11~10~08
Bad Ron.....been a while, huh.

Lets start with the cat. About the time of the last blog she was doing great and then suffered a set back. We are writing it off to just being 16.5 years old and having a bad day. Since then she has been getting fluids 3 times a week and eating like a pig. Not gaining any weight.....holding steady around 5 pounds but acting like a kitten again.  Going to move to two treatments a week starting next week and see how she does.

Moving to Paula.....this is "sister's weekend". If you know us at all you know that all the sisters converge on Des Moines once a year before Thanksgiving and go Christmas shopping, movie watching, story telling and just plain fun. I took care of a lighter breakfast this morning of french toast (made with potato bread) lean crisp bacon, cinnamon rolls and caffeine. They have headed out and I have some time before everyone is getting together for a quick lunch at Wendy's and then they pretty much start parting ways until they all see each other again at Thanksgiving. Paula's morning ritual of light fitness exercising has continued five days a week and she has so much more energy and seems to enjoy starting her day this way.

Now for me. Work is very busy. Computer business is as busy as we need for now. Taking on some audits and project work in the office. Starting to do discussions with Bruno Events Team, Principal Charity Classic, Lennox-Quakerdale pro/am and hoping to have a meeting with the new tournament director next week if time permits. We have had snow here so I pretty much have put away the clubs. Postponing the annual trip to Phoenix for golf and guy time.....more on that and a favor in a second.

Asking all of you that read this for a favor. We have a friend in Mesa, AZ. His wife wife has been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer. When you hit your knees tonight, say a prayer for Pam and Rudy and keep them in your thoughts. For those of us with jobs, and our health, and our comfort of a home, remember those less fortunate and "pay forward". It is important. Very important. Make a difference.

10~18~08
Huge good news!!!
We seem to be doing the right stuff with Pawzy! Three IV treatments a week for a month and the BUN number is back to within the safe range so we get to dial the treatments back to twice a week. The xray showed no kidney stones, and nothing real abnormal about the kidneys except they are small just like her. This is huge news for us as we have been trying everything and it finally looks like the efforts are paying off. Not in the clear yet as one of the numbers seems a bit high and going in the wrong direction but for no reason. The doc is not overly worried so for now we continue on! And she gets more spoiled each day she lives with us.

Seems the latest thing is that she likes heating pads.....warm ones that Paula has just used on her back. likes them enough that she will find the cold heating pad and sit on it and get our attention to turn it on. Those that haven't had a smart cat wouldn't understand but Pawzy is spoiled and knows it!!!

Paula and her sister are out shopping and chatting. I'm at home catching up on some computer work and watching the Iowa Hawkeyes put a hurt on Wisconsin so far. If you get a chance to see the Shone Greene 38 yard second quarter touchdown run you can catch it on ESPN's top ten plays of the week.....it was a thing of beauty!

Have a great weekend, I know we will!
 
10~15~08
Cat is fine, Paula is fine, Ron is fine. The End.

Lets see, we had a nice weekend of doing chores, running errands, went to church and served cookies, punch and coffee to the Methodists. While there I ran into the mother of the girl I dated all the way thru high school. That was wierd but it was fun to catch up on what we had both been up to.

Work has been busy for both. Market sucks but we pray like all of the rest of the world that the stocks come back to where they were. Not like we are in a huge hurry to retire and we aren't touching it soon but nice to know it is there if we need it.

More later....have another website to work on.

10~07~08
Hey, at least I'm consistent. About a week apart from blogs.

This past week has been a hoot. Up and down.  We had a trip planned to Clear Lake with some friends to see the lake and go to the Harvest Festival. On the trip up north we had Brian Tisor and his son, Artoum with us......butt crack of dawn pick up time of 6:30 am.  Lots of conversation made the drive go fast. We had a wonderful time at the festival, our accomidations for the night at the Caruther's house were super, dinner for just adults at The BoatHouse was wonderful and then the stop at a dive bar called Ellie's was an experience.

Before going, we had quite an experience with Pawzy. Seems try as we might on Thursday night we could not get the IV started. After three attempts, a pissed of cat, a wife in full meltdown mode, and me with no clue how to proceed, abandonded the treatment for the night. Our angel of mercy, Angie, at West Des Moines Animal Clinic had me in with our hairball at 7:15 Friday morning, in and out in 10 minutes. Speaking of the clinic. The staff has been incredible. Drs Sanders and Lloyd and the staff of Angie, Diane and Katie have made this so much easier.

This week we will take her in to the office, I'll try to learn this, and maybe we will try to do it at home next week. If not, we will just be in the vet office after work three times a week to keep our little family healthy and happy.

