Happy Birthday Laura! (and Belated Wishes To Amanda, Too.)

My youngest baby is 13 today....and as I look in the mirror at all the gray hair, I realize I've earned every one of them....and most of them were worth it. Happy Birthday, Laura Elizabeth...I love you more than anything else in the world (except your sister....but I didn't have a blog when her birthday came--so happy birthday to Amanda Marie, too....I love you both.) I'll see you very soon!

Some Thoughts For The Day.

How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.
-- John Burroughs

To me -- old age is always ten years older than I am.
-- Andre B. Baruch

To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.
-- Henri Frederic Amiel


There's a difference between progress and change, as I've always noted to anyone that was silly enough to listen to my ranting. Progress moves you forward, while change merely bulldozes (sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally) what was for what is to be. I am a firm believer in history, and recognizing, remembering and respecting the past, and things older than myself.

One of my favorite anecdotes about history comes from an encounter my daughters and I had with a desk clerk at the Radisson Schwartzer Bock Hotel (with a capital "H") in the heart of Wiesbaden, Germany. My babies wanted to know how old the hotel was...and for once, Daddy had overlooked a bit of trivia. Since I had no real working use of the German language, I asked my oldest daughter to ask the clerk.

"The hotel was built in 1482," said the clerk.

My daughter turned to me and asked, "Daddy...Is that older than the Embassy Theatre?"

To my baby's way of thinking, Fort Wayne's Embassy (built in 1928) was the oldest possible building she knew...a theatre that Daddy had gone to see movies in, and Grandma and Grandpa had gone to see movies in, and even Great Grandma Sherwood had visited in her youth.

Why the obsession with age, history and change today? Because my children's great grandma's health is slowly failing. A recent fall left her complaining about neck and head pain (this a scant two weeks shy of her 90th birthday on July 8th.) Catscans and MRIs indicated no fractures, but they did bring to light an extreme calcification of her neck bones and arthritis so advanced that the catscans couldn't even penetrate.

Today, I was notified that Grandma can't be left alone on her current pain medication, so my staying with her is no longer enough to keep her independent. She's going to stay with my aunt and uncle for an indefinate time...possibly on her way to an assisted living facility.

My grandmother is old, frail, and long past her prime....and yet, it's hard to acknowledge that fact. She is fierce about her independence, and works every day to keep vibrant and active....right down to fretting over what to fix me to eat (and if you know me, you know that I don't miss many meals...no need to worry about that.) Like so many things that are old, some would choose to look past her, with an eye on the future. Some members of my extended family have already done so.

But because I love my grandmother, I am going to continue to hold true to my passion for remembering, and respecting the past...and try to do what is best for her. Whether that means making accomodations to keep her independent...or turning her over to others who can do a better job of making her final time a better time. In that way, I can show my respect to my grandmother for all she's done for me.


I hate change.

Seven Days Without A Zerbet Makes One Weak.

Seven days....and counting. Can't wait to get hugs and kisses from two nearly grown young ladies on the Fourth of July. Better than all the fireworks shows in the world.

Although I might have to pick up some M-90s along the way there or back....just for fun.

A Thought For The Day.

A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
--Anonymous

Two quotes in two days....This "Anonymous" cat seems to have a real insight....wish I could sit down with him/her and get, as Jimmy Buffett once sang, 'answers to questions that bother me so.'

A Thought For The Day.

Isn't Disney World just a people trap operated by a mouse?
--Anonymous

Two From Todd. (Or, It Ain't Utopia, But It's Good Stuff Anyway.)

Just listening to Todd Rundgren's Anthology album. Damn good stuff. Todd wrote (and originally sang) "Love Is The Answer" --a hit for England Dan Seals and John Ford Coley, and is known for his production of both Jim Steinman and Steinman's greatest interpreter, Marvin Lee Aday (you know him as Meat Loaf.) These are two of his quirkier songs.....but they have great truths contained within. Perfect for 4am on a Sunday.

Time Heals
(Todd Rundgren)

If you're bleeding,
Then everyone can see you're bleeding
They can call for the doctor, who'll provide
what the diagnosis says you're needing
Then he'll take away your pain

But if your heart,
Your heart has been broken
And you don't wear it on your sleeve
No one can tell,
Your hell goes unspoken
But there's one thing you must believe

Time heals the wounds no one can see
Time heals the wounds that no one can see

If you're crying
Then everyone can see you crying
And they all sympathize
But it just doesn't matter
Though they may be trying,
They can't feel the hurt inside
You can't go on,
You've gone to the limit
And your life seems to slip away
You're on your own
Alone you must face it
And tomorrow's so far away

You got to hold on baby
Got to give it time to heal
Time heals the wounds that no one can see.



Can We Still Be Friends?
(Todd Rundgren)

We can't play this game anymore but
Can we still be friends?
Things just can't go on like before but
Can we still be friends?
We had something to learn
Now it's time for the wheel to turn
Grains of sand, one by one
Before you know it, all gone

Let's admit we made a mistake but
Can we still be friends?
Heartbreak's never easy to take but
Can we still be friends?
It's a strange, sad affair
Sometimes seems like we just don't care
Don't waste time feeling hurt
We've been through hell together

Can we still be friends?
Can we still get together sometimes?
Can we still be friends?
You know that life will still go on

We awoke from our dream
Things are not always what they seem
Memories linger on
It's like a sweet, sad, old song

Tuna Would Have Laughed. (Or, Some Really Bad Jokes.)

After 'The Week That Was', the dust seems to be settling a little around the ol' radio ranch. Time to sit back and reflect on a former co-worker--no, not Shannon or Mark E., but my dear, late friend "Tuna" Jon Rose. Tuna liked puns and bad jokes so much, he would often take the time to call me when he heard one he was afraid of forgetting before we met again. I write this to record these groaners, since with any luck, it will be some time before we meet again...and we'll have so much to talk about, I might forget....



1. Two antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive..."

3. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

4. A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry we don't serve food in here."

5. A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

6. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says:"A beer please, and one for the road."

7. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

8. "Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home. '" "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" "It's Not Unusual."

9. Two cows standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," said Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaimed Daisy.

10. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

11. Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

12. A man takes his Rottweiler to the vet and says, "My dog's cross-eyed, is there any thing you can do for him?" "Well," says the vet, "let's have a look at him." So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes. Finally, he says, "I'm going to have to put him down." "What? Because he's cross-eyed?" "No, because he's really heavy."

13. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

14. I went to the butcher's the other day to bet him 50 bucks that he couldn't reach the meat off the top shelf. He said, "No, the steaks are too high."

15. A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted,"Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!" The doctor replied, "I know you can't - I've cut off your arms!"

16. I went to a seafood disco last week and pulled a mussel.

17. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly; but when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.