Transate Dog to English

Lord, I wish there were a dog-to-English dictionary.  I desperately want to figure Lizzie out. Now Polly is easy to understand.  There are only three words in her vocabulary:  "food" and "lap" and occasionally "open the door."  She may seem to bark all day long, but she makes it perfectly clear that she either wants me to feed her or stop doing whatever I'm doing and sit down so she can jump in my lap or she wants to go outside.  The degree of urgency in her mind dictates the volume of her demands, but really it doesn't take much to figure it out. (She always wants to go outside around 10 at night, but then she stands on the patio and barks her "it's time to give me a treat" bark.)

Lizzie, however, is a more complex canine.  She is mostly the strong silent type and speaks more with her eyes.  When she wants something she comes to find me and then gently pokes me with her nose.  I can usually figure out what she wants by what time it is.

Both dogs used to be very happy eating dinner after Jeopardy.  In fact, the final Jeopardy "think music" was like a Pavlovian response.  As soon as the music came on, they would get up and come into the family room and start looking at me.

But they have been pushing the time back and back and back.  Now they try to get me to feed them at 3.  Both of them will come in here and first look at me and then when I don't respond, they poke me with their noses.  I don't look back and just say "no" and they turn and walk away.

But then there is Lizzie.  Whenever I let her out, she immediately goes to the back fence and barks.  It doesn't make a difference if it is night or day, dark or light.  It doesn't matter if there is someone in the next yard, a workman in a tree, or nobody.  She just stands and barks.  I give her a bit of time to bark, say 5 minutes, before calling her in.  She comes in and is just fine and content to sleep but when I let the dogs out again, there she goes to that same spot and barks.  I think if I didn't bring her in she would bark for hours and it drives me nuts because I can't figure what in the heck she is barking for.

If there is a guy pruning a tree, sure.  She's barking at him.  If there is someone in the back yard, she's barking at them.  But at 11 p.m. at night? Or at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning?  What in the world is she barking at?  She doesn't question anything if I call her in and close the door, but then an hour or so later, she'll look restless, I'll let her out and she goes back to that same spot and starts barking again. She doesn't move from her spot.  She doesn't run back and forth.  She just stands there and barks and I can't figure out what she is saying.  This has been going on for years.

The dogs are lucky.  They can't read and they don't pay attention to anything on TV (and if they did, they wouldn't care).  I actually got sick to my stomach this morning reading posts on Facebook.  Just when you thought a story was terrible, the next one is worse.  And on and on and on until I just had to get up and walk away.  I couldn't handle it.

It's surprising how many people are suffering mental problems because of the current administration.  This may be the best thing that has happened to pharmaceutical companies that make anti-depressants.

But I now have an escape from all the ugliness of the real world.  Benny and Brianna.  There was yet another letter from Bri today, with a picture of Gasper and his two friends sitting at a table.  Her letter was short, but Gasper's letter to Benny was quite long.  

Her letter inspired to make my Benny/St. Paddy's Day photo.

Then I sat down and wrote to her about Ireland and leprechauns and finding gold at the end of the rainbow.  I also told her about when her dad climbed Croagh Patrick, the hill where St Patrick built a small chapel.  All the family climbed up, but I still remember  the guy in the shop at the foot who looked at me and said "You aren't going to go up, are you?"

Somehow when you have a leprechaun on the screen and a 9 year old to write to, it's easier to forget the 70 year old child having a tantrum on the other side of the country.

Speechess

I'd never seen anything like it before.  Now, granted I've only been watching Morning Joe for six months or so...and since it runs here from 3 to 6 a.m., I don't see it often.  But in my months of watching the show I'd never seen anything like it.

Mika Brzezinski, coming to the "wrap up" part of the show, looked shell shocked following 3 hours of discussing Trump's (aka "45 because I am tired of typing his name so often!) unproven allegation of wire tapping by President Obama, summed up her feelings as saying "I used to be hopeful and open minded, but I'm no longer hopeful and my mind is closed."  Then she went around the table asking for comment from the rest of the panel, and one by one, with a look of real depression, they said essentially the same thing.  

