Alrightythen!

Darn I didn't find out about this until just now.
Get the whole story here.

and I've  been up for four hours

Normal Friday

Something happened to this regular feature.
I started it last March [about the same time a certain retired AF noncom started Friday Flyby].
We managed to actually keep it up for a few weeks ...intermittently.
Then our enthusiasm flagged.

Since then I've realized that a normal Friday is anything but routine.
Hence, Normal Friday is back.
There is no telling what's going to show up here...

...or at our house.

GS son and youngest grandson arrived from Washington just before midnight last evening.

Anyhow, I figured, since Fridays are anything but routine, the subject matter of the post can be anything that catches my fancy.
Today it is a joke I have edited just a little.

Groups of Americans Canadians were traveling by tour bus through Switzerland Wisconsin. As they stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goat's milk was used. She showed the group a lovely hillside where many goats were grazing.
'These,' she explained, 'are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce.' She then asked, 'What do you do in America Canada with your old goats?'

A spry old gentleman answered, 'They send us on bus tours!'

 The reason for the editing is, of course, to keep from implying that the folks I know who just returned from a tour of Switzerland are old goats...

...and by that implication putting myself in the same category. 

goatism is a state of mind

Wait a minute!

Today's only Thursday.
Somehow I'd gotten into my head that this was Friday.
Time goes by fast enough that I don't need to lose a day through sheer carelessness.
Besides that would totally mess up the routine.
It's bad enough to have a Monday holiday coming up to take care of that.

Speaking of holidays...
I was remembering when I worked, I always seemed to have a job where we were open so others could enjoy the fruits of our labor.
I seldom had holidays off.
Heck, I seldom had weekends off... even when I was self-employed.
My employers were enlightened enough that there was extra compensation for those days and I can honestly say I really didn't miss having the time off.
No, what's hard to get used to is having to schedule routine things around those businesses that close on a holiday.
I'm not even going to discuss what Uncle Sam did ...at least not here, not now.
Sure
Happy
It's
Thursday

maybe when in a rotten mood

Well, it's about time

Most days I get a post up before eight in the morning, sometimes even earlier.
Not this morning.
I slept in.
I didn't wake up until ten to seven.
Most days that wouldn't matter.
But it's Wednesday and we're back to the routine.
That means GS has to get up and moving around seven so we can be at the oncologist by nine.

There are some things I have to do before GS gets up or I will play hell getting them done.
Fortunately, they don't take long and aren't life or death issues... at least not in the short term.

Did I mention there's only one major issue I have with our house?
It has two bathrooms.
That means, since I live with two women, I don't have a bathroom.
I'm allowed to use their space.
OTOH, the medicine cabinet in the master bath is all mine.
I just can't get to it unless it before GS goes into the bathroom, or after she is done in there.

But enough about me...
GS's lab numbers are all good and they folks at the oncologist were pleased to see her after a two week absence.

I have to take heart in the little things this season.
It appears the Giants will not be defending the championship this season (HSWHTPFIHC).
The home run in the video was calculated at 476 feet.

The advantage to being late to the blog is there's ample opportunity to take in the happenings of the day before sticking my neck out.
Add to that the three hours extra West Coast folks have and you'd think we could come across as brilliant.

too bad it doesn't work like that

Shut up and listen works, though

Just thinking

That happens a lot after I wake up in the morning while the other creatures PHG and GS are still sleeping.
It's usually innocent enough ...until I get into surfing the WEB.
Most mornings it's all good unless I happen onto Dave Barry's Blog.
It's over there on the sidebar if you're interested.

Why I bring this up has much to do with a semi-regular feature on his blog, which I should mention is mostly stuff submitted by others.
It seems like at least once or twice each week there is an item about something silly that occurred in Flathead County, Montana.

