You seem to excel at dogbutling. A worthy calling to be sure.
Heading Up Nort’ to visit the mosquitoes for a couple of days starting tomorrow. Staying in a cabin with Q’itih in tow. She’ll probably be freaked out by it all. Gonna leave her free to roam in the car on the way, so hopefully she won’t climb up inside the dashboard or something equally horrifying (as happened with one of my cats many decades ago).
FCM I don’t know about Mari-land, but up here if something sticks out more than 4’ from the tailgate it needs a flag. PITA.
Had a miss communication with my folks, I thought they were going to stop at my house on the way out of town. Instead, they drove the extra half hour out of the way to my shop to try to catch me there, while I was waiting at home. Much “oh wells”, and “next time we’ll be better” and laughs. But, it was great to see them.
First clean-up of the shop accomplished. Took the air gun and blew off all the tools and tables, swept the floor, put tools away. Now I need to go through the cut-offs and decide if they’re worth keeping. I’m a bit of a pack-rat, so yeah, I’m keeping that 12"x20" chunk of plywood. I have too many of those, but they’re useful, dammit.
The only time I really wanted to be an actress was right after watching the Academy Awards, and even then, I didn’t want to act, just to wear gorgeous gowns and get awards. I did want to be a dancer. I had 6 years of ballet, and in high school, I was in Honors dance. However, at 13, I realized I’d have to choose between ballet and writing, as ballet would mean hours of practice every day. I figured ballet would be the shorter career, but I also knew my legs weren’t long enough.
Ironically, Mom started pushing me to become a teacher when I was 3. (She thought everyone should be a teacher like her, an attorney like Dad, or a priest/nun.) I fiercely resisted because I hated school. Eventually, teaching found me, and the rest is history (and English).
My stomach is gradually improving. My insides are using their inside voices, and it barely hurts at all after I eat. The knee is still crap, but I have Ms. Dog today, so will be doing short walks. She’s snoozing next to my chair as I write this.
Bumba, that sounds scary. So glad you’re home and doing better.
FCM, $600 for spark plugs and labor is jaw-dropping, but then, I haven’t had a car in 5 years, and I know car part prices have skyrocketed.
More later. SOMEbody is awake and insisting on an ear rub.
Just a quick jump in while I’m waiting for Dad to get his tests done for his possible replacement of his peri catheter on Thursday.
One thing I’ve learned during here as he’s asked a bunch of questions is that my relationship with Dad has reached a dichotomy: I simultaneously need to know more about him and remember a lot of things that he doesn’t when it comes to medical history. Not sure how I’m feeling about that.
Dunno what the rule is, but I got the board home without incident. Unfortunately, the screws in the old board were rusty and didn’t want to come out. FCD will have to drill them out. Always something.
It also needed a new igniter coil. The parts were over $400! But the car has 206k miles so stuff can be expected to fail. We’ve had a good relationship with our shop for at least 17 years - so if he says it’s needed, so be it.
Chillage is on tap for the evening.
You can either be his scribe and his memory, or not. Upsides and down to both.
If you choose “do not” then you get to watch him (and them) screw up his care, increase his misery, and shorten his life. I chose “do” with my first wife, but she was easy to do that for and wanted that help long before it was necessary. I don’t know what I would have done had she been unwilling to have me help.
Aged MIL was a lot more “leave me alone; I’ll screw it up my way, thank you very much!” It was a lot easier to leave her to her confused devices. Both because she was so much more elderly than us and with not much left to play for, and because she wasn’t my own Mom. You’ve got one foot in each of these camps, so I do not envy you your decision.
In any case, there are no good answers, just gradations of bad ones. Being human has a lot of that. Far too much IMO. Whatever you do decide, let it abide. There’s no room for second guessing and “If only I’d done the other.” That way lies madness and unnecessary misery. So don’t do that.
I knew that was coming. I bet you did too.
Deck screws are one-way fasteners, at least after a season or two. Pretty much any outdoor wood or metal construction, even boats, is that way. Even stainless steel fasteners are only corrosion limiting, not corrosion-proof.
Hooray for chillage. You’ve certainly earned it.
As to me:
Set up a telemed w doc for tomorrow. Feeling much better now: little drippage and normal energy. Still somewhat congested, but not much; nothing like yesterday.
Her Ladyship had a dental appointment and then was out erranding so post-breakfast my day was my own.
Walked to the nearby newly re-opened Mexican Mom n Pop for lunch. Had a Negra Modelo (but saluted Sister Mary Corona) and an interesting house special soup I’d never tried before.
