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Strange dreams and the like…

Posted by Cappy on July 10, 2012
Posted in: Journal. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

Night before last I had a rather odd dream.  I’ve thought about it for the last two days.  I often have very vivid dreams that have weird topics.  This was the first I’d had with this subject matter.

It started with my vacation ending.  I was going to take a ride to finish out the week on an up note before heading back to work.  I hopped on the motorcycle and headed off on a random ride.  I had only been on the road for a few minutes when I noticed a car following me.  At first, I figured the person was just headed the same direction I was going.  A half an hour passed and the car was still there.  I accelerated.  The driver of the car matched my pace.  I slowed down.  They kept their distance.  Hmmm.

I put up with this cat and mouse game for the next 15 minutes or so.  I then decided to test my thought that these people, whomever they were, were deliberately following me.  A last minute left turn.  A high speed run after topping a hill.  They kept pace but also kept their distance.  Not normally paranoid about such things, a chill was definitely running down my spine as they matched my maneuvers each time.

By this point, I had intentionally made my way to the Cook’s Forrest region where I was hoping I could take at vantage of my bike’s ability to handle twists and turns in an effort to elude them.  An hour plus into this game and I am no longer amused.  I bolted over the hill pushing the bike harder than I should for my experience level.  Down to the bottom of the hill and hard left just before the bridge across the river.  This would take me past the Ranger’s outpost.  Maybe they wouldn’t follow.  At best, I was far enough ahead that they probably didn’t catch my turn.  Heck, I barely caught it as the foot peg ground making the turn.  The weird part is I swear I felt the peg grinding and the bike shifting violently to keep traction.  I think I even stirred in my sleep.

I made my way down along the river.  The road here was twisty and I knew they would have to be close to see me.  I cut up a side road.  As my pace slowed to stay upright on the road that had now turned to gravel, I felt like I was being watched.  There was that chill again.   Something caught my eye up and to the left above the tree tops.  Too big to be a bird, yet no where near large enough to be a plane or helicopter, I was being watched.  I turned Maggie deeper into the canopy of the woods trying to find as much cover as could be had from the trees.

The road here was packed dirt and much easier to ride at speed than the earlier gravel coating.  I pushed the bike at every clearing to get back under cover of the trees.  As I peaked the top of the hill, I came to a large clearing ahead.   I cracked the throttle to try to cross the span of open field as quickly as possible.  I broke from the cover of the trees and crammed on the brakes, bringing Maggie to a sliding halt, fighting to keep her upright.  I realized that whomever this was pursuing me, they had the upper hand.  Hovering in front of me were two Blackhawk helicopters supported by three gunships a type of which I had never seen.  Their chain guns focusing directly at me.

One of the Blackhawks landed on the road in front of me.  The gunships flanked me on three sides.  The other Blackhawk maintained is relative position outside the circle.  Two men in black suits and sunglasses (Think movie type Secret Service) approached me.  They asked me to get in the helicopter.  I asked about my bike.  They said it would be taken care of.  One of the men motioned and a truck appeared out of the wooded cover opposite the direction from which I had come.  They had played me right into their hands.  I guess thats why I’m not a super spy.

We lifted from the road as I watched two men carefully load Maggie into the truck.  No other words were spoken.  Our Blackhawk turned and proceeded over the edge of the clearing followed by the second Blackhawk.  The gunships pulled into flanking positions.  I looked out at the river as we flew over the hills.  The dream faded.

At that point, Tink climbed up on my chest to wake me for breakfast.  I don’t know where they were taking me…  Why they were taking me for that matter.  It was very strange.  So strange, that I kept checking my mirrors as I road on Sunday.  Weird … huh?

~Cappy

Beautiful day of riding…

Posted by Cappy on July 8, 2012
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The temperatures were more normal for summer time in western Pennsylvania.  I pulled Maggie out of the barn to go for a spin to close out vacation.  I have two different ideas on how I plan my rides: I either plan the route from start to finish or I ride by the seat of my pants.  Today’s ride was kind of half and half.  I knew I wanted to ride to Foxburg PA to the Foxburg Inn on the Allegheny River.  From there, the destination was all up to how I felt and what the weather was doing at the time.

I started out a little after 1 pm.  I stopped at Hermitage Sheetz for fuel for Maggie and myself.  I set the GPS for Foxburg Inn via back roads.  I love this GPS app for my iPhone.  When you tell it not to take highways, it listens. LOL  I ran Route 318 from West Middlesex to Mercer, then caught Route 58 clear to Foxburg Inn.  Once you get past Route 8 in Harrisville, the road becomes twisty and wooded.  Riding temperatures were cool and comfortable.  I saw lots of other bikes on this leg of the journey.

I stopped at the Foxburg Inn complex which sits on the Allegheny River.  There was a wedding reception going on down on the deck so I couldn’t go down to take pictures there.  There are several buildings in the complex.  The actual Foxburg Inn and Restaurant sits right on the bank of the river.  A small store with Foxburg Pizza Shop is at the intersection as you come across the bridge.  The highlight of the day (foodwise) was just across from the pizza shop.  Divani’s Homemade Chocolate Shop sells all sorts of goodies.  They had handscooped icecream and various natural drinks.  I had one of the best rootbeer floats I’ve had since A & W closed.  The Foxburg Winery is right there as well.  They had a band playing out on the patio.  Not too shabby either.

I debated just coming home from Foxburg.  Nah… Too nice of a day for that.  I continued out Route 58 to meet up with Route 38 which would take me to Route 322 and on to Franklin, PA.  This was the ride by the seat of my pants portion of the ride.  I hadn’t been on most of these roads in a long time, if I had been on them at all.  I hit Route 322 and turned toward Franklin.  Almost immediately, I came across a sign for Kennerdale Scenic Overlook.  I had never heard of an overlook out there so what the heck… Let’s go.  I cranked a left and then attempted to use the voice activation of my iPhone to find a GPS course to the overlook.  Couldn’t find anything under Kennerdale or Kennerdell.  Ok, we got signs.  Let’s just follow the signs.

The road to the overlook was beautiful.  It was freshly paved twisty country road.  I arrived at the overlook to find several other motorcyclists enjoying the view.  The overlook is built on sheer rock along the Allegheny Trail above the Allegheny River.  Story boards along the railing describe how the area played a pivotal part in the oil history of Pennsylvania in both rich oil reserves and plenty of forests for wood products.  Wow!… Two surprises in one day!  This beautiful storied location in the middle of nowhere, on a road I didn’t even know existed and a great rootbeer float within two hours time.  I took a few pictures.  Grabbed the bottle of water out of my pack and sat down on a stone to enjoy the breeze coming up the hill.

After my lovely little break, I decided to continue down the road I was on.  It would take me down through Kennerdell and back up eventually to Route 8.  I decided that even though I could run up Route 8 and back known roads either to Harrisville or up to Franklin neither option was appealing.  Nah… This had been my lucky day for riding by the seat of my pants, so let’s just continue on that theme.  This time I would cheat a little to find suitable back roads.  I called up the GPS for a route back to Mercer without any of the major routes.  The back roads it chose for me were previously tarred and chipped but it had been long enough that all the excess chip had been worn off.  No other motorcycles on these roads.  Heck!  There weren’t even many cars on these roads.  

I wish I could have stopped at the Bugle Point Elk Farm.  I don’t know why I didn’t stop.  I wasn’t on a schedule.  Plenty of daylight left to stop and snap a few pictures.  I did manage to catch a glimpse of some Elk near the barn.  Their antlers were in velvet.   Double dumbass on me for not pulling in the clutch and turning around.  I’ll have get back out on Kilgore Rd so I can stop and take some pictures.  Lots of summer left for that.

From Mercer, I came back home Route 62 and across South Keelridge Road to Route 318.  I tested video recording with the iPhone while riding.  It was amazingly stable.  The audio can use a little help though.  The default video app uses the internal mic.  I wonder if I can get it to use my bluetooth mic in my helmet? Hmmm…

A stop at Dad’s chased away his one neighbor who tends to make a bit of a pain of herself.  She’s a widow and lives alone.  Her mind is going to some extent.  Whenever she sees Dad out on his swing, she comes over, whether he invited her to or not.  She left.  Dad and I went to the Middlesex Diner for dinner.  Guess who was there?

I closed out the travel day getting cereal, milk and something to take to work for lunch this week.  A couple loads of laundry went in the washer when I got home.  Tink gave me a hand with that.  I rewarded her with some cheese for helping.  I’ve been babbling on this blog since.  I guess its time to check the last load of laundry and set the alarm to wake me up in the morning for work.  So much for this week’s vacation.

~Cappy

Stay-cation is almost over…

Posted by Cappy on July 6, 2012
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This past week I have been on vacation.  It was a stay at home vacation otherwise known as a stay-cation.  I have managed to get a couple of things accomplished.  I have let other’s go for the sake of staying out of the heat and recovering from the July 4th gig.  I’ve still got a couple days left but doubt I’ll do much of anything other than maybe a short motorcycle ride.

The part finally came in for the bumper of my truck that was damaged with the girl rear ended it.  The dealership wasn’t busy so I walked in with the tech as he pulled the truck into the bay to work on it.  He opened the box and pulled out the part.  No packing what-so-ever around it.  The BRAND NEW part look worse than the one that had been hit on my truck.  He looked at me and said “You don’t really want me to put THIS on your truck right?”  It was a rhetorical question to be sure.  He showed it to the body shop manager.  They agreed that another new one should be ordered and I should come back.  I agreed as well.

Tink played for about 15 minutes this morning.  She chased the ball back and forth across the kitchen and living room when I threw it.  She is feeling better.  If she continues to be improved, I’ll give her the flee medication she was do for July 1.  The vet said to hold off so that if she took a bad turn we would know it wasn’t the flea meds compounding what she was already dealing with.  I will be the first to admit I was extremely depressed when I was told that if this was her kidneys or liver causing this she was a short time companion.

I didn’t sleep worth a hoot after the 4th of July party.  My back was stiff and grumpy and I was out of meds.  That has been remedied.  I am now only sore in spots.  I was going to take the motorcycle for a ride this morning but I just couldn’t bring myself to head out into the heat.  I did manage to run a few errands in the truck (with the air on max.)

Dad and I went to dinner at Eat n Park to avoid heating up either house with the stove.  There was a manager there singing along to the pop hits on the Muzak.  Our waitress called Dad and I “You Boys” instead of the typical gentlemen or whatever other waitress greetings I have heard in the past.      The salad bar was tasty on such a hot day.

OH!  Another silliness about Tink … Well ok … Two sillinesses.  Tink and I live alone here in our little house.  When the phone rings, she will perk up and listen but usually lays right back down.  Today,  I answered on speaker phone.  She came flying up from downstairs to find out who the woman was I was speaking with.  It was gal from Grata’s body shop asking when I could bring the truck up to have the part… you know… the one that was in worse shape NEW than my broken one.  After Tink figured out I was on the phone, she ran back down the stairs and curled up on the love seat as if to say “Oh… He didn’t sneak another girl into the house.”

Tink also is not much for loud music.  I found this out the first night I had her when I played a movie.  I had the audio tied into the stereo system and forgot about a rather heavy bass section at the beginning of the movie.  She also seems to dislike RUSH, one of my favorite groups.  I don’t know if its the bass, the guitars, the drums or Geddy Lee’s unique voice, but Tink will usually leave the room when I start playing RUSH.  Tonight, I am in the computer room monkeying with the old tower which happens to have a surround sound system with subwoofer.  I kicked off the new RUSH Album “Clockwork Angels” at a fairly decent volume.  Tink came in pawed up at my leg like she does when she wants on my lap.  Totally surprised me that she even came in the room between the volume I had the music and the Group I was playing.  LOL!  Maybe she just prefers her music in 5.1 surround vs standard stereo.

