Not what anyone had planned ...

I'm at work right now, preparing our New Year's
Day edition, and feeling both good and guilty
about it. We lost power at home again around 2
a.m. this morning, and except for a few brief
moments this afternoon, it's still off. Here at
work, though, we have power (for now) and I'm warm
while Mom, Dad and Nipper are bearing the cold. If
things don't improve, they may well have to come
into town in the shelter that's been set up.

More than 4,000 people are without power in our
area, and temperatures are going to get darn cold
tonight. If the ice can melt off the power lines
before it gets below freezing again today, maybe
there's a chance the power can be restored, and
stay on. But they're not giving a lot of hope for
that.

**Update since I attempted to post this earlier
tonight. It looks like we're heading for the
emergency shelter for at least the night.**

Happy new year.

Well, that sucked

Not long after I posted earlier today, the power went out, and just came back on about 10 minutes ago.

At least we know the lanterns Mom got for Christmas work.

Happy birthday

Yeah, it's my birthday. Don't make a big deal of it.

It's icy and gray out today, so there's not much going on. Here's a couple pix I took using Mom's digital (since she got me a memory card I can use for Christmas). They're not great, but it gives you an idea what it's like. These are both of my back yard.



Dad's here now, and we're going to have some dinner and open gifts. About all I've done today is lay on the couch watching TV and playing Diner Dash (which I got for Christmas from my brother). Tomorrow I have to work, putting out our New Year's Day edition, but we should be done by 7 p.m. Hopefully there won't be much additional ice or snow, but it hasn't really let up all day. So it should be fun getting there and back.

Happy new year, if I don't post before then.

Merry Christmas, happy holiday ...

Whatever it is you celebrate this time of year, I hope it's a good one for everyone.

It's been quiet around here today. I woke up with a headache around 5 o'clock this morning and it's taken me most of the day to get rid of it. So I've just been laying around, dozing and watching the movie marathon on Sci-Fi Channel. No walk for Nipper today, poor dog, but he stayed with me in bed most of the day. "Dr. Nipper," we call him. He always seems to know when you don't feel well and need a warm puppy next to you.

Tomorrow will probably be quiet as well. Just Mom, Dad and me at my house to open presents and have dinner. Although I'll probably be doing laundry, since that's what I'd planned on doing today. Got all my presents in but one, the one I ordered for Mom. Who knows where it is, since all the tracking info tells me is "carrier has been notified to pick up package." Thanks, Amazon.

Watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" right now. It still holds up, no matter how many times I've seen it.

Mission: Organization

So, thanks to Mom rearranging her bedroom and a night of TV reruns, I got into a bit of a cleaning fit in my bedroom tonight.

Well, I all I did was clean out a storage tower I have in my bedroom, which I hadn't really touched for about two years, judging from some of the stuff I found. I started by getting caught up on filing some photos in my photo storage boxes. Then I started on the tower, where I'd had the photo storage boxes, as well as my camera bag and equipment. And then I just started working my way down. I took out a bag of trash from it, and I got most of that stuff organized.

A week or so ago, I cleaned off the top of my desk (which I do about three or four times a year -- I'm not a neat freak by any means), and still had the trash from that, which I also took out tonight. I don't have to worry about cleaning OUT my desk, since the drawers fell apart years ago. It's really time to get rid of the old desk -- it was a Christmas or birthday present when I was 13 or 14 -- since it's really not that functional. I had some idea a few years ago of trying to do something with it -- make the space for drawers into storage shelves, but that was one of those things I've never gotten around to. I really don't need a desk, since I've got the laptop, and I really don't want one in my bedroom anymore anyway. But if I get rid of it now, I'll just end up throwing my stuff on the floor and probably never pick it up.

Maybe with some cold nights and more reruns, I'll get more organized and cleaned up. But tonight's a start, I guess.

Yay!

My surgeon's office called me at work this morning ... the bone scan looked fine. And I won't need an MRI followup!

But then when I got home there was a note reminding me that my one-year checkup on my kidney stone with the urologist is coming up in February.

Getting older sucks.

Tests done ... for now

Had the bone scan today, and that seemed to go well. Should be a day or two before I hear anything on it. My surgeon said to expect they'll recommend an MRI as followup, so I probably have one more round at the hospital coming.

You can tell you've been to the hospital a lot when the staff feels comfortable enough keep up their joking and teasing of one another even with you around, I guess. The guys in radiology here are kinda fun. It was Bryan's birthday, so there was some joking about that, and Jerry's kind of a cut up. He's from Texas and has that drawl and calls me things like "hon." But not in a bad way or anything. He's got a house on the creek on the other side of town, so we always compare how much water is at each other's place.

From my doctor's visit Tuesday, the X-ray turned out fine, except they did see a bit of arthritis showing up. I'm guessing it's in my upper back, because I do feel some pain there once in awhile around the shoulder blades, and when the weather turns cold real fast, it feels like it's seeped into my bones there.

All my blood work looked OK, too, although the doc noted one slight abnormality that she said probably indicates my bone marrow is still recovering somewhat from the hit it took during chemo. Amazing, since it's been over a year since my last one that made my white blood cell counts plummet!

Same old story

Overworked and overtired. That's how I feel after a week of being even more shorthanded at work than we normally are. My co-worker's wife is doing OK now though, thankfully (no baby yet, though), and he should be back to the office tomorrow. Since I worked for him Saturday, I should be able to take Monday off. And hopefully get this Saturday off, which I was supposed to work.

I don't necessarily think things will get better once we get through this month, though. Next month, we have a major system upgrade coming. We'll be getting a bunch of new hardware (not page desigers, though; we do get a big memory upgrade), moving up to OSX, InDesign/InCopy, Illustrator, etc. (We're moving up from OS 9 and Quark 3.2, by the way). The bosses are talking like this will be the solution to all our problems. But I see a bunch of headaches while we learn the software, deal with software conflicts, bugs, etc. All while already being shorthanded.

Anyway, on to other things. My back is feeling much, much better. There's still just a slight twinge if I move wrong, but that's about it. It's probably time I get back into some exercise. Walking the dog seems to be OK. We went for long walks Saturday and today, since it was so nice and I'm doing OK. Nipper is too, although I noticed yesterday as we got home he seemed to be limping just a bit.

Mom got a digital camera, and she's been playing with it a bit. Maybe she'll let me have a pic or two to post here. She got a couple nice ones of the Christmas lights on the house the other day.

I haven't even started my Christmas shopping, but I have some good ideas. And for the first time in the four years I've been in this house, we went with an artificial (one Mom's had for awhile) instead of a real tree. I would love to have a real one again this year, but the budget's just a bit tight this year.

Haven't started my Christmas cards, yet, either. Maybe that's a simple task for tonight.

That's about it for now.

More poking and pictures

Well, it's another round of doctor's appointments for me. Yesterday, I saw my surgeon for a regular checkup, and she ordered a bone scan because of the back pain I've been having. Sunday, it was really bad. It was pretty stiff when I got up, so I tried some stretching and a bit of exercise, since movement seems to help it, but I guess I overdid it or something because I spent the rest of the day in bed or on the couch with the heating pad. It got better through the day Monday, and feels pretty good now, but I'm going to take it easy a couple more days at least so I don't reinjure it.

Then today I had my port flushed and a chest x-ray, both routine since I have a followup visit with my oncologist next Tuesday. My bone scan was scheduled for Thursday, so she would have seen the results by then, but I had to reschedule it today because my co-worker's wife started having contractions late this morning, and she's not due until next month. So we're not sure whether he'll be able to come in the rest of the week, and our new managing editor is going back to Iowa on Thursday to bring back a bunch of stuff, I guess so when his wife and kid (+1 on the way) move here there won't be so much stuff. That would have left just one person to put together the paper until awful close to deadline. So I got the scan rescheduled for next Wednesday. We'll still be short handed next week because my co-worker was scheduled to take the week off anyway, but it won't leave just one person on the desk.

It's time like these that prove we really need another copy editor/paginator (full time) on the desk. We've been told since May that the paper was going to hire someone, and it was offered to an intern we had this summer, but since then, about every time I've asked or been told something about that position, the story has changed. A couple months ago, we suddenly couldn't afford the position unless we got money from the parent company for the "youth publication" we have planned. Well, we got the money, but then it was about a month before anything new came about on the copy editor position. And now they're looking for someone who can do copy editing "a couple days a week" and report the rest of the time. Not sure I'm too happy with that arrangement.

And it's going to be hectic the rest of the year, probably, what with everyone who works (or can work) the desk on vacation one week or another -- except for me. I still have a couple days vacation left, but I'll probably just end up losing them. That usually happens every year, although much less so this year. I've never used all my time because I just never could afford to go anywhere or do anything, and just hanging around the house didn't sound like much of a vacation.

Anyway, enough griping. Things are much better this year than last, so I should be thankful. I mean, just for starters, my head stays a lot warmer with a full head of hair!

Quiet week (or so)

Not much has been going on lately. I guess that's a good thing overall.

I've decided I want to try and lose some weight, about 20 pounds. I was never one to gain a lot of weight when I was younger -- in fact, when I was a kid I was downright skinny -- but ever since I hit my mid-20s, it's been the norm to put on a few pounds every year. It didn't bother me at first, but now I'm getting a bit tired of just putting on weight and being OK with that. So I joined a group of online friends in trying to get fit, and have a page set up at Traineo to help track my progress. Getting in exercise is the hardest for me, but I've been doing pretty good at getting up early enough in the morning to get some kind of strength training in. Cardio is another problem, since I don't really have a place for that, other than the exercise bike in the garage, and it seems like it's either too hot or too cold for me to really want to get out and do that.

