So Close We can Taste it

 The SS Soup Trailer has left dry dock and is sailing full steam ahead to a port near you. (I don't know why I am talking all nautical because I have never been in the Navy). Anyways, we have passed our final inspection. We are legal and are getting anxious to get out there and start slinging soup. In fact we received our first food order from the food distributor just the other day. We also got our POS system up and running so that we will be able to take most forms of payment. However, and this is for the South Dakotans, we will not accept goats as payment, nor chickens.

Our first official gig will be April 29th at the 1910 Sip House in Battle Lake, Minnesota. There will be live music, awesome ciders to drink and of course our yummy foods. We are looking forward to this as we have been working for months to make this happen. So like the title says, "So close we can taste it."

We launched our Facebook page recently. Lone Pine Soup Co. if you want to follow us. We got a huge response from that in just days. The local paper saw it and wanted to interview us. Nothing wrong with free publicity.

Lisa has been working hard at perfecting her recipes and booking gigs for us. As of this blog post we have over 55 gigs booked. Plus more opportunities to do pop up events. So I think we will be busy.

Lisa in Soup Central taking care of business.

I would like to also share something else that was "So close you could taste it". I am not making this up either. We went to Sam's club in Fargo to join. Feeling like there are things there that we could use. So we are standing in line behind a woman leaning against her shopping cart. Lisa and I are talking amongst ourselves waiting our turn when I think I hear  a fart. Very faint. So faint that Lisa didn't hear it because she just kept talking. Then right after that the lady let out another one. She was not holding back for the second one. It was loud and lasted about 10 seconds. (Count to 10, that's a long time for a fart. Gross.) It was like OMG! Lady, do you not see us standing behind you? WTH? She just carried on as if it was perfectly normal to crap your pants in line at Sam's club. We both looked at each other, took 10 steps back and just shook our heads. Honestly.

Something else on a more personal note. I have not worn pants for months. I know that may shock some people and to some others it doesn't. To be more specific, I have not worn my jeans since before my hip surgery. Until today. It's like some of those unexplainable things that happen in the universe. Like why does one sock disappear in the dryer? Or why do they keep making Fast and Furious movies? Why do your jeans shrink after you have been wearing sweatpants for months? Some things we will never be able to explain.

Next post will be after an event so stay tuned.

Full Steam Ahead

 Our new venture is going full steam ahead. We are busy purchasing equipment and supplies having inspections and just the many other things that are involved with the starting of a business in "The Peoples Republic of Minnesota". Hush money has been paid, palms have been greased. (I am just kidding. That last statement was put in for comedic value, even though I think it is a home run, others may be offended.)

Deliveries are many. I have a secret game camera set up on our driveway to take pictures of trespassers here at the SSUVFL. It then sends me pictures over the cellular airwaves so that i know who is coming and going. One day Lisa came home to this.

After checking the images sent by the camera we had Amazon, UPS and FedEx all delivered in one day. It's great that the service is so good but things are starting to melt here and those trucks are making a mess of our gravel driveway.

We have gotten the graphics put on the trailer and it sure came out nice. The black really pops on that orange trailer.

That picture was taken March 26th and as you can see we have a lot of snow still on the ground. They predict that the snow will be around well into the later part of April. Any other year we wouldn't think much of it but we are booking gigs starting in April and we are hoping that it isn't a big muddy mess.

The other day when I went into town, I crossed the bridge near our house and there was a dead raccoon that somebody ran over. The reason I mention that is that we have a raccoon that visits our bird feeders quite regularly. It is fun to watch as he works to clean it out. Wearing the mask makes him look even more diabolical. I often see him on the game camera.

Here he is going out for the evening.

Then later on he will wander home.

So after we saw the dead one, we were thinking that it was our raccoon. He then showed up to our feeders that night and we let out a big cheer for him. "Hip, Hip Hooray!" was heard throughout the SSUVFL. You can tell we don't get out much when that is the highlight of the week. We had 15 deer in the yard this morning.

On the medical front. My hip is getting better thanks to the weekly visits to the physical therapist. I am still having complications with my thigh and knee. My IT band muscle is still very sore and hyper sensitive to touch. Below the knee is numb which my Orthopedic Surgeon thinks it may be a new problem which he hopes to address in November.  He also says that I am just one of the few people that take longer to heal. So frustration levels remain high. 

That's it for now.  Next time I hope to be blogging about our first experiences of running a food trailer. It could be a very funny post or one filled with horror. We will just have to wait and see.

