{{{swampy}}} My maternal grandmother (and her mother before her) had AD. I never saw much of Grandma in her last years, as she was in a nursing home near one of my aunts, about 800km (500 miles) from where we lived, but it used to be heartbreaking listening to my mother’s side of the telephone conversations with Grandma - “It’s Noeline, Mum … No, Noeline … That’s right, your youngest daughter … No, I can’t come right now … No, I called you last week … yes, I did … No, it’s Noeline …” Sigh 
so, tell me, why am I the only one in my office who watches Boston Legal, House, any L&O incarnation, or the dance competitions? They’re all “CSI this” and “American Idol that”. Why am I always out of step with my surroundings?
:::Sigh! Realizes that she is now and will always be waaaaaay to old for Robert Downey Jr.. Sigh!:::
I like House, L&O (except CI) and I have been totally sucked into Step and Dance on Bravo.
Shall we start an exclusive club? 
Swamps: you are a wonderful person! Not all neighbors would do that! Your frustration is perfectly normal- again, what a good person you are!
{{swampus}} You, sir, have taken the title of “good neighbour” to new levels. I tip my hat to you.
My paternal grandmother suffered from dementia and memory loss in her later years - a series of strokes gradually stole her away from us, one little bit at a time. Towards the end, she’d often mistake me for my mother. It was definitely not an easy or glamorous way to go, and it was painful for all of us to see our tough old matriach reduced to a vague shadow… I hope that I’ll be lucky enough to shuffle off this mortal coil quietly, quickly and painlessly.
And I’m in an empty house again. The kids are going to make dinner, and they’re out shopping for salad stuff right now.
My refund from Publix arrived today with a nice note from the store manager. I am impressed. My daughter’s graduation photos arrived today, too, and if I had the scanner set up, I’d scan them and show you. But I don’t so I can’t just yet…
**FCD ** is off starting tomorrow and thru all of next week. We’re still hoping that the new job comes thru - he’s getting more and more frustrated working at NASA. The idiocy of following rules just because they’re rules, regardless of how stupid they may be is driving him up the wall. His problem is he’s spent too many years working in industry so the adjustment to working for the gov’t just isn’t happening. He did get an email from the place where he interviewed saying they’d make a decision in a week or 2 - fingers crossed.
Welcome home, MamaTigs!
Good on ya, swampster! You’re a good man, despite being an old geezer!
And I’m wondering if I didn’t make the brownies right. They’re OK, but not near the best I’ve ever had. Maybe I expected too much from the way everyone else raved. <shrug> Not that they’ll go to waste or anything.
**doggio ** - your kitteh is teh cute!!!
I can’t remember what else I wanted to say, so just consider yourselves all hugged. I’m glad tomorrow is Firday. I may take off a noon…
Swampy you’re a great neighbor!! I worked in an AD wing of an assisted living place whil I was in college…it’s hard. It’s frustration is natural.
Okay. Almost finished dress. Will post pics on blog.
swampy, good for you. My uncle has Alzheimer’s. He’s still in the early stages, but it made my aunt’s death really sad- the one who died in March. He didn’t even realised she’d died overnight. It was a mercy that they had neighbours checking up on them every day.
AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Crazy busy and trying to leave for our long weekend. :: drives by :: Have a good weekend!!
I forgot to mention - I stopped and got a couple of quarts of strawberries from a local farmer. I just hulled them all. They are teh YUMMMMMM!! The kids are making baked sketties for supper, and the strawberries will be dessert.
YUMMMMMMMM!!
I love living in a rural area! 
Trust me, FCM, you don’t know from “rural area” until you see the thriving metropolis of Stanley, ID. Which is across high passes from everywhere. (Also, interestingly, Carole King lives up there – she’s one of 11 registered Democrats in the entire county! :eek: ) Or the thriving metropolis of West Magic, ID, where SIL has her cute little house; it’s out on the high prairie – yes, where the deer and the antelope play (we saw a LOT of pronghorn antelope!). In the winter sometimes it gets too cold to drive. :eek: West Magic has 42 people wintering over, including one old guy who lives in an RV with no water all winter because the RV park water is shut off all winter. Apparently by spring you do not want to be downwind of him. :eek: SIL showed us a photo of the snow in her yard last winter, which rendered the 5-foot fence invisible. :eek: Anyway, trust me, Idaho’s rural trumps your rural any day. A fact you are probably very grateful for.
You’re a good neighbor, Swampy. One of the best, in fact! Our neighbor who fed the cat while we were gone is also a good one, but I’m not sure she’d go as far as you do. Although she took good care of Emily, in spite of being hissed at every time Emily saw her. Stoopid cat! I’m even more glad we got our neighbor a nice thank-you present; she deserves it, just for being a good person. You’re a good person, too, in spite of the way you abuse poor JoeDawg.
