• About

grayfeathersblog

~ Diabetes, Cancer Survivor, Cycling, Photographer, Exercise, College Parent, Twins, Boy Scout Leader, Life

grayfeathersblog

Category Archives: Photography

10-6-2020 Update My Son Bought a House!

06 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Apartment, House, Son

I know, it’s been a while. I’ve been rather busy with life’s ups and downs.

The Great Cycle Challenge is over and I met my goal of 200 miles by riding 219 miles. However, I didn’t quite meet my monitary goal of $1000 but I did manage to raise over $800.

My son bought a house and he’s driving me nuts with things he’s wanting done in the house. My wife and two daughters spent a week there helping him paint several of the rooms. Now it seems every time he calls he’s wanting something else done. Now it’s hanging a fan, replacing a thermostate, and a multitude of other items that he can’t do himself.

I have failed as a father raising him. My dad made sure that I knew everything there was to know about everything. He made me help him do everything and at the time all I wanted to do is lay around and watch television. I hated him for ruining my sleep espesially on weekends. So as a father I didn’t make my son do things my dad asked me to do and now it’s coming back to haunt me. My son even called me and asked how to cut his grass. I know I’ve taught him how to cut grass but evidently I didn’t.

I appreciate the fact that my son thinks I can do anythiing he asks of me. Most of the things he asks I can do but there are some things I can’t do and I think he doesn’t believe me when I tell him so. For example, he couldn’t get his cable to work in one of his rooms. He asked me to help him fix it. I don’t know much about internet but I told him I’d help him check it out. We worked in his attic for nearly two hours trying to figure it out. Finally, I told him that he’d better call his cable company because it was obivious that we didn’t know what we were doing.

H went to college for five years to get his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is willing to do the work himself but in most cases he doesn’t know what he’s doing and he gets himself into trouble. Example, at 8 pm the other night he decides he’s going to disconnect his washer and get it ready to move out. He called wanting to know which direction to turn the water off. I told him that even though the water is turned off he would still have pressure on the water hose that feeds the washer. He called again about five minues later telling me that he needs help because he’s flooded his kitchen. As I’m getting ready to leave my house he calls back to tell me that he thinks he’s got it. Five minutes later another call demanding me to come help becuase he’s still getting water out of the hose. I asked him how much and he says a lot of water.

His house is a good 45 minutes away. He’s stated that his kitchen is flooded and the water is getting deep. Thoughts of him having to pay for damages for his appartment as well as the one beneath him is running through my head. I’m wearing a pair of shorts and t shirt. I grab some sandels, my keys, my driver’s license and my tools from my truck and off I went in my wife’s car. Upon my arrival 45 minuets later I find that he has stuck the hose from the faucett into a bucket which is quickly filling up. I took a wrench and grabbed the handle of the valve and turned it a couple of times which caused the water to slow to a steady drip. I stuck the hose from the bucket to the drain in the wall and called it done. That will keep the water from the going on the floor until the appartment manager can call a plumber and replace the valve.

I spent the next half hour helping him clean up the water on the floor. It really wasn’t that bad. His panic made it sound a lot worse than what it was. As we were cleaning up the water we talked about what he could have done differently and what he learned from this experience. I have a rule about doing any type of plumbing work after 5pm. Most hardware places close about that time so if you run into issues then your screwed. Unless it’s an emergency it can wait until the next day. Disconnecting a washing machine is not that difficult but for someone who’s never done it and don’t know what to expect when you have a gate valve that won’t shut off completly can be quite problematic.

Now I’ve got to install a ceiling fan which I’ve never done before but I’m sure between the two of us we can figure it out. I’m proud of my son for what he’s become. He’s smart and willing to try anything. He’s been living in appartments since he’s started college and now he’s bought a house. He’s making more money that I’ve ever made. I’m sure through his many failures he’ll learn what to do and not do and when he get’s to be my age he’ll know more than I know about doing things.

My Goal For Today

05 Saturday Sep 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

25 Miles, Cycling, goals, Pain

My goal for today is 25 miles. The most I’ve done since I’ve started back riding is 17 miles. I’m behind in my 50 mile per week goal of 50 miles due to a breakdown on my bike. Hopefully I can make it.

The Great Cycle Challenge.

18 Tuesday Aug 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Help if you can.

Happy Mothers Day to All Mothers

10 Sunday May 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Diabetic, diet, Gym, Photography, Twins, University of Alabama, Weight Loss

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

daughters, diet, Graduation, Mom, Weightloss, Weightloss goal

_3TH0522

I hope you got a chance to visit your mother today or at least made or received a phone call. I got to visit mine for a few minutes. We practiced social distancing while visiting her on our porch.  My mom is in her mid 80’s so she won’t be here with us too much longer so I want to spend as much time with her as possible, front porch or not.

My family spent the afternoon last Saturday taking pictures at the University of Alabama, where my two daughters graduated.  I’m so proud of both of them.  The one on the left will go into advertising while the other will be going into childhood education.

Off-topic…The person I’m seeing in the mirror in the mornings as I’m getting into the shower is beginning to disgust me once again. You and I both know what that means.  My gym will be opening soon and then there is that treadmill downstairs.  In the meantime. I’ll be watching what I eat and walking on the treadmill.  I’ll need all the encouragement I can get.  The goal…10 pounds in 10 weeks.

Having issues with WordPress

02 Saturday May 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

For those of you that have sent me messages regarding my existence, It is my pleasure to announce that I am still alive and well. I am currently on my phone app because the desktop version of WordPress is not working for me. Hopefully they will get this mess resolved soon.