09~28~08
What a week.
First off the cat: We gave her the first treatment at home on Friday and it went so/so. We got a little over half a dose in and then Paula turned her head, Pawzy jerked, the needle came out and that was the end of that treatment. It was hard. We sometimes feel like we are hurting her but boy can we see the difference in her this last week.  Tonight we did a full 100 ml treatment tonight and it went SUPER!

Now to the story about Paula's surprise night in Omaha.  Was supposed to be a suite at our Holiday Inn over there, then a limo to pick us up and then the great friends that live in Omaha, dinner in Old Market area at Vicenzo's, an hour horse drawn carriage ride, followed by the return trip in the limo to The Runyan home for chocolate ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and lots of conversation. The hotel upgraded our room, the limo broke down 5 minutes from the hotel and they had no back up plan, I drove everyone to dinner and the food and service was phenomenal. When we came out of dinner, there was no carriage to be found.....they blew us off, but the cake and conversation made up for part of all the calamidies. If not for the humor of the friends and utter rediculousness of all that went wrong, I would be in jail from hurting someone.

Follow up: I got a call from M&J Carriage with a heart felt apology, promise of a complimentary voucher for a return visit, and comment that the person that was assigned to me has been terminated. I felt bad for the person losing their job (for a few seconds) and accepted her offer. I'll be in contact with the limo service on Monday. More on that later.

So, Paula is now 50, I'm 51, health and home and cat are doing well and we look forward to the future despite the world and economy and politics.

09~20~08
Got some news on the cat. Blood work after three fluid injections shows that her toxin levels are going down but the creatine levels that indicate kidney stone activity. She is comfortable, sleeping thru the nights, not screaming indescriminately like we had a for a few months and was even playing with a catnip toy. Next step will be a couple fluid injections, and a possible kidney x-ray.

Just watched the Hawkeyes lose by one point at Pittsburgh. Very poor play by Christensen as he obviously can't think and react under pressure. This is a game they should have won.

Golf world is all sitting around watching the Ryder Cup. Surprisingly the Americans are leading after Saturday Fourball. But how many strokes do they need to be up come Sunday singles matches.

Been a fun relaxing day so far doing errands, Pawzy is in her sunroom outside napping in her padded chair. paula is knocking out phone calls. I have a big grocery run to make and then help with some chores around here, including more items out to eBay. If you want to buy on whaty we are selling, check out VAS792.

09~17~08
Lets see, where to begin.....lets start with Pawzy.....
Those close to us now know she has Feline Renal Insufficiency. We feel that we have caught it very early. About a week ago we found out by way of a blood test that we needed to start helping to clean her kidneys. We are giving her what is called Sub Q ringers lactate injections.....just puts a little extra fluid in her body to help. Today she had treatment four. Tomorrow is the last one before we run another blood test to see if this is helping to reduce a couple levels. If it does, we can dial back the amount of treatments. She is really doing great....almost like she knows this is helping.

Enough sad news, Paula is now 50!!!. She went with a friend to Kansas City for four days of wet shopping, wet concert watching and wet touring. Rained most of the first three days there.

Tomorrow she heads back to a very busy workplace, and i get to have a couple days of golf between league and a tournament for the Animal Rescue League of Iowa. Getting back together with Karen Wiedemeier who helped me host and start the first ones for them about 8 years ago.  Should be a hoot. The group we are in is a bunch of crazies including Sandy Bell who helped us put on all the old tournaments and Cheryl Pannier, WHO Radio producer and Saturday Morning show hostess, one of the current organizers. Recap later on how this went.

Other than that, the house is fine, the yard is fine, our health is pretty good for a couple old farts. Keep our little cat in your prayers that she handles this and bounces back to stay with us for years to come.

09~02~08
Ok which excuse do you want.....I got busy, the server was down, or I just forgot......well it was all of the above. Lets start some recaps.
Golf wise I have been playing quite a bit and doing quite well.
The cat has been doing much better until last night when she started in about 3am and cried and meowed the rest of the night.
The yard is pretty crisp.....no rain and the grass has went dormant.
Health wise we are both doing pretty well until this past weekend when Paula got a sinus infection. She was all over it quickly and recovered much faster than in the past!
House has a new bedroom for our guests and it is due to some hard work by Paula. All new paint, new bedding, new art design on the wall and she hopes to get a new picture to hang while in KC.
Relative wise we have an uncle on the Keener side dying of congestive heart failure. Keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.The Zimmer side is doing well except the sister that tried to cut off her finger with a vegatable slicer.
For those that like to have fun at someones expense when they hit a birthday that ends in a zero.....PK and 9/12. Do the math, this is a really big one!!!! Pass along the word and send cards. There won't be a party!
Future events hope to include trips to KC, Omaha, Branson, maybe another Champions Tour stop, and Clear Lake.
The business has slowed down but just a little as we are re-doing a website for a recovery center for women, and women with children. They needed our help and we are there to pay forward. Paying forward can be lots of fun and very fulfilling.
"Nera turns 80" party plans are well under way. Paula's mom is hitting 80 and there is a party and card event being planned. More on that as we get closer. All the sisters are pitching in with the plans and we are doing the digital work on it like the postcard invites, the photo conversions for newspaper ads, mail merges, and a digital slide show.

