tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125101832024-03-13T04:05:42.785-06:00Sandra DoddPersonal and Family News and Chit-ChatSandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.comBlogger1147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-41587290252143823972024-01-23T15:53:00.001-07:002024-01-23T16:00:22.566-07:00Drone shots and cemeteriesI used to love helicoper shots in films, and now there are drone shots, which are great.<br><br>
I also have an interest in cemeteries, and an infatuation with England. <br><br>
Recently I watched the first five seasons of "Unforgotten," a BBC detective series, and I saved out two cemeteries, to share with my friend Joyce, who has visited cemeteries with me near her home, near mine, and in England, The Netherlands, and Portugal. It's not our main shared interest, but it is one!<br><br>
The first one, according to the story, should be in or near Liverpool. The other one, not sure, but maybe London or east of there. If I find out for sure, I'll come back. Or if any reader knows, leave a comment!<br><br>
Sorry for the stripey distortion at the beginning of the first one.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='400' height='322' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxURXa_o7XgQq_LmgGcZm8GsaUw-nETLT0FgJkRMF3chg0Np5w8TvvVHuACoX0uHuVIpg4dL7mfX7o' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='400' height='322' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwg1U9yvudhW5q41ICChbZFTd8qYId_fFvUO_i-aUtffPy_fBZmBoPxSofOOJenPOl5WFv72_LA_wE' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-82712847530571913832022-08-23T16:18:00.003-06:002022-08-23T16:18:38.620-06:00Drive-through neighborhoodI wish I posted here more! I post every day at <A HREF="https://justaddlightandstir.blogspot.com/">Just Add Light and Stir</a>, but it's rarely personal.<br><br>
For years I have talked about getting someone to help me make a video tour of my neighborhood, and the huge number of drive-throughs. I'm going to leave this here for a couple of reasons. Some of the places have closed, and I don't want to lose the idea of sharing it. <br><br>
These comments were mine, on a post on my own facebook page, and I'll link that.<br><br>
Sandra Dodd, February 2017<blockquote>
I live in and amongst more drive-throughs than I could have made up. There is a drive-through title-loan place (that used to be a one-hour photo booth). Drive-through drop-off-thrift-store donations. Drive-through dry-cleaners. And all the expected ATMs (though more than most neighborhoods) and fast-food. Within 1/4 mile.
</blockquote>
Sandra Dodd<blockquote>
And former drive-through liquor, bricked-up drive through frozen yogurt (now Fed-Ex/Kinko's), gone-but-remembered drive-up video-return. Drive-through credit union.
Our nearest Lota Burger (Chelwood and Menaul) is a drive-through, though when they were first building that, Keith said it was crazy to have a drive-through Lota Burger, because they weren't that fast. Sure enough, the first time we tried it, they told us to pull up and park and wait. đ</blockquote><br><br>I had written <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/pfbid0frSi5ymoLxFMQSw5bg2HbDKJTTy2eWmGKHzhcLWEK54XbL93yMXnhy5nage3RLidl">I'm at a Blake's Lotaburger that does not have a drive-through. I did not know there was such a thing anymore, not counting the little picnic ones.</a> (Click it if you have any idea what that's about. 🙂)<br><br>
Just this week (August 2022) I saw that the Lotaburger I was writing about on facebook, five years ago, is boarded up. The Covid lock-downs were not kind to places without a drive-through option.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-21629635366504881872022-02-17T00:01:00.004-07:002022-02-17T13:25:26.738-07:00Process or product; practicality or artWhen I was eighteen, I took a pottery class at the Student Union Building at the University of New Mexico. As such things go, for beginners, we did pinch pot, slab, coil pot and learned to use the potter's wheel. I was more interested in the glazes than in the clay. We were working in stoneware, and lesser glazes would burn right off.<br><br>
For my coil pot, I made a regular flower pot, and played with how to make a hole in the middle of the slab/base. I liked the hole I settled on. I pulled little trenches down toward it with my finger, before I started putting the coils on.<br><br>
Before that lesson, I had made a stamp, to put a design on it with. That was a pinch/slab combo. I carved a design and put a handle on it. The handle fit my hand. I thought I could make cookies with it, too. <br><center><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigIy5QwF8hRYw60WMw56ropaFMXLNZUXhCRWSeriJVDYMI35mWZUiHUN2ziGfSffiBF4RxqlbJwZciIL-ycimESRvrOJRkggLQh1HDTxcPEaziP7hxayjP3g49mc_RYvnmfwijO6v_PS1lM0TgDV-C8UagNIuud10LjbdTX5kBQ03Zun6p2w=s4032" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigIy5QwF8hRYw60WMw56ropaFMXLNZUXhCRWSeriJVDYMI35mWZUiHUN2ziGfSffiBF4RxqlbJwZciIL-ycimESRvrOJRkggLQh1HDTxcPEaziP7hxayjP3g49mc_RYvnmfwijO6v_PS1lM0TgDV-C8UagNIuud10LjbdTX5kBQ03Zun6p2w=s320"/></a></div>
</center>
So my stamp had been fired, my base had its hand-designed drainage set-up, and I put the coils on, stamped my design, and left it for its first firing.<br><br>
When I came back, and was putting glaze on, the teacher came to talk to me. I was just glazing, clear glaze, even though I had asked all those questions. The pot wasn't creative or imaginative enough [for her to feel like an inspiring teacher]. She said the first part, and I figured out the second part. <br><br>
We weren't being graded; it wasn't even for credit. She got paid, and maybe got art-department credit, for offering a night class people could freely sign up for. I felt successful because I did all her units, learned all her terminology, used all her tools, felt the clay in all its stages, watched several other people doing their pieces, and created a useable, functional, home-made flower pot. <br><br>
I "failed" for not being creative (in the teacher's judgment).<br>
I succeeded, though, because fifty years later, I still have that pot. It has had a dozen or more different plants in it over the years, has never sat empty, and has not cracked.<br><br>
The title of the post is misleading; I know that. Maybe I'm more of a process person than product, but the product AND the process were, for me, were this: <h1>Learning.</h1>
<center>October 2015<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZo4vYFYu4ZbfZqqVWG1rJ6plZlexLTl9Q0Bs5MMKj3Og4Ia4l_sKrUjxZGp8kTwuKOIcODFC9cnmpdbOYeWUHGe1HJXMABYbA8q2HK5CfX4_IBVOjsML6wvwCLPglZz17kMK5/s4320/DSC03176.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="2432" data-original-width="4320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZo4vYFYu4ZbfZqqVWG1rJ6plZlexLTl9Q0Bs5MMKj3Og4Ia4l_sKrUjxZGp8kTwuKOIcODFC9cnmpdbOYeWUHGe1HJXMABYbA8q2HK5CfX4_IBVOjsML6wvwCLPglZz17kMK5/s400/DSC03176.JPG"/></a></div></center>In 2021, this pot was so full of reproducing succulent that I was afraid it might be broken before it could be 50 years old.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJxpa6Ba7eJn2cECduSUohU4zjHyrSKyWvO0ww5tTKt0mIOx4S1aAkY0T8UDjRdZgu7LRyrlIeFHpMGLNV_2r6LluM6QSZG3K09CrD3NHGRLv-S1jR0b5qM1Ld6jTP-H8DM0rN/s2048/BFF7AAAF-0F8D-4B1F-897D-94FC35607C92.heic" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJxpa6Ba7eJn2cECduSUohU4zjHyrSKyWvO0ww5tTKt0mIOx4S1aAkY0T8UDjRdZgu7LRyrlIeFHpMGLNV_2r6LluM6QSZG3K09CrD3NHGRLv-S1jR0b5qM1Ld6jTP-H8DM0rN/s400/BFF7AAAF-0F8D-4B1F-897D-94FC35607C92.heic"/></a></div>
Now it only has the largest of those. <br><center><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgX0rpbfb6P54aw2h67TEkCziaY2KdInebje9Uc2IKuAnVJP-5dUHpuC13mhgbeM_eRbjLSv91VGKy5LoVtwTfSrdw0A8WFMvsOTrZKlUAwf_I0bOj54m2KFV67gY_Wb2nrCHxO0Q9U_9tEwlfQcnZ1VyKlIc2ZHRfkWq7G3VLMVaTEP0q5cQ=s4032" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgX0rpbfb6P54aw2h67TEkCziaY2KdInebje9Uc2IKuAnVJP-5dUHpuC13mhgbeM_eRbjLSv91VGKy5LoVtwTfSrdw0A8WFMvsOTrZKlUAwf_I0bOj54m2KFV67gY_Wb2nrCHxO0Q9U_9tEwlfQcnZ1VyKlIc2ZHRfkWq7G3VLMVaTEP0q5cQ=s320"/></a></div></center>
It was February 17, 1972 when I scratched my name into the bottom of the pot and tried out the stoneware stamp I had made.<br><center><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipe-QdRfS-ls_7wsplQwYkxsXjVc9riIgaBw_a_ejq0xhXva6ttTLBBF7P9jE5kLBpb9p_a7jIZv3iXHfTKZj89K152N6xapN9Qe2AZNcErfPjvZe2tsi6eTVRKC0hrLGwlKpR_ORU2lJCGxTjLCVxru-hp3BX1lvzpa1XVkhdWAEr2Z000Q=s4032" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipe-QdRfS-ls_7wsplQwYkxsXjVc9riIgaBw_a_ejq0xhXva6ttTLBBF7P9jE5kLBpb9p_a7jIZv3iXHfTKZj89K152N6xapN9Qe2AZNcErfPjvZe2tsi6eTVRKC0hrLGwlKpR_ORU2lJCGxTjLCVxru-hp3BX1lvzpa1XVkhdWAEr2Z000Q=s320"/></a></div>
</center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-56133705907502166622021-11-01T08:00:00.010-06:002021-11-01T08:00:00.163-06:00No children, no young adults now.From the point of view of a 68 year old parent, I have children.<br><br>
At a squint, from a distance, the grandchildren are the only real children in our family these days. <br><br>
Tomorrow, my youngest, my only daughter, will be thirty years old.<br><br>
Five years ago (and three months) I wrote:<blockquote><br>
Today is the last day for me to say "My kids are all in their 20's." Kirby's the one who keeps changing these epochs, in my life. đ He was the first to double digits, and first to be a teen, the first to turn 20... Tomorrow, Kirby Dodd will be thirty years old.<p>
Keith Dodd was thirty when Kirby was born, and they both have July birthdays (as did my dad, Keith's dad, and me). When people would ask Keith how old he was, he said "Thirty and a Kirby" for several years after. <p>
On Keith's 60th birthday a few weeks ago, he got a card from Paul Collins, who knew us pre-Kirby, that said "30 and a Kirby is getting up there!" <p>
Kirby is getting up there, too, and living near, and living sweetly.<center><i>If Facebook still exists when you see that, and if they didn't throw my old posts away, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/10153949938511374">here it is</a>, with some sweet comments.</i></center></blockquote><br>
Holly more often goes by Bitsy (Miss Bitsy Bamboo), among people her age. She has her own house, and her own car and truck. <br><br>
I'm closer to 70 than to 65 now. Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-37500486211527412972021-07-11T14:47:00.000-06:002021-07-11T14:47:18.529-06:00A busier weekLately, covid restrictions have been lifted, most places, in New Mexico, and little Kirby turned three (July 3), Marty had a 4th of July party, Ivan got three stitches (July 9), and Holly asked me to preserve this gif from just before covid came to town (January 2020; she was at a wedding).<br><br><center><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_s5w-cIRDmSM2dsLFGE15ciJHpPmxztTrjOhJmO8dUDrZ11IyAeqn40GUhAMKth9DenXM1iSN6wChNwXncitz6GaHZ9HNFYKSCcCOdxIkPWdN2TNoLnI1f4ppoRlCUDKdYY8A/s840/2020JanuaryGifHolly.gif" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_s5w-cIRDmSM2dsLFGE15ciJHpPmxztTrjOhJmO8dUDrZ11IyAeqn40GUhAMKth9DenXM1iSN6wChNwXncitz6GaHZ9HNFYKSCcCOdxIkPWdN2TNoLnI1f4ppoRlCUDKdYY8A/s400/2020JanuaryGifHolly.gif"/></a></div></center>
Keith turned 65 while camping out with his friend Needham, and a bobcat or something foot-printed the tarp he was sleeping behind. <br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRVEwkASykIV_nfBeo6rY-2dhOL2lzEeRVewmQBr56Ydkl1Dk7o_1fEzuNorRVRFTQnPB3SXXCXJUjCg7yOyC3Odax5NEkaR0A3Lzet-xnQtrryR3_PrM2-kKzz4nbmHQkLYne/s2048/47432C8E-FE01-4392-876C-207EF5D89D7F.heic" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRVEwkASykIV_nfBeo6rY-2dhOL2lzEeRVewmQBr56Ydkl1Dk7o_1fEzuNorRVRFTQnPB3SXXCXJUjCg7yOyC3Odax5NEkaR0A3Lzet-xnQtrryR3_PrM2-kKzz4nbmHQkLYne/s320/47432C8E-FE01-4392-876C-207EF5D89D7F.heic"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74Xxw-YdstUDlC6T-ic8hRSrHXPZlJ7GNYSxs76XghCctTLGxOc0bfolAlTVQGeuoBnx4rJzk4x5u8me9N7ih29HwtJXakfaqyQc-4LM8GkM0E19QnotHJs0lI4Hx2OgyVx9k/s2048/D1FB2ACC-A2B0-420C-AE0A-782635C34544.heic" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74Xxw-YdstUDlC6T-ic8hRSrHXPZlJ7GNYSxs76XghCctTLGxOc0bfolAlTVQGeuoBnx4rJzk4x5u8me9N7ih29HwtJXakfaqyQc-4LM8GkM0E19QnotHJs0lI4Hx2OgyVx9k/s320/D1FB2ACC-A2B0-420C-AE0A-782635C34544.heic"/></a></div>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-10617128206601370432021-05-29T09:53:00.013-06:002023-05-30T23:20:45.701-06:00Retirement, spiritual retreat, cocooning...I'm saving this in a more public place, because it won't be available to everyone when that group is archived. I've added names, and corrected typos.<br><br>If you were a member of Unschooling Discussion 2021, you will still be able to see it there, where links make images and you can see the responses. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2021readtherules/permalink/506704873786291/">https://www.facebook.com/groups/2021readtherules</a>, May 23<hr><br>
Sandra Dodd, May 23, 5:23 pm<p>
<blockquote>
My #2 son [Marty] just posted this:
<hr>
My 3yo son called The Batmobile his "Spider-Man car" and I let it slide.<br>
#growth #chivalry #pickyourbattles #namaste
<hr>
The hashtags are the best part.<br>
My #1 son [Kirby] will turning 35 this summer. When he was four, about to be five, we decided to unschool. Here Is his middle of three, at my house, just a bit ago, and there are other photos on my page, today, if you click my name.<br><br>
I'm tired now. I wrote a long post explaining my plans, and lost it. That makes me even more tired. đ<br><br>
I'll leave the part about grown kids and grandkids, for now.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJgW-3FAjQ7ytzZnogtfHkrmhaaYnBq2c2E_y-WpPadoVtbvvOhpmOlO6Sv9jOt1CFjB6K88bDdun8nOEFmGBcpkCrrk4aJH97M7DkqJCfECW4XFotPXpBblpamW6filoRXorC/s2048/1C626E59-1EA0-40E1-BBA5-7047A43C3B5F.heic" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="440" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJgW-3FAjQ7ytzZnogtfHkrmhaaYnBq2c2E_y-WpPadoVtbvvOhpmOlO6Sv9jOt1CFjB6K88bDdun8nOEFmGBcpkCrrk4aJH97M7DkqJCfECW4XFotPXpBblpamW6filoRXorC/s320/1C626E59-1EA0-40E1-BBA5-7047A43C3B5F.heic"/></a></div></blockquote>
Sandra Dodd, May 23, 2021, 5:38
<blockquote>I'm grateful to every person who has ever helped with any group, by being a moderator or admin, or a regular poster, or a quiet person who writes and points out a bad link or typo. It takes a lot of people to make a group strong and good.