I have been on lockdown for over two and a half months and it’s starting to get the best of me. I have left my house a total of three times during this time frame, twice to the doctor and once to check on my fishing hole. I’ve tried to keep myself busy such as doing yard work but because my gym is closed my weight has crept back up. So much so that I’ve been afraid to even look at the scales. I did however get on the scales this morning and to my surprise I’ve only gained 6 lb. My sugar has also crap back up and I’m ashamed to say that I have become a grazer again.

Today my daughters graduate college. It was supposed to be this huge pump and circumstance of an event but because of this virus that has shut down our nation, their graduation ceremony has become a very surreal event. No pomp and circumstance, no walking down the aisle, and no watching the other hundreds of graduates receiving their diplomas as well as my own daughters. Today, while one daughter is in Tuscaloosa working, I am fortunate to have the other daughter with us and she and my wife are currently gone now to a local restaurant to grab a bite to eat and bring it back. That will be our ceremony for today. I was supposed to drive to Tuscaloosa tomorrow

to take pictures of my daughter’s in their graduation cap and gown but the other daughter’s boyfriend doesn’t have shoes so it’s been canceled for now. I was so looking forward to it.

I guess that’s it for now. I live quite a boring life at times. my part come in from my lawn mower so I guess I’ll go out there and work on it to get it going. I hope everybody stays safe, stay at home, and if you’re one of those essential workers, thank you. Thank you for all you’ve done during this time.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

28 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ 2 Comments

My diet has gone to pot.  I’ve had some health problems and had to get off the diet.  I’ll give an update soon.  In the meantime; Happy Thanksgiving!!

End of Week 2 Update.

04 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography, Weight Loss

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Cast Iron, Exercise, Gym, Iron Pour, Trainer, Weight loss

MVIMG_20191102_183155

This has been a very busy week.  Last Thursday was the last day of a very busy month.  I will not schedule as much as I did last month.  I never thought November would ever get here.  If you saw my last blog, you read of my accident with the band trailer.  I never heard anything today so I guess everything went alright with the insurance company.

The above picture is of an iron pour.  Sparks in the Dark, as they called it.  About 100 boy and girl scouts paid $20 for a scratch block so that they could “scratch” in the mold design so that when they poured hot iron into the mold, they would receive their artwork in solid cast iron.  This was Saturday night, which was very cold to me.

I lost two pounds this past week.  I thought about joining a gym with a personal trainer, one that would tell me what I’m doing wrong and maybe would develop a plan for me to follow.  Then I got to thinking, why would I do that.  Why would I pay for something that I knew in a few weeks or even a month or so, I would change my mind and not go.  I would be just wasting my money.  There is a gym, however, that a church sponsors that I have already joined a couple of weeks ago.  It’s only $5 a month and there’s no contract.  You can go one time a week or five times a week and it’s still the same price.  There’s no physical trainer though.  They do have some cycles, treadmills, a weight room, and ellipticals.

It’s supposed to be pretty and warm the first part of this week.  I think I’ll go to this gym or go to the track and walk.  It’s going to start turning colder by the end of the week so if I’m going to enjoy the outdoors I’d better do it now.

Over Zellous Hike

30 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography, Weight Loss

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Exercise, Hiking, Outdoors, trails, VLog, Weight loss

_3TH9580

I’m going to let the video speak for itself.  I will say this though, even though this was only a four-mile hike, the hills were tough for me.  I can go to the track and walk five miles and be sore a few days but walking in the woods with all these hills, that’s a little different.

http://www.tannehill.org/

 

Dieting Comes With a Price

17 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography, Weight Loss

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Breakfast, Eggs, Exercise, Sausage, seasoning, steps, Track, Weight loss

IMG_20191017_131732

After spending an hour and forty-five minutes on the track I completed just under five miles and over 10,000 steps.  I’m so sore right now I can’t move my legs.  When I worked I average about 15,000 steps a day.  Now I’m lucky to get just over 2,000.

IMG_20191016_074424

My low carb diet plus exercise is working but you’ll have to wait until Monday to find out just how well it’s working.  My morning routine of scrambled eggs and sausage is about to get old but I’ve been doctoring them up with different spices to make them taste different.  If you’ve never tried “Slap Yo Mama” seasoning you need to try it.  It’s kind of spicy and the flavor stays with you for a while but I have to say that it makes a bowl of scrambled eggs quite palatable. I’ll try and post a picture tomorrow or the next day so you can see what it looks like.

The next few days will be busy and I doubt that I’ll reach any of my goals but that not saying that I won’t try.  I’ll get a few steps in while grocery shopping in the morning but I’ve got to go to a high school football game tomorrow evening.  Saturday afternoon I’ve got to pull a trailer for the high school band about two hours from my home so they can have their instruments for a band competition.  It will be about midnight on Saturday night when I get home.  Sunday might be a good day to get some steps in but we’ll see.

Feeling Good. New Goals in Life

11 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Leukemia, Photography, Weight Loss

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cancer, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Exercise, Fitbit, Leukemia, Low Carb, Weightloss

_3TH3057

As the title says I’m feeling pretty good right now.  My breathing is better, I’m taking iron infusions so my energy is better as well.  So, with that being said, I will be starting on a three month diet beginning on Monday of next week.  I have a plan, one that includes low carb, regular exercise; mental as well as physical.  I’ve joined a neighborhood gym that will help me during the cold and rainy days that are sure to be coming.  I will post regular updates here so I can keep up with my progress.  Also, I’m on Fitbit so if you would like to send me a request, you can see live results.  My email address in timhughes1963@gmail.com

See you on Monday!!!

 

← Older posts

Blog Stats

  • 7,699 hits

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 433 other followers

Follow grayfeathersblog on WordPress.com

2015

January 2021
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel