Day 348

Skipped another day of blogging – too much going on Friday to find time to sit down and do any writing, much less the blog. I still have work to do on the first in the trilogy of saga novels. It’s right at the ready point - just needs one more pass through for errors and clean up of any stray stuff, like extra periods, doubled words, syntax or whatever. It’s at about 380 pages, which is about right for a novel. The first in the trilogy and set just before the Civil War, it introduces characters, some of whom play through book two and many of which are ancestors of people in book three (which is in present time).

Bandy, the rescue pyr, is working out okay, though we still can’t read him well. Neither KL or I can tell the difference between raising my arm at my desk for a head rub and the same motion for “I gotta go poop right now.” So, he’s pooped in the house a couple of times – not really too big a deal, but being a big dog (80 pounds) his poop is about the size of a cat. A medium sized cat. Can be a bit challenging to clean up, though it is firm, which is a good thing. A very good thing. It’ll work out, but I thought he would go to the door and bark when he needed to go out, and he has yet to do that. He moves from in front of the door to my side, so I think he’s still trying to figure out where he wants to sleep/sit. Pyrs are a little odd as they are highly intelligent and were bred to make many of their own decisions, so they often sit inside where they can see all doors/windows (if possible) . Makes them really stubborn about what you want them to do, as they sort of have to think it’s the best thing to do or they want to balk.

Speaking of barking, he and Sadie got into a weird rhythm last night. We have deer, raccoons, etc. all over, and about midnight one of them “heard” something in the year. They are both inside dogs, but Sadie barked, so Bandy growled. Then Bandy barked, so Sadie growled. Around and around for about a half hour. Finally got them settled by changing the light in the yard so they could see there was nothing there. Still aggravating, but they were really doing their job, and I can’t fault them for that. Trying to protect us.

Weighed a moment ago, before showering, and the scales showed about a pound less. Always unsure, as they don’t seem to say the same thing twice. I often weigh three times and hope that two match so I can assume whatever it says twice is right. Whatever the reading, it is going down, and that is definitely a good thing. I want to be considerably less heavy in a few months, and even though the wild M&M sometimes call, late at night, I’m trying hard to make this work. Not always easy, as I sometimes miss a good burger or a fair amount of bread (like Italian).

Classes seem to be going exceptionally well this semester I have some at one university and some at a different college. The college kids are less worldly, less prepared than the university kids, but the university kids group may prove the lesser of the two. I’ve had real issues at the university with kids cheating their way into the school (cheating in my class is 100% fatal). This state allows any student who is in the top 10% automatic acceptance into any state-supported college or university. A good thing and definitely a bad thing as it turns out. One of the papers I have my students write is about academic cheating and we spend a good bit of time discussing what constitutes cheating at the college level. Many readily admit to having cheated their way into the top 10% and I know they will struggle to stay at the university because they are missing the preparation they need due to cheating in class. It’s a sad commentary on this state’s school system, but they have for years taught to a particular examination and the individual high school’s ranking is tied to student success on that exam. The better the kids do, the more pay incentive for the teachers (and principal) and the higher the ranking for the school, which, in turn, looks great to the local folks, so they make a point of putting their kids in that particular school. Vicious cycle with too many wrong results. Too many hardworking studious kids don’t make the top 10% because they don’t cheat.

Wish I could find the juicer, KL has ordered a new one – from Jack LaLane. Used to watch his show when I was a kid. He has to be 150 by now and damned if he doesn’t still look good (might be the preservatives in the food that wasn’t organic when he first started juicing – only kidding). Getting tired of V8, but it works, so I’ll keep choking it down (actually not quite that bad), at least until the juicer gets here. KL has also found some holistic program that we are looking at to maybe help. She tends to go really gung-ho on stuff while I am more of a make-some-changes-slowly-and-see-what-happens sort of guy. I gave myself the year because I didn’t want to drink shakes or eat tiny little packaged foods to get where I want and then not know how to stay there. It’s also about being healthy to me, so I’m trying to do that part too as much as I can (and again, the juicer will help). At 60, I am no longer a kid. No longer invincible. No longer not thinking about what is ahead now. I want to be that healthy old geezer (like LaLane), not on oxygen and unable to get around.

My mother-in-law is on oxygen now, and without meaning too, she has influenced me greatly. When she first started having issues, she was diagnosed with emphysema, partly because of her smoking. Of the generation who didn’t know, she also continued when she knew not to, and with as much as I know about how hard nicotine addiction is to break, I am really glad I don’t smoke. Mom did, and so did dad. My only brother too, but I just never did. Smoked a very short while occasionally at clubs when I was pretty young, and tried a pipe in college for the smoke smell mostly, but no real interest. No longer run (too fat), but did for a number of years, with my highest mileage being 4 miles a day. I’m hoping that helps in some way, as I don’t walk all that well now (knee issues from sports and racing and skydiving). I don’t limp or anything – I just don’t like to walk long distances because the knees act up. Perhaps getting my too fat ass thinner will help – I certainly would guess so.

Need to take care of some things. Should be grading but I think I’m going to do something else for a while. One can only read so many freshman essays before thought so stepping in front of a train start to emerge. As Ted of Ted & Bob’s Excellent Adventure (a strange, old movie) would say, “The weather is most excellent here” so maybe I’ll just go outside and mess around a while.

See you tomorrow (like there are any “you” out there!).

-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA