Busy weekend but Great

This is the weekend of my 3 day Assembly. We have been at our new assigned location at the Turnersville Assembly Hall in southern New jersey. This is quite the change from the rural setting of Buckingham PA. Though they did a really nice job of setting the hall back in a heavily wooded area. The trees are full of yellow finches and the air is full of their song. The program has been full of much needed reminders and (spoiler alert) we have had 2 interesting releases. We have been driving home each day, about 1.5 hours each way so not any longer then Buckingham, just not backroads, instead all Turnpike and ACE. Sim's parents are staying in a motel near by, and for the 1st time I can rememberthere was an announcement about a hotel from the stage. Of course it was the motel that they are staying in. Bait and switch pricing, holes in ceilings, and bugs. Fortunitly they have not had any of this but it sounds like a lot of others have. Motel is off the official list. Session getting ready to start. Later all.

I've added some new painful words to my list

I learned new words that cause pain to my heart. "I miss my kitty..." When your wife looks at you with tears in her eyes and you see that deep pain in her face, those words cut you to the heart.  They hurt because you know that there is nothing that you can do to take the pain away. Only time can do that. All you can do is be there as much as you can for her. Each day gets a little better. The pain comes and goes. I keep as busy as I can, but she is at home with moments that can drag by like hours.  When the one you love hurts, so do you. I learned that I can't be her "Rescue Man" every time, but I can be her support in times like these...

A Bad Day

What started off as a great day has ended very bad. Our 18 year cat, Onyx has passed away. She was my adopted child since I married Sim. She brought us great joy with her quirky ways and whiskey voiced meow. She loved everyone and rendered purrs easily. She would sit tall and give us "tuxedo action". A position where her black and white long fur would stand out, she would sit up tall, with front paws together and look so regal. The white triangle running across her chest. She looked the part of a queen. While gumpy sometimes she brought joy and love to all she touched. "Niff" as I nicknamed her, loved sitting in windows and watching the birds outside. She loved to be held in your arms, cradled like a child, with her belly being rubbed. She always met the service group on Sundays in our living room. She had what we know now was a stroke a little after lunch time on Saturday that left her paralyzed on the right side. We rushed her to the animal clinic in Tinton Falls. There we had to leave her for a few hours while tests were run. Then the phone call came that we all really expected. There was nothing that could really be done. She was not getting control of her right side back and X-rays taken also showed a large mass in her chest and another in her abdomen by her liver. The decision was made for us... We headed back with her favorite toy and treats. Simmy held her in her arms and we got a last chance to play with her, She ate handfuls of treats and gave us her loudest and deepest purrs known as to us as "diesel engine" purrs. She was happy. And then it was time. She went to sleep. And then everyone cried and cried. Today hasn't been much better. Everything reminds us of her from toys she hide around the house to her shed fur in places where she slept. How a little cat can take such a hold on your heart is hard to imagine, but not having children, our cats are our lives. She has left a hole in our hearts that will take a while to heal, and she will forever live in our memories with thoughts of the joys she shared in our lives.


Onyx Bredal-Bell (Click here for Picture)
Age: 18
Rescued from the animal shelter in Clearwater, FL by Simmy and her Mom. She was found living in the wild around Crest Lake Park. She was loved by all she met.
She died Saturday June 21, 2008 at 7:30 PM

Thank you Niff for all the fun and laughs...

Saturday Morning with the Duck Family

Having coffee with the ducks in the backyard. Just filled the feeders and the birds are coming from everywhere. Bird music fills the air.

Twitters from Roz

Twiter was one of those fun things to try on the web but now I am enjoying founding Roz Savage via her tweets and blog as she rows across the Pacific.  thats right rows.  she left from San Francisco and is heading for Australia. I starting hearing about her on the TWIT podcasts. The technology involved in tracking, twittering, and phone interviews via satellite really emphasizes the what can be done today. Besides it fun to hear from her via the phone interviews (available in iTunes at Roz Rows or at the TWIT website) or her daily tweets on what she is doing.  Imagine having this technology as the astronauts went to the moon. 

Great Weekend

Got the entire yard mown, trimmed all the planters, dug out a new bed and got my watermelon spouts in the ground. The pool was stabilized and I got in it several times.  The sun was out and I got slightly burned. Even took the time to sit around the firepit and watch the birds go to roost.  Sim even had the time to give me a pedicure so feet are now sandal ready for summer.  Mudslides and Capt-n-cokes.  All in all a great weekend.

» Bo Diddley has died

Bo Diddley, the American rhythm and blues singer who was a pivotal figure in the development of pop music, died aged 79.

Had Diddley been able to copyright the hypnotic and highly distinctive rhumba-like beat that was his musical trademark he might have been able to retire many years ago as a very wealthy man, rather than having to eke out a living in his old age, playing night-clubs, as his health deteriorated…

His first single, ‘Bo Diddley‘, backed with ‘I’m A Man’, became a number one hit on the R&B charts in 1955, leading to Diddley becoming the first black performer to appear on Ed Sullivan’s hugely influential TV showcase of new talent.

Ironically, Diddley had been told not to perform his hit, but to sing Tennessee Ernie Ford’s ‘Sixteen Tons’ instead. But Diddley went ahead and played his own song. ‘Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him’, Diddley would reflect later. ‘Said that I wouldn’t last six months’.

Simply by sticking with what he knew and did best, Diddley never went out of fashion. Over the years he performed as an opening act for the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and the Clash.

» Bo Diddley has died Dvorak Uncensored: General interest observations and true web-log.

Pringles can designer dies; remains buried in Pringles can

 

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Dr. Fredric J. Baur was so proud of having designed the container for Pringles potato crisps that he asked his family to bury him in one.

His children honored his request. Part of his remains was buried in a Pringles can - along with a regular urn containing the rest - in his grave at Arlington Memorial Gardens in Springfield Township.

Dr. Baur, a retired organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Procter & Gamble, died May 4 at Vitas Hospice. The College Hill resident was 89.

Link (Thanks, Tomatillo!)

[Boing Boing]

Pringles can designer dies; remains buried in Pringles can

New summer of fun

Quick snap of the new grill. Already using it on the weekends. Did ribs this weekend. Steak tonight.

Waiting for the pool to open

The ducks have been back for a few months and are patiently waiting for the pool to open again for the summer. They don't want to buy their beach tags ;->