Until recently (like in the last week or so), I really had no interest in Flathead County.
I only had a vague notion of its location.
If it was any further north it would be in British Columbia.
It seems Cuz and Mrs Cuz are nearby in Lake County, MT,  immediately south of Flathead County on the southern shore of The Lake.
I have been assured by Mrs Cuz that "everyone" knows The Lake refers to Flathead Lake.
Anyway, I am truly happy to know they are not in Flathead County with all of the weirdos strange things that happen up there.

The next question is whether or not they will find wi-fi and see this post.

from here

stirring the pot

So I was already to really lay into the OldAF Sarge after his post about California and the Land of the... [go ahead and click the link].
I even found what I thought was perfect ammunition.

 

Then I realized that RI refers to Rock Island, IL, not little Rhody.

Have I mentioned I like to stir the pot?

I'd have sent this off to The Cranky Old Man, for his use, but sometimes a good find is not meant for sharing.

fun's where you find it

Monday once more

I mentioned a while back that we're back on a routine.
Today we add another element back into the routine.
Later, after lunch, there will be a trip to the lab for a blood draw.

Before that, though, I have to run to the irrigation supply shop.
On of the lawn sprinklers blew up over the weekend and has to be replaced.

My nephew heads off to college today, from San Jose.
He planted an image of out of work piano tuners drooling over the following video in my sister's mind.

I always thought Five Guys was about making hamburgers.

Dumbass argument

I got into a stupid discussion on Facebook.
Yes, Buck, I said Facebook.

It was on one of those You know you're from . . . pages.
Somebody posted how they cringed when they heard someone refer to California as Cali.
Someone else said that wasn't as bad as when somebody called THE CITY Frisco.
I couldn't just sit back and observe.
I had to jump in and offer may two cents.
Anyhow, everyone there is on the same side.
The argument is about how ignorant and where the nitwits are from.

Cue the music.

dumbass

Typical

That's how I'd describe how Saturday is around here.

I slept in until six, when my body told me there were certain functions that needed attending or there'd be an accident.
Then the coffee needed making.
Weighed myself, took my blood pressure, and, as a recent addition to the routine, checked my blood sugar.
Then I recorded the information and poured a cup of joe and wandered back to check the Interwebby.
First up are emails ...I have three accounts and I eyeball the Lions Club's account, too.
Then the news of the World on msn.com.
I would use a different portal, but then it would probably take more time.
Now I'm here and have to get ready to head out for a regular Saturday morning meeting I attend regularly.
It's a discussion group where we discuss topics of personal interest.
Afterward I have been invited to attend a health seminar.
I will be able to attend because nobody from here is going to Burning Man.
The rest of the day will probably be spent deciding what to have for dinner.
Oh, and I might be back checking the WEB again to see what the vacationing bloggers* are up to. 

 might take a nap, too

*Buck and the OldAF Sarge have each split for their respective opposite coasts

Weird

It felt downright chilly in the house yesterday.
I only ran the small swamp cooler in the family room.
Even at that I turned it off a couple of times.

The high temperature for the day was only two degrees cooler than for Wednesday.
The real difference was in humidity.
I was more than ten per cent lower yesterday, making evaporative cooling that much more efficient.

It is supposed to be even cooler today.
Do I make it sound like we're shivering here?
The predicted high for today is 93°F.
(I am sorely tempted to say something like, "Is that cool or what?")

The really good news about the weather is the Monsoons that have brought all of the lightning to the mountains have abated.
That means the folks fighting the wildfires can concentrate on putting out the ones that have already started without worrying if Mother Nature will start more.
At one put yesterday morning, the area around Alturas had something like 2000 lightning strikes in an hour.
(Imagine if that electricity could be harnessed)

image from here

right... got nothin' today

So what's all this about a Blue Moon

There's so much smoke up here ...from a fire 250 miles south of here in Yosemite ...the Moon has barely been visible for the past two or three days when it did finally come out from behind all of the thunderheads over mountains to the east.

Those same clouds (the thunderheads) are creating havoc by throwing lightning strikes into spots where no rain is falling, thus sparking more fires and making residents of the Intermountain Region a little skittish.