Plus, I've been dealing with back pain. I don't know how I did it, but a few weeks ago I screwed up my back and have had some pain ever since. It even got to the point where after I'd been sitting at my computer at work for awhile, I could barely get up out of my chair and it took me a bit of walking to move halfway normal. It's a lot better now, though. There's still a little stiffness, but at least I don't fee like I'm 90-something. It sucks how it can take just one little thing -- a twist the wrong way, a wrong step -- to screw up your body, and days or weeks for it to get back to normal. Guess I'm just getting old.

It's turning cold and blustery, and there's a chance for snow over the next couple days. No accumulations being predicted yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be nasty weather. Nipper is dong well, but I worry a bit about taking him for walks when it starts getting cold. He's got arthritis, and for the last few years, he has some problems getting around in the winter. It mostly affects his back or his hips when it gets cold, and there's been times we've been out walking, and we're several blocks from home when he just can't go very far without resting for a while. It hasn't hit him yet this year, but I'll be watching a bit more closely and maybe get him some medicine from the vet before it gets too bad.

Next Tuesday, I have an X-ray scheduled, and the week after that, I meet with my oncologist. At times, I'm confident it'll all be good, and other times I worry. It'll probably be that way for awhile whenever I get close to a checkup. It's never really far from my mind that the cancer could come back, especially when I see people in my support group who are dealing with it again. But we're all survivors, and that's the thing I try to focus on.

Later,
JunO

Hello again

Wow, I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. Not much has really been going on.

My brother got here last night to stay most of the week with us for Thanksgiving. It's good to have him around. Mom and Dad enjoy having him around, too. Especially Mom, since it gives her someone new to cook for (admit it, Mom, you love it). And come Thursday, I'll just stay out of her way in the kitchen.

At least the weather will be better. Last year, we had a big blizzard after Thanksgiving and were without power for most of that night. This year, it's supposed to be about 70 degrees Thursday and in the 50s after. Good day to walk off the turkey meal.

A friend and former co-worker who now lives in Indiana stopped by the office yesterday (she's in town to visit her family), so it was good to see her. We might try to get together later in the week for lunch of something.

That's about it. Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving (or just have a nice and safe day if you're not in the U.S.).

One little, two little, three little ...

There were 10, count them 10, squirrels in my backyard just awhile ago. That's not a record, but I haven't been putting seed out for very long, so it's the most I've seen at once in quite awhile.

There were two on the utility pole at the southeast corner and one on the fence next to the pole; one in the tray feeder, three on the ground around it and one on the wood pile nearby; and four in the small tree just on the other side of the fence. Oops, wait, that's 11 total. They were all being fairly peaceful about eating when one of the ones on the utility pole started chattering, and suddenly ZOOM! There were nine squirrels heading for higher ground! Must have been one of the feral cats wandering into the area.

They still haven't quite made it back to the food yet, and it's been probably 20 minutes since they stopped chattering at the intruder. Funny how they can be so cautious about some things, yet this morning when I went to fill up the tray feeder, the little guy who was there didn't run away until I lifted the scoop full of seed up to the feeder! For a second, I thought I might be able to get him to eat a few seeds right from the scoop.

That's probably my excitement for the day. I'm off since I worked Saturday, and I'm doing laundry and other such exciting things. It's nice out, so a walk with Nipper is on the agenda, too. I'm sure you all wish you had my life.

Hot water again

Well, that was fast. When Dad's hot water heater went kaput, it took a few days to get a new one in. The plumbers came out today and had it in by this afternoon. Maybe it's just a matter of what they had in inventory. Anyway, we've got hot water again. I haven't even asked what it cost. I want to pay for it myself -- I mean, it's my house, I'm an adult -- but right now it's just hard. I'm still paying off the hospital and my vacation upped my credit card balance a bit, so I hadn't been planning on spending any extra money except for Christmas shopping. So thanks, Mom and Dad, for helping out. I'll repay you somehow, someday.

At least there should be something good this weekend. A friend who moved away a couple years ago will be in town and we're getting together this weekend. It'll be good to see her again and get caught up. Other than that, I hope for a quiet weekend!

Good freakin' morning to you too

I had a great vacation, so now the rain must fall, right? It doesn't need to be so damn literal, though.

We woke up this morning to discover the water heater leaking all over (and through) the utility room floor.

I'm off to my dad's for a shower now.

A flying turtle!

mass19.jpg, originally uploaded by junogle.

One of my pics from mass ascension. This flickr stuff is cool!

See the entry below for links to more pics.

More pix

More vacation photos!
Here are shots from the mass ascension, and here are shots from the balloon glow that evening.

First photos

I forgot I did get one roll of film developed while on my trip. These are photos from Saturday, when we visited the Trinity Site and the Very Large Array.

The first set is from the Trinity Site national historic landmark, which is open to the public only twice a year.

See my Trinity album here

We also visited the Very Large Array that day.

The VLA album is here.

More to come soon.

I'm back!

Got back home between 2 and 2:30 this morning. Then had to get up to get to the Day of Caring brunch at 10 a.m. We got home from that in the noon hour, so I thought I'd take a short nap. I got up just awhile ago!

It was nice and sunny this morning, but now is cloudy. My brother said today was pretty gloomy looking in Albuquerque today, and they had to cancel some of the activities at the balloon fiesta. It sounds like we lucked out with the good weather the day I was there.

And it was a great trip. The train ride was amazing. I'm the type that likes to study the countryside, so this was a perfect way for me to travel. It was fun to be able to sit and watch the geography change as the train moved on, from the plains into the foothills of the Rockies and up into the mountains. I saw several pronghorn antelope as we crossed the plateau in northern New Mexico that look very similar to Kansas. I would definitely travel that way again, but I think it would also be fun to drive and take some time to explore some of the towns we passed through, like Trinidad, Colo., or Raton, or Las Vegas, N.M. The parts of town I could see from the train station had a real Old West kind of look to them, although those areas of the towns probably aren't as lively as they were back then.

I'll have pictures posted Tuesday or Wednesday. I shot a total of seven rolls of film, most of it at the mass ascension at the balloon fiesta. It was just that great! I'll probably have more comments then, or maybe tomorrow. The rest of today is unpacking and taking it easy.

Later.

Greetings from New Mexico!

My brother and I are taking it kind of easy today. He's got those person-not-on-vacation things to do like laundry, so it's a quiet day.

Got in to the train station in Albuquerque Friday afternoon, and we had dinner at my mom's favorite Mexican restaraunt. Definately better than anything we can get in Kansas. Then we kind of killed some time until rush hour traffic was over and headed for his home. We both weren't feeling that great (me a headached, him still some pain from some dentist work the day before) so we took it easy that night.

Saturday we both felt a lot better, so we headed out to the White Sands Missile Base, where the Trinity Site is located. It was kind of humbling to be standing on the spot where the first atomic bomb was exploded, and think of the power it held and the way it's changed the world.

After lunch we went to the open house at the Very Large Array. If you've seen the movie "Contact" with Jodi Foster, that's the place. It was pretty cool to see those huge antennas up close and watch them moving in unison.

Hope I got some good pictures. I've still got a few shots on my first roll left. I'm saving plenty of film for the balloon fiesta, though! We're probably going to wait until Thursday to go to it, since it looks like cloudy weather until then. But we'll probably be in Alburquerque at least one other day, so I'm sure I'll see some balloons floating around before then.

Getting ready

I haven't been up at this hour in a looooong time. For any reason.

Getting ready to leave for my trip to see my brother. I slept OK, but not great. Maybe I can get a couple hours on the train before it gets busy and too noisy. I'm sure I'll sleep good tonight.

I'll sure miss Nipper though. He'll be fine, I'm sure. Probably get lots of extra ear rubs and loving from Mom and Dad while I'm gone.

Well, got to go double-check (again) that I've packed everything I need while Mom's in the shower.

I'll be back in about a week for sure. Maybe I'll get in a post or two in the meantime.

What's the matter with Jericho?

Here.

Had to get away

I am o-fficially on vacation! Whoo-hoo! And not just a sit-around-at-home vacation, either ... this is one with a real trip and everything!

Friday (early Friday), I'll catch the train in Dodge to spend about a week with my brother in New Mexico. I haven't actually been to his place since he graduated college, so this should be neat. Plus, the Balloon Fiesta will be going on in Albuquerque, so we'll be catching some of that, as well as going to the Trinity Site, where the first atomic bombs were tested. They open it to visitors a couple of times a year, so I'm sure there will be crowds, but it would be worth it. Hmmm. I see my radiation oncologist the week after I get back. I wonder if I need to tell him I was there so he can add in the extra radiation I'll absorb.

Aside from that, and seeing the area where he lives and belatedly celebrating his birthday, I'm not sure what all we'll do. Maybe seek out our birthplace. Go look at the ol' neighborhood (that I can barely remember anyway). Who knows?

In the meantime, I have stuff to do to get ready -- make sure I have clean clothes, enough travel-sized toiletries, see what I might need to buy, maybe get a haircut ... at least I have a couple of days.

If I get a chance, I'll post while I'm there so y'all know I'm OK and having a good time. Maybe bro will have some digital pics I could post, too. I'll probably have lots to say afterward, too, so be sure to check back for sure on the 14th or 15th.

