The NOO

Kristie's birthday was this past weekend. She's been wanting to "Eat at Joes" for quite a while now. Ryan had a conference in St. Louis Thursday and Friday ... so Kristie and Vicki and I took the opportunity to take the train into St. Louis on Friday. Ryan would pick us up, we'd stay in a hotel overnight and go to the Zoo and the Brewery on Saturday.

The train ride was relaxing and interesting. I've never taken a train anywhere before. The longest train ride I've been on was the Georgetown loop in Colorado ... and that's really more of a long scenic ride than "taking a train" somewhere. We wondered if the conductors would have the proper hats. They did!

We got on at Jefferson City down by the riverfront about 10:50 am, and cruised off down the tracks shortly afterward.

The inside of the passenger cars was a lot like a roomy airplane with bigger windows. Luggage up top, reclining airline seats with trays down below. Bathrooms at the front of every car. And you could walk through the cars as the train was moving. You opened the doors and they automatically closed behind you about 15 seconds later.

We got lunch on the snack car ... you can eat in the snack car if you buy food on the train. It's pretty small. But it was fun to sit at a table on a train just like you see in all the old movies.

The train often hit speeds of over 70mph (I had my GPS on me), slowing down for some road crossings and through towns. It was neat to see rural Missouri from a train ... from the INSIDE of the blocked-off tracks as we went across roads.

We arrived in St. Louis around 1:30 pm where Ryan picked us up, and we headed off to St. Louis Mills Mall. Ryan and I went to Cabelas while the girls covered the rest of the mall. We spent the rest of our time over 22oz beers at Tony Romas while we waited for them to finish.

Called Joel and Dawn and they came and met us at Joe's Crab Shack in St. Peters. Joel was in rare form. We had a really good time. King Crab Legs and boat drinks. Mmmmm.

Went to the hotel and checked in and went to one of Ryan's haunts from when he lived in St. Louis right there at Westport ... The Trainwreck. We had a drink ... the girls ordered dessert, I think, and then we went to bed.

Saturday morning we ate in the hotel restaurant and headed for the NOO. Ok, if you're wondering what the NOO is, just look at the sign. Turn your head clockwise 90 degrees now. There. I think that came from sister-in-law Betty.

The St. Louis Zoo is a very nice zoo and it's free to the public, courtesy of the Citizens of St. Louis. I spent lots of time there when I lived in St. Louis during the summer of '84 with Tom and Betty and worked at the Checkerdome Hardees (which is still there! But not the Checkerdome).

It was a cool morning, but some of the animals were out. The hyenas were playing keepaway with a rawhide bone, and when they started yipping more they attracted the attention of the cheetahs across the "road" from them. Not the kind of attention you want to attract, typically, but everyone was safe. Not in the minds of the cheetahs. But in reality, safe.

Vicki got her good luck fix by kissing a large bronze cobra, the only kind of snake you'll ever catch her touching (a fake one). And we went on to look at real snakes (the kind that are on the OTHER side of the glass), and Tigers, and Lions and Bears (yeah, yeah). Penguins... butterflies, bugs, seals. And it was time for lunch.

For lunch we went to The Boathouse in Forest Park. I'd ridden my bicycle and driven by it many, many times but had never been there. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know there was a restaurant there. Just paddleboat rentals. Kevin joined us there for lunch and at least Ryan and I had the fish and chips -- which was cod (not catfish, like at "the Ranch") so it was good.

Vicki ordered bread pudding for dessert which we all shared. Tasty.

Then it was off to the Anhaueser Busch Brewery. Where I found out that Land Shark Lager is an Anhaueser Busch product. It's a good one. So, "Fins Up", and we took the tour. I'd been on it once before. This time it was a little different. About the most fascinating part was the bottling and packaging facility. Automated to the teeth.

Kevin came with us. We all had a couple of samples in the hospitality room at the end, and it was time to head home. So we said goodbye to Kevin and drove back to Jefferson City to pick up the car, and then parted ways as the R&K went home and Vicki and I headed to Columbia.

Still no grandbaby. Probably tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest.

So stay tuned.

6:49 am

Thanks to my friend "CMommy" -- a friend that goes waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back ... I find I'm a 6:49am.

Really not a terrible analysis of me.
You're 6:49 a.m.
You're the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it's not because you're lazy ? it's because you know there's no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that's held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky.

Catsup

Soup and puree .... don't get left behind!

Ok.... obscure McCartney reference. I'm here to once again catch you up. (get it? Catsup?)

We had Brian and Kristin over for Easter... had the ham, the pineapple cassarole, green beans and au gratin potatoes for dinner. It snowed a little in the morning and we had a fire in the fireplace all day.

Kristin is due Monday. If she doesn't have it by then they will induce, and we will be grandparents.

We're heading to St. Louis this weekend for Kristie's birthday -- she's always wanted to Eat at Joe's, and we plan to. We'll also probably hit Cabela's, maybe a brewery tour.... just putz around.

Last weekend, Ryan, Brian and I took a firearms training course up north of town. Wouldn't you know, Kristin had a few contractions and a little blood and went to the hospital while we were out there. But it was a false alarm, and she's still carrying little BenTrent (the name hasn't been finalized, so we're using both).

I think our heat pump is broken. A couple of weeks ago when it was in the 40's we noticed that it kept running and running and running and it really shouldn't. The last 3 electric bills have been unusually high. I'm afraid there's nothin' for it. I'll be hosting a repair person in the morning to see what our options are. But it's 23 years old.... so ....

To add insult to injury, our sump pump burned up. I just replaced it a year ago. It's little floaty "wag" switch was prone to getting caught on things.... so I went out tonight (it's raining) to get a new one... ended up spending almost twice as much on this one. It has a vertical float instead of a wag, making it much less likely to get trapped. And it's crankin'.

Brian and I went out to Sam's house last night to get a little shooting in. We knocked cans off of a log with pistols and rifles. Had a cigar, and a beer... went to Huer's for dinner afterward.

Is my life exciting, or what?

I imagine the next post will be a birth announcement.

Hello?

My cell phone's been acting up lately -- very quiet voices on the other end. I've been having trouble hearing. Volume's all the way up. Sometimes I can't hear anything at all. And sometimes it's alright.

Well I tried to call Vicki from the store today to see if she thought we needed anything else. We were connected. She could hear me. But nothing. Nada. Zippo on my end.

She even called back. The speaker that does the ringing worked fine. But still nothing in my ear.

So I took it apart when I got home. And I found something unexpected and pretty interesting. There is no direct contact between any conductors and the posts on the earpiece speaker. And this is by design.

As a matter of fact, the strip of copper contacts that goes to the speaker ends in two terminal copper squares, which are separated by a piece of rubber -- again, apparently on purpose, from their corresponding contacts on the back of the speaker. But they're in close enough proximity to them to have an effect on them, making the diaphram move and pouring voices into my ear when I'm talking on the phone.

Most of the time.

Apparently, whatever held them close to those contacts wasn't working the way it used to, and my intermittent problems were a result of this. Finally, today they were apparently far enough away that they had no effect on the speaker at all.

So I fixed it. With -- you guessed it....

Duct Tape.

a little strip to make sure the copper strip is held in place where it is supposed to be. Won't move from there.

And it works great now.

40's Movie

I was in Walgreens the other day, and the lady behind the counter (white hair, maybe early 60's) smiled and said "you look like you just stepped out of a '40's movie".

I was wearing my leather fedora, a staple in my wardrobe in the winter, and a winter coat that looks somewhat like a bomber jacket.

I looked up and said, "Yeah, intermission's about over, and I need to get back."

SNUL

As a blogger bud of mine says. "Sorry No Updates Lately".

He hates "SNUL" posts. Blogs are by nature a place where the blogger goes when he feels like he has something to say. And there really hasn't been that much exciting going on.

But I know some of you out there check in to see what Phil is up to, and it's got to get kind of old after a while checking and seeing nothing.

Went out to Sam's with Ryan last weekend to do some target practice with pistols. Need to get used to the new 9mm. I'm ok at self-defense ranges with my other guns, but the 9 makes me flinch for some reason. So I'm doing some dry firing to try to break me of the habit. I'll try it again this weekend.

It got quite warm last Sunday -- 78 for the high, with a sharp drop that night. We were around 40 Monday with sunshine, but just 60 miles south of here they got about 6-8" of snow as the sun beat down upon us. Some unusually cold air for the season is swooping down upon us tonight, but it's not supposed to last more than a day.

We went to a cool place in Fulton with the Williams' on Saturday. A restaurant called Beks. Huge selection of very good beers, and the food was excellent. Yeah. In Fulton. I had a stuffed pork chop that had a surprise of lemon rind in the stuffing. It was great. I had an Italian and a German Triple Bock, and for dessert this chocolate stout mixed with a rasberry ale -- it was like a chocolate rasberry dessert, but not as sweet.

Or chewey.

Still anticipating the arrival of the Grandson early next month.

In other exciting news, we went out to the Elks for a bit this evening and to Angelo's for dinner. Greek Pizza. Whoo-hooo! Aren't you glad you dropped by now? ;-)

Elks Prom

We went to the Purple Ball again this year. It's typically the weekend nearest Valentines Day. Fellow Elks Brian and Kristin, the parents of our very soon to be born grandson went as well. We had a nice dinner and went next door to the dance. It's just kind of fun to get dressed up and go out and have a good time. Nothing dramatic. Just some good, clean fun.

