Every day's a holiday

Back to normal for a few days

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 22:39:35 GMT

The GDs haven't landed yet in Boston. Their flight was delayed half an hour or so but they easily made it through a mostly empty security line and onto the plane. At Juliette's age I'd already spent a summer on my own at a summer job in South Carolina. The gig and living arrangements were all made by my father but executed by me without much assistance when I was still 16. In retrospect my parents prepared me much more than these two for living in the world. I did not, of course, appreciate what they did but I sure as hell was independent.

I think what surprises me the most is that neigher of the girls use computers or actually know how to use computers. Other than getting to their games and texting systems they don't much know how to use their phones. They neither one had downloaded the SouthWest Airlines app and their father checked them in and texted them their boarding pass before I had a chance to make them do it themselves.

Younger than Juliette and Lil by a few years, my two sons travelled from Boston to Texas to visit my wife (previous edition) and me. Their flight was diverted and as this was before cell phones we were unaware that their flight was landing in Houston about the time we got to DFW. We found out when we were paged over the intercom. My sons had found a public telephone and called DFW, had us paged, and told us they were in Houston and what the flight was for the Houston to DFT leg. I'm sure they had help from the stewardesses but I suspect they would have figured it out.

Some of it is the male/female divide but much of it was just making them solve problems on their own.

We had the girls for two days so that is not even long enough to learn who they are much less do anything about it. I did discover that at 17 Juliette has neither driver's license nor permit. I'd had my own car and drove from North Carolina to South Carolina by myself before that age. She says she is too scared to drive. I bought her a journal for what will soon be her 18th birthday "Do one thing each day that scares you" and will send it to her once I've got it wrapped.

They don't like AI and seem to think that saying that absolves them of dealing with the issue. This is mostly Juliette who has some artistic potential. She's interested in medical art science and feels like AI has taken her future job. My thought was get over it and don't be a victim at 17. It stunts your growth. But I didn't say anything. They are standing on the edge of the pool worried that the water might be wet.

That age group and mentality does not happen in a vacuum. I suspect that the group of high school seniors she hangs out with share that view of their future being stolen rather than the fact that they have a new future that is open to so many varied possibilities that no one alive can envision what or when. That was true for my generation but is even more so for theirs.

As I write this I'm thinking that I need to write a letter to her to put with the book.

Anyway, it was fun. On the way to the airport Juliette, the 17 year old, asked if there was a Buc-ees we could stop at on the way. I had to tell her that there was one an hour north of us and an hour south but nothing in the actual Austin area. Had we another day we would have gone to see the dinosaurs with a Buc-ees stop on the way. Alas, their time was too short. Neither did we have Mexican food.

So we started a list for next time.

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The fam

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 02:15:44 GMT

Me, Juliette and Lil.

As I type this I can hear the two of them in the kitchen with Dana.

We never did make it very far today but the three women went to Sophora and Miniso (Japanese teen store) as well as a few stores downtown and a pizza joint that we like.

Tomorrow we really are going to Austin.

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Sleeping in the rain

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:20:05 GMT

We picked up the granddaughters with no problem yesterday. On our way home we stopped by and picked up some BBQ ribs. They were a hit with both of them.

[Yesterday was my GLP1 dose and it slowed down my digestion as it is supposed to do and the ribs are still hanging around twelve hours later. The system works. I'm not hungry.]

Everyone but Dana went to bed around ten and 12 hours later the girls are not up. It has been raining and thunder showering most of the night and all morning so that is clearly contributing to the teen sleep in.

So my plans to do something are changing by the hour. It is already kind of late to go down to Austin today. Not really a problem if the rain lets up. We can just go to Georgetown and walk the square instead, the plan for Wednesday.

I'm happy to do nothing and take a nap but I hate to have them come to Texas and not see anything of Texas.

I'm also not inclined to wake them up on a school vacation day.

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Food noise

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:36:06 GMT

The best description of what semaglutide does is that it lowers food noise. That results in much less enjoyment of food but obviously lower intake equalling lower weight. Caloric deficit.

