We're finally going camping again this weekend. This will be the first time since April, and it's only going to be for one night. We're going to camp at Starvation Reservoir with some friends of Traci who have a boat. I'm sure we'll spend plenty of time out on the water, which will be a relief from the hot weather we've had lately. I plan on doing as much geocaching as possible on the drive to and from there, but I'm not sure how much will be possible while we're pulling the trailer.

Michael has gotten thrush, which is a side-effect of taking antibiotics after his tonsillectomy. His tonsils (or recent lack thereof) are healing well, but the thrush is so painful for him at night that he wakes up crying, which then wakes Traci and me up. We haven't slept well the past two nights because of it, but today the doctor saw him and prescribed something to take care of it. We would have taken him to the doctor earlier, but his symptoms were nonexistent during the day, so we figured that the pain from the night before was just a one-time thing. After it happened again last night, we called the doctor. Apparently it only happens at night because he breathes through his mouth, and it causes it to dry out and get more painful than during the day. I hope tonight it's not as bad, 'cause we can all use a good night's sleep. Uh, scratch that--I just glanced at the clock, so I think I can rule out getting enough sleep.

I've been a bit bummed today. Traci's uncle has a '00 Jeep Wrangler on his car lot that he would sell to me for $10,500, but after doing some figuring, we decided that we just can't afford it. If we sold our car at book value, paid off the loan and applied the excess toward a down payment on the Jeep, our monthly payment would be about $100 more than it is now. We're just not willing and/or able to spend that much less on gas and groceries each month in order to make the payment. We'd talked previously about getting a Jeep next year, so maybe by then we'll be in a better position to do it. I just hate to pass up such a good offer, and on a vehicle that has everything that I want/need.

Michael has been doing exceptionally well so far. It's almost as though nothing has happened. His appetite has remained normal, and he hasn't wanted any pain medicine whatsoever since his surgery, even though we have some Lortab elixir just in case.

His doctor said the surgery would last about an hour, but when they paged us in the hospital after about 40 minutes, I was worried. My first thought was that something had gone wrong, but the doctor met us at the pre-op room and said everything went well, and that Michael only lost about a teaspoon of blood during the entire procedure. About a half-hour after that, they finally wheeled him into his room, which was the first time we'd seen him since before the surgery. He was a little groggy, but otherwise didn't seem to be in pain or distress. After he recovered fully from the anesthesia, everything seemed normal.

I still keep expecting something to go wrong, but I guess that's pretty unlikely this long after the surgery. One thing that's bugging me is that Michael's voice has changed a lot. I've read that a voice change is normal, especially after having the adenoids removed, but it should return to normal in a few weeks. I sure hope so. He has an appointment with his doctor on July 5th, and if his voice hasn't returned to normal by then, I plan to address it with the doctor then.

Michael is getting his tonsils and adenoids removed tomorrow morning. I'm pretty damned nervous. They're also doing a turbinate reduction, which is the removal of some tissue in the nasal passageways. We initially took him to the doctor to have some allergy tests done, because none of the allergy medicines he took were doing any good. They said his tonsils were about four times larger than they should be, and they nearly blocked his entire airway in the back of his throat. That explains all the breathing problems he has during allergy season, especially at night. Michael was a bit scared when he heard what the doctor had planned for him, but he doesn't care so much now that he knows what kind of foods he'll be eating over the next week. I doubt I'll stop being worried until after he's fully recovered.

Bradley turned three years old yesterday. We actually had his parties (yes, two of them) on Saturday. I spent that morning placing a new geocache in Buckmaster Draw, which is just east of the San Rafael Reef near Green River. There are a lot of uranium mines there, and the geological formations around there are known for containing dinosaur bones and petrified wood. I didn't spend nearly enough time exploring Buckmaster Draw, but it's so hot and desolate down there that I probably won't be back for more until fall. Anyhow, after returning home and having Bradley's second party, my sister's kids stayed overnight and we slept in tents in the back yard. I used my new tent and sleeping bag for the first time, and now I'm looking forward to doing some backpacking. Yeah, like I'll ever have the time to do that. :)

Sunday was pretty fun. We drove up to Scofield with my sister's family and went on a three mile hike. Michael did pretty well, but Bradley whined a lot about halfway through, so I ended up carrying him most of the way back to the truck. We found a geocache that's been sitting unfound since last August, and we had to walk across Fish Creek to get there. The last time I attempted to find this cache, Fish Creek was running at 300 cubic feet per second, but Sunday it was under 50 cfs. I just carried my kids across, and everybody else walked on their own. Despite all the dust, bugs, and thorny plants, it was a great hike.

