I voted today, over in Owego. Tomkins County doesn't make it easy to find the correct polling place; I had to download a series of maps to determine the district and then the right spot to go to.

Arriving at the elementary school gym in mid-afternoon, there was no line. I walked in, signed the registration log, hit the booth, and was on my way.

We've turned on the TV a couple of times this evening. Journalistic canon law prohibits anchors from calling an election before all the voting is finished on the west coast, but there is some rather broad hinting going on.

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Dad was feeling well enough today to summon a work gang. So Uncle Bob cleaned the gutters while Aunt Jean and I raked the lawn. Dad sat in the easy chair inside and napped.

Uncle Bob noticed that the house's power wire had a branch rubbing it. After some discussion, Dad called the power company. At six-thirty I was just about done preparing dinner, when the doorbell rang. It was two workers from the power company with a bucket truck, ready to look at our lines. Seeing as how it was after dark and past normal working hours, I was surprised to see them. We decided that there must be an on-call crew, and as it was a quiet night, they were bored and ready to be dispatched to deal with non-emergency issues.

They cut our power off while they worked on the problem. It took them perhaps a half hour, as they decided that the wire was not as bad as they'd thought. From the ground with a flashlight, it looked like the insulation was worn off and the wire corroding, which would necessitate replacement. But when they got up there on a ladder to cut the branch away, they found the wire intact except for the outer insulating jacket, which they just "fixed". We suspect some variety of electrical tape was involved. Anyway, problem solved, and the power line is safe again.

The house still needs a new power line run inside; the existing one is 100 amps, which is small for a modern house. Dad would like to get at least 150 amps, but the power company guy said 200 would probably be cheaper, because it's the current standard. The majority of the cost is probably labor, even with copper getting more expensive these days.

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I went grocery shopping a few days ago, and got some wasabi peas. Yum! The only person willing to even try a few was Uncle Bob, who munched a few then allowed as how they were hotter than the snacks he normally partakes of. I suspect either one of my brothers-in-law would gobble them up, but for the moment, they're all mine.

Dad is doing relativly well. His shoulder is hurting, but then he's not supposed to be lifting things anyway. He tires very rapidly; he can't walk a hundred feet without resting. Still, his color is good, and his breathing is slowly improving, according to a inhalation flow rate device the hospital gave him.

In unrelated news, a flock of wild turkeys wandered through the backyard today. They seemed nervous: I wonder if they know Thanksgiving is coming? Dad rushed to a window to watch them, then just about keeled over. I managed to get my telephoto lens on and took some photos; if I can find what I did with my mini-USB cable, I might upload them. On second thought, it'd take forever on dialup, so you'll all just have to wait.

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Happy Halloween, all! We had twelve tricker-treaters this year, plus one rather tired barfly. That means lots of candy left over for those of us in the house that have not recently had heart surgery.

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This morning wasn't that great, Dad didn't sleep very comfortably. Or rather, he slept fine for six hours, then woke up and had trouble getting back to sleep. We were thinking it might be because he's now sleeping on a flat bed again, and it's clogging his lungs a bit more than the inclined hospital bed. My pet theory is that his brain woke him after his normal six hours of sleep, but his body still ached for more healing rest.

Once some oatmeal and a batch of pills were poured down his gullet, he felt better. Most of today he spend sitting in the easy chair, answering phone calls and sorting mail. The neighbors had seen an ambulance carting him away, and via the grapevine had discovered about his heart attack. So there were a number of sympathy calls and expressions of goodwill.

Today a nurse came to visit, she spent about an hour talking with him; I'm told she'll be back on the weekend. She suggested yet a third theory as to his disorientation the one morning in the hospital: "Narcotic Naiveté." He's never been on narcotics before, and he's never been a drinker of alcohol. So he had no experience with altered conciousness and paniced. We'll add that to the drug interaction theory and the low blood oxygenation theory.

Today I mowed the lawn, vacuuming up all the leaves as a convenient side benefit. Then I built my new computer from the parts that arrived via UPS while Dad was in the hospital. In fact, I'm typing this up on my new computer as we speak. Following my theme of naming computers after nearby trees, this one is "Oak" for the tree right outside the window. (Previous computers have been Cypress, Palm, and Maple).