Anyone here who isn't already a member of this group might want to go and join:<br>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/UnschoolingQandA">Radical Unschooling Q & A</a><p>
This group (Unschooling Discussion 2021) won't last until the end of 2021. I'm going to close up at the end of May. There will still be resources, though!
This group will be archived, so you'll still be able to come in and see what you wrote, but non-members won't find it or see it. Another week, and I would like to rest more, and feel less obligated to strangers.
</blockquote>
Sandra Dodd, May 23, 5:43
<blockquote>Those who don't own my books should consider getting them. The Information is solid, and books are more substantial and long-lasting than any collections of pixels.<br><br>
Many online meeting places, where people shared stories and ideas, are just gone. I will continue to spend time cleaning up and improving my website, but it could still disappear someday against anyone's wishes, because it is code on machines, and so is fragile.<br><br>
<table align=center><td><td valign=top><center><A HREF="https://sandradodd.com/puddlebook.html"><img src="https://sandradodd.com/art/frontcoversmall.jpg" height=140 border=0><p><i><b>Moving a Puddle</b><br>
and other essays</i></a></center><td><td width=20></td><td valign=top><center><A HREF="https://sandradodd.com/bigbook/"><img src="https://sandradodd.com/bigbook/NewBigBookCover.jpg" height=140 border=0><p>NEW EDITION of <br><i>The Big Book of Unschooling</i></a></center></td></table>
</blockquote>
Sandra Dodd, May 23, 5:49
<blockquote>I will keep Always Learning available, because some of the best unschooling writings anywhere, ever, are in there. My website has hundreds of links to longer writings, there.<p>
If you join that group, you can read archives, or post questions, and see responses either at the site or by e-mail.<p>
It is NOT the newest technology, but it's also 20 years old, nearly (later this year).<p>
<a href="https://groups.io/g/AlwaysLearning">https://groups.io/g/AlwaysLearning</a><p>
12,904 Topics, Last Post: May 13<br>
The most recent post is #78,747 and there is VERY little fluff or nonsense.
</blockquote>
Sandra Dodd, May 23, 6:13
<blockquote>
I will post nearly every day, until that fades to most days. Lots of days. There are 3800 posts there today, and I hope to get to 4000 before I lose steam.<p>
<a href="https://justaddlightandstir.blogspot.com/">https://justaddlightandstir.blogspot.com/</a>
</blockquote><font size=+2>The SUMMARY</font><p>I can't think of the best way to state my plan. I want to...<blockquote>
—retire, but not completely;<br>
—retreat from daily life into the figurative mountains, but still have the internet;<br>
—cocoon myself;<br>
—hibernate a while.</blockquote>
I won't stop everything, but I will be less directly accessible.
Perhaps later this year I will set up something for announcements, good bits, and maybe to answer questions if there are any new and original questions that come along. đ (And maybe not. đ€)Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-66420097239721567792021-05-20T17:08:00.002-06:002021-05-20T17:09:03.069-06:00Large-scale world problemsMarty joked today on facebook that they should not remind people of the things from one year ago. I got a good one, though, that I want to save. <br><br>
Sandra Dodd, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/10157572975631374">May 20, 2020</a><br>
Shared with Public<br><br>
I didn't write this. It's going around. I will say that my grandparents were all born around 1900. I will comment at the bottom.<blockquote>
______________________________<p>
For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900. When you are 14, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20. Fifty million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million. When you're 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts. You arenât even over the hill yet. When you're 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. At 52, the Korean War starts and five million perish. At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesnât end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict. Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening. As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? A kid in 1985 didnât think their 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents (and now great grandparents) survived through everything listed above.<br><br>
Perspective is an amazing art. Letâs try and keep things in perspective. Letâs be smart, help each other out, and we will get through all of this. In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted. This too, shall pass.
Copied from another post. Feel free to share (I did ).<p>
______End of that quote_____________</blockquote>
I've had these thoughts a lot, though. As a baby boomer, I missed the worst of the 20th century, but I lived with and around people who were still scarred by it, fearful, or in mourning. <p>
I was lucky to know all of my grandparents.<p>
The first to die went around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis (Lynn Adams). During Vietnam War protests, my mom's mom (Annie Mae Hathcock). When inflation was irritating even younger people, in the 1970s, my grandfather was living with my cousin, Nada, in El Guique (Vester Hathcock), and the fourth of them, Gladys Adams, died in 1989, when George Bush Senior was president and most things were stable and calm.<p>
The odds were small, of someone living through all those listed wars, the dust bowl (these folks all lived mostly in NW Texas and some for a while in southern New Mexico), rheumatic fever (my mom's little fingers were both crippled early; it didn't show much), scarlet fever (one of their sons died as a teen, of that), polio (one of their sons, a light case)... There were stillborn children on one side, and a baby who died on day 1 on the other. <p><br>
I will repeat this, from the lifted, borrowed writing above:<blockquote>
Perspective is an amazing art. Letâs try and keep things in perspective. Letâs be smart, help each other out, and we will get through all of this.</blockquote>
Some people's sons are on military assignments even now. If yours are not, be sensitive, and try to be grateful.<p>
______________________________ end of 2020 writing ____________________<p>
A year has passed. Not an easy year, but no one in our family died of Covid. Our friend <a href="https://sandradodd.com/people/obituaries/kateholford.html">Kate Holford</a> (Marie Heuser) died 14 months ago, and her funeral will be in a few days, in Denver, because finally people are allowed to gather for such things, to some extent.<br><br>
Because Keith and I got Covid vaccines, Marty and Ashlee felt safe enough to bring Ivan and Wynona to our house, in late April. I had seen Wynona twice before, in person, not up so close, though. She can walk, and Ivan's talking lots. I missed a year of their lives, but Facebook shed light on things, and Ashlee had Wynona Monday posts; those were great.<br><br>
It has been a very difficult year, and the problems continue. Even without death, there's trauma. Friendships and families have broken over issues related to covid. Some people used to sanitize their groceries before bringing them into the house. People were afraid of mail order a year ago. Now there are other things that seem safe, or dangerous, and will be found not to be so much, in a year, or five, or twenty. <br><br>
People are pretending to know everything, and making declarations with bravado, but looking back at problems in my youth, and in the decades before I was born, I know that much of what is claimed now will be disclaimed later.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-11420189525488803722021-05-05T14:55:00.003-06:002021-06-09T17:40:30.076-06:00TeachersMay 5, 2020, this was posted on facebook. I was tagged. I'll share my responses.<br><hr><br>
There's only a couple of teachers that I can say influenced me in a good way. My 7th grade English teacher Sandra Dodd was an amazing teacher. Mr. Albert Fernandez wasn't my teacher but he was a teacher at my school and he was also amazing. Thank you both for giving me confidence đđ
<hr>
That was written by she-who-was Tracey Perraglio. That's for identification without outing her by her current name. Hometown friends will know; that's fine.<br><br>I wrote:<blockquote>Thank you. đ<br>
It was so long ago, and it's nice to hear there are good memories and that confidence was part of the effect! GOOD!<br><br>
I was Sandra Gill then, probably, or Adams (part of my first year). I have lots of fond memories of those days, too.<br><br>
I learned a lot, teaching.<br><br>
I learned a lot teaching where I went to school, and having former teachers as co-workers! đ
</blockquote>
She responded: <blockquote>You went by Gill back then. You were a great teacher and always had a smile and encouraged us đ You did good đ</blockquote>
Mine:<blockquote>
I'll name some of my own favorites.<br><br>
<a href="https://sandradodd.com/biography/4th">Sally Gonzales</a> (4th, and I helped in her classroom a time or two a week, one year when I was in high school, as a "future teachers" project. I kept up with her after I left school, up until my own daughter was 9 years old, and Holly and I visited her for a few hours at a restaurant and then her house.)<br><br>
R.A. Martinez (8th and 9th grade English; actually 9th grade twiceâlong story, but most of what I know about punctuation and word choices came from him and from Sally Gonzales, and that's some of what I passed on, with their voices in my head, when I taught English.)<br><br>
Robert Felix (band grades 5-9, choir 7-8)<br><br>
Sam Jamison (choir in high school; I made all-state once)<br><br>
Jacquie Littlejohn (English in high school)<br><br>
That is the order I met them, AND the order of their value to my life. They treated me like a person, more than "just a kid." When they knew that I really wanted to learn, they shared what they had, and what they loved. They all gave me information and ideas above and beyond what they "had to" do.<br><br>
Others I remember warmly for one reason or another:<blockquote>
Mr. <a href="https://sandradodd.com/biography/6th">Cipriano Trujillo (6th grade)</a><br>
Mrs. Bency (I don't even know her given name đ, 2nd)<br>
Miss Tomlinson (1st)<br>
Mr. Lujan (French, two years, and sponsored a class they let me design, on current events, one six-week session)</blockquote>
<hr><br>
That's the end of what was written in 2020. Now I'm off on my own, 5/5/21:<br><br>
The class Mr. Lujan sponsored but didn't teach was "History '69." Each student gave a presentation on something from current events, and led a discussion. That year, the electives were switched every six weeks, and I LOVED that year for that! I wish they had kept it, but the scheduling must've been difficult.<br><br>