Look. We clean up ok, don't we?

I Think We'll Go on a Walkabout

So Ryan called saturday morning and wanted to know if we'd like to met him & Kristie at "the new spot". I had other stuff to do, but since the ladies were to come on this one I thought it sounded like fun.

So we went. We hiked in from Rutherford while RyKri hiked in from Boydsville. We met around 11:00 and set about gathering wood and starting a fire.

Several weeks ago Ryan and Kristie had gone there and apparently some... I assume juveniles, had been there with a hatchet and hacked down a small but living tree, and hacked into the bark of a couple of the nice ones by the fire ring. We're not too happy about that.

We cooked food over the coals, sat and talked in the 50 degree sunshine, and shot at soda cans (which we do clean up!) Vicki shot my .45 revolver and Ryan's .40 automatic. She thought she might want to handle the revolver since ... well, it's there to use in a home defense situation and it's good to have fired it and know what to expect.

A sharp cold front arrived around 2:20 pm and it started falling through the 40's. We left around 3:30 for the hike out.

It was a good day to be out.

One More Superbowl Observation

I'm not a huge sports fan anymore, but I can appreciate a good game. I can appreciate talent, heart, and effort.

All of which were summed up on one play in the Giants' final drive. I believe it was a third and a not-so-trivial 5 with 1:15 left to play. It looked for all the world that Manning was going to be sacked for a hefty loss bringing up a fourth and very long. He was sandwiched between three defenders with maybe one of his guys. One defender had a good hold on his jersey.

And somehow, in a Tarkenton-esque manner, he managed to twirl and pop out of the crowd. He found Tyree 30 yards downfield. Tyree, in turn, was well-covered and jumped to catch a high pass, ultimately holding the ball against the top of his helmet with two hands as he was brought to the ground. The ball didn't come out. That's tenacity.

If I were going to make a "who wants it more?" video, the slow-motion footage of that play would be a top choice.

(while it lasts, here it is in German)

Best Superbowl Commercial

This one made watching the game worth it. Oh yeah, it was a good game, too. We were both rooting hard for the Giants in the end. And we were rewarded ;-)

I absolutely lost it over this commercial. I inhaled salsa. It hurt.

The Rest of the Weekend

When I got back from walkabout, Kevin and Angela were here, as expected. They're moving the last stuff out of their old house here before the lease is up. They loaded up the old Toyota truck and drove it over here. Kevin fixed some chicken taco stuff and we had that, then stayed up to about midnight talking.

Went to the Elks for breakfast this morning where Brian and Kristin joined us to make it a complete family affair.

I suppose we'll watch the Superbowl this evening, though I don't think either of us really cares who wins. Vicki's leaning Giants.

Rapelling?

Me?

Ryan wanted to show me how to do it. I suppose it isn't like rock climbing, or especially cliff-climbing -- which I can't see myself doing.

We went on walkabout yesterday to the New Spot. Ryan brought ropes, a carabiner, and a decender. And of course all the usual walkabout stuff.

We hiked in in the snow -- about an inch fell on Thursday night, but the day warmed to 48 degrees and all the snow on the southern slopes melted off.

It was sunny enough to start a fire with a magnifying glass and some dry leaves. Ryan brought his grill and made a poor boy packets, and I brought a cornish game hen.



Also used up a bunch of old .22LR ammo Ryan said he needed to use up. I did my best to chase an empty soda can around on the ground with some hand-to-eye coordination practice.


We did the rapelling while lunch cooked. And passed the time with a little Wild Turkey and a pipe and before we knew it it was time to go.

16 Years

Bart - 1994-2008

Bart is gone.

The dates above were probably already set in stone due to his kidney disease, it was just a question of how long into the year he would make it.

Bart's been basically a member of our family since July 1994. We figured he was about 5 weeks old. Tiny little thing. Could fit in your palm, and about half of him was head.

He came as a package deal with Theo, who was 4 or so at the time. We got them at the Humane Society after our first cat was hit by a car. Brian picked Bart out, and Vicki couldn't stand to leave Theo there and asked if we could get them both.

Neither of us were ever particularly cat people.

But, you know, they grow on you.

Theo developed diabetes several years back, and we gave him two insulin shots a day for at least 4 years. At $60 a month and kind of being tied to the house ... it was a greater length than I ever thought I'd go to for a pet.

They went through that period where they decided that the litter box was optional and ruined carpeting downstairs ... and we went to lengths to stop them from that. Used everything from tinfoil to citrus and hormone sprays to the famous Catscram (still a major source of google search hits on my blog). Theo got broken of the habit. They both did at first but Bart had his lapses.

