Beginning of the End for the GRNFRG

Got word from Flyin Miata that the grnfrg has its new engine installed and is running fine. I have made arrangements to fly to Grand Junction next week to pick up the car and drive it back to Southern California. I plan to either sell or trade it in for another more "sensible" car.

Once the frog is gone, I will end this blog, probably deleting the posts. Thanks for reading (there were no comments!) and thanks to now, Google for the opportunity for letting me blog.

There will a final post regarding my journey from Grand Junction to Irvine, California.

Last Days for the Green Frog

The Green Frog, which is the Miata whose motor died is now in Colorado, Grand Junction to be exact, getting a Year 2000 Miata engine installed. So the Green Frog goes from a 227 HP (Dyno rear wheels) to a stock engine with about a 110 HP output (rated 142 HP). Not fun anymore. Hope the salvaged engine works! Bought it from Farm Floyd who bids on salvaged autos and sells the parts.

Would you know that the day he shipped the engine I purchased off to Grand Junction, he got in a 2005(?) Miata with a supercharger! I could have used the power! I plan to sell the Green Frog or trade it in for a sensible four door, 4 cylinder, automatic tranny, compact sedan. No more turbo charging for me.

Flyin Miata was willing (for a price) to build a motor with an output over 300 HP at the rear wheels, talk about power. Would burn off the 205/50X15 tires easily. Just for a few bucks! Well a lot of bucks, about 15,000 of them. I will have to go with that 4 door sedan.

New Post, New Year

Year 2006 was a rough year for me. My appendix went bad requiring emergency surgery (you should see the scar!) and 6 weeks later my gall bladder went bad, requiring more surgery. Then something left in the appendicitis surgery require another cut to take that out. No, it wasn't a sponge or scaple.

Earlier in 2006 my dog Sassy died. Cancer took her after fighting it for 4 months, we finally had to put her down since the cancer was blocking her windpipe. Broke my heart because she was MY dog and I was very close to her.

After my gall bladder surgery, we found a sheltie at the local animal shelter and adopted that 1 year old puppy. That's Ralphie in the phote above. Ralphie has been instrumental in making me do my walking exercises and I have recovered pretty well.

In December of 2006, I took a consulting job at a company in Newport Beach. Originally it was to take around 40 to 60 hours, but it will take triple that time due to Murphy's Law.

My days of autocross driving has come to an end with my unstable stomach area (held together with stitches) and my Miata's engine went. The thrust bearings gave out and destroyed some of the rod bearings along with damaging the engine block. Oh well, time for a new car anyway.

Can't take the racing suspension of the built up Miata anymore. I will post more ramblings while I search for a replacement car.

So far 2007 seems to be working out. Lets see how this year plays out.

Moving to Normal

Lightning struck again with another surgery on October 6th. Fortuanately it was an outpatient deal and I was home safe in the afternoon, although with a big hole in the abdomen. This this time, however, I had Ralphie the Dog to come home to.

In July, wife and I visited the nearby animal shelter where we knew that a young shetland sheepdog would eventually come available. When the shelter opened at noon we were the second in line to enter. The couple ahead of us went directly to the shelter office and we almost ran to the shelter and started looking at the occupants for the sheltie. I found the dog (him) and my wife asked the shelter attendant that we wanted to walk him.

Once in possession of the dog, the dog can be adopted by the those in possession of the dog, so that is how we ended up with Ralphie the Dog. Ralphie the Dog is a male Shetland Sheepdog, and unlike Sassy the Dog who was female, is very energetic and playful.

Walking is a chorse and requires at least 2 miles to keep Ralphie's energy in check. I am getting lots of excercise and am thinking of finding employment somewhere so I can get some rest during the day.

Stuck at Home

Still trying to recover from the second surgery. Difficult to move about abruptly as the incision scar cause pain when stretched. I am walking about a 1/4 mile three times a day. Next week I hope to increase the distance to 1 mile per walk.

Dreaming about wandering. I was looking at the Jalama Beach website in Santa Barbara County and using Google maps, I noted that there are miles and miles of beach to wander. Summer is a busy time, but then, there are no winter storms, just sunshine and a cool seabreeze. I considered the Eastern and Western Sierras but realized that my ability to walk at high altitudes is limited.

Frog can't wander now

Following the passing of Sassy the Dog, I was too depressed to post anything. The world moved on and I was stuck in my sorrow. Then, at an Easter Sunday dinner my life changed.

My appendix had ruptured. I had no clue of that event but did notice the slight pain that evening. On monday the pain got worse, worse enough for me to call my physician whose on call doctor told me to take Mylanta and see if that helped. I did. It seemed to help.

The next day the pain returned with a vengence so I called my HMO doctor who set up an appointment the next day (usually takes 3 weeks). I arrived at the doctor's office and after a brief examination told me to IMMEDIATELY to the Emergency Room at the hospital about 2 miles away. I had appendicities.

At the ER I had to wait for a few hours while all the hispanic patients ahead of me were taken care of, then of course there wasn't a room available for a couple hours longer. After 8 hours after going through labwork I was placed in a room pending surgery.

All the operating rooms were busy with mostly hispanic types since no one was speaking English, in fact initially I was interviewed in Spanish, of which I don't speak.

There were two other patients in my room, both hispanic, both non-English speaking, in fact one couldn't even understand Spanish, an Indian from central America. None of them had insurance and from what I could determine, were illegal immigrants. I say that since there were a flurry of "immigration advocates" coming and going and having these people sign all kinds of paperwork for "temporary status" due to their life threatening illness.

I was taken in for surgery late the next morning and after that, seven days passed of which I have no clue what was going on. Apparently my entire stomach cavity was septic.

Day 5 A Change of Life

It's strange how a death of a family pet can change family dynamics. Many of the daily "jobs" disappear. Not having to pick up dog shit at the crack of dawn and water down the pee spots to save the expensive lawn grass. The crows miss the dog since Pauline doesn't put pieces of bread on the bird feeder out back for the sparrows. The crows always flew in to steal the pieces and Sassy the dog would burst out of the house through the doggie door to chase the crows away.

She didn't care about sparrows and the sparrows ignored her. Sometime during sleepy afternoons, Sassy the dog would roll around on the lawn and take a nap. Sparrows would come hopping around often mere inches from Sassy looking for whatever sparrows look for. Sometimes Sassy would be awake and watch the sparrows curiously as they hopped around her. Crows on the other hand would tease the dog by alighting on the lawn, watching the doggie door for Sassy's charge, then fly away hopping on a nearby wall to scold her. If no charge, the crow would go to the bird feeder and chow down.

No walks either. Each morning would have a "car ride" for Sassy, me taking her in my old 1994 Dodge Caravan around the city to some neighborhood park not yet visited and Sassy and I would walk around, her sniffing the new territory and I with the ready dog poo bag. Often we would go twice a day, two car rides. what a deal! Nowadays, no walks, no car rides, just staring at the empty back lawn, waiting for nothing.