Water Water

Memorial Day in Parowan is really a day to work and get everything
ready for Summer. Curt and I have been sorting through pictures and
cleaning out our storage in our bedroom. We have a lot of stuff to
get thrown out and some stuff that we could possible sell. I hate
yard sales. I would rather just pitch it out.

The pictures were taken yesterday of the flood control channel
behind our house. We have seen it higher than that and muddier too.
All the snow is finally melting and coming down. We still like to go
to the ditch and look for good rocks right in our own backyard. So
when it stops running we will be there looking.

Curt has been working on the garden getting everything planted. He
even put up a fence around most of it to keep the critters out. He
does get tired easier but has really done a lot around here.
He has even been working on some pottery. He starts up with his
weekly chemo this Thursday. It will be for 4 weeks then one off,
four more weeks then around the first week in August we will be
going back up to Huntsman. We are hopeful for a good report. Still
no word from the Veterans Administration about Curt's claim for
Agent Orange exposure.

School is out so I am without a job for now. Its nice to have a
break, but I will miss the paychecks. Oh wrong. Did I say
paychecks? I meant kids! Hope we get to visit the kids this Summer. It always seems to go by
too fast.

-Elaine

Water

Pond by Minersville

Rockin

Saturday Curt and I went out by Minersville.  We looked for some turquoise but didn't find anything worth bringing home. there is a small pond there too so he fished a little.  It was a good day.  The weather was great!

-Elaine

Four Wheeler

On Saturday Curt loaded up the trailer with our four wheeler.  He just took the blade off on Friday.  We figured that any snow we would get would melt fast.  It always melts pretty fast in the Spring.  We went to the Parowan Gap and parked by a road that goes south through the mountains.We unloaded the wheeler and off we went.  I was surprised at how much I have never seen in there.  It was really beautiful.  Great cliffs and rock formations.  The day was beautiful and not cold.  He wanted to take me for a ride for Mother's day. We had a great time.

Mothers day this year was very nice too.  I got cards and flowers and a little hummingbird crystal from Tishanna.  I think my best Mothers day present was having all my 'boys' meet at Disneyland and have a picture taken.  I was very  happy that they could all be together.

-Elaine

Bald Tires and Disneyland

On Friday the 23rd we left at 6:30 A.M and traveled to Salt Lake.  We stopped by to see Geralyn and Wayne and she had a water plant for Curt for his birthday.  We then went to Lee and Denise's house and delivered a Parowan  Rock Church that they had ordered.  We then went up to Huntsman for Curt's appointment.  They drew labs first and told us to come back at 1:30 P.M. to see the Doctor.  We had time to go to Capital Ceramics and pick up a few supplies.

We saw the Dr. at 2:00 P.M. He said that the tumor markers were going down, which is what we wanted to know. Dr Zangari is starting Curt on the 35 day series of chemo treatments again.  This time it will be 4 weeks on and 1 off.   He will see Dr Te in Cedar at the beginning of each series. This  will be three series and it should take us to the first week in August when we will go back up to Huntsman to see Dr. Zangari.   We were hoping that it would be in remission but not yet.
It rained all the way to Salt Lake but it was clear on the way home.

Before we left (Thursday night ) I told Curt that my right rear tire was getting bad.  We had no problems going to SLC.  On Saturday I let Tishanna take my car to St George to get a window for her car.  She had no problems then either.  On Sunday I took my car to church and drove it to work on Monday.   Aftr work Tishanna needed to go to Cedar so she borrowed my car again.  She was still in Parowan when the back left tire went flat.  She called and was upset saying that everything she touched broke.  Curt and I went to fix the flat and I told her that she had been 'watched over and protected'.  It could have blown out any of the times we had it,  on the freeway, to St. George, Salt Lake. But it went flat very closwe to home so we could help her fix it. We have to acknowledge these tender mercies that we are blessed with.