I started moving my frequency of GLP-1 shots so that I'm now taking one of the same quantity every 10 days. My weight is unchanged. My goal is to lock in a platform of 185 which is overweight by govm't standards and by med standards but were I to drop the next 10 pounds they say I should I'd be wiry and not in a good way. I could easily do it, go down to 175 or less but I wouldn't be able to retain or increase any muscle mass.

My gual now is 185, a 38" waist which is achieved by an increase in muscle mass, and be off the expensive drugs.

I'm one for three at the moment.

But the noise is picking up a bit. I don't much enjoy the necessity of maintaining a reasonable level of caloric intake when I want more and no longer get nauseous when I eat too much. It is going to take some work and not needing to pay attention has made me lazy.

I'm committed to the goals so I'll get there with or without semaglutide but it is an interesting process. At the moment I really don't want interesting. I want frictionless.

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My day

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:57:50 GMT

I came in to work with the Intake Coordinator on a new routine to manage data. Then I was attacked.

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More comfortable

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:47:51 GMT

I'm easing back into doing things. Technically I'm still barred from doing much of anything until I see the doc on Friday but I can feel that my eye is settled and quickly healing so I'm moving with less care and more confidence. I'm still wearing the eye cover at night so I don't scratch but fortunately my eye does not itch so I'm not too concerned.

Since my right eye has always been my best for long distance vision I don't see much change and doubt I will. But I can see out of it now and things are in focus so I'm back to double eye'd vision which is nice.

The entire process was way more than I'd anticipated. But it is behind me and it appears that all is well.

Tomorrow my two granddaughters, 17 and 15 year old women, arrive for a couple of days. They go back on Thursday. It will be more time by far than I've ever spent with either of them. The visit is the brain child of my son's fairly new wife and is a really considerate thing to do.

Apparently the two of them like museums and bookstores and dinosaurs. We have the Blanton museum in Austin, one of the best book stores in the U.S., Book People and the Whole Foods mother ship complete with an amazing cafe full of every kind of food one might desire, right between the two. So that is the plan on Tuesday.

I'd like to take them to the Waco dinosaur museum. It is a dig that is still in progress albeit very slowly as funds are available. A bunch of mamoths got stuck in a flood and died in a patch of water than turned into mud trapping them and saving them for us to see. It is a facinating place but is nearly an hour and a half north of us. I'm a bit concerned about that much car time. Three hours round trip. I did just check, though, and there is a Buc-ees half way between the two so maybe it would be worthwhile. It may be a time for a vote.

The alternative would be a day in downtown Georgetown which has a lovely mid 19th century square and nice shops. And a trip to the boot store. That might be better.

Fortunately both of them want steak and barbeque and I've been tasked with providing the best Texas has to offer. I think we can find some.

It is weird that it is two days. They leave at 1:45 on Thursday so not much to do that morning. We'll have to leave the house at 10:30 or so. On the one hand that is so short that it is destined to leave us all wanting more. On the other hand that is probably a good strategy.

It is going to be exceedingly weird to be in a house, even for a couple of days, peopled by all females. Well, actually, Beaux, Toby and me vs the three women. Still.

I'll give my my office as a place they can spread out to. Also weird. But manageable for a couple of days.

The weather will be cool and perfect for whatever we want to do.

And two weeks following full of stuff to do that requires thought and action.

Finally starting on the 10th things will be dull, uneventful, and perfect for a few weeks.

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Day 3

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:12:00 GMT

A little bit better. I'm always sensitive to light but even more so now with my right eye. I'd just as soon wear a pirate patch all the time at this point but I suspect they want me to use my eye rather than cover it. I have to wear a patch at night so I don't scratch my eye in my sleep but it is clear and has air holes so is no use to be a light block.

I mostly just stay in the dark rooms of the house. Screen time like this is annoying much faster than usual and my newly fixed cornea seems to dry out quickly. So far, none of the benefits and much annoyance. I'm mostly whining but I'm not allowed to do much else.

Don't bend over. My feet and two dogs are down there so that is kind of an issue. I squat down (fortunately I've been doing squats so I've got the leg strength to get back up) and pet the dogs when I can't convince them to get up on something higher.

