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

I'm Back!

Just returned from a two week trip to Peru with Mary's college buddies known as The Farmers.  One of the Farmers is a Peruvian native so this was her "come see my home country" trip and it was marvelous!  


I'll be posting more later. 


p 

Surprise Visitors!

My good friends and coworkers Thomas and Susan dropped in this week. Susan's family lives in Reno so after the big Semicon trade show they often take time to visit her family. Otherwise, its tough to do when you live in Dresden Germany.

Thomas loves fast sets of wheels and their multi car garage in Germany is filled with all sorts of fun machinery. Well, Thomas also bought a Harley motorcycle and keeps it at Mom's place in Reno. Thus, the need to drop in this week. His bike needed a special tuning process and the place to have that done is about a mile from my house. So, Thomas made an appointment and they drove down from Reno on Thursday morning to make the special tuning appointment.

2011-07 Various

From there, they went grocery shopping for a nice BBQ dinner in exchange for the use of Humette and my guest room. Wonderful! We had a great diner of filet mignon, corn on the cob, green salad and fresh bread on the back deck. Ingrid also dropped in after work to say hello to Thomas and Susan again and to discuss visiting them during her next trip to Germany--although because of her diet, she did not fully partake of the BBQ feast.

I must admit, however, that the timing was not quite right. The Maids were supposed to be in on Wednesday and that would have been perfect because the house would have been immaculate. Unfortunately, I cancelled them because of my cold/flu and I did not want the task of preparing for them on Tuesday. Now, the place was presentable because of my clean up on Wednesday evening but it wasn't AAA rated! So, at some point during the evening, Susan grabbed my vacuum and worked on the dust bunnies!



Thomas, Susan and I, along with a bottle of wine (or was it two?) then finished the evening sitting in my dining room solving the problems of the world until the wee hours of the morning.



It was sooo good to see them! I hope his bike needs that tuning process frequently!


Thomas and Susan heading back to Reno on Friday morning! A Harley makes a lovely wake up call for the neighborhood! Fortunately, this was about 9:30 in the morning so it wasn't tooo bad.

Pat

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Location:Los Gatos

Better and Worse

On Sunday, I developed a rather substantial chill, which I assume means I also suffered from a fever. It had me down and out for almost seven hours.  This cold-flu thing is really a bother!  I did not go to work today although I felt pretty good when I awoke.  But, once I got out of bed, I found myself a touch wobbly and decided driving and contaminating my coworkers was not a good idea. After lunch I did find myself napping for a couple of hours so clearly the body is not ready for the office.

I did something very tough today. I notified FaceBook that Mary's FB page should be converted to a memorial because she died.  They have a mechanism to do that so it is happening now. I also went to change my profile to "widowed" but the software says my relationship to Mary will be severed. That I cannot do. So I haven't changed it. 

Also, I read the original blog for the month of July 2009. That was a good time. At the beginning of the month, Mary was feeling pretty darn good after the liver surgery. But then the radiation and chemo started and her strength was sapped away day by day.  I know she enjoyed what we did--just 'normal' stuff, Farmers Market followed by breakfast with friends, cooking at home and taking care of the dogs. Such simplicity but such joy for her--and for me. 

If you'd like to revisit July of 2009, click here.

My Alaska cruise friends jumped into help these last few days.  MaryR asked if there was something she could do for me while I was feeling so poorly.  I asked her to pick up some milk and saltines. I had Campbell's chicken noodle soup that needed saltines and the milk is for lattes and cereal.  She commented that I had given her the same shopping list in the early '90s when Mary was still living in Arizona and I was down with a bug of some sort.  Ingrid was shocked when I said I had Campbell's chicken noodle soup in the house. She delivered a supply of home-made German chicken noodle soup to keep me going.  I have several meals left. 

From 2010 Alaska

All in all, I am feeling better. I see the eye doctor on Wednesday and I assume that will let me sleep flat again. I am still sleeping in an upright position.  And, I am hoping I don't need to see my primary care physician because the flu-cold thingy will be gone! 

Ciao, 

p

Sick of being sick

By now, you have read about my eye problem.  On Wednesday next week, I see the eye surgeon (laser boy) and I expect to get a green light--no pun intended.  Tuesday morning I woke with a sore throat and although I didn't notice it all day, I noticed again as I went to sleep. On Wednesday morning, I knew it was a real sore throat and companion sinus cold.  Yuck. 

On Tuesday, I went to work all day because I had scheduled myself to the annual trade show, SEMICON West (click here), in San Francisco.  On Wednesday, I had planned on working in the office and by mid-afternoon my body was screaming to go lay down (or sit up in my case because of my eye).  I started Mucinex and have had a restful 24 hours so far. I hope I am feeling better enough to go to work tomorrow.  I just fixed my first meal of the day, a can of Campbell's finest chicken soup.  That matches yesterday when I had a can of Campbell's finest chicken soup.  Is there an echo in here?  I am just not hungry. 

Shawna continues to be an old dog. (Umm, excuse me, what else would she do?)  Anyway, she is now exhibiting signs that are causing me concern.  I have had to do clean up in the house daily this week.  My last trip to the vet included the purchase of a candle that is supposed to mask doggie odors. Boy, am I glad I bought that candle!  

But the fact that she is losing control of her essential functions is very concerning.  Clearly, the signals are not reaching her brain in time for her to react and get outside. Worse, when I take her out or send her out, she 'locks up' and refuses to deliver.  (How is that for euphemistic writing?)

The last time I saw the vet, she was very emphatic about Shawna being an old dog. For a couple of weeks recently, she was full of energy, dancing and running around like she was a puppy. These recent days, she is moving slow, having accidents and I often find her searching the house.  She stops the search when I touch her head or back and then she realizes which shadow she is seeing is me. Translation, I think her eyesight is pretty much gone.  

On the other hand, Wiggles is being Wiggles. Loud, noisy and brash, that dog is full of piss and vinegar.  And, she manages to start her barking campaign immediately upon my answering the phone.  Its gotten to the point that my callers say, "Oh, I'm glad I got you. I can tell because the dog is barking."  Nice, eh? I think I'll record my answering message while she is barking and really fool 'em! 

Anyway, I am expecting things to get better over the next couple of weeks.  The cold will run its course and the eye problem should get a green light next week.  Oh, to lay flat in a bed or have a massage at Ingrid's salon (click here.)!  

Ciao

p