There....now you know enough.

08~10~08
Ok, don't fall out of your chairs.....I'm blogging two days in a row. What a great way to get fat.....eat and work on the computer while watching the Olympics.  We have been cooking since Noon for the dinner tonight with the nephew and nieces so they can see Nera.

Have the women's gymnastics on prime time tonight so we will be watching Shawn Johnson from West Des Moines!

Pawzy had a tough night last night, up howling off an on. We created the monster.....think she just basically wants to be fed or go outside IN THE DARK.

How about this for a menu.....for appetizers we have imported cheeses, a taco cheese ball and black bean and corn salsa. For the meal we will have romaine salads, grilled chicken breasts in a lemon pepper marinade, company potatoes, fresh snapped green beans and chiapata rolls. Dessert is mini cream puffs.

08~09~08
Currently getting caught up on some TechDesign business. Had a few email to sort thru, sister needed a new anti-virus application and some clean up work done, got a new shredder for the home office space, and now catching up a few items on websites. Oh yeah.....we have the MOTHER-IN-LAW here from Friday to Monday.  Basically just take her shopping, out for few meals and let her watch the Olympics. Pretty low maintenance.

Not real sure what the rest of the weekend holds. Think we have the nephews and nieces coming over for a BBQ Sunday night so i need to come up with a menu and buy some groceries.....food won't put itself on the grill and the table.

08~04~08
Well we are back from a trip to Colorado. Nearly a week in the car touring the front range and the mountains, shopping and enjoying the US Senior Open. Paula finally met RW. Rudy Berumen was there as his caddy and Ron got to enjoy four rounds on The Broadmoor walking with friends from the Champions Tour.

When the Keener's travel, wierd stuff generally happens. When we scheduled the trip to the Black Hills and Yellowstone, the forest fires were all around and altered our scheduled nights stays. During Ron's trip to the 3M last year the I-35W bridge collapsed. During this trip they were in the longest +90 degree hot spell in the history of Denver.

Check out the new photo album we loaded up with pictures from our trip.

07~23~08

07~17~08
Ok, so writing in a blog during the summer months isn't at the top of my to do list. Let's do a quick catch up.

Just got back from the Fireside Pizza Invitational in Minneapolis. Played a tournament there with caddies Bob (Bagger) McFadden and Doug (Dougie) Lloyd. Finished about 5th place at 10 under. Great time, great charity in the Southside Life Center of Minneapolis. Kimberly and her staff do a wonderful job for such a worthy cause.

Tomorrow is the Rogers Charity Classic, charity golf event for Mark Rogers Restaurant Group. Another great charity in the Blank Children's Hospital Regional Unit. I have been helping consult on this one to get the sponsor a bigger check for the donation.

Over the past few weeks we have worked around the house to get a few small projects done. We are sticking to our guns and not doing any major projects this year. We have a poly coat to put on the painted deck floor and a bedroom to paint. Other than those two things we are mostly just rest and entertain and shop and have fun.

Think we have some visitors coming to town tomorrow but just for an overnight. Shopping and dinner out is the plan. The Keener Inn will be open for business.

07~01~08
Yeah, I know.....more than a week between blog entries.....BAD RON!
Had a house full of guests over the weekend. Sherry and Marge came to town to watch the nephew/grandson play in the state baseball tournament for 14 year olds. The neighbor kid across the street had one in the 8 and under AAA class. Both teams won their first three games and then were one and done in the championship brackets.

Promised you an update on the sister and her news. Here is the abbreviated version. Her deceased husband had a younger brother who was killed in WWII in Europe. No one ever knew exactly where. A few weeks ago she got a call from Arlington Cemetery people and they had some people in The Netherlands that knew of his whereabouts. Long story short is that she is now talking to those people and planning a trip over there in May of 2009 to decorate the grave and see the sights. Check out the link to the story as it was covered by KCCI TV8 in Des Moines.

We are coming up on the July 4th weekend. Get your flags out and keep those in uniform in mind as you enjoy your freedoms this weekend to enjoy this great country we live in.

06~21~08
Been a busy week but we have gotten a ton of stuff done. Work is busy for both of us, getting things caught up around the house on the honey do list was a huge chore for us this weekend. Dinner tonight is at our favorite restaurant, FireCreek Grill. The GM, Beth, is leaving and going off to a new job/career. She will be missed. But not too much as she is going to still head up the golf tournament for Rogers Restaurant Group that I was asked to consult on.

