Fathers' Day, 2017

I posted the first picture on Twitter last week, thinking it was Fathers' Day then. It is, as far as I know, the only picture of my dad with me:

I think we were getting ready for my baptism.

I want to introduce you to the man who was 'Dad' for me - Grampa George. At some point after the accident that took Dad, he and my Grandma moved to California to stay with us. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that Grandma's diagnosis of breast cancer may well have played a part in that choice too. I honestly do not know  what their motive truly were. All I know is that I am so grateful they were there.

Family photo, ca. 1954.  Grandma, me, mom, Gramps.

Rahe and Evah George, sometime in the 1930s.

Evah and Rafe, ca. 1954.

I have some flashes of recollection of train trips taken when I was three , four and five. One to see my Aunt Frances, so mom could get he to sign off on my adoption.

Two to Illinois, the second, in 1955, for Grandma's funeral. I can only speculate, but I have a suspicion that the trip in 1954 was to select and move some of Rafe and Evah's things (the china hutch I still have) to California.

Along with mom, Grandpa and Grandma George gave me a warm, strong and loving foundation on which to grow.

I miss them still.

Friday Garden, with Impending Doom!

Rain and sun have done wonders for the garden. Doom after the fold.

Establishing shot:

Strawberries:

Potatoes and peppers:

Potatoes and onions and garlic:

Blackberries:

Oregano:

Potatoes:

Potato flower:

Roses:

"Wildflowers":

Blackberry, again:

Impending Doom:

Quick Note...

I picked up the new glasses on Sunday. The scales fell from my eyes, and I could see!

I suspect most of the problem was with the totally scratched lenses.

And, I  have an appointment with the opthamologist in August, for a consult about possible surgery.

The right eye, BTW, is doing fine. Slight tweak to the old prescription, nothing as catastrophic (my word) with what's going on with the left. I was watching the laptop reboot, and I noticed that  the row of dots Mint displays were reasonably clear for both eyes, with glasses. Without, the dots looked more like a row of half daisies. Actually, a pretty cool little pattern.

If I can duplicate it, I'll try and sketch it.

Back Aches and Fuzziness...

...aka "Encroaching Decrepitude."

The back has become troublesome again, in a slightly different place since the surgery. Occasional sciatica, fairly constant ache. Discussed it w/ the doc, and we agreed that  a couple of pics were in order.

 Result? Some disk degeneration, nothing to do about it.

Eye exam Monday. Vision in left eye continues to deteriorate. (I refer to that as "crashing".) Going to see an opthamologist in a couple of months for a consult. Cause is most likely cataracts, but is it time for surgery? Everyone I know who has had it done is enthusiastically positive about their results.

Not really worried about the repair, but disheartened by the incontroveritble evidence of age and mortality.

The black Dog has even paid some visits, when I've not started the day with the appropriate medications. When I don't, and he visits, it takes a good chunk of the day from me before the meds kick in and he is persuaded to leave. I know how that sounds almost "victim-y". My training in practical Christian metaphysics informs me that "I am in control", but it seems not of the Dog.

I am getting 'pings' from the Universe lately, on seeking help, and on courage. I haven't gone looking for them, they have found me. Bob Owens' sudden and apparent suicide Monday has prompted posts on getting help or finding someone to talk with. Most interestingly, a co-worker recently shared the story of some of his troubles with me, and was supportive when I told him about my crashing eye.

Found at Madam Scherzo's

My own Introversion and the practical Christian metaphysics I have learned leave me hesitant to find and join a church. I occasionally noodle with the idea of showing up a the local Catholic establishment, hearing a Mass, and most importantly, listening to a sermon or two to get a sense if I could be comfortable talking with one of the priests. (That was one part of Lent that never happened. I also resumed drinking after about three weeks. I did stay off Twitter the whole time, so there's that.)

Since there's no neat denouement to this post, I guess it just stops, for now.

More, later.

May The Fourth Be With You

That pretty much covers it.

Also, today is officially World Password Day!