Theo's illness eventually caught up to him and we had him put down. I probably let him suffer far longer than I should have ... almost a good 12 hours. He was practically dead in the morning when I found him, and was still breathing that evening when we took him in to have him put down. And we still lost it when they gave him the shot. There was no question he was dead and had zero chance of coming back... and still...

So if you've been following along in your reader you know that Bart stopped eating late November 2007. Took him in, and he was diagnosed with kidney "failure" -- or "kidneys that don't work very well anymore but can be helped along with some simple procedures for a while".

At the time, Vicki's mother was staying with us getting over a severe illness of her own, and Bart was a great comfort and companion to her. There was no way I wanted him to die while she was still staying with us -- partly because of that and partly because she was already discouraged enough about her state of health ... having her companion in sickness die before she was over it probably wouldn't have been excactly encouraging.

We gave him periodic appetite stimulants and subcutaneous iv fluids. He started eating again, gained a little weight back (he'd already lost half his body weight) and acted fairly normal most of the time except that he was constantly drinking water. Constantly.

And then we had this episode Monday and yesterday where he could no longer pee. Took him in. He had blockage. The vet drained it and we left him there last night. It was apparently blood, probably from a bladder infection. But he was up and eating this morning and we thought things looked pretty good.

However, we had been warned of a possible "rebound" effect on his kidneys where the back pressure from his bladder may have further damaged them. And he started spiraling downward I guess late this morning. Got a call from the vet about 1:00 this afternoon. She gave me three choices, but I could tell which one she was leaning toward.

I had to call Vicki - mostly to buy time for me to think, but also to let her know what was going on. Then I talked to Jennifer a bit (she had a cat die from CRF as well... she had to put him down). And then I went next door to Linda's cube and talked to her and Jeff ... still buying time. And I called Dr. Stormer back and made sure I understood the nature of what was happening in his system and his real chances of recovery. Due to his age and the fact that his kidneys were already bad ... the prognosis wasn't good.

I was already breaking up before I got the words out to tell her to go ahead with it. Not real manly of me.

It's not really so much the knowing he's dead and gone, though of course that's a part of it. What really bugs me is the playing God part. Where you make the decision for another being that you know and have become attached to.... "I have decided that you will no longer have a chance to pull out of this. You're done."

Even when you know you were probably right ... it's that little nagging doubt.

Either way, it's over now. We decided several years ago that Bart would probably be our last pet. I don't feel any different about it now.

Still, all in all you can probably tell that I liked the little guy. I enjoyed having him around. He suplied a lot of mirth, comfort, warmth on your lap on a cold winter day. Annoying as he could be as he'd get in the way of whatever it was you were reading, or is exceptionally loud licking noises he made when he was bathing.... all in all we kept him around because we liked having him around.

Bye bye, Bartman.

Another Bart Update

Bart was doing pretty well. Eating, drinking, acting pretty normal.

He hid a lot over the weekend. He's always been nervous around kids and crowds. We had both over the weekend.

Sunday night we noticed he wasn't eating ... or drinking. Monday Vicki noticed that he would go in toward the litter box, look at it, or sometimes go in, do nothing, and come back out and lay down. He was obviously distressed. I kind of half thought he'd likely die overnight.

This morning he was still alive. About the same, really. I gave him yet another dose of fluid. And made an appointment at the vet. I was trying to mentally prepare myself for it to be "The Last" vet appointment, if you know what I mean.

Well, he has urninary tract blockage. Bladder the size of a lemon. (probably wasn't happy about the 40 cc's of IV fluid he got in 12 hours!) He needed to be catheterized. So I left him there overnight. We'll see how he is tomorrow.

Double Walkabout Weekend

The Groves came for the weekend -- we hadn't seen them since... Irish Fest, I guess.

Nothing special was planned. I had talked about the possibility of taking the kids on walkabout, but Saturday was to be very cold. Still, we knew Q needed to get out of the house and run some energy off at some point. Ryan wanted to go this weekend as well, but because of the uncertainty of us going Saturday, we scheduled that one for Monday.

It was 12 degrees when Mark, the kids, and I left for Cedar Creek. Q had said "Nothing can keep me from going on walkabout!" And Cassie was on board when she heard about the hotdogs.

We hiked down to "Gilligan's Island" and did the traditional fire-starting... this time with the sun and a magnifying glass. The kids were tasked with gathering some wood and fashioning their own hotdog-roasting sticks. We roasted some dogs, ate them. Watched the kids throw rocks in the creek. They never complained, and seemed to have a great time. Just a few hours.

We went home for dinner. Brian and Kristin came over, and Brian made Cassie's day, weekend, even, by playing "Teen Titans" with her. Cami & Vicki played Farkle. Very nice evening.

