All in a day at the Grigg's (this was written in November and just never got published... oops!)

Hello All!

It's another day at the Grigg house today. We are still enjoying the company of Zeke, and hope we have many more years with him. He's turning out to be a pretty good dog... when he's not being so dang stubborn! He's mastered most of his basic commands already which include: sit, come, stay, shake, shake other hand, fetch and drop. We're currently working on take a bow (which we're pretty sure he knows how to do, he just doesn't seem to want to do it all the time) and roll-over which will lead us to bang bang (and the dog falls over dead). However, just because he knows these fun things does not mean that he will always do them when we ask. He likes to think he's the head honcho around here and if he doesn't feel like doing what he's told... he won't. Sometimes, when he's feeling particularly naughty he will be asked to come... look at us... then run laughing the other way! Ha Ha Zeke's SO funny! He's enjoying his toys, loves his crate and lavishes all the attention he can get from us. He's a little less weary of household items, and becomes frightened of little things less and less by the week.

Ryan's had some fun adventures over the last few weeks, he was in Seattle for 3 weeks (2 weeks in October and 1 week in November with 1 week inbetween the two trips) taking classes for a work program called TFM or Technical Fire Management. The first week was math fundamentals and then the second 2 weeks was statistics. Which if I must say was not fun at all, it was pretty much a 400 level college math class crammed into 8 hr days for two weeks. Not exactly my idea of a great time. I did get to go to my first football game while I was there. Although I like the Seahawks, I did not like how they played. But never the less it was still fun and I got to hangout with my favorite father-in-law. Another highlight of the trip was that I got to go to a Triumph motorcycle dealership and check out the new bikes, I've been wanting one for a long time and can't wait until I can drive one off the showroom floor. Or maybe, just maybe my very lovely wife who I love more than anything in this whole wide world will buy me one for a future Christmas present, HINT HINT. All in all a pretty good trip. I figured when all is said and done I will have flown like 32 times in one year!! I will be looking forward to attending the economics class in Janurary. I have never taken a class like this before and I will get to meet Heather's granparents as well. So should be fun.........

We took a few days off of work last week and headed to the cabin. It was a great time as usual, although this trip was slightly different than the rest. We took some time for some much needed rest and relaxation, and didn't do a dang thing! Heather read a book and half of anther while Ryan plugged away at a super-pager. We played Uno (which Heather rocks at and ended up winning all four games we played), Skip-Bo and just hung out and enjoyed the time off. We took some snow shoes, but surprisingly enough there wasn't enough snow to use them. It's NOVEMBER for goodness sake, bring on the white fluffy stuff! Zeke had fun, but because his stubborn streak went into overtime with all the new smells he decided he didn't want to stick close to the cabin so he spent most of the time inside with us. Which I think was actually alright with him. We saw one moose on the way in, but that's about it for the wildlife. It's hunting season so most of them are up high trying to escape the wiley hunters.

Heather's just been working away. I'm really enjoying my job... I have a lot of fun with the people that I work with and find that I really fit in. I also love the work! I like to see the progress that my patient's make, and I really enjoy talking with so many different people. My patient's range in age from 14 through 85ish with most of them in the 40-65 range. I see people who have injuries or impairment in their necks, shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands as well as those who have disease or defect of some major system. I see stroke patient's for neuro re-education, strengthening, corrdination, vision and sensory deficits (among other things), as well as some other neuro diagnoses such as... this is a whopper... chronic inflammatory demylenating polyneuropathy, guillian barre, MS and others. I also see pt's who are status post some surgical repair (my most interesting so far was a person who was degloved in the oil field and his dr. sewed his hand into his abdomen to promote healing and bloodflow, ugh) which usually are rotator cuffs or hand/wrist surgeries. My treatments are one hour long, and I have my own treatment room complete with a massage table, card type table and a menagerie of different therapy tools. I decorated it in... wait for it... black, white and a deep shade of red (mom I can already hear you laughing). We also have a therapy gym (equipped with a wii) that all of the therapists use. I typically spend 1-3 hours a day in a therapy pool where I see people who have had back surgeries, knee surgeries, strokes, have general debility or weakness, or pretty much any other diagnosis that would benefit from the low impact and highly resistive environment that the water has to offer. Personally, I think it's a fantastic place to do therapy! The benefits I have seen with a good pool program far outweigh any risks, and the patient's love it!

The cats have just been hanging out usually by the fire, and if not they can surely be found snuggled up on my pillow or in the warmest persons lap. They are getting used to Zeke and as you can imagine... take absolutely no guff from him at all. I kinda think it's funny when Mama's on the table and Zeke has his nose up there pestering her. She usually boxes his face a few times before Zeke runs around the house once or twice and then goes back for more (she's being a brat, and he thinks they are playing). Calvin's a little less tolerant of Zeke than Mama, so Zeke treads pretty carefully around him.



We're getting ready for the holiday season, slowly. We have decided to carry on the Hanson family tradition of a new lighted ornament from Hallmark for the christmas tree every year. Last year we got a lighthouse and a firetruck that light up and a Spiderman ornament. This year we added a jukebox that lights up, a talking Taz ornament and a "Where the Wild Things Are" ornament. Rene' is thinking of coming for Thanksgiving so we're also trying to get the house ready for that. Should be fun!!!