Mesothelioma and the Talking Heads

So, there's this commercial that plays on one of the cable stations pretty much constantly.  It's an advertisement for (I think) some kind of medication for Mesothelioma.  Or maybe it's a law firm's ad for clients affected by Mesothelioma.  I'm not really sure.

But ANYWAY, it's just this guy talking, and he starts out, "People who have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma have many questions. ‘How did I GET this disease?’”

And every time, EVERY TIME this commercial plays, my mind goes straight to the Talking Heads song, "Once in a Lifetime".

"And you may find yourself in a beautiful house

With a beautiful wife

And you may ask yourself, well,

How did I GET here?"

  

and that damn song, straight outta my high school days, just keeps going on and on in my head,

"THIS is not my beautiful house!

THIS is not my beautiful wife!"

Anybody else? Anybody else see that commercial and go immediately to the Talking Heads?  No?  Just me?  Yeah, I was afraid of that. :)

 

Freaky Friday: It's a Christmas miracle!

Some of you who have been reading here for a while may recall that when anything even slightly unusual happens this time of year, I like to describe it as a Christmas miracle, because why not?  Found a good parking spot?  It's a Christmas miracle!  Grabbed the last raspberry pie at the store? Christmas miracle!  You get the picture.

But this year, guys ... this year ...

Some of you may remember Bunnyman, aka Angel Rabbit Man, the ceramic rabbit with the body of a man and also wings.  Oh, yeah.   And then there was Son of Bunnyman.  And then I did the whole Bus Stop thing, featuring Bunnyman. And despite doing some research, I never could discover the origins of Bunnyman.  Still haven't.

But the other day I stopped by a thrift store, and ...

another Bunnyman.

I saw him at the thrift store amid the knick-knacks and coffee cups and snatched him up. He didn't have a price tag, but really ... would any price be too much to pay for an elusive Bunny Man?

When I got up to the register, the cashier said, "Oh wow,  this is really ..."   I waited for her to say "weird", or "strange", or "odd", but instead she said, "cool.  I don't know what it is, but I like it!"  and she charged me a buck.

It's a Christmas miracle! A true Christmas miracle!  :)

Well, of course I had to dress him up a little:

... and arrange a reunion with his long-lost brother:

and reconfigure the Bus Stop:

Christmas miracles, guys. They're out there.

Art Project

Me:  "Okay, Campers, we need to make a poster, and we need to make it look pretty. Let's get to work!"

"Let's make it say, "Thank you, Kris" and ... a Christmas tree?  You want to add a Christmas tree?  Umm ... okay ..."

"and reindeer?  You want reindeer?  Sure, go ahead:"

"Santa and his sleigh?  Oh, why not ..."

"Wait a minute ... NO GLITTER.  I draw the line at glitter.  Jeez:"

"And now you say that YOU make the best decoration of all?  Well, I guess I can't argue with that, Campers."

Thank you, Kris,  for your jaw-droppingly-amazing donation to Every Dog's Dream.  It is truly appreciated by everyone at the rescue, and by all the dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and who-knows-what'll-come-through-the-door-next.  :)  I hope you and your loved ones have the best holiday ever.  Thank you!

Pet Cemetery

I had to pick up some traps at a house out in the sticks today, so I thought I'd swing by a nearby cemetery.

There are some famous residents here:

And some not-so-famous.  I don't know why I can walk through a human cemetery with no problem, but a pet cemetery makes me teary every time.

Anybody know what Psalm 23:6 is?

*sob*  Excuse me while I go hug my cats.

Thanksgiving Weekend

So, I was just sitting here watching TV on a Sunday night, and the ticking clock came on to announce that it was time for 60 Minutes (or, "60 Incriminating Minutes", as we used to call it in my family).

And then I remembered that it was a Thanksgiving Sunday, fifteen years ago, that I was watching 60 Minutes in California, where I had attended a funeral for a family member the day before.

Fifteen years.  Fifteen years!  Where on earth does the time go?

That family member has been dead for fifteen years now, and I'm still here. And I've been through so many incredible changes over the past fifteen years, well ... but here I am.  Still going.

Where were you fifteen years ago?  Enquiring minds want to know. 

Faux Pas

So, last night after dinner, I scooped the litterboxes and then set the bag out on the porch so I could take it to the garbage can this morning.

This morning, I went out on the porch and ... no bag. What the heck?! Where did the poop bag go? Did an animal drag it off? But ... why?

And then I remembered. The local Cub Scout food drive. People were supposed to put bags of donated food out on their porches for collection ... last. night.

DEAR CUB SCOUT PACK 243 I AM SO, SO SORRY I SWEAR TO GOD IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I FORGOT ABOUT THE FOOD DRIVE I DIDN'T MEAN TO DONATE POOP.

Oh lord.

On not jumping to conclusions.

I was not happy to see bow hunters in the park next door yesterday.

I have nothing against hunting in general, but hunting is not allowed in town parks, and most CERTAINLY not fifty yards from a house (mine).  I got a shot of the license plate and will send it to the game warden; confronting armed men is not generally a real good idea.

So imagine how not-happy I was this morning when I was cooking up my Sunday morning breakfast and looked out the kitchen window to see a cop and a hunter dragging a doe across my backyard.

What. The. Actual.  F*ck.  I figured that the hunter had jacked the deer and the cop had caught him at it.  In my backyard!  Oh, I was loaded for bear.   But I composed myself, waited until they were out by the road, and went to talk to them.

"Hey, guys," I said. "What happened here?"