She brought out a large-ish bowl of WTF !?! something. On closer examination the bowl had cubes of cotijo cheese in the bottom with narrow twisty corn tortilla strips stuck in them like a crazy flower arrangement. Then a bit of shredded cotijo on top and some chopped cilantro scattered about. It most resembled a plastic plant you’d put in an aquarium, except it was mostly yellow, not green. Whatever it was, this “soup” had no liquid.
As I’m boggling at this she produces a large pitcher shaped like a rooster & brightly painted to match. Mr. Rooster is tipped over and vomits forth a great lake of red creamy tomato-ey soup through his open beak and into the bowl, drowning the cheese and most of the tortilla jungle, leaving a few brave yellow stalks reaching for the sky.
It was wonderful; lots of interesting spices and some diced avocado. With an A+ in presentation. The cotijo chunks got chewy gooey but stayed intact like the best of pizza cheese.
Wandered home, went upstairs to get my tablet then headed down to the pool to sit in the warm shade & read or Dope. And here we are.
Her Ladyship is due home soon. We’ll both have eaten a decent lunch by then, so dinner is likely catch as catch can leftovers & snacks.
Cheers all!
Yep, I knew about the screws, too. I wish I had known that about 15 years ago. Apparently there’s a reason real contractors use nails.
Happy Moonday!
Had to stop and think for a minute.
No park this morning, I wanted to go but my stomach said no way.
Finally convinced my son to go driving too.
Thos old body is falling apart
I quickly lost the bubble on the last thread: no way I was gonna catch up, so I’ve missed anything important that got posted after, I think, Thursday.
I never had goals of stardom, or nighttime dreams about performing (I rarely remember my dreams), but I always wanted to be on stage: first Broadway (I did lots of shows in high school and college), then just singing (I’m only a double threat: I can sing and act, but not so much with the dancing. I mean, I can learn simple choreography and I’m not completely without rhythm, but I never had any training.). In our younger days my then-BFF wanted to be an actress: we used to like to go to DC in the middle of the night and visit the monuments when no one else was around except the security guards, and sometimes we’d stand on the steps of the Lincoln or the Capitol and practice our acceptance speeches (Oscar for her, Grammy for me). Some time ago, though, I realized that I didn’t actually want to be a full-time singer: I wanted to be a full-time singer and not be poor. Which, unfortunately, are mutually exclusive 98% of the time.
I think I’m still recovering a little from Saturday: my NAACP branch had a table at a local Pride festival, and I was there from 10am-6pm (plus setup/takedown, not to mention interacting with random people all day). It was a really great festival and the weather was perfect, but it was still an exhausting event! I hit a wall at around 5pm, and started to seriously wonder how I’d ever make it through this coming Saturday’s event (an all-day music festival, which I’ll be at from 9am-8pm)…luckily, though, I got a second wind fairly quickly. I’m trying to do as little as possible this week, and am looking forward to the musical extravaganza. 
Those piles of wrinkles are just too cute, Sahirrnee!!! 
They’re sooo cuuuuutttte! They’re wearing their parent’s sweatshirts.
Aww, the golden raisins have gotten tired. Sooo cute!.
Now off to sort dinner.
Stay safe and happy, y’all!
For whatever reason, Flickr is giving me grief and our power keeps going out.
That’s Echo in the back. Misiu has a more smooshy face, Rayleigh looks a lot like Ripple.
Echo has gotten better, although she is still a bitch. She will walk right up to the puppies and take a treat out of their mouth.
She is playing with them more, and they all do kissy face every morning.
I had some friends over Saturday and they brought their pug. Echo was a bit protective of the pups, in a passive way. Don’t know if it is because she cares about the puppies, or because she is protecting her property.
When I was a little kid, I wanted to have my own TV show, like Roy Rogers. I’d be a cowgirl with a horse and a dog, and have all kinds of exciting adventures.
Reality says no way, fame is not something I want.
It’s been a tiring day.
Howdy Y’all! We lazed about at the cee-mint pond for about three hours, showered, and achieved nappage. Then sup got fixed and et up. Thus has it been in swampland this fine Moanday.
CupCakes I thought I remembered that video, so I looked it up and sure enough it is the one I remembered. Funny!
Sari the puppies are waaaaay cute. Rayleigh does look like Ripple. Glad Echo seems to be gettin’ along with 'em better.
fishy, would BtY hold still for you, your husband or CtE to brush his hair? Or is it a sensation issue for him? You may want to check out NB outlet stores at Opry Mills or Green Hills. I don’t know what a pair of them run retail, but I’ve had pretty good service and comfort from Brooks shoes.
