Whitestick and DLHansen?

[shoe]

I'd love to know how Whitestick and his DW, and DLHansen are doing. Hopefully they are all fit as fiddles and too busy to keep us updated. Still, I wonder!

 

[REWahoo]

Dlhanson was on the board Saturday. Whitestick hasn't been around for a couple of weeks.

 

[whitestick]

Yeah, I've been off getting immersed in other activities (playing Poker Texas Holdem at the local bars - it's free, and a fairly large crowd of repeat offenders that make up a rather large social club). DW and I are seemingly recovering, and largely ignoring our conditions. Latest tests for me, don't seem to find any reoccurance and once I finish this adjuvant chemo treatment around Halloween, I should be back to relative normalcy.
DW is getting her tests done this week, and we fly to see the doctor end of next week for his assessment. Trouble is, when I asked him previously how he would determine her status, since she doesn't show up on tumor markers, and PET/CAT scans don't show it, and his response was "he was the expert, and he didn't know for sure". I know this is a difficult cancer, but damn, I sure wish there was a bit more definitive answers.
However, given the above, DW has finally decided to embrace life, and live it till she dies, and hopefully that will be as a result of jumping out of an airplane or getting too close to an erupting volcano, rather then of C. We've decided to take more trips, to see places and people, and like eveything else DW does, she does it completely. We're not sure if we have many free days between now and next February, but if we do, we trying to cram some additional activities into them.
DW wants me to start exercising more, so I can keep up with her, and believe me, that is beginning to be a real trial. Our daughter is starting to complain that she can't find time to bring the grandkids over, as we are never home. And she's probably right.
One other latest incident, a bit off topic. My back was starting to hurt, I think from the Chemo, but it could be from our bed, as we have had it about 15 years, and they tell me that they wear out after 10. We have a four poster bed, which set off the ground fairly high, like the colonial style, and the mattress and box spring were, we thought, fairly high. We subsequently measured them to be a total of 15 inches. We decided to treat ourselves to a new mattress and base, went the route of laying on them in the stores and picking one that was comfortable. Our logical brain registered that all of the new ones that we looked at were a bit bigger as they all had pillow top type of tops on the mattresses, and all had a story about their material composition and comfort level. It wasn't until we had the set delivered and put on the bed that we realized that the new set was 26 inches tall and setting on the high bed frame, poor DW could barely lean over on it, much less be able to crawl up and onto the bed. I'm 6'2" and long legged, and even I had to stand on my tip toes, and still had to stretch to get into bed. Looks like I'm gong to have to take out the inner lips of the side rails, and get a new frame to set on the floor, or see if I can re-attach the hardware on the bed side rails to lower the height of the total combination. Currently DW has to use a step stool, and I sort of jump into the bed, getting out is easy, although we worry if one of us (DW) misses the stool when getting down in the middle of the night, and falls. Maybe I can build a slide from the side of the bed to the foot of the bed, so she can ease down and up into the bed. Anyone have any plans like that, that i could build from?

Thanks for all of the cares and concerns.

 

[Rambler]

We have a four poster bed and had the same problem. Since the bed has a solid underlayment instead of just bars that go across (5/8 inch plywood on top of 2x6 cross beams), we decided to just get rid of the box springs from under the mattress. We've had zero problems with this solution, and it allows DW to get into bed without a ladder (still just a little climbing though).

Good to hear from you Whitestick.

R

 

[shoe]

Thanks for the update Whitestick. It is nice to know you both are enjoying life!

 

[Sarah in SC]

Whitestick, glad to hear y'all are doing well. I also have the four poster king, and only use a mattress and not box spring for the same reason. I put boards all the way across and screwed them into each of the rails to make it sturdy and firm, then put the mattress on top. No way we could use a box spring, too. I'd have to have a trampoline to vault into there if that were the case--not that it wouldn't be fun, but the accident potential would be high!

 

[Martha]

We have a relatively high bed with a platform. Don't use a box spring which makes it fine. I would try that first. The only difference a box spring seems to bring is a bit more cush. The mattress feels firmer without the box spring, but not by much.

 

[Nords]

DW has finally decided to embrace life, and live it till she dies, and hopefully that will be as a result of jumping out of an airplane or getting too close to an erupting volcano...

E komo mai Hawaii!

And another vote for getting rid of the box spring. Maybe even trying to return it or sell it on Craigslist.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

It wasn't until we had the set delivered and put on the bed that we realized that the new set was 26 inches tall

Mattresses have gotten a lot thicker lately, but the mattress companies offer "low profile" box springs to compensate, at no extra costs as far as I know. However, not all salescritters will point this out.

It's odd how fashions work. There seems to be an air of luxury these days around tall enough to require a step stool.

 

[FUEGO]

Our bed sits on the floor. Probably 24" tall though. DW keeps wanting to get a nice proper 4 poster bed and headboard for some reason. I may have to point out that she would require a ladder to get into/out of bed.

From a strictly functional perspective, is there any advantage to having a bed frame versus letting the bed rest directly on the floor? As is, it is the perfect height for sitting on to put on shoes. And there is no squeaking frame.

 

[Nords]

It's odd how fashions work. There seems to be an air of luxury these days around tall enough to require a step stool.

... until people start breaking their hips while trying to get out of bed at 3 AM with a full bladder...