Good Saturday

It turned hot again today -- well hot for early fall, and warmer than we have been having recently. But it was a good day for a parade. So I went to be in one. It's homecoming weekend for the local university, and of course there's a parade. My breast cancer support group had a float and a good group of us showed up to ride and walk alongside and throw candy. I figured it'd be just sitting on the float, waving at a few people, etc., but it turned out to be a bit more than that. As we moved along Main Street, people would applaud and cheer for us. Total strangers, most of them. I wasn't the only one getting a bit choked up by that. And then there was Mom. She found a spot right in front at the newspaper's parking lot, so she got a couple pictures. And she said seeing me on that float made her cry. So it was an interesting morning -- more than I bargained for.

The rest of the day (aside from a walk with Nipper and then a nap) has been spent playing with my new toy -- a new iPod Nano! I got a blue 4 GB model. It was the only one left at WallyWorld, and I wanted to make sure I got one before I left next week to see my brother (I live far enough in the boonies "overnight" delivery means at least a day or two). I can't get over just how dang small it really is. I mean, you can look at the specs online and see the commercials and so forth, but until you actually see one and hold it, you just don't get the idea. I spent a bit more than I wanted, but after this last year, I think I deserve it. So I guess this is my kicking cancer/Christmas/birthday present to myself!

Just where the hell is Jericho?

I don't know if I'll actually stick with this show. The concept is certainly intriguing, but there's just too much crap to nitpick on. **SPOILER ALERT**

First, where is Jericho? This map on the CBS Web site shows Jericho being on Interstate 70 where U.S. Highway 83 meets it and U.S. 40 divides from the interstate. Although the roads don't match exactly, in reality that would mean Jericho is standing in for Oakley, Kansas, a town of about 2,000.

However, at the end of tonight's episode, as Mysterious Big City Guy is putting pins in his map (presumably of where other nukes have hit), he starts somewhere southeast of Oakley before putting his pin at Denver. That would actually fit with the idea that townspeople were taken to a salt mine to hide out from the fallout, as there are salt mines at Hutchinson.

Hutch, however, is more than 450 miles from Denver -- much too far away to see a mushroom cloud. Let alone the damn mountains. Plus, Hutch is only about 50 miles from Wichita, which doesn't fit in with the mileage sign shown in the beginning of the first episode. Oakley is about 250 miles from Denver, still too far away to see a mushroom cloud or the damn mountains. Kanorado (on the state line) is about 180 miles from Denver. Still too far to see the damn mountains, at least.

Second, Jake's ex-girlfriend is living up to her blondeness. She's walking along the road for gas when a patrol car from her home county's sheriff's office stops to help and she doesn't realize that the two guys wearing the uniforms are people she's never seen before? Trust me, in a town the size Jericho is supposed to be (I believe the mayor said about 3,000), you would know who all the people in uniform are. I didn't get the impression she had also just arrived back in Jericho. And some guy who needs a shave and has skanky teeth would be a big tip off. Especially when he doesn't know where the nearest gas station is.

The Mysterious Big City Guy: Really, one black family in a small, rural town isn't that unbelievable. Neither is that he would act like he knows everything and the bumpkins no nothing. I've known plenty of big-city types who come out here acting like they've been sent from God to save us from our own hickness, only to turn tail and run when they can't cut it out here. Can't live without theater or opera or jazz clubs or one-hour eyeglasses or sushi or drive-through everything? Fine. Seeya. Just what this guy is still remains to be seen, though.

Oh, and just because cops or fire fighters are out in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean they don't get training and education from Homeland Security. Where do you think a good portion of food in your kitchen and favorite restaraunts comes from? Don't you think that'd make a good target? Pass the smallpox, please.

And just what is Jake's story? This (and some of the other characters) might be the only thing that keeps me watching. He's vague about where he's been, but he seems to have some medical training, and he "knew someone" who knew something about explosives. He did something to disgrace his family, but something they were able to keep secret (not an easy trick in a small town). And something that didn't bother his grandfather enough to disown him. That could be anything from prison to being grand marshal of a gay pride parade. If they reveal these stories slowly, it might make it worth it to put up with the stupid parts.

I'm sure I could go on, but that's enough for now.

Summer flashback

It's officially fall now, but I'll take a moment to look back on a moment of the summer ... now that I have film back.

This is probably my favorite picture from this summer (and one of my top faves of Nipper ever). I think it's from July, on one of our walks up the drying creekbed. He'd been trying to catch the fish in the puddle:


There's more picturues here

Poor Buddy

I didn't mention this before, but a little over a week ago while walking the dog, I saw a cockatoo in the park a few blocks from my home. I tried to get close to it, moving slow and talking soft, but I'm sure it was a bit scared at being away from its home and flew away when I got too close. I watched where it went, and when I got home, called the cops and asked if someone had reported a missing bird. Someone had. So I told the officer where I last saw it, and he said he'd contact the owners.

A couple days later, walking Nipper through the same park, I saw a woman, probably in her 50s, walking around, looking up in the trees. It was the bird's owner. I told her I'd reported it, and we talked for a bit. The bird's name was Buddy, he really liked people and dogs even, and she said since he'd seen me once, he might come to me if he saw me again. I said I'd keep an eye out for him when we were walking.

And I did. When we'd walk through or near that park, I'd look up in the trees and listen, but never really did see or hear any kind of bird that wouldn't normally be there. I hoped maybe she'd found him that day I saw her.

She didn't. This morning, while walking Nipper through the park again, I came across what was left of Buddy. Something had gotten him, but wether it was a critter first or maybe the cold weather I couldn't tell. The remains didn't look real fresh, although I don't recall seeing anything when we walked through that same spot a couple days ago. I feel bad for Buddy, and his owner, and kind of wish I'd looked harder, but I also wonder why she didn't keep his wings clipped? When we talked, she had mentioned that last year one of the local cops had helped her get him from a tree in the same park, so this wasn't the first time he'd escaped. Maybe some would say not letting a bird fly would be cruel, like having a cats claws removed, but on the other hand, I don't let my dog off leash when we're walking near traffic. If you have a pet, it's your responsibility to keep it safe. Even if that means doing something "unnatural."

The TV season so far

OK, so the new TV season is under way. Here's some thoughts:
Sunday:
Amazing Race: Off to a great start, although what could have been two of the more interesting teams got eliminated right off. And a new twist -- one team was eliminated before the first pit stop! Obviously, they won't be doing that every week, or else the season would last only a few weeks. But Phil said other surprises are in store.

Monday
The Class: I think I'll skip this one. Maybe if you work in Hollywood, and your new TV show is being touted as "the next (insert name of past hit show here)," you shouldn't quit your day job.
How I Met Your Mother: So far, so good.
Didn't watch much of Two and a Half Men, but saw The New Adventures of Old Christine. I do like that one, so if Heroes turns out to be good, I might tape this one. I've always lliked Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and the main characters aren't just stereotypes.
I already saw the pilot for Studio 60, but I didn't pay much attention to CSI: Miami.

Tuesday
NCIS: I suppose eventually they're going to make Mark Harmon shave and cut his hair. Darn it. Anyway, it's interesting to see the team acting in a new way under DiNozzo's leadership. And how's he going to act when Jethro comes back? (you know he will).

Wednesday:
Jericho: You know I had to say something. And ... it wasn't at awful as I thought it might be. The landscape, other than the one shot of the mountains, didn't look too bad (typical TV Kansas landscape. It's not perfectly flat out here, but there's more bluffs in western Kansas than hills.) There wasn't too much else that made me roll my eyes, and the story was kind of interesting. I'll tune back in next week.
CSI: New York: Bungee sex?!?

More later in the week.

Variety o' stuff

Today was a good day. It started out kind of bad, what with us being short-handed at work. Mondays are always awful because whichever page designer worked Saturday gets Monday off, leaving two people to put together the news section. Today I basically laid out all but four pages of a 12-page news section. That sucked. But then, the other girls in the newsroom took me to lunch to celebrate the news about ending my treatment. They gave me a nice little gift, too. It's kind of a little token, about the size of a quarter, that has "courage" engraved on it. The inside of the box lid says "feel the fear and do it anyway." And that really sums up what I've gone through in the last year. Yes, it was scary facing this disease, but I had to do it anyway. Because the alternative was unthinkable. And I feel like now I can that apply motto to anything. So thanks, guys! You even made my mom get teary-eyed when I showed it to her.

In more mundane news, my iBook needs a new battery. It's down to about two hours of power now, after two years of use. It probably didn't help that when I got this computer, it was my first new one in about 10 years and I was so excited about getting it, I didn't really read the manual. Calibrate the battery? Huh? Oh well, too late. So I was looking a bit ago on Apple's Web site to see how much it would cost, and got to thinking about how next month I'm going to go see my brother, and I'll be taking the train, and that's a long ride, and it'd be a real pain to have to pack my CD player and enough CDs to keep me occupied for that amount of time, and gee, wouldn't it be nice to have an iPod? And of course, Apple just introduced its revamped Nano (now in color!), so it's real tempting. Hey, I've got plastic ... I've got money! I'll think on this for a day or so, though.

More planting

Yestderday was pretty much a bust. The wind blew hard all day, which kicked up something that I must be allergic to, because after taking Nipper for a walk, I had a headache the rest of the day. I didn't feel good until late Saturday night, when I kind of played around with the iTunes 7. I love the new cover browser feature that lets you flip through the album art like an old juke box. So I spent a couple hours late Saturday night scanning in CD covers that iTunes couldn't find and download.