Sunday we did breakfast burritos, which Brian & Kristin returned for (and more Teen Titans was played), and after everyone left Vicki and I pretty much veged out. Well, Vicki points out that she stripped the beds and did laundry as well. She does a lot of laundry. It's hard living with Pig Pen, I guess ;-)

This morning after a dentist appointment, Ryan and I hiked to "The New Spot" from our respective sides of the National Forest. Ryan had a new toy ... a packable grill that all fits in a tube, and that tube is a part of the grill. Pretty amazing.

It sleeted most of the afternoon, but of course we kinda like that. We talked about lots of stuff, of course, including the accident that could have killed Kristie on Saturday ... something got stuck in her Ford Escape ... the accellerator and/or transmission. She pressed the "+" button on the cruise control and the car just took off. Brakes couldn't slow it down to anything below 60. She tried putting it in neutral, reverse, & even Park. She tried slowing it down by going up an off ramp, only to jump the street and back on to the on ramp, where she finally lost control and rolled it. Not a scratch on her, even though the airbags didn't deploy. She's sore. The car is totaled, and only the part of the top over the driver's seat wasn't crushed. She said there was glass and dirt and grass everywhere, including in her mouth.

So the rest of us had a great weekend, anyway, even if Kristie didn't. But at least she's alive, and apparently unharmed.

Majestic

Drove out to my parents' house for our family's Christmas get-together today, and we were treated to this sight about a mile or so from their house. A bird took off from the middle of the road where it had been feeding on a dead possum, and as it flew up 20 or so yards in front of the car, I saw the distinctive white tail, dark body, and majestic wingspan.

Is that a bald eagle??? I have never, to my knowledge, seen one in the wild. If I have it was certainly not this close. I didn't even think we had any here. I quickly pulled the car to the side of the road and hauled out my ever-present camera.

He wasn't going anywhere. He had a guaranteed meal to finish and he wasn't about to leave it. He waited high in a tree for me to move on, and I'm sure he went right back to it after we left.

No wonder we picked this bird as our national symbol. Wow.

Winding Down

We took the Christmas decorations down Saturday, a day early this year. It's always a little sad for me, and the house looks so... bare. But it's also symbolic of a fresh start for the new year.

Speaking of fresh starts, Friday evening I'd come home and tried to update this blog, only to find the computer was dead. I'm pretty sure it is a bad power supply. But it really was about time for a new one, so I went out Saturday and spent about $200 more than I'd hoped to but got a nice Gateway GT5622. It has Windows Vista on it, which is going to take some getting used to. I've been in IT for a while and I know my way around Windows pretty well, but Vista does some things differently.

Ironically, earlier friday I had finally fixed a problem on my Palm Pilot... but in the process accidentally wiped out the memo in there that had all of my software license info in it. Now I have other sources for most of it, but it's a pain tracking it all down. That was a dumb move.

Sunday we finally went to see "Enchanted", which was hilarious as advertised. Amy Adams, besides being terribly cute, played the part of the fairytale princess with such a super honey-dripping, over-the-top innocence and sweetness -- I thought it absolutely made the movie. Without her performance, it would have been just an ok comedy. Plus the whole "cleaning up the apartment with New York animal friends" song/scene would've made me fall out of my seat if there were somewhere to fall besides a grody movie theater floor. We really enjoyed it.

So I'm still getting my software re-installed on this computer, and Ryan has a power supply I can try on the other machine. If it works, it will make a nice MP3 machine.

I also got a super-duper Universal Remote that can be programmed to do everything you need to do something, like, say, watch a DVD. It turns on the TV, sets it to the input for the DVD player, turns on the DVD player, and the amplifer, and the remote handles all three. Same with the Satellite tuner or just the TV antenna. Vicki was getting frustrated juggling remotes and remembering which input to go to and having to use a separate remote just for the volume. No more!

It got really warm for a couple of days, around 70 degrees, followed by a strong cold front last night which triggered afternoon supercells out ahead of it. We had a tornado warning around 4:00 yesterday, but nothing got anywhere near us but heavy rain and hail.

Bart is still alive, having ups and downs. Looks like it's important to keep him hydrated with the Ringers Lactated USP IV fluid, but the vet charges $29 a bag. I found some on the web for $2.95 + shipping = ~ $4.50 a (liter) bag. So for $27.50 I'm good for at least a couple of months and we'll re-evaluate how we think he's doing and how we think we're doing and how much we want to deal with it.

We'll take Mom (Krick) back to Fort Wayne soon and see how well she does on her own. Plus this weekend is the Leith Christmas out at Mom & Dad's.

And the following weekend, I think we're expecting a visit from the Groves.

Maybe things will settle down after that.

Christmas

Yes, Christmas happened. And you didn't hear anything about it here, as ... well there was a lot going on.