Today is Claude Debussy's 151st birthday.
So what's that got to do with today's post?

He wrote Clare de lune.
Go ahead and click on the image* here.

And on another note...
Burning Man starts this weekend (actually it starts Monday).

talk about a camp out

not goin' there

*I don't have any idea how it happened but clicking on the image works now

Bye-bye Miss...

I'm not normally a sentimentalist, but I read this morning that Marion McPartland died yesterday.



For as long as I have listened to NPR, I have listened to her show on Sunday morning.

maybe there'll be reruns

Far out...

Actually about 93 million miles.

But it reminds me of something I might have seen on an album cover in the sixties (explained here).
There's another view of the same object here.

the Haight is so far away

Real Monday update

Just so nobody [and she knows who she is] thinks I'm slacking, I will bring everyone current.
There will be no chemo again this week.
Last week's was cancelled because of the infection and hospital stay.
This week GS is still taking antibiotics.
At least they're not intravenous like the last time.
She is taking them orally, three times a day.
The capsules are about the size of a Smart Car.
The one plus is there is no necessity this week for any lab work.
That means one less poke by a vampire.
That routine will resume next week.

I can't stop without mentioning the weather.
It appears we will not make it to the predicted 108 degrees today.
It is only 101 now, which means the temperature has only rise one degree in the past two hours.
The winds have changed direction and increased.
They're from the SSE @ 18mph with gusts to 28.
For us that means smoke is being blown directly from the wildfire nearest to us.
I had to shut down the swamp cooler and turn on the A/C.
I am happy grateful I have that option.

gratitude is where you find it

Here in the Sun smoke belt

It made it to 110 yesterday...

...and never quite cooled down.

Now it's time to go see the dentist.

actually the smoke's not too bad 

...yet

And it's early yet...

Sunday morning

A friend (and fellow Lions Club member) took of the sunrise over the northern Sierras [or southern Cascades] this morning.
I can't really discern which of those mountains in the background is Mt Lassen (or if it is even in the picture).
The smoke from the wildfires has drifted far enough north to create such scenes.
This might also portend the temperature for today.

gonna be really hot

LXX... do we know how to party?

As I looked through the photos I shot at the reunion, I realized that not one of them gives a "big picture."
Because I was primarily taking candid shots, I didn't once step back and get a picture of the entire scene.
There are only pictures of folks I know well.

I thought, though, I got some really good pictures of family being themselves.

My brother in law, youngest sister, her older sister, and some other dude.
You've already met the ladies in the front.

Then the guys with the food arrived.

Mrs Cuz & Cuz were sampling ...I was right behind them

There were barbecued ribs, barbecued brisket, barbecued chicken, all Texas style (slow cooked), black bean chili, cole slaw, and a pasta salad, but no cake.
That's when I put the camera down.
There are no more pictures.
Besides pictures isn't what this was about.
Family comes first.

maybe next time we'll hire a photographer

LXX - Where were we before we were interrupted?

That's right.
It was Monday.

To be specific it was the second Monday of August.
That meant I had the Annual Meeting for the Frontier Senior Center (or more specifically the Anderson Area Association of Senior Citizens Organizations, aka AAASCO) to attend and give a report.
I would be happy to say that it went off without a hitch, but I would be lying.
I have no idea where the report I'd written disappeared to.
So I had to wing it.
It didn't really matter because nobody listens anyway... unless there is bad news.

(I was going to bore you with all of this on Tuesday, while also regaling you with stories of debauchery in Sonoma.
Life interrupted.)

Somebody asked if I was going to provide a glossary to provide some sort of reference for the abbreviations I use.
No.
That would require that I explain how ...or why ...I come up with some of the actual terms.
That could prove to be somewhat embarrassing for some folks [mostly me].
If you're really, really that curious about one just comment and I decide whether or not to provide an answer.