Green Poodles, Create!

My dear friend and 'land lady' has been running a web business for the last few years, under the name "Green Poodle Creations"("GPC"). She has lately gotten a burr under her proverbial saddle, and has a) done some major re-vamping, b) added several new product lines.

GPC is the umbrella organization, hosting the GPC Blog, the GPC Boutique, and the GPC Cookbook, all of which are linked on the side columns here.

Her craft work is folksy and funky, and definitely one-of-a-kind. I had some plain paper lampshades on my Amazon wish list, and found two of these on my front porch one day:

Way cuter, and way better than plain paper! I hope she adds something like these to her collection, soon.

She also has several coffee cup/mug designs that I love, too:

Stressed	Stages of Coffee
Stages of Coffee	Time Travel

All of this is "print on demand", meaning the mug (or t-shirt) is printed up when you order and pay for it.

Speaking of t-shirts...



Go visit, say "Hi", and tell 'em leelu sent you!!

Ain't technology great?

Lost my phone in one of the cars I drove yesterday at work.

Discovered something interesting just now - I can track, lock, erase, and ping it from Google.

It is currently southbound on I-81, near Mt Crawford, Va (+/- 5 meters), locked and ringing.

I put a message on the screen that says: "I was lost  at MAA on Monday".

There's also a call button on the lock screen, with a friend's phone number. I want it back because it contains the last pictures I took of Baxter.

Baxter

Baxter and Friends, ca 2000

Most of last week was given to caring for Baxter as he was getting ready to go.He disappeared Sunday afternoon, and I didn't see him until I got home from work Monday evening. He had suddenly lost some more weight, as  well as the strength to climb up on the bed.

I don't know if one had to do with the other, but Griffin had gotten hold of him by the neck Saturday afternoon. Whatever the reason, he wasn't going out to eat and drink, so I sequestered him in a carry box, with food. He didn't eat, but did lick the gravy from the bowl. I moved him into the bathroom with food and water, which he proceeded to gulp mightily.

On Thursday, I fed him, and again he drank quite a bit of water. I went downstairs, and sat in my chair with him next to me. He went to sleep, and never woke again. I put him on the bed with me that night, and he was gone the next morning.

Baxter and Shin-Wa, ca 2000

What I miss the most is him hopping up on the bed, and perching on my hip as I go to sleep.

Bye, B'.

The Empire Begins

Who knew it would all start in our very own space station, testing miniature T.I.E. fighters??

We're all gonna die.

Blog Stats

I don't often look at the statistics for my blogs, but the last few time I have, I've noticed that my traffic has increased considerably. I have no objection to this, mind you, but it puzzles me a bit.

Looking at the "All Time" stats overview, we have this:

 

You'll notice the two ginormous spikes in traffic, one last summer, and one starting around Thanksgiving.

I shan't bore you with the trend for the last month, but I do want to show you what's been happening on a weekly basis.

The site gets these regular spike, regular in both size and interval. And it looks like they take the weekends off.  Looking at the monthly stats, tings seem to be trending downwards. Whatever the cause, it has just about doubled my hit count since last summer, going from somewhere around 35k to almost 80k.

It's a mystery.

Best Super Bowl Commerical Ever!

Hyundai makes decent cars. I drive them often enough at work to know.

But what they did for the Super Bowl was outstanding:


Found at Gerard's

Gotta Love Millennials

Stolen from Roger, TRKOF!

But That's a Good Thing!

So, we talk about a fair amount of random things as we are driving around the lot, looking for cars that need to be picked up. Somehow or another, we got onto the subject of vaccinations. One of the the guys' wife is a nurse, and he's worked in hospitals. He mentioned the vaccine given to kids for measles, mumps and rubella. A couple of us mentioned having one or two of those during our long-ago childhoods.

One of our resident millennials then asked, "What's mumps?"

We shook our heads and tried to explain.

Like many things in life, mumps is one of those "You had to be there" things.


(I ate a lot of tapioca pudding summer of 1962.)