The Big News

 

Sunset at the SSUVFL.

Here is the big news that we have been promising for a little while. We did it! We bought a trailer!

I know what you are thinking. I can just hear your thoughts now. 

"I bet Dino needs that to haul around all of the training equipment that he requires to be the next American Ninja and Parkour world champion" said Jim and Barb N.

"That makes sense. With as active as those two are, they need space to haul around their kayaks, ATV's, side-by-sides and mountain bikes" said Steve and Deb M.

"It's Harley Davidson Orange, I bet they got themselves some new Harley's to go in it" said Kip T.

"I bet they got a huge trailer to haul more stuff to Quartzsite" said Steve and Dianne C.

Well we hate to disappoint everyone but none of the above. Let me show you a picture of the other side to see if that helps you figure out what we are going to do.

Can you tell what it is now?

How about now? We bought ourselves a food trailer! Actually we had it custom built for our new business venture.

Last summer we were sitting around our campfire brainstorming. We learned that when you drink more, the ideas are so much better. Lisa and I both had jobs working for other companies at the time and we decided that we wanted to work for ourselves again. That's when it hit me. Food trailer. Genius! But we didn't want to buy a dirty, greasy used one. We wanted new. So we started researching and found a company in Minneapolis that builds custom food trucks, trailers and carts. If you bring them a vehicle or trailer of any type, they can turn it into a food truck/trailer. They really do amazing work. Chameleon Concessions in case you would like to get your own trailer. Here are some examples of the trucks and trailers they have done. I pulled these from their website. 

Ours was an easier build because they started with an empty trailer. They remove all the wood on the inside except for the floor. They epoxy the floor and install fiberglass panels, run electricity and gas lines and then install your equipment depending on your needs. It is quite the operation.

Everything in the trailer is new except for the beverage cooler. He gave us a deal on a used one that he had.

So that is our big news. Now we are busy jumping through all the hoops that are required in "The People's Republic of Minnesota". We are looking at several festivals already and other venues for the summer. We are excited to try this and looking forward to being out there having fun.

January Update

 Well January did not start out the best for us. Lisa ended up getting Covid and then a few days later, I ended up getting Covid. Our first time getting Covid. It is funny that just 2 short years ago, if that would have happened, we would have thought we had a death sentence. We would have been quarantined, locked away from loved ones as they planned for our inevitable deaths. We did recover and to be honest, it was no worse than having a head cold. So my words of wisdom would be "Que sera, sera".

I have still been recovering from my total hip replacement. Recovery has been slow due to being diagnosed with I T Band Syndrome with nerve entrapment. 

The symptoms I am having is that there is skin sensitivity on my thigh. I think that means there is a nerve damaged around my hip for that. Also below the knee it is completely numb. The hip itself is much better. I have ditched the walker and the cane. Still limp around though.

Surprisingly our January weather has been very mild. Much like December's should have been, which is great, because December's weather was like January's. Our local deer herd has been coming around more and they are acting more normal. We have not had any wolf sign for a long time so that makes them calmer.

They sure like to raid the bird feeders. We were not able to get them alfalfa this year due to my hip but they are looking fat enough without it. My son and his wife gave us a new trail camera. We have been getting lots of pictures of the critters. Here are a few of them.

Other than that, life goes on. One more thing, we winterized our fifthwheel and put it outside.

Now why would we do that? Tune in to the next installment.

2022 Wrap

 First of all we would like to wish everyone a happy new year. 2022 was a weird year to say the least and I hope that 2023 isn't a repeat. It goes by so fast and I am glad that we have this blog to look back upon and review all that has transpired over the year.

We started the year off with arctic cold temperatures. Making it perfect for working on the inside of our cabin. I was able to get the bedroom about 95% done and our laundry room is about 70% done. But all in all the whole cabin is about 87.63% finished. Now when or if I am fully recovered from my hip surgery I hope to finish it all in the next few months or so. I got confirmation from Jim that he was going to help me with this project so it should be done in no time. Wait. I guess Jim is going to Quartzsite for the winter and told me I was on my own as usual. Oh well.

In April we took a month off and headed to the Gulf Coast. Enjoying the warmth and the surf along the Mississippi coast.

When we got back to the SSUVFL it was getting warmer. So we put inside projects on hold and decided to tackle many outside projects. During the summer we decided to get some part time jobs to help suplement our incomes. We enjoyed many weekends with the grandkids. It is so fun watching them grow.