Okay, back to Sonoma.
That's where Cuz's brother Cuz 3 was providing a site for the "Twins" to celebrate their annual birthday thing.
(In previous years we have traveled to exotic places around the U.S.)
Last year, at Cuz 2's birthday in Santa Clara, we determined seeing other members of the family isn't such a bad thing.
The sketchy part of gathering everyone is we are scattered all over.

Another thing is August has never seemed to be a good month for us to celebrate in large numbers.
In the old days it was because everyone was off somewhere on a vacation trip.
Now it's because many of the kids are already starting school [what's up with that?].

There were between 40 and 45 folks who were there.
An almost equal number were unable to attend and were truly missed.
The upshot is it was enjoyable enough that we'll do it again, not necessarily in the same place.


So earlier you saw photos of some attendees.
There are more.
Cuz 2 and his wife have a really nice back yard.
The children in attendance were well occupied [and a little shriveled]:

As were the adults:

That's my oldest* sister doing the holding

While my granddaughter was the youngest (at four months) in attendance, she wasn't the only babe in arms.
Cuz 3's granddaughter (six months) was also there [no pics, though].

*she is still much younger than I. But since I have two sisters...

more later

Once more, with gusto

As I write this they are removing the IV.
GS has been released from the hospital.

YAY!

Mondays got all dual personality this week

We started off with was going to be a delightful series posts about family.
It turns out we're posting again about another bump in the road for GS.
Two separate threads are not working for me.
So we'll stick with what we know and get back to the family fun later.
That is if you don't mind.

GS, if you're new here, is back in the hospital.
Monday she showed a fever upwards of 103º.
By the time we got to the ER it had subsided some, but was still in the triple digits, and she was shivering like nobody's business, not to mention feeling extremely weak.
She's very thankful for those hats and the balaclava thingy we found for her last week.

The ER was it's usual den of chaos [maybe Dante could write something?].
The hospital staff were quite efficient and it only took about an hour to get to an examining room.
It was so far into the ER that we were one door away from being out in the hallway.
It took some time for a physician to finally examine GS and, of course, he came up with the obvious, and infection.
The source is the mystery.
It's still a mystery.
He ordered some antibiotics and told us she would "probably be kept overnight."
The implication being that it would be up to a Hospitalist, rather than the ER Doc to admit her.
That was some time during the third or fourth hour in the ER.

(Before we move along any further, let me explain I am not complaining about any of the treatment, or of the time involved. At no time did any of us ...because by that time PHG and NT were there, too ...feel ignored)

ER Doc visited again and reemphasized that he felt she probably be admitted.
Each of the nurses who came in said the same thing.
The Hospitalist was otherwise occupied.
Long story short, PHG and NT left around ten o'clock.
A little later it was confirmed GS would be admitted ...as soon as a bed was found.
(not that she wasn't in a bed already, but they had to find a bed in a room that had no other patients because of her compromised immune system)
At quarter to twelve the hospitalist still hadn't shown up and GS was getting antsy that it was hanging around when she thought I should be sleeping [particularly since she knew I'd been up since way too early].
She shooed me off.

Her story is the Hospitalist was finally able to see her around one o'clock, just about the time they found her a bed.
GS had some difficulty understanding what he was telling her.
A combination of broken English and whatever it is that makes it hard for her to hear some voices.
But the upshot is she's in the hospital with the possibility that she'll come home today.

Of course, while she has been there there've been a whole battery of tests, almost all of which require someone to poke a hole and withdraw fluids.
So... yesterday (or last night and early this morning) she received two units of blood.
Actually it was because her hemoglobin was low again and the transfusion is an alternative to that "hemo" shot she dislikes.

I talked to her a few minutes ago... after I tracked her down.
It seems she has been moved from the Intermediate Care ward, [where it is very busy and some patients are quite demanding because they're really too healthy to be in a hospital] to the oncology ward where it is almost too quiet and the nurses remember her from previous visits.