Mom (Krick) got a second infection the 16th, and after it didn't go away for a week. So she and Vicki went doctor shopping on Christmas Eve and ended up in the UMH emergency room. They did a culture to figure out excactly what it was and in the mean time put her on another antibiotic. But she was on a liquid diet for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

It was pretty much a White Christmas due to the snow & sleet leftover from the walkabout weekend. Brian & Kristin came for Christmas Eve dinner, the traditional Oyster Stew and Cinnamon Pears. It's an Adams (Mom Krick's maiden name) tradition, and I was quite happy to adopt it when I married into the family. Kevin came after dinner and stayed the night.

Christmas morning they came back and we opened the presents. Vicki got me the coolest watch and the first 26 years of "The Complete Peanuts" -- 8 hard back volumes, 1950-1966. Peanuts was always such a big influence on my two younger brothers and myself. I got Vicki a coat, some silver chains, and the all-important movies, movies, movies. She loves movies. Mom gave us some money which I used to pay for my 0 degree down sleeping bag. Kevin & Angela got me a bourbon sampler from Knob Creek and a thumb-drive card reader. And Brian and Kristin gave me a gift card to Bass Pro which turned into a Nite Eyz intelli-switch and LED conversion kit for my Mini Maglite. Our big surprise for Kristin was a video camera which she wanted mainly for the baby. The grandchild. Who will be here in April.

Vicki's cousin Jim and his wife Carol came out from Las Vegas to visit some friends in Illinois and drove here Saturday after Christmas and stayed the night. We always have a good time with them. I'd love to have their house out in the Nevada mountains. We cooked up a pot of home made spaghetti sauce. I've been making it since I was a teenager, but we hadn't made it in quite some time. I think the "recipe" came from the Leith side of the family, probably from Aunt Pat. It's not really so much a recipe as a method. This time I actually added small yellow and zuchinni squash to it, which added color and texture and... since you cook it all day long, it pretty much took on the flavor of the rest of the sauce.

Tom and Betty are also taking care of Betty's mom due to illness this holiday season, so we called off the annual bro-fest on New Years Eve. So Brian and Kristin came over to watch bowl games on New Years Eve. We managed to stay up to midnight, but we had people coming over for the REAL bowl game on New Years Day -- but for breakfast first. So we didn't stay up long after midnight.

We watched Mizzou in the Cotton Bowl and they were impressive, beating Arkansas handily. And we proceeded to watch the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. I watched more football in two days than I've probably watched in the last 2 years. I was pretty much footballed out.

I did manage to catch the Kansas game, since they are Mizzou's archrival -- and I hate to admit it but you gotta hand it to Kansas. They played an impressive game against Virginia Tech -- who should have beaten them (I think there were some questionable coaching decisions) -- but even so, Kansas proved they could play with the big boys.

Plus it's good for the Big 12, which is good for Missouri.

And that about wrapps up the holidays.

Winter Solstice Walkabout

Well, we did it.

Dec 22, Ryan and I struck out into Cedar Creek National Forest on a day we expected 40 degrees and rain all day. Changing to sleet and freezing rain and snow in the evening. Down to 20 degrees by morning.

Well we caught a break. For our hike in it was around 60 degrees. The worst thing about it was it was muddy. Deep, slippery mud that clung to our boots like some sort of peanut butter/pudding concoction that was lonely for boot companionship.

At about 12:20 pm, under an hour after we got to the site, without the slightest gust of wind, the temperature seemed to instantly drop about 5 degrees. Sure enough, the light breeze had shifted to the northwest. Still (thankfully) not a drop of rain.

We put up the tents and the canopy that Ryan had fashioned from a Wal-Mart kids tent he had cut the bottom out of. We suspended it between two trees and two stakes in the ground a few feet in front of the fire pit, and then set about gathering wood and filtering water from the seep at the bottom of the bluff. Boiled up the traditional dogs and it started to rain by 3:30.

It was wet. We spent a lot of time sitting under the canopy, feeding the fire and preparing for darkness - getting organized so things wouldn't get lost in the sleet and so that going to bed would be uncomplicated (keeping mud and snow out of the sleeping spaces, mainly).

It was 37 degrees by 6:00 and, being the Winter Solstice, also very dark. By 8:00 we had rain, freezing rain, and ice pellets, which quickly changed to snow-pellet sleet and then snow. Once the liquid precipitation stopped we were free to wander around the camp at will. My drover coat was completely wet and parts of it had frozen stiff. Still, water hadn't gotten through it and I was warm and dry underneath. We had rain pants which we left on as wind breakers, and we cooked up some jambalaya for dinner around 9:00. We used ice pellets to wash the dishes. We kept the fire roaring with a little help from a stiff northwesterly breeze.