On Tuesday April 27th we got a call from Daniel.  He and his family went to California to go to Disneyland.  They stayed with Barbara and Larry on Sunday and monday. He called to tell us that as they were leaving Tony Roma's a man grabbed his arm...  The man that grabbed Daniel's arm was Clint.  He and his family had just flown into California and were going to Disneyland the same two days.  No coincidence I'm sure.  Some things are just meant to be.  Matt and his family met up with the other Paulson's, had dinner together and went on some rides.  Its the first time all the brothers, wives and cousins have been together.  What a neat thing.  It's now Friday night and I am very thankful for my family and that its Saturday tomorrow.

-Elaine

Salt lake City

Today Curt and I traveled to Salt Lake. We left at 6:30 A.M. Tishanna was in charge of the house and the kids (Clyde and Joplin). Curt had an appointment to do labs at noon and see Dr. Zangari at 2:00 P.M.  We have been anticipating this appointment hoping we could find out if the chemo is working and hopefully put the cancer in remission. It rained most of the way to Salt Lake, but we got to Geralyn and Wayne's house at about 9:50 A. M.  We had a nice, but short visit then headed up to Denise and Lee's house.  Lee had ordered a Parowan Rock Church from Curt and we had one to deliver to them.  They loved it.  We left there and got up to Huntsman right before twelve.  All they needed to do then was to draw labs so we were in and out of there really quick.  We had some time so we went to Capitol Ceramics and Curt picked up some supplies for making more churches. We went back to Huntsman and saw Dr. Zangari. He looked at the labs and could still see some cancer cells but over all he said that Curt was progressing just as he should. Guess that's all we can hope for right now. The Dr. is going to have Curt continue the chemo in Cedar City on the same schedule that he was on  for the last 3 1/2 months. Next Thursday, the 29th, Curt will go to Cedar and see Dr. Te the Oncologist there. He will then go to the hospital in the infusion lab and have his chemo by IV.  He will go every week for 4 weeks then off for 2,  on for 4, off 2, on for four more then we will go  back up to Huntsman again and see if the levels are down. Dr. Zangari was very hopeful that everything was going as planned. After we were done there we just booked it home.  No rain this time and I drove most of the way.  Curt spelled me for a while  and we got home at about 6:45 P.M.  What a long day!  He is already sleeping and I was still awake so that's why I'm here adding to the blog.  Have a good night to all.

-Elaine

Catch Up Time

March was a busy month.  Curt had chemo on the 18th and 25th. There was no school on the 24th to 28th so I went with him to the last session on April 1st.   He has one more session on the 8th then we will be going to Huntsman in Salt Lake on April 23rd.  Hopefully we will have good news.Curt has been busy working on the new kiln.  When the weather was good he was outside.  We have had more snow last week.  We thought it was almost done and the roads were dry and had no mud. Oh well.  We had over a foot of snow on the 31st, but it really melted fast.  Today, Monday the 5th is very windy.  Curt would really like to be outside but it doesn't look like he will get to go out.
Ben Neilsen came over to see us.  He had been up to Park City with his wife's family.  It was good to see him.  We didn't know that he is doing contract work in Kuwait.  Last time we saw him was when his Dad passed away last year.  His Dad was Curt's half brother, Dennis Neilsen.

-Elaine

Good weather

Well finally we are having some good weather.  Brian Head got 33 inches of new snow over the weekend and we got about 9 inches.  It is melting very fast now though.  Curt has been working on some paintings and even made another church.  He starts his last session of chemo on Thursday, for 4 weeks then we will go up to Huntsman to find out if its doing any good. He is sure tired of all the drugs that he has to take.  Huntsman took him off of Thalidomide to see if that was the drug that makes him itch everywhere.  He still itches but not as bad.  He wants to go off all of them for three days then re-introduce them one at a time to see which one is the culprit.

-Elaine

Clyde

Clyde, Curt's very faithful dog. He seems to be doing just fine on three legs.  He even wants to play outside in the snow.