Yikes bumba! I’m glad that you’re still among us. I hope that the meds help until you have your ablation.
{{{cookie}}}
baker, I just changed Nelson’s vet and so far, I like this practice better. Ask around for recommendations or ask your Good Neighbor / HIP town page on FB for them.
Misiu and Rayleigh are absolutely adorable sari! Are they figuring out the pecking order yet?
I’ve been on stage on and off since I was in middle school. It began with choral ensembles and band concerts, then on to a country band at 15, along with participating in theatre productions in HS (mostly in extra roles, but did understudy Mother Superior in The Sound of Music ). Over the years, I’ve been in community theatre off and on (more of the same type of roles) and in country, bluegrass and folk bands at various times. These days, karaoke tends to be the extent of it, although I’ll be performing as part of a folk duo with a friend for a couple of gigs later this summer.
Today was a Monday, all d@mn day. It began with not having one of the dedicated laptops available, went on to filling in for my lead in a couple of areas (she’s on bereavement, and as a specialist, I cover some of her stuff), then back to try to catch up my job, but tech issues slowed things down by about an hour and a half. It was like I was spinning my wheels all day. At least I have a warm little doggy in my lap now.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Up from naptime, watching hockey.
Part of today’s dream was that BtY’s Reverse Mullet was the “in” hair cut. I was loading an airport luggage train cart, then I was on some sort SEAL team mission, at least till the Air Force repo-ed our little blue tiltrotor. So we hiked in to some dried out jungle. When we got to some house, I switched over to Indian Jones XXXIV, with me, a decrepit Indy, and his even older sidekick wandering around looking for the thing they forgot.(I’m 52, I’m past the age to be dragged off by a wizard on some damn fool crusade!).
True, and the cats don’t seem to mind, either.
sari, SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!2
Nice.
From someone who never really got on the stage but was around the stage a lot, there are times when the actor just has to turn off everything else and become the character. It’s a lot easier for method actors to do because they “become” the role. When I sing, I do the opposite. I pour all my pain/anger/sorrow/grief/happiness/excitement into whatever I’m singing.
Glad it wasn’t as expensive as a new transmission would be. In the grand scheme of things, $616 isn’t too bad. Glad you’re getting it back sooner rather than later!
I have problems at all being his scribe and his memory. I just found it interesting that there were still medical things that I didn’t know about him, and slightly sad that I was remembering some things from recent years that he had forgotten.
So you had dinner and a show.
Sari, the pups are too adorable for words!
I think that’s about where I landed too. Right now, CtE is wanting to be a voice actor. Thankfully, they are aware of the likelihood that it will be an uphill climb to do it with any degree of success. The dreams of youth really suck when they meet the realities of adulthood.
Whoopsie, definitely do as little as possible this week. You deserve the break!
It’s totally a sensation issue. We’ve tried brushing it for him but that ends of with lots of screaming about how we’re hurting him. sigh I’m hoping to work on it more with him over the summer, but the way things have been going already, I’m not holding out hope.
I was thinking of going to the NB store, though the one in Green Hills isn’t there anymore. I’m thinking of heading to Franklin on Thursday to hit the shop there.
If he were anymore outgoing, he probably could make it the “in” hair cut.
Now for me:
First, my great-niece is finally coming home from the hospital! She was born at 29 weeks last November and has been in the hospital ever since. She’s finally well enough to come home, so the whole family is excited about that.
Second, I had to text my nephew to get him to call Dad. There are a lot of things that I can’t help Dad with, either because of time, distance or ability, including getting my nephew’s jeep off of Dad’s lift so he can take a look at his car. He promised that he’d either be over tonight or tomorrow night, depending on whether his kids were begging him to take them over to see their new cousin. If I find out from Dad that he doesn’t, then I’m going to have to have more words with him.
The drive to Dad’s was both good and bad. Good because I like making the drive. Bad because it gave me too much time to think. And me thinking is never a good thing, especially when I start getting deep in my head. But I got to Dad without incident and got us to the doctor the same way.