Today was making up for lost time. I got (almost) all my laundry done and finished planting my irises and flower buds on the hill out back. So over two weekends, I've planted 18 irises (most of which I dug up and divided myself), 16 daffodil bulbs, 10 daylilies, 2 mums and an aster. Might not sound like much, but all this was done on a steep slope with poor footing. Not bad, I'd say. I took some pictures, along with other parts of the yard. Since I use old-fashioned film, you'll just have to wait. Besides, it'll look more interesting next spring. I hope.

I also got my bird-feeding station pretty well finished up. I got the tray feeder set on the top of the pole and the dowel set in to hold the finch feeder. I might have to add some extra support for the tray feeder, in case some raccoon sits its fat butt up there for a late-night munchfest.

The Amazing Race starts tonight! And holy cow, they eliminated one team before even reaching the first pit stop! Can't wait to see what other surprises they have in store this time around.

Stick me with a fork ...

I am done!

I went to see the doctor today as a follow-up to last week's MUGA scan, and learned my ejection fraction had gone down again, now at 48 percent. It has to be at least 50 percent to continue on the Herceptin, so the doctor said today she was just going to go ahead and end it. I was supposed to go through December for a full year.

So that means that I am done with my cancer treatment! The problem with my heart should correct itself and won't be any serious concern. I'll probably have another MUGA sometime next year just to make sure, the doc said. And I'll have the port-a-cath in for maybe a year just in case (which seems like the norm, from what I've heard and read), so I'll need to have it flushed (or cleansed) about once a month. Besides that, I'll have checkups with the oncologist every three months for a couple years, then every six months and then that should be it.

It's a bit of a weird feeling. I wasn't prepared for it to end today. I thought I'd go back on the Herceptin and was all set for a treatment when I went in today. Now I've got a new "normal" to get used to all over again... being normal.

A busy day

At least I made it a busy afternoon. I'm not worth much on weekend mornings. But this afternoon I did some more planting on the slope out behind the garage. I planted I think six more irises (three Mom bought and three of the ones I dug up last weekend) along with four daylily bulbs and eight daffodil bulbs. I made sure to mark them so next spring I can watch for them. I also planted another daylily under the pecan tree and planted the butterfly weed in the corner of that garden where it will get some sun. I had intended to plant the butterfly weed with the wildflowers out by the driveway, but it's done so well in partial shade I think I'll keep it there (which is strange because it's a prairie wildflower. You'd think it would do best in full sun). I needed to get it in the ground before it started getting any cooler, otherwise I'd lose it, and this is the first one in three or four years of trying that has made it through the summer.

As I was planting under the pecan tree, I heard a noise and saw it was a squirrel. It was watching me pretty closely. It ran off when I tried to see how close I could get, but about 10 minutes later, as I was taking a break watching the water in the creek from near where I used to have the squirrel feeder, it came back. It sat on a cut-off branch about 3 feet above my head and gave me the eye. I know exactly what it was trying to say to me, too: "When are you going to put out the sunflower seeds, lady?!?" I told it to wait another week or two.

I did get a start on my bird/critter feeder project. A couple of years ago, I took the trunk of a small, dead tree that had fallen and set it in cement just outside the fence. I had always planned to make a birdfeeding station out of it. That first summer, all I got around to was putting a squirrel snacker on it, and last summer I had bigger things on my mind. So this year, I'm going to finish it off. Last week I drilled a 1-inch hole in one side, where I'll insert a dowel cut to about 1 foot. I'll hang the finch feeder from this. Today, I trimmed about a foot off the top of the pole and I'll put a tray feeder resting on top. I need to get some longer screws, though, so that might be for next weekend. I also got a new birdfeeder for the small birds that I'll hang from one of the pecan tree branches. It's got a cage around it that's just big enough for finches, sparrows, chickadees, etc. to get through, so they won't have to fight with the squirrels and bigger birds for food.

I'm pretty tired now, even after a hot shower, and I'm starting to get hungry. So that's all for now.

It's Mount Sunflower. Get it?

It gets even dumber and dumber ...

I am getting less and less interested in watching the CBS show "Jerico." Now they're appearantly planning a "Jericho" promotion in Lawrence. Lawrence? What the hell? Because Lawrence is a small town, just like Jericho? Hello, Lawrence has about 80,000 people! Hardly a representation of small-town anywhere. Not to mention it's in eastern Kansas, so definatley NO MOUNTAINS in sight.

If they wanted to promote the feel of the show, why not choose a town that could be Jericho? There's plenty of small towns in western Kansas that would welcome the publicity and fit the bill (even if you can't see mountains). The town of Speed (population between 30 and 40, depending on who you talk to and if you count dogs and cats) recently hosted an event with Mattel's Hot Wheels that brought around 10,000 people to town.

So there.

Flashback

One year ago today:

I can't begin to describe how great it was to get back to work today

It was two weeks after my first chemo, after they took my first CBC (blood test) at the cancer center and were shocked at how low my white blood cell count was (near zero). I had to stay home from work for a week, and that was probably the lowest time I had through this whole journey. I felt fine, but here was the first indication that something was seriously wrong with me, that something as simple as a cold could endanger my life! Of course, I spent the next four months or so in the "isolation chamber" at work, which got kind of depressing at times. But that's another flashback.

Also on this day last year:

I stepped out of the shower only to find I had a bit of a hairy chest. Only it was hair that had formerly been on my head. And all morning, I was brushing hairs off my shoulders.

Fortunately, my hair has now grown back nicely. Maybe a bit grayer. I liked having curly hair (it was more wavy than curly), but the last week or so it seems to be going back to its original straightness. I'm just glad I have it.

Maybe a dye job is in order.

No more rain

As in we didn't get any more rain after Friday, other than maybe a few sprinkles. The creek is pretty well dried up again, just a puddle left. At least the weeds are green!

Not much else going on, just a quiet weekend. With gas prices the way the way they are, I kind of prefer to not do any extra driving. So whatever I need to get done in town, I'll try to do during the week when I'm there for work anyway. If we need groceries during the weekend, we can shop at the store here. Makes me wonder how many other people are doing the same thing, and if this little town's businesses are seeing a boost.

Besides, right now, it's back to school time, and who want to contend with all the newbie college students crowding Wal-Mart all the time?

A river runs through it

Well, I don't know that it's actually running, but there is water in the creek that runs by my house! It dried up this summer, until there's been just a few puddles or pools here and there. But that changed last night, after we got 2 inches of rain in about an hour. Total for the night was 2.75. That's more rain than we've gotten in the last three or four months!

But the bad news with the rain was I found out the roof still leaks in the kitchen. In fact, it started dripping in a new place last night. Not for very long, thankfully, but it makes me worry that there's more damage up there that you can't see, like mold, rotting wood, etc. I hate to think how much it will cost to fix that.

More rain expected later today (ETA: just after I posted, a shower started) and other places upstream got heavy rain, too, so maybe the creek actually will run. I'll have to take Nipper walking and check out the rest of town.

Setback

Monday I had my regular MUGA scan, and got the results today. It wasn't great.

My ejection fraction was at 49 percent. It has to be at least 50 percent for me to continue to receive the Herceptin. There was also a slight enlargement of one of the heart's chambers.

But, heart damage is an expected side effect of Herceptin; that's why they do the MUGA scan every eight weeks. The plan is to just stop my Herceptin treatment for about a month. I'll have another MUGA scan on Sept. 5, and then follow up with my doctor the next week. I'm scheduled to continue the Hercpetin through December, but this could extend my treatment a bit longer.

The good news is that in most cases, heart damage caused by Herceptin is reversible. That's why my doctor is taking me off it for a few weeks. Keeping up with the exercise should help, too.

But on the bad news front, there's an increased risk of coronary heart disease for women who receive radiation for breast cancer on the left side (see more about halfway through this article). Which, of course, is the side I had it on. Even more reason to get off my butt and keep exercising, I guess.

I'll watch, but ...

Check out CBS' info page about one if its new shows, "Jericho." Look closely at the picture on the left side of the page. What's wrong with it?

Don't get it? Read the first part of the show's description:

JERICHO is a drama about what happens when a nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears on the horizon, plunging the residents of a small, peaceful Kansas town into chaos, leaving them completely isolated and wondering if they're the only Americans left alive.

Now, look at that picture again. Get it? No? Here's a small clue:

YOU CANNOT SEE THE DAMN ROCKY MOUNTAINS FROM KANSAS!

Was that subtle enough for you?

The producers, in a video interview on the CBS Web site, say they were going for a sense of reality for this show. Well, then they should have done some homework. Or come to Kansas, stood on the freakin' border and looked with their own damn eyes.

Yes, I am a bit peeved about this ... does it show?

Still, the premise of the show is interesting. So I'll watch, and I'll grit my teeth whenever there's mountains on the horizon. Or whatever uneducated bunk or hick cliche shows up.

As long as there's not a girl named Dorothy with a dog named Toto, I'll give it a chance.

Fall TV

So the days are getting shorter, the kids will be back in school next week and that turns one's thoughts to ... the new fall TV season!

I watched the pilot of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the new show from "The West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin (courtesy of Netflix), and I liked it. If it keeps up that quality, I'll probably stick with it. I haven't watched the pilot for "Kidnapped," which is on the same disk, yet. The preview for "Heroes" looked interesting, too. Not a football fan, so "Friday Night Lights" is out for me.

So looking at the networks' fall lineup, here's what will probably be my viewing schedule, at least in the beginning:
Monday
7 p.m. The Amazing Race, CBS. Can't do without my Race fix!
The rest of the night kind of sucks.

