Three years and counting

Today was another in my six-month checkups with my oncologist. And everything is pretty good. The X-ray and mammo are good, and my blood test was "perfect," she said. I did discuss with her the fact I seem to have had an upset stomach more often than usual for the past month or so, and she decided I should have one more exam -- a colonoscopy. Yeah, fun times ahead! Oh, I did get a rectal exam while there too. That was OK. Well, the results were OK, the procedure wasn't something to look forward to.

When I got back to work, I told my co-workers who were there everything was good, but a couple of them were out for the afternoon, so we still need to do our celebratory ice cream run. I see my surgeon tomorrow, but that should go well, too, so maybe we'll do it afterwards.

I checked on my blog at work, because I knew it was close to when I first found out I had cancer. I was thinking it was the 18th. But it's not. It was today. Three years ago this afternoon, I got my biopsy, and Dr. K said she could tell with near-certainty that it was cancer. It hit me hard, reading that blog entry again. I had to step outside for a bit, in fact. Three years. And I'm doing fine.

All right!

Rock in America

Almost forgot about the best part of my July 4 weekend. Night Ranger played in concert here Thursday night, and it was totally awesome! They weren't the biggest band of the 80s, but I had forgotton just how many good songs they really had (and of course, as soon as I got home I downloaded their greatest hits album). And they still put on a great show, even if Jack Blades seems to like the sound of his own voice. Forgot the comedy, man, and just play the music.

They did a terrific version of "Goodbye," first introducing the piano player, Chicago's Christian Matthew Cullen, who played a few minutes of blues, and then went into the song, with Kelly Keagy on the vocals, accompanied through most of it by just the piano. And then BAM! the rest of the band joined in full-force for the end. Great work on a great song. I don't know that I cared that much for the one new song they played off their new album "Hole in the Sun." And on the video screens they had some weird animated dancing robots that without any kind of context didn't make much sense.

Best of the night had to be their best-known song, "Sister Christian," which of course they saved for the encore. I was sitting about midway through the seating area and you could easily hear the audience singing along through the whole thing. They finished off the night with "You Can Still Rock in America." Overall, it was better than I expected. A lot of times at this festival, they get the "old washed-up rock stars tour," but these guys are far above that.

Oh, and the guitarist, Brad Gillis? Damn hot. He was walking through the crowd before the show and was about 10 feet away from me several times. I didn't realize who he was until he was onstage, though; I just thought he was another guy on the crew because the guy he was walking around with had "roadie" written all over him. If only I'd known.

Some updates

Did a little updating around here today. And everytime I try to change or add to my quotes of the day, the code gets screwed up. I messed around with it for a couple hours this afternoon, and couldn't figure it out, so for now, it's going to stay blank. If any of you know anything about javascript feel free to take a look at the source code and tell me where I screwed up, cause I sure as hell can't see it.

I added a blogroll to the right-hand column, too. There's some I like to read for health information and various tips and tricks about life and work. Karen is a former co-worker/friend who recently quit the newspaper to follow her own path (go, Karen!) ... oh, and she's marrying that Erik guy in the title of their blog. And then there's my mom's travel blog. She only posts when she's on the road, and that won't be for awhile, but you can catch up on her past couple of trips.

Kriss Carr did the documentary "Crazy Sexy Cancer," in which she takes you along on her journey after finding out she has an incurable form of cancer. It aired on TLC and is available on DVD. You should check it out, if you haven't seen it. Diablo Cody is the Oscar-winning writer of the movie "Juno" (which one of these days, I'll get around to commenting on). Her blog just rocks. Julia Sweeney you might remember from "Saturday Night Live" some years back. She's got some new and different projects. And she had cancer, too.

Then there's a few journalism blogs I like to read (although they're somewhat depressing these days). Most are about copy editing. Best among them are Common Sense Journalism, Blogslot and You Don't Say (I worship John McIntyre). Then there's also a couple of colleagues I keep in touch with. Scott Aust is a contributor to the Rapid City Journal's Mount Blogmore, and Down the Road is Joy Leiker's blog of her coverage area for the Muncie, Ind., newspaper.

Anyway, that's the updates. Hope to get those quotes working again before long.

I are a college graduate!

Just took the online quizzes for the field trip classes I took this last week to finish out a bachelor of general studies degree. And I passed. Looks like I've got a degree.

Or I will come May, since there's only one graduation a year.

Classes are done!

Well, I'm on my way to finishing my degree. On Sunday and today, I took the two one-hour credit geology field trips to finish out my bachelor's degree as a Bachelor of General Studies. All I have to do is take the quizzes online (I'll probably do that tomorrow) and score at least 60%, which should be pretty easy.

The classes were actually fun. Today's was a trip to sites across the northern part of the county, and it was interesting to learn about where I live. I'll probably look at everything differently now that I know more about the different types of rocks and minerals we have here and how and when they were formed. The previous trip was to a nearby reservoir. There we learned about some of the older types of rock formations and also stopped at the site of a sinkhole that has caused problems along the interstate over the years.

It really is pretty country, too. Everyone thinks Kansas is really flat, but those are the folks probably seeing it just from the interstate or the air. Get on the back roads, and there's some rugged, beautiful sites. One place we went to today was probably one of the highest points in the county. You could stand on the hill and see miles and miles of green hills and pastures and big, open sky.

After this, then what? I'm not entirely sure yet. Graduate school's still a possibility, but I need to find out some more info. I do need something different, though, because I just can't say I feel all that secure about my job. I'm almost certain that, at best, in three years my job won't be there. After all, who needs a page designer if there's just not as many pages to design? I really don't see newspapers the size I'm working at continuing to be published on a daily basis on paper. Online, sure, but you don't need a lot of people to put a Web site together, once it's there. So I guess I'm in search of something new. Just wish I knew what it was!

So long, George

I was really shocked this morning when I heard this morning that George Carlin had died. I mean, yeah, he was 71, but he just seemed like one of those people who would always be around, someone bigger than life. Someone this world needed. Maybe it's because I became a fan at an early age, when we got HBO when I was around 9 and he was already a huge name. I quickly got hooked on all the comedy specials and would stay up late on weekends and during the summers to watch them again and again and again and again.

It wasn't just the "dirty" stuff that appealed to me. Most especially with Carlin, it was how he was able to pick out the absurdities of life, our language and our world. And no one group was off-limits to him. He made me think. I didn't always agree with what he said, and didn't always like what he said, but I was always amazed that he just came out and said it. And I always laughed.

So have a few laughs, courtesy of the late, great genius:

Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.

The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?

When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?

I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered, what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?

"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?

And there's some excellent clips of his routines here. "Feminist Blowjob" is one of the best.

New photos

Butterfly weed 6-08.JPG
Originally uploaded by junogle.

Took a few pictures around the garden this morning. Here's the butterfly weed that took hold under the pecan tree last year. It's really doing well there, along with the hosta. And out front, Mom's poker plants are looking just incredible -- so many blooms!

What a weekend

Ever read about someone who survived a hit by a tornado, and they say "It sounded like a freight train"?

It sure does.

Friday night, two tornadoes hit my little town. There wasn't a lot of serious damage, and no really serious injuries, but it was awful scary.

The storms started building up to our southwest, with reports of rotation and funnel clouds, along with heavy rain and large hail. Mom and I got our "storm shelter" prepared. I put that in quotes because our best shelter here at the house is probably one of our closets -- walk-in with no windows, and somewhat centrally located. So we put the computers, some valuables and blankets in there, along with Buster's leash. We already have a storage bin filled with emergency supplies, and I have a battery operated radio.

Then the TV and radio people announced there was a confirmed tornado at the nearby reservoir. It's about 8 miles away as the crow -- or tornado -- flies, so we knew it was time to get in the closet and shut the door. It was just a bit cramped in there with Mom, Buster and I. We kept the TV in my bedroom on since they were giving better information. The first reports said the tornado should be at our town at about 8:07 -- giving us about 20 minutes warning. Then they kept pushing it back -- 8:11, 8:14. The rain was falling hard, and there was some small hail. We heard the TV weather man say the tornado should be right over town as he was speaking, but it hadn't reached us yet.

And there was another one behind it.

Then everything went black.

Mom turned on the lamp we had with us and we listened to the radio -- the tornado had been spotted 4 miles southeast of town and was heading right for us (and we live on the southwest edge of town!).

Then it got quiet. The rain stopped. The wind stopped.

And then we heard it. A wooshing noise, like a wind I'd never heard before. It wasn't the throbbing, chugging sound of a freight train, but it had that same dopplar kind of effect, starting quiet and then increasing in intensity. We pulled the blankets over our heads and held onto each and Buster. There was a big THUD against the roof. Then another and another, and the whole house began to shake.

And then it began to fade. We pulled the blankets off of us and tried to breathe a sigh of relief, but it was getting hot. The closet, at least, was all in one piece and we were OK. We didn't quite dare just yet to open the door. We knew the second tornado was on its way. We waiting and listened to the radio for a bit longer.

