halt stop forget relax

 insert picture here I was the youngest of five;  I have four older brothers. I like to say that ours     was a military family . . .  family planning by war (a different kind of rhythm method). My Dad was in the Navy, and my parents met at a USO dance. They got married in 1938. They had Jack in 1939, and Bill in 1941.  Then came WWII and dad spent most of his time at sea. WWII ended with a bang (or two). Dad's ship was being overhauled in Bremerton, WA, so I guess he had shore duty. So then they had Jim in 1946, and Bob in 1948.  Then came the Korean War, and Dad was off to sea again. After the war ended my Dad retired in 1954, and (surprise!), they had me in 1955. My Mom was peri- menopausal at 42, hence the surprise. But they got what they were waiting for ... a  girl. So there was a sixteen year gap between Jack and me. I have only a few memories of growing up with him. I may write about them,  but probably not. ...

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but typing is a pain in the ---. Since our weather has been so crappy, I've only gotten out in the neighborhood once. Turns out that I need new batteries, which  hopefully I will be getting next week, thanks to the NMSS and my MS Navigator, Maren. It will be nice to get our and about once the weather warms up. Meanwhile, between getting caught up on House of Cards and the entire 5th season of Orange is the New Black (the writing on those two shows is so good), and watching the Spring Season wind down on all my regular shows, I've been doing crossword puzzles and reading. I know I've missed a few, like Britt-Marie was Here was one   (I'm not hunting down book jackets at this point, though).  So here is my list... Mr. Monk  Pretty much just like the television series which garnered Tony Shaloub many Emmy's.       T he Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend A woman from Sweden arrives...

You've probably already seen this one,  but it is a favorite of mine, so I'll share. Oh,poor doggie Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,  

How do I go about naming a pet? Usually I rely on books, but not always.  CATS: Sam George Tigger  ???  (drawing a blank) . . .  Oh Yeah! Sushi! How could I forget Sushi? Mayday Gus (Caesar Augustus) Worf Purnima Nishita Rajah Dogs Bo (Bonapart Pierre III) J.J. Sheba Galadriel Tinuviel Radagast Beulah Romy (Romeo) My backyard is a pet cemetery with Mayday, Gus, Worf, Tinuviel, and Radagast buried back there. Some are in the dirt under shrubs or trees, and others are under the lawn where they may rest in peace. I bet you can't guess which ones we named and which came to us already named. Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,

My first cats were Sam and George; their Mom belonged to my aunt who lived across the street, and whose name was Suki (the cats' aunt, not mine); she lived in the basement by day and could be coaxed up to the crack in the bottom step of the porch where i would stop by now and then to talk to her. They were Siamese. Sam was sleek and smart whereas George was pudgy and dumb. Both were good lap cats, and Sam was a great mouser. We would call them in to dinner just by calling their names out once and the rattling the can opener; they would come running within a few minutes for their split can of Friskies. I lived across the alley from a Masonic Temple. Once a month they would have a big social. In the Summer my next door neighbor and friend would get our baby buggies and go out and sit in the front to watch the ladies and their nice evening gowns. They would ask to see our babies and Jo would proudly pull back blanket to show off her Tiny Tears doll. She'd often get a dime or ...

What I read in March/April A Man Called Ove   by Fredrick Backman My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (same author) Dewey, the Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vickie Myron These are the books that I either finished in  March or m in the middle of right now. Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,

My first dog was a run-away who ended upon  the porch of my brother's friends  house. They couldn't  keep him because not only was he a big dog, but they had no yard to speak of, and someone in the family was allergic. That's why  his next stop was our house; we had a big back yard and were between cats at the time. I remember sitting on the sofa while watching TV when this dog came galumphing through the house, scaring the bejeezus out of me (I was always a cat person), then on to the dining room where he curled up at my Mom's feet, apparently happy to stay if we would have him. So stay he did; my Dad hooked up a sturdy line that connected the house to the garage, and when we tethered Bo to it he had the ability to go 25 feet between the two and another 18 feet from side to side. Still, that wasn't enough room for him to roam. That Summer Dad fixed the gaps in the fence which made things a little better. Bo was a cross between an Alaskan Malamute and a German...

Every family has its stories, and mine is no different, but there is one that I am asked by my nephew to repeat at our family gatherings so often that I thought I would share it with you here. First I have to set the stage. This was during the Spring/Summer of the "flight from Fresno" in the early 1980's, when my brother lost his business and had to  move back home for awhile until he got his footing. So he and my sister-in-law, and their two dogs (Candy, a Bull-Mastiff, and Ming, a Maltese) moved in. I had moved back home the year  before, and then I was diagnosed with MS. Once that happened my dad had another bedroom/bathroom built onto the first floor of the house, just off the living room to make the house wheelchair accessible for me. This way there was an extra room upstairs which became our guest-room; still, my SIL often just slept on the sofa downstairs. My Dad was always an early riser, as was my SIL. The rest of us are night owls and usually slept in, b...

                                               I overlapped The Red Notebook from the library with Heat (an 87th precinct mystery) on my Kindle. I am just several pages away from finishing Britt-Marie was Here and am about to start Fredrick Backman's previous book My Grandmother Asked Me to  Tell You She's Sorry .  On hold at the library for A Man Called Ove, so I guess I'm reading his books inn reverse order. Backman is another writer from Sweden who has written some very popular books, but they are very different from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (millennium  series)  by Stieg Larsson. So some happy reading for me to balance out my computer time and TV-on-the -computer time. Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,

My latest book of 2017 was The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurant. It is about a middle aged widow who is a small bookstore owner who happened upon a woman's handbag on a rubbish pile on a Paris sidewalk. Not wanting it to get picked up by the trash collectors, he brought it home... and thus began his quest to find it's rightful  owner. Good Night, TTYL,and Be Well,

I  would like to start off the new year by vowing to telling the truth. I mean, would I lie to you?  I  don't think so. But a lie by omission is still a lie, right? Listen up MS organizations - that was meant for you. As limited as my life is, being bedridden and very nearly paraplegic,  it really isn't that bad. I'm generally content, and I am not the one who has to clean up my messes;  to wit, when I shit in my diaper, I don't have to wipe my own ass. No, that job goes to my DH or my caregiver. Today was shower day, and because of all the antibiotics I've been on, my bowel regimen is all messed up (so to speak); instead of sitting in the tub, I decided to use the shower chair, and it was a good thing I did, too, because once I was done with the shower, and was back in the sling, I started to poop... in the tub, well, if I was taking a bath instead of a shower there would be no getting clean without a follow-up shower ... which would, in a Januar...

I was a very sick girl. I had the tri-fecta of infections; a Bladder infection, Bacterial Vaginitis, and  a bad case of Cellulitis. I went to St Joseph Medical Center on December 27. I was given  picc line through which I received four different antibiotics which killed off the various  germs that were the cause of my ilIs. I came home on January 3. On New Year's Eve DH and I watched New Year's at the Needle on  TV. I am doing well, and am getting better as I type and you read. Happy New Year to all. EXIT (Pursued by a bear) The Winter's Tale  Act 3, Sc. iii