We stayed up with our flasks, some quiet Christmas music on the MP3 player while it snowed, and went to bed around 1:00.

My new Campmor 0 degree rectangular down sleeping bag worked quite well -- I just wore E.C.W.C.S. long underwear with the head covering and wool socks and I was never cold. I slept well in my Swiss Gear Hiker tent (in which I had installed a couple of curtains since it really isn't designed for winter. Ryan apparently did as well in his Eureka Solitaire. Probably warmer in there since it is smaller.... but ... it's also .... smaller.

I woke up to a thin layer of frost on the inside of the tent from condensation and the temperature inside was 25 degrees. Outside there were about 2" of snow and sleet and it was 20 degrees.

We broke down camp and hiked the 2.5 miles out over the now snow-covered mud, and drove home over icy roads. I dropped Ryan off around noon and headed home for a shower... and a nap.

Why? Why would we do this?

To prove to ourselves we can. To get outside of our comfort zone to put life in perspective. To see bare trees in the snow in the faint moonlight that filtered through the thick clouds. To feel cold wind and sleet on our faces and feel the satisfaction of having to work to stay comfortable -- and succeeding. To push ourselves. To learn about the world around us without looking through a TV screen. To touch it and to be a part of it.

Magic Bullett

Tired of force-feeding the cat, I called the vet about an appetite stimulant. She perscribed this stuff called "cyproheptadine". Vicki picked it up on the way home from work the other day.

He was chowing down within 20 minutes.

It turns out it's an antihistamine, and one of the side effects can be irritability. And within 24 hours we noticed he'd become fairly restless and was yowling a lot. But in exchange for voluntarily eating dry food, and significant amounts of it, we figured it was worth it. I cut his dosage in half yesterday. It still appears to be working and he's yowling a lot less. I'll try cutting it down to a once a day dose in the morning and see if that further helps his side effects while still encouraging him to eat.

We went out to dinner for Vicki's birthday the other night at a Chinese restaurant. No, they didn't sing "Deck the harr wif bar of howry -- fa-ra-ra-ra-ra ra-ra ra-ra" to us. And afterward the gang specified in my last post were over for pie.

The big Winter Walkabout starts tomorrow. My pack is pretty much packed except for food. I have the military gortex rain pants and my oilskin coat and my hat. Zero degree bag and ECWCS underwear. I'll need it all. Rain in the morning, temperatures falling through the 30's all day. Snow starting around 5:00, getting going in earnest for a few hours from 9:00pm-midnight-ish, then tapering off.

Sunday morning should be interesting if that forecast holds. This is a new experience. To wake up outside in the woods with fresh snow.

I wasn't going to bring the good camera, but now I'm tempted.

Christmas Is A Comin'

Well we got a nice snow last Saturday. We stayed in and made cookies and candy and listened to Christmas music while it snowed. Brian and Kristin came over and we had a fire and made dinner and hung out all evening.

That'll get you in the spirit.

Bart's still not eating on his own. Not much, anyway. He'll nibble on his dry food maybe once a day. He goes and sniffs at it, but then walks away. So I'm still force feeding him through a syringe. It's probably not enough, but it has stopped his tailspin weight loss.

Still, here's the main reason I'm working so hard to prolong his life for at least a little while. He's been real good for the recovering mother-in-law.

I mean... come on... look at that. What a pal! What are ya gonna do?

Ryan and I have a Winter Walkabout planned for Saturday... overnight Saturday night ... but they're talking about rain all day now. Snow would be good. Rain???? Doesn't sound like much fun. We'll talk tonight.

We're all going out to Peking for Vicki's Birthday tonight, then back to the house for Birthday Pie -- Vicki's "Cake" of choice.

Bart Update

Well...

It's the worst.

He has kidney problems. Probably pretty bad. And those don't get better. We may be able to nurse him along for weeks or months or even a few years by periodically pumping fluids into him so his body flushes his kidneys out from time to time. But it's the end game, regardless. It depends somewhat on how long you want to keep playing.

He's been really good company, like I said, for Mom during the day. So I'm hoping we can nurse him past the holidays and give us a chance to assess his quality of life, our quality of life, and start thinking about when it's time to say goodbye. He is 14.

Right now we're starting with a once a week treatment. We'll see how that goes.

Festiveness Abounds

Have You Ever?

This is pretty interesting, just from your own perspective. You might amaze yourself. Bold (and in my case, underline) the ones you've done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm.
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking (if it still counts when you're drunk)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (if the renfest counts as "all day". Not saying I was great at it, though.)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country ( I have, however danced with the two guitarists from an all-girl punk-rock band. Once again, there was alcohol inovled. But that's another story.)
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (The Stingrays!)
85. Been to Las Vegas (through it but not to it)
86. Recorded music (not professionally)
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (every single one, baby!)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream (for brief moments in the mountains, yes. but in genral, I take life as it comes rather than dream big)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Winter Weather is Here - The House is Beautiful

(If you're not familiar with Jimmy Buffett, that title will make less sense than it should.)