 

[Sarah in SC]

Our bed sits on the floor. Probably 24" tall though. DW keeps wanting to get a nice proper 4 poster bed and headboard for some reason. I may have to point out that she would require a ladder to get into/out of bed.

From a strictly functional perspective, is there any advantage to having a bed frame versus letting the bed rest directly on the floor? As is, it is the perfect height for sitting on to put on shoes. And there is no squeaking frame.

Um, just to prove we made it out of our first grown-up apartment and could afford a frame?

We have to leave room for at least two dogs to get under the bed in thunderstorms. When we had a lower-to-the ground one, one of the dogs would get stuck under there and howl until we both got out of bed and lifted the frame off of her.

Yeah, a snapshot of my life.

 

[W2R]

Maybe it's because I am relatively tall, but I really prefer a bed to be up on something. Whether it is a frame, or box springs, I would rather have a bed about 28" - 30" tall. It is easier to get in and out of, and there is better air circulation at higher levels.

Besides, I had to sleep on the floor for a while, while getting my act together financially, and after that I like being a long way from the floor!

 

[FUEGO]

Um, just to prove we made it out of our first grown-up apartment and could afford a frame?

Maybe it's because I am relatively tall, but I really prefer a bed to be up on something.

Besides, I had to sleep on the floor for a while, while getting my act together financially, and after that I like being a long way from the floor!

Soooo, mostly aesthetic, some status symbol, and some ergonomic benefits. I have never considered presence of a bed frame a status symbol until now! We rarely have visitors in our bedroom (other than my mistresses and DW's boyfriends - not at the same time of course, that would be morally wrong). And our pillowtop mattresses must be at least 24" tall already.

And besides, when I trampoline jump on my bed, I don't want to have the bed too tall because we have those old fashioned "low" 8' ceilings. I might knock my noggin on the ceiling.

Sorry to threadjack an otherwise serious thread. Whitestick, it's good to hear you are living a good life and hopefully winning the fight against cancer.

 

[M Paquette]

Our bed sits on the floor. Probably 24" tall though. DW keeps wanting to get a nice proper 4 poster bed and headboard for some reason.

I had to address a similar request. We have a newer soft side waterbed, one that looks like a regular boxspring and mattress, and uses standard sheets. (Remember the old sloshbags, with sides made out of 1x10 lumber with way too much polyurethane coating? Not one of those...)

The request was for a 'proper' bed, with a huge headboard, but keep the mattress. Now, I know that in spite of looking like a mattress, this monster weighs about a thousand pounds more, so just dropping it onto a standard wood bedframe would produce really expensive kindling, and not much else.

We found a bed that DW liked, and right there in the store I whipped out the tape measure and started crawling around and under, making measurements and notes. Conclusion: it's doable. The parts I needed were all attached by fasteners. The store owner was naturally curious as to what I was up to, so I explained and we negotiated a price for the parts of the bed I would need, the headboard, footboard, and trim.

I fabricated a couple of short extensions to the waterbed's steel support frame and bolted these to the frame, and then used the existing steel frame to mount the headboard and footboard with attached posts. The result looks like the bed in the store, but the actual weight is still carried by the waterbed frame. The headboard and footboard, while purely decorative, are solidly attached.

 

[M Paquette]

Meanwhile, back on topic...

It's great to hear that WhiteStick and company are doing well. I like the attitude that, come what may, life is to be lived. Sometimes I think we all spend too much time worrying about the Bad Stuff. Oh, it's bad, to be sure, but I hate to let worrying take control of my life.

 

[whitestick]

Just a quick update, as I haven't been around lately. All seems well, and so far (where's that wood to knock on), no reports of any bad things. Doctor's seem to say now, that we just have to wait for about 5 years, and if there is no recurrence during that time, then the likelihood is there won't be. Told them we weren't waiting around and would be looking for more exciting ways to shorten our life span re: my previous post of activities to try.
Nords, just how close to you house is that volcano anyway? Is it still flowing lava?
Anyway, I'll get back from time to time, as I briefly looked over the threads, and as usual the early-retirement forums are timely with topics of concern.
Gotta go, as DW is wanting to do something else again. Pant! Pant! she is really getting hard to catch anymore.

 

[Nords]

Glad you guys are hanging in there-- thanks for the update!

Nords, just how close to you house is that volcano anyway? Is it still flowing lava?

It's a couple hundred miles between the Big Island and Oahu, but we still have days when the tradewinds die and the vog blankets Oahu. Kilauea's been flowing continuously since 1983, no signs of stopping. Most of the lava travels through tunnels down to the shore to make new real estate but there are occasional breakouts.

http://www.101thingstodo.com/hawaii/bigisland/tours/volcanoesnationalpark/index.php

You can fly into Honolulu, hop over to Kailua-Kona or Hilo (I prefer Hilo), and then drive up to the park. It's around 4000 feet of elevation so it's darn cold at night this time of year-- 40s or even 30s-- but very nice during the day. Lots of hiking, driving around to see various lava flows, museums, art galleries. Veterans with a military ID can stay at Kilauea Military Camp, everyone can stay in nearby Volcano, or make the drive to Hilo (lots more lodging options, much cheaper).

If you have the time then we can go surfing...

 

[whitestick]

Thanks, I'll show this to DW, and see what her reaction is. She may erupt

I may have to pass on the surfing though, as I don't think I can fit into one of those speedo type bathing suits, and I am not sure which way to point that ironing board that I see the surfers carrying.