Tomorrow’s temps are to be over 100 degrees.  Doubt I’ll head out on the bike at this point.  Maybe another day of house cleaning in the air conditioning or just loafing around… I am on vacation you know.  HAHA!.  So until tomorrow… Gnight!

~Cappy

 

Showing My Inner Geek…

Posted by Cappy on July 5, 2012
Posted in: Funnies, Journal. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

That's No Moon...

… Sometimes just a wee bit too easily.

4:30 AM, July 5th.

Last night at the 17th Annual Party on the White House Lawn, …  No not THAT White House!  You dimwit! The one that belongs to the White Family here in West Middlesex (Ok… The house is White as well.) …  Yeesh!

It was time to partake of the party’s use of the Community Swimming Pool, which happens to be located just across the street.  The day had brought high humidity and heat which made swim time even more appealing.  It brought my internal core temperature down from somewhere between white hot molten steel or lava to the temperature of say… molten lead.  But I digress… I didn’t do a whole lot of swimming due to the number of folks in the pool and the fact that I was already tired from the heat.  It felt good just to hang around in the cool water.

A young mother and her, lets say, three year old son were acclimating to the water.  The child would awkwardly point to something outside the pool and above the general eye line.  Being the righteously attentive parent she was, the young lady asked her son, “What are you looking at?”  He quickly and very clearly replied, “The moon!”  She said, “That’s not the moon…”  My inner geek quickly… and apparently quite loudly because six people turned and looked at me… replied…

(All my geek friends say it along with me!)

“… It’s a Space Station!”

D’oh!

By the strange looks I was getting, I was not in the company of other Geeks or at least not anyone who was even semi-familiar with the Star Wars franchise.  I quietly mumbled, “Wrong generation I guess.”  and moved off to another area of the pool.

You may be looking at the time stamp on this and saying to yourself, “What the heck is he doing writing a blog at that hour of the morning?”

I try to help as much as I can with the party.  My back problems have become somewhat limiting in the amount of carrying and such that I can do.  I leave that to the younger folks.  I try to help keep pop and water stocked and iced, things like that.  One of the tasks I have not given up yet is helping launch the 38 or so minute fireworks presentation that ends the night.  It makes me hurt… hence the reason for this blog being timed such that it is… but I enjoy doing it.  It’s a blast… PUN INTENDED!

The show is set loosely to music.  This year had a Disney theme.   Well, to be honest, so did last year’s but something went amiss with the cd’s or the players and the music didn’t play.  When you have three quarters of the town lining the streets to see a show that they probably think is put on by the borough, you can’t just say “Sorry folks, The music won’t play so we aren’t going to shoot tonight.”  Since we didn’t use it last year, the music was rerecorded… checked… and rechecked to make sure it would play.  Play it did!  We are a low budget… high tech group.  The music is broadcast over FM radio.  We have speakers setup at the launch site so that Rick (White) can follow his armband play list and call the plays… errrrrr shots.  The show is video taped and parts of previous year’s shows can be found on youtube.com.

Kudos go out to the White family:  Rick and his fiancée Kelly – who drive the event each year, Rick’s sister Tammy – who run’s around like a chicken with her head cut off to keep all the little details with the food and drink in order, Rick’s Mom Delores – for allowing the whole bash to take place in her front yard, side yard, garage, basement, driveway … you get the point…

There are also a few folks that help year after year.  These are folks that really appreciate what the White’s do for the community by putting on this party.  They range from folks like Brad and John, who spent the day on the wood fired grill cooking burgers and dogs to others like myself who pitch in where ever needed.