Monday
7 p.m. The Class, CBS. I'll give this one a shot.
7:30 p.m. How I Met Your Mother, CBS. Better than most sitcoms that have come along in the last few years. But this hour might be my Web-surfing-while-watching hour.
8 p.m. Heroes, NBC. The preview looked interesting. If it tanks, I stick with CBS with Two and Half Men and The New Adventures of Old Christine. I didn't watch these often last year, but what I saw was good.
9 p.m. Watch Studio 60, tape CSI: Miami.

Tuesday
7 p.m. NCIS. Mark Harmon. Need I say more?
The rest of the night looks dull. Maybe House, on Fox. Maybe a movie night after NCIS. Unless CBS gets smart and puts Amazing Race back here.

Wednesday
7 p.m. Jericho, CBS. Depsite the fact the producers are too dumb to know geography, I'll check this one out.
8 p.m. Lost, ABC. Seven episodes will air in the fall, then the series will resume with 15 new episodes in the spring. That episode No. 7 better be DAMN good.
9 p.m. Probably CSI:NY, CBS, unless I get hooked on Kidnapped on NBC. Then tape CSI and watch later.

Thursday
7 p.m. Survivor, CBS. Hopefully it hasn't jumped the shark. Or maybe it has, but I'm just still hooked.
8 p.m. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS. I'm starting to get tired of CSI shows on about every other chanel all day, but at least they don't change the cast around like Law & Order.
9 p.m. Maybe Six Degrees on ABC or Shark on CBS. Don't know yet.

Friday
Except for Numbers on CBS at 9 p.m., looks like Friday will suck this year again.

Saturday
College football and reruns? Who's in charge of programming this crap? Not everyone goes out, you know.

Has it been that long?

A couple days ago, I got a call from an old-high school friend. She was collecting addresses and contact information of all our class members to help plan our 20th class reunion next year. "TWENTIETH?!? No, way!" was my first reaction. But, yes, it will be.

She e-mailed me a list of all our classmates, with addresses and phone numbers. About half have e-mail. I remember at our 10th reunion, whenever I talked to any of my friends and eagerly asked "do you have e-mail," hoping to build up my address book, all I'd get is a blank stare, like they were thinking "oh, that's for geeks ... like you." Now, I bet they can't live without it.

Just under half are still living in town, which is kind of surprising. Another 10 live within a couple hours' drive. There's a handful around Kansas City. Only about half a dozen live outside the region, and there's one overseas.

Six of us are dead.

One is now the principal of the high school we graduated from. Two are married to each other.

I haven't even been back to my hometown for about five or six years. Once in awhile, I see someone here when they come up for shopping or something. Or I see their parents. And their lives all seem as ordinary as mine. I'm sure we all had big dreams of where life would go. And then reality happened. We grew up, got jobs, started families, whatever, and now we shake our heads at the youngsters around us who think they will achieve Great Things and listen to that godawful music too loud ...

But we're not old or anything. I'm just sayin'.

New view

Saturday, Nipper and I walked somewhere we've never walked before in about four years of living here -- to the park, about four blocks from home. How we got there is the new part. We walked the dry creekbed.

The creek is almost completely dry all the way through town, until it gets to the small dam on the east side. Nipper and I have been walking in the evening from the wooden bridge near my house to the bridge that's just south of us -- about a mile or so as you follow the roads. But then we've always turned and gone back home after reaching the bridge. Yesterday morning, I thought, what the heck, let's walk as much as we can. It took us close to a couple hours, mostly because the creek is awful twisty, and at one point, loops around almost back into itself. It was also pretty sandy, so the walking was a bit more difficult.

I wish I had taken my camera with me, because there were some interesting things that you can't see by sticking to the roads. Like the little skunk that just went about his business along the creek bed's edge, confident we wouldn't dare bother him. Or like when we came around the first bend and saw there was still one large pool of water, with a couple dozen or so fish trying to stay out of the mud. Or the large hole in the bank at the pool's edge that is home to who knows what kind of critter (I wasn't going to take a closer look!).

Also at that point, it looked like there was another channel that entered the creek (on a map, it looks as if it's a natural draw from the bluffs up north), but even stranger was that there were three or four large concrete structures crossing it, as if there was a bridge there at one time. But I saw no evidence of a road there. I'll have to check with one of my sources for local history about this.

We walked a little farther, and suddenly there was a loud crashing sound to our left, and then to our right! My heart pounded until I saw the white tails of several deer running through the woods alongside the creek bed. They must have been bedding down there for the day when we startled them.

At one point, the limestone bluffs that are common around here come right up the creek bed and towered over us. I imagine that back in the day when the creek was deep, that was probably a popular spot with the kids for swimming and diving in the summertime.

We got a little farther, and through the trees on our left, I could see some familiar sights of houses that line the road we usually walk on, so I knew we were getting close to the park. It was interesting to see the backyards of some of the houses we've walked by so many times.

We got to the park and climbed up to rest in the shade and get some water before heading home, since it was already getting hot. I don't know if we'll go that way again, but it certainly gave a different perspective on where I live.

All clear

Had my second mammogram since surgery on Tuesday, and got the notice today I am clear of cancer. Yay, me!

It continues to be hot, with temperatures above 100 degrees. Yesterday was a record-setting 112! I haven't been working out since the only place I really have room is in the garage, and it's even hotter in there. Tomorrow is supposed to bring some relief, with highs in the 80 for a couple days, then up to the 90s, so maybe workouts will be possible again. I'm tempted to go get that second punch card through the cancer center exercise program. Six weeks would get me through the end of August, and most of the hot weather around here.

That's all for now.

Hot!

The thermometer under the pecan tree read 110 this afternoon. That's in the shade, people! It is right now, at 8:45 p.m., still about 95 degrees.

The fish in the pool under the bridge near my house are starting to die. There were four dead ones today. I might end up taking the shovel down there to bury them, to keep down the smell and the flies and the chance of Nipper eating them a couple weeks from now. Yuck.

Since the creek is pretty much dry, and it's so hot, I set up a birdbath in the back yard. It's pretty easy to do. Birds are more attracted to moving water over stagnant water for bathing and drinking (wouldn't you be?), and this is a cheap way to help them out.

Just find a large dish -- just a couple inches deep at the most. I first used a plastic planter dish, then got a larger terra cotta one (the kind you would put under a pot to catch the water that leaks out). Set that someplace attractive to the birds. Mine is on the ground, but it could be on some kind of stand, too. Set it in the open somewhat, where predators won't be able hide and get the birds while they're drinking or bathing.

Then you need to hang some kind of container above it. I used a shepherd's hook, but you could use a tree branch if that's handy. For the container, I used a small drink bottle (not too small -- you don't want to have to constantly refill it -- and not too large that it will be too heavy for whatever you hang it from). I drilled a small hole near the top to put a bent wire hanger through to hang it from the pole. Poke a hole near the bottom with a pin and hang it up. The hole in the plastic of the bottle I used was actually too big, causing the water to spray, so I endup up putting some duct tape over that and poking a small hole in the duct tape. That seemed to make for a good drip rate.

I've seen robins and starlings and finches using the bath, and I'm sure they'll be more as word spreads. I'm sure the birds tell each other these things, because in the winter, they all seem to know when I put out fresh seed! And today when I was refilling the bottle, there was a bird in the tree singing. It sounded like it was trying to tell me to hurry up.

Here's some instructions for birdbaths/drippers:
Easy milk jug dripper
Bird bath water dripper with pictures.

It's OK!

Got the call -- the MRI is fine! Whoo-hoo!

Had the MRI today, and I think it took less time than the last one. Makes sense, since they were just doing my head this time. Don't know when we'll get the results, though, so I might be on pins and needles for awhile. I'm not too concerned, but it's still kind of nerve-wracking not knowing.

Well, looks like the thunderstorm has passed, so I better get my workout in!

Feeling stronger

Today I had my final assessment with the exercise program through the cancer center, and I was kind of surprised. My resting heart rate is lower than when I started about six weeks ago, and I took an extra 30 seconds on the exercise bike to reach a target heart rate compared to the first assessment. Both mean my heart is pumping more blood with each beat, my trainer said. I also did better on the strength test, getting 2-4 more reps on the leg press and chest press. Not bad for just twice a week!

I've even been starting to exercise at home. I did strength training Saturday and Sunday, and got on the exercise bike tonight for 20 minutes. I probably won't get quite as good a strength training regimen at home as I could at the fitness center, but it's a lot cheaper to work out at home!

I have been having a lot of headaches lately, and that's been a bit of a concern. They feel like tension/stress headaches, and there has been a lot stress at work, but I just need to make sure it's not something else. I'm coming up on one year since the biopsy, and that's just had me thinking a lot lately. Someone from an online group I'm part of died recently after her breast cancer metastasized in her brain, and someone from my local support group is dealing with a recurrence right now, and I guess that's been on my mind lately. So I talked to my nurse about the headaches today, and she talked to the oncologist, who suggested we could schedule an MRI. They were pretty understanding about it. I rarely ask questions or have complaints, so maybe they thought if I had something to say, it must be serious! At the least, the MRI should relieve some anxiety.

