Happy Thanksgiving

There are 4 younger members of the Blawat family and this Thanksgiving we were fortunate to have them all together. The only one not in this picture is Jen’s husband Jaime, who was manning the camera. So here he is with Jen and her mom Nancy (my cousin). They're all teachers.


It’s easy to smile with this bunch, they’re fun.

A Pain in the Foot

I need to start this by saying my feet are fine. And I’ve been working very long hours and I’m in a bitchy mood. I’m not saying nurses are evil, but sometimes it seems that way.

You may recall my tale in July about R. Footnurse, Ms. Gloomendoom. After previously telling me to declaw the cats and that I had toenail fungus, I was wondering what she’d come up with this time.

I get calluses on the 4-toed foot. I keep them soft with Bag Balm and can scrape them off with my thumbnail after a shower. Well the night before my foot appointment 2 weeks ago, a fairly large callus scraped off and left pink skin below it. Nurse Doomengloom took one look at that and said, “If that was my toe and I kept having problems with it like that, I’d have the doctor cut off the first joint. One of my other patients had that done.”

Oh sure, sign me up for that! Especially to avoid the annoyance of a callus.

Well, she wrapped my foot and put it in a Jones boot for two weeks just to be cautious. (This means you have to shower with a garbage bag duct-taped to your foot.)

Monday I went to have the wrapping removed.

Miracle of miracles! When they sent me to the casting room and took the bandage off, there was nothing wrong with the toe! That, of course, would be the toe that had nothing wrong with it to begin with.

I like the casting room. The two fellows who work there are fun. When I first went into the room this time, there was a patient a few feet away who was talking to a doctor. I couldn't help overhearing.

The doctor was telling him that his ankle needed surgery. The patient wasn’t thrilled. He had already gone through the same thing with his other foot a couple of years ago. The doctor said, “you can let it go for a couple of weeks to see what
happens, but no more than 2 because it could start to heal wrong.”

Finally the fellow sighed and said, “OK so when would you want to schedule this?” The doctor said, “today.” The fellow looked like he wanted to cry. The doctor got up and left the room to get the paperwork started. The fellow glanced over at me and I smiled.

“What a bummer!” I said. I felt obligated to make him feel better. “But look at it this way, if you were a dog, you’d have two more feet and might have 2 more surgeries to face.”

The fellow just kept looking at me.

I held up my foot with the 4 toes and said, “when I came in here a couple of years ago with a blister on my toe, they put me right in the hospital and hacked it off. I was there for 7 days. You’ll be out by this evening, and you’ll still have all your toes.”

“That’s gross,” he said. “If I pretend like you’re cheering me up, will you shut up?”

“Sure,” I said. “Good luck.” I waved bye bye with my 4 toes. He started snickering.

It turned out to be a good day.

John

People have asked about John. I’m happy to report he’s well and doing fine. He moved out a couple of years ago and is living up the road a ways. This isn’t his house, this picture was taken a couple of years ago in Idaho, but it’s a good representation of where he seems to be psychologically - in a peaceful place.

John still works at the farm next door and he stops by every day to feed Blue Top. He also just got a part-time job at Sac City College in the refrigeration department, so he has some new adventures to look forward to.

Baby Pix

Here’s a picture of Dusty and Bob when both of them were younger. I don’t remember what year Dusty was born, but I think Bob was 10. That would make the horse 12 now. The two boys played a lot. One of their favorite games was Hide N’ Seek. Bob would hide in the tall weeds and wait for the colt to come along, then jump up. The colt loved it. Bob would chase him for a while, then they’d switch and the colt would chase Bob.

Dusty was supposed to be Bob’s horse, but Bob preferred riding motorcycles. Also he turned out to be 6’2” and Dusty is not huge.

Fall Is Sorta Here

What was it today? 80 degrees, clear, and sunny? Typical mixed-up California fall. The trees are trying to do their jobs, though, there are lots of pretty leaves out there. These were some that were brought for “Out of Their Gourds,” a gourd workshop on Saturday. Several of us from work took a few hours off to enjoy each others’ company and decorate some gourds. Remember my before picture from a while back? Well, here is a “during” picture. I have the background finished and am contemplating what to do next.