This party is no minor deal.  This shindig starts its production the moment the last one ends.  What started as a simple group of friends getting together, has now morphed into a gathering that most of the community looks forward to.  It may be thrown together by a small band of rebellious individuals (geek again), but it has the feel of any large special event.  It even has garnered the attention of a few local corporate sponsors.

Thanks to Rick and his family for allowing us to celebrate with them.  Tomorrow brings cleanup and then off to prepare for next year.

(I was tinkering with an audio edit of “The Imperial March” to go behind this blog.  The file was too big when kept with any quality.  I noticed the sun was coming up so I gave up on that idea)

~Cappy

Half a weeks vacation gone…

Posted by Cappy on July 4, 2012
Posted in: Journal. Leave a Comment

Fireworks Gif

Half of this week of vacation has come and gone.  Today is July 4th.  A day we celebrate our independence as a country.  Parties, Picnics and Fireworks give use the opportunity to gather with friends and family to enjoy the splendor of the day.  Here’s to having a safe and Happy 4th while remembering that the holiday is about our independence and what it took to gain it.

Now that the pleasantries are over, what exciting fun has gone on this vacation thus far.  Hmmm.  A 109 mile motorcycle ride up to Pymatuning Lake and back.  Got the oil changed in the ATV.  Fixed the running boards on the ATV.  Removed a broken bolt and another stripped bolt on the ATV skid plates.  Hid inside on Tuesday for most of the day since Mother Nature decided to dump rain on us, much needed rain, but rain non-the-less.

My goofy furball Tinkerbell has been showing some signs of improvement healthwise.  She has started this thing of snuggling with me at night.  She either lays against me or crawls up on top of me.  She can be such a hoot sometimes.  I like to ignore her when she comes up on the bed or couch for attention, just to see how long and persistant she will get.  If I’m sleeping she will go as far as smoothing and licking my hands and arms or even sniffing my nose.  Her wiskers tickle.  I generally give her the requested scratches at that point.

I got up early this morning to put some clothes in the drier and get stuff under way for the party this afternoon.  I’m not going to push it because I’d like to have a little back left to make it through the evening without severe pain.  I’ve helped Rick with this deal of his for most of its existance, 18 years or so now.  It has evolved from 15 or 20 people the first year to half the neighborhood and a 40 minute fireworks display at the end of the night.  Hoping Mother Nature rained herself out last night so that the humidity and thunderstorms stay at bay.  If temps hit where they are calling for… the pool is going to feel realllllllly good.

I think I’ll take a nap now while the kielbasa is roasting.  Need to get the lights and stuff from the basement… get the generator on the truck and head over to Rick’s to see if I can help with anything before lunch.  If you are coming to the Party on the White House Lawn.. I’ll see ya there.  If not… Have a Safe and Wonderful July 4th.  Independence Day!

Silly Kitteh…

Posted by Cappy on July 2, 2012
Posted in: Tink. Leave a Comment

Soooooo… Tink started playing last night.  Seems much more like herself.  Earlier tonight  she was rubbing around my legs and making a little conversation.  She’s usually really quiet so when she talks a lot, she is either not feeling well or wants something.  Treats didn’t satisfy her.  If I say “Show me” she will go where whatever it is thats bugging is.  Tonight she kept going to the kitchen towards the sink.  I told her that she could have some cheese later.  She likes the cheese spread from those crackers that come with cheese and that little stick to spread it.

I ran my errands this evening and got myself a snack.  Tink had gone up to crash on the bed.  She had been up there quite a while so I was pretty sure she was sound asleep.  I shouted up the steps “Hey Tink! You want some cheese?”  Immediately, I hear her bell and her feet hit the floor.  She bolted down the stairs totally unlike the sluggish little girl I’ve been nurse maiding all week.  Around the corner she came.  Up on the couch and I to my lap.  If she was able to smile, she was brimming.  Her motor running at full volume.  I said “Let’s go get it”.  She ran out to the kitchen by the counter where I keep the snacks.  I headed back to the couch with cheese n crackers in hand and a four legged fur ball meowing like an excited kitten no more than a step off my feet.  I sat down and she was at my side immediately waiting for her cheese.