From Sam Jamison (my choir teacher), during that experiment in lots-of-little-electives, I took a humanities class. He was the first to help me see that everything is connectedâscience, art, technology, communications... That has been the way my mind has worked since then, and I'm grateful for having had that opening at the age of fifteen.<br><br>
I don't remember the other four I took.<p>
Miss Bency provided <a href="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-ivy-on-mothers-day.html">the ivy</a>, and I still have some, thanks to a string of relatives passing it on, and eventually back. Now my daughter, Holly, is the main caretaker. I'm down to one plant here, and for many years I had none.<center>
<a href="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-ivy-on-mothers-day.html"><img src="https://sandradodd.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Sandra/ivy/DSCF3097.jpg" width=60%></a>
</center><p>
Miss Bency is here, and most of my 2nd grade class. Click it to enlarge.<br><center><a href="https://sandradodd.com/biography/2nd.JPG"><img src="https://sandradodd.com/biography/2nd.JPG" width=60%></a><p>I'm the first on the bottom row. My mom always managed to do something bizarre with my hair for photo day.</center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-23676728894595040902021-05-01T18:55:00.001-06:002021-05-01T18:55:00.234-06:00The Return of Sandra (perhaps)I used to LOVE this blog, when people used to read it, before everyday news moved to facebook.<br><br>
I think I'll start using it again. I keep wanting to write something, or keep something, and can't decide where. All around me, over the years, online platforms change or are abandoned. Someday this will go, too. I don't like that. <font size=-1>🙂</font><br><br>Nearly every day, now, I think of something I was to write and can't decide where best to put it, so perhaps I will restore this old truck.<br><br>
Some of the photos seem missing. They've been moved, and I'll need to change the URLs, one at a time, but that's okay.<br><br>
Some slide-shows that were easily made with photobucket lived on that site, and the code was abbreviated, so... gone is gone, on those.<br><br>
Memory, not new, but the topic came up a few times recently. <br><br><br>We had SCA visitors once (date to be added, maybe, someday) and drove them touristing. One of them (Patrick/Padreigh (?)) posted this photo on Facebook in 2020, and I snagged it. There's me in the driver's seat, and if you can zoom in, there's Holly in a car seat and Kirby standing up. The visitors from Tennessee were out to take pictures of something, and our van was part of the something. Cool!!<p><center<>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8JZNxbAvY2r2tfWbjiZrMC9P__DS_P5Bd6GC7wNW-FfNkHfZJEr9uWAAq3F7ikdDKErVYm84yIlNvmC9BgNcy-PPXhxXsGP1sNW54gD1PhT49e7ft9aCzctUgOLb_YNpzIqBp/s2048/wildebusPatrickPhilpot.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="96%" data-original-height="1444" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8JZNxbAvY2r2tfWbjiZrMC9P__DS_P5Bd6GC7wNW-FfNkHfZJEr9uWAAq3F7ikdDKErVYm84yIlNvmC9BgNcy-PPXhxXsGP1sNW54gD1PhT49e7ft9aCzctUgOLb_YNpzIqBp/s600/wildebusPatrickPhilpot.jpg"/></a></div>
February 1999, big van (15 passenger '83 Ford) went into the shop for the last time; didn't survive a $1200 repair, too much engine damage<blockquote>Odd, to pay a bunch of money and have the van pretty much die on the operating table. We had it towed back and Holly used it as a playhouse for a few years. She decorated it hippie-bus style and used to listen to Alice's Restaurant out there.</blockquote>
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-48308222905455934992021-04-28T21:10:00.099-06:002021-04-28T21:10:00.217-06:00Keith, me, arguments, peaceI wrote this on facebook in 2018, and I would like for my kids to be able to find it someday. Others might benefit, too.<br><br>
February 14, 2018<p>
Valentine's Day report<br>
Young love was fun. Longterm love is differentâdifferent things are fun. Familiarity. Having a good woodpile. Memories. Projects. Grandchildren.<center><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNar_7TfWiwDy3DvoP07laZ92PKaI01gg8snzc-i9z_yYpszFzO1OtAdRSnFM5LF2QbW-k128Pw7aYEDRQ-K0rs3sxYtjmrhwTNMVfi2P_mYc1XxRx1ZwV-At7KGsEUL9z52c/s789/S%2526KDodd2016.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNar_7TfWiwDy3DvoP07laZ92PKaI01gg8snzc-i9z_yYpszFzO1OtAdRSnFM5LF2QbW-k128Pw7aYEDRQ-K0rs3sxYtjmrhwTNMVfi2P_mYc1XxRx1ZwV-At7KGsEUL9z52c/s400/S%2526KDodd2016.jpg"/></a></div></center>
Our friend André Begnaud commented, "Hair color may change, but those smiles are still the same!" I responded:<blockquote>
We're not always smiling. Some disclosure: Sometimes we start to recite one of our repeat arguments, but we remember it's a re-run, and jump to the end, or trail off. They're about feeding cats (how to), or putting tools up (one of us is too short sometimes, and figures "on the bench" is close enough), how to do laundry (mostly we do our own now, and it pisses me off that his isn't totally ruined for his not following my instructions).<br><br>
I guess the trick is to know it's about cats, tools, and laundry, and not about the soul of the other person.</blockquote>
Keith and I have been married since 1984, and were a couple for six years before that. It averages out to 40 years, these days. This year, our youngest child turns 30; the oldest will be 35. <br><br>
Most mornings, we play three games of Dr. Mario. We're evenly matched, and if one of us wins all three, the other is probably unwell somehow. We've joked that it's our Alzheimer's test, but it can be an indicator of smaller problems, too. <br>"Are you okay?" <br>"I didn't sleep well," or "I was thinking about..." and then we can help each other.<br><br>
Most evenings, we play two games of Five Crowns. I do all the shuffling and dealing. That started when Keith was recovering from 13 broken ribs and a broken sternum, after his life was saved in early 2019, and he was revived from cardiac arrest, by SCA friends, and then firemen, and then ICU doctors, all three in one day. So I shuffled and dealt when it was uncomfortable for him, and now I just do it because I do. Keith keeps score. It's a time we can talk, if we need to, and joke if we don't need to talk. <hr>
The photo above was taken by Rachael Rodgers, in November 2016. She took this one and several others that day:<center><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawSMyVWeIxtPggispO1T_rcifCAtD3ufSGIfCj7Osd19JXGdzv_BSS5hJ8q9ensRVhtFny_WpJw2dliYjOH1iFikQqVeiPpQ1l6GpUyjbB4K8pzbP4xEqJNwYfwMEBI58IFgq/s2048/Dodds-7820.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="1406" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawSMyVWeIxtPggispO1T_rcifCAtD3ufSGIfCj7Osd19JXGdzv_BSS5hJ8q9ensRVhtFny_WpJw2dliYjOH1iFikQqVeiPpQ1l6GpUyjbB4K8pzbP4xEqJNwYfwMEBI58IFgq/s600/Dodds-7820.jpg"/></a></div></center>That photo predates the births of Ivan, Kirby Athena, Tommy and Wynona. I looked better in the other takes, of that arrangement, but others looked beautiful and happy in this one. <br><br>Moments pass. Try to keep the peace. Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-87973558670843039682020-12-31T23:30:00.165-07:002021-04-28T19:38:16.865-06:002020 in Review, Christmas-letter styleI have links to the Christmas letter. I sent out lots, thinking partly that it might be my last chance. 2020 was like that. <br><br>
This is being written afterwards, but I'm backdating it so 2020 has more than one post.<br><br><br>
<hr><a href="https://sandradodd.com/2020/">2020 Christmas</a> (if you'd rather go to the website version right away)<hr><br><center><img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/2020card.jpeg" width=96%></center><p><center>
<font size=+2>2020 Christmas</font><br>
Sandra Dodd<p></center>
(You could skip to the good part about how this whole
Christmas card is a picture of the basket.)<p>
<b>BUSINESS:</b><p>
Please donât feel bad if you didnât send me a card. Donât. Itâs stressful. Let it go. Maybe
send me a text or e-mail, or you could click âlikeâ on some facebook thing. Thatâs plenty.<p>
<b>PERSONAL</b>:<p>
I made this letter from me, because Keith didnât want to tell people he had another âcardiac
episode,â but because itâs my story, I will tell you that we learned this much, on August 9: an
implanted defibrillator can wake a guy up and put him back on schedule, heartbeatwise.
Keith is well, swimming, splitting wood, playing music (more info at the link below).<p>
Grandchildren review/news (all are well, as are their parents):<blockquote>
Devyn (2009)<br>
Ivan (2017)<br>
Kirby Athena (2018)<br>
Tommy Kore Lynn (2019)<br>
Wynona/Wynnie (2020)</blockquote>
I am informed that this is to be the full set, forever, including by Holly, who has recently
moved into her own home, much nearer to the artsy vegetable farm where she works.
Iâm happy that all of our kids and kid-in-laws are employed, all from home except for Holly.<p>
<b>THE GOOD PART:</b><p>
The card is a picture of a basket. Gerard David apparently owned a basket, five hundred
years ago, and worked it into at least three paintings. In this one it is clearly a diaper
bagârolls of swaddling cloths are showing.<p>
<font color=green><center>
TIME OUT: I've put this letter online with links and images, if you'd rather.<br>sandradodd.com/2020</a><br><br>
</center></font>
A few years ago I read a book called <i>Vermeer's Hat</i>, by Timothy Brook. Itâs about
connections among people and places, and how the Dutch East India company traded with
China, which led to the blue-and-white ceramic magnet of a windmill that I (and many
others) own. But in between those things were stories of ships and Spanish silver mined in
South America, and how the travel and exchanges of goods were working. History and
connections, technology and art.<p>
Many of Vermeerâs paintings were made in the same room, with the same window,
sometimes the same props, art, or map. <i>Vermeerâs Hat</i> is about his stuff. I enjoyed the
whole story, and all the images.<p>
So time passed, and I had one Gerard David image on my website. A few years later, I
found a second one, out in the wild. Same basket. I got excited and did web searches for
discussions of that, but I didnât find anything. Cool!<p>
This year I happened to see an SCA-related discussion of baskets somewhere, and there,
right there, was the same basket. Another Gerard David! There was some artistic license
in the color, but stillâŠ<p>
As if that werenât exciting enough, when I went to look for Christmas cards this year, what
pops up but Gerard David and his basket.<p>
Thanks to Julie and Adam, I got to see a Gerard David painting in London. No basket there.