The RonPaula TechDesigns LLC is about to get busy again.....timing is great for that now that the Principal Charity Classic is over. We have a budding artist that we will be doing a website for soon, a possible website for a church in Marshalltown, at crafter from Jordan Creek, a person passionate about a certain children's form of cancer as well as some ad work.

The screen room is done. Paula has lighting installed, stereo sound, the fountain is running and all the chairs in place. Nights are now spent with at least some time either spent in the screen room, or the hot tub. Pawzy really enjoys taking a nap in the screen room on a lounge chair with the quilted cushions.

Traffic around the neighborhood is busy this weekend as the HyVee Triathalon is being held at an alternate site just a few blocks from our house. Sunday, most roads will be blocked around us so getting to church might be a challenge with a few miles worth of detour.

The morning was hectic. Finally got the garage cleaned out and power washed, the yew bushed trimmed up, the eucullyptus shrubs trimmed around the lighting, the driveway power washed, the garage door power washed, ans the big mountain ash tree in the front yard pruned. Four hours of acting as a team and having fun sprucing things up while it was still cool in the morning hours.

Time to head to dinner. More later on the news about Ron's sister and her discovery of her late husband's brother's military grave in The Netherlands.

06~13~08
Water everywhere. Our house is fine. Most are not.

My annual trek to the Quakerdale Pro/Am was a rain out this year. Attended the best social hour and dinner presentation of any event we attend all year. These people know how to do it right.

Plans are to stay home this weekend and work on honey do lists. Been a very long time since we have had a regular weekend at home to work on chores and i think we are really looking forward to this.

06~06~08
Its been over for a week and I am still not recovered and rested up.  Between trying to sleep off all the adrenalin, and trying to sleep at all with all the thunderstorms and tornadoes in the area, it just isn't conducive to sleep.

The end result of the tournament is that it was a huge success. One the best fields that will appear anywhere. The attendance set new Champion Tour records, the weather was nice after the Tuesday rainouts, and the caddie concierge tent was off the hook. We fed the caddies, the cops, the EMS, and probably 3/4 of the players. The sponsors were fantastic, the food great, the amenities well received.

Now just get me some rest. There is a major pro/am next week that I play in and I need to rehab a hamstring strain so that I can crush the tee shot and trickle in the putts.

05~28~08
The tournament has begun and things are going well. The rain on Tuesday was a bummer but today went well. Food is great, all the caddies and players are impressed with what we have done and improved on. Did the PGA Tour interview, supposed to have the Golf Channel interview on Thursday. The top players have their pro-am rounds on Thursday so it will be a great day to shine with a great lunch from Olive Garden.

Great to see some of the old favorites like Bagger Bob, George, Johnnie Mac, Bobby C, Casey, Shampoo, Kevin, Disco, CC, Sandy, Margo, Rabbit, Todd, and the rest of the crew. Players like Tom Wargo, RW Eaks, Mark James, Bruce Fleisher, and Danny Edwards joined us for a brief lunch to swap stories. Great to see Craig Stadler and Dana Quigley again.

Paula and I had an invite to the draw part on Tuesday night where we had  great food, met with a ton of friends and  some special chats with Chip Beck and  Loren Roberts. Jim Ahern stopped by for come conversation and catch up from the past year. Its been a great tournament so far and if the weather holds out it can only get better.

05~21~08
Crazy busy. I was in Alabama for the Regions Charity Classic for a week to see some things to incorporate at the Principal Charity Classic. Now we are down to crunch time in our preparations for the event starting here the day after Memorial Day. Paula has been handling home chores and prepping things for Sherry's annual visit.

Once this all done we have graduations to attend, golf tournaments to play in and a yard that needs attention. but everything in its due time. Right now it is time to enjoy the current with the friend coming to town and the Champions Tour buddies headed here from New York.

05~10~08
Yeah.....been a while, huh!
The weather has gotten nicer and we are able to do more things outside.  Work is busy and the preparations for the Principal Charity Classic are well under way and in the final stretch. The package that the caddies will get this year is bigger and better than ever and now all we need great weather to host this Champions Tour event.

Seems that one of the invited celebrities is creating quite a stir. The NFL player of the year and leading candidate on the hit show Dancing With the Stars, Jason Taylor from the Miami Dolphins is going to be there on Wednesday and it seems like females are coming out of the wood work to get tickets to check out this hottie.

Old farts learning to text! That is what we are this week. We got a new cell phone plan and new phones. With unlimited text. Its like watching two 5 year olds with a new finger paint set. Making a mess of everything and no clue what they are doing, but giggling everytime they learn something new. Who said you can't teal old dogs new tricks.