History mystery

This item was in my city's newsletter, about the corner at the other end of my block:

The pavement at the intersection of 11th and ****** streets has had a long-running problem in that it would not hold level. Several times over the years, the sink hole that would develop there was filled with asphalt. That would solve the problem -- for awhile. Just recently more asphalt was induced to the low area and it also sank.
So on June 7, 2006, the Public Works crew went to evaluate the problem. While excavating the area they found that a large tree, complete with branches, had been buried north to south across the middle of 11th Street. Its decomposition over time had continued to create air pockets that in turn caused the street to sink as those air pockets collapsed under the weight of the ground and traffic above.
As you can imagine, it was a shock to find a tree buried in the middle of the street. This is just another example of the strange things that are encountered from time to time in the process of updating the city's infrastructure.

Now, it doesn't say how big the tree was, but this street was once lined with cottonwoods, according to a book on the town that had been written by a local newspaper reporter years ago. There were big floods here in the 1950s that could have probably taken down a large tree, and the sludge could have buried it. My house was built in the 1930s, though, so you would think there would already be a road here (maybe not paved).
Strange little mystery.

Sad tonight

I got some sad news earlier tonight. The online friend I wrote about earlier this month died Saturday. Some months ago, she had seemed to be getting better, but then found her breast cancer had spread to her brain. They got some of the tumors through surgery and tried radiation and drugs for the others. But it just didn't work. Whenever she posted on the bulletin board through which we met, she always sounded upbeat; even just a week ago her final post on the board sounded better than she probably felt. She kind of went downhill from there, though, having some pain toward the end of the week, but didn't like taking the drugs she had because of the way they made her feel. She died in the ambulance that was taking her to the hospital's hospice care, where they could better manage her pain.

I didn't really know that much about her, other than what we'd discussed about cancer. She lived in the Philadelphia area, she had two cats (as of last Monday, she still had them; I hope they were a comfort). She wasn't on the best of terms with her family. I didn't know her that well, but she provided some good advice and calming words when I first got diagnosed and in my treatment.

Her friend who posted the sad news said that she hoped people would plant a tree in her memory, and others noted she liked red flowers. So maybe when the weather cools, or next spring, I'll plant something for Laura. May she rest in peace.

Catching up

Well, it wasn't the root beer at the steakhouse that brought on that headache a couple weeks back (has it been that long since I last wrote? Geez). We took dad there for Father's Day, and I did not have root beer, but I did have grilled chicken and got that headache again. I had a grilled chicken sandwich the time before. Ergo, it's the chicken. Guess I'll just have to stick to the steak when I go there. Oh, darn.

I have four visits left with the exercise program through the cancer center after today. I haven't lost any weight, but I feel a lot better. I even bought some exercise bands to use at home along with the dumbbells I already have, and have already gotten in a few workouts with them. I even cleaned out the garage last weekend, and that created some decent space to work out in (at least when it's not 100-some degrees in there). I've even gotten on the exercise bike a few times in the last couple weeks. I hope to pick up the home workouts, at least three times a week, plus getting back into my yoga tapes. I can really tell the difference in my flexibility pre-cancer and post-cancer.

Getting into the exercise routine would be easier, if I weren't addicted to all the stupid little Flash-game puzzles I keep coming across. There's some good ones here, particularly the Hapland games. Chasm is kind of cute (beware: the walkthrough is missing a step). The Crimson Room is good, but the "escape the room" games all get a bit old.

The creek is almost completely dried up where it runs (ran) by my house. There's a pool under the bridge, and a big puddle about 100 or so yards down the creek bed, where a neighbor told me there's a spring. I take Nipper walking down the dry bed some evenings. There's still some fish in that spring/puddle, and a couple ducks and what looked like a young great blue heron were there the other night. And there's turtle tracks everywhere as they look for some water to hang out in. It's kind of sad to walk through the park a few block away, where the creek has been dried up for weeks, and see a solitary goose or duck waddling through the weeds in the bed, like they're thinking "there must be water just up here." There's still water in the city lake, but for how much longer without a good rain?

Nipper chased a baby skunk through the backyard this morning. No stink, though. I think that pretty much covers the last week and a half.

Missing out

Tonight, hundreds of people are walking, luminaries being lit, names being read. I'm not there and I wish I was.

Tonight is the local Relay for Life. There's a "survivor's victory lap" at the beginning, and I had wanted to be there. But, thanks to those small-label root beers I had at the new favorite restaurant last night, I had a massive headache that lasted from about 7 p.m. last night to 10 a.m. this morning. It was so awful, it had me feeling a bit nauseas this morning. Even though it did go away, the day at work was awful and busy and I never got a chance for a break, so I felt like that headache was just lingering, waiting in the tenseness in the back of my neck for an opportunity to hit me again -- like walking a lap around the track in the sun in 100-degree temperatures.

So I didn't go, didn't meet with the support group I've quickly grown to like, marching behind our banner and getting our picture taken. I kind of wish I had gone. Given the choice, I'd rather not qualify for this group or the survivor lap, but I do, and that support means a lot. So I feel like I'm missing out on something special, especially as this comes so close to the time a year ago when I found out what I would be facing.

On top of that, I found out tonight that an online acquaintance has made the decision to end her cancer treatment and is at home under hospice care. I don't know her real well, or even know that much about her life outside of her dealings with cancer, but she offered me advice and comfort when I first started down this path, and it's hard to keep the tears out of my eyes trying to think about what she and her loved ones must be feeling now.

I'd say tomorrow will be better, but I have to work.

Gone with the wind

That's where my weekend seems to have gone. It's been blowing about 40-plus mph since early Friday, and it's stirring up something that has my sinuses making me feel pretty wonky. As long as I stay inside, I'm OK. All I have to do it seems is stick my head out the door and I start feeling bad. Add to that the near-100 degree temps, and it's not a great weekend.

So I've been spending it mostly inside, playing around on the computer. I found a couple of point-and-click games, Domestic Bliss and Carneyville. They're kind of weird, and also very frustrating, but I've killed a lot of time with them.

I did finish mowing the hill yesterday morning, without killing any fuzzy creatures. There's another rabbit hanging around the fenced-in backyard, but so far, no sign of a nest anywhere. We don't need to go through that again.

Hope everyone's weekend is going better.

Getting Lost

My theory on "Lost," based on watching the show and half-assedly surfing for clues:
Hanso was a weapons provider, so he went in search of a natural source of electromagnetic energy to experiment using it for a weapon and found this uncharted island. Something went terribly wrong, and they had to quickly come up with some way to contain the energy, hence entering the numbers to recharge the containment system or whatever. To ensure continual manpower, they concoct the Dharma project, disguising it as some kind of touchy-feely peacelovenamaste thing and psychological experiment, and meanwhile all the poor suckers go insane. A group of Hanso people charged with overseeing the island go a bit nuts, too, take the psychological experiment stuff seriously. They're the others.

There. That's as far as I've thought this through, because I actually have a life.

Ick ick ick

Lawn-mowing lesson No. 1: Always watch the path ahead of you for things you don't want to run over. Not just big sticks or trash either, but things like tiny furry things that don't yet know to run.

Poor little bunny.

Mother's Day

Almost one year ago (on Monday to be exact), my life changed drastically and for forever.

In July, after I'd been diagnosed and just before my surgery to insert the port-a-cath, my parents were at the hospital with me for some pre-op stuff. Mom was taking things hard that day, and as we walked back to the car, she said she felt like it was "all her fault."

Well, Mom it is all your fault. Because you wanted to go to the zoo on Mother's Day last year, I had to get up early on a Sunday morning and get dressed and ready to go. And because it was going to be kind of a hot day, after I took my shower I decided to put some powder on so things didn't get all hot and sweaty and uncomfortable. And so it's all your fault I found something that wasn't supposed to be there.

It's all your fault I didn't just collapse into a mental heap during my treatment. Like the week after my first chemo, when even though I felt fine, I couldn't go to work, or work in the yard or really do much of anything because my white blood cell count was almost nothing. That third day we got the call the count had dropped again, I hit probably the deepest depths of despair I've ever been too, but you were there to rub my head (I still had hair at that point) and lend me a shoulder to cry on.

It's at least partly your fault I didn't experience the horrible side effects a lot of people have during chemo. You made sure I took my meds on time and got them refilled. You made sure I knew when all my appointments were and what the doctors said.

It's your fault I paid the bills on time and walked the dog when I would have rather lay in bed feeling sorry for myself.

It's your fault, Mom, that I found this thing before it was too late, and was able to get rid of it.

Thank you, Mom. I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

Doing good

Dad is doing much better. He even went to the library today, at least to get out of the house for awhile. And after going a couple weeks without cigarettes (he's on the patch), he said he can smell the smoke in the house. This is probably the longest he's gone without a cigarette in his life! Wonder if he'll be able to give it up completely?

Nipper is doing much better. Whatever it was, it was short-term. Perhaps it was something in that McDonald's bag he buried his face in when I put him in the car that one day. I thought it was just some leftover fries, but maybe not.

The water heater got fixed with just a part (a thermo-something or other), so that's a relief.

I started the exercise program at the hospital's fitness center this week. Tuesday was an assessment. It took about nine minutes on the exercise cycle to hit my target heart rate, and I was able to lift 156 pounds 10 times on the leg press machine! I was able to do 64 pounds only about four times on the upper-body machine, though. Then Thursday I started the actual workout. I did about 25 minutes on the exercise bike, then we did some lower body work with an exercise ball, bands and the machines. I felt it a little bit in my thighs the next morning, but it wasn't too bad, really. My workout partner is a woman with blood cancer and is currently in treatment. It's good to have someone there with you, to kind of encourage you on. I'm really looking forward to getting more into this program.