I probably won't see any more helicopters from the new room.

But maybe I can get some train pictures?

Anyway, that's all I know and it isn't much.
I have already said way too much about way too little.
But I feel better now.

and that's all that matters ...right?

...and an update

Simply put, all things are relative.
GS is feeling better than she did when we took her to the ER on Monday.
Naturally, she hadn't thought it entirely necessary.
But we (PHG, NT, and I) had taken her temperature and saw the reading on the thermometer.
GS was just chalking it up to too much of a good time over the weekend.

There is still no information about the source (or location) of the infection.
The heavy duty antibiotic may make that task even more difficult.
The good news is it is seems to be abating.
On the other hand, there will be no chemo this week and the little appetite has become even less.
The hospital only serves three meals a day.
So... it appears if we want GS to eat more, we are going to have to bring the "between meal" stuff ourselves.
Or, maybe we can convince a nurse to abet the patient's quirky appetite.

The room does have a view.

Sometimes there's something besides the scenery.

Anyway, I'm on my way to visit now.

my smartphone is brighter than I thought
 it doesn't like facebook any more

LXX more

No tease this time.
These two ladies are my daughter and her daughter, Little Teeny.

The answer to yesterday's quiz is that I am related to all of the folks in the picture by marriage.
They are from left to right: PHG, NT, TFKW, TFK, and Mrs Cuz [my two stepdaughters, my stepbrother's wife, my stepbrother, Mrs Cuz... btw he is referred to as my brother in every instance other than to explain why we have different names].
Buck did a fine job of naming them, though.

come back for more

LXX quiz

clicking embiggens

I don't have a lot of time for this post.
So here's the deal:

1. Guess who these people are (extra credit for figuring out relationships).
2. Tell us about the title.

There will be no prizes (and no ridicule), just immense satisfaction for being correct.

I am off to see GS, who says she is doing much better today.
And she sounds good, too.

after two different IV antibiotics

 I should hope so

It's too late for Monday update

We've had a bit of a scare.
I took GS to the ER late yesterday afternoon because she spike a fever.
It's because of an infection.
The source hasn't been determined yet.
They are keeping her overnight ...or longer.
I just got home a little while ago.
She was still in the ER but resting well with a saline drip and and antibiotic drip when I left.
I will go back there after my own Dr appointment in the morning.

There will be a delay in the posting of pictures from last weekend.

Another Monday update (with pictures)

If you're expecting the usual stuff you find under the "Monday" label, you may as well move along now.
This here post is about something entirely different, involving the two suspects in the photo below.

so innocent

The two have been wreaking havoc on this date for years.
Rumor has it there are still folks who haven't found their way home from their second birthday party.
Did I mention today is their birthday.
Anyway, together or separately, they have spent the last 70 years bringing chaos on August 12.
This year is a little different.
They actually partied on Saturday night.

what did you boys do now?

The last words of their hosts were, "You don't have to go home. But you can't stay here."

ve haff more photos  

wir haben mehr fotos

I suppose I could explain III

Here's where I explain exactly where the photos were shot.
The only thing missing from the image above is the city streets.

The ducks are somewhere in this picture.
This is sometimes known to the locals as the "Sundial Bridge"
If you listen real close you can hear the sound of money being sucked into a black hole.

I seriously considered posting a different shot of the pointy thing, but the river interests me more.

okay it's stretched enough

I suppose I could explain II

The Sacramento River flows through the middle of Redding.
It has always been that way.
When I moved to the North Valley the river was the city limit.

The only thing "wrong" with this picture is the rest of the mountains to the west are not visible.

still stretching

I suppose I could explain

The duck shots from yesterday were taken almost in the middle of the City of Redding.
For those so inclined, there is a whole system of trails along the Sacramento River.
We be back to visit tomorrow.

gotta stretch this out

No Costco

I made that run on Tuesday.
Actually it was more of a TJ's run even though I did stop at Costco.
But I digress.
Yesterday I went on a brief camera safari to see if I still remember how the camera works.
And to kill time whilst GS was having her treatment.
You can't shoot pictures like this with the iPhone (or as Buck calls it, the MePhone).