Fall soon arrived which means the outside projects have to end. Unfortunately for me It was also discovered that I needed a new hip. Mine wearing out from countless death marches and the over active lifestyle I lead. Upon learning that, I had to give up my career at Tool-R-Us while Lisa's grounds keeping job ended. The nursing home really liked her so she became a "homemaker, aka a cook" working inside the nursing home now. She hopes to become a grounds keeper again in the spring.

I had my surgery and have been recovering now for 6 weeks. Recovery has been slow and frustrating but I think I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

We have some big things coming up for 2023. We can't share any details just yet but we hope to share some of the news in the next coming months.

One thing I hope to do is finish the work on the cabin so that we can start an expansion project for this summer. Yay!

Lessons Learned

Some images may not be suitable for young children or Jim.

Surgery is over and things are going as well as can be expected. I have spent the last 3 weeks sitting in my recliner, watching a lot of TV. I had always thought that that would be a great way to spend your days, but now that I don't have a choice, I am getting tired of it. Like they say, "Be careful what you wish for". 

Before going into this operation, it seemed like so many people would tell us that they knew someone who went through it. A cousin, a neighbor or a co-worker. And every time they would tell us that there was an immediate relief of pain after surgery versus before surgery. Although I do believe them when they say that, but it makes me wonder if things have been left out of the equation. 

For instance, let's call the time before surgery "A". Then let's call the time after surgery where you are fully healed "C". I can see where there would be a noticeable improvement from point A to point C. So what's missing is the time in between that nobody talks about. "B". That is where I am currently floundering in and from a first hand perspective, it sucks. 

When you think about that type of operation and what they have done to your body, it should not be a shock to how much pain you are feeling. If you Google "hip replacement surgery" you can see what they are doing to your body. It is very traumatic to say the least.

My thigh for instance. I am/was black and blue from my hip to my knee.

Along with the bruising, the skin on my thigh is hyper sensitive to touch. Just putting a finger on my thigh feels like you are trying to push a knife through it. 

Swelling is another issue and now after 3 weeks it is finally subsiding some. Right after surgery it was about twice the size of my other leg.

They told us to get a walker. I don't go a step without hanging onto that for dear life. I just hobble around everywhere with it. Walking has been difficult but it is getting easier. I am sore from my hip down to my knee. I have knee pain because for them to work on my femur, they had to dislocate it from my knee joint. 

There are two different ways that they can do a hip replacement and I am unsure of the differences. One way is to go through the side of the hip to do it. The other is to go through the front of the hip. That is how they did mine. They make a 4 inch incision to do it. 

No stitches. Just some kind of mesh covering the incision. I still don't know how they could pull that femur through that, cut the head off, insert a titanium ball joint and socket through there. It was probably a good thing I was knocked out. Speaking of being knocked out. Remember how I said that it took them 14 tries to do my spinal block. Lisa took a picture of my back when we got home.

Each little dot is an attempt with a needle.

So what have I learned from all of this. Well I have learned to live with non-stop pain. Once the Oxycodone that they send you home with is gone, the only other thing you can take for pain is Tylenol, which really doesn't do a thing for it. 

I learned that if you want a peaceful night of sleep, that is just not going to happen. I can't have the sheets or blankets touching my thigh and if you try to roll over to find a more comfortable position, the pain wakes you up. To be honest, there really are no comfortable positions. 

I have learned that doing anything for yourself is difficult to say the least. From going to the bathroom, sitting at the dinner table or just getting up out of your chair. It is a struggle that causes pain and discomfort.

I have learned that at Physical Therapy, they try to see how much pain you can take. I know in the future that if I ever have to do the other one, the pain would have to be unbearable before I go through this again. Maybe I will just get a scooter and say "To hell with it" and just scoot around everywhere.

Last night was a milestone for me. After more than three weeks, I had my first beer. That may be a new world record for me. It was good, so good. It was like drinking the nectar from the gods. I only had one if you can believe that.

Christmas is fast approaching so we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

First Time Being Abducted by Aliens

 There I was, a young man living deep in the woods of the SSUVFL. Some might say that I was the ultimate specimen of manhood. A perfect mix of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Zac Efron. That's why it was not unusual for me to take a nightly 10 mile hike in any kind of weather. If you know me, you know that I am the epitome of health and fitness. What was unusual that particular starry night was that way off in the distance I saw a shimmering light. As I watched the light, it began to get closer and brighter. Could it be an Unidentified Flying Object? Otherwise known as a UFO.