And then it started again, about 10 or 15 minutes later. Just like before, the total silence. The sound of a big, swirling wind growing closer. Debris thudding against the roof. And then the wind fading.

We waited a few more minutes before we dared to open the door. I was afraid we'd look out my bedroom window and through the lightning flashes see all the trees behind my yard stripped and mangled. But they made it through OK.

We lost one of the willow trees along the creek, and a couple big branches off the old cottonwood, but for the most part, everything was OK. One of the garage doors got bowed out slightly, but it still opens OK. Mom took off to go check on dad and the house and her camper. All were OK.

The neighborhood was mostly OK, too. Al, who lives next door to me, lost his flagpole. A neighbor down the street did have a large tree in their backyard uprooted. It fell on their shed, knocking the carport down on their car. The tree took down some power lines in the alley, but of course power was already out, so no fire danger.

People were coming out of their houses, and we compared notes. It's kind of odd that it takes something like this to bond with your neighbors. We got to know a bit more about those people we just kind of said hi to in passing. At least if this happens again, we know we can run across the street to a neighbor's basement.

Morning came and we took a bit more of an assessment of the damage. Just the willow trees are down, and they didn't really damage anything. I noticed in the afternoon the neighbors had gotten their car out from under the carport after the tree was removed, so it must not have taken too much damage. The high school had a big hole in the roof over the gym, and a house across the street from the school lost a small cinder-block garage. Some windows were blown out across town, and a barn less than a mile north of my house had its roof blown off. The metal roof blew across the street, knocking down the power poles and lines that are a main supply of electricity to town. And crews were out working on it by mid-morning.

Saturday, Mom, Dad and I went into town to get breakfast. Mom had to work, so Dad and I got some ice for the ice chests and a few things to eat, then headed back home and drove around and looked at some of the damage. So was everyone else, of course. That's what you do in a small town. There was a steady flow of traffic to the city's tree limb burn site, with pickups and trailers just full of branches and even tree trunks. I ended up writing a story and taking a few pictures for the paper I work for, then had to work at the hotline from 5 to 10. It was very eerie driving into town when there were very few lights on. On the edge of town, the city's new water plant and the assisted living center next to it both had generators, and the co-op gas station a block down the road did too, and here and there a house with a generator had a light or there were candles flickering in windows, but otherwise it was black and silent.

Sunday, I had to work the hotline from 9 to 5, and Dad called in the early afternoon to tell me the power had been back on for a couple hours. Hooray! But as the afternoon went on, the sky got darker. And yes, we went through it again. This time, no tornado hit town, but there was one spotted north of the town I live in. The co-worker who was to relieve me at 5 p.m. came in about an hour early, just as the storm hit with rain and some hail. She had been out on the golf course and they chased off the golfers because of the lightning, so she came to the office a bit early. We kept our eye on the TV reports of the weather, and listened to the tornado sirens going off, but never had to go for shelter. I stayed about an hour late until the worst of it had passed, and got home about 6:30. Poor Buster seemed pretty happy to see me. I'd been pretty worried about him since storms make him nervous. I was worried about Dad, too, but I was able to talk to him, and I knew he was keeping an eye on things. By the time I got home, I was just exhausted. Fortunately, today I have the whole day off. I'm going to enjoy it. As long as it doesn't cloud up too much.

Here's some pictures I took Saturday:
This is a panoramic shot of the creek at my house Saturday. The willow trees, to the far left, used to lean out over the creek. And all the trees on my side are normally a couple feet above the water level.

A county worker uses a backhoe to remove the trees and limbs that had piled up against the bridge near my house. I woke about 4 a.m. Saturday morning to hear a lot of cracking and crashing. I don't know if it was this stuff hitting the bridge or a tree upstream falling.

The dam at our city lake. Normally, it's probably about 20 feet to the water level on the downstream side of the dam.

This guy lost his garage. This is on the other side of town from where I live, near the high school.

Catch up

So, where to begin? A lot has really been happening.

• Mom and I will be going to Wichita in July for "Antiques Roadshow"! She got tickets and we can each take two items. She's taking a painting she inherited and some jewelry, and I'm taking a sketchbook of an African safari and ... something else. More on this as it draws nearer.
• Buster doesn't seem to like to swim. I had to haul him out of the creek Sunday after he jumped in after some people going by in canoes. He chased them downstream a ways, into the trees on the neighbor's property. He found a good spot to dive in -- and I think he didn't expect it to be as deep as it was -- but then he couldn't find a spot to climb back up out of the creek. So I had to make my way through the trees to where he was and pull him out. It was hard not to laugh at him, even though he was obviously a bit scared of the predicament he'd gotten himself into. Still, he did go in the creek today (in the shallow part) after our walk.
• Piano music does something odd to Buster. Tonight, we had been watching "Antiques Roadshow" on the local PBS station, and afterwards, the station showed a calendar of local events, with some piano music playing underneath. Buster pricked up his ears and started trotting around the house, from the back door to the front door, to my bedroom window, like he was looking for someone. He calmed down after the music stopped.
• Buster was a big help getting through Sunday. It was on Mother's Day last year that Nipper died. I sat under the pecan tree in the backyard, where Nipper and I spent his last afternoon enjoying the warm day and the breeze, with the windsock Mom had put there blowing around us, it's streamers falling down around Nipper's face and back. On Friday evening, I was at that spot planting some flowers there, when a breeze picked up and blew the streamers around my shoulders. Without even thinking, I said, "I miss you, too, Nipper." It really felt like my ol' pup was sending me a hug. Sunday was much the same as it was that Sunday last year, and as I sat there, Buster came and sat beside me. The wind turned and blew the streamers toward Buster, and they settled on his head and shoulders. And that was almost like Nipper saying "He's a good dog, too. He'll watch over you." I'm sure some people will think I'm reading too much into nothing, but that's what it felt like. And I really think love can transcend boundaries -- even the love from a dog.
• I'm doing well health-wise, and so is my family. My support group is another situation, however. One member has had a reoccurance and will begin chemo next week, after having had a mastectomy and surgery to remove a kidney, where a tumor was found. Her prospects, are good, and she's in good spirits. However another member told us at our meeting last week that the doctors told her she has six months to a year to live. She has battling this for almost three years straight. It seemed like she was on good ground and then they found new tumors -- first in her lungs, which went away with chemo, and this latest bout with tumors in her brain. The chemo seemed to be effective a couple months ago, though, as she reported they were shrinking. And then this news. It's kind of hard to take, because she has been so active all throughout these last few years, even with the treatment. She has a teenage son she's raising herself, and she's done a lot for the deaf community, both locally and at the state level. It just ain't right.

Vibrant spring

Spring is in full bloom around here, and it looks to be a good year for the flowers.

The hyacinths are just about faded, and the daffodils are starting to fade, but it looks like my work on the hillside the last few years is paying off. Not only were there a dozen or so blooming daffodils, but it appears we'll have a lot of irises blooming as well. Most of them have been in the ground on the hill for about three years now, so it's nice to see there will be some color there this spring. The mums and the aster I planted there last year are coming back (especially the aster), too, so there should be some late summer/fall color. Now I just need some summer-blooming flowers to put there. Maybe some native flowers that could withstand the sun and heat.

I don't know if it's just me, but the flowering trees around here seem to be much more vibrant this year, especially the redbud trees. There's lots of them around here -- they do very well in the prairie, really -- and it just seems like their blooms are so much more plentiful and vivid than in years past. In fact, we discovered there five of them behind my property. We knew of two --- right near the back gate and a small one down on the creek bank -- but there a few other small ones, too. Not sure if they were there before and just didn't really bloom, or if they're new.

Speaking of trees, while my mom was traveling around the South in late winter/early spring, she fell in love with dogwood trees. So she bought two to bring home! We planted one with pink flowers in the back yard, and the other will go at my dad's house. So hopefully next year, we'll have some pretty flowering trees, too.

F*@#$% brilliant

I don't watch a lot of "South Park" anymore -- too many dull episodes and it got to full of itself after a few years -- but the episode I caught last night, where they lost the Internet, was terrific. One of the kids' families threw everything they owned onto the family SUV because they heard there was still Internet "out Californey way." The "Grapes of Wrath" spin was brilliant.

Even better, though, was the TV newspeople, who had nothing to say because they had no Internet and the anchors resorted to fighting over a fax machine set between them for information to read on the air.

How to get a bachelor's degree in one week

First, you go to college right out of high school. Five years later, and after dabbling in other areas besides your major, you get burned out and go home and work in a grocery store frying donuts then at the checkout and video rental until you get sick of that and find a job at the mom-and-pop radio station who's wiling to give a chance to someone with no experience but lots of enthusiasm and you have fun at what you call your "slacker job" for a few years until you get bored with that and up and quit one day and move back to the college town with all intentions of finishing your degree but that darn foreign language requirement keeps tripping you up because you just can't seem to conjugate anything more complex than "me gusta ..." and then a full-time job opens up in your field right there in town and so you get it and they don't seem too concerned that you don't actually have a degree so you just kind of drift through the next eight years until you realize that in that business, the only way things are going to change is because the bosses get stupider and stupider and care only about the bottom line, not what the mission of the business should be, so one day you check with the college and find out if you change your major to general studies you need only two credit hours -- and no foreign language -- to finish and there just happens to be two one-hour geology field trip classes in the summer that will fit the bill and 21 years after you started, you'll have a bachelor's degree with two days' worth of effort on a Sunday and the following Saturday.