It only took me about three hours to replace the brake shoes on my car the other day. After an initial test drive, it didn't seem to have improved anything. I was worried that maybe it was my master cylinder, but after driving it for a couple of days, the adjusters have done their job and the brakes feel right. I played with the adjusters before I put the drums back on, and I thought I had them extended as far as possible, but apparently not. Oh well, I'm just glad I don't have to sink any money into the car. It's bad enough that it's got an oil leak and also needs some work on the front struts.

Last weekend, I started having problems with my truck--brakes again. I was stopped along the side of the road at Joe's Valley, finding a cache, and when I got back in and started up the truck, the ABS warning light and the parking brake light stayed on. The owner's manual is vague on what that means--it just says to have the brakes inspected by a professional. I'm hoping that the shoes are just worn down enough that the sensors are picking up on it, but who knows? I'll probably end up removing the wheels and brake drums to check them out pretty soon. Did I mention I hate getting my hands dirty?

Ok, so I'm retarded. In my last post, I bitched because I couldn't get the brakes disassembled on my car. Turns out I was reading the repair manual incorrectly. There were two pages with several rows of pictures with captions saying how to proceed, and I was reading them across both pages, rather than across each page individually. So the parking brake cable disconnect was actually several steps further down from where I was supposed to be. Looks like I'll be pulling the wheels off again tonight and doing the job right this time.

I'd intended to replace the rear brake shoes on my car today, but I couldn't even get past step one in the repair manual. Well, I actually got the wheel and the brake drum off, but I couldn't disconnect the parking brake cable from the trailing brake shoe. The spring on that damned thing is so strong that no tool I have at my disposal will compress it far enough to disconnect the end of the cable. And if I can't do that, I can't remove the shoe and replace it. I got really fed up and just put the drum and wheel back on, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. Bolt cutters sound like fun, but I actually want to be able to drive the car when I'm finished.

This weekend was ok. Saturday I set out with Mark to find a bunch of caches and just have some fun. The day got off to a good start, but things went slower than I'd planned. We only found seven caches, out of a planned 15. I wanted to place a cache in Fly Canyon, which we did, though the hike wore me out and I eventually got a bad headache. That combined with how late it was getting contributed to us just going down Huntington Canyon and home, instead of cutting over to Scofield.

The hike in Fly Canyon was really the best part, even though it was pretty tough. There's an old jeep trail that the Forest Service has closed to motorized travel, but hiking it was pleasant. The trail gains about 1,100' in elevation over almost two miles in length, and at the end is what appears to be an old camp. I'm not sure what was going on up there, but it may have been an old logging outfit. There's an old concrete structure that was probably used to impound water for bathing or drinking, and some very old lumber scattered all over that may have been a cabin at one point. There was also an old General Motors engine block (inline six), various other metal machinery parts, and lots of unidentifiable junk littering the hillside down toward the creek.

An interesting thing about the hike is that one time as Mark and I were stopped to rest, a large dead pine tree just spontaneously fell. We were standing alongside the trail and we heard a large creaking sound. We turned and simply watched the tree topple over. It was pretty loud and dramatic. I was speechless for a second, then I was like, "Wow!" If a tree falls in the woods...

Yesterday I just stayed home all day, recovering from the previous day and cleaning up a little in order to get ready for Bradley's birthday party, which is on Saturday. I've never been so busy as I am this summer, and it's only going to get worse from here on out. Between Michael's doctor appointments, all the camping trips, t-ball games, birthday parties, etc., I hardly have any time to be my lazy old self.

Michael had his first t-ball practice this evening, and his first game is on Thursday. I was never big into sports--I think I played a single season of soccer when I was seven or eight--and I'm not sure Michael is going to be either. I would never have even bothered enrolling him in any sport unless he specifically asked, but Traci wanted him to play t-ball.

Michael's going to miss a couple of games later this month because he's scheduled to have his tonsils removed on the 21st. His tonsils are so huge that it's affecting his speech, eating, and breathing. When his hayfever gets bad, he keeps me awake at night because he's struggling so hard to breathe. I'm nervous for the surgery, but I'll be glad when things return to a more normal state.