I was a little disappointed that he wasnât Spanish, as I had first guessed. When I was a kid,
the two male neighbors closest to my age were Gerard Vigil, to the southeast, and David
Sanchez to the north, so the name was easy for me to remember. Gerard David was not
Spanish, but Dutch, as was Vermeer. He lived in Italy a while, and ended up in Brugge until
his death, all before Vermeer was born.<p>
These connections are a reminder that even from home, we can explore the world, thanks
to other peopleâs clues and unintentional gifts, and the wonders of the internet these days,
with so many detailed photos.<p>
I could be sad at home, or I can be happy. I have years of practice at conjuring and sharing
happiness. Keith knows that sometimes I fail. I get scared, or have a bad dream, or feel
sorry for myself, but I revive and recover and put out one more <i>Just Add Light and Stir,</i>
where people can peek into moments in other families, viewpoints of other people, and
sightings of birds or lizards on other continents, in other seasons. There are words and
ideas people can take in for a moment, or an hour, or to keep. Then I feel better.<p>
I hope next year is easier and sweeter for all of us. If it is, your memories of an expansive
world should allow you to jump on and ride it.<p>
<center>
Best wishes for peace and health!</center><p><hr>
<br>If you got this far without going to <a href="https://sandradodd.com/2020/">the letter with images and links</a>, here are previews (which are links, too).<br><center><br><br>
<a href="https://sandradodd.com/2020/">
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/baskets/basket2close.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/vermeerBook.jpg"height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/baskets/basket1close.jpg"height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/baskets/basket3close.jpg"height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/sandra.jpg" height=200></a>
<p>
<a href="https://sandradodd.com/2020/grandbabies.html">
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/fridge" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/DevynOct2020.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/IvanAugust2020.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/Kirby2020Nov.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/Tommy2020Nov.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/Wynnie6mos.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/kirby3girlsDEC2020.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/Christmas2020IvanWynona.jpg" height=200>
<img src="https://sandradodd.com/2020/Christmas2020IvanWynona2.jpg" height=200></a>
</center>
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-52521204617238969932020-07-05T19:28:00.001-06:002020-07-05T21:35:49.034-06:00January-June 2020This will be a place for me to fill in what happened in early 2020, but the most important thing was the birth of Wynona Dodd, to Marty and Ashlee, on March 16, 2020.<br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKX_LL5Fwin2KtzvoPI0n9CkheuDRh87z2AWxK6fMqid9WASvpdTRpBnib_ZjB9ECUwy7UdZXY_HAzoQM7s0NgMCUbIIbamECMTbiZr0QMRnz5lfuOtJmyGwqtBYcxdHheO7h/s1600/wynonaDad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="567" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKX_LL5Fwin2KtzvoPI0n9CkheuDRh87z2AWxK6fMqid9WASvpdTRpBnib_ZjB9ECUwy7UdZXY_HAzoQM7s0NgMCUbIIbamECMTbiZr0QMRnz5lfuOtJmyGwqtBYcxdHheO7h/s320/wynonaDad.jpg" width="151" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9skZMxnp3MYbfSe5OYYD8zlcTpaAxOdGZ6xUic-BOuxtUY-O2GntjkhztRzW8p2aAwDc7mkwWK0lnxuebB9Jucm2ldKCn1B8rloWWpCE7NplsioM156usRLpqxmmHhXcX0IQZ/s1600/WynonaMom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="567" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9skZMxnp3MYbfSe5OYYD8zlcTpaAxOdGZ6xUic-BOuxtUY-O2GntjkhztRzW8p2aAwDc7mkwWK0lnxuebB9Jucm2ldKCn1B8rloWWpCE7NplsioM156usRLpqxmmHhXcX0IQZ/s320/WynonaMom.jpg" width="151" /></a></center><br />
<br />
Before that, it so happens, there were several outings that were about to become undoable:<br />
<br />
February 6, Marty got a new car. He tried to come to the house to show us, but Keith and I were at Rex Burger on Montgomery, so they went there. Ivan got to work a claw machine (and direct Marty to use it).<br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhkL7js8Aa7rYsq3s7WVrHzuC-tVfHBVtOgXgVz6CBe21zLGX7sCEn-g9uh2wVwyQ4h3Nhynxil4gng8vCDw1qqCJx_7b-DS58ks0PqV_5gWbZMnSmDb9oqP5TvRfTatvpF8j4/s1600/CF4DA803-5E1A-4D07-A14F-840C218B832C.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhkL7js8Aa7rYsq3s7WVrHzuC-tVfHBVtOgXgVz6CBe21zLGX7sCEn-g9uh2wVwyQ4h3Nhynxil4gng8vCDw1qqCJx_7b-DS58ks0PqV_5gWbZMnSmDb9oqP5TvRfTatvpF8j4/s320/CF4DA803-5E1A-4D07-A14F-840C218B832C.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeM5FeE-AmZ7KapUK1rmvoNDxyBnsBy2o2tDfRHkMCGyfouFKq1HHd0L9U_LTyOkaeMSDsWwH2MXvyTHzzF-KP-4uzqiMplyGG9H88zpvPExT2NrBFcw7nNBgBngyWl30Y_IM/s1600/E8A9BB3A-101E-4B66-9470-F50152286BD5.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeM5FeE-AmZ7KapUK1rmvoNDxyBnsBy2o2tDfRHkMCGyfouFKq1HHd0L9U_LTyOkaeMSDsWwH2MXvyTHzzF-KP-4uzqiMplyGG9H88zpvPExT2NrBFcw7nNBgBngyWl30Y_IM/s320/E8A9BB3A-101E-4B66-9470-F50152286BD5.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a><br />
</center><br />
We all went to Chuck E Cheese, before Devyn's birthday, on February 23. It was an excuse for a gathering, and we called her the birthday girl even though it was two weeks early.<br />
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<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBdLM-rCec5tUjuybK-Eb3Xxtm6qFsBJwZ6YCF_Qr5pxbyo0AwUl965_UTr83RdhQ0TZ9ulvYNvP_RSTpa0gklUvTKJ46GJeiEfXM1Oy31Ri-dfA-CV4e6xzSeHyTpCmtC0qGF/s1600/29F2D264-BEA0-45E3-8F92-39D40F4D42BD_1_201_a.jpeg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBdLM-rCec5tUjuybK-Eb3Xxtm6qFsBJwZ6YCF_Qr5pxbyo0AwUl965_UTr83RdhQ0TZ9ulvYNvP_RSTpa0gklUvTKJ46GJeiEfXM1Oy31Ri-dfA-CV4e6xzSeHyTpCmtC0qGF/s320/29F2D264-BEA0-45E3-8F92-39D40F4D42BD_1_201_a.jpeg" width="228" height="320" data-original-width="1140" data-original-height="1600" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJdl_sJObOVhNkWQagR7PVsSUTeOqklX5G47OtcGJWn8li8SmPxdrLRjWh0CY_SDwVbq4Ai4OFL55oml6mTfSzAU4geFcWUwpTjxlAuyzobbr7F-BVF5V0ZqpQv30-2bYcu8v/s1600/151F12FD-0D07-4842-985F-EF3593E724A8.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJdl_sJObOVhNkWQagR7PVsSUTeOqklX5G47OtcGJWn8li8SmPxdrLRjWh0CY_SDwVbq4Ai4OFL55oml6mTfSzAU4geFcWUwpTjxlAuyzobbr7F-BVF5V0ZqpQv30-2bYcu8v/s320/151F12FD-0D07-4842-985F-EF3593E724A8.heic" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvaXpTrklwL3oHN3mIPhHI_qFq2ZWJ50uKxFJRHghT2ZlHISD-KtZozITV6rByg3-7uvYJDkvdolgy5VoBG3SyeLsgVsdLxkkvWHlfF4_sCTeOZo-7UWiV-TPh24lj1p_BXBoJ/s1600/B16994D1-1E0F-4CFD-8F3D-CBBD7BC4B983.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvaXpTrklwL3oHN3mIPhHI_qFq2ZWJ50uKxFJRHghT2ZlHISD-KtZozITV6rByg3-7uvYJDkvdolgy5VoBG3SyeLsgVsdLxkkvWHlfF4_sCTeOZo-7UWiV-TPh24lj1p_BXBoJ/s320/B16994D1-1E0F-4CFD-8F3D-CBBD7BC4B983.heic" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxxXdW8KkXBfRdLFh4jPt5U5p2LcIAKc37g5-5cOkbglCuAWtsqTKX-IJ_zK2wp8eLNtJNznJB_oQ_L54GqKSmfw7wJbXbwgvKS6UvGgXbyTfe2m5M_2DjGOznK_oTZJ9sIRE/s1600/B24905D9-1D19-4FCD-92D5-AABFA94B9771.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxxXdW8KkXBfRdLFh4jPt5U5p2LcIAKc37g5-5cOkbglCuAWtsqTKX-IJ_zK2wp8eLNtJNznJB_oQ_L54GqKSmfw7wJbXbwgvKS6UvGgXbyTfe2m5M_2DjGOznK_oTZJ9sIRE/s320/B24905D9-1D19-4FCD-92D5-AABFA94B9771.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a></center><br />
February 25, I went with Holly and Rylan to the zoo to see the new penguin exhibit.<br />
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<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdHClfM9xRv-S7ISr_8lUlyOW6zasDvxmsZ_zlIJB-cfn0aL8iqDbJA3BH66fM2p63eUT8VXXeUHN7qThCng61BC_yKEW_DAGc3EhCf5cHNpDO0c9jPVBogaoQGkB1twQcuJBZ/s1600/7E8FA209-1252-4371-9535-3A48E70234BC.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdHClfM9xRv-S7ISr_8lUlyOW6zasDvxmsZ_zlIJB-cfn0aL8iqDbJA3BH66fM2p63eUT8VXXeUHN7qThCng61BC_yKEW_DAGc3EhCf5cHNpDO0c9jPVBogaoQGkB1twQcuJBZ/s320/7E8FA209-1252-4371-9535-3A48E70234BC.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMnUJ7Kp9Kw467paJBngto3-jLSekwI3Wh5ITFLmOgPM3y248SkZJEAK4TsGlRtXzCNiP5vrw0WQQnS5EezAbgmCX9oMJ-oyXn-iFJRPECYKMD_HrOuUxTWqMxaQCXDPydVFG/s1600/D0305EBA-FF85-4239-836C-F4C9D780AFC5.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMnUJ7Kp9Kw467paJBngto3-jLSekwI3Wh5ITFLmOgPM3y248SkZJEAK4TsGlRtXzCNiP5vrw0WQQnS5EezAbgmCX9oMJ-oyXn-iFJRPECYKMD_HrOuUxTWqMxaQCXDPydVFG/s320/D0305EBA-FF85-4239-836C-F4C9D780AFC5.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a><br />
</center><br />
Kelly Halldorson, Devyn and I went up the tram to Sandia Peak, one day (Feb 27), and to Meow Wolf in Santa Fe (March 2).<br />
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<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKlv7XuKj0m6t1APnI7lgWXxigzIVrTSvKvzKmnNnK23fdJdAQ36AJ1ZmBuPKjquOovfxFsS2Ye-ziv5ETKRdgQYktdloLSHb6C9hHAK2AoaYNyAaTyF6sd48lRW33LHFNgC-/s1600/39CBCF57-AD9F-416D-BAE4-D349A7D0B231.jpeg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKlv7XuKj0m6t1APnI7lgWXxigzIVrTSvKvzKmnNnK23fdJdAQ36AJ1ZmBuPKjquOovfxFsS2Ye-ziv5ETKRdgQYktdloLSHb6C9hHAK2AoaYNyAaTyF6sd48lRW33LHFNgC-/s320/39CBCF57-AD9F-416D-BAE4-D349A7D0B231.jpeg" width="320" height="239" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1196" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0sXAOnN8jBbRnQhaC9-7AjlKTtci2O08GMvBuakNJ00r-BaQKouZdoSreT0yc1g82qFh-tn4WpacuKGC01WxNmpa56V0XX6XpSp8XsLFAf-XSWgLf9yHmRu7lFj2lZnoV_MK/s1600/EDC22AEB-B84A-4C3A-8114-A5BB4799CE98.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0sXAOnN8jBbRnQhaC9-7AjlKTtci2O08GMvBuakNJ00r-BaQKouZdoSreT0yc1g82qFh-tn4WpacuKGC01WxNmpa56V0XX6XpSp8XsLFAf-XSWgLf9yHmRu7lFj2lZnoV_MK/s320/EDC22AEB-B84A-4C3A-8114-A5BB4799CE98.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhws-x16dgpFIh_BpsRy3xRkw8QbIQqaD2v0EIAoCyxK1Chyh1c0X9biwDB9eEzifXbAAYPrMHel58LdO8MlM9xLBHJh5glk_FH_-eFtiSG8QIRalOzPsDiUXR3Mj4rBCk6v0Q6/s1600/9E65BD00-715D-4D59-BBAE-488D91EB01DD.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhws-x16dgpFIh_BpsRy3xRkw8QbIQqaD2v0EIAoCyxK1Chyh1c0X9biwDB9eEzifXbAAYPrMHel58LdO8MlM9xLBHJh5glk_FH_-eFtiSG8QIRalOzPsDiUXR3Mj4rBCk6v0Q6/s320/9E65BD00-715D-4D59-BBAE-488D91EB01DD.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlwUlM8NYdo3QEDGvYCzqmRYFzGFP6EdT7F8CNcF5Rcnhr9NZ7n2jKleVPOTVcNFG6heMpOVkp_NEGuhYCVU2tZAf9RCF5rt4pH7WxUabpEgCZCBZW2TLTaFZ-RFE5MVnmIhm/s1600/DF10F217-2849-4B1B-8B95-C6E279BA641A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlwUlM8NYdo3QEDGvYCzqmRYFzGFP6EdT7F8CNcF5Rcnhr9NZ7n2jKleVPOTVcNFG6heMpOVkp_NEGuhYCVU2tZAf9RCF5rt4pH7WxUabpEgCZCBZW2TLTaFZ-RFE5MVnmIhm/s320/DF10F217-2849-4B1B-8B95-C6E279BA641A.jpeg" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a><br />
</center><br />
Keith and I took Devyn to The Electric Playhouse, March 12. <br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KvB8YqLSrJO81ZaYisRTpIkdu8_XEWnL3tTqeuGREFf6YNV-jhONYUqPTwm3bAdJf73rZnBnlwdrNiuBSOBQqAPVcd6a_zOHfgcVRvW4Qyjk6iQ3VwrA_W4sC1_gQG-6DhII/s1600/5436EB97-8CE6-4FC9-AF1F-9C07BE9A48F1.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KvB8YqLSrJO81ZaYisRTpIkdu8_XEWnL3tTqeuGREFf6YNV-jhONYUqPTwm3bAdJf73rZnBnlwdrNiuBSOBQqAPVcd6a_zOHfgcVRvW4Qyjk6iQ3VwrA_W4sC1_gQG-6DhII/s320/5436EB97-8CE6-4FC9-AF1F-9C07BE9A48F1.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03cblIUJa18XmTJfQ6AlKWNnIQtayjbHDikbeCNcHWgu1wJJ0rSYJgXge52BfAJmo6ZFTWXNBfsw3jjSAABSCXRevK0te1jch3rsbUf-6FF0On6aaglhYY3Ufi7HYy2MFRwmH/s1600/EA25F6E3-28BA-4570-89B4-C8901360A350.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03cblIUJa18XmTJfQ6AlKWNnIQtayjbHDikbeCNcHWgu1wJJ0rSYJgXge52BfAJmo6ZFTWXNBfsw3jjSAABSCXRevK0te1jch3rsbUf-6FF0On6aaglhYY3Ufi7HYy2MFRwmH/s320/EA25F6E3-28BA-4570-89B4-C8901360A350.heic" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoR4i4xXJqDsnmA9TEHymPho-lIhirmBFKH87OucRM-sWUhmzBYNXErD6iv6-H1bn_hbE8puhk5htu0ghyphenhyphenmG-ITaoHKaUS2xzCty12fFazldxdGy3_z7j0pruPz8tyTMcG_BM/s1600/F4FDBE31-4133-4C8A-845A-CCD6A55E0024.heic" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoR4i4xXJqDsnmA9TEHymPho-lIhirmBFKH87OucRM-sWUhmzBYNXErD6iv6-H1bn_hbE8puhk5htu0ghyphenhyphenmG-ITaoHKaUS2xzCty12fFazldxdGy3_z7j0pruPz8tyTMcG_BM/s320/F4FDBE31-4133-4C8A-845A-CCD6A55E0024.heic" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></center>Three days later, the governor told people to stay home.<br />
<br />
<hr>On July 5, I still haven't held Wynnie. Indoor places at the zoo, Meow Wolf, Electric Playhouse... nothing is open, so I'm grateful for all of those visits, coming just before the governor said to stay home. We're still mostly home. Kelly has been the first and only visitor to use the new guestbed. Irene and Gerry had been needing an ABQ spot fairly often, last year and before, and so... there's a better bed, for someday.<br />
<br />
Keith was able to go back to swim, in early June (?). He's doing instrumental music with Beau and Laurie B, one afternoon a week, outside, sitting far apart.<br />
<br />
I'm scheduled to have surgery July 20, and that has other office visits and a Covid 19 test associated with it. Doesn't seem safe or good, but... there's really no solid knowledge of what is right yet.<br />