We went and got the tree last weekend and put it in the stand. It's a nice tree. Our usual frasier fir. Smells great.

Mom is getting better and better while Bart continues to lose weight at an alarming rate. She was up most of the afternoons of the last few days last week ... all afternoon. She's noticing that she's strong enough to do some things that she couldn't do a week or so ago.

Bart is not eating at all anymore. We checked his mouth. His teeth are still there. I bought some Eubanuka Maximum Calorie soft food for "Nutritionally Distressed" cats, and I'm force feeding it to him through a syringe. Still, it's only 1.5 tsp per syringe, and he's only getting 4 or 5 a day. Better than nothing but it won't do the trick in the long run. He's been good company for Mom in the house while we're at work. Hate to see him starve to death. He's going to the vet in the morning. I'm hoping all he needs is his teeth cleaned.

We had ice on friday and friday night, but it was drivable in town. We went to the Unrath's Christmas party and had a great time talking with friends we don't see very often. Their house is always so nice, and they're great hosts. It's a good mix of people. And I had to have a drink of Bob's "shrub" -- which I have taken up making myself. If you want it for Christmas this year you'd better make it now. This was a year old and had cleared nicely.

I put the tree lights on Saturday and I've been tinkering with the Polaroid TV trying to get it to get enough of a signal to get the digital "all weather" channels from our local NBC and ABC affilliates. I had turned the antennas on the roof last weekend and they still worked fine with the Vizio TV, but the ice kind of changed that. I actually went up on the roof Saturday to re-position them to point where they used to... not the smartest thing to do with the roof in the condition it was, but I knew that I could probably easily scrape a path up to the antenna and stay on my hands and knees on the rough, if wet, shingles.

Folks, do not try this at home. I am a trained professional :-/

First I tried throwing salt up there to see if it would just melt me a path. I was up on the ladder slinging salt all the way up to the top of the other side of the house from the deck. But it didn't seem to do much. I went up with the scraper and my Leather Man® tool. If it can't be done with my Leather Man®, it can't be done.

The ice came off in large, flat sheets as I carefully scraped the shingles while not lifting them (cold shingles break easily). And I made it to the top and successfully re-pointed the antennas. Somewhere in there I lost my ice tool and I got to see excactly what would happen to me if I managed to slip and fall on the icy surface. There would be nothing to stop me before I hit the ground, save a good solid thumping by the pine tree on that side of the house on the way down. I probably would have skittered an additional 15 feet down the ice-covered grassy hill in the yard. And on a cold, icy day, there's virtually no one to hear you scream.

Knees and shoe-soles were enough to hold me up going up, but going back down for some reason required more surface area contact, for which I employed my bare hands. I had to stop several times and warm them up under my arms as they got painfully cold. And I had wisely salted the wooden ladder steps and top so I was able to get down safely and ponder the risk I had just taken and just how wise it was. I should've gone in and played "Careful Man" on the guitar... if my fingers would move.

But the IU/Kentucky game looked great in HD for Mom (not that she would have cared, but I do!), who flipped back and forth between that game and the Mizzou/Purdue game. Basketball. It's the Indiana State Religion. Kinda like Texas and Football.

Saturday night we had sleet and freezing rain all night, including "Thunder Sleet". Brian asked if that was some new hard rock band. I said "yes, they do a lot of Christmas songs." There were about two inches of "frozen stuff" all over everything Sunday morning.

I got all of the Christmas decorations down from the attic and then went out and chipped Vicki's car out and took some food Vicki had prepared and a Nativity set over to Brian and Kristin's. They were coming back from Las Vegas last night. Picked up a few things at the store and came home. Vicki was putting up decorations -- something I'm usually more involved in. But it was still up to me to deck the actual hall with the holly garland. We have a good 50 or so feet of it that drapes down one side of the hall, across the front and up the other. It's quite festive. This year Vicki took a string of lights that didn't go on the tree this year (smaller tree) and put it on our separator screen between the breakfast area and the living room before putting the normal garland over it. It added a splash of pizzaz, for sure -- kicked it up a notch, as they say.

We thawed the turkey broth made from the Thanksgiving turkey and added some carrots, corn, celery, and frozen noodles and made a really nice Turkey soup for last night. After that I had some "online" shopping to do, and it was time to clear the cameras's memories. Vicki was pooped and passed out on the couch. Mom rested in bed. And we all turned in for real around 10:30. So none of the cookies I'd planned on baking got done.