Next you saw Brzezinski remove her microphone and start to leave the table, with still a few seconds left of the show.  The tone of the whole day had been one of deep depression on the part of anyone who was on the panel or who had been interviewed.

Even the most ardent 45 supporter (Kellyanne Conway) could only look at the camera with that Stepford Wife smile and reassure everyone that the president had access to classified information that the rest of us did not and she was going to be supportive of whatever he had to say.

A reporter from Mar-a-lago reported that 45 had arrived that weekend livid because there was still talk about the Russia ties to his campaign team.  He reported 45 had been angry when he arrived, was angry over dinner and still angry in the morning.  Presumably at the height of that anger was when he decided to go on Twitter to accuse his predecessor of something which there seems to be unanimity among Republicans (including March Rubio) and Democrats that a president is unable to do.

A lot of people are speechless over this allegation and sputtering trying to come up with something intelligent to say.

It was a day for thinking about being "speechless."

I went in the evening to see comedian Jack Gallagher in his latest one-man show.

This is his 7th show premiered at Sacramento's B Street Theater.  I first saw Gallagher at his previous show, 5 Songs.  Prior to that I only knew him as an amiable guy who did the Crystal ice cream commercials on TV.  In 5 Songs he got suggestions from the audience of five different songs in a long list of options and then he talked about each song and his memory of those songs.  It was a fun evening, an evening he now admits he doesn't really remember very well.

The new show is called Concussed; Four Days in the Dark, which tells of an incident 3 or 4 years ago when he was out riding his bike and had a collision with a car.  Gallagher flew over his handlebars and hit the window of the car (fortunately he was wearing a helmet) and ended up on the concrete.

He felt shaken but didn't think there was any damage and rode his bike home again.  Three days later he was still having headaches and having trouble with word finding.  He went to the doctor, who diagnosed traumatic brain injury and ordered him to bed in a dark room with no TV, no computer, no music, no radio, no nothing.  Just lie there for four days and allow his brain to heal itself (just the thought of lying alone in a dark room with zero distraction is enough to make me claustrophobic.  In fact, every time he got into the on-stage bed and the lights lowered, I felt a shiver of fear up my spine.)

Despite this dark subject matter, the show is alternately emotional and funny.  Gallagher is a consummate story teller and knows how to engage an audience.  In fact, I was impressed that he managed to draw everyone in at all times.  The theater isn't in the round, but kind of a u-shape and one-third of the audience is along either side of the stage, while the other third is in the center facing the stage.  Even when lying in the bed, he managed to face each 1/3 of the audience so normally that you never felt you had to watch the back of his head for long stretches of time, and it was so unobtrusive that it was only when I got home and checked out a couple of his videos that I realized how skilled he was at this.

He talked about how the scariest part for him being his difficulty with word finding.  He's a man whose entire career is based on words and finding the right phrases and knowing how to put them together to make the best script.  He had always been proud of being able to edit and then mentally cut and paste himself during a show, based on the response of the audience.

Now, like my mother and her problems with word finding, his brain didn't work right and he had a real terror of what would happen if he couldn't get it all back.

This is why he doesn't really remember 5 Songs very well.  He knows he did it, and as a member of the audience, I certainly could not detect any problem with his delivery (which is like sitting in his living room chatting, so it lends itself to covering up memory problems), but I could understand that the thought of not being able to get back the skill that had been his entire life must have been terrifying, especially lying in the dark with nothing to distract him.

As someone whose life also relies in large part on words, finding them, manipulating them and then sharing them with either readers or people with whom I am talking, I understand his terror.

His self reflection led itself to very funny bits about things like family, parenting, and growing older (he had just turned 61 on the day of the accident and as the majority of the audience had grey hair, we all laughed and nodded along with his observations).

He says that his skills have mostly returned, but he now needs a few notes on the stage, which he never did before ... you'd never know it, though, since it is done so subtly.  It's really a great show and if anybody reading this is in Sacramento, I highly recommend getting yourself to B Street to see it before it ends (April 16).  

