Quick One this time,

Had two needle treatments from the acupunture dude, and unfortunately no signs of relief.  One more to go, so we will have to see.  Hoping that third time is the charm.

What was for sure, was had a great weekend with Michaela down in Santa Cruz, weather was nice, had a nice din with Dad&Kim at Charlie Parker’s restaurant with Michaela on Friday night.  Also, had a great time at Justin Parker’s memorial day celebration at the Bocce Ball place down in Los Gatos on Sunday.  Weather is getting mighty hot out here this week ain’t it, they are talking about 90 degrees, and I believe them

As you can tell, its been about a good few weeks since the last posting.  In fact, quite a bit has changed since the last posting.

For those of you who have not heard, on about 9/27/08 I went into the urgent care related to problems I was having that turned out to be a diagnosis by Dr. Harvey Young at Stanford of ulcerative colitis.  As many know, this type of diagnosis usually comes with a fair share of prescription drugs over the following months/years.  For me it went a little bit like this:  asacol, prednisone, colazal, sulfasalazine, remicade, prednisone, humira, prednisone…  Let me add also that there have been probably 15 blood tests, a bout with C-Diff(a nasty gang that acts up when your immune system is down that requires something like flagyl or vancomyicin of which I took both…)  Anyways, looking at the situation, and now the one year anniversary is really getting close, it was time to get the needle going.  And no for those wondeirng, I am not talking about remicade infusions once again.  The remicade simply did not work.  What I am talking about is accupuncture.  And what better than getting this from a guy named Dr. Weiss who is at 900 Welch Road in Palo Alto.

About exactly one month ago today August 11th, I met with a girl named Kristine who is 23 years old.  She has been battling ulcerative colitis for 10 years now.  Let me start off by telling you she is kicking UC’s butt!!!  I invited her over because I learned that she was doing well with the disease.   When we started talking, I realized quickly that she not only knew about everything I was/had gone through, but she had done the same and probably had it even worse.  This was the first time I had met someone in person who had been right in my shoes and was about my age.   So what was the big question? Well simple, I wanted to know how she was able to run half marathons and look so great, full of energy etc… after having the disease and not having any symptoms of it…  So she told me her secret.  Diet, Diet, Diet she said.

So, here it is in its basic form:  meats, vegetables, fruit, nuts, eggs, honey.  That’s pretty much it.  No breads, sugar, candy, dairy, pretty much no more traditional desserts.  So, we walked in the kitchen and she told me what needed to go, and it was quite a bit.

BUT, that day I put the diet to work, and guess what?  It worked to the point where in one day I was seeing dramatic results.  It has been a month now, and I am totally convinced that the diet is helping my disease.  This is such a relief.

But, there is something else going on.  For about two months now, and maybe a bit before that, I have developed some nasty skin and arthritis problems.  The doctors are thinking its something called psoriatic arthritis… basically arthritis and psoriasis at the same time.  I/we think its from the nasty humira drug that I was taking.  Either way, it is pretty bad,  my hands, legs, feet, back, chest, skalp all seem like somehting out of a discovery channel show where the snake is shedding its skin.  So, after trying a bunch of creams, sunlight, and some other things, I decided to pay a visit to the accupuncture.  It has been an hour since I left there, but I am really excited to see if things work well.  The accupuncture itself was very relaxing.  I actually fell asleep for quite some time with the little needles in me.  The Dr. Weiss the guy there thinks there is definitely potential for this to work, although he said there are no gaurantees, so there is another appointment for next week.  Should be interesting, and I will let you all know the followup.

I think a picture is worth about $4,678 words.  that’s about 86,543 cz crowns.  Some of these pictures are simply amazing.

Enjoy, and soon enough there will be some more pictures from Las Vegas

Happy Birthday

Another Great 4th of July was last weekend. Mike, Evans, Ido, and Molin made it down to SC.  We met up with Grant and Katie, CJ and Meg, Jeffrey and Pamela & Doss, David and Jason, and a whole bunch of others from the Alta Loma block party.  The fireworks were a bit differernt this year, instead of going to the beach in front of the Crow’s Nest, we went to the beach over by Aldo’s, and it was a good decision since the fireworks were quite a bit more in force over there this year.

We topped off the weekend with some much needed tropical drinks down at Margaritaville in Capitola, it was a nice.