Twiddling... (Updated)

You may have noticed a couple of small changes in the last few days. I've changed the background picture, removed the Hillary Hydra pic and caption, cleaned up a busted link, and changed the page width slightly.

That is all.

UPDATE: Not quite all - I fixed the Trump clock - I created it using Zulu (UTC) time, instead of East Coast US time, which is the TZ in which he was inaugurated.

Duh.

New Clock

Time Since Trump InaugurationCountup

...and the world hasn't ended.

Women's March, 1960

That is all.

Door. Ass. Bang! (Bumped. Because.) Updated 1/22

Don't Call Us. We'll Call You.

Can't be too soon.

Thanks to Stilton! 

NOTE: Removed the link to the clock. I noticed it was starting to go wonky. Besides, we have the other one above.

Merry Christmas

I was negligent in doing cards this year, so I e-mailed this. Got it to a lot more folks that I would have via snail mail.

Well, mailing Christmas cards is a no-win at this point, as I realized last night, so I thought I'd take a shot at making my own.

The image above is one I found on rummaging through the Interweb. The animation of the water and the reflection resonated with me, and I think it's the best image I can share with you.

---

First, I hope this finds you and all of yours warm, safe, happy and well. After all, it has been one of the strangest years I can remember, what with the Cubs winning the World Series.

Here at home, it has been a mixed year. I have a decent part time gig at the Manheim Auto Auction, which pretty much consists of find the car, drive the car, park the car, in a 500+ acre lot holding several thousand cars. Some days I wind up walking several miles, so it provides some exercise.

In general, we are all warm and safe. However, it has been a tough year for the critters. Suzu, my sweet little girl Shiba left us in April. She had been failing slowly for a while, then started to crash in March. I was trying to feed her and get her to drink from a syringe during her last week, but when a Shiba says "No", it means "No!" Turns out she'd had a stroke and her kidneys were failing, so, in consult with the vet, I let her go.

Two months ago, Griffin, my rescue Shiba, went in for a dental cleaning and exam. Whilst he was unconscious, the vet was able to give him a full exam, which was not something you could do while he was awake. Both his knees are 'blown', and he wound up losing all of his teeth. I felt awful about that, but, as the vet suggested, since the extractions, he's been a much happier dog. It seems to have taken a couple of years off his age! (The report I got of his mouth is best summed up as "horror show".)

Finally, the vet also confirmed that Baxter is blind. We did a full blood work-up to see if anything suggested itself as the cause, only to find that he is in really good shape for a cat of 17!

I didn't get as much work done around here as I would have liked to, and gardening suffered a bit, too. I did get quite a harvest of Oregano, Thai Hot and Ghost peppers. The early hail took its toll on the potatoes, which, along with strawberries, were the only other things I planted.  I did wind up with a slew of 'wild' tomatoes, from seeds left from previous plantings and contributions to the compost bin.

Bottom line is that all is good. I feel blessed to have a warm, safe happy place for me and the critters, and for family and friends around the country.

Here's hoping that your Christmas is merry and bright!

Lee (and Grif, Benny, Baxter, Nadia and Missy)

P.S. If you've a mind to, our adventures in Red Lion are chronicled here: Window on Red Lion, and my curmudgeonly rantings and musings are here: Leelu's Place

Baxter

Baxter and I got back from the vet a few minutes ago. Here's what I sent to Jen and friends:

Got Baxter to the vet this morning. He confirmed what I suspected, Baxter is blind. His pupils are responsive to light. which suggests that there was, possibly, a stroke.

We're doing a full blood workup to see if something suggests itself. At his age (17), the likely candidate is kidney issues, followed by a thyroid problem. The goal is to reduce blood pressure, and get his weight back up (he's down to 7 lbs).

The vet suggested an ophthamology consult. But I can't see Baxter wearing glasses.

Should have the results Monday.

Sigh.

Baxter helping me in the office, about a year ago.

And they wonder...

...why I laugh when they complain about traffic back here!

From The Telegraph, via Drudge