I took my lunch to work every day this week! Along with the exercise, my goal is to cut down on how much I eat out, because it would be healthier than all the fast food I usually go for, plus I can save a little on the gas bill (it's around $2.80 here). Last month was actually pretty expensive with all the eating out and driving around, so I should have started on this weeks ago!

I'm also working on a new project -- designing a Web site for the local breast cancer support group I'm in. It won't be anything real flashy. But I thought it'd be nice for the group to have one as another way to get word out about us and have a way to keep in touch in between meetings. I'm using Yahoo's features -- Geocities for the main, public Web page that will have basic info about the group, and then Yahoo's groups for a members-only area for messages, photos, etc. I've already gotten started, and hope to have a good chunk of it done (if not all of it) for our next meeting in June. The place we meet has wireless access, so I'll get to show everyone what I've done!

Today sucks

My dog is at the vet, my water heater doens't work and all I could think about all day was how much I hate my job.

Nipper seemed fine most of the day, but about 3 p.m., we went over to Dad's where Mom is staying while he recuperates from his surgery. We'd been there about 45 minutes ore so, when Nip just started getting that droopy dog look. Mom let him in the house, and while I was mowing dad's lawn, she asked me to go in and check on Nipper. He was lying on the floor and breathing kind of shallow, like he did back in September. So I took him to the vet and she checked him over and did a blood test, which was OK. His belly was real tight, was all she found. So they're going to keep him overnight and do an ultrasound in the morning.

The pilot light on the water heater went out sometime yesterday. Mom and I got it relit, but when I checked this morning, no hot water -- the light had gone out again. So we got it re-lit, but still I get only lukewarm water. The pilot light is still lit, though. So we called a plumber, but it will be at least Tuesday before he can come out and look at it.

So I can't even have a good cry about my dog (and everything else bringing on the stress) while standing under a hot shower.

On the good side, Dad continues to improve. He's had a shower or two, and he gets up and down a little better.

Not home yet

Dad's still in the hospital, which isn't a big surprise. He's doing better on one hand, but they also have some concerns. He got up to walk a couple of times today and looks and sounds a lot better. He got nauseous and threw up while we were there tonight, and they have him on oxygen again because they're concerned he doesn't get enough oxygen when he's sleeping. He says it still hurts a lot, but he's off the morphine and on percocet. Maybe tomorrow he'll get out. We'll see.

Poor Nipper is probably going a bit nuts. Dogs like their routines, and life has been anything but this week. He's been alone most of the day and doesn't get his walks until late. We had to make it quick tonight, too, because a storm moved in. It was just a short one, with lots of thunder and lightning, but nothing severe. It wasn't much rain, but anything we can get is great, even if it does keep the dog in.

I met with the lady with the fitness center's cancer patient exercise program. Today was just filling out the paperwork and learning a bit more of what the program is about. Tuesday I get a physical assessment, and then the program itself will start Thursday. I'm really looking forward to this. I've never been a real athletic type, but I did do some yoga and weight training before the cancer, and I'd like to get back into it. I've just had a hard time getting motivated. Once I get going, though, it's like my body actually craves it. It's time to get going again.

Dad's doing OK

Dad had his surgery today, and it went as well as expected. He was pretty groggy, even after we got back from going out for supper. Mom and I stayed until about 8 p.m., and my brother stayed awhile longer until Dad told him to go on back home. I had my herceptin this afternoon, and we're shorthanded at work, so I didn't get to be with him when he went in for surgery, just afterwards. And actually, my nurse had trouble with my port today, so we were all wondering who was going to get done first, me or dad.

Dad was feeling kind of nauseous after they brought him to his room, but his doctor wouldn't actually prescribe anything for that unless he threw up. But it's hard to throw up when you haven't eaten anything for almost 24 hours! It was kind of hard to sit there and watch him in that state where your body wants to wake up but can't quite break out of the anesthesia yet. I guess that's how my folks felt when I had my surgery. It does help to know that someone you love is there, though.

He'll have to stay in the hospital at least a couple of days, so I'll probably go visit during my lunch breaks and after work. My brother will stay here at least through the end of the week, and Mom is taking some vacation time, so at least he'll have plenty of help when he gets back home.

I also had my MUGA scan again Monday morning, and it's down slightly again, to 50 percent, but still good enough to continue treatment. Thursday, I meet with someone from the hospital's fitness center about starting on their exercise program for cancer patients. I need to do something to start getting back in shape and dropping some of the habits I've fallen into the last few months. Sure, during treatment, I needed to rest in the morning instead of working out before getting ready for work, but not now. And sometimes during treatment I ate whatever and whenever because I needed to keep my weight up, but I need to quit snacking so much now. My work clothes are getting awful tight! Maybe this program will inspire me to get back into more healthy habits.

You know what's really hard? Going someplace like the hospital here where everyone treats you with such great care and respect, and then having to go to work where everyone is full of bad attitude and hard work gets no respect. It's getting so that there are some people I don't want to say much to because a simple "how are you doing" launches them into a five-minute tirade about their job. Of course, there's probably been some days where I've been that person. I really need to find something new. Or something new needs to find us.

Oh give me a home ...

Wednesday, I got my fast-food lunch and headed to the city park to sit in my car, read my book and watch the buffalo. Yes, the city where I work has its own buffalo herd in an enclosure of about 30 acres across the highway from the historic frontier fort. They've numbered into the double digits, but in the last couple years the city has thinned out the herd, selling off the older cows and the bull last year (they went to a good home, not in someone's freezer) and kept their four calves to rebuild with some new blood. There's a nice shady spot on the east side of the enclosure to park and watch them.

I parked and got out my Mclunch and opened my book. After awhile, the four of them got up from their wallow and grazed along the east side of the enclosure, up the hill to the southeast corner. After a bit more reading, I looked up again, and they were playing, butting heads and play-fighting, running around the others and kicking their heels. They really looked like they were having fun! I watched their antics for a bit, then finished my lunch and went back to the book. Then it was close to 2 p.m. and time to head back to work, so I grabbed my trash to dump it and the buffalo had disappeared, probably to the other side of the enclosure. Oh well. But as I got into my car and got ready to leave, here they came from around the lean-to type shed, running at full speed, mouths open, tongues hanging out, dust rising! They ran to near where my car was, then veered to the south end of the enclosure and ran around some more. There's only four of them, and they're still pretty small, but it was a cool sight. They finally got tired of running and headed for the big watering tank near where I was parked. It's big enough they can all have plenty of room to drink, but no, they all had to be in the same spot, so there was much shoving and shoulder-butting and snorting, like a bunch of little kids fighting for cookies but without the snorting. Maybe.

If I had a bunch of money, I'd get me a place about 30 or 40 acres with hills and a stream and trees and get me a herd of buffalo.

Vacation's almost over

Tomorrow I head back to work and I am really dreading it. The week off was pretty pleasant, despite the news (Dad's bone scan was clean, by the way). It would be great to be a trust fund baby or a lottery winner or something that allowed me to never worry about how to pay my bills and just do whatever I wanted.

But it's back to reality Monday, and the old grind. A friend is in town for Easter though, and I guess a dinner out is in the works for Monday evening. That'll be good.

This weekend was hot and windy, about 20-some degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, and about five times as windy. We did get Dad's lawn mowed and the front and east lawns here mowed, but I didn't really get to the hill. Sounds like I have some big, impressive estate, doesn't it? My property is along a creek (well, it's more a less a river by local standards), and on the west side is a hill that slopes down to the creek. It's got several trees, including a big, dead, cottonwood that will probably fall and kill someone one day, and it's a bitch to mow. Here's a peek:

That's the garage toward the upper left. It's hard to see through the trees, but there's a lot of grass there to cut. And the bindweed patch is already starting to take over. It's actually pretty nice to have, though, on a hot day when the trees are all leafed out and you can go sit in the shade on the bank and watch the fish swim and turtles sunning themselves on fallen trees. Nipper loves it too, except for the part where he gets hosed off before going inside.

More bad news

Just when things start looking up.

My dad went to the doctor a couple weeks ago with some bladder problems. He was told he had an enlarged prostate, and they also did a biopsy. It came back showing "some cancer." He had a follow up visit with the urologist today, and we found out it's extensive -- six of the eight areas they biopsied show cancer.

The good news is it sounds like it's curable. Dad seems to be opting for surgery, removing the prostate, and the doc said this is a very successful option for a lot of men. They'll check the nearby lymph nodes, but he said the bone scan Dad had today looks clean. He'll find out for sure on that when he sees his primary doc tomorrow and a radiologist has looked at it.

And Dad's still pretty upbeat about everything, so that's good. That's probably the most important thing is attitude, really, and I'm glad he's approaching this the way he is.

Maybe R. Kelley can do a song

Poor Nipper (my dog).

Mom had stuff to do in town most of the day today, so he was alone for awhile today. That wasn't the worst of it.

I came home a little after 5 p.m., like normal. Mom wasn't home yet, which didn't surprise me. I opened the door and called Nipper, but he didn't appear. I grabbed the newspaper and the mail and stepped inside. Still no Nipper. I set everything down and called, no sign of him. I checked Mom's bedroom, he wasn't in there. He wasn't in my room either. Now I'm feeling some panic. I turn and look, but he's not in the living room, either. I call him again ... and I hear a soft *scratch* coming from my room. I walk in, push open my closet door, and there's Nipper!