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We all met at my Dad's bedside this morning at 10, and by "we" I mean myself, my sister, brother-in-law, Uncle Bob and Aunt Jean. The nurse that came in to give the outbrief seemed impressed by the size of the crowd.

Near noon, we loaded Dad into the front seat of sis's minivan for the cavalcade home. I broke off to get gas at cheap Pennsylvania prices, so I was the last one home. We got Dad situated in a living room easy chair and moved a small table next to it, where he could put a phone, books, cups of tea, and whatnot. The table we're using is the one that's destined for me, as my sisters took the associated doll-beds. If memory serves, Grandpa H built all three.

Over the course of the day, Dad improved tremendously. He's supposed to be walking for twenty minutes a day in short spurts for the first day. We didn't bother to time him, because he got that much in just walking around the house. It was snowing today, so walks outside are perhaps not a good idea yet anyway.

Sis and BIL got Dad his medication; he's taking five daily pills, plus a pain pill every four hours. In addition he needs to weigh himself and take his temperature daily. At his insistence, I created a spreadsheet to keep track of all that. It's a rather crude spreadsheet at this point, but I think it acceptable for a first draft.

He went to bed earlier than he used to, but his color is wonderfully improved, he ate a reasonable quantity of food at lunch and dinner, and after the first few times I stopped following him as he walked; he seemed stable enough on his feet to be at no risk of falling. His stamina is still quite low, and he never walked for more than sixty seconds at a time. That's about where we should be, according to the nurse.

Tomorrow I've got some shopping to do. With Bob and Jean visiting, we'll certainly need more food. Also, Halloween is only two days away, so I feel obliged to get some candy for visiting children. I've no idea how many children are likely to show up, although I know Dad keeps track every year. I could ask him, but I don't think I'll bother him over such a minor issue, especially since maintaining ignorance of the issue gives me a fine excuse to buy a substantial pile of candy. Lastly, his required daily shower uses five washcloths, so unless we want to do a small load of laundry every day, I'll be buying some more of them. They must be on sale somewhere.

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Dad's doing better all the time. We're going to be taking him home tomorrow at about noon or one o'clock. That is, we're to show up at 10 AM and get briefed on the home care he'll need, then we must do all the paperwork involved in a hospital discharge.

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Jean showed up today, they'll be part of the cavalcade getting Dad home. They'll be spending the night alone at Dad's tonight (I'm still at Mom's); I set them up with clean towels and clean bedsheets, and I expect that they can manage to find the plates in the cabinets. Finding the food in the fridge is probably superfluous, as they brought a cooler and a couple of bags full of groceries with them from Pennsylvania.

The circumstances aren't ideal, but it'll still be nice to visit with them.

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When I dropped off my laptop at a local computer shop yesterday, the clerk said that it might be done as soon as this afternoon, seeing as how they had the correct replacement hard drive right on the shelf.

So I called them this afternoon, and the clerk I talked to said that they had a normal five-to-ten day turnaround time, that my computer was still waiting to be see, and that they'd certainly call me as soon as it was ready.

I took it to this local place out of some loyalty to them: they built my first computer. But this is not a complicated repair job, and I see no reason to wait a week. If I get a chance tomorrow I'll stop by Best Buy and see how long their repair desk says it'd take them. If it's faster, I'll take it back from the local place and give it to the big evil megacorporation. Customer service is how the little guys can beat the monoliths, but I'm not feeling well served thus far.

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This afternoon the tubes that drain Dad's chest cavity were pulled out. Sorry, brother-in-law, but I didn't document the procedure with any photos.

With the tubes out, Dad can sit upright, and move about much more comfortably. He can walk around the ward without having to drag along a cart that the drain tubes connected to. More excercise means faster healing means going home soon. We're thinking Wednesday, but we shall see.

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I skipped lunch and rushed to the hospital again today, following a distressing call from my brother-in-law. When he and my sister arrived, they found Dad confused, unaware of his location, and unsure of what was real and what was not. By the time I arrived (with some good tea that he'd been demanding), he had calmed down and was well-oriented again.

After we'd been there a few hours, they decided he was doing well enough to leave the ICU and go back to the regular cardiac ward. They pulled out more plumbing, so now he's down to just a chest drain and two IV ports in his arm, which are not currently being used. He's still in pain and not breathing comfortably, but that's to be expected. We're now hoping to take him home in the middle of this upcoming week.

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