I don't know what Jack Gallagher thinks about the current Trump brouhaha, but I suspect he would be speechless too...and glad of it.

Famous Relatives

Looks like there's no Sunday Stealing list this week, which is OK because I spent an hour live-streaming a ceremony from D.C.

It's so nice to have famous relatives.  Ernie Baur is Walt's cousin and has been in broadcasting for 50+ years (he has something like 14 Emmys).  He is one of only 17 Gold Circle honorees.  It's wonderful to live in the modern age where we can watch Cousin Nora's funeral live from Dublin, Jeri's concerts live from Boston and, today, this ceremony honoring Ernie, among others.

The 2017 honorees join an impressive group of industry professionals who have helped shape the broadcast industry and continue to influence its future. These leaders have inspired excellence and innovation in every communications discipline. Devoting a quarter-century or more to the broadcast industry, these remarkable media professionals have made significant contributions to the National Capital Chesapeake Bay community. With the induction of the 2017 honorees, the Silver Circle totals 234 and the Gold Circle totals 17.

The Gold Circle honorees are:
Ernie Baur Director Comcast SportsNet
Sid Davis Journalist & Author

I sat here doing "print screen" over and over again, and saving the results on Photo shop, so I could post some 19 photos to Facebook.

Out of high school, he got a job at a local TV station doing whatever they had for him, whether it was sweeping the floor of being the hand inside a local puppet

Along the way, he got a job in the control room and he met and married Lucille Huddleston, to whom he has been married for over 40 years.

They had a daughter, Kayleen, and then a son, Ernest Kevin, who is now himself a well respected sports director.

Ernie has been well respected in the community for many years.  I remember when they had Ernie Baur appreciation day.

and now, today, he is being honored by his peers for his 50+ years in broadcasting.

Ernie has always been a master story teller, and today he told his story as if it were a script to It's a Wonderful Life.  And it was, of course, a fun story to listen to.  And he only almost lost it once, when he spoke of wife Lucille, but he managed to hold the tears in (he did explain that he is an easy cry-er).

I'm so glad that Walt (and his brother and sister) were able to fly to DC to be there to share the day with Ernie ... and for the marvelous technology that allowed me to be there by video, if not in person.

Saturday 9

First of all, I did get upstairs finally today and I cleaned out a dresser for Caroline.  It's a start.  On that dresser was a big box full of junk but, as all boxes in this house (and there are hundreds of them), when you look inside there was a collection of photos.  I could not believe it when I looked through the photos.  The very top photo was this:

This is a photo of Jane and her two kids when they were visiting us in California many, many years ago.  That little girl next to Walt s the young woman who will be staying with us for two weeks while she takes two courses in Equine Surgery and Neurology at the vet school. Talk about serendipity!  (I think I still have that top, BTW...)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This 1980 video depicts Olivia Newton-John as a performer in small club. For the past few years, she's been performing regularly at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. Have you ever been to Las Vegas?
I've been there twice and do not like it.  Too loud, too busy, too expensive, too many people gambling (I don't gamble).  The first time we were there, we were driving through on our way to Colorado and spent the night.  David was 5 months old at the time.  The second time was for our friend Merrell's 60th birthday in 1996, shortly after David died.  We walked around a bit but didn't really do anything.  The best part of that trip was visiting the Liberace museum with a bunch of our friends, all of whom were gay guys.  It's a whole different experience going with that group!

2) Many tourists who want to get away from the glitz of Vegas travel less than 20 miles to visit Red Rock Canyon. This national park is known for its hiking trails, which provide a view of the desert flora and red rock peaks. Tell us about a time you were impressed by natural beauty.
This week around here has been gorgeous with the fluffy white clouds against a clear blue sky and blossoming trees everywhere.  I love looking at beautiful places, like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Nambung national park in Australia, and so many other places.

3) One of the best-reviewed restaurants in Las Vegas is Andiamo Italian Steak House. When you order a steak, how do you request it be cooked: rare, medium rare, medium, medium well or well done?
It depends on where we are eating.  If the restaurant is upscale enough that I know I can count on my steak really arriving medium rare, I order that, but if it's a cheapie joint, I order rare, and then it usually comes medium rare.