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Recently, Wynnie passed three months, Ivan's 2 and a half, and Kirby Athena turned two this week, July 3. We're all healthy, so I try to think of the good things, and find gratitude for what we did get to do this year, so far.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-33641954318651446512019-12-24T19:15:00.000-07:002019-12-24T19:15:11.882-07:00Urgent care for my UvulaThese were taken where I spent much of Christmas Eve morning. I love that place, on Montgomery east of Juan Tabo, in Albuquerque. I took the photos for the facebook group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/479933192414028/">Zias and Pickups.</a><br />
<table align="right" hspace="5"><tbody>
<tr><td width="5"></td><td><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7nxakGPfe2iZ_s48B6uLdpztR5ye-gcpKvWortTfaC2ypNDedO427rC9boXSlBuE6z2jT7UuoTR08yfSSsiG35aH0HTHNfwV7Rlol0s0rJE-Ve2YX9P2ccpTfiRNBZuAgjAD/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2ee4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1027" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7nxakGPfe2iZ_s48B6uLdpztR5ye-gcpKvWortTfaC2ypNDedO427rC9boXSlBuE6z2jT7UuoTR08yfSSsiG35aH0HTHNfwV7Rlol0s0rJE-Ve2YX9P2ccpTfiRNBZuAgjAD/s320/fullsizeoutput_2ee4.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjodEQM98Q574aQei2PCnFsakunv7FemzTznj1cq8mOTMAyHAVPiS17AGPNZNGF2l_29TWizcKkRQ-Tijz0dHxL3eJohyphenhyphen-7mUTx94ysX7ljWFM4SMqWMpAuR2-hxjyms5BHMO8Q/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2ee8.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1167" data-original-width="1600" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjodEQM98Q574aQei2PCnFsakunv7FemzTznj1cq8mOTMAyHAVPiS17AGPNZNGF2l_29TWizcKkRQ-Tijz0dHxL3eJohyphenhyphen-7mUTx94ysX7ljWFM4SMqWMpAuR2-hxjyms5BHMO8Q/s320/fullsizeoutput_2ee8.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I'm better now, because they have great people. I'm very glad my (seemingly) life-threatening problem was NOT tomorrow/Christmas, but on Christmas Eve, when they were open (shortened hours, but I got in) and the pharmacy near me was open, and I was better in just an hour. <br />
<br />
Uvulitis. I felt like something was stuck in my throat that was going to keep from breathing soon, because it was already keeping me from talking right and full voice, and I was afraid to swallow. I had tried hoiking it up, but that really hurt my chest and my head. I tried swallowing it. That was really not helping. Poor uvula. <br />
<br />
I was very afraid, but as soon as the doctor figured out what it was, and showed her assistant, who was a medical school student, because the combination of my high tongue and uvulitis were a rarity, I was 50% cured, because I was able to be calm, and she said the fix was easy. <br />
<br />
Three days of steroids (20mg Prednisone twice a day)<br />
Motrin<br />
"Magic Mouthwash" (seems to be lidocaine in a pepto-bismol base, and I can gargle with it four times a day, and swish and spit and forget)<br />
and <br />
Allegra, because it seems I have an allergy, and that might've contributed to it all.<br />
<br />
But the combination of those four things (five, with the knowledge that it was not a growth planning to reach out and kill me) had me calm and cheery very soon.<br />
<br />
Other negative factors could have been dehydration (I meant to, and failed to, refill the humidifier last night that is there to counteract the...), fireplace (ashes, dust from splitting kindling), way-hot red chile on tamales yesterday afternoon (very hot), a margarita, and not drinking enough water or tea for a few days<br />
<br />
<b>So if you ever feel like there's something in your throat and you know it's not a foreign object, and you can't hoik it up, stop trying to. Gargle with salt water, drink tea (maybe with honey or lemon), try a cough drop, drink lots of water, relax if you can, or go to urgent care if you can't. </b> <br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbgOn2g0Zk-h7vk8x-17bXRVr00ojsDyGS69bITKgubWpryK44VUnV07QSQOtBjSwf9Lp1uoi0zfhTfPLVSUIV_HjU4bhf66ZGU6h34Rkgrh-7U0TRprjq_UVLJK1PzftQ4Mf/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2ee1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="1600" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbgOn2g0Zk-h7vk8x-17bXRVr00ojsDyGS69bITKgubWpryK44VUnV07QSQOtBjSwf9Lp1uoi0zfhTfPLVSUIV_HjU4bhf66ZGU6h34Rkgrh-7U0TRprjq_UVLJK1PzftQ4Mf/s320/fullsizeoutput_2ee1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></center><br />
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-54328387053105503752019-12-04T00:21:00.001-07:002024-02-24T22:57:17.281-07:00Amidar makes more sense there!In a couple of Korean dramas, roommates sharing a house have made decisions or set up chore charts with the use of a sort of game on paper like this:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic9OHDDz0bLMkKnn4NQRRWEL2G8K3MOcKUHjbqWJUhJWpguZPyANTY2TuPfmgK5FKObc2OF5tFBsBUWgpKOUho2mLMGyExedjSc3y9Y7F1yHa_oMNJZ3tZTsRlb7tMTOIHv9MK/s1600/LadderGambling.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic9OHDDz0bLMkKnn4NQRRWEL2G8K3MOcKUHjbqWJUhJWpguZPyANTY2TuPfmgK5FKObc2OF5tFBsBUWgpKOUho2mLMGyExedjSc3y9Y7F1yHa_oMNJZ3tZTsRlb7tMTOIHv9MK/s640/LadderGambling.png" width="640" height="400" data-original-width="1000" data-original-height="625" /></a></center><br />
On a site called "DataGenetics," there's <a href="http://datagenetics.com/blog/may42014/index.html">an article about this</a>, and it's the way Amidar (the video game) worked. <b>We had an Amidar game!</b> There are screenshots, and some description,and it talks about the game the motions are based on.<blockquote>In Japan, it's called "Ghost Ladder."<br />
In China, "Ghost Leg."<br />
In Korea, "Ladder Climbing."</blockquote><br />
The Japanese word is "Amidakuji" so... Amidar. Tadaa!<br />
<br />
And then they have diagrams and explanations for how the randomizing game works, on that page, and I hope you'll look.<br />
<br />
The blog "Ask a Korean" has an article with samples and stories: <a href="http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-do-you-climb-ladder.html">How do You Climb "the Ladder"?</a><br />
<br />
I found all that (except the image, which I lifted from some drama or another) by searching for <a HREF="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=ladder+randomizer+korea&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8">ladder randomizer Korea</a><br />
<br />
Sorry he didn't have clothes on. He was getting dry after a bath. <s>There was a "fig leaf" version of this photo, long ago, on some '90s computer.</s> Found it (2024).<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://sandradodd.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Kirby/kirbybabyamidarfigleaf.jpg" ><img border="0" src="https://sandradodd.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Kirby/kirbybabyamidarfigleaf.jpg" width="94%" ></a></center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-1882665260923287132019-11-26T12:50:00.001-07:002019-11-26T13:42:23.042-07:00Carousel in France, in snow<center><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ftravl.wonders%2Fvideos%2F935700656813829%2F&show_text=0&width=267" width="267" height="476" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe><br />
</center><br />
Pam Sorooshian took me to see several carousels in and around Santa Monica in 2013, after I had taken photos of carousels in lots of places (Leiden, several in England, some in the U.S.) and had become interested in the similarities and differences. <br />
<br />
The one is this video (someone's video) has many elements I have seen before, but an airplane up high I hadn't seen (have seen them low to the ground), and the balloon was new to me. Back-to-back chariots (stationary benches) I hadn't seen, either.<br />
<br />
It's pretty.<br />
<br />
Some of the California photos: <A HREF="https://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2013/10/where-have-i-been-this-week.html">https://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2013/10/where-have-i-been-this-week.html</a><br />
<br />
The carousel at Hollycombe Steam Fair in Hampshire:<br />
<a href="https://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-favorite-photo.html">https://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-favorite-photo.html</a>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-80671977461145688092019-11-22T23:53:00.003-07:002021-04-27T21:02:39.463-06:00A recent exchange with Mary Bess Whidden<b>Mary Bess Whidden<br />
You're friends on Facebook<br />
Works at University of New Mexico and Professor Emerita of English<br />
Studied Shakespeare at University of texas austin<br />
Lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico</b><br />
<blockquote>9/29/12, 7:56 PM<br />
Sandra<br />
UT is playing on TV which reminded me to come and look you up on Facebook. My facebook page can be a crazed tarbaby. My peaceful interface is here: <a href="http://justaddlightandstir.blogspot.com">http://justaddlightandstir.blogspot.com</a></blockquote><font color=green>2012 passed, and nearly five more years. Then I was at a gathering with Mary Bess, and she was asking about what exciting and exotic things Holly was doing, living in northern New Mexico. I wrote this:</font><br />
<blockquote>1/29/17, 9:05 PM<br />
Sandra<br />
Here's were the Wild Holly Dodd is working. It looks like a very beautiful, high-class House of Woo.<br />
<br />
They sell singing bowls, and it costs $50 a head for the cave tour. <br />
<br />
<i>(There was a photo with this, at the time, of the dining room there.)</i><br />
<br />
originnewmexico.com<br />
Origin provides nourishment, stewardship, community and space for personal and group expression within a 145-acre guest resort in the high desert of northern New Mexico.<br />
originnewmexico.com<br />
<br />
Sandra<br />
Her Espanola yoga teacher (who lives in Taos) was leading cave tours, and when she heard that the owner wanted to hire someone to be a receptionist and figure out all the problems with their bookkeeping and correspondence backlog, to do billing and learn to do cave tours, the yoga teacher recommended Holly, and there it is. Real money, but not real benefits yet.<br />
<br />
Sandra<br />
But they trust her with keys and accounts and money and passwords, and that doesn't surprise me beause she's competent and trustworthy. And she's kinda cute.<br />
Glad to see you today!</blockquote><font color=green> She didn't see that, either, for not yet being on messenger, but I had sent it merrily out, and didn't check back.</font><br />
<center><b><br />
12/12/18, 12:39 PM<br />
Mary Bess Whidden just joined Messenger! Be the first to send a welcome message or sticker.</b></center><blockquote>12/13/18, 10:42 AM<br />
Sandra<br />
Facebook says you just joined messenger.<br />
My husband ignores messages on facebook. Some people do.<br />
Now you can see what I sent you last year! <br />
Or, perhaps like Holly does, you'll ignore messages anyway.<br />
<br />
It's interesting that more methods of contact haven't really made it a guarantee that people will get messages, and it's coming up on being rude to just call someone without prior agreement. (For young people, anyway)</blockquote><font color=green>And then another year went by, but I didn't notice, or mind.</font><blockquote>SEP 28, 2019, 9:05 PM<br />
Sandra<br />
I either saw a fleeting message from you and lost it (it might have been a very old one; my e-mail is messed up), or I dreamed I did.<br />
Either way, I thought it might be worth checking.<br />
I heard Angela had an accident. I hope she's healing, and home.</blockquote><font size=+1><b>SEP 29, 2019, 8:13 PM<br />
<br />
Mary Bess:<br />
Thank you, Sandra. Broken collar bone and ten fractured ribs with pain. She should leave therapy place, not a bad situation, in about a week. She will be grateful for your concern, as am I. I miss your updates on Keith but am relieved they arenât needed and have been replaced by peaceful photos of play with grandchildren.</b></font><br />
<blockquote>Sandra<br />
I didn't know the injuries were so... numerous, and in such moving parts. I think a broken leg is a better deal than collar bone and most of the ribs. YIKES.<br />
<br />
Just lately the stress came to me, about Keith's survival ordeal.<br />
When it was happening, I was all efficient business.<br />
I've had a delayed reaction, but I'll be okay.<br />
I wanted to say it might happen for you, too. I didn't expect it.<br />
Didn't know it was a thang.</blockquote><font size=+1><b><br />
Mary Bess:<br />
You are good to think of that. You were strong and clear-thinking for a lonnng time for such a strong and suddenly bestuck man.<br />
</b></font><br />
<blockquote>Sandra<br />
He handled it all better than I expected. I still don't let him drive his big pickup. He drives our smallest car, only in daylight, but he politely goes along with that.<br />
<br />
I hope things go as well as they can for Angela and you, for the regular routines and requirements of what you were used to before.</blockquote><font size=+1><b><br />
Mary Bess:<br />
Thank you so. To spite the world which reminds us that we are old, we persist, thanks to friends such as you. (Your grandkids pictures give me much pleasure.)</b></font><br />
<blockquote>Sandra<br />
I'm very glad to know you. <br />
There will be two more grandkids coming along.<br />