Preposterous I know, but bear with me. Before I knew it the light was directly overhead. They say that most people facing a life or death situation such as that, a fight or flight response will kick in for self preservation. I would like to add that there is also a third type of response. That is stupid dumbfoundness. As I stood there looking up at the light I could feel a certain warmth running down my leg. I had a sensation of being whisked away. Things after that are kind of a blur but I can relate to you a few of the details of my abduction.

I recall looking up at a white ceiling with some sort of apparatus up there. I could feel my body being tilted at an odd angle while something grabbed my left leg. Putting some kind of boot on it and then being tied down. Then the same happened to my right leg. My arms were grabbed and tied down also. It was kind of scary being aware of what is going on but having no control of anything. I closed my eyes hoping that when I opened them again it would all be over, but when I opened them I was still there. Again I closed them and this time when I opened them it was over. A blink in time. 

I relate that story to you because once I got into the operating room, that was the closest thing that came to mind about what happened. It was surreal to say the least. 

I am ahead of myself so let me start from the beginning of that grand and glorious day. We got the call the day before to let us know when to show up for surgery. 6 AM. Alarms were set and we were as prepared as possible. 

Winters in Minnesota can be challenging at times and of course when it comes to something like this Mother Nature just had to make it more interesting for us. Maybe it humors her? I don't know. The drive from the SSUVFL to Fargo promised to be snowy with blowing snow, dropping temps and ice covered roads. So we awoke at 3 AM and hit the road at 4. Top speed for our journey was a whopping 50-55 mph. 80-88 kph for our Canadian friends. It was a white knuckle drive for sure as in several areas we started to slip and slide. 

We eventually made it. Got checked in and waited. They hustled us to the pre-op rooms where they wanted me to strip down to nothing. Okay. Lisa, cue the music! After the show was over I was glad to have made a few bucks. I received another Covid test because having one 6 days away was too far in advance. It had to be within 5 days of the procedure. Oh well. I am not responsible for what they find up there.

It came back negative so I was cleared for surgery. We said our goodbyes and I wondered to myself if Lisa was going to visit Dr. Hot Bod. He is one of the orthopedic Dr.'s I've seen and works downstairs. It's okay. I've seen Lisa's dermatologist who I call Dr. Soft Hands so I guess we are even.

In the operating room I was propped up so that they could do a spinal block on me. As I was sitting there, there was a table full of all kinds of torture instruments. I made a comment to the nurse standing in front of me so that I would not fall off the table, "Oh look, there's the hammer, I've heard about the hammer."

She said to me "Don't look at that stuff." We both looked longingly into each other's eyes as we shared a moment. I think some of the meds have already started working.

A spinal block is where they inject a spinal anesthesia into the spinal fluid. Never having one before I assumed it was one injection and that was it. Stab after stab I felt in my back. Over and over it went. Name, rank and serial number started going through my mind. Finally the main anesthesiologist came over and she tried another 4 times until she got the needle in. Worst experience of my life. Apparently they kept hitting bone, cartilage and nerves. Lisa later on counted 14 needle marks. Fourteen. When they hit the nerves I nearly passed out. After that, that is when I felt like the aliens took over.

Up in the recovery room I really had to go #1 and I was not going to do it in a bed pan. I have way too much pride for that. So I had the nurses come in and get me out of bed to get to the bathroom. Once there, performance anxiety set in as they were outside the door along with Lisa and what sounded like half of the hospital staff. Mission aborted. After everyone left for a while, I swallowed my pride and did the deed in bed. After a few times I was getting pretty good at it so to challenge myself, I started to add a distance factor into play. Note to self. Don't do that. That was going to be the alternate title of the blog. "First time peeing in bed."

I was up in recovery until the next day. We were waiting to get released and also watching the weather as more snow and wind was going to move through. Mother Nature just toying with us some more. But this time Lisa had to drive us home. Another perilous drive and we were back safe and sound in the SSUVFL.

Lisa is taking great care of me. We have developed a rhythm to get in and out of bed. It is a two person job for sure. Moose likes to sit with me all of the time.

Lisa is also outside doing the snow blowing. After all these years she kept telling me she didn't know how to use a snow blower. I sure fell for that one.

What a woman. Thanks so much to our neighbor Chuck ,who also came over and plowed the long stretch of our driveway with his ATV.

So until next time.