Fortunately I don't have to do much of anything. So I'm fortunate. Still, I'm ready to drive and play and work out.

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Day 2

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:25:56 GMT

I went back to the eyeball factory this morning and climbed onto the assembly line with all the other cataract oldies. There was actually one person in the place that had some personality and profusely apologized and sympathized with my inability to play pickleball.

The doc said everything went fine and my eye looked good and see you next week. No pickleball, no lifting anything over 5 pounds, no bending over, no petting Beaux, use these drops three times a day.

And your vision is going to be wonky for a while.

I got the monovision lens because I'm cheap and because it has fewer downsides and I don't care about reading glasses. So I'm expecting everything to be good fairly quickly.

So far I get little localized headaches when I stand up. Eyeaches. That pass after the blood redistributes. And I'm happy to have my right eye closed. And screen time is a bit annoying.

But, all minor stuff.

Nice.

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Status

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:49:09 GMT

According to the nurse everything went well. The doctor said maybe two words to me. During the procedure no one talked to me, no one asked anything, no one said 'we're going to do this now', 'we're almost done', 'when did you find out you had three eyes?', nothing. It made the whole thing a bit more surreal enhanced by the touch of drugs that nudged me that way in the first place.

The nurse that checked us in was apparently the resovoir of all the personality in the entire place. She was the exact opposite so it was not all bad, not all weird.

I'm more than a little disappointed that I don't get a pirate patch:

This has no class at all. The purpose of it is just to keep me from scratching or touching my eye but I think they could have added a logo or maybe

'Think advertising in weird places doesn't work? Just did!!'

missed an opportunity there.

Now I just sit around and watch one eyed TV for the day.

I've got an appointment tomorrow morning. No eye patch but at night after today so return to normalcy will be quick. I can drive after tomorrow when I feel like I'm OK to do so.

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Nearly every day

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 16:11:21 GMT

I seem to get an email about a price increase several times a week. Frequently enough that it feels kind of a constant drip, drip, drip through the days and nights. From what I can discern the oil we are refining is still arriving in ships that began their voyage before the straights closed. Apparently tankers move at about the speed of my bicycle riding. So we have yet to feel the effects from the orange idiot's latest foray into the real world. It should start in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, this kind of thing:

To continue delivering great service and features, we’re increasing your price to $15.99/month. We don’t make these decisions lightly, but this update will allow us to continue to improve Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube.

is death by a thousand cuts. That is YouTube premium which I could probably drop. At $192/year just to avoid commercials on stuff I should probably not be wasting my time on anyway it is a pointless expense.

Not much on today. It rained this morning. When it dries out I'll be able to apply some weed killer I've had standing by waiting for the perfect day. This time of year the grass has not really started growing yet (but for those people who have it maintained year around by a landscape company). Right now the weeds are winning. But I've got some weed killer that lets the grass live while killing the weeds. Weird stuff. Chemicals that are smarter than me. In a couple of weeks the grass will take over and all will be fine for a couple of months until it gets so hot and dry that nothing will grow. Such is Texas.

This week is my cataract surgery so not much else. I still have a weird vibe about the process of getting the surgery. It is not at all what I expected. Still like being on an assembly line. With consequences. I can only assume they know what they are doing but they don't give out any information about what to expect other than it will be cold so wear something warm. Apparently I'll be sedated but the only way I know that is the anesthetist sent an email with a 'flip pamplet' about anesthesia. No discussing what level or what drug or anything like that.

I did just look up that last bit and apparently they put me in a light sleep. I get more information from google than from the doctors.

But the eye thing will pretty much dominate my week and the following week is when my granddaughters come for a few days.

I'm going to make May as boring as I can.

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Cozy little room now

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 22:34:52 GMT

I added a couple of lights and some pictures. The pair in the middle are of Dana's female lineage going back three generations. On the right are pictures of Alex (the visiting granddaughter's father) when he was very small.

Before:

And after:

The two pictures of Alex are from my room and will return after the girls leave.

