You know, up until a year or so ago, reading about the global Spanish flu pandemic from a century ago seemed like so much abstract history, like something that couldn’t possibly happen in this age of modern medicine and advanced technology. So… that happened. I’ve been fortunate; Friday, March 13, 2020 was the last day… Continue reading Pandemic life
Category: Home
RIP Dog
Our dog Porter had been ailing for a time—a mix of allergies, bad legs and joints, a ruptured disc, and possible Cushing’s, among other things—and sometime in the wee hours of Friday morning last it all finally caught up with him and he passed away fairly peacefully. I’m not delving into sentiment or stories, suffice… Continue reading RIP Dog
Robot garbage can
That’s the new toy in the house from this weekend: a garbage can whose lid opens automatically (via infrared sensor). It was from Costco, but I can’t find it on their site to pull up a picture; and since I’m too lazy to go look at the brand on the actual thing itself, you’ll just… Continue reading Robot garbage can
Mortality
One year and two weeks after we lost our first cat, we lost our second cat today. We had to have him put to sleep, the same as before; he was essentially end-stage advanced urinary tract disease. We’d spent the last two weeks doing everything we could for him. This was our cat Lucifer. He… Continue reading Mortality
Blogday, Earth Day, and a lawn rant
When I said “the first part of my day” in my earlier post today, I really had no idea that actually meant “the entire day.” Somehow I always undershoot these estimates with the misplaced optimism… like also thinking I’d only need one load of compost… In order to topdress the lawn with compost, I had… Continue reading Blogday, Earth Day, and a lawn rant
Smoke alarm batteries
Beep! Yesterday afternoon one of the smoke alarms started the intermittant beeping that indicates when the battery is getting low. These are smoke alarms that are actually wired directly into the electrical system of the house, but have nine-volt batteries in them for backup (in case the power goes out). No biggie, I knew we… Continue reading Smoke alarm batteries
Snow drifts!
Not only was it about six degrees this morning in Bend, but we woke up to blowing snow and snow drifts in our backyard and cul-de-sac. Fun! You can see the ground in some spots, others are buried in drifts up to six inches deep. On the radio they claimed it was an Arctic front… Continue reading Snow drifts!
Bad, bad day
I may not be posting much this weekend. Today we had to have our oldest cat, Bob, put to sleep. He had a cancerous intestinal tumor that was inoperable. He was also 12 years old, he lived a long good life; we’d raised him from a kitten so this is especially hard. …it’s like losing… Continue reading Bad, bad day
Almost seemed like a long weekend
Seemed long because we had so much going on. Friday night my wife and I stayed at the Pine Ridge Inn here in town for an early anniversary trip (my mother stayed with the kids). While having dinner at Cork Friday night, I happened to see an old friend walk by the window, and this… Continue reading Almost seemed like a long weekend
June!
June already? Geez, where’d the time go? It’s not like May wasn’t a full month… some highlights: Put together a monster swingset Dental cleaning… with novocaine. I had two back teeth that needed periodontal work and scaling. Nasty stuff. My mouth was sore for days afterward. The end of the TV season (I have another… Continue reading June!