Block Partiers

Block Party

CJ and I

David and Jason

Fireworks

Ido and Molin

Jeffrey

Margaritaville Drinks

Dancing Girls

Michaela at Margaritaville, Capitola

Meyers floater on top

swife

Uncle Sammy busting a move

This is pretty much an annual event for the McCloud Family, and its been 4 years since I made it last, but we made it again.  First time for Michaela, but for people like Bob, Ryan, Aaron, Brad Davis, Joe W and Mike G, Eli, and quite a few others, this was not their first rodeo on the North Fork of the Stanislaus River below Boards Crossing.

We arrived Saturday morning about 9:30 am after a short 4 hour drive from Menlo Park, CA.  We met up with Lindsey and Carlo on the way at the Longs Drugs in Angels Camp, then headed the last bit up highway 4 to Dorrington’s Boards Crossing road.  That’s where we started heading down to the river, then over the river, then up a hill, then down a steep dirt one, then we started trying to figure out where everyone was camped at.  It had been 4 years for me, and I didn’t quite remember what the area looked like.  We were not camping at a campground, but actually in an area where you can pull off the dirt road and start camping.  Luckily enough, Brad Davis who came up on Thrusday night, found a really nice spot, and we spotted his site quickly on our drive.  Even better, Joe W was midway into cooking up the best breakfast burritos made on this planet of ours.(Joe W, also known as the Point of Sale King of Las Vegas, NV, USA, Planet Earth, is a professional at so many things, burritos just one of them)

yes, we chowed some burrito, yes, we visited the river, early and often, it was so hot that the river was a must, since it allowed you to cool off instantly. Also, Bobert was taking all kinds of guided tours down the river all weekend long.  This was a great way to get your river on, and see some new stuff while on tour.

As far as the site, we had about 12 people in tents, we did have some neighbors the first nite, some kids from Stockton actually, but second night there were none.  I highly recommend a air mattress for those of you sleeping in tents these days.  We got ours from Sears a few months ago, and have used it for three nights of camping so far.  It is well worth it, especially if you get the one with the electric pump.  This means you don’t have to huff and puff to fill it up, another great thing, and it saves time you could be spending sitting around the fire getting even stinkier from campfire smoke.

North Fork Rainbow Trout

some more

tour drop off point

Bobby made a grand final breakfast for all

Lindsey and Carlo

Breakfast Burrito

Lindsey Cutting it up

Sunday on the river

Eli before he took off

Fisherman Joe

Michaela in background

Joe putting in some quality fishing

POS KING of Vegas

River Trout

Me Rolling

Ryan working the grill

campfiring

Michaela and Shannon in the tubes

What can I say, Happy Birthday Michaela, awesome tradition Swedish people, and Israelis, somehow you made it all perfect. Malin and Ido’s last night tasted great, from the five different fish appetizers to the Strawberry Cake that Sandra made, all was perfect.  Tom somehow found a way to be quite tame compared to last weekend’s camping adventure, but his lack of craziness was made up by the whiskey/Vodka/Israeli combination that was in full force came the wee hours of last night.  As you may or may not know, during dinner, the girls led the table in some traditional Swedish songs, you know, quick funny I am not sure what you would call them type of songs.  They printed up the words on paper for everyone to read/sing, I will try to get that stuff up on here somehow.  What was interesting was the translation of some of these songs….That is a different story, and PG-13 more than one would think.  Anyways, the actual Swedish holiday is something along the lines of their Summer Solstice type of event.  Always this time of year, and the Swedes said it is the BIGGest event of the year, most fun, most popular, most celebrated, etc… More than all others.  And of course, big drinking all around.  Happy Birthday Michaela, see you when you wake up, we made it home at 2 something am.

THE UB is building a plane, and here are three shots

I am in the process of making some one of a kind raised beds for the backyard.  So, i went up Alpine Road a few days ago and came across a 5 foot diameter about 22 inch in width Redwood log.  and somehow, I was able to slice off the outside all the way  until the final piece.  Take a look at the end result.  Once the bed is raised, I will throw a shot of that too.

The trip was a blast, just got back, only knew Michaela going into the camping trip, and now feel like I know quite a few others pretty well, was great, everyone had fun.  Weather was perfect, the park ranger only had to come over to our site once late last night to have us be quite.