Springing

Things are just springing up all over. I was out on the hill cleaning up flower beds this afternoon, and discovered the lamb's ears are sprouting. Hope they get along well before the grass does! My mini-irises are real pretty, there's daffodils with flower buds, hyacinths are sprouting ...

I've gotten a lot done today:
• made a batch of biscuits (I just wanted a drop biscuit or two for breakfast, but since I was too sleepy to read the ingredients list properly, I ended up with more than a dozen);
• cleaned up the kitchen, and got the dishes that need hand-washing done;
• took the recycling to the recycling center;
• cleaned up the garage and threw out a bunch of junk;
• put some other junk by my car so I can load it up Monday and take a trip to the county e-recycling center and the household hazardous waste site;
• painted an old popcorn tin to use as a container for all Buster's toys (that one's for you, Mom!);
• started a project to recycle my old cassette holder into something to help organize my computer desk area (more on that in a future post);
• cleaned up the aforementioned flower bed;
• put some chicken in the slow-cooker for shredding later this evening (and maybe some nachos tonight!).

That's it for the time being. Just taking a break before I take Buster for a walk and some playtime. I think he's liked being outside all day, but he's not happy he's not getting all my attention. When I sat down to start cleaning up the flower bed, he planted himself right in my lap for some affection!

Buster has been using his dog door when I'm not home, by the way. I found that out for sure this week when I came home on Tuesday. After I changed my clothes, I was about to sit on the bed to put my shoes on when I noticed the bed was covered with dead, dried up grass! "I wonder how that got here," I said, looking at Buster. He kind of ducked his head for a moment. And then I noticed that there was grass not only on the bed but at the foot of the bed ... across the bedroom floor out into the living room ... through the kitchen and dining area ... all the way to the dog door! I just had to laugh, really.

The MRI

So the MRI biopsy turned out great. The process was not that much fun. And since I started this blog in part to maybe give an idea of what cancer and its treatment are like, I thought I'd give it a description. Hope it helps someone.

The facility I went to, Cypress Medical Center, was great. The people were really nice and put me at ease. They weren't great at placing the IV, however. Three days later, and both my forearms are still bruised from where they poked me three or four times.

I went to the same room and MRI machine I'd been in the week before. I had to lie face down on the bench, and there were, for lack of a better description, cupholders. I had to put my arms up over my head. Then they made sure I was positioned correctly and squeezed the cup closed a bit (not as bad as a mammogram, though). Then they slid me into the machine. They ran an MRI on the breast again, and they'd told me if they didn't see anything this time, they wouldn't do the biopsy. That actually gave me a lot of hope. If there was something, they said, the computer would give them coordinates for the needle. The MRI took just a few minutes, and then the techs came back in the room and prepared me for the biopsy. That was a letdown, because obviously that meant they had seen something again.

I got a local anesthetic, so I didn't really feel anything. I mean, I could feel something, but it wasn't painful. Just kind of like being prodded. They inserted the needle, then it was back in the MRI so they could check the position of the needle. That took just a couple minutes. Then they came back in and went to work. There was just some whirring noise -- the needle getting tissue samples -- and that was it. This whole time, I was laying there with my arms streched above my head. It was making me stiff, so I brought my arms down and started to get up, but they stopped me -- I was still "pinned down" with the needle! So I had to wait a bit longer. As I finally did get up, I saw some blood in the "cupholder" and that kind of shook me. Not feeling or seeing anything, it was hard picture what was actually going on (even though deep down I did know). I guess it was just hat visual cue that reminded me what was going on.

Before I could leave, they had to patch me up. I had to lie on my back this time, and they cleaned the blood off me and then put a little "glue" to close the hole, then put one of those plastic "second skin" bandages on. I could shower the next day, they said, but no baths, and after taking the bandage off, I wasn't to scrub at the site for 10 days. When I did take the bandage off, I took a look, and was a little shocked. There's quite a hole there! Maybe it's mostly scab and the glue, but it looks almost a quarter-inch wide. So obviously, I'm not looking at it too much.

All in all, it wasn't horrible for me. But one woman in my support group last night said she wouldn't do an MRI again unless it was absolutely necessary -- with her arthritis, being in the MRI with her arms over her head was too painful. And I could certainly see how that could be. I'm not in too bad a shape, and the 15 or 20 minutes I was in there, it kind of hurt by the time I was done. I'll probably do it again, as the doctors recommend, but I don't know if I'd drive three hours for it again, unless the biopsy were necessary.

Everything's good

That's the news from the doc! After getting more and more anxious throughout the morning at work, I called my surgeon's office after the paper went to press, partly to see if the news was in, but mostly to make sure they had my cell phone number. Michelle, the office manager, took my number and said they hadn't gotten the report yet, so she would call and see if it was ready. About five minutes later, as I was talking to some friends about how anxious I was, my phone rang. It was Michelle -- Dr. K was in surgery for most of the day, but she was able to tell me the biopsy showed no cancer! Whoo-hoo!

I called my parents right away, then e-mailed my brother (I don't have his work number, and he usually just uses his cell phone for trips), and e-mailed a bunch of friends and ran around the building telling co-workers. More than a few tears were shed. My friend at work, Kim, and I went to lunch, and a bunch of us are going out for ice cream tomorrow. Hey, a girl's gotta celebrate!

My surgeon called later in the day (and she sounded a bit choked up, too). It's normal tissue. For some reason, and I guess there's not really anything to explain it, that particular area showed up as abnormal. But it's not, and that's great news. It's been kind of a stressful week, and I'm glad it's over!

Success!

We have a dog door! Dad and I got the door put in today. It's probably not as good a job as a pro would have done, but we got it done. One thing I found out: Don't assume your door is a solid-wood door just because it looks that way on the edge. Yep, my door is solid ... foam. Obviously, it made the job a lot easier than I thought it would be. And I definately couldn't have done it without Dad's help (BIG thanks, Dad!).

Now the task is getting Buster used to the idea he can go out whenever he wants. He was a bit scared of it at first, it seemed. He would only go through it if I held the flap out of the way (and some treats helped). But when I got home from the hotline tonight, he came out to greet me! He needed a bit of encouragement to come out through the door, but he did it without me holding the flap out of his way. I made him come in using the door, and he needed a bit more encouragement to do that. But he did, he got lots of loving and playing with his favorite squeaky toy! And as I've been sitting here at the computer, he keeps going to the door and sticking his head out, as if he's just checking what's going on in the yard. I'm sure he'll get the idea eventually. But life's going to be easier now, not having to run home on my long work days to let him out.

In other news

Spring is in sight. When I got home Tuesday, I took Buster out for a romp, and on the hill near the fence I spotted a few green sprigs of crocus leaves poking through the grass-clipping mulch. Ducks have been visiting my part of the creek the last few days. I've been seeing flocks of cranes heading north for about a week now, and of course the skunks are spreading their idea of perfume to attract a mate. Not to mention their carcasses on the highways, since they're too preoccupied to look both ways.

Today, it's supposed to be in the lower 70s, so I am going to attempt to put in a dog door so Buster can let himself out when I'm away at work. Actually, I guess there's no "attempt." Either I will put in a dog door or I'll need a new back door! Buster just will not go out when Dad comes over to let him out. I know he's somewhat fearful of men, but I would have thought he'd been around Dad enough to trust him when he opens the door and calls him to come out. But Dad says he always just hides in my bedroom. So yesterday, I closed both bedroom doors before I left for work. All Buster did was stand in the doorway, Dad said. He was really happy when I got home from the hotline at about 10:30! He went out about three times to do his business before we went to bed.

I'm pretty sure he'll catch on to the dog door quickly. A couple weeks ago, I used a big piece of cardboard with a dog-door sized hole to see how low I need to place the door that he can get in and out of OK. A few treats for enticement, and he was going through the cardboard with no problem. So maybe he's already got the idea in his head.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler and cloudy maybe with some rain. I hope the rain misses us. I have the whole day off and I'd love to get out and start cleaning up the gardens a bit.

Spoke too soon

So all my bitching about having to go to Wichita? I take that back. And I'll be going back on Monday.

Wednesday morning, almost first thing at work, I got a call from my surgeon here. "You don't want to hear from me," she said. "They found something." Gotta love how direct she is. (Really, she is the best). The MRI shows something, about 4 cm, in the right breast -- the opposite side of where I had my cancer. It took a minute or so for it sink in. And by the time I got off the phone with her, I was shaking and tearing up. I headed for the bathroom, pausing to ask a co-worker to come with me, and I told her what the doc had said. Poor Kim. She's lost some good friends and family to cancer, so I'm sure it was hard for her to hear what I said, but I'm glad she was there for me (and I told her so). She took me out to lunch, and then she even drove me to see my surgeon in the afternoon. It's hard to find friends like that.

