for Dad to get to the doctor and find out where his numbers are and run some more tests. He does not have a primary care doctor. Hasn't been to the doctor in several years. Now he needs to go. Another guy in the waiting room with the same problem, "Well, these are the golden years!" Dad got a kick out of that one. He is very healthy and just needs to know where he is at.

His vision is coming back. Yesterday morning he said it was already a little bit better than it had been. That's good, since they said it could take up to a few years for the vision to come back.

The girls had a great time with their Papa. They love having him over. The only trouble is that he has such a hard time hearing that when he watches tv at our house, it is painfully loud for the rest of us! But hey, if that's the worst thing, then we are doing okay.

I was glad I could help. Dad left on Wed. with a sense that at least he knew what it was and what to do about it. I wanted him to get in to see these doctors as soon as possible so that he wouldn't have to wait and wonder. So I was glad he was able to get it done in two days. I am sure he will be just fine. And I was glad he felt that he could come to me and ask for my help.

Next thing we need to work on is hearing aids.

What?!

Bad Blogger...Good Mommy

Oooh, my bad. I haven't blogged in like three and a half months! Wow, where has the time gone. Obviously, my resolution went kerplooee. Is that a word?

It seems every time I get on the computer during daylight hours, the kids have some sort of crisis, during the 45 minutes I am waiting for the dumb thing to boot up. No joke. Scott doesn't like to use the laptop because it will lose signal for a few seconds and then come back on. The PC just sits there for ten minutes at a time, seemingly doing what is supposed to and then it either boots you off of the internet or you get some sort of error message. It certainly doesn't make me want to spend hours in here waiting for the dumb thing while the kids are wreaking havoc on the family room, bringing out every toy known to man from the playroom, down the hall and heaving them willy-nilly across the family room floor.

Scott's car needed new brake pads. Rears. The car apparently brakes from the rear first. Unlike every other car in the world. 26k miles and he needs new pads. Whatever. The car was at the dealer for the scheduled maintenance.

Service guy: It needs new pads, and did we want to do it? For $90 parts and $200 labor.
Me: No thank you.
Service guy: It needs to be done soon, they are almost completely worn and if that happens it will need new rotors, for an additional $260. And in order to do it, you need this special tool to remove the calipers and it has to squeeze and twist them at the same time.
Me: Thank you. I will call my husband to find out if he wants to do it.

Call Hubby. He suggests the auto parts store. I then call Dad.
Me: Umm, Hi! What are you doing tomorrow? Do you want to put pads on Scott's car? They are almost worn out.
Dad: I guess. I will call my parts guy and call you back.

No luck. His guy can't get them. I call the dealer. $400 for the tool. 3-4 weeks from Germany. Great. Stop at Auto Zone. Nice guys there. Helpful, too.

Me: Do you have rear pads for this car? Oh, and I need to find out about this special tool I need to remove the calipers.
Auto Zone guy: Our other store has the pads. The tool we can loan you with a $35 deposit.
Me: COOL! I need it!

So, today we dropped Scott off at the park and ride. At 4:30am. Then we stopped at Uncle Andy's Donut Shop. They were still warm. Yum. Then home, shower, run back to the dealer when they open because the dumb check engine light is on after taking it in for the service. Service guy says it is a coincidence. I think not, but there is nobody there that can help me unless I leave it. No can do. Thanks very much.

So off we go to the mountains to have the brakes done. Oh yeah. $25 for lifetime guarantee pads. Cool. So we get to Dad's. He gets the tires off. Goes to remove the calipers with this little tool that has different sized disks on it. Umm. Problem. They all have two little bumps on one side, directly across from each other. We need one with three in a triangle formation. This will not work. There is no disk with three bumps on it. Dad swears. Again. A couple more times. The car has been elevated from a car to a piece of s--t. He tries a few different things. Then I watch as he goes to the shop and comes back with a piece of paper. He's marking something. He's gonna make the freakin' part! And so he does. And it works! We end up going over to his brothers' place at the camp and helping them serve lunch to the campers who are there. The priest of the orthodox church has two daughters, ages 4 and 7, and they are just as bored as Jess and Bekah. So, together they had more fun. LOTS AND LOTS OF FUN! So I call Dad at 12:15 and tell him lunch will be ready at 12:30. He just got done with the car. Made the part to attach to the tool and saved me not only the money for the brake job, but also from having to buy the tool. Amazing. Dad is my hero for the day.

The girls ended up having a great day. We got the brake pads on. Saved lots of money and all is well. Oh, and it was pretty cool up there. Much nicer than at home, so we were able to enjoy the nice weather. And my aunt and uncle sent me home with a bunch of food from the camp. Neat! So, all in all we had a great day! We are going up next week to play with the same little girls and the girls will all get to go swimming in the pool there. Fun.

And their mommy is surviving summer...

Dad and Ebay

I can't remember if I ever wrote about the problems Dad had with the guy he bought parts from on ebay. Well, he paid for them back in October and received them in November. The parts were junk, sloppy and worn out, but the guy claimed they were tight fitting and in good shape. Well, he wouldn't return them. So we complained to ebay. Took forever, but they replied and said we needed to talk to Paypal. So we did. The guy wouldn't budge. So we filed a claim. Took another five weeks. They decided in our favor. Return the parts, get your money back. So we did. Waited some more. Finally got the credit on the Amex. The guy was a complete jerk. Claiming the parts were in good shape when they were not. Porsche repair is all Dad has done for the last 45 years!

Dad called me up the other night to tell me the guy re-listed the parts. Said due to a "recent horrible experience with a rookie in California" that he would accept no returns on these parts. Trying to sell them again to some unsuspecting person that probably won't take it as far as we did!

It is irritating, though also comedic, that my Dad, who is very well known in the Porsche field, especially vintage racing, 356 restoration, etc., would be labeled as a "rookie".

The nerve of some people!