I guess I can’t complain too much about Verizon, even if their crappy router did die at an inopportune time. Having net access via wireless laptops is enough to survive my welcome-home-workload (I left at a really bad time, but I was so burned out I didn’t care!), plus although we only called them at 2 am last night, they’ve already shipped out the ne**w router and we should get it tomorrow. And I can’t complain (today) about Dell, either – I called them about snowbunny’s dead power adapter on her laptop Tuesday afternoon (since we use the same one for our computers, I just gave her my good one, not realizing I’d need one as soon as I got home), and to my relief the new one was waiting for us when we arrived home Wednesday evening. And the guy in India I spoke to even spoke comprehensible English.
Anyway, enough stream-of-consciousness blathering from me for now. I’m totally a space cadet today, for some reason, so you guys are the lucky recipients. :dubious: But I also have my welcome-home-workload to get my ass in gear on, so I guess I’d better do it. I suspect by pow-wow time in July, I am going to be seriously ready for another vacation!
Is it quit o’ clock yet? It’s been a sloooooooooooooow day today.
Looks like The Boy is working late tonight. Again. If I was working in my regular downtown office, it wouldn’t be so bad because I could either pop by his office to keep him company (it’s a short bus ride away) or I could call up a friend to grab dinner after work. This suburban commute puts the kibosh on either option, though, because I’m too damn tired to leave the house again by the time I get home. Blargh.
I guess I’ll pick up some fish and chips on the way home for din din. I can’t be bothered to cook if it’s just me, and we’re out of leftovers.
FCM, I would give my left arm for fresh local strawberries. We’re still a couple of weeks away from our season, unfortunately… I’m counting down until the neighbourhood farmer’s market starts up again.
only 7 hours until Firday
I bought my bus ticket for Nashville yesterday. Today I got an email from Greyhound with the bus’s itinerary. This bus has a three and a half hour stop in Tampa, only 30 minutes after I get on in Clearwater. If I had known about this, I would have just bought a ticket departing from Tampa instead. :smack: However, I feel like I shouldn’t be complaining about this, since the ticket was only $51. $51 might get me just enough gas to Gainesville if I was trying to drive there on my own. Maybe.
Four down, one to go, come on Firday!
not much to report, though. Welcome home, MamaTigs; how are the pups doing, btw–bet they were glad to see you folks! Yay for fresh strawberries, FCM, especially after baked sketties. 
Hugs all around. And kai, glad you’re back; hugs for you too!
The pups are fat, dumb, happy, and totally exhausted, herbs – they apparently spent the entire time we were going playing with the day care doggies at the Spoiled Doggie Kennel. They’ve both spent the day crashed out like rocks, to the point where Papa Tigs decided they were too tired to go to the dog beach! :eek: So yes, they’re happy to see us, or at least they appear to be when they’re awake.
Is it bedtime yet? I am just insanely sleepy and have been all afternoon. But I got a long, solid night’s sleep last night – why do I just want to zonk out??
I like the blue CSI and the original L&O. Never watched House, never will (don’t like hospital shows), don’t care about legal shows (I prefer the “order” side of L&O).
You’re a good neighbor swamps. My dad spent the last five years caring for my mom and it took a lot out of him. I had to leave, I couldn’t handle it.
Nutso times going on here at Reference Work. We got new computers at the desk. Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge monitors. The intertubes look funny all stretched out.
Hey, a quick drive by to share an old photo I found. I call this [Niki and the Big Fish](i33.photobucket.com/albums/d79/kaiwik/Niki andTheBigFish.jpg).
Ta!
Way too much talk of food here. I’m hungry. Although I’ve already my lunch leftovers (almond-crusted chicken salad - tres yum). Hmmm, what else to eat? Also, beer sounds good. I have a couple of specialty beers in the fridge. Maybe I’ll go open one. Hmmmm.
I’m also sending out prayers for your cousin, Nava. Last report is that one team has reached him and two more teams on their way. Sounds very scary, though. Here’s the web site I’ve been looking at, for those of you who are interested. I’m thinking there won’t be another update till sometime tomorrow.
Do you mind moving to Ohio, swampy? It would be wonderful to have a neighbor like you.
Poor HRH; hope earlier dinner becomes the rule.
I think we need to plan gotti’s wedding. I’m in favor of the double-bouquet idea, but torn between the “throw at everyone” and “let them mud wrestle” scenarios.
Cute dresses. It’ll be fun to see your latest creation, LiLi.
I wanna go see Iron Man, too, now that you mention it, Puggy.
I’ve spent the day thinking it was Firday because I’m only working 1/2 a day tomorrow. Yay!!! (I’ll take any time off I can get at the moment.) One of my friends and I are going to go watch Indiana Jones in the afternoon. Nice way to start off a long weekend, we thought.
And Saturday, I get to go to one of my favorite nurseries. The weather’s even supposed to be pretty.
Guess I’ll go find my beer and figure out what I’m doing with my evening…
GT
Got the dress pics up . It was sort of a disaster because the hall is so dark, but you can see it. Sort of. It’s very simple. I’ll do a more complex one a little later.
My neighbour across the hall does this sustained “Aaaugh!” noise a lot. Sort of between a scream and a singing tone. I’ve never asked why. I don’t want to know.
I think I’m going to make dinner. Nat’s in bed, Mr. Lissar’s at the dojo till nine, and I’m going to read for twenty minutes and then cook.