I did go see the surgeon Wednesday afternoon, and she did a sonogram. But she couldn't find anything but a plain old cyst. That's a good sign, but I'll still be going back to Wichita, where they will do an MRI-guided biopsy. Dad will be going with me, so that'll be good. And the appointment is in the afternoon, so we don't have leave before dawn.

I'm doing all right. Some good words from friends, co-workers and family have done a lot of good. And playing with Buster takes my mind off things. I have a good feeling about this, really. I'll deal with whatever comes my way, but of course, I'm hoping for the best.

A long day's drive ... and for what?

That's what I'm wondering after spending a good chunk of the day on the road today.

There is a fairly recent recommendaton that women at high risk for breast cancer (and obviously, if you've had it, you're at high risk) should get a breast MRI each year in addition to a mammogram. Both my oncologist and surgeon encouraged me to do so, we got that arranged. There are three places I could have gone -- Denver, which is about an 8 hour drive; Salina, about 90 minutes; or Wichita, about 3 hours. My doctors suggested either Denver or Wichita, because the recommendation says the facility should be able to do a biopsy in case something is found (and the MRI machine here isn't that good, my oncologist said). That left me with the impression that the MRI would be examined once it's done, and if there was something questionable, you'd get further examination and maybe a biopsy while there.

But when we were making the appointment, my surgeon's office manager mentioned that they "wouldn't be able to do it the same day." I thought that was kind of strange, but they already had all my info, so I didn't say anything. So this morning, I got up way early, left before dawn and was in Wichita in plenty of time. The MRI itself took a little over half an hour, and I was in the facility for maybe an hour and a half total. As I was getting dressed to leave, one of the techs said I would get the results "in a day or two" from my doctor.

So this just has me wondering if it's really worth it to drive six hours for maybe an hour and a half of my time, when it's a great big IF wether or not there will be anything to be concerned about. Why not just drive to the facility that's 90 minutes away -- even if they can't do the biopsy -- when I'd just have to make another appointment and another trip IF the Wichita facility found something? If my doctors had found something and the biopsy would be a sure thing and could be done the same day -- and the whole procedure couldn't be done at or closer to home -- then I wouldn't have a problem with making that trip. But just for an annual, routine procedure? Yeah, that's a problem. It takes me a day away from work, and driving that much sucks my energy -- not to mention gas (and at over $3 a gallon, that's a BIG dea).

I'll bring this up at my next support group meeting. I know a couple of others have had it done also, so I'll see what they think. And next year, I'll mention I'd prefer to go closer to home. Or maybe suggest the local hospital work on getting a new MRI.

Sick sick sick

I'm tired of it. Being sick, that is. A week ago, I came down with a cold that had some kind of vendetta. Sore throat, stuffy and painful sinuses, runny nose, bad cough ... blech. I slept most of that day until I had to go to work at the hotline. Didn't go to either job Monday, and suffered through Wednesday, when I worked both jobs. I was supposed to work Thursday and Friday nights, too, but fortunately we have a new hotline assistant, and she wanted to start ASAP, so the boss asked if I wouldn't mind letting her have those nights. I was too glad to have that opportunity! I don't think I'd be in near as good as a shape if I had worked those three nights in a row -- and I'm still not in too great a shape!

I am feeling much better though, and have managed to catch up on the housework I hadn't been able to get to. You can actually see the countertops in the kitchen now, and I have clean clothes! I still have to catch up on about three rooms' worth of cleaning, but I don't work too many weeknights this week, so I think I'll be able to manage.

I did get some bad news about one of my support group members last week. She went into the hospital after some vomiting and bad headaches. They found two small tumors in her brain, for which she's geting radiation now. Someone who went to visit her said she is in great spirits, though, and looking forward to getting on with life, so that's good news. The hospital here lets you send e-mails to patients through their Web site (volunteers print them out, paste them into a card and deliver them to the person), so I sent her message since I probably shouldn't go in to a place with sick people when I have a bad cold. I'm hoping she does well, because she was another who was diagnosed around the same time I was. This will be her third time around with treatment. Go, Gina! You can beat it again!

Snow day

Well, a half day, at least. When I woke up this morning, there was already about 3 inches covering the ground. The snow wasn't as heavy in the town where I work, but it kept up all day (and blowing), and when I got home about 1:30 this afternoon, there was probably about 7 inches on the ground here. I had scooped a path on the back patio to the garage before I left for work, and when I got home, you couldn't tell I'd done that.

Before I got settled in and cozy inside, I scooped paths in back and up front, not that you can tell now, and decided to put out some more birdseed. The birds did not want to leave the feeders, though, and one little female finch wouldn't get off the thistle feeder until I nudged her a few times with my finger! I've gotten within a couple feet of the feeders before they fly off sometimes, but never have I ever been able to walk right up to the feeder, let alone touch a wild bird!

I tried my mom's chili recipe for the first time today (after she FINALLY she gave me the recipe). I browned the meat Sunday and tossed it and the other ingredients in the slowcooker this morning. It tasted just as good as when she makes it, I thought, but I'll take some to Dad tomorrow (after the snow dies down) and see if he thinks it's just as good as what he calls Mom's "damn good chili." I filled up on that and cornbread muffins this afternoon, and had popcorn for dinner. Hey, it's a snow day, I can indulge!

Looks like I need to get a dog door in pronto. Mom is off on her next adventure, so Buster has some long days by himself when I'm working the hotline on a weekday. I hate leaving him alone, but I thought I could wait until spring to put in a dog door (since you're supposed to take the door off its hinges to install one) and in the meantime, Dad could come over and let him out on those long days.

Buster's timid around strangers, especially men, but I thought he was used to Dad by now and would be OK. We tried it Sunday, when I worked an 8-hour shift on the hotline, but Dad said Buster would not go out for him. He greeted Dad at the door, but went right into my bedroom and wouldn't come out. So I guess Operation Dog Door gets moved up. It's supposed to warm up toward the weekend, so maybe I can get something done soon.

I fixed my shower door! One of the rollers had come out on one of the sliding doors last week, so I have just kind of avoided using it. Once I got a look at it today, though, and saw what needed to be done, it didn't take very long. It was simple, but I'm kind of proud of myself and feeling all handy. Not that I'm going to go put in a dog door right now or anything.

Overworked

The past week has not been a great one. I've been putting in a lot of hours at the second job, due mostly to the fact the boss hasn't gotten around to hiring a new hotline assistant. My friend Judy, who helped me get this job, gave her notice more than three weeks ago. Her last day was the 16th (except that she's working today, since I'm working at the paper today and there's no way I could have done both jobs on a Saturday), and the boss is just now putting an ad for the job in Sunday's paper. Until now, all she'd done was call some people who had applied for the job at the same time I did -- months ago -- and couldn't seem to understand why none of them called her back. Duh!

It didn't help that the other hotline assistant had a family emergency and couldn't work two of her days. So I've had six days on this week's pay period alone -- twice what I should have! Add to that I had to get the paper's annual bridal tab laid out this week, and put in extra hours Tuesday and had to deal with the stupid software we have corrupting my file more than once, and I've had a very stressful week. And it's not necessarily over, at least until another hotline assistant is hired and trained.

So I'm just kind of kicking back this morning until I have to go in the paper to work. I slept in, and Buster and I went and filled the birdfeeders then played around the yard for awhile. Then we worked on some agility training, and Buster's doing quite well with that! For Christmas, my brother got me this agility kit. We haven't gotten to use it too much because of all the snow and cold and me working, but we got the chance to do it a couple times this week. I'm having fun. Buster has fun, once he figures out what I want him to do, and that the things aren't anything to be afraid of! So far, he's learned to do the high jump (actually the not-so-high-jump), and today, I got him to go through the tunnel a few times. He even did both in succession ... sort of. I can't wait for him to learn the weave poles, but the instruction book says that's usually the hardest part to train for, so I'll probably leave that for last, when the weather might be a bit warmer and we can get out more frequently.

There's no dog agility clubs or competitions where I live (not outside of 4-H, and I'm a bit old for that) at least that I know of, but maybe I'll post something somewhere and see if there's some interest. Even if there's not, it's been fun to do, so great gift, bro!

Some updates

I've been working on updating my Web site, Bad Dogs and the Women Who Love Them.(If you have that bookmarked, you'll have to change it). It just didn't seem right to keep Nipper on there now that he's gone. I didn't want to do away with it entirely, though, even though I haven't done much with it for years.

So I've redone the index page and profiles of Buster and I. Nipper's presence is still there, of course, since he was the inspiration, and I'll soon prepare a memorial page for him. There will be some other changes, too, slowly. Keep checking in.

Heat!

We have heat! After two months, the furnace is finally working! And I essentially have a brand-new furnace, for probably less than a third of the cost. It's nice and cozy warm here, and even my closet feels nice.