You might wish to click on these to enlarge them.
Yes it's the same shot.
The bottom one's been cropped.
In the next couple of days there'll be more shots from the excursion.
Unfortunately no more wildlife.
The butterfly refused to light.

I cut it short because I remembered that GS wanted a hat to protect her from the sunlight.
So I went to Sportsmans Warehouse.
It's a lot like Bass Pro Shop or Cabela's, without the distractions.
I could've spent an hour just in the camping department looking at cooking gear.
I did find her a hat ...and a pink balaclava [with directions on how it may be worn about 15 different ways].
That should take care of her birthday gift this year.

even though it is early

Buck's Sunday happy hour music brought this to mind.

It's here.

rocky road or hard road, 

either is tough on the feet

This was in my inbox yesterday, sent by a college classmate [we took Music Literature and Appreciation together].
I thought it well worth sharing.
I beats posting reruns of old posts from this blog.

Here is a wonderful story of an aging couple told by their son, Michael Gartner, editor of newspapers large and small and president of NBC News. In 1997 he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. It is well worth reading. A few good chuckles are guaranteed.

My father never drove a car. Well, that's not quite right. I should say I never saw him drive a car.
He quit driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove was a 1926 Whippet.
"In those days," he told me when he was in his 90s, "to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things with your feet, and look every which way, and I decided you could walk through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."
At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irishwoman, chimed in:
"Oh, baloney!" she said. "He hit a horse."
"Well," my father said, "there was that, too."
So my brother and I grew up in a household without a car. The neighbors all had cars -- the Kollingses next door had a green 1941Dodge, the VanLaninghams across the street a gray 1936 Plymouth, the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford -- but we had none.
My father, a newspaperman in Des Moines, would take the streetcar to work and, often as not, walk the 3 miles home. If he took the streetcar home, my mother and brother and I would walk the three blocks to the streetcar stop, meet him and walk home together.
My brother, David, was born in 1935, and I was born in 1938, and sometimes, at dinner, we'd ask how come all the neighbors had cars but we had none. "No one in the family drives," my mother would explain, and that was that.
But, sometimes, my father would say, "But as soon as one of you boys turns 16, we'll get one." It was as if he wasn't sure which one of us would turn 16 first.
But, sure enough , my brother turned 16 before I did, so in 1951 my parents bought a used 1950 Chevrolet from a friend who ran the parts department at a Chevy dealership downtown.
It was a four-door, white model, stick shift, fender skirts, loaded with everything, and, since my parents didn't drive, it more or less became my brother's car.
Having a car but not being able to drive didn't bother my father, but it didn't make sense to my mother.
So in 1952, when she was 43 years old, she asked a friend to teach her to drive. She learned in a nearby cemetery, the place where I learned to drive the following year and where, a generation later, I took my two sons to practice driving. The cemetery probably was my father's idea. "Who can your mother hurt in the cemetery?" I remember him saying more than once.
For the next 45 years or so, until she was 90, my mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps -- though they seldom left the city limits -- and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work.
Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic, an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their 75 years of marriage.
(Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the entire time.)
He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for the next 20 years or so, he would walk with her the mile to St. Augustin's Church. She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then would go out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service and walking her home.
If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a 1-mile walk and then head back to the church. He called the priests "Father Fast" and "Father Slow."
After he retired, my father almost always accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no reason to go along. If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit in the car and read, or go take a stroll or, if it was summer, have her keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the radio. In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: "The Cubs lost again. The millionaire on second base made a bad throw to the millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third base scored."
