Pumpkin it is, then!

Shawna has been eating 90% of each feeding with the pumpkin on the food!  Great news!  I have been making up for the 10% by giving more treats than usual but I think I am using good treats for our girl.  And, she has only had one accident in the house this week so things are good! 


My sister, Sister Maureen CSJ, sent a note about our Grandma not returning to Ireland for a visit.  Ah, family stories can be such fun. 


As my sister explained, Grandma was (how shall I say it?) tight with a penny.  Grandma and Grandpa did not drive a car, in fact they did not own one. They lived two doors away from the trolley (later bus line) line so they could get around, but a car was too much.  This also caused my Mom to want to live within walking distance so that visiting would be so much easier.  


Mom did drive and often took Grandma shopping.  I can remember often going on the Saturday grocery shopping trips. Sometimes, Grandma would not go but instead ask Mom to pick up a few things.  When Mom delivered, Grandma reimbursed her to the penny for the items purchased.  And never, never offered gas money or even a 'tip' for the service or a "keep the change."  It was always to the penny. (This benefitted both my sister and I because Mom would send us to the local "mom and pop" market for items as needed.  And she always let us "spend the change." I can remember picking up 3 half gallons of milk and getting a dime change from a dollar bill.) 


The theory now is that Grandma didn't want to go back to visit the relatives for a very simple reason.  The immigrants who left Ireland were expected to send money back for those who stayed behind.  After all, the streets in America were paved with gold! But Grandma was, as I mentioned, tight with a penny.  So sending money for some unidentified expenditure did not fit her image of what money was all about--especially her money.  The supposition is, therefore, that Grandma was more than a few dollars in arrears in supplying funds to the family.  And, any visit to the old country would highlight the rather noticeable lack of payment for, just guessing, six and one half decades--just for a number. One does not really want to go visit people to whom one owes money!  


My parents and my sister visited Ireland after Grandma died and some members of the family still lived in old, old dwellings with dirt floors. I don't think the money would have gone to waste.  Of course, to an Irishman, drink is not a waste by definition. 


My sister also related that after Grandma died, she and Mom spend days going through every scrap of paper that had been filed, stored or otherwise was laying around Grandma's house. Why?  Because one innocuous envelope contained $800 in cash (early '70s), quite a nice amount of money (my new Mustang cost $2,600 just a few years earlier so $800 was some real money!)  Maureen reported they did not find anymore but knowing they might caused them to inspect every possible nook, cranny, document and envelope!  


And for my long-term readers, you know the story of my Mom's stash of money and Mary's stash of...deodorant!  Click here for that story. 


Ciao


P

More late news

For those wondering about my torn retina, it isn't--anymore. I saw Dr. laser-boy today and he said my retina is just fine.  (Of course, he did the repair so what else would he say?) He recommended I visit my regular ophthalmologist in about 3 months as a follow up but I don't need to see him again unless I start to see new floaters and flashers...

We had a nice chat about travel. I had asked him in July if there was any risk in going to Peru (altitude) with my eye condition.  His answer was, "No more risk than you would have being here doing similar things."  He remembered and asked me about the trip because he would like to visit Peru some day.  As we discussed, it turns out he had two boys, pre-teenagers and he and his spouse take a "big trip" with the boys every other year and have been to many places around the globe.  I suggested Peru and Australia--the great barrier reef, of course.  

Interestingly, he takes his family back to Egypt annually and reward miles from those trips help pay for the bi-annual big trips.  How things have changed. My maternal grandparents arrived from Ireland in the 1890s and during their lives never returned to Ireland. In fact, I don't think they ever even called (telephone was too expensive).  I remember one family dinner where my uncle, their son, offered to take them back to Ireland just for a visit to see the old sod to see relatives and friends.  The answer was very simple and quick.  "No."  I don't know why, they would have flown because my uncle proposed it as an airplane trip to New York and then to Shannon airport.  "No" was the repeated and consistent answer.  We never knew why.

The world certainly has changed.  

The dog world is a little bit brighter today. I returned to an old feeding method we used with Shawna and Wolfie for years.  I stopped at the store and picked up some Libby's Pumpkin and added a generous tablespoon to Shawna's kibble feeding tonight.  For the first time in a week, she ate 90% of what was in the bowl. I had been measuring the "leftovers" he last couple of days and she has been consistently eating less than half of her normal portion so 90% is HUGE!  Here is hoping it continues to work to get food into her. 

And no, I do not let Wiggles eat the leftovers. I don't want her to gain anymore weight, she is at the upper limit now. I learned today that during the big dinner event I held last month, one of the guests admitted they were feeding table scraps to the dogs and Wiggles was more than willing to take anything offered.  Here is a picture of my coworker, Liliya, and Wiggles after Wiggles had pigged out, begging from the guests.

I just checked and I realized I did not post about the August dinner. Actually, two dinners. One of my former team members at Applied along with her husband and two married couples love to put on big dinner productions once a month.  And, they do this by "borrowing" someone's house to host the event.  Well, the borrowed my house on March 26 (yes, the same day I returned from China) and more recently, August 20.  Deepika manages everything, the invitee list, the food, the tables and chairs, drinks...everything. As host, I need to be around in case they are looking for some kitchen device that is not in an obvious place. 

In this picture, you can see that Deepika and her friends bring their own table to extend my dining room table to hold 22 guests.  On the left is my coworker, Lilyja, the "feeder of the dogs" guest.

I gave my point and shoot camera to the guests with instructions to take a picture, any picture. We are in Silicon Valley and here is a smartphone screenshot!  

Here we have the three hostesses who work their tails off preparing the meal for all the guests: Ankur, Dee and Tricia.  And, of course, the host in the blue shirt. 

Enough for tonight.  More later. 

Ciao

Pat

Well, Sort of Back...

When I returned from Peru, I was immediately engulfed in preparation for our annual Strategic Plan.  Well, the SR work had me doing long hours and even weekends for the first time in a long time. It meant this blog has been ignored, sorry! 

How am I doing? Overall, pretty well. I managed to get on my bike a few times but not nearly enough.  I also enjoyed a two night stay in Carmel at a friend's birthday party.  It was a lot of fun, especially since I managed to help some of my friend's friends crash the party by flying in from Maryland unannounced and uninvited.  The birthday girl was totally taken aback by the appearance of this lovely couple she had not invited because "they'll be unable to come."  Wrong!  

My friend, MaryR, had more surgery a few weeks ago.  It is related to her neck surgery from 2008 and the docs were very positive about how they got what they went in for. She was home in just 4 days and a week later (Sunday 11th) was driving and she met me for breakfast.  All in all, a pretty strong come back but she still has a lot of healing to do.  

Shawna is causing me some difficulty.  Ingrid reported Shawna was not eating and vomiting while I was in Carmel. Since then, it takes me about 30 minutes to coax Shawna to eat about 1/2 of her food at each feeding.  I haven't detected any vomiting and she is pretty good at not messing in the house but it still happens.  Mary was such a genius for putting tile floors down!  It really pays off when you have an old dog. 


As for Peru, I have not processed my pictures yet. But here is a link to postings from my fellow travelers.  Click here. 

Anyway, time to re-engage at work. 

Ciao! 

P