I have no idea how long he was in there, but he sure was happy to get out, running in circles, wagging his tail. He had to pee pretty bad, too. It probably wasn't too horrible -- we have walk-in closets, so he had plenty of room to lie down, but he was in near dark for however long. He must have gone in and bumped the door. It will close on its own if it's left past a certain spot. I have no idea what he was doing in there, though. It's not like I stash food or anything in there.

I hadn't planned on taking him for a walk because the weather was a bit stormy, but the clouds seemed to have passed by then, and he certainly needed to get out after being cooped up for however long. Poor guy. He doesn't seem traumatized, though.

Windy weekend

If I hate the wind so, why do I continue to live in one of the windiest states? I wonder about that sometimes, like when the wind howls at about 40 mph constantly for three days.

I did get some outdoor work accomplished, though. I finished raking up around the birdfeeders and cleaning last year's growth and collected leaves from the garden on the east side of the garage and got my wildflower garden partially cleaned up before some dark storm clouds moved in Saturday. Cutting down the pampas grass was the hardest part. It must have grown to about 10 foot tall last year, although winter's winds knocked the fluffy tops off it. I ended up using my small electric chain saw to get through it.

Today has been laundry, a walk with Nipper and some reading. Tonight is probably more laundry and reading.

Next Saturday I work, and then I'm off for a whole week, as my brother will be coming up for a visit from New Mexico! We don't have anything special planned, although I'll have my usual Tuesday treatment and Mom and Dad have some doctors' visits, too, I think.

That's my exciting life.

AAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!

Hapland 3 is out. I see some late nights in my immediate future.

Spring is in the air

The turkey buzzards are soaring and skunks are spraying, looking for mates. It's spring again on the creek.

Not exactly picturesque, but I was pretty excited to see a couple of turkey buzzards gliding on the winds when I took Nipper for a walk this afternoon. Aside from the two geese I saw when I first looked at this house, they were the first critters I saw when I bought the place.

It was moving-in day, and I arrived a bit before everyone else to meet the guys delivering the new stove. After they got it in, I went out to unload some things from the car when a shadow passed by. I looked around and here came a big, black bird, wings outstretched, right over the driveway. And then another, and another and another ... Probably a dozen in all, rising up from the cottonwoods along the creek just north of me. I feared this was some kind of omen about my future in the house, but I've come to look forward to seeing the buzzards. It's pretty cool to be driving home and see this cloud of birds a few blocks ahead where my house is. They circle around the creek for awhile, dipping and diving with just a slight tip of a wing. Sometimes it looks they're playing with each other, seeing how close they can get without actually hitting each other, or who can hover on an updraft the longest. Then, one by one, or sometimes in two or threes, they zoom off to the east, over the rest of town and into the countryside, in search of something stinky to eat, I imagine. Nature's cleanup crew.

A day to glow

Today was my last day of radiation. Hooray! That feels like a giant step closer to being done. We were going to go out to dinner to celebrate Thursday, but Mom's got a bad cold, so we just stayed in and tried to watch moves.*

The only bad affect I had was this last week when the doc upgraded my reaction to a 3 (on a scale of one to five) and gave me a prescription for a cream. It seems to be getting better, but is still kind of sensitive. They said it could take two or three weeks before it's healed. I'll see the doc in about two weeks, so I'll know how it's going then. I'm also supposed to avoid sun exposure, so the therapist told me "no nude sunbathing!" No problem, since there's still snow on the ground.

There's been an older couple from my hometown that's been coming in for his radiation. I didn't know them very well, but we'd chat while waiting for our appointments. They weren't there today, and I wished I'd gotten to see them just to say "good luck." Maybe I'll see them Tuesday, or some other week, since I'll be going in for my Herceptin for awhile.

Not much else is going on. I'm still having trouble keeping my virtual fish alive, and I started over yet again. Maybe if I'd quit forgetting to pause the game before going to bed and therefore neglecting them for almost 24 hours ...

*Do not watch a film called "Sunshine State." It is dull dull DULL. Too many stories going on at once, too much talking and it's all about as interesting as your own life. Not the reason I watch a movie. "Run Lola, Run" though, was suspensful, if a bit weird.

Winter's last punch

It's certainly giving us a last-minute return. Nipper had to go out just before 6 a.m., and my first thought after looking out the window was "so much for the snow." All I could see was a light covering on the grass. After I let Nip out the door, I thought I'd go ahead and put a fresh bucket of birdseed in and around the birdfeeders, since I have the day off and didn't want to get up in an hour or so when then sun came up. So I bundled up and went out and that's when I felt the wind and the near-blinding snow coming down. By the time Mom got home a little over an hour later, there was probably a few inches covering everything.

The birds and squirrels have been going at the feeders like crazy all morning. I'll probably go out after lunch, since what I put on the ground is pretty well buried, plus it'd help to get out and shovel the walks some too.

I got all my laundry done yesterday, so there's not much else to do today. Maybe something good will come in from Netflix.

Later.

At long last

This weekend, it's been dreary, cold and wet. Finally! We've had only 0.02 inch of rain here since the first of the year, and our last real significant moisture was the snow that fell that weekend I was in the hospital with kidney stones in mid-December!

And now that spring is literally almost upon us (12:19 p.m. Monday locally), we're supposed to get about 10-13 inches of snow by Monday night. Winter gets its last kick in, I guess.

As long as it's not like my senior year in high school, when we had two blizzards within a week's time that left 20-foot drifts over the highways. The first one came while a classmate, a teacher, her husband and youngest son and I were at the state high school journalism contest. What would be a short day trip back home became almost three days. We made it about halfway by the end of the first day and stayed the night at her parents' home. The next day, we got within 10 miles of home, but had to stop because the roads weren't clear. We finally made it home late the next afternoon, as I recall. I don't even really remember how I did at the contest that year.

Today, since there wasn't much point in going outside, I've been wasting some time with this game, Fish Tycoon. It's slow going, and I have trouble keeping my fish alive. I managed to sell my one healthy adult fish for $800 and bought some new fish eggs and tank equipment. And I just checked and the four fish I got out of that batch just had eight fry! Can't sell any yet, though. I've already started over once today, too, so I hope they stay healthy. I think I'm getting way too caught up in this, for as slow a game as it really is.

My last week of radiation is this week! It seems like it's gone by so fast. After this week, I'll just have the Herceptin. Here's hoping everything continues along smoothly.

Cancer in the news

Some recent cancer news:

Breast cancer drug trial stopped

Hot, hot, hot!

Shared care better for older breast cancer patients.

Nuke your boob to detect cancer?

Sping blows in

It must be spring, because the wind is blowing like crazy and there were tornadoes this morning on the other side of the state.

Another sign of spring: "our" geese are back! The past three springs since I bought this house (and the day I first came to look at it), there's been a pair of Canada geese that hangs around. I suspect they nest nearby, although I've seen them with goslings only a couple of times. Here's a photo from a couple of years ago:




We also have The Bachelor, our name for a single goose that has often made our yard a hangout. We don't know if it's male or female, though. I did get it to come close to me last year (baited with some Cheerios) to come close enough for a few photos:




Man, the wind is blowing so hard, and it's so dry, the place on the other side of the creek is almost obscured. The forecast called for winds gusting to 35 mph. I think they missed the mark by about 20 mph.

This can stop now, thank you. I'm just glad the pecan tree doesn't have leaves and pecans on it yet, otherwise, this might happen again.

Time flies

Not that I've been having a lot of fun or anything, though. Not much going on at all, so I haven't had that much to say, I guess.

Radiation is continuing to go well. This week, the doc told me I had a level 1 skin reaction to the radiation, on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest. But, he said, if he could, he'd actually give a .5 reaction. I've read about some awful side effect to radiation -- severe sunburn-like effect, blisters, open wounds, etc. -- so I continue to be lucky with my reaction to treatment.

I have already gotten the "boost" part of my radiation. It started out as treatment for the whole breast. Then, last week, they said they'd start the six-treatment boost -- specifically targeting the radiation at the lumpectomy sight. The only difference I really noticed was that the machine was aimed from different angles, and each angle had one long blast rather than the two shorter ones with the whole-breast treatment. Thursday was back to the whole-breast treatment, and after Friday, I have only two weeks left to go!

My last MUGA scan came back unchanged, so I am continuing the Herceptin treatment. That's a breeze, though, compared to the earlier chemo drugs. No side effects -- I seem to be over the extremely dry nose -- and it only takes a couple hours or less. It's a nice break during the work week.

Nipper had a difficult time through the last week, however. It was Sunday or Monday when we noticed he was having a real hard time getting up and down, getting up on the couch or beds, etc. I gave him dog aspirin, and that seemed to help a little, but he just wasn't his usual self. Mom e-mailed me at work Wednesday and said he was hardly moving around and even seemed a little depressed, so I called the vet and got an appointment for the next day.

It seems to be his arthritis was acting up again. He wears a magnetic collar and eats a senior formula dogfood with glucosimine, but this was hitting him pretty hard. The vet gave us a sample of a new anti-inflammatory for dogs with arthritis and said if it is arthritis, we should see a change in about a week. Well, it only took one pill for him to be about 10 times better. By the time I got home from work Friday, he was almost his old self, wiggling around and dancing when he gets excited. He still has a little trouble getting up on the furniture and is slow to sit up or lie down, but he's much better. It's good to see.

The vet said it could be he might just need a little extra help with the arthritis in cold weather, but there is the chance he might need go on some medication permanently. Hopefully, that won't be the case just yet. At least it's warming up and we can get out for walks a bit more often now. We could both stand to lose a few pounds.