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Quiet day or two

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:57:15 GMT

No pickleball tomorrow. They are having a tournament and no scheduled play is going on. Which means I play once more, Monday, then two forced weeks off after my cataract surgery on Tuesday. My surgery is at 7:30 on Tuesday. So, of course, we have to be there at 6AM. I just realized that it is a building next door to the ER where Dana landed the last two times. So at least I know how to get there in my sleep.

The surgery is not exactly free, as advertised. There is a 'facility fee' of $360 or so. Not a huge deal but another annoyance. I tried to pay in advance and their payment portal would not work. So I just called to ask to pay since I don't want to deal with paying them the morning of surgery and, of course, they haven't called me back yet.

Other than putting some sheets and a quilt on the bed and hanging a couple of pictures in the guest room I've not done much of anything today. My motivation is quickly diminishing so I need to do a bit of a workout before I talk myself out of it. After yesterday I realize that I need to keep up the resistance training to maintain any kind of strength. Either do work myself or pay someone else to do it for me. The latter quickly becomes expensive.

And I decided to ride my bike. Half an hour on it. Not a huge workout but enjoyable and after yesterday with the bed I'm still a bit muscle tired so I think it is enough. I'm going to do some remote work for the dog shelter and then call it a day.

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Voila!

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:01:54 GMT

I need a nap. If only I could find a pillow.

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Insta bed

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 18:09:09 GMT

I've got all this stuff. I've watched the video. Should be a piece of cake.

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Pit bull jail

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:51:43 GMT

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Five puppies today. Here's one.

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 15:30:15 GMT

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Before and after

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:58:09 GMT

My granddaughters with whom I've had limited interaction over the years are coming to spend fourish days with us week after next. I set this up months ago knowing that this would be a problem:

This is the room in which they will sleep. The picture was taken on 12/24/25. I did not say that she had some specific period of time before I fixed the problem but I think it was implied. She had a friend come over and between them they futzed around and did very little. The problem with a hoarder is that everything has a use or a history and the emotional toll of interaction with even the smallest item is significant. Multiplied by thousands of items it is overwhelming. And I love to see the books lying around cluttering up the spect that deal with how to unclutter. 'Keep the things that make you happy!!!!!' says the woman who is NOT a hoarder.

Dana does not read. At all. If it is not on Facebook she does not. Long ago I divested of hundreds of books giving them to the library where other people can have them and enjoy them and clutter up their lives with them. I have about 10 or so left. She has hundreds. And never even looks at them. We have two bookshelves full of book drek sitting in our living room. Never, never, never are they touched. But having them in her visual field makes her happy.

I know that there are three types of items that fill our house. The ones that have utility (bed, dresser, and such), the ones that connect me to some of my past (one item each from mom and dad, ashes of my dogs, and such), and stuff I'm going to throw away. All of Dana's treasures are in the last category. Assuming I outlive her. So if I throw stuff out now I'm making a trip to the trash I don't have to make later in my life.

To her credit she stayed out of sight and I was able to create half a dozen bags of trash that will find their way to the dump in the next couple of weeks. The rest I moved into a room that also has a bunch of bigger furniture type junk in it that we'll never use and no one wants and I'll have to get rid of assuming, once again, I outlive her.

But in the long run it was successful:

In a few days we have a bed from Ikea coming. It is simple bed:

I was going to get one that flipped up and had storage underneath but assembly of that was way too complex and it would only be filled with crap that was hard to get to. At least this will have crap under it that is easy to get to.

I may get rid of that set of shelves just inside the door. There's not going to be a lot of room with the bed there and it has junk on it that is useless.

Meanwhile as I was done but for about 30 seconds I saw and picked up one of those plastic picture stands that people use to prop up junk (AKA precious plates). Dana who happened to be standing there immediately said: "That's useful." I was going to toss it in a box before she said that. It went into the trash. Either now or later.

I only wish I knew someone who was a hoarder so they could go into our front room and fill up their lives.

Meanwhile an likely having nothing to do with the former bit of interest, Dana had another siezure or whatever it is we're calling it. It was Thursday night and we got the ambulance crew out again. And I had them go to the same hospital. And we ended up seeing the same PA Neurologist. And she came back yesterday afternoon after less than 24 hours from the time of the spell that started it and slept for about 15 hours. We have no idea, the hospital has no idea, the neurologist doctor and his PA have no idea what is causing it.

