Opinion

I just got done reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. There were questions of the author in the back of the book. Coelho had an interesting observation about religion...which mimics mine. He said that organized religion is great for the discipline and community. However organized religion was bad in that they all think they have "the one truth", whereas they all point to the same light. Wow.

Good-bye May

One of my co-workers retired today. There are only five people who have worked at the bookstore longer than I have and May is one of them. It will be sad for her to be gone. She is moving to Texas to be closer to her daughter and her grandson. That is really where she needs to be.

The bookstore threw a cupcake party for her retirement. We had a great assortment of cupcakes. Someone was very creative in placing all the cupcakes on the table. There were lots of tears and the "boys" just tried to stay out of the way.

"Hey, Hey, Good Lookin'"

Last night I went to Old Town Battle Grounds A Coffee House again to listen to music. I thought it was suppose to be fiddlers but it wasn't. I enjoyed it anyway. It was The Fargher Lake Boys and Wayne. I would liked to have listened to Wayne some more, but I needed to get home before dark. The Fargher Lake Boys did some old time gospel, blue grass and old country. I knew a lot of the songs and was tapping my feet. Some women came in with their kids so some girls were dancing. Wayne did jam with the boys for a couple of songs and it was really nice listening to it.
Mom was suppose to go with me, but she got a better offer in that my brother took her out to dinner. Sandy and Greg had thought about going, but must have either forgotten or had other things come up. I sat in the back by myself and had a sandwich and a soda. Figured I should not just go to listen to music. I felt bad that I didn't bring cash to leave as a tip for the musicians. Maybe I will remember next time.

More Spring

Six Bits

My friend Sandy invited us to come listen to her and her friend Greg play at the Old Town Battle Grounds A Coffee House last night. So Mom, Audrie and I went out for dinner and then over to the coffeeshop for music. We didn't realize that there were a number of performers. Right before Sandy and Greg was a fiddler who was quite pleasing to listen to. Audrie was enraptured with the music. Then Sandy and Greg got up to play some blue grass. They call themselves Six Bits. Audrie liked that too, although after an hour she was getting a bit fussy. So we walked around and looked at the grounds. She really was good though and the music was awesome for a free Friday night.

Next week they have some fiddlers from Fargher Lake area coming to play. We may go listen to them also.

RIP Mishka

We bought Mishka in the fall of '95. She was a little black bundle of fur. She was Mama's dog for sure. Over the years we weathered trips to the vet for shots, trips to the groomers for haircuts, surgery for a tumor in her ear and seizures. When she first had her seizures I didn't expect her to have a long life. The big seizures went away and she had these little minor things where she would make circles under tables, plants and trees. The vet said they were a kind of seizure and she did this all her life with it all the time at the end, but her circle was now the whole house. Or maybe she was OCD.

Anyway time passes and she lost her sight and her hearing. She was having a tough time walking or standing on slick surfaces like the kitchen floor. Then her fur starting falling out and it was time for that final trip to the vet. Dave had made a casket for her and the hole was dug. Dave wanted to be with us but the time had come and the final trip to the vet is for the dog, not the people. So Mishie and I made that trip. Reminisced with Dr. Eric because Mishka was one of his first patients as he had just gotten out of vet school when we got her. He told me he could tell she was so very tired. After her little sedative I got to hold her. It is the first time in a long time I was able to do that as she didn't want anyone touching her the last few months. Mishka has now gone to that place where all dogs go when they are tired and done here. In her casket she has her collar with her special name tag, her leash, her favorite quilt and a brand new ball so she can play wherever she ends up.

Portland Rescue Mission

A few years ago I decided that I needed to do more in the way of sharing what I have. Since I was working I no longer had extra time. So money was the way to go. About that time we got a flier in the mail asking for money for the Portland Rescue Mission. Must have been Thanksgiving or something. So I sent them a little something. A receipt came back asking how often I might like to contribute. Monthly, weekly, holiday, etc. By this time I am thinking I want to keep my money more in my community and we have a homeless shelter in our county. So I checked the box for holiday.
They kept their end of the bargain. They mail me an envelope on the major holidays and I send them a check back. Has worked out fine. Till this year. They sent me the Easter envelope and somehow I spaced it. I'm sure the envelope is still on my desk somewhere.
So I get this phone call this week from them. They inform me it is a once a year call at best and that with the economy they are struggling a bit. Aren't we all. And I think quick on my feet that day and tell him if he sends me an envelope I will send them a check for $20 being as how I missed Easter. He thanks me for my great generosity, verifies my address and gets off the phone. What I appreciated was he never prompted me for any amount to donate, just asked if I could and would. I especially like that they do what they say they will do and not bug me anymore than that.
My envelope came yesterday and goes back out today.

Gym

So Tanya and I are gym buddies. We joined one of the local gyms under a buddy program which got us a pretty good deal. I just needed a treadmill to start working my knee in a positive way. Tanya is looking for the extra push to lose a little weight. We are into our third week. We have three days a week scheduled with each other. I try to sneak in at least one other day. We are slowly working our routine up. I am at the point now that I sweat and my knee handles it fine. Tanya is doing well. The first day she overdid it greatly and learned to back off a bit and work up to it.

Bonding

Papa got to spend a little quality time with Audrie before his trip to Brazil. She must have thought he made a comfortable bed.

Audrie is Mobile

Well we have Audrie tonight. The first thing she showed us was that she has mastered rolling in both directions. She is mobile. Takes a little while to move anywhere but she is doing it. Crawling must be next.

Amanda

So Amanda was wearing a headband at work the other day. I came up behind her and it looked like a rubberband. So I asked her why she was wearing a rubberband. She informed me it was a headband to which I replied that it looked like a rubberband. She said when she went home her dad wanted to know why she was wearing a shoelace on her head. Methinks she needs to buy cooler headbands.

Rush Week Again

Time sure flies. It is rush week again at work. Brenda and I are working long days. I am playing security again and my knee does not like it. Who knew that just standing could be so much work. Anyway....
The people seem calmer this quarter. Enrollment is still up, but it seemed pretty quiet today. There seems to be a lot of older gentlemen. And boy do they flirt. I have been flirted with more in the last two days than the last twenty years. And Roger, one of our computer guys, bought me a candy bar. I saw Fadi today and that just made my day. I didn't see him last quarter at all and was wondering if he had left or not. I asked him about it and he told me he had his people do his shopping last quarter. Funny young man. He was very very surprised that I remembered his name when he only told it to me once. Humble. Suits him wonderfully. His face lit up when I told him I had blogged about him and would never forget his name.
One more long day and then we start shortening them up. I will like that.

New Skills

We had Audrie overnight last night. So this morning she figured out how to roll from her tummy to her back all by herself. We've been working on back to tummy and she is really close to that. Then later I put her in her jump-up and she figured out how to jump. What a girl.