The deal is below, Michaela’s girlfriend Sandra invited us to go camping with her friends this Saturday, and by the look of the email below, she’s got it all planned out……. Of course I am going to bring a ton of firewood also.  Pictures will come soon.(Now they are here 6/14) weather is calling for a possibility of rain, but they are all planning on bringing their swimsuits….gonna be fun…

Hi Guys,

Here is the rest of the scoop for sat:

About 15 of us are going (yahoo) and we have two camping sites that are suppose to fit 16 people. Since we only are allowed to have 2 cars/site (first car free, second car cost $8) we will NEED TO CARPOOL. So let’s meet at Sofie’s place at 11am on this Saturday morning. Klick on the following super duper long link to get directions to Sofie’s place in Mountain View: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&q=safeway%2Bshoreline+blvd&near=Santa+Clara,+CA&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&dtab=2&ei=QwMxSubWLoTwtAOL6f3DAw&cid=10634295969772017890&li=lmd

Ricky and I will be responsible for bringing tents for everyone, so the only must have items you need to worry about is: Sleeping bags, sleeping pads, ID, warm clothes, and swimsuit.

Ladies—I have some good news for you =) there will be bathrooms and showers close by the camping sites.

As for the food, Ricky and I came up with a list of things that will cover lunch sat, dinner+desert (smores ofcourse!) sat night and breakfast on Sunday morning. Your name will be next to the items you are responsible of bringing (about 2/pers).

YOU NEED TO BRING YOUR OWN ALCHOL (and let’s do it ala Scandinavian style… so bring lots of drinks =)

Since Ricky and I are taking care of the parking costs, major food items, tents and the campingsites we would like you all to contribute with $10/person.

ALSO if you have any fun games or a friend who plays the guitar PLEASE bring them/those as well.

I think that’s all for now, call or email if you have any questions.

SEE YOU ALL SAT =)

Ricky and Sandra

408-XXX-XXXX

More information about Memorial Park:

http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/parks/menuitem.f13bead76123ee4482439054d17332a0/?vgnextoid=947bc8909231e110VgnVCM1000001d37230aRCRD&cpsextcurrchannel=1

FOODLIST

Strawberry jam – Sandra+Ricky

Lettus, onion and tomatoes for lunch and dinner- Sandra+Ricky

Charcoal – Sandra+Ricky

Firewood – Sandra+Ricky

Matches/Lighter – Sandra+Ricky

Lighter Fluid – Sandra+Ricky

Hamburgers – Sandra+Ricky

Hotdogs – Sandra+Ricky

Hamburger buns – Sandra+Ricky

Hotdogbuns – Sandra+Ricky

Ice – Sandra+Ricky

1 big jar of hot Salsa+1 small jar of mild salsa – Tom+1

3 bags of Regular chips – Tom+1

(instant) Coffee – Tom + 1

12 pack Diet Coke– Tom+1

I box Hot chocolate – Michaela+Adam

4 (large sized bags) Tortilla Chips – Michaela+Adam\

10 ears of Corn – Michaela+Adam

24 pack case of water – Michaela+Adam

2 bags large Marshmallows – Sofie+2

8 bars Hersheys’ Chocolate – Sofie +2

2 boxes Gram Crackers – Sofie+2

2 gallons Orange juice – Sofie + 2

Lunch meat for sandwiches (enough for 15 people, 24oz) – Sofie+2

Breakfast meat for sandwiches (enough for 15 people, 24oz) – Sofie+2

Bread for lunch sat (enough for 15 people, 3 loaves of presliced bread) – Malin+Ido

Bread for breakfast sun (enough for 15 people, 2 loaves of presliced bread) - Malin+Ido

Cheddar cheese for hamburgers (16oz, presliced) – Malin+Ido

Sandwich cheese for lunch (24oz, presliced) – Malin+Ido

Sandwich cheese for breakfast (16oz, presliced)- Malin+Ido

2 Guacamole – Carmen+3

1 Mustard – Carmen+3

2 Mayonnaise – Carmen+3

2 tubs Potato salad – Carmen+3

1 Dish soap – Carmen+3

1 Dish sponge – Carmen+3

1 Ketchup – Carmen+3

1 bag Apples – Carmen+3

15 Bananas – Carmen+3

2 rolls Paper towels – Carmen+3

45 Paper Plates – Carmen+3

45 Cups – Carmen+3

10 Bowls – Carmen+3

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Hitta kärleken lagom till sommaren! Klicka här MSN Dejting

That’s right, we are on a roll out here at the homestead. Not only did we receive a brand new water heater this morning at about 3am, but we also just made another major upgrade to the house by adding a nice nearly new Kenmore digital dishwasher, much much better than the 50 year old GE dishwasher the house came with. And don’t think for a second that Roto Rooter was involved with any of the installation. No No, that was good old Adam at it again, with a bit of help from lovely Michaela who did some excellent action photography and transport from of the old and new from and to and to and from the garage to kitchen and backwards all the same.

Clean and shinny dishes here we come!