Two, or twelve (not counting Holly, who is off to Austin (on the way back, by now) with her boyfriend who is 20 years old.<br />
She'll be 28 in a month, and this boy can't go to the karaoke bar with her. </blockquote><font size=+1><b><br />
Mary Bess:<br />
Congratulations to all of us!</b></font><br />
<blockquote>Sandra<br />
When Ashlee announced their #2 (that's Marty's wife), I wrote: <blockquote>I have done math. I have done a graph. I have projected into the future. By 2030, I think we will have 14 grandchildren. Check my figures. Babies born in 2017 (Ivan) 2018 (Kirby) 2019 (Tommy) 2020 (Ivan-sibling) and so on... I think my prediction will be marred if Holly joins in.</blockquote>Sandra<br />
No one has pointed out I didn't count Devyn.<br />
If they do, I plan to say that for statistical cleanliness, I have eliminated outliersâher and any baby that might be born in 2040.</blockquote><font size=+1><b><br />
Mary Bess:<br />
You are and have always been a wizard. Fourteen! A lot of names and busy brains.</b></font><br />
<blockquote>Sandra<br />
It's science, I think. Math. That's all. <br />
I might go quiet now. Tired. Thanks for the update and the chat.<br />
Good night!</blockquote><font size=+1><b>Mary Bess:<br />
Night night and love to all.</b></font><br />
<br />
<hr><br />
Friday night, November 22, Holly's boyfriend's 21st birthday, I saw a couple of notes on Facebook addressed to Mary Bess in ways that people address the dead, there. I finally found a note saying she had passed away of illness, on Thursday night.<br />
<br />
There was a party at the McPherson compound in Corrales, on November 9, and Angela came, but not Mary Bess, though this had appeared on the event page:<br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYV1y9r8R7q1pTz3WHYwgRVuYW5VmD7bbFl3n0K41bsGD-QzU1zybK29tdxYKNGuQWd4VR6H2u9v3CfXm5x-lh7gh92Tl20hGFdApbU7lR9gggsD_r8555bEANMOuu1x_hs5rD/s1600/FritowePye.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYV1y9r8R7q1pTz3WHYwgRVuYW5VmD7bbFl3n0K41bsGD-QzU1zybK29tdxYKNGuQWd4VR6H2u9v3CfXm5x-lh7gh92Tl20hGFdApbU7lR9gggsD_r8555bEANMOuu1x_hs5rD/s640/FritowePye.png" width="98%" data-original-width="1286" data-original-height="450" /></a></center><br />
It is very interesting that Facebook allows us to continue to leave messages for people after they cease to read them. I like it.<br />
<br />
Mary Bess was a friend of Dave McPherson's, in my life, but I was glad to know her and to see her so often, over the years, almost always in Corrales at the McPhersons' house(s) âthe last couple of times at the new casita).<br />
<br />
<br />
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-89646896649597006742019-09-05T20:52:00.001-06:002019-12-08T23:06:09.204-07:00Keith, six months post-problemsI posted on Facebook, on the day, and we delivered a thank-you note to UNMH, with a photo. <br />
The next day we took a similar note to the fire station, because it's the day A shift was to be there, but they were off at a meeting, so we left the card with someone who hadn't been involved, and he said he would put it in the kitchen. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/10156798314986374">At facebook</a> there are likes and comments, but here's the text and the photos I put up on the 3rd:<br />
<hr /><br />
<br />
<table align="center"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
Today, it has been six months since Keith's cardiac arrest. By the end of March 3, he'd had three of them. March 12, he had another one. That's beyond the point at which statistics are kept, it seems, but he's alive and well.<br />
<br />
SCA friends helped with quick CPR (and taking off his chain mail before EMTs got there); EMTs got him going the second time, and made it to the hospital with him alive; emergency room and ICU got him through to evening, and wired and tubed him up to be refrigerated a bit and in an induced coma, pretty much, for a few days.<br />
<br />
I still get scared, again, when I think about it. He was in ICU for sixteen days and other levels of hospitalization for three weeks after that. Lots of people helped keep him going.<br />
<br />
He's swimming in the mornings, working in the yard, playing music, starting to sing around the house, and walking up past Tramway and back again.<br />
<br />
He took out the old juniper bush by the mailbox, and because the dirt was stirred up and there was sunshine, morning glory seeds from past years got happy! I would've just pulled them out, because it was so late in the summer, but Keith keeps building them something to climb on.<br />
<br />
They don't seem to know it's too late, so I guess I was wrong. :-) Down below the morning glories are lots of iris and day lillies Keith has brought up there from too-shady parts of the yard. They will probably do fine in the spring, and might be able to co-exist with the morning glories, having different seasons.<br />
<br />
Keith takes baby Kirby for cruises up the park to swing, again. We got a bigger stroller, used, so it's easier for both of them.<br />
<br />
Sorry I don't have a Keith-and-Ivan photo to go with this. Ivan's a blur when he comes over. :-) Very fast. Maybe he'll slow down some as Keith continues to speed up.</td><td width="8"></td><td></td><td><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGA-rUCTybf9fztEsauj7RXgQFN9waZ7evOhmohXJZjg59Cz8FzivFBMg5L6rS4HDXmMxAff_oa2zvs5dfFmgojVKFOCk4zjtKuOKYyyz-vQq0ptOd0FoxA86YOKUQ4DDzwlBq/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2b18.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="868" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGA-rUCTybf9fztEsauj7RXgQFN9waZ7evOhmohXJZjg59Cz8FzivFBMg5L6rS4HDXmMxAff_oa2zvs5dfFmgojVKFOCk4zjtKuOKYyyz-vQq0ptOd0FoxA86YOKUQ4DDzwlBq/s400/fullsizeoutput_2b18.jpeg" width="217" /></a><br />
</center></td></tr>
</tbody></table><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5T3qrwxT6t7wJ1zQo8uR_q_4bbDrwIJKwmWN0_7450mUnr5zuZAC4dsmZkGPGldqMhWE_3SQ32uNaejV2XYH7B_rx1zwN9Jm3cekqd9IQpTfDh-sOcOSThRCaiSq4g_rKdLg/s1600/8wGoZ8HMTyWB0RFwC8O6%2525A.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5T3qrwxT6t7wJ1zQo8uR_q_4bbDrwIJKwmWN0_7450mUnr5zuZAC4dsmZkGPGldqMhWE_3SQ32uNaejV2XYH7B_rx1zwN9Jm3cekqd9IQpTfDh-sOcOSThRCaiSq4g_rKdLg/s320/8wGoZ8HMTyWB0RFwC8O6%2525A.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VS-hN82PFPtsAycgy1vl8zcxDY4FJxKm04FKvEfFmc79xvLYVOSF95J02H6_zkOUJgXkPG4Q907vc7L4iMZqeh37-EBONnPCnDCj0kK7QiLRjd5aUnyM9wi5JhOTvkmfv_39/s1600/VzzyO67hTW%252Bh5%252BgYl0qL1w.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VS-hN82PFPtsAycgy1vl8zcxDY4FJxKm04FKvEfFmc79xvLYVOSF95J02H6_zkOUJgXkPG4Q907vc7L4iMZqeh37-EBONnPCnDCj0kK7QiLRjd5aUnyM9wi5JhOTvkmfv_39/s320/VzzyO67hTW%252Bh5%252BgYl0qL1w.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4EfljTKtC7s3VqM1K1VVq7rJHtxmcYDLWBSKZaBc4rGNE_gFD7WOoHQWxmmN1sqhz5ufd3Xy4-gNcZGQ2REY6K70_vOEYs-KaYWQ4mUKwp1tBDcjxwiHJSmf6oWqG6UFHMFG/s1600/JUBxKjIcTESQVfvUARXZ0Q.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4EfljTKtC7s3VqM1K1VVq7rJHtxmcYDLWBSKZaBc4rGNE_gFD7WOoHQWxmmN1sqhz5ufd3Xy4-gNcZGQ2REY6K70_vOEYs-KaYWQ4mUKwp1tBDcjxwiHJSmf6oWqG6UFHMFG/s320/JUBxKjIcTESQVfvUARXZ0Q.jpg" width="240" /></a></center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-15395313149199467512019-08-26T11:16:00.002-06:002019-08-26T11:44:53.614-06:00Ten books that influenced meWithout looking back at older lists, I did this exercise again (in a visual-request way) in 2019. (That time it was seven books.)<br />
<br />
I found an older facebook post in which I had listed ten in 2014, and then listed what I thought would have been my list when I was 23 (1979).<br />
<br />
Here is the 2019 list, and I'll make the images links to the facebook posts, which might still be there.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156630499411374&set=a.77044101373&type=3&theater"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZLL-d_3ZhhA3zJ8okcUtBiSxYZU_mEbyTk2SSZ7P1fVU0rqildLHLhGnZnPgOo2YzHikr1XfsDGt778o4nCzbAXOCdk0c2sUhsyt9bgUPW7JIzJBNw_gRnoUOANOJrgSW4kc/s320/dictionary.jpg" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156630499411374&set=a.77044101373&type=3&theater"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOW-9Vc1_SGVjRygtTmlBb4VM86Xp0TfU5zYWxOadJMueefdLcpKkX8RgkfGA3kz0kEJ2BffbNeRIEzqxAQK6XoZGbMwLJIElhlgrH0hpXfDalKC7R2ZNDXIBC5tbrvPVdH_N/s320/2ZenLessons.png" width="214" height="320" data-original-width="363" data-original-height="542" /></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156634310436374&set=a.77044101373&type=3&theater" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdX4KlJ5tAG1VA-XeDTYLozDnCozzOxYnN0nJEWfvphLrZdXzcnsXXd9un5hIl29NrsSm3srPjDdGwCqDPLeDqdizJcOAQjQ7UtYKg9NeGLwJNc4lsjPfppI0KaUSwjB8yWPY/s320/3Sneetches.jpg" width="235" height="320" data-original-width="1174" data-original-height="1600" /></a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156636793011374&set=a.77044101373&type=3&theater" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFFscyWG_rV4tnzzL9jAlJ-T8NeQtx7VAvJAMR5FX-0epTrGjAFlEy60wWsiguIprZ5wr01T6lXxpX8ZOcEzEX4igmCxtQKaXiVnBWNI8guGIE0mVQORKF-ot2rwRgbWUzl6N/s320/4ConceptualBlockbusting.jpg" width="207" height="320" data-original-width="307" data-original-height="475" /></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156639152881374&set=a.77044101373&type=3&theater" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh57DNRafRbf32XvVA2_ttJA7qJGY6ur4txr8R9fbnOtXlyFMM1PIsTDemCjY-tp09ghH394AgNLWdw6HyofE3YY6OgSKzDSQB-8XVbhRk8MDPxTemU1P-EFwDPMAzmDj-92mnm/s320/5Slapstick%2528Vonnegut%2529.jpg" width="211" height="320" data-original-width="256" data-original-height="389" /></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156641208651374&set=a.77044101373&type=3&theater" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfCJ8Ho3STbEHlpyTSQk96VV8OdiVxpRAZ-lkloMl_K4KkGMu9MHXkP6hi1Rlo41jckxlL1JwAZ97I4Ywv8xuz2J5M_3_4TwUq_ideJm6_NkgChuN-mwiE5bORHjfft-uA-lhJ/s320/6Clementi.jpg" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="375" data-original-height="499" /></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156644259081374&set=a.77044101373&type=3&theater"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxudA3NdPm4xx1LA-uAp-47h1Mzblvi-VCHzHrobSu-K1riM2XvX0jMayIWO-zKz7mHWdnfE7YBAIuYgOMsi0zu6AbrY277YcUnnpCuAHYTYGRd5-672q-rRM5JtSDuyQcmXG/s320/7HassleFreeClothes.jpg" width="214" height="320" data-original-width="335" data-original-height="500" /></a></center><br />
In that game above, the original "copy this and tag" chain-letter game had a phrase that irked me, and probably is what inspired me to think of "book" in a broader sense. <br />
<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/10152394811741374"><br />
August 26, 2014 at 9:25 AM</a><br />
<br />
Instructions: in your status, list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't think too hard. They don't have to be the "right" books or great works of literature, but they should be ones that have affected you in some way. Tag 10 friends including the one who tagged you so they can see your list.<blockquote>1. Whole Child, Whole Parent (Berrien Berends)<br />
2. Conceptual Blockbusting (Adams)<br />
3. Slapstick (Vonnegutt)<br />
4. Zen Lessons, The Art of Leadership (Cleary, translator)<br />
5. Slowing Down to the Speed of Life (Carlson)<br />
6. The Monastic World (Brooke/Swaan)<br />
7. Learning All the Time (Holt)<br />
8. Man and his Symbols (Jung)<br />
9. The American Heritage Dictionary (editions with the wonderful etymologies since 1969; not all have the etymologies)<br />
10. Material World (Menzel)</blockquote>No one tagged me, so I'm not tagging. It's just going to sit here. :-)<br />
<br />
A couple of recent books I keep referring to and thinking of won't have as many years to affect me as the books above have had, but they're affecting me this year:<blockquote>Smarter Than you Think (Thompson), about people, computers and the internet<br />
Bad For You: Exposing the War on Fun (Pyle, Cunningham)</blockquote>(I'll tag people who have already played, whose lists I read: Pam Sorooshian, Rose Sorooshian, Roxana Sorooshian)<br />
I was thinking about what my list would have been when I was in my early-to-mid 20's. The only two above would have been Slapstick and The American Heritage Dictonary.Probably then, those didn't have the roots in me that they have now.<br />
<br />
I think my list when I was 23 or so would have been:<blockquote>Oliver Twist<br />
The Bible<br />
The Sneetches and Other Stories (still important ideas)<br />
The Lord of the Rings <br />
Life on a Medieval Barony <br />
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Child)<br />
The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles <br />
The Annotated Mother Goose (Baring-Gould(s))<br />
Joan Baez Ballad Book<br />
Be Here Now (Ram Dass)</blockquote>But the books I didn't list above that are important in my life are reference books, not read-start-to-finish books (The Oxford English Dictionary; Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable), and collections (The Children's Hour, which I've had since before I was in school; Grimm's Fairy Tales; Chaucer; Shakespeare; Poe; various Robin Hoods, and various King Arthurs and the art in them). I liked the Science Fiction magazines on newsprint, in the 60's, and LOOK magazine, and MAD magazine. I liked Childcraft books (which friends had, I didn't) and the series on sewing and needlework that someone was putting out in hardback in the 1970's (which I saw and borrowed but didn't own).Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-4041247923272059242019-07-05T22:36:00.002-06:002019-07-05T22:37:15.871-06:00"Horn toads"Yesterday morning, Holly showed me that in some rearrangement in her room she had found a little gold-plated horny-toad necklace from years ago.<br />