It may be a while before I get back to it. I had a great day off today, though. George the cat, who doubles as an alarm clock, got me up early by sneezing in my face. I was supposed to be at Katherine’s at 10 to watch her ride Dusty. I went ahead and got up, got dressed, and went to Bert’s Diner for breakfast on the way. Had an avocado omelet with a side of bacon. Watched the ace waitress there flirt with all the guys - she’s very good. Before I left someone complimented my “wild” jeans with gold embroidery on the legs (hey, they were cheap) and I got hugged by a perfect stranger.

I watched Katherine ride Dusty. He’s doing very well with his gaits. Grumbling and griping about having to work hard and sweat, though. He reminded me of a 15 year old boy when you ask him to take out the garbage.


Katherine may get a chance to ride him on Mt. Diablo. That will give him a new appreciation for sweat and work. His grandma and his mother were ridden on Mt. Diablo. Not my favorite trails, but interesting and challenging.

Staying Busy

Please excuse my inattention to my blog in the next week or so. Work is extremely busy right now, I'm leaving home early and getting home late. The work is very complicated, I'm really pushing just to keep up. I'm soooo glad I love the people I work with.

The trees got trimmed, including the top 20 feet of the avocado tree, so the avocados got picked. There were at least a dozen.

One of my new Taganrog pigeons died. The other pair is sitting on eggs.

Bob just bought the new World of Warcraft. It came out yesterday. You will probably find him sitting in front of his computer 24 hours a day for at least 2 weeks.

The cats have declared a truce so they can all sit in the living room in front of the woodstove at the same time.

I'll write more when I get a minute or two.

Love you all!

More Thoughts on Boys

Yes, a couple of days ago I said that my little brother had been a pain in the butt. People will back me up on that. But even if you didn’t know him when he was young, you can just look at this picture and see it for yourself.


I assure you he grew out of that. Now he’s a big cuddly teddy bear kind of guy, like most of my uncles and cousins.

There was one bad effect of growing up with a brother who was a butt. Actually, my stepbrother was one, too, so I grew up thinking that’s how boys were. That’s how I expected Bob to be, so I may have been a little stern with him when he really didn’t deserve it.

Bob did inherit something from that side of the family, though. Remember when I showed you the photoshopped picture of him and said he has “Grandma Doris” hair?

Well, here is an unretouched photo of Grandma Doris. See what I mean?

More Thoughts on Christmas

Do you send Christmas cards? I have been known to send a few. But it’s like planting sweet peas, I never get around to doing it at the right time.

My work usually requires a big crunch until the day before Christmas, then we’re off for a week or so. I seldom have time to shop for cards or anything else. Many years there was not enough money until the last paycheck before Christmas anyway.

A couple of times I’ve tried to get a Christmas letter written — I always enjoy getting them from other people. In fact, there’s still a file here on my computer titled “Christmas.” Let me see. Yes, Bob was still in high school when I started jotting notes for that. It’s a little out of date.

Before Bob, and when Bob was little, I decorated the house and made a ton of cookies to share. Now, even though we have 40 acres of Christmas trees in the back yard, we seldom do a tree. It’s not that I don’t like that stuff, it’s just a lot of work to put up and then turn around and take down.

And the cookies! All the people I shared them with have either moved away or died, or are on dietary restrictions. I am diabetic, myself and eat a low carb diet. I’m quite happy with Adams peanut butter and celery, and though I can pass up cookies easily, as you all know, cookie DOUGH is an addictive drug. Last year I tried to make fake cookies for the other folks.

This is what it was like: take 2 cups of shredded cardboard. Mix with chemicals and chocolate. Real chocolate (dark) is actually OK. Bake.

Hmm, well, I didn’t taste them myself. All I can say is if you happened to drop a plate of them into the cat litter box, you’d never be able to discern them from the real stuff.