The hunter explained that he was on his way to bow hunt when the car ahead of him, up on the main road not far from my house, hit the deer and kept right on going.  (I have no idea how; hitting a deer generally causes a LOT of damage to the vehicle.)  The deer, severely injured, managed to drag itself into the brush.  The hunter, wanting to put the deer out of its pain (and possibly fill his freezer for the winter, let's be honest), grabbed his bow from his truck and started tracking it. He finally managed to put the deer down in the brush on my rear property line, then called law enforcement to explain the situation.  (Hunting within a thousand yards of a house in this town results in massive fines, loss of hunting licenses, and surrender of firearms.)  The cop came out to assay the situation, and, after determining that the hunter's story was true, filed the necessary paperwork so that the man could harvest the doe.

So here's a situation where I was glad to have a hunter on my property, putting that poor deer down. Those yahoos from yesterday, however ... well, I hope they get their due courtesy of the game warden.

And in other news ... look how big the Foster Campers are getting!

Ain't they sweet?

Recently Read

Yep, that's right - I've been away for weeks, and all you're getting is a lousy "Recently Read" post.  My apologies!  I'm doing okay, if exTREMEly busy,  and counting the days until my 6-month work eval, at which point I can transfer out of my current position and into another office while still keeping my accrued PTO, etc.  Am I going to be out of there like a shot? OH YES I AM.  haha.


1.  Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean - Keilloresque short stories.  Charming, if a little too cutesy.

2.  News of the World by Paulette Jiles - Novel about a traveling "news reader" in the 1870s.  I liked some of her previous novels, but I didn't like the narrative style of this one and didn't get very far.  I might try it again at some point, though.

3.  Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie - Novel about a woman coming to terms with her turbulent childhood.  Okay.

4.  Growing up in Cooper Country - edited by Louis C. Jones - Boyhood memoirs from two men who grew up in upstate New York in the late 1700s/early 1800s.  Very interesting.

5.  Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch - Novel about a boy on a whaling expedition in the 1800s.  Very interesting and well-written, but bad things happen, and I just wasn't in a place emotionally to deal with it at the time I read it, so I quit about 80 pages from the end.  Still a good read, even if I couldn't make it to the end.

6.  Chickens in the Road by Suzanne McMinn - Account of a novice who bought a farm.  Good.

7.  Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.  Short stories.  Good, of course.

8.  Burn Down the Ground by Kambri Crews - Memoir of growing up with deaf parents in rural Texas.  Engaging.

9.  Walking to Listen by Andrew Forsthoefel - Account of a young man who, after graduating from college, walked across America.  Interesting.

10.  A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska - The Story of Hannah Breece edited by Jane Jacobs.  Hmmm ... a memoir about (a) frontier Alaska and (b) schoolteaching?  OH YEAH.

11.  All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot - An old favorite, memoirs of a veterinarian in England in the thirties.

12.  Poor Cow by Nell Dunn - I guess this novel, about an unwed teen mother with a thief for a boyfriend, caused quite a stir when it was published it in the 60s.  I found it interesting but rather tame by today's standards.  How times change!

13.  The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard - I don't know why I pick up murder mysteries - I just don't enjoy the genre.  Still, I made it all the way through this one, so that says something.

14.  Little Green by Loretta Stinson - Novel about a rootless young woman who gets involved with a bad man.  Really, really good.

15.  The Growing Seasons by Samuel Hynes - Memoir about growing up in the thirties.  I'm a sucker for books about growing up in the Depression, and this was a good one.

16.  A Ticket to Ride by Paula McLain - Novel about a young woman growing up in the seventies.  I grew up in the seventies, too!  haha.  I liked this one.

17.  If The Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss - Novel about a small Appalachian community in the seventies.  Okay.

18.  Trauma Junkie:  Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse by Janice Hudson.  Good!

19.  Leaving Wayne by Danny Clune - Memoir about a man who grew up in this area in the 50s and 60s.  He mentions lots of places (and people!) I know, so it was an interesting read.  Good.

AUUUUUUUTUMN IN NEW YORK ....

Yep, it's that time of year again!  The colors aren't quite as fantastical this year, due to a rainy summer and then a hot and dry September, but it's still beautiful.  

Where to start, where to start ...

Still here, guys.  Still struggling with the new job - I found out after I started that I was actually filling TWO positions.  Yeah.  So I'm just doing as much as I can every day, the supervisor seems to be happy with the amount that I am able to accomplish, and we'll see where it goes from here.  Eventually I'm going to get so far behind that they're going to have to either hire someone to fill the second position, or let me go and see if they can find someone who can work at superhuman speed, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Because of the job situation, I'm been dealing with some stress issues.  Last week my doctor tried starting me on Paxil, which made me CRAZY, so for now we're back to the Xanax, with a check-up in a few weeks.

I've been hiking, and kayaking

And I've been trapping for spay/neuter on the weekends as well.

The summer session of Foster Campers went to the adoption center, which led to the Fall session coming in two days later:

Here's their gorgeous, if EXTREMELY skittish, mama:

All of the permacats are doing fine, although I DID just see a mouse run out of my closet, meaning they need to step up their game.

I have had zero time to blog-hop, so I sure hope everyone is doing fine.  I love you, I miss you, and I'll try to post more often!

Too Long Gone

I know, guys, I KNOW.  I've just been going through some ... stuff, lately, and maintaining as best I can.  I'm starting to get a better handle on the new job, but mentally, I ain't been so hot, tbh.  I've got a doctor's appointment coming up, and hopefully things will be looking sunny again soon.

That said, things were looking EXTRA sunny today, all thanks to James P. Fitter (Ginny).

THANK YOU, Ginny.  Your thoughtfulness is truly, truly appreciated.

The Fair, you guys! THE FAAAIIIIIR!!!