If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to carry the bags out -- and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream. As I said, he was always the navigator, and once, when he was 95 and she was 88 and still driving, he said to me, "Do you want to know the secret of a long life?"
"I guess so," I said, knowing it probably would be something bizarre.
"No left turns," he said.
"What?" I asked.
"No left turns," he repeated. "Several years ago, your mother and I read an article that said most accidents that old people are in happen when they turn left in front of oncoming traffic.
As you get older, your eyesight worsens, and you can lose your depth perception, it said. So your mother and I decided never again to make a left turn."
"What?" I said again.
"No left turns," he said. "Think about it.. Three rights are the same as a left, and that's a lot safer. So we always make three rights.."
"You're kidding!" I said, and I turned to my mother for support.
"No," she said, "your father is right. We make three rights. It works."
But then she added: "Except when your father loses count."
I was driving at the time, and I almost drove off the road as I started laughing.
"Loses count?" I asked.
"Yes," my father admitted, "that sometimes happens. But it's not a problem. You just make seven rights, and you're okay again."
I couldn't resist. "Do you ever go for 11?" I asked.
"No," he said " If we miss it at seven, we just come home and call it a bad day. Besides, nothing in life is so important it can't be put off another day or another week."
My mother was never in an accident, but one evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit driving. That was in 1999, when she was 90.
She lived four more years, until 2003. My father died the next year, at 102.
They both died in the bungalow they had moved into in 1937 and bought a few years later for $3,000. (Sixty years later,my brother and I paid $8,000 to have a shower put in the tiny bathroom -- the house had never had one. My father would have died then and there if he knew the shower cost nearly three times what he paid for the house.)
He continued to walk daily -- he had me get him a treadmill when he was 101 because he was afraid he'd fall on the icysidewalks but wanted to keep exercising -- and he was of sound mind and sound body until the moment he died.
One September afternoon in 2004, he and my son went with me when I had to give a talk in a neighboring town, and it was clear to all three of us that he was wearing out, though we had the usual wide-ranging conversation about politics and newspapers and things in the news.
A few weeks earlier, he had told my son, "You know, Mike, the first hundred years are a lot easier than the second hundred."At one point in our drive that Saturday, he said, "You know, I'm probably not going to live much longer."
"You're probably right," I said.
"Why would you say that?" He countered, somewhat irritated.
"Because you're 102 years old," I said..
"Yes," he said, "you're right." He stayed in bed all the next day.
That night, I suggested to my son and daughter that we sit up with him through the night.
He appreciated it, he said, though at one point, apparently seeing us look gloomy, he said: "I would like to make an announcement. No one in this room is dead yet"
An hour or so later, he spoke his last words:
"I want you to know," he said, clearly and lucidly, "that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as happy a life as anyone on this earth could ever have."
A short time later, he died.
I miss him a lot, and I think about him a lot. I've wondered now and then how it was that my family and I were so lucky that he lived so long..
I can't figure out if it was because he walked through life,
Or, because he quit taking left turns. "
Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
So love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don't.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, take it & if it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."

 ENJOY LIFE NOW - IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

time to start walking more

Monday update (again?)

I would have numbered these things if I'd thought of it.
We begin another week in the saga that began as a curiosity some time last August; became a major concern and distraction in September; led to surgery and a long hospital stay in December; was finally diagnosed in March; and, since April, is being treated.

Those are all facts.
Details are available, but are also maybe a little speculative because of editorial license.
If you wish you can go back and scan this blog.
Search the labels for followup, just updating, and Monday [clicking on the suspect label will drag them out].

We have a routine now.
It is simple.
Everything revolves around GS's schedule.
I have to keep better track of her schedule.
Tomorrow she is scheduled for both a hair appointment and a doctor visit at 10am.
We all know, NOW, which one is the most important.

Today is the weekly, pre-chemo blood draw.
Wednesday is the oncologist and chemo ...if all of the numbers are good.