We haven’t forsaken Christmas entirely. We still like to go to Uncle Ray’s house on Christmas Eve. I didn’t get to do that last year, Bob and John went, but I’m pretty sure I can make it up the steps this year.

Bob and I have come up with some new traditions, too. We carry a little cash so we always have something for the bell ringers and the cardboard sign carriers. If we have breakfast out we leave a huge tip. We put the stockings on the mantle. Sometimes there’s only stuff in the stocking for the cats, but my Mom crocheted them so it’s fun having them out.

We have Ellen’s crocheted ornaments hanging from the mantle (I confess, 3 of them hang there all year) and on the ficus tree. Sometimes we put lights on the ficus. Sometimes Charley doesn’t rip it all down looking for something to play with.

I have some wonderful antique ornaments Aunt Bea gave us, and lots of old family ones, but I won’t put them up with Charley in the house. He’s never satisfied with the new toys in his stocking.

I’ve been trying to find a new Christmas tradition that involves Hawaii. Unfortunately it looks like work will interfere this year, and if I’m not working next year I probably won’t have enough money. It’s always something, isn’t it?

It doesn’t look good for Christmas cards this year. Katherine hasn’t designed any. I probably don’t need a newsletter because I already blab everything on this blog.

But I think I might get the sweet peas planted.

Christmas Cards

When my family lived in Camino, back in the 60s, my mom would take pictures of our red house in the snow and have Christmas cards made. I ran across a couple of them tonight while I was scanning photos.

I found myself wondering why she had pictures of the house instead of the family. Then I found this photo that was never used. This is my mom, my brother Jerry, and my stepfather. My brother is holding a Merry Christmas sign.


Now that I see this, I remember why Mom always used pictures of the house.

No offense little bro, but you were such a pain in the butt. I must have taken the picture because I wasn’t in it. My presence wouldn’t have been an improvement.

Lap Cats

Velcro thinks George is dumb and has bad manners. He likes laps, but doesn’t know what to do if the lap is full - of book, for instance. Velcro is Miss Manners. She knows how to find a comfy spot NEAR the lap.

George just plops wherever it’s convenient for him. Then hangs on. I have several scratches to prove it. But no more. Tonight he caught my chin with an errant claw, so I found the nail clippers and gave those slashers a trim.

I am working on pictures that aren’t just of cats. I wanted to get a photo of Bob in his Halloween outfit, but he and the group went to San Francisco to do their trick-or-treating. He left before I got home Friday night and didn’t get back until late last night. By this morning he’d cleaned all the fuzz off his face, so the costume won’t be as realistic. No, it wasn’t his gorilla suit. He can’t find that. (hooray! hooray! no more gorilla hairs in the dryer) Evidently he loaned it to someone who didn’t return it. Or maybe couldn’t return it. Has anyone heard of a gorilla getting shot in Sacramento county this year?

Next year’s costume is already in the works. The Star Trek patterns FINALLY got here. They were ordered 2 months ago. The darn things are pretty complicated, though, and there are no pictures, just a written set of instructions. The pattern for Captain Picard’s jacket says to buy “one black pigskin and two maroon pigskins.” Please. Have you ever seen a maroon pig? How would I sew pigskin on my little sewing machine? And do you suppose Captain Picard’s jacket was really made of animal leather? I think Bob’s will be naugahyde. Or maybe fake suede. I’m sure we’ll wish we had a replicator before this project is finished.

I may not be sewing on it at all. Bob can sew. He learned how to do that at the Waldorf school. He can knit, too. They didn’t just teach the kids to make a square, they knitted a sock. Turned the corners on the heel and everything.

He had already learned to cook in 4-H when he was eight: apple pie and pizza from scratch, biscuits and gravy, and stuffed Cornish game hens.

In public elementary school, they’re intent on making kids learn algebra so they can take higher math in high school, and can all go to college eventually and compete for science jobs that don’t even exist in the U.S. anymore.

I wish I’d known all this 25 years ago.