It was good to see that kind of energy in her.  Thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

~Cappy

My little furry friend…(from a sentimental old fool)

Posted by Cappy on June 28, 2012
Posted in: Tink. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

TinkerbellI got Tinkerbell 3 years ago this past January from a friend of a friend.   She got very sick after I got her.  A bad ear infection and parasites made her not eat.  I got her fixed up and she has become a very loyal little girl.

We have our routines.  To be honest, I’m not sure who has who trained.  In the morning on weekdays, my alarm goes off at about 6:15 am.  Once I sit up on the edge of the bed, she comes up for scratches.  She loves for me to hold my fingers in a C shape while she pushes her head through my hand.  She will do this until she satisfied.  If I don’t hold my hand out, she well smooth across my back and headbutt my arm until I raise it so she can walk through.

I come home from work to her waiting either on the kitchen chair or sitting on the digging bridge I bought her to keep her claws trimmed.  She won’t dig it but she loves to sit on it.  After a couple rubs around my legs, she will race up stairs and onto the bed.  We go through the scratches routine again often with her laying on my belly.  A nap soon follows for both of us.

At about 11 pm she will start bugging me to go upstairs.  If I don’t, she will go up and come back down every so often to see what I am doing.  Once I go upstairs, we do the scratches thing again and deploy the brush.  She hated that brush when I first bought it.  Now, She shows me which side she wants brushed whilest drooling the whole time.  She usually slips over to the far corner of the bed once she has had enough.  She will lay there until she thinks I’ve drifted off to sleep and then jumps down.

This year I’ve dealt with a lot of stress and depression.  She seems to know when I’m really down.  Without her, I don’t know if I would have made it through.  We play ball and chase the boot lace.  Well, I throw the ball.  She jumps at it then I have to go get it again.  She also loves to go bonkers in the nip box (an upside down paper box lid where her toys reside).

When I found her the other night, lethargic on the bed, I was scared to death that I was going to loose her that night.  She perked up later and has been acting better, but still not her usual silly kitteh self.  Yesterday, she started throwing up white foam and gagging a lot.  I looked up on the web what that could be because she’s never done that and neither did my cat I had back in high school.  YIKES! Nothing was good to be found about cats throwing up foam:  Poisoning, kidney failure, heart failure, infection, parasites, about the least scary thing I found on the list was bowel blockage due to fur balls.  I called the Vet’s office and gave them the symptoms.   My heart sank again when they said.  “This is not a good sign.  If she gets worse take her immediately to the emergency clinic in Girard if it is after our hours.”

Tonight when we got to the office for the appointment, the vet listened to the symptoms, checked her weight and temperature.  They brought her back in and began checking her belly for tell tale signs of some pretty serious stuff.   A lump lifted into my throat.  These things aren’t just difficult to treat.  They are fatal, sometimes very quickly.  Her kidneys are smaller than normal and hard.  This could be kidney failure OR just because she is the runt of her litter and small for her age.  She has lost muscle mass since she was last there.  Another sign of kidney failure.  She has a fairly serious heart murmur that wasn’t there last time she was checked.  Crap lady! I was expecting to hear she had a parasite… a bad tooth… or a bad ear infection.  I wasn’t expecting to hear that if we didn’t catch this in time, I was going to lose my buddy.

I know tears started to well up as she figured up how much she thought the tests would run.  Of course, do the tests.  Thankfully, the tests all came back fairly well.  Kidneys. OK.  Liver.  OK.  Thyroid.  A little high in some aspects but within what is considered normal.  She can live with that along time and it might be from some kind of infection.  The only problem is…. That leaves only one thing:  The Heart.  I was told there really isn’t a reliable test that will show heart disease in felines until it is too late to do anything about it.  Combine that with the, now present, murmur and things are pointing that way.  She also has a couple bad teeth that need fixed but that is minor at this point.  The object of the game now is to give her a 14 day antibiotic.  Watch her to see if she improves or degrades and then take the next step.

So… over all, I know her blood work is basically good.  They said they could give her an IV to rehydrate her.  That would bring the couple levels that were high down.  It wasn’t a good option because she was super stressed just from the shots and blood work.  They sent us home with direction to eat smaller portions of wet food instead of one portion in the morning and see how she does.  Overall, the vet seemed to think this was a livable situation as long as this issue didn’t get worse.  I hope so… I’ve only had her three and a half years, but she’s the only child I have.  It will tear me apart if I lose her.  I’ve had too much to deal with this past couple years to lose another loved one.

To make it all worse, Tink had never been to the vet in the 4 years before I got her.  Let’s just say…. she doesn’t care for strangers poking around and squeezing her.  Hearing her terrified screams (which I knew all too well from her first trip to the vet after I got her when she really was near death) just tore at my heart.  No, the vet wasn’t being mean to her or abusing her.  She was drawing blood.  Poor Tink didn’t know what to do.  Well yes she did.. She crapped all over them.  Upset Tink brings clear meaning to the phrase “Scaring the shit out of someone”.  I finally took a walk out to the truck.  I’m a “big tough guy”, but not when it comes to her.

Fortunately, Tink doesn’t seem to be mad at me.  She growled as I trimmed the remaining poop out of her hairy backside, but that wasn’t because she was mad at me.  I don’t think I’d want someone groping around my butt with a pair of sharp scissor either.  I’d probably growl too.  I let her alone for a bit and went to get some dinner.  I was well over due for that.  Good thing I had pizza for lunch or my sugar would have bottomed not eating til 9:30 pm.  I returned to the house to my little buddy sitting on the kitchen chair watching for me.  She’s been rubbing around my legs when I’m up.  Right now she is laying on the chair behind me acting as though she is sleeping.

Its been a rough day for the kitteh and for Curt.  I think its time to sign off and hit the hay.  Good night for now.

~Cappy and Tink  of course

A Calm Day…

Posted by Cappy on June 26, 2012
Posted in: Journal. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

Dolphins

For the first time in I’m not sure how long, I have had a relatively calm day.  No feelings of anger eating away at me at all today.

The morning started like many mornings.  My back was grumpy.  My sinuses plugged.  I kind of figured that, if the day was starting like this, It was pretty much destined to suck.  Once up and moving, my nose drained.  The ride to work with the massage and heat on my back lessened the grumpy guss back to its normal state.  I guess I should note that its normal state is a constant ache.  That’s ok though, because its a level that I am quite used to dealing with now.

Work hasn’t really been that aggrevating either.  Busy work such as dealing with invoices, minor license questions, and a couple easy meetings have kept the day at a nice easy pace.  I’ve been doing some reading to pass the time in between.  I’ve had the headphones on from time to time when the room gets kinda noisy.

Wouldn’t it be nice if today’s trend continued?  Only three days left then I have a week off from this place.  Let’s see if I can keep things together at least ’til Friday.

Toodles for now.

——————-

Evening update:

Came home relativity unstressed.  Laid down on the bed to make a fuss over the cat.  This would normally lead to an evening nap.  Felt pretty good so I decided to get out and do the oil change on the atv.  Its been needing done all spring.  I rounded off a bolt so I’ve been putting off doing it.  Its done.  I have to put the running boards back on and such but thats the easy part.

The only problem I will probably have is tomorrow afternoon my back will start screaming at me that I did too much.  That’s life with a bad back.  A couple Aleve will get me through it and away we’ll go on the next thing.

~Cappy

Letter from a farm kid (now at San Diego, Marine Corps Recruit Training)

Posted by Cappy on June 26, 2012
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Marine Cartoon

Dear Ma and Pa:

I am well. Hope you are too. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer that the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you have to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay… practically nothing. Men got to shave but it’s not so bad… there’s warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie, and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you ’til noon when you get fed again. It’s no wonder these city boys can’t walk much.