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate that I have a partner in crime the PHG, GS's daughter, to share the efforts?
Then there are those who send cards and notes.
Those are really appreciated immensely, too.
I can't say enough about the friends and family who call to say, "Hello!"
Most of all, we relish those who take time out of their day to visit.
We truly understand it isn't something that came up on a spur of the moment, because you called ahead to see if it's convenient.
How cool is that?

This coming weekend we're trying something a little different.
Maybe, for us, it is even a little off the wall.
We are taking a short road trip to a family reunion/birthday for three days.

It is kind of a first.
This generation hasn't led a family reunion before.
Some of us have kids who've never been to a family reunion and don't recall having met some of the other family members.
We're doing this because there aren't enough weddings, christenings, and funerals for us to enjoy each others company.
We're doing this now because my twin and I are the oldest of this, or any other, generation in the family and we like to party... and our wives agreed to it (HSWHTPFIHC).

We were originally planning on all attending a Giants game, but we want it to remain a happy occasion.

nothin',

 the last line was it

First Sunday

When folks who aren't thinking straight get up to fix breakfast for the folks who slept in.
Once again it's off to the Senior Center to break eggs and burn toast.

I was slightly blown away to find yesterday's post is one of the top five most viewed posts of all time on this blog... actually the fourth second most viewed.
The other four are related to Mondays and the all time high has about ten times as many hits as yesterday.
But number two is only twenty ahead as I write this.
As you may have guessed by now, this post was written earlier and scheduled to appear at this time.

be home for lunch

When you don't have time to post

I know one person who may be excited by this.

maybe there'll be time later

Seems like...

There is only so much time in a day.
I'm at the point where only a few of the blogs in my sidebar are of the must see variety.
Heck, a number of the blog I have read regularly in the past no longer post anything.
The only reason I know the bloggers are still around is I see their comments from time to time.
There isn't much new here because getting out and about is kinda limited by circumstances.
We have to plan things out quite a git ahead of time.
Then we pray nothing interferes with the plan.
Logistics are a bitch.
When more people are involved, routine is even more important.
You can't have a routine without planning.
Planning is not always a conscious exercise.
One glitch can bust a routine.

everything's fine

Is it Monday yet?

Let's play catch up.
Monday ...or Tuesday there was a letter... actually two letters in the mail.
They were identical.
From the imaging center regarding Grandma Skip's visit the week before.
It was a form letter, obviously, recommending that she could return to her normal routine.
The important thing is they said the results of the ultrasound performed are normal.

The procedure was performed in preparation for a tissue biopsy to help determined the source of the malignancy.
Finding nothing, the biopsy was deemed unnecessary.
That, for GS, was a bit of a relief.

Of course that only raises more questions for us and for the oncologist(s).
The first one is:

Just where is the source?

So yesterday was the weekly visit for routine evaluation and treatment.
The first surprise was when GS hit the scale and weighed in at 90 lbs., a gain of 2 since last week.
The next bit of good news was her numbers from the blood draw on Monday were all good.
The treatment schedule remains the same.
That being a lower dosage of chemo until her weight is such that her body can handle more.

GS is mostly in a rest a lot mode.
How she can get much rest with PHG and me checking constantly is a mystery.
We stuff her with as much food as she can handle ...lots of protein ...and plenty of fluids ...mostly water.
She wants to gain weight.

Her other immediate goal is to be present at the annual "Twin Cousins" birthday.
This year it is not a mystery trip to some exotic U.S. community.
Wait... yes it is.
It's a little different from past years in that the whole family's invited.
We're doing a family reunion in Sonoma instead of taking off somewhere by ourselves*.
The whole idea of a reunion developed last August in Santa Clara when a number of us appeared at another cousin's 65th birthday.
The youngest of my three cousins agreed [sic] to host it at his house.
It's a barbecue.
We're having it catered.
It'll be fun.
The whole family is Irish.

First things first... I have to get my kid sister's birthday card into the mail.

*that would be Cuz, Mrs. Cuz, GS and (not necessarily your) Uncle Skip

it is amazing what we find we can be grateful for