The hospital that the doctor is out of is one I haven’t really dealt with before, so I was grateful that people walked us to various locations. They ended up finding a wheelchair for Dad because after meeting with the doctor, we had to go over to the hospital to have all of his pre-surgery lab work done as well as talk to the anesthesiologist. Thursday, Dad is going to have to have his port for the peri dialysis moved. It’s quite a bit higher than it should be, though not because the first doctor was a quack. Dad’s got a lot of scar tissue from when he had his appendix out when he was a kid (this was the medical thing I hadn’t known about him) and it made putting the port where it belongs difficult. So this doctor is going to go in, take a look at things, and then decide if he can keep the current port where it is and just secure it a little better or if he’ll have to figure out a way to get it in where it belongs. My bonus sister will be taking him Thursday, so I won’t have another long drive.
I was lucky to get a parking space really close to the skybridge so after we got Dad wheeled out to the parking garage, he was able to walk over to the car instead of having to wait for me to retrieve it. From there, we went to the locksmith shop that my bonus sister co-owns with her husband and BIL to get my keys made. I’d never seen someone program a key before, but it was even simpler than I thought it would be. Of course, I also got the actual keys cut as well. So now I have three keys that work for the van. And I asked her to make me a couple extra copies of the house key so each of the kids would have one for whenever they want to go out. She made me five. So I’m overflowing with keys tonight.
Dropped Dad off with no problem and got to see his new dialysis set up. Pretty nifty for something he needs to have done. The drive home was more of me in my head. Which really put me in the worst headspace for the rest of the night.
It started with more BS with MFN. I’m trying to get answers and he’s being an ass. I’m just about done with him all together, which is a shame for him because I’ve been a damn loyal friend. But I guess that was more fool me. So while I was stewing in that a bit, trying to read and get myself distracted from the brain weasels rolling around in my head, I got a message from a friend about another friend who is dying. The doctors can’t do anything more for her, so she’s going home to hospice. This is the second friend that I’ve lost to the same thing inside of six months. I’ll get through all of it, it’s just hitting harder tonight because the news just keeps coming. Night time is always worse.
Tomorrow, I need to be up bright and early to bring Vancer in for an oil change/tire replacement/bulb replacement. I’ll be sitting there until it’s done so I’m planning on bringing a couple of books just in case.
Now I’m going to go find something, anything to do that won’t involve me having to think. I may bring up Diablo II. Killing things often makes me feel better.
Evening all. Swimming and Sauna were done as planned and was heading out this evening to let the Burger King prepare the night’s repast, but remembered at the last moment (only left myself 3 notes) to log into a Zoom meeting on the Soccer Tournament so it was sammiches tonight. Asked a couple questions that were answered, so should be set to go. No nappage so I should sleep pretty well.
susan, glad to see you back. And 10 books sold at the college, the NY Times best seller list must be next…
Cupcakes, I think that’s a good idea to ask the vet for recommendations; 34 Years is a pretty good career.
boo fae, best of luck with the ghost cats.
Bet I could give you a run for your money… 
FCM, says something about pricing when $616 is a good thing…Glad the other drivers respected the long load.
Have fun feeding the mosquitoes, Cookie
nellie, keep feeling better and don’t overdo it.
Pilot, I’m a fussy eater (as the late comic George Carlin said, just another term for “Big PITA”) so I don’t do Mexican, but that sounds like a great presentation of the food, it being delicious being the perfect touch.
Sari, those are delightful pictures.
Oopsie, that was quite a workload on Sattiday, so day of sloth (or two) is to be expected.
Real Fish, great news about the great-niece, 7 months in hospital, I hope their insurance (or the hospital’s benevolence) is good. And hope nephew has hsi act together; I think the further words you have with him may be more …pithy. And sounds like the hospital your Dad went to treated him well.
OK, think I mostly caught up here. need to do a couple of things and then get ready for sleepage. All y’all take care and I’ll see yoou on 2sday.
Oh no. We would have to have a sing-off but I’m so terrible that the judges would be begging me to stop after a single note.
Oddly enough, I worked in the professional audio industry for five years, importing professional and high end consumer audio products into Japan. The inability to sing apparently doesn’t interfere with the ability to hear the quality of audio products.
Although I didn’t dream of being on stage, I worked as a semi-pro magician for a while as a side job. Most of my gigs were street performances at fairs as such or company parties, but I did one show in a convention for 500 people. I had an attention-grabbing opening trick which as was pretty impressive. Getting 500 people to stop talking and focus, and hearing audible gasps was one of the highlights of my life.
Unfortunately, as it’s been said about music, it’s a beautiful hobby but a difficult life. I hit my limit in ability and eventually decided to abandon that road. I still do some tricks for fun, but that’s the extent of it.
It was probably for the best, I was so full of myself when I was younger that being a performer would have completely ruined my personality, even worse than the ornery SOB I’ve become.
The most important part of the day🐾