<br />
A while later, I saw that a facebook friend had posted something about horn toads, and I responded:<br />
Sandra Dodd:<blockquote>Those were everywhere in my neighborhood outside Fort Worth when I was a little kid. They're pretty easy to catch, too. They'll get as big as the palm of your hand (even adult hands). "Horny toads," common kid-name, years back. Maybe still. :-)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Vicki Angeline Dennis<br />
<blockquote>Still called horny toads but doubtful you would see many around FtWorthđ„. Even 50 years ago not so many as our childhood and I believe spent some years on endangered list. This generation mostly says proper horned lizards but when oldsters lament about things from childhood no longer around is always horny toads.</blockquote><br />
<font color=red><b>After the article she had posted, I'll tell the story of the biggest horn toad I ever saw, and it was not in Texas. It was just a minor story in my life, until I found out they're less frequently seen now. It makes my story more exotic, I guess.</b></font><br />
<br />
<br />
The article was about the Dallas zoo releasing some babies "into the wild."<br />
<a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/life/texana/2018/09/18/dallas-zoo-sets-46-horned-lizards-loose-first-ever-wildlife-release">Dallas Zoo sets 46 horned lizards loose with its first-ever wildlife release</a><br />
<br />
Because articles aren't always kept forever, I'll quote it. The author is Charles Scudder, of the staff of DallasNews.com<blockquote>In a statewide effort to stabilize populations of the state reptile, the Dallas Zoo released 46 Texas horned lizard hatchlings on state land about 100 miles west of Austin earlier this month.<br />
<br />
It was the zoo's first wildlife release.<br />
<br />
We always want to put things back to the wild," said Bradley Lawrence, the reptiles supervisor at the Dallas Zoo. "It's just so rare that we get to do stuff like this. We would love to do that like every day."<br />
<br />
At Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area, a total of 139 hatchlings were released, including 93 from the Fort Worth Zoo, which pioneered breeding programs for Texas horned lizards.<br />
<br />
For decades, the reptile has been vanishing from Texas landscapes. About 10 years ago, Texas zoos, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials and Texas Christian University researchers partnered to try to learn how to bring the critter back to certain pockets of the state.<br />
<br />
As a side project in that effort, the Dallas Zoo works with wild populations of the lizard at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch about 250 miles west of Dallas. That work includes collecting data on the wild lizards to help provide additional information for future reintroduction projects.<br />
<br />
This September, Lawrence brought the hatchlings born at the zoo to the Hill Country and released them in a clearing surrounded by granite hills. <a HREF="https://interactives.dallasnews.com/2018/the-disappearing-horny-toad/#_ga=2.148467639.1861995076.1562342083-1660623575.1562342083">Click here to read more about that project and how Texans are working to protect the Texas horned lizard.</a></blockquote><br />
<hr>In 1972 or 1973, that school year, I was at the University of New Mexico, and was living in a house near Lomas/Carlisle/Monte Vista. Four of us went up into the Sandia Mountains one day, to a little picnic area that no longer exists, on the east side of the road. People live around there now, but then not nearly as many.<br />
<br />
We were able to climb up some, and then there was a huge vista, over toward what is now Edgewood. Not as many people lived there, then, either.<br />
<br />
One roommate had gone to babysit us. She had brought a book, or homework or something. We needed a babysitter, because we were there to take LSD.<br />
<br />
On the way up there, Alan and I had been telling Dev about horn toads (which little kids call "horny toads," but being sophisticated older people (I was 19, Alan and Dev were 23 or so, I think), we said "horn toads." Both Alan and I had lived in Texas as young children. Dev had lived in India, Ottawa (I think) and then New Jersey. No horn toads. He was fascinated, and a biology student, and asked us more questions. We only had little-kid answers. :-)<br />
<br />
We got up there, and Alan and I were lying on our backs, looking up at trees. I remember saying "Look at that airplane, sneaking through the trees." Seemed like that. We were tripping.<br />
<br />
Then Dev came back from his exploratory adventure saying "I think I found a horn toad!"<br />
<br />
We didn't think so. It was a huge "probably not," because 1) he had never seen one, nor a picture of one, 2) I had never seen on in New Mexico, and 3) he was trippin'. <br />
<br />
Dev's carrying a margarine container, out of the picnic stuff. Margarine used to come in plastic bowls with snap-on lids in the early 1970's. The bowls were about 6" across.<br />
<br />
We looked, but the clear plastic lid was steamed up. Something live was in there, for sure, and it was heavy. It was as big as the bowl, whatever he had.<br />
<br />
We opened it to see the biggest horn toad ever. It was twice as big as any I had ever seen. It was a grandaddy horn toad king. Poor guy was scared, too, but he was absolutely a horn toad, and we apologized to Dev for not believing him sooner. We held it a while, showed him that if you turn them over in your hand and rub their bellies they'll go to sleep (playing dead is probably what they're doing), and then he took it to release it. This was in the days before photos were easy to take, and before disposable cameras, and we didn't have a camera with us. <table align=right width=50% cellpadding=25><td>A horn toad, but not THAT horn toad:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/thlizard/"><img src="https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/images/reptiles/horned_lizard.jpg"></a></td></table><br />
I was very apologetic to Dev for having doubted him, but also shocked at the oddity of the find. I told that story later to someone who lived on the south side of Edgewood, and she said they had seen horn toads on their property.<br />
<br />
II have two more stories now, that go both directions from that one.<br />
<br />
When I was two or three, before my sister was born, I saw snow on TV and asked my mom about it. We were outside of Fort Worth in those days. She described it to me, beyond what was on the black-and-white TV. Not long after that, she was taking a nap (pregnant, maybe; drunk, maybe) and I was looking out the kitchen door window and saw what I thought was snow. I ran and woke her up and said "It's snowing!"<br />
<br />
She was never nice about waking up. Whether I woke her up or she woke up naturally, I always got blamed, but she was the only one there to tell. She got mad and told me it was NOT snowing, and to leave her alone.<br />
<br />
It hardly ever snows there, and she thought (reasonably, too) that I was trying out a new word I had learned. I went back and watched that "not snowing" some more, and when she woke up she hugged me and apologized and said that it was snow.<br />
<br />
Somewhere there used to be a snapshot of the little snowman my dad made for me when he got back from work. It was him squatted and smiling, posing next to a little metal can, like vegetables come in, that he had tried to stick snow on, with a little snowball about 3" across stuck on the top of it. So it wasn't much snow, but it was snow.<br />
<br />
Story #3 is that when I lived with Jimbo in La Mesilla, an area southeast of Española, between San Pedro and Arroyo Seco, my friend Michael was visiting us. So mid-70's. Maybe 1975. We had told Michael about "child of the earth," a odd, big alien-looking bug that people find once in a while, when they're digging in dirt usually, and it comes out of the dirt clean, and looks like it would glow in the dark, and looks kind of like the bugs in "Cootie" games, and nearly as big. Seriously. Scary and weird.<table align=right width=50% cellpadding=35><td>A child of the earth, but not THAT child of the earth:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Stenopelmatus_fuscus_%28Jerusalem_Cricket%29.jpg" width=96%></a><br />
<br />
I only found one image that had something to scale in the photo, but the bug had long antennae like I have never seen, so I didn't bring that one. They're big, though like 3" long in the body.</td></table><br />
It was nighttime, and I went in the next room to get something to show him, and in a box of music books was... a child of the earth. I had never seen one inside a house. I had never seen one when I needed one to show someone. I caught it in a pan or something and we looked at it and let it go outside.<br />
<br />
Lots of times in my life I've seen something that I had just lately been talking about, or heard a song that I hadn't heard for a long time when it would have the most effect, or met up with someone in an unexpected place, but these two stories of a creature appearing in an illustrative way are among the coolest things that ever happened to me.<br />
<br />
The most recent story I've heard of a child of the earth was from Toby Tsosie in Santa Clara. Last month, one walked over his foot. Whoa. In Santa Clara Pueblo, which is just across the river from La Mesilla. I think he was sitting outside. Good.<br />
<br />
<center>Those photos are links to more info.</center><br />
<br />
<br />
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-173331127321368882019-07-03T14:51:00.001-06:002019-07-03T14:51:12.686-06:00Two baby KirbiesBaby Kirby Dodd, one year old, 1987 (background), and Baby Kirby Dodd, one year old, 2019 (the 3-D baby).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkOiObYHS7HO66Urvs1kJX11OSp1WbhgM1WITpoNXTYLJSODd076dpB9QmX3CZOhP7hNPZZNGBG9eKoUVqmNe-dl1zrOhZw63VzKCOYmyf0MPsXSEgh5Gq2QOta7y43kWPDAu/s1600/y%252BnOHRCYSr%252BsrZpLU39Ndw.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkOiObYHS7HO66Urvs1kJX11OSp1WbhgM1WITpoNXTYLJSODd076dpB9QmX3CZOhP7hNPZZNGBG9eKoUVqmNe-dl1zrOhZw63VzKCOYmyf0MPsXSEgh5Gq2QOta7y43kWPDAu/s400/y%252BnOHRCYSr%252BsrZpLU39Ndw.jpg" width="98%" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a><br />
<center><br />
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src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJR7Ln4eTrisV0LiprsGSK2VBOkuEm714QGWj1aZ9Y1kYc8FXytNLB6jVx_kP2ZF4moky1h39nY-QWM2Q3zZrkXEeph3q08vS2K55REL_FvEYWonJBZbwZf8UCQNSXcDjb9hp0/s400/bJq0rQQeS6q5BBAl%2525FqubQ.jpg" width="400" height="300" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TCGF0loCfzPjeQAHqdWDASo82Xn1PktQcmGRAxpAQ0XgDAj-kN3fZOXs1zCLOezH7dv4eUMYMZDdF9CzOSK1HFC8b6yKaUIK8KMJ6bmy6gVG_DHDwnsTOMU54NFo0Hr9iVw2/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2a5a.jpeg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TCGF0loCfzPjeQAHqdWDASo82Xn1PktQcmGRAxpAQ0XgDAj-kN3fZOXs1zCLOezH7dv4eUMYMZDdF9CzOSK1HFC8b6yKaUIK8KMJ6bmy6gVG_DHDwnsTOMU54NFo0Hr9iVw2/s400/fullsizeoutput_2a5a.jpeg" width="400" height="355" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1420" /></a><a 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src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbDZd3FF72eqOuwqq6KEYUvJmZzFTauYLFq8GVGF4wWFD2Bqsk13yFKuBPMK1SykeWMwksiscBGuYFOBw9V_UmpOA_z3y9vWt91BOPAvQEs1UBTbidl3plwu4FY2Cx1Kwuztnl/s400/ICfLEgAcRfmwAJ0SMcOJEw.jpg" width="400" height="300" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJDWA5XU1yC6ynp8xbxVBwf7ZcHF_AYilT7NZhNwWO4UCBWcuCTG8HYLhLYcdajMfeZbzkE1uQvbsVaheBja3VUfyxiwGaA98hI9eOdzZrHR18_hyphenhyphen5BmkAKfQ_Igt_lX4m6No/s1600/tGHzXO13SGu%252BzExnyDDhNg.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJDWA5XU1yC6ynp8xbxVBwf7ZcHF_AYilT7NZhNwWO4UCBWcuCTG8HYLhLYcdajMfeZbzkE1uQvbsVaheBja3VUfyxiwGaA98hI9eOdzZrHR18_hyphenhyphen5BmkAKfQ_Igt_lX4m6No/s400/tGHzXO13SGu%252BzExnyDDhNg.jpg" width="300" height="400" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjfhXPaRWv0O7hZA1xia3P4bCcafBemgdNI1P6iZQgzQM5zlgsRHaErfAzWaMIZBzYJTSpLOKiC67Jfi1_5cdwexzGH1Ant9gjv4hI2FS3oM1wr1saqcVmxLEfUT2nls2Ydpo/s1600/TKsd5N%252BKQ0WplNgUmTWSfA.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjfhXPaRWv0O7hZA1xia3P4bCcafBemgdNI1P6iZQgzQM5zlgsRHaErfAzWaMIZBzYJTSpLOKiC67Jfi1_5cdwexzGH1Ant9gjv4hI2FS3oM1wr1saqcVmxLEfUT2nls2Ydpo/s400/TKsd5N%252BKQ0WplNgUmTWSfA.jpg" width="300" height="400" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysi5EdQsZnIcRYoNewI8TRdY1cB-sVikDneDLHB7vWlbg3uLSOmCTw1gYjhOnY69yaVueb4Q4OheNcyxgn3GkzMmaLAK5wJRLZATK2AGSHPPj2rE2oz4NobuegHQHgRy7j_Cj/s1600/v9zOZMjlReCtF1BWQnUeMA.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysi5EdQsZnIcRYoNewI8TRdY1cB-sVikDneDLHB7vWlbg3uLSOmCTw1gYjhOnY69yaVueb4Q4OheNcyxgn3GkzMmaLAK5wJRLZATK2AGSHPPj2rE2oz4NobuegHQHgRy7j_Cj/s400/v9zOZMjlReCtF1BWQnUeMA.jpg" width="400" height="300" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-63342455460888788792019-06-25T09:38:00.000-06:002019-06-25T09:38:22.976-06:00Keith update (nearly normal!)In the same way the personnel at UNMH seemed surprised that Keith lived, the follow-up doctors seem surprised he's doing as well as he is.<br />