The bad thing is, dad's furnace went out on him this afternoon, or at some point today. The blower wouldn't stop and it was only putting out cool air, no heat. So he and Mom got it to quit by pulling the fuse on it so that part of the house would still have power and Mom took the space heaters we had been using to his house. Hopefully, it won't be anything big and can be fixed a lot faster than mine was!

It's a cold bugger, out there, too. I think it got to only the 20s today, and isn't supposed to get too much warmer through the next week. So I hope it won't take too long. Especially since Buster needs to burn off some energy! I come home and he wants to play ALL. NIGHT. LONG. He needs to get out for a good walk and some frisbee chasing when I get home.

Which might happen less for a while. One of the other hotline assistants quit, and they haven't hired anyone else yet. So I might have to pick up a few extra hours. But I'm not going to let that go on for long. It's just not worth it to be away from Buster and home (and do things like laundry) or be available to help Mom or Dad that much. There's plenty of other jobs out there, but I do like this one, since I'm basically paid $7 an hour to sit and wait for the phone to ring. Otherwise, I can read, write, surf the Net on their computer or play solitare, or sometimes I'll take my computer and work on personal stuff. If only I could take Buster, it'd be perfect.

Two warnings

Damn, I'm tired of it being cold in my house. It's not literally freezing, no danger really of the pipes bursting or anything, but it's just hard to get going in the mornings when it's cold. In case you are wondering, my furnace is still not working. Yeah, since before Thanksgiving. Except for the compressor, I basically have a new furnace, I think. And I'm not holding out hope that thing won't go either.

The first part, by the time the guy got my check and it cleared, it was on backorder, so we had to wait. Then when that got in, the furnace was still doing its mini-exlosion thing, so the repair guy had to check with the manufacturer and found it was the control board in the unit. So that had to be ordered. Then when he got that in, while we were gone, he left a note that try it, should work, and when Mom turned it on, the whole house started vibrating. Seems some packing material was still in there and was blocking the blower. He came out the next day, got that fixed, but then the blower wouldn't come on. So he's got some kind of valve ordered and we're waiting for that to come in.

I don't know what's worse. Not having heat because the electricity went out, or not having heat because of this. Now, we at least have electricity for space heaters, and while it gets chilly in the mornings, at least it's not the 40-some degrees inside during last year's ice storm. But after the ice storm, it was only a couple days we were without heat. I just want my damn furnace working.

And yeah, I probably could have avoided this with having regular maintenence done before winter, but know what? That costs money. And my newspaper job paid me only enough to get by with the basics. At least until 2006. I sat down last summer and figured it out. My regular expenses -- and I don't have a lot of extras I pay for -- went up more than 20 percent from 2006 to 2007. My paycheck? Went up by not even 2 percent. Guess what. That don't add up. Hence, the second job. Now I'm having to play catch-up on all the things I should have been able to do.

So, two warnings: Have your furnace checked when the weather's warm, and don't go into journalism if you want to be able to afford to do things like that.

Happy birthday/new year

So Sunday was my 39th birthday. I'm on my way now to the Big 4-0. And you know, I'm actually feeling pretty good about it. Sunday was a really good day. I slept in, with Buster kind of snuggled up with me, and later in the afternoon we went out to play and took a nice walk. I tossed his new floppy flying disc he got for Christmas for him, and he made a couple of awesome mid-air catches. There's still plenty of snow on the ground, but it was a warm day, so we were out for more than an hour. Later in the evening, Dad and I went into town and met Mom after she got off work for dinner at a new Mexican restaraunt that was excellent. We were all too stuffed to have cake when we got home, so I opened my presents.

It was an all-Peanuts birthday. I got a Peppermint Patty bobblehead and a Peanuts birthday set by the Danbury Mint from Mom, a Peanuts clock from Danbury Mint from Dad, and from my brother, the next in the series of books of the Peanuts strip collections and some cute Snoopy ice cube trays.






Today, I also had the day off from both jobs. I had a visit with my oncologist for my 2 and half year checkup, and most everything is well. My blood test showed I might have a kidney stone forming, so she ordered another blood test to make sure it's not a mistake, and then we'll see. I sure don't want to go through that whole thing again. But everything else was OK, and we discussed having my port-a-cath removed, which I'll talk more about with my surgeon when I see her next month.

So 2007 ends on a good year. I have a good feeling about 2008. Hope your new year goes well, everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Have an enjoyable day, everyone!

Back to posting

I haven't been anywhere, just haven't had much to say.

Still waiting for the furnace to be fixed. The heat exchange part has been replaced, but the furnace is still making that big WHUMP sound. The repair guy said it's probably something in the board ... I guess it controls when the furnace lights ... and it's maybe trying to light twice. He's supposed to be in tomorrow and thinks he'll be able to talk to some tech person from the manufacturer and get it figured out. I sure hope so. We have 3 space heaters, but it's awful chilly in the bedrooms and bathroom, especially in the morning.

We had a big snow last weekend, about 10 to 11 inches. Digging out from that was fun. Not. Buster doesn't seem to like deep snow. We went and romped around in the back yard for awhile, but mostly he liked to stay either where we had shoveled or where he had already worn a path. Made doing his "business" interesting, poor guy. More snow is expected this weekend, too.

Not much else is going on. Work, work and more work. A few nights off. Wrestling with Buster. Laughing at him as he picks up some dog kibble, runs into the living room to eat it, then runs back for more kibble and runs back to the living room to eat it .... He's got some quirks, that dog.

Here's the picture I used on Christmas cards to friends and family:

Christmas dog

Why do we torture our pets this time of year? Who cares. They're cute:
Trying to get Buster in the holiday spirit:

He thinks I look better in it:

Time for a retreat:

First snow

Big Creek in winter
Originally uploaded by junogle.

A photomerged image of the creek that runs by my property. First snow of the winter, about 2-3 inches. Wanted to get a shot of pristine snow before Buster and I went for a romp in it! Maybe more pix to come tomorrow.

Welcome to the 21st century

I bought a cell phone. My very first one. I've resisted until now because I'm just not a phone person. Never was. I just can't sit with some thing on my ear for hours, yakking away. I'd rather be face to face talking. E-mail is great for long distances, even though it's not the same as speaking to someone.

But, having a cell phone would make some things easier, especially where I live in a different town from where I work. And also where my parents live in the town I live in. They can always use e-mail to get ahold of me at work and they're at home, but once in awhile, one of us wasn't near e-mail and we couldn't necessarily get hold of each other right away when needed. So at least now that will be easier.

And it will be easier to deal with problems when I need to arrange some service person to get out to the house or make some other kind of appointment that I really don't want to use a work phone for.

And it would have come in handy on a day like today, where we had a guy come look at the furnace. I could have talked to him myself instead of having to relay messages through Mom or Dad via e-mail and her cell phone. Then I could have gotten the bad news myself. Turns out the heat exchange needs to be replaced. The repair guy said not to use it because it was puting out some carbone monoxide. And the WHUMPing sound it's been making was GAS EXPLODING! Kind of makes me mad at the guy we had check that late last winter and said he couldn't find anything wrong. I think we were pretty damn lucky, really.

Hopefully, the furnace is still under warranty. Then I'll just have to pay parts & labor. Otherwise, time to shell out some big bucks.

Last tase of summer?

I think it might be so. Right now, we've got sunny blue skies and about 70 degrees. Tomorrow, it dips back down into the 50s for the rest of the week, and I would imagine this is probably the last of summer's weather we'll see. So I've gotten my laundry done, including all my sheets, bedspread and duvet to get a last bit of sun-dried freshness in. I planted some daylily bulbs, too. It might be too late for them, but it hasn't really been cold enough for the ground to get too cold yet anyway.

Buster's been having fun hanging out in the backyard most of the day, although he seems to like laying in the shade of my sheets on the line! With all the trees pretty bare now, there's not much other shade. We went to the creek for awhile, and I threw a frisbee for him, at least until it landed halfway across the creek. Buster isn't one for swimming, it would seem, so we'll have to see if the frisbee floats in close enough to the bank to get back this week.

Tonight, I'll do some cooking. Mom's at work til about 6:30, so I thnk I'll make some of my chicken nuggets for dinner, and prepare some extra to freeze and store for busy days. Along with that, I'm going to make some sweet and sour chicken for tomorrow night (I'm working the hotline, and Mom's working til about 7), and then I'm going to bread some chicken breasts to freeze for Friday's dinner, when Mom's working until around 6 or 7 again. It'll be nice to have something easy to make for dinner after a busy day that's not some over-preserved frozen stuff in a bag. Yeah, those are convenient, but they just taste ... preserved. I'd rather have homemade (even if it's just semi-homemade). Or restaurant food. That's always good.

I do have some good news to pass along. I took an online certification course in grant writing from the nearby university, and passed the test with a 94 percent! I haven't studied or taken tests for a long time, so I was a bit nervous about how I'd do. My certificate should be in the mail soon. And I found out through my insurance agent that a mutual friend we had in college (and didn't know was a mutual friend) has a grant-writing biz on the side, so he gave me his contact info to get some tips and advice. Haven't done that yet, but I should. I hope eventually it might help boost my income level a bit, but that's probalby a ways off yet.