We go on “route marches,” which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it’s not my place to tell him different. A “route march” is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The country is nice but awful flat. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don’t bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don’t know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don’t move, and it ain’t shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don’t even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain’t like fighting with that ole bull at home. I’m about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I’m only 5’6″ and 130 pounds and he’s 6’8″ and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join up before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding on in.

Your loving daughter,
Alice

The Bitter End to an Angry Week

Posted by Cappy on June 25, 2012
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Grrrrrrr.. Blowing a Fuse. Anger!

This past week, and if I’m honest with myself, the last few months, I’ve really been struggling to deal with issues related to anger.  I have always been a person with a HUGE amount of patience.  Letting things roll off has always been fairly easy for me, until this past couple of years.  Someone once told me that I should let go and tell people how I feel.  I’ve never liked doing that because as a teenager, I found my temper to be extremely uncontrollable once unleashed.  I worked hard to restrict my responses to avoid hurting others emotionally or worse… possibly physically.  I got really good at burying the anger deep down inside.

These days that anger seems to bleed to the surface.  Little things seem to pile on top of each other bringing me to a boil.  My fuse gets really short and I find myself once again back to my teenage years struggling to suppress it.  Force it back down into the dark reaches of my soul where it can’t hurt anyone but me.  I’ve been looking for ways to control these little hot needles pricking at my protective balloon.  Sometimes, its simply a matter of ignoring the irritant, which often makes the irritant more irritated.  Other times, I must remove myself completely from the situation by either walking away or by no longer taking part in an activity that exposes me to such triggers.

This past week has been a doozy as far as anger management has been concerned:  The insurance company on Monday.  A bunch of little things through out the week ranging from stubborn screws to stubborn coworkers.  The grand finale was Saturday night working security at the race track. 

Working the races is challenging enough when things are going well.  I spend a lot of time dealing with egos driven by adrenaline.  Don’t get me wrong.  Race crews and drivers can be some of the best people you’ll meet.  Once the rush of the race starts, they temporarily become unglued. Adrenaline takes over.  It has been more of a challenge this season as we’ve had many “Full Moon” nights when all the weird stuff happens.  Things have been building, gnawing away at me for about a year and a half now.  They came to a head Saturday night. I decided rather then let my wrath loose on people that probably don’t deserve it that it was time to hang it up.  I turned in my radio and my keys. 

I spent most of the day yesterday dwelling on my decision to quit.  Should I stick to my guns?  Do I want anything to do with dirt track auto racing anymore?  I finally decided that this is definitely the best thing.  I went out and took the push bar off the ATV and disassembled it.  Better that I walk away than let me temper stew and ruin my enjoyment of racing.  I can’t jeopardize blowing up there and having it affect my full time job that pays the bills.

My good ole bad disks and arthiritis in my back are only adding to the anger swelling up.  I’ve been in some rather abnormal pain for the last couple of weeks so my tolerance for other stresses on the body is limited.  I’m not sure why my back has been overly grumpy.  At one point, I thought maybe I was harboring another kidney stone in my left kidney.  The pain becomes difficult to distinguish when my back gets really grumpy although stone pain from large stones has its own unique feeling that I definitely have not had at this point.  Maybe its just my body reacting to the mental fatigue I’ve had of late.  I’m sure a lot of it comes from the subconscious knowledge that the date of Mom’s passing is looming ever closer.

I wish I had more happy thoughts to share at this point.  I scheduled vacation over the 4th of July week.  I don’t know if I’ll take off and do something since I don’t have a Saturday commitment now or what.  I have some things that need done on the bike.  Hopefully, I get those completed early on so that I can enjoy the rest of the week on two wheels. 

Until next time… “Happy thoughts… Happy thoughts… Happy thoughts”  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

~Cappy