-Elaine

Joplin

This is Tishanna's dog, Joplin.  She is pretty silly sometimes and is a great beggar! When she needs to go  out she will come and put her foot on my arm and if I don't pay any attention to her then she puts both feet on me.  She does come running fast when I call her, which Clyde does not do.  He takes his time. They keep each other company and that has been good for Clyde too.  Keeps him active. It is 5:15 P.M. and the storm is coming in.  The wind is starting to blow and we expect rain or snow soon.

-Elaine

Building the Parowan Pioneer church

Curt is building the second church this week and one of his small paintings is in the background.  He has been feeling much better and has kept really busy.

-Elaine

Dr. Te

Today is Thursday the 18th of March.  Curt and I went to Cedar to see Dr. Te, the oncologist. He said that Curt looked really good and wanted to know all about what Curt was doing.  After the appointment we went over to the hospital and Curt got his infusion of cancer drugs.  I drove my own car over there so I could be with him a while. The appointment was at 11:15 A. M. and I left at one thirty to come home to drive my bus.  Curt just now got home and it is almost 5.  Sure was a long day for him.  He hates being plugged into that stuff especially on a clear day.  It really was beautiful today and warm.  The clouds started to come in around three and we expect rain tonight.  He has made another church this week and finished another painting.  He fixed his rock saw (big project) and has cleaned up around the yard a lot.  We still have a lot of mud but it seems to dry out fairly fast.  Spring is coming!!  Curt will be a lot happier when he can get out and work and play outside.  Me too.

-Elaine

The Squirrel

Well I know this is a little late but I thought I would tell you the saga about the squirrel.  This past 6 months Curt has been fixing up his studio so he could paint, work on rocks, and do his pottery. About in October he noticed some movement above his head.  he thought is was a mouse but it sounded too big.  He really didn't worry about it because it wasn't bothering him.  Little did
he know that the little bestow was shredding the insulation, eating through light cords and peeing up there! The last of December Curt went out to the studio to work and noticed a hole in the ceiling, actually 3 holes!  Now he is mad!  Well he tried a coyote trap and that didn't work.  Then he tried a rat trap, like a mouse trap but bigger. It didn't work either. The bail would be gone but the traps would not trip.  He must have been a little guy.  Curt then tried a barrel trap that he looked up on the Internet.  This time the trap was tripped but no beastie in the barrel!  Curt and Tishanna then went to visit Matt and some other friends in California.  He left me here to keep the trap set.  Before he left though he borrowed the live trap from the lumber yard.  He set a couple of times and same thing.  Trap empty no bait and no squirrel either. Curt even put a heavy magnet on the trap to make it heavier.  Bait gone, no squirrel.  I then saw one of Curt's rocks with a flat bottom.  I put peanut butter with white chocolate chips, and put it on top of the magnet. Should be heavy enough now I thought.  Next day I checked and yes in deed I got the rascal!  Curt now has a squirrel tail brush and no beastie.  He had to fix a lot of holes and wires, paint, add new insulation etc.  But Curt is back in business in his studio.

Spring?

Well, Curt and I are still coughing so we didn't go out at all today.  There were weather alerts for most of Utah today and I can vouch for the weather man that it has been snowing 'All' day.  I think we probably got about 9 or 10 inches of new snow on top of the foot of snow we already had in the yard.   The only good thing about having more snow is that it covers up the muddy part of the yard and the dogs can go out without bringing in a bunch of mud.  That is the only thing that I really don't like about Spring.  MUD! Tishanna is the only one that ventured out today.  Joplin and Clyde love the snow and every time we would let them out they would dive in and roll in the new snow. I will add a picture to this tomorrow so you can see just how much snow we have. 
Curt went back to Valley View infusion center on Thursday.  His new schedule is three more weeks of chemo, one week off then another 4 weeks.  After that we will be going up to Salt Lake to see Dr. Zangari and have more tests.He won't have to have a bone biopsy, which he is thankful for, but he will have a pet scan and blood work.