rail to rail balance board: DIY "goof board"

3 months after ACL surgery and i am getting ancy.  I figured a relatively safe idea for fun and excitement would be a new balance board.  An obvious rip off of the " goof board " this DIY job is pretty fun.

i expect to use a larger diameter PVC pipe as i get better and as my leg continues to heal.  

I wrapped the pipe with some foam pre-tape and then a roll of athletic tape.  

being rail to rail is much more of a surfy/skate feel. 

mug quiver

 Now three months into the ACL replacement I find it hard to motivate myself to do the exercises at home.
When I get into PT I am making progress- just perhaps slower than optimal. Physical Therapists are like Dental Hygienists though..no matter how good you are doing there is always some tooth you could be flossing better.

The bike sits unused, and I make cup after cup of tea.  This is greatly facilitated by the little electric hot water kettle.  All this tea is being consumed out of a whole quiver of cups.  Much like the bikes and skis hanging in the garage- it is a hodgepodge that i have collected over the years.

Recycled Starbux ceramic mug. The lid sucks, but the sticker makes me keep it around.

" Big Daddy"- this makes enough tea to satisfy an army of Indians.  Excellent for hot co-co - a necessity for February Lake Michigan trips. 

This little number has nice curves. It fits nicely in the hand, good over all design. Tight lid that deals with being tipped over quite well.

The Work horse. If you are not familiar with Freedom Skate Shop in Madison, WI - They not only commission kick ass die cut stickers, they are committed to skateboarding - even for woefully poor skaters such as myself. 

The Kleen Kanteen with the drink top accessory is an awesome tea dispenser. Holds a ton, keeps it surprisingly warm and takes a beating.  

Finally, this little number below has been a companion of mine for quite some time. Found it while doing a Henderson Neighborhood Mid Night Ski Excursion (HNMNSE) one winter.. I picked out of a snow bank, tossed it in my bag..and it came home with me.  

The Telemark Tips sticker is kinda awesome.

clipboard stickers.

month of pain: ACL surgery recovery

ACL replacement surgery was followed directly by a month of pain.

January 2014 was month of physical pain and discomfort. Staples, holes, scabs, stiff, sore, weak. Weird flexible needle in my thigh, swollen and useless knee, weird pain killer high,  and laying down all day made for some uncomfortable days.

My family was great.  My mom came into town, Ruth took good care of me and the kids were helpful and kind.  The cats.were constant companions. 

During this phase, Kalamazoo got continuously hit with snow. It just kept piling up.  The urban ski scene should have been huge. The pavement on side streets was probably a foot deep on many the best hills in the neighborhood.  Did anyone finally ski Hilbert street? 

Meanwhile I am stuck watching ski movies and reading ski blogs.  Watched the Heroes of Telemark,  read a lot of Telemark East, and bought some new ski boots.  On Telemark East I started a thread called :The Slippery Mitten: Skiing in America's high five.  The irony of this is not lost on me.

After the surgery my leg looked pretty good really. The staples were annoying, it was stiff and weak and all drilled and poked.  The swelling was persistent but nothing like the initial injury. Over all ACL surgery was considerably better than the initial injury.

You can see the placement screws for the Ligament in these two x rays.

Super huge thanks to Fun Til Death brother peter who snow blew my drive way everyday as the sky dumped snow. Feet of Powder.  Which pete also skied almost every day at Timber Ridge which is a nice little ski hill here in South West Michigan

ACL Replacement: continuing to pay the price of radness

As mentioned in my previous post The worst 20 minute bike ride ever..I blew out my knee riding my fixed gear bicycle. I spent the first week not knowing what was wrong. I wasn't bleeding so i didn't go to the Emergency room...that's reasonable, right? It swelled up,  got super stiff, hurt..etc. etc.  I took a week off of work, laid around and iced my leg. It was pretty miserable.

x rays, and and MRI later...sure enough i shredded my ACL.  The arthroscopic scope pictures show two little scallop looking things rather than a ligament.

All of this just emphasizing the fragile nature of the body.  I was getting ready for a ski season one minute, crawling home the next...followed quickly by not being able to do anything, limping...miserable. 

This also emphasized the need for being mindful when I go out and try to do something. I suppose nordic walking would not entail much risk and would still be a work out...but I am not sure I am ready to be that kooky yet. 

Ruth and the Kids were great through all of this.

Once it was determined that I wanted an ACL, I had to do quite a bit of pre-hab to get my knee ready for surgery.  The biggest issue i had was getting the knee fully extended.  Physical Therapy was great, and my knee made a lot of progress over the next few weeks.   I became really bummed that my knee was going to be taken back to square one...I can certainly see how somebody could continue to ski or skate or run with out an ACL. I read that Steph Davis did this...She however is an incredible athlete and i am only a semi rad midwesterner. And to be honest...my knee was getting better but had a radical instability that made living sucky.  

I had Surgery on December 31st 2013....awesome way to bring in the new year.  I took oral pain meds and had a pain pump that was mainlined into a nerve.  A doctor or a nurse could tell you what it was exactly..but the long and short of it was that made the pain very tolerable. The Pain pump lived in the bag pictured above..I had to carry it everywhere...became a drag after a while.  

The worst part of surgery was washing my self with the weird soap anti-biotic stuff. bleech!  Once I met the anesthesiologist...everything went really well.  It was a lot like being abducted by aliens...

Over all, the pain of the crash and living with the fucked up knee was far far worse than the pain of my knee post surgery.

Upon returning home I was immediately stuck into a passive motion machine. This was rad and while i couldn't really feel my leg, moving my leg felt so much better than having it sit still.

For the next four days I didn't move much. I watched a lot of TV and read whole bunch of blogs. I had to live in my daughters room downstairs. I was the favorite spot for the cats to hang out.  Two are here with me in this picture.

Again radness extracts its sacrifice and rewards some more than others.  The blood I shed brought one of the best winters in a decade to Michigan..my diligent training for ski season..my preparation all for naught.

Adventures in Nordic Skiing: 2010-2013

 This years ski season is a a bust for me because of my ACL reconstruction. So despite one of the better snow seasons....maybe in a decade...I am left only with nostalgia to satisfy myself.

The following are some pictures and links to previous ski related postings from the last few years of Fun Til Death.

Ski

Ski boot Review

Late February Ski

Wipe out at Markin Glen

Blizzard of 2011

 

Thickeneering

Checker Mountain video

/kalamazoo-first-tracks-of-2011

DIY Curling Stones: backyard curling 2013

Earlier FTD DIY curling post

more FTD DIY Curling

Even more DIY Curling

With the Winter Olympics coming up curling will once again be showcased.  My brother is really into the sport ( as much as you can be with out paying for ice time ) and each year that the weather is favorable he creates a sheet on the back pond at our folks house in Dexter, Michigan. 

So far this season the sheet has been kinda rough and the curling favored brute force over finesse. There was still a good amount of laughter, merriment, and it was a good excuse to get out of the house and do something out side.

The Stones are still the salad bowl, concrete, and galvanized pipe DIY jobs from a few years ago and they are certainly starting to show some signs of wear and tear, this may be their last season.

The House is painted on the ice with food coloring, the button is a bottle cap, traditionally from the first bottled beer consumed while creating the sheet.

I was awaiting my ACL surgery when these games were played, so I stayed in the photographer role. Ice and unstable knees don't mix very well.

As cold as it has been I would expect that there will be  more curling to come in 2014. These games will be fueled with inspiration from the Olympics and Papst Blue Ribbon.