Well, I probably better start bringing the laundry in, and Buster needs a walk, so I guess I'll sign off for now.

Still here

Haven't gone anywhere, haven't done much. But I thought it was time to post.

Buster is doing well in his new home, and his personality is really taking shape. His favorite place is the backyard. He likes to stay out there laying in the sun or chasing a ball. We also found he likes chasing a disc, so I've got several cheap ones of those, since he likes to chew on them too! He's not as fond of going on walks as Nipper was, but we go about every day.

Also found out he's scared to death of cows. A farmer keeps some across the creek and up the road from us sometimes, and when we walked by there the other day, Buster did everything he could to not walk past them! He even almost slipped out of his collar. The next day, just smelling them was enough to make him scared. Big trucks still scare himk, too.

He's sleeping on my bed again, now though, so that's good. He curls up at the end of the bed instead of snuggling up next to me, though. But that's OK. It's enough to have him nearby. Except when he lies on top of my feet.

Back to work

Well, I'm back at work after being on vacation and Buster seems to be adjusting OK. We had about six days of my vacation time together, so he kind of got used to me sleeping in. Mom usually gets up earlier than I do when I'm on my days off, and after she'd get up, he'd try to get me up, too, and then get all excited when I did.

Thursday, though, when I got up early after my alarm went off, he was just escatic that I was up early! He ran into the kitchen when I went to fix breakfast, and ran back to my room with me and ran little circles as I went about getting ready for work. And then he stood at the door and looked confused when I went out to the car to leave. I was amazed at the difference in his behavior from one morning to the next. Friday, when my alarm went off and I got up, he actually seemed like he was moping! Like he had figured out that when the alarm goes off, it means I'm going to be leaving him. Now it's the weekend, of course, and I could sleep in, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when I get up Monday morning.

Today, when I was getting ready to take him for a walk, he seemed a little excited about it. That's the first time, so maybe he's starting to associated the word "walk" with going outside. And he does like to spend a lot of time outside, so I'm thinking maybe a doghouse would be a good idea. I'll probably still get a dog door, but if he likes spending so much time outside, it'd be a good idea to have something for him out there.

Bandana dog

He just looks like he needs one.


And if that's not enough for you, here's Buster in his first video:

Buster

Buster is adjusting pretty well to his new home. And we're adjusting to having a dog in the house again. It's a good adjustment, though.

He's so much the opposite of Nipper, though. Nipper was definatley an alpha dog. Nipper would listen to you if he wanted. He took up most of the bed, or couch or whatever he wanted to lay on. He decided when it was time to play, and when he wanted his walk, you'd better be ready! Part of that is my own fault. I didn't understand the particulars of canine communication, and so probably encouraged a lot of his alpha behavior. We eventually came to an understanding, and I think in some way he saw me as an equal. Which is better than being thought of as below him in the pecking order.

Buster, though, is not an alpha. He comes almost every time I call him, and he'll even come to a sit when he gets to me. I can roll him on his back with no problem. When I say no, he stops what he's doing. Usually. He does tend to bump my hand to be petted or use his teeth when giving me kisses or playing. He's a young guy, still, really, so a lot of that is puppy behavior, but he still needs to learn to stop doing it.

We're getting the sleeping arrangements worked out. After he rolled off the side of the bed last night, he curled up near my feet and seemed a lot more restful there, rather than on "his side" of the bed, like Nipper preferred. Buster doesn't use a pillow, either.

Buster is also a lot more attentive to sounds. He reacts to noise from the TV, especially kids and other high-pitched sounds but also dogs and loud noises. He notices just about every vehicle that passes by, but he doesn't startle at vehicles going over the nearby wooden bridge like he did the first day or so.

While I was at work today, Mom discovered he likes chasing a ball. I tried tossing one ball for him that first day, a hard rubber one that has a little jingle bell inside, but he never showed interest. Mom tried another ball that didn't make sound, and said he had fun chasing that one. So tonight, when he obviously needed to burn off some energy, I took him out for a bit and we had fun with the ball. Although I realized after a bit what it might sound like to the neighbors when I'm shouting "Get the ball Buster!" Oh well.

I was thinking about a cat ...

... but look what I brought home:


Say hello to Buster, a 13-month old blue heeler. He was a stray, just showed up at someone's house, and then was taken to the refuge run by my vet. She'd had him about three weeks. About all they know about him is that he's not good at herding, and so they suspect maybe he was bought for that purpose, and when he didn't prove to be good, was just let loose.

He's very sweet and mellow, not at all excitable like you'd think a working breed would be. They said he doesn't have separation issues, so that's very good with the concerns I have about being away from the house more with the second job. I'll just need to get a dog door before too long, but he does seem housebroken. When I first let him into the house, he sniffed around a bit and started to lift his leg on a door frame. All I did was make a scolding noise, and he scampered away pretty quick. Same thing when he started to poop in a part of the yard I didn't want him to. He's also pretty timid around new people and loud noises, and when I took him for a walk, he got scared a couple times by some big trucks. It makes me wonder what's happened to this guy to make him that way.

But he seems to be relaxing now and maybe getting used to the idea that this is home. I'm on vacation until next Wednesday, so we'll have some time to get to know each other. Really, I'm pretty happy to have come home with a dog. I like cats, but they're just not the same. I'm sure a cat person would feel the same thing about dogs. But I'm not a real outgoing person, and having a dog makes me more outgoing. I get out around the neighborhood, see what's going on, chat with the neighbors. I'd been a bit worried that with a cat, I might have gotten a bit too reclusive.

I can tell tonight, though, it has been far too long since I've been walking!

Time to recharge

Whew, it's been a busy week. Or at least it seems like it. Things are rough at work and look to be getting rougher. I worked at the second job three weeknights (which means I'm gone from the house from about 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.), and that seemed to wear me down a bit. I got behind on some housecleaning and other things I wanted/needed to do, but now it's time to catch up. I'm now officially on vacation time until Oct. 17!

I still have to work the second job, but that won't be so bad. I've got Wednesday through Friday completely free this week, and Mom will be back from her trip about that time, so maybe I'll go find some things to do and let her get back into a groove of being in one place. Then I've got the following Tuesday and Wednesday totally free, too, before I go back. I should try to get my car in to the shop one of those two days before I need it. I'm coming up on about 30,000 miles since I bought it, so it's about time for some routine maintenence. At least I won't need a new battery. Had to deal with that last week after I got stuck at Home Depot with a dead one.

Last Wednesday was my support group meeting, so that was one high point of the week. We had a memorial for the sisters who have passed on -- five in a little over a year. We had a candlelighting ceremony, sang and shared memories. There were tears, of course, but also laughter. It's something the group will do each October, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Then Saturday was the local university's homecoming, so we had our float in the parade. We had more who were able to ride this year, and everyone had fun, even though it was hot and the parade people seemed to think the parade needed to move along at about 20 mph. All the poor walkers handing out candy were either far behind us or looked like they were running a candy-handing marathon!

I don't have a lot planned for the vacation. I need to clean out Mom's side of the garage (hey, there's plenty of space for the lawn mower and stuff now!), plant the irises and some other things I got, do some weeding and set out some mulch before it gets too chilly. Other than that, it's mainly just relaxing and getting refreshed.

A winner

Not too many books make me go "wow" after I flip the last page, but The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney did just that.

The book was a suprise winner of the 2006 Book of the Year at the Costa Awards, Britain's most prestigious book awards.

The story revolves around the murder of a French trapper in Canada's Northern Territory in the 1870s. He is discovered by a neighbor, Mrs. Ross, who soon realizes that she has not seen her teenage son, Francis, since just before the time the trapper was killed. Because the town is a Company town (as in the Hudson Bay Company), two representatives are sent to investigate. Mrs. Ross is nervous about the disappearance of her son, but her husband won't go look for him. With the help of a mysterious stranger, she sets out to find him. Trouble is, the stranger is also a suspect. She doesn't know if she can trust him, but he's her only way to find her son. And one of the company men is following their trail. And then there's the mysterious bone carving that brings a once-famous journalist and tracker back to the area, a man with a connection to the local magistrate's family.

There are a lot of subplots involved in this book, and the narrative jumps from different points of view -- Mrs. Ross' narration is the only one in first-person -- so this isn't a light read. But Penney weaves these points of view and stories with skill and beauty. And her descriptions of the Canadian wilderness remind me of Tony Hillerman, author of the the Navajo cop series, and how he makes the landscape of the Southwest a part of the story and his characters. Penney does the same with the frozen forests and plains of the north. The amazing thing is, the British author has never been there. In fact, she was until just a few years ago, agoraphobic. She had to train herself to be able to take the short bus ride to the library to research the book.

Part msytery, part adventure, part romance, this was just an amazing book. Penney is reportedly at work on another book. I'll be looking for that one.