Fun times. I can't imagine not having the best insurance in the world.

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No personality

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:53:12 GMT

They scheduled my appointment for two hours just in case there was a problem, I think. They did all the tests over and did a bunch of measurements and filled out paperwork than resulted in an inch thick stack. Medicare. I feel sorry for them having to create all that paper. But there were no problems. I'm a good patient for them so it only took an hour.

The last stop was talking to the doctor. Turns out the big problem is he has zero personality and is a cog in the Medicare system trudging along having the same conversations with old people who have the same problems and the same solutions and having to generate tons of paper to get what I suspect is a lower payment than they should be getting. So they do volume to make up for it. And the doctor has nothing personal to say, barely interacting with the patients.

I'm sure the surgery will be fine but the whole process is way more than I anticipated.

And I can't play pickleball for nearly two weeks.

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Just what will take 2 hours

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:44:20 GMT

I'm sitting in the office of the cataract doc fairly smoking with bad attitude. There are not so many people here today as last time so maybe it won't be as much of a conveyer belt as last time. The info they gave me last time said it would be a two hour appointment. I can't imagine what they can do for two hours other than make me sit around. This place was recommended by the optometrist I've known and trusted for years and if the surgery goes well the rest is a lot less important but still a PIA.

So I'm sitting here next to my bad attitude watching the clock as my appointment time passes into history.

On the bright side and a completely different note, I logged a perfect 185 on the scale today. My job is to convince my body that this is the perfect weight so it will plateau like the other times when I didn't want it to do that. If I can achieve that while weaning off the semaglutide I'll declare success. I've pushed out the dosage from weekly to 9 days now. I'll go to 10 in a couple more cycles and then start reducing the dosage. I'm tracking my food, my weight, my belly girth, and my grip strength. That combination is pretty easy to track and gives a good overall picture so any warning flags will be apparent.

I need to reduce my belly by 2 more inches through the resistance training I'm doing. No real hurry so I don't spend too much time on it. Enough for slow progress. Consistency is more important than amplitude. I can do the workouts comfortably in my office in 20 or 30 minutes each so pretty convenient. If I can maintain the habit for a few more months I should be in the groove that I can maintain and hopefully get off the semaglutide entirely.

Ah, they are calling me in.

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Cuter than she looks

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 21:50:49 GMT

Today's dog was brought by a kill shelter not too far away.

Her name is Cherry Blossum. So named by the intake staff. The eyes are fixable. It is a condition called cherry eye that is tear ducts that have prolapsed.

Cherry is 25 pounds, a year old, and as cute as she can be. She's also, unfortunately, scared of everything so she's not happy right now. But once her eyes are fixed and she is spayed she will quickly go to a good home. She's not as chill as our Beaux is but she will be a great dog.

Meanwhile my other gig, the bookkeeping job, is turning into a real interesting side thing. The couple that runs the company is wonderful and they are making a lot of money so I don't feel guilty getting some of it (and they are paying me a decent amount) but really it is stuff I love doing. I always liked working in Quickbooks when I was running the company. So i'm liking doing this and have requested that they walk me through one of their company's records start to finish in a typical month (March, for instance). So next Thursday I'm going to remote in and we're going to process a customer. I really need to understand how things work to see if I can make them more efficient. If I can then the gig expands and I make more money and the owner's husband gets to go out to his ranch and do... ranch stuff instead of doing payroll for a bunch of the customers.

As long as I can WTF I'm happy to do it. The volunteer gig is the same. I'm doing some stuff that will result in my being able to help remotely too.

I could really use another monitor. Ah, the good old days.

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Project Mary

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:55:51 GMT

We're headed off, shortly, to breakfast on popcorn and watch Project Hail Mary in celebration of @susandennis birthday. Somebody has to do it.

It is weird going to the movie at 11:30 AM but the theater reservations were kind of full for this movie and I didn't want to wait.

After the ugly week in stocks I looked at my investment sums and turned out it was not too bad. A few hundred bucks. Really probably a couple or three thousands swing from where we should be and it will be six months before the correction is corrected, I suspect. Worse before it gets better since the OI is driving the country into the ground and making a fortune for all his buddies by short selling the market.