<br />
<b>Dr. Hai, a DaVita cardiologist, second visit.</b><blockquote>Echocardiogram, on June 24, showed the heart flow was 45-50 cpm. Dr. Hai says that's 90% of normal. People without heart attack history are 50-55. People who have had heart attacks are usually 30-35.<br />
<br />
Results of a heart monitor he wore for three days a month ago showed no abnormalities in heartbeat. Over the course of three days, it skipped a beat a couple of times, but that's normal for anyone. There was nothing in that test to indicate problems.<br />
<br />
Hemoglobin appears low.<br />
Cholesterol looks good.<br />
They had failed to do A1C, so he ordered one.<br />
<br />
Lowered the dose of Amiodarone from 800 mg daily to 200 mg daily.<br />
<br />
Next checkup in six months.</blockquote><hr><i>Note from Sandra: It would be nice to know more from the inserted monitor/defibrilator, but at the first appointment, it wasn't set up to upload data yet. We had another appointment scheduled for three months later, but it was pushed out from three months to four and a half. That's a long time to go without feedback, I think, so I'm glad that Dr. Hai ordered the external monitor. It bothered me at first for being duplication, but UNM doesn't communicate with DaVita.<br />
<br />
Keith got copies of the records from his stay at UNM. 400 pages. Dr. Hai kept that to photocopy some parts. </i><br />
<hr><br />
<b>Jacqueline Reeve, primary care, follow-up, third visit.</b><blockquote>She wants to see the 400 pages of records from UNM, too.<br />
<br />
Keith had blood tests right away for hemoglobin, A1C, and "an iron study."<br />
Keith's been taking an iron supplement for a couple of months, just informally, on the physical therapist's recommendation. Reeve will make a recommendation when the lab work is back.<br />
<br />
She listened to his heart just quietly for a long time and said she heard nothing like a murmur, and all was strong and good.<br />
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The kidney specialist, Dr. Chen, had recommended Saw Palmetto (capsules, over the counter) to help with an enlarged prostate, but she didn't say how much or how often. Reeve looked it up and recommends 160 mg twice a day. That's unrelated to heart problems, but when there's a big emergency, people seem to stop paying attention to anything else. He's well enough that they're looking at things other than his heart now, which is nice. They sent him to the kidney specialist (I think, it seemed) to make sure there wasn't kidney damage from the cardiac arrests, or from the effects of the ICU treatments.</blockquote><br />
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Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-70491614071101399662019-05-18T00:24:00.000-06:002019-05-18T00:24:59.647-06:00Keith's wonderful recoveryKeith's progress is remarkable, so here I am to remark. :-)<br />
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This week, he has been out of the hospital as long as he was in. And Wednesday's out-patient physical therapy was the last of the set of ten. He doesn't need to go back.<br />
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In June, I might start driving him to the pool weekday mornings early. He will daytrip to Outlandish with Paul/Lavan, before then.<br />
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Things are good. <center><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRb2inM_Jaugct2Drc2URMTtlt8GcWfSeA_wfpHftR4c7iSWqSrMDOAb9e2mNnMqa4gkNKjtTNaC7mBwRjDNFmjyMWnWIg4naCH2-MElvPLbs5gjWzEoAFZsOlZ6iz7RyjxDG/s1600/wEhohd4sTpumudGw8hto5g.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRb2inM_Jaugct2Drc2URMTtlt8GcWfSeA_wfpHftR4c7iSWqSrMDOAb9e2mNnMqa4gkNKjtTNaC7mBwRjDNFmjyMWnWIg4naCH2-MElvPLbs5gjWzEoAFZsOlZ6iz7RyjxDG/s640/wEhohd4sTpumudGw8hto5g.jpg" width="480" height="640" data-original-width="1200" data-original-height="1600" /></a></center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-26495815556246700092019-05-06T15:50:00.001-06:002019-05-06T15:50:22.758-06:00Keith update!Keith is doing well, using a cane sometimes, probably won't re-up for another set of physical and occupational out-patient therapy sessions, even if they're offered. <br />
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He's been to another cardiologist (one of DaVita's) who wants to do some tests over the next month or two, and he went to a kidney specialist, at the request of his "primary physician." The primary physician he has seen twice is a nurse practitioner who saw him because he regular nurse practitioner was too heavily scheduled. He also had another consult with the pharmacist, who rearranged his drug-taking schedule a bit.<br />
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The cardiologist asked him to stop taking the blood pressure lowering med, because Keith was in there in the clinic, and reading 80 over I forget whatâtoo low. But to Keith's request to stop taking the blood thinner for a week so the pain clinic would give him a steroid cocktail shot for his lower back pain, the doctor said it was too dangerous in the first six months. Oh, and the kidney specialist told him not to take over-the-counter pain killers for it, because they're bad for his liver. <br />
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When he was in the hospital, it seemed too many departments were pulling him one way and another without regard for what the others needed/wanted/had ordered. Now that he's home, UNM and Davita, and their various departments, are doing a similar scattery stretch on him. After this current round of tests and visits, I think I'll contact the insurance company to ask for some coordination of care.<br />
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That's what I thought this morning, and told Keith, too.<br />
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Then the mail came. These were probably mailed on May-last-Friday, May 3. That would've been two months after the initial cardiac arrest. Do you think they wait two months to be polite? Or did it take them this long to get this together? The only bill we've had so far was the ambulance. Thirty-seven envelopes saying "Physician's statement" have all arrived at once. They might not be bills, and we might not need to pay them if they are (someone we went to said Keith's deductible has been met for the year), but it's a scary-looking pile. :-)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMCWQ6twXwUKoUXhGHQahb9KkDCiXyjRtnwqn9cBm3YD6NmIq0-zf0a7m-8fpvG3fJQviiN_pU8vxBWlaCRk1drnQ3X3Yz886wCDkKXBGnd830aUbXbkRDReUYrLri7EbDxKb/s1600/HQ3PP2BEQn%252BQDYS4atU60A.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMCWQ6twXwUKoUXhGHQahb9KkDCiXyjRtnwqn9cBm3YD6NmIq0-zf0a7m-8fpvG3fJQviiN_pU8vxBWlaCRk1drnQ3X3Yz886wCDkKXBGnd830aUbXbkRDReUYrLri7EbDxKb/s640/HQ3PP2BEQn%252BQDYS4atU60A.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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I've been opening them as the photo loaded, and yeah... bills. <br />
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charges / payment-adjustment / patient balance<br />
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Still... it's good that Keith is alive to pay these. :-) Or at least to ask the insurance company which ones he should be paying. It might be the total of this pile that makes his deductible.<br />
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Thanks again for the sympathy and encouragement of friends and relatives. Keith's still frustrated, gets tired easily, and sometimes doesn't feel great, but other times he's strong, cheerful and whole!Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-46225099314653672852019-04-22T16:22:00.000-06:002019-04-22T16:37:43.047-06:00Two weeks home, seven weeks post-incidentKeith is doing better every day. His balance is improving, he's walking with just a cane, mostly (still uses the wheelchair in the bedroom and his office, because it's more comfortable and he doesn't get as tired). Today he and Holly went to Costco, and he used the cart as a walker. :-) He gets tired easily, stillâfrom a combination of muscle atrophy and of difficulty breathing.<br />
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The upper back side of his head above his left ear is still numb. That injury, nobody cared about earlier. It's probably where he hit his head when he fell back downhill on March 3. Because his long hair was all matted up there for a month, it wasn't noticeable until the hair was cut. <br />
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There are a few little oddities that will probably go away. He has kerosene cans with a side cut out, flat with the hendle out, as drawers on shelves in the garage, and though he used to know what they all were, now he needs to look in them. He might label them, or his memories might come back. That's not the sort of thing they could have tested him for in rehabâ"What's in those cans in the garage?" He said when he's playing music, he's having a hard time not just with breath (lungs, ribs, sternumâthat would affect air), but with fingering and rhythm. I think that could be weak muscles, and playing recorder uses muscles way up the arm, on lower notes, especially an alto or tenor, and he's still weak in the shoulders and chest.<br />
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This will come back too, but his speaking voice isn't strong, and he can't sing well or right, yet. I fell in love with him for his singing, and his musical ability, and now that's messed up!? Good thing that over the years I've found other lovable things about him. :-)<br />
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This morning we went and watched Ivan for an hour at Marty & Ashlee's house. Yesterday, Devyn was over to eat and hunt eggs, and baby Kirby was here. She'll be here tomorrow for a while, too. So he's able to do his grandfatherly duty, which is sweet. :-)<br />
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We still play Dr. Mario nearly every day, and we've been playing Five Crowns. Yesterday we played two games of Azul with Kirby and Destiny, and they left the game for me and Keith to play. We will. <br />
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It will still take a few months for Keith to get back to his own strong singing self, but he's doing well. <br />
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Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12510183.post-785619281480123232019-04-13T22:42:00.001-06:002019-04-13T22:42:32.255-06:00Keith's progress at home, five days inFive days home, Keith is sleeping better, taking a few steps without the walker, mostly using the wheelchair to get around his office and bedroom, going outside every day with the walker, and sometimes going on errands (with me or Holly driving and helpking). He met a contractor at Marty's house, and he's been to the bank, to outpatient rehab, and a doctor's appointment. He got as pneumonia vaccine, on the pharmacist's recommendation.<br />
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Keith says he feels strong, but tires easily and his balance isn't as sure as usual. He's doing lots of things as well as he did before, but there are some lags. There are plans and projects he doesn't remember. He had put half a dozen big rocks all in one place (on a sidewalk in back, near where he had laid in a couple of flat rocks where a hole had been). I moved them onto the grass so the mattress delivery guys could get by. Keith asked where the rocks came from. He doesn't remember, and he hadn't told me, so I can't help him.<br />
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Playing Dr. Mario on the Nintendo 64 has been a test for us in the past. We've played until my stupifying drugs kicked in, on dental-surgery days. It cut down my anxiety to play happily until I quit moving pills, and Keith knew I was ready to go. We've joked that it's an Alzheimer's testâif one of us forgets how to play, that will be time to tell the doctor to check for Alzheimer's. Keith is playing Dr. Mario as well as ever. You might think "...or he's not, and Sandra has Alzheimer's", but Holly played with us too, and we were all winning some, and Holly won slightly more.<br />
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We play Five Crowns, a game with 116 cards. Keith can't shuffle or deal well. He said he has some fine-motor-skill catching up to do. It hardly shows, when nobody's asking him to shuffle cards. So others are shuffling and dealing, and that's fine.<br />
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For the next five weeks (and maybe more) he will go to Encompass Outpatient Rehab (same gym he was in when he was a patient there) twice a week, for two 45-minute sessions back-to-back. Physical therapy and occupational.<br />
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He's not nearly well, but he's getting there, slowly. Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0