Back to work (not)

I had hoped to get a good day's worth of yardwork done today, but I guess my body had other ideas. No sooner had I got started trimming some grass and pulling some weeds on the hill when I felt a sharp twinge in my back. Crap.

I did get quite a bit done so far today, but not as much as I wanted. I've had to do a lot of resting in between. I got some trimming done, planted the two little mums and the pansies I bought last night, and got the backyard partly mowed. Partly because some of it is so thick I had to raise it up so the mower wouldn't choke and quit. I'll go out in a bit and lower the mower again and finish it off, now that it's cooling down and there's more shade in the back. Maybe I'll get the front yard too, since it's pretty small, and the grass isn't as thick. But the west side is getting awful overgrown, especially on the hill, and I won't be able to get to that until Wednesday. Man, I hope the grass stops growing so darn fast soon.

Messages from Nature

A group of bluejays has been trying to tell me something this week. I think it's something along the lines of "HEY, WHERE'S THE BIRDSEED?!?" Nature is so subtle.

The squirrels are showing up in the yard more frequntly and in greater numbers, the bluejays are hanging out in the empty tray feeder, and I hear a chorus of chickadees and nuthatches. The autmnul equinox is tomorrow, but fall has already arrived here. So, in a bit, I'll be going out to give my birdfeeders a good cleaning, and maybe tonight before heading home from work at the hotline, I'll pick up a big sack of black oil sunflower seed. I might also get some flowers -- there's pansies out now and mums, of course. The mums up front are fine, but the ones I planted on the hill last year have almost been decimated by the grasshoppers. The aster is amazing, though -- I noticed last night it seems to have exploded in blooms this week!

Otherwise today, I'm catching up on some cleaning around the house. I'll go in to work from 5 to 10, and then I'm off tomorrow. That will probably be yardwork day, especially if I get the flowers. But I need to do some weeding, too.

I'm thinking more about another pet. Yesterday, during my lunch break, I went out to my vet's office. She also runs a non-profit animal refuge. They specialize in wildlife rehabilitation, but also have dogs and cats for adoption. There were a bunch of cute kittens, most of whom were going to be picked up later in the day for transport to shelters in the Denver area, where they're more likely to be adopted. There was one, though, who was real sweet. Poor thing had been hit by a car and has lost the use of its left front paw, which will soon be amputated, I was told. He kept coming up to the kennel bars, though, sticking his good paw out to catch my fingers, and he liked having his ears scratched. There were also a couple of adult cats they showed me. They're brother and sister, but, oops, also mother and father to a kitten. Their previous owner had been told they were both female. The one kitten they had was adopted several weeks ago, but is not yet old enough to leave its mother. They're part Siamese and both really beautiful cats, but also long-hair. Mom says she doesn't do so well with long-hair cats with her allergies, but they did say at the vets' it's not the length of the hair, but how clean the cats are. The vet's head nurse told me she has cat allergies and has had no problem around them.

So that's something to think about. I'd still prefer a dog, but with both of us out of the house more often than when Nipper was here, I'm not sure that'd be fair. Some people can get a dog, put it in a kennel out in the backyard and other than giving it the basics are fine with that. Not me. If you don't get a pet as a companion, what's the point in having one?

Soaring away

Today was Lanita's funeral. Even though I hadn't known her all that well, I'm glad I went. There were about 18 of us from the support group, all in our pink shirts sitting together. The women of the Soroptimist Club, which she also belonged to, wore their shirts and sat together as well.

The church was packed. I heard that close to 500 people were ther. And the family -- all eight pews full -- all wore something pink, a blouse, a shirt, a tie. It was actually quite striking. Most everyone wore pink ribbons. And whenever I now hear Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance," I'll probably always have a tear for Lanita and a small prayer that her daughters take its message to heart.

At the gravesite, our group handed out the balloons the others had prepared the night before (I had to work, but it sounds like they had enough hands to make quick work of it). Her daughters released theirs first -- butterfly balloons on which they'd written "I love you, Mom" -- and then everyone else released theirs. Three hundred pink balloons and 41 white ones -- one for each year of her life -- were quickly picked up by the blustery prairie winds of the day to the north. I'm sure it was quite a site from the nearby highway. A few people cheered as the balloons cleared the treetops, and then we all watched silently until they were just specks in the blue clear sky.

There was a luncheon afterwards, and most of us from the group went. We sat together, of course, but that was also appearatnly Lanita's wish. And we felt pretty honored when we were told the family wanted us to get in the food line after them. It was nice they understood the group was like an extended family for her.

Otherwise, it was a quiet day, and time for it to end. Every day is a new beginning, she liked to say, so live life to its fullest.

Birdbrain

Today started out oddly ... and ended oddly.

Today was my first 8-hour weekend shift at the new part-time job, so I got about 7:30 and got some breakfast and puttered around a bit. Then as I was getting ready for a shower, I looked out the bedroom window and saw something moving by the fence. I figured it was just the neighbor's little dog, but I put on my glasses for a better look and saw ... a chicken! It walked along the fence in the neighbor's yard, then around behind my back fence. I had to get a better look to make sure I saw what I thought I saw, so threw on some sweats and went in the backyard. And sure enough, it was a chicken. When it saw me, it went into the trees, but I hear it clucking softly. I told it if it's going to hide from something scary, it should maybe also be quiet, but it didn't heed my warning.

I went to work, which was very quiet and very boring, and when I got home, put all my things away. It was a bit stuffy, so I opened the windows in the dining area and, lo and behold, there was the chicken, in the neighbor's yard again. I just kind of shook my head. He wasn't home, so I couldn't ask him about it. It disappeared pretty quick. For a while.

I was eating dinner (not chicken) and catching up on some stuff on the computer, when I heard some loud clucking and squawking. Looking out the window, I saw the chicken had somehow managed to get on top of a plank of wood my neighbor had leaning up against the fence of his neighbor's dog pen. The three dogs were trotting around anxiously, occasionally stopping and giving the chicken a quizzical look or barking. It looked for awhile like the chicken was just going to hop down into the dog pen, then she'd look like she would hop down to safety. It went back and forth like that for a few minutes, then finally she tried to hop into the tree right in front of her, only the branches weren't big enough to hold her. I saw the chicken hit the ground running, then there were a couple squawks, a couple growling barks, and then silence.

I figure there probably wasn't much chance of a good ending to that. If I'd gone out there to do something, the same thing would have happened -- she would have gone for the cover of the tree. I had left the back gate open after I saw it this evening. Chickens eat grasshoppers after all, and there's still plenty of them around. I'm not sure what I'd do with a chicken though. They probably can't be housetrained, and I'm not sure it's legal to keep them in the city limits anyway.

I'm not sure if the dogs' owners are home. Guess they're in for a surprise.

Grow

There's a new Grow game! I've been trying to figure it out for about an hour now, and think I'm getting close. Of course, I've thought that for about half an hour now.

A dance ends

Not much more than 10 minutes after I posted last night, a 5-year-old girl crawled into the bed her mother was in and kissed her goodnight. And her mother took her last breath.

Lanita always called her e-mails "The Journey of the Dancing Queen," and signed off with a quote like "Work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's watching" or"Dance like there is no tomorrow! Each new dawn is a reminder that every day is a new beginning. Live it to the fullest." She was a bit hesitant at first to write about her fight, I remember an early note saying, because she didn't think she was a good writer. And she didn't have perfect grammar and punctuation, but that's not what matters when what you say comes from your heart and soul. Her e-mails were always funny and insightful, and, more recently, heart-wrenching.

Her husband sent out an e-mail briefly describing her last couple of days -- that she'd told them she was being fitted for a halo and had wings and what she was seeing -- and despite his saying that Lanita's writing skills didn't "rub off on him," it was beautiful. I'm sure there will be some very hard days ahead for him and the two girls.

Hopefully, I can go to the funeral. I believe it's going to be Monday, but I'm not sure what time. If it's the morning, I might not be able to, since we're pretty shorthanded at work anymore. But I'll do what I can. The support group will be there, of course, and we've been asked to help at the graveside service, with a balloon launch. There will be 300 pink balloons launched, for breast cancer, of course, and 41 white ones, one for each year of her life.

It sounds like it will be nice, but I hope this is our last funeral for some time.

Keep dancing.

A night off

First two nights on the new job down ... It went well, reallly. There weren't a lot of calls either night, and it didn't take me too long to get the hang of how to fill out the "paperwork" on the computer. Really the important thing is to get the request from the house supervisors or clients to the right people quickly, and that's easy enough. I got a lot of reading done actually, so I'm probably going to have to be making lots of trips to the library. No problem there, and maybe I won't have any overdue books as fast as I'll probalby be reading them!

I haven't been tired out from the extra hours, either. Fell asleep pretty quick and slept good each night. Tonight I even got some of the mowing done. Hopefully, there won't be too much more of that, as it has cooled off quite a bit this week.