4) Olivia Newton-John's father was an officer in MI5, the UK's secret service. Sam's most recent encounter with the law didn't have much drama or intrigue: she asked a cop for directions to the highway. Tell us about the last time you spoke to an officer of the law.
I can't remember.  Years, I'm sure.  No particular reason, just the opportunity has not come up.

5) ONJ was awarded the OBE -- Order of the British Empire -- by Queen Elizabeth in honor of her contributions to the arts. Here's your opportunity to boast. What is something you've done lately that you received praise for?
It always tickles me when I get complimented on a review I've written.  I don't "do" much any more that warrants praise, but I am proud of (most of) my reviews.

6) A breast cancer survivor, Olivia helped found a cancer center in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. When you think of Australia, what comes to mind?
The six weeks I spent in Western Australia in 2003 -- kangaroos running wild in the bush where we walked the dogs every morning, petting a koala, watching the pink and grey galah birds everywhere, the red dirt in the outback, carpets of wildflowers, the emu who nearly ran into our car, eating meat pies and watching "footy," trying to learn the rules.

7) "Magic" was one of the top-selling records of 1980. Also that year, Post-It notes debuted. Do you enjoy shopping for office supplies, or do you consider it a chore?
Far from it.  Office supply places are some of my favorites, and I am a terrible impulse buyer, so I stay away from them unless I need something.

8) In 1980, the NASA space probe returned the first photos of Saturn back to earth. Do you believe intelligent life forms from other planets are  trying to learn more about us?
Go anywhere,  Look up into the sky at the billions of lights out there.  It is the height of egotism to think that with all those planets and stars that we are the ONLY intelligent life in the universe (and these days I'm not sure we even qualify as THAT!)

9) Random question: Are you more confident in your looks or your intelligence?
Well, it ain't my looks, that's for sure!!!

It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the TIme

I had grand plans for today.  I knew I would have the house all to myself for the whole day and what plans I had!  Caroline, our friend's daughter, postponed her trip here but she is coming on March 16 and since nothing has been done to straighten up the house, this seemed a good day to do it.  I would start with removing everything in the drawers in what will be her room, get them packed into the Blue Apron boxes and ready to take to the SPCA thrift shop.  I might even stop by the shop on my way home from the post office, where I had to mail a package.

I sat down for a bit to eat my breakfast and watch a show that I had recorded within the last couple of days so I could erase it from the DVR.  Well, that turned into two shows, but I still had time to get upstairs and do some straightening there.

But there was Swap Bot to check and it was time to send out three swaps, one of which involved writing a letter as well, so I would do those first and then I would get upstairs. 

By now it was lunch time and I had some lunch.  While I was eating lunch, the phone rang and it was my dentist's office.  Was I on my way?  It was 1 p.m.  I knew I had an appointment but had it in my calendar for 2.  I said I'd be right there.  Upstairs would have to wait, as would getting my mother's laundry out of the dryer.  i had planned on dropping it at Atria on my way home, but now I'd have to come back from the dentist, pack up the laundry and then go to Atria.

I spent 2 hours looking at the Periodic table of vegetables.

I do like Cindy's office because she always has interesting stuff affixed to the ceiling.  This was the treatment room.  She was preparing a tooth for a crown, so if my eyesight had been better I could tell you all about the various names and numbers of the veggies because I stared at them for the better part of two hours.

That's Cindy in the back of the photo there.

People think I'm crazy when I say I don't mind going to the dentist because it is always about 98% painless.  And I never mind if she has some repair work to do on the teeth that are, she tells me, disintegrating with age, because she does those procedures herself (usually I see the hygienist for cleaning) and the appointment is usually booked for two hours so in between procedures, when she has to wait for things to set or something, we have a chance to get caught up on each other's lives.  She says we have to have another lunch with her, myself, and our friend Roberta.  Roberta and I share a birthday and Cindy has, from time to time, fixed a lunch for the three of us to celebrate it.  The last one was a couple of years ago and I have not seen Roberta since, so it would be nice to have that lunch.

