Some Of The Christmas Gifts I Received

 A Dwight Schrute inspired t-shirt by Lisa 

A bird throw pillow, also from Lisa

A Keurgig cup tray for my machine from Junie

A "Cool Dad" mug from YaYa

Homestyle Bakes

 

We had this for dinner Saturday night. 

No, it isn't fine dining, but we used to have this, and the other varieties, all the time when the kids were growing up. As a family of six, we usually made two boxes at a time, adding frozen vegetables to it before baking. 

Nowadays, with everyone's crazy schedules, one box sufficed, although once it again it was supplemented with frozen veggies and some brown and serve rolls.

Yum. 

We WILL be having it again. 

I'm So Ready to be Done with MPS

 I got this email from Junie about forty minutes ago. It was sent from her school Chromebook because they ridiculously don't allow phones in school, even though they live in an age when violence happens and phones are a lifeline. But, you know, let's not inconvenience the faculty.

My only current knowledge that something was amiss when this email rolled in? The school sent out a mass text saying that after school tutoring was canceled, and apologized without explanation. 

The sooner the last of my kids is out of there, the better. 

The picture by the way, is of her media crush, Finn Wolfhard. 

Oliver - One Week In

 A week ago we adopted 17 year old Oliver. He was curious and unafraid the first day, exploring the house under our supervision, but chose to make a bed for himself in the bathroom closet. That became his go-to for several days, venturing out only for water and to use the litter box. 

By New Years Day, around the time I went in the lake, the slight respiratory issues he'd displayed when we met him had gotten much worse; his face was caked with dried snot, and his breathing had become a constant "snoring" sound. 

On Jan 2nd, I called MAADC, and they gave me a weeks worth of liquid, oral medicine to give him. The first day, LuLu administered it and Oliver was so scared he peed on her. I've handled the subsequent doses, with dissimilar results.  But for Day 2, in anticipation of pee that never came, I put him in the tub to give him his meds. Unfortunately, he managed to find a puddle of spilled shampoo, getting it all over his bely. That's on me yo. 

So my sick kitty needed a bath to wash it off - as well as the pee, and the dirt, and the general detritus that seems to accumulate at the pound. 

I will grant you he doesn't look thrilled in the photos. There are better ones, but those show my flappy upper arms, and we aint having that on this page, no sir. 

Get this: he enjoyed the bath. 

I'm not kidding. Not only did he not fight it, which you could chalk up to illness fatigue, he seemed to like it so much you'd have thought he booked a day at the spa. I've never had a cat that tolerated a bath like that, at all, much less got a kick out of it. 

Afterwards, looking much more respectable, he ventured out for water 

The next day we tried to introduce him to our bedroom, with great success. He stayed with Lisa on the bed, ventured out for litter and drink, then returned on his own to his place on the bed. After that, our bedroom became his go-to hangout. 

The medicine seemed to be working by then. He was now dripping snot, rather than congested, and the constant snoring sound had faded. 

Now, on day 5 of the meds the snoring/congestion sounds are gone, replaced, if you pet him with long, slow strokes of your hand, with a low but audible purr. There is no more snot, although his eyes occasionally water, and knock on wood knock on wood, knock on wood, he seems to be bouncing  back to full health.

 

Visually, he seems to much closer resemble the cat that was brought into the pound after his owner's death, rather than the cat I adopted who was looking a little rag-tag. How do I know? I stumbled, long after his adoption, onto a Facebook post promoting him. 

This evening he was walking around, checking out the house again, ignoring the dogs like they weren't there, before retreating back to the bedroom. 

update: Then, at this late writing (it is almost 2am Tuesday morning) Oliver ventured out again, exchanged a few looks at Sawyer, used the litter box, and calmly walked back into the bedroom. I don't see him eat very often, which worries me, but maybe I'm just looking at the wrong times. I hope so. He certainly doesn't LOOK any lighter; fur makes a difference, but he feels hefty when you lift him. 

Bingo

Last Friday night Lisa and I took my mother-in-law to bingo at the Lions Club. Not a dime was won by any of us (well, $4 was won on 7 bucks worth of pull tabs) but it was three hours of fun. 

The Ghost of Christmas Future

"Daddy, how did Grampy die back in 2025?"

"He was killed driving to work in a snowstorm."

"Was it important work Daddy?"

"Oh yes, young Ebenezer,yes it was.  He had a misdemeanor sentencing AND intake that day!"

Congratulations Aaron!

Today the great Aaron Rodgers became only the 5th NFL quarterback to pass for 500 career touchdowns! To those bitter naysayers who claim he limped to the record, and thus "degraded it" - yes,  I just encountered one such dupa online - even in the midst of an otherwise miserable season, at age 41,  he threw for 3,643 yards and 24 touchdowns. 

To me,  he's second only to Joe Montana among QB greats.

If this was his final game,  thank you for everything Aaron.

A Book From My Teenage Years

In my early teens I was fascinated by antique radios,  many of which had been left to rot in the dry heat of my Big Grandpa's garage. 

It was not until 2022 that I actually owned one of my own (if I'm counting right,  I own 5, including 3 floor models) but I thought about them enough that I special ordered this book, Antique Radios Restoration and Price Guide by David and Betty Johnson, from either Waldens or BD Dalton's.

I never did anything (at the time) with the info it provided,  but man did I enjoy reading it.