It's not all great news, though. One of my support group members, who entered hospice care recently, went into the hospital this week. Only family is allowed to visit, and I understand they have her on a lot of pain meds. It probably won't be much longer. This one will be hard to take because we were diagnosed and joined the group around the same time. She's only a couple years older than me, too. And she was certainly a fighter. It just proved too much for her, though.

Last summer, she went to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for six weeks of treatment. She kept us updated with frequent e-mails that were full of hope and humor. In one of them she mentioned how at home, before she left, someone she knew commented that she was a "strong woman" facing what she was going through. But she preferred to be thought of as a woman of strength, as in this poem:

A strong woman works out everyday to keep her body in shape…
But a woman of strength builds relationships to keep her soul in shape

A strong woman isn't afraid of anything…
But a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of fear.

A strong woman won't let anyone get the better of her…
But a woman of strength gives the best of herself to everyone.

A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future…
A woman of strength realises life's mistakes can also be unexpected blessings, and capitalises on them

A strong woman wears a look of confidence on her face…
But a woman of strength wears grace.

A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey…
But a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong.

I think that says it all.

Keeping busy

Today is a day off from the main job, and then I go to my first day of work at the new job.

I had planned to do some yardwork -- mow and trim some grass, maybe transplant some irises or at least identify which ones to thin out for transplanting later in the week -- but woke up to a cool, cloudy and rainy day. It's only in the 60s as I write this, and will only be in the 70s the rest of the week, so it'll be a good time to do some fall planting. Hope I have some time, because I supsect summer hasn't given us its last yet.

So instead I did some meal planning and cooking ahead for the next week or so, since I'll have some days where I won't be home unitl after 10 p.m. So I've got some sweet & sour chicken made up to take with me for work nights, breaded up some round steak to freeze and use later on for steak fingers and a chicken fried steak, and am trying out a salsa chicken recipe in the crock pot, part of which will be tomorrow night's dinner at work and then the leftovers can be wrapped up in a toritilla for lunch. I bought a roast to throw in the crock pot some morning for dinner, and will use the rest for sandwiches or something else.

See, Mom, I won't starve.

Well, think I'll go take a little nap before I start thinking about getting ready for work.

Getting more done!

I got in a changing mood yesterday, and made some plans to rearrange the dining nook area. I had to work Saturday, so planning was about all I did. But after taking 10 minutes to read the Sunday paper (hey, I had to put the thing together, you think I'm going to actually read it?) I set out on the plan. And no, Mom, this is not the surprise project I'm working on. I think you might like the new arrangement, though. No more having to dodge around cords and legs and feet when we're both seated in there. It seems roomier now. I even hung up a few things on the wall. Not to mentioned vacuumed and swept -- which was needed in all the nooks and crannies.

I went in this afternoon and evening for a bit more training on the second job and met the third hotline assistant. It's a bit overwhelming, all the stuff you have to remember. I guess as long as I get the right people called so the clients can get their help, that's what matters. But then all the calls have to be logged into the computer, and it got a bit confusing knowing whose name to put where ... once I get a night or two under my belt, I'm sure I'll do OK. It's the beginning and not knowing much that has me concerned. They seem like pretty nice people, though, so even if I screw something up, it probably won't be too bad.

I keep dreaming about what to with the extra money, once I pay off a couple debts, do some Christmas shopping and put some in the bank for a rainy day, of course. I'd like to work some more on the kitchen. That all started with the broken faucet. It's one of those pull-out sprayer faucets. It developed a leak and water would drip down the sprayer hose into the cabinet below, and then it developed a crack right on top that shoots out water that gets all over the counter if you hold the faucet wrong. So I originally just wanted to replace that. But then the sink doesn't look all that great. And the countertops and backsplash? Cheap and UGLY. So I went to Home Depot a couple weeks ago and just out of curiosity, did some pricing. And of course, I kept finding more and more I could do -- there was a cabinet unit that would make a nice pantry right where there's room, and it'd be nice to dump the computer table for a built-in workstation ... I should stay out of Home Depot. Good thing I'm pretty happy with the bathroom. Except that faucet needs replacing ...

Two books

Two recent reading choices. I've been meaning to do this, and now the books are overdue, dang it. I keep the library going single-handedly, I think. But I'm avoiding mowing the lawn, so this is convenient.

One Night at the Call Center, by Chetan Bhagat was a good, light read. Not a great book, but a nice, funny, simple read. It takes place at a call center for an American company in India where the twenty-something employees worry about their low pay, possible layoffs, their relationships, bosses who take credit for their work ... not much different from their American counterparts. But it does give some interesting insight into the cultural difficulties they face, in trying to live in a modern world but also honor their parents' more traditional lifestyles, and how they view Americans.

While the call center is down with some technical problems, they skip out of the office for a while to have some fun at a club, then on the drive back get into a bit of a predicament. While wondering if they're going to die, they get a call ... from God. God is very cheerful, maybe a little too cheerful, really. And he leads them to consider their lives and how to change them for the better. It's amusing, but full of stuff you'd read in dozens of self-help manuals (the author even includes a short self-help style quiz at the beginning), and then the book just gets unbelievable. Well, I mean, God calling on your cell phone is pretty spectacular, but I can suspend my disbelief over something like that. It's the anti-American sentiment that gets a bit hard to take, and makes the climax hard to believe. Add to that a prologue and epilogue to make you gag, and this is only a so-so book.

Scoop by Rene Gutteridge was much better. In fact, I was well into the book before I began to suspect that maybe I'd picked up something in a genre I would otherwise not have thought about -- Christian fiction. Scoop takes place in a last-place TV news station. There's quite a cast of characters here, from Hugo, the stressed-out news producer who's also dealing with a boss who's younger and ethically challenged, and a troubled family life; an aging news anchor who has an unfortunate Botox incident; Ray, the intrepid reporter who gets attacked on live TV; and a whole bunch more.

What attracted me to this book, obviously, was the setting in a newsroom. Yes, I work in print, but a newsroom is a newsroom, and there was a lot here that's true to life: the clashing personalities, the argument of doing "sexy" stories to sell papers/attract viewers vs. more boring but informative stories, and the absurdity that oddly enough comes with the adrenaline of breaking news. Gutteridge captured that really well.

The main character here is Hayden Hazard, Hugo's new assistant. The story starts 5 years before the main action, at the funeral of Hayden's parents, founders of the family clown business. Yes, I said clowns. The Hazards learn that with their parents' deaths, the family business has been sold, and the close-knit, homeschooled, religious clan must now go make their own ways in the world. Rather than seeing the story through her point of view, however, we see it through just about everyone BUT Hayden's eyes. We get to see her, and how she lives and talks about her faith. And you see how it affects the other characters. It's kind of sneaky way of putting religion in a novel, but it works. It's not preachy, it's not in your face. And Gutteridge acknowledges that organized religion isn't perfect in a scene with Ray at his church.

Everything gets wrapped up rather neatly, no one turns out to be truly bad (even the bad guy makes some very valid points about the state of journalism today) and the mystery is kind of predictable. But Gutteridge has a great writing style that is humorous and contains dead-on satire of the news industry. I read this over my lunch breaks, and I was always sorry when I had to put the book down at the end of the hour.

This is actually the first in "The Occupational Hazards" series, each focusing on one of the Hazard clan. The second one, "Snitch," is centered around Hayden's sister Mack, a Las Vegas undercover cop. I'll look for this one, too, and hope the writing (and non-preachyness) stay consistent.

Getting used to solitude

So I'm alone again, this time for a little over a month, as Mom is on her second big adventure and having fun, it sounds like.

My Labor Day weekend was fairly quiet. I did get quite a bit done, though. I cleaned out my car, which I've been needing to do for a long time, got some mowing done and hacked down a lot of the long-gone sunflower stalks out back with a new garden toy -- er tool: a machete. I'd been looking for one all summer, and the store I'd seen them at in previous years didn't have any until last Saturday. So I got a 22-inch blade, and must admit it was kind of fun once I got the hang of it (swing in an arc, not just one way seemed to work best). For a few minutes there I imagined I was in an Indiana Jones movie or Romancing the Stone ... OK, a bunch of dried-up sunflowers aren't the same as a South American jungle, but it was still a lot of work.

I did some cooking and food prep, too, to make things easier when I get home from work, and especially since I'll be starting this part-time job soon. Got some chicken breasts prepped so that I can take them out of the freezer before I go to work and pop them in the oven or on the grill when I get home, meatballs I can toss in spaghetti or sweet & sour sauce, things like that.

And I started on a small project for the kitchen, but you'll have to wait until I'm done to hear about that.

Tomorrow I have my training for the second job. Mainly, this will be watching some videos, filling out paperwork, etc. I should find out what kind of schedule I'll have, too. Then in the evening, it's time again for my support group meeting. We're putting together some sort of thing to give out during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, but I don't know what it will be yet.

I also need to take a look at the material for the grantwriting course I'm taking through the local university. The class doesn't officially start until next week, and the first week or so is scheduled to just get familiar with the information, so it's no rush. But it's never too early to start I guess.