One Last Christmas Present. (Squeamish Readers be Warned.)

So I still had one more present to open on the day after Christmas. Only trouble, it was inside my pinky finger.
All prepped and waiting.


When I woke up this is what my hand looked like.


It's almost like we are brothers.


Having painful and immobile limbs is a good way to get more R&R time.


Shower fun.


Joela knows how to relax too.


So yesterday they took the bandage off and here's what was underneath. Apparently, I don't even get to keep my Christmas present. The doctor gave it to a friend of his who opened it and declared it to be a Periosteal Chondroma; a rare tumor of the cartilage which is both benign and non-recurring.

This is what my hand looked like when I left the physical therapist. They want my wrist immobile so I am forced to use my fingers, they want the pinky taped to the ring finger so it is forced to move with it. I also got some exersices to do and a resensitizing kit so I can retrain the damaged nerves in my pinky. Stitches out next week.

Happy New Year!

More Birthday and/or Christmas Photos, At Random.

And a Happy Christmas.

Since everyone (well, minus 17 party poopers) was already there in order to celebrate my birth, we went ahead and did some Christmasing too. Anna enjoyed being the star:



I can't figure out why she was so groggy on Christmas morning.

A Merry Birthday...

I make 31 look good.


I think it was Joanna's idea to put the cake in the back of the pickup...


Lucky for me we didn't have enough candles.

Nurse, Fetch the Patient a Bud.

So I decided maybe I should find out why shaking someone's hands with my left hand is so incredibly painful. Turns out there is a reason. Today, they are cutting my finger open to remove whatever is growing there ("almost certainly a benign tumor.") Merry Christmas!

Random Birthday Fun.

Anna: "Good morning Linda, I like your hairdo!"



The Freddy Lobies


The smell didn't really hit me until I unpacked our luggage back home.


As close as she would get. (Or as he could stand?)

When Angels Attack.

And Now, a Random Photograph.

They Grow Up and Leave You So Quickly.

7th Man Part X: The Mansions of Canadian, TX.

Pretty impressive, and we didn't even find the "big" one.