Definitely the AA mantra running through things. Change what I can, ignore the rest. Look forward to the investigations.

Cheer on the No Kings. The mid terms look more interesting every day.

I'm done with chicken watching duty for a while. It was a week of each morning and each evening driving half an hour (or longer in the morning traffic some days) to feed chickens and deer and cats. On the surface it was not bad but I enjoyed it a lot more when I wasn't doing anything. Now days I've got Humane shelter work which is turning into a bigger job and my consultant gig which is kind of moving along and still getting in three days of pickleball plus eye exams and .....

Time do dump everything and be bored again so going out to feed chickens is a highlight rather than a chore. The bookkeeper already said something about my looking into another facet of their business once we have what we're doing under control. They make a lot of money so an on-call consultant is within their means and she seems to think I'm helping.

Time to get the car out.

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We noticed the market crashed and.....

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:25:41 GMT

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Stuff happening - i'm busy

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 23:14:26 GMT

Forty five mins or so before I go button up the chickens for the night. I like doing it but every morning and every evening there's a hour or more I'm obligated for. It throws off my schedule. But it will be over on Saturday when they get back so no big deal.

I wasn't feeling well today. No idea what. I ended up taking a deep, very deep, sleep nap and I felt much better. Just occasional weirdness. Part of it was reaction to the visit to the eye doc.

Today was visit number one to the eye surgeon. Consult for cataract. It went fine from their prospective. They did their machines. Took pictures, numbed my eyeball and measured it, all the stuff. They dilated to be sure I could not see everything that was happening. And then moved me onto the next station. It was very efficient. Later today I realized it was just like my induction into the Navy. Line up here, next, next, next. You'll be told when you are told.

I was out the ass end of the whole deal at surgery scheduling and signing papers that I even now do not know what they said. Sign here to say we told you this or that or whatever. One of the papers said right eye. I asked the lady to stop the show for a moment while I commented on the situation. I told her that after going to five different rooms, half a dozen people whose names flew past, did this, held still for that, all very efficient and made to move the masses along, no one had yet used the word cataract. Nor had they said that I had one in my right eye. I had said I did, I had told them that I had one in my right eye and one emerging in my left but not one person had used all that incredibly expensive equipment and training and organization to say it back to me. The word was never used. My status was never discussed. Just Next, Next, wait here for scheduling surgery.

Turned out I was talking to the office manager. She was really nice and apologized when I said I felt like I was on a conveyer belt designed for their benefit and efficiency. She looked at my chart and told me how things stood. Right eye needs sugerying. Left will likely need it soon. No real surprise.

An hour later I got a call from the doctor who left a message apologizing and asking me to call him back on this, his personal phone and he would be glad to talk about how things stood. I did call him back and, of course, got his voice mail. I was gacious having made my point.

The whole thing was a bit exhausting but I've got a surgery date. April 14. They have a TWO hour pre-surgery appointment two weeks before for what I do not know. What the hell can take two hours. Probably sitting around waiting to be the next widget.

Cataract surgery has become routine. I MEAN really routine.

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Anatolian Sheppards

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:58:25 GMT

There are six of them. Another tough day volunteering.

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Spring morning

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 16:50:00 GMT

My friends who missed their Italy trip with the passport problem left yesterday on a consolation trip to the Grand Canyon. So I'm watching chickens and cats. And deer. The mornings this time of year are just lovely and it is nice to be able to go out where there is a couple of acres of land to commune:

The deer won't come close but love the corn they get. And the chickens are in major egg laying mode now the light has returned. They went for months with zero eggs and are now dropping half a dozen a day. I've got friends who need eggs fortunately.

And there are two cats that are, well, cat like. I give them treats and fill their food and water and clean their litter. And pat them on their heads.

I'll be back there this afternoon. When it gets darkish the chickens go into their coop. They make it easy.

I've got some watermelon I'll give them tomorrow. Makes for good pictures.

It's kind of like watching someone's baby and they you can give it back to them. They like having me watch the place and it is pretty easy.

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