Anyway, I got my temporary crown put in and headed to the post office to mail my package.  At least I got that done.  It was getting a little late to visit my mother, especially since I had to go home and get her laundry first, but it would be OK  I could visit with her before she went to dinner.

But then I drove past the cemetery, which was ablaze with blossoms.

I had to drive in, say hi to the kids, and take pictures of the trees.  Where Dave and Paul are buried, the trees are still in their infancy, but in a couple of years, they, too, should be bursting with blossoms like this.

By the time I got home I decided it was too late to go to Atria after all, so I'll do that in the morning.  And it was getting so late I didn't want to start the upstairs project.  I'd get at it in the morning.

Then I got a call from the hospital reminding me that I work the information desk tomorrow and I'll have to stop at Atria first to deliver the clothes so tomorrow's not a good day for work upstairs either.

Owell....Caroline doesn't get here for a whole 13 days.  That's surely enough time, right?

Essential Technology

The one thing I miss about Logos is the days when our schedules overlapped and I got to spend a few minutes visiting with Sandy.  When I told her goodbye on our last day together, we agreed we should try to stay in touch.  She has continued volunteering and I was naturally curious to know how the store under its new management was.

We decided to have lunch and she told me to pick a place, since she doesn't get downtown to eat all that much.  I don't either, other than my monthly lunches with Kathy, which are always at Cafe Italia.  I knew Sandy liked Thai food so I suggested Thai Nakorn, which is the restaurant Walt and I go to when we want Thai.  I knew that Sandy liked Thai food.

We made the arrangements by e-mail a week or so ago and confirmed it by email yesterday.  I mentioned to Walt that we were going to lunch there and he told me that the restaurant is not open for lunch during the week (his office is next door to it).

There is another Thai restaurant, Ketmoree, a couple of blocks away so I sent Sandy an e-mail last night to suggest we meet there instead.  By morning there was no reply.  Then I realized that e-mail was the only way I had to contact her, since I didn't know her phone number.

I called Susan (from Logos) and she gave me Sandy's home and cell phone numbers.  I called both of them and got the answering machine on both, so I left messages on both machines and then, since I now had her cell phone number, also sent a text message.

I realized, trying to find her, how much we rely on technology and how frustrating it is when you have all the right tools at your fingertips, but they don't work for you!

But she did finally call back and we were all set for Ketmoree.

The place was nearly empty when we arrived at 11;30, filled with people while we were eating and by the time we had finished talking and were ready to leave the place was empty again.  At one point, the waiter, hearing us discussing politics, came over to join the discussion with us.

It was so good to have the luxury of unlimited time to sit and talk with her.  Our chats at Logos were always so abbreviated.  I really enjoy her company.

I got the scoop in Logos, which seems to be doing well, but things have changed and ... I don't know ... it made me glad not to be there still.  I'm getting old and set in my ways and I don't adapt to change well, even little ones.  I hope the library is glad that they took over the shop.  They have signed a lease for a year anyway, so that gives them 12 months to work out the kinks.

When we finally said good bye, promising to do it again, I remembered that we were out of dog food, so I drove out to Target to load up on dog food and pick up a gazillion dollars worth of $1 junk to include in letters I send to the kids.  (Lemme tell you, this correspondence stuff is work!)

On the way home, I was like a tourist marveling at everything I saw.  Spring has sprung and the blossoms are just so gorgeous.  I even took a side trip through one of the subdivision to film a blossom bank.

When I got home, there was an e-mail from Compassion saying that all of the negotiations, the letters to congresscritters, begging the government, etc. have failed and Compassion India will close its doors on March 14.  

This will leave 147,000 babies and children currently served by Compassion without their services, which include things like a good meal, teaching hygiene habits, etc.  Apparently India feels that Compassion insists the kids become Christian, which the organization insists is not true, though they partner with local churches to use their facilities.

Compassion is not the only organization being denied access to the children, but any group which is spiritually based is being shut down.  Since India has 30% of the world's population of children in need of these services, this seems like an unnecessarily harsh decision on the part of the new Indian government (which came to power 2 years ago).

But perhaps India is dealing with its own version of a sociopath who does not know the meaning of the word "empathy" and who is not swayed by the feelings and needs of the people, merely sticking to his own agenda.

The world is changing and it's becoming not a pretty place.

I will miss my two Indian kids very much, especially Anjali, without whom I would never have become a Compassion sponsor in the first place.

Best $40 EVER

A year or so ago, I was at Michael's Craft Store and found a beautiful arrangement of artificial red carnations.  Michael's has great artificial flowers and I check the store periodically for flowers for my mother, who can't remember to take care of real flowers any more.  This one was gorgeous but would have been much too expensive except that it was about 50% off, or $40.  A chunk, but what the heck.

It has turned out to be the very best thing I ever bought her.  I can't think of a single time when she has not suddenly noticed the arrangement, as if for the first time, and said "aren't those roses beautiful?"

I have bought other artificial arrangements and live bouquets, but nothing since the carnations arrived has pleased her nearly as much as this bouquet.  It has, in the long run, saved me a lot of money because I know I don't have to spend money on flowers any more.  This arrangement is "new" every time she looks at it and her delight in seeing these beautiful "roses" is genuine each time.

(this isn't it, but it's similar--her arrangement
is bigger, more spread out, and in a basket)

Today I decided to go for lunch, since it had been a busy weekend and I can't remember if I visited her over the weekend.  But I got there and it was parked solid.  Nothing in the Atria parking lot, nothing in either direction on the street and I was too lazy to park in the shopping center 2 blocks away.

["Too lazy" is only part of the reason...my back is giving me fits and I hope my doctor has some suggestions when I see her next week.]

I decided what the heck -- let's go out to eat again.  

Well...fortunately as I was talking to her on the phone to try to get her to come to the car so we could go out, someone in the parking lot pulled out and I was able to park after all.  Trying to absorb that I couldn't find a parking place and would take her to lunch was entirely too complicated for her to comprehend.

She said "I don't understand a word you're saying, but I'll be here when you get here."  

There is no way I could have guided her through the complex actions of putting on her jacket, getting her purse, and coming to the front of the facility, nor could I leave my car in the passenger zone.

It was clear from the get-go that this was a worse than usual memory day.  For example, she was reading a book written by her friend Father Joe O'Looney, a book she had typed when he wrote it.  I mentioned the book, which she couldn't find, because it was lying under the fresh cookies I had brought.  When she found the book, she thought she would read it because it looked interesting and "you typed it" made absolutely NO dent in her memory process.

She thumbed through the pages, and stuck at the back of the book ws a card. She took the card out, opened it and read the birthday greetings from Peggy Kerr, a former Atria resident who had become my mother's friend.  I wasn't surprised that she didn't remember who that was, but she put the card back in the envelope, closed the book, put the card on top of the book put the book back on the table and then "saw" the card for the first time and opened it to read it again, again not knowing who Peggy was.

Over lunch, her worsening word-finding was blatant, as she could not remember the word for anything and just substituted any word that popped into her head for what she wanted to say, or in indicating my cup of coffee, waved her hand and said "that.....that...that whatever you have in your cup."

I've also noticed that people used to stop and talk with her in the dining room, but they don't seem to do that any more.  She mentioned the beautiful white hair on "that woman over there" with whom she used to eat every day, but who is now a stranger to her.

It was time to pick up her laundry and I just despaired of her ever learning how and where to put her dirty laundry.  The waste basket was stuffed full of underwear mixed with puddle pads, including a pair of socks, one of which seemed to be smeared with feces (though I could not find any other clothes smeared with feces).  The bag in which I carry her laundry home with me was also a mixture of pads and pants and the laundry hamper was almost empty.

No point in trying to explain it to her.  I tried that before and it was way beyond her ability to comprehend.

I didn't leave depressed, the way I usually do, just sad that she seems to have taken another step downward.  I sure wish I could have one more conversation with my mother, but I fear that is no longer possible.

But i sure am glad I gave her those carnations.  I bring joy to her life every time she looks at them, even though she has no clue where they came from.