Furby Wranglings

our new(er) car, a 2017 Toyota Camry SE. My soul is in hock, again.

If anyone is still reading, either here or on the original Live Journal:

My Elder Sister Lynn passed away December 23rd, 2024; lung cancer and COVID. She turned 70 last October, beating the doctor's predictions by almost three years! Lynn opted for cremation; at some point, probably this Spring, the family will hold some kind of ceremony. She had mentioned several times that she would like her and her late husband's ashes scattered somewhere 'where they could hear wolves' -- still working on that, maybe something could be arranged at the Wildlife Refuge Park near Peoria (not to be confused with the Wildlife Refuge Tree in our backyard).

It's been just over a week; things are gradually getting back to normal. If anyone could spare some good vibes for my Mom? Muchas Gracias.....

I'll be okay. I know she's okay. I hope she's with Dad and Michael and all her kitties on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

with blackouts and seizures. Friday it seemed to be connected to unusually high blood sugar, as the episodes seemed to respond to a strong dose of insulin. They (doctors and nurses) had discontinued regular insulin shots as the diabetes seemed to be under control with being in the hospital and then the nursing homes where she had controlled diet, regular meals and her prescribed medications in a timely manner. Saturday they weren't certain what was going on, they gave her shots of something (Mom doesn't remember the name of the drug) and she eventually settled in a restless sleep.

Mom thinks I should keep my phone handy. Just in case, because if Allure can't reach Mom, they'll call me.

If anyone out there can spare good thoughts for my dear sister, and strength for my Mom?

Found out last night that one of my longest fandom friends had passed away following heart surgery. Leah was funny, sarcastic, warm-hearted and incredibly talented. Her serious artwork was so beautiful it could take your breath away, and her cartoon caricatures were rolling on the floor and laughing out loud hilarious. She and her partner (later wife Ann Wortham) were responsible for a good half of the many boxes of fan-zines in my attic. Her fannish activities spanned a galaxy of Fandoms: Stargate, Highlander, X-files, The Professionals, Mag7, MCU, Game of Thrones, Star Trek OS/NG/DSN/Voyager -- probably the re-boots as well, Beauty & the Beast, B7 --- so many many more....

She and Annie also bred, raised and showed Somali cats for many years. After a self-imposed hiatus of 20+ years from fandom on my part, they were some of the few people I looked to re-connect with; and I sincerely wish I'd done it sooner.

Leah, you were one of a kind! You will be missed by many people!

Silly us... we thought because Loki didn't overtly react to the sporadic pops and bangs of the weekend that he would be okay with the fireworks on the 4th. Well, it was actually Monday, the 3rd... our house is well insulated so normally we don't hear a lot of the outside noise.... so, around 9:30-ish Loki is acting like he needs to go outside, I attached the leash, open the sliding glass door onto the back porch and immediately become aware of a strong gunpowder odor... we head down the ramp and suddenly there is a barrage of firework activity somewhere past the levee to the east -- approximately half a mile away. Loki stops in his tracks, whirls and head right back into the house!!!! I then spent about five minutes looking for Jethro's ThunderJacket, which he never really got much use out of (didn't fit right) but it DID fit Loki well enough that we managed to endure the next two hours reasonably well (Loki under the computer desk and/or the kitchen table while I puttered around doing the evening chores, making odd distractions and feeding him half of my evening banana. Around 11:30 we tried again and managed the nightly business before heading for bed. Not at all surprised that Loki joined Husband and I in bed for about half an hour.

Pretty much the same routine last night; I expected things to be worse on the actual night but they really weren't. Except for whomever decided to keep shooting off rockets until almost midnight....

And now I feel bad about all those years before Covid when Husband and I went to visit his aunt over 4th of July weekend and left Jethro home, not by himself of course, with Daughter and later BoyfriendZ to take care of him.... poor baby. Fireworks bothered him dreadfully; Bel was always rather blase' about the whole thing.

We will do better by Loki.

... in hopes of securing a new family good-luck Chow. Well, part Chow, like Jethro, except in this case the Rescue people are pretty certain the other part is flat-coat retriever...

I have some vacuuming to finish.

like last night while working on the Baby Blanket for Pastor Katie's upcoming offspring, when I suddenly experienced a 'could have/should have' guilt trip over BOTH Jethro and Bel, and had to stop knitting for a while because I was crying and couldn't really keep track of the yarn overs/knit2 togethers...

Probably triggered by the county's postcard reminder that Jethro was overdue for his rabies vaccination that arrived in the mail yesterday.

It certainly doesn't feel like its been that long. We didn't realize how much still having Jethro helped when Bel passed until this week.

And Timmain the Wolf plushie isn't helping as much this time. She's still huggable, and I've cuddled her more than once but its not the same. I actually miss the walks at O-Dark-Hundred with Jethro - you can learn a lot about your neighbors just by walking the sidewalks and alleys at odd hours, although I'm not sure I want to know WHY the people two houses down have a habit of scattering fresh produce around their front yard on weekends -- unripe strawberries twice,spinach greens and tomatoes another time. I had to keep a close eye on Jethro when passing that house - once he snatched up a half-eaten chicken Nugget, and another time I think a discarded hamburger bun which he carried halfway around the block before I realized he was chewing on something... That house also supported a grey cat (don't know whether it was actually theirs, or if they were just putting out kibble for it) -- Jethro always perked up if he saw that cat, even those last two days when he was increasingly confused as to where we were going and what we were doing....

I miss him so much.

Ref: my Last Entry.

On top of Jethro's re-currant cancer and the hassles of trying to keep the main site clean, dry, and not licked into a bloody mess -- yes, we have a 'cone', but when Jethro wears it he can't get at his food or water, so we have elected to try other methods of keeping it protected -- none of which have proven completely effective! -- um, I digress.

Wednesday, that same week, Mom fell in the kitchen and broke her wrist, ended up in the ER and came home with a temporary cast and a referral to the Rockford orthopedic surgeon. Mom's travel buddy of many years, Thelma, passed away that day. Closer to home, the church music director missed Wednesday night handbells and choir practice that night and attempts to reach her at home, including a call to the village police department to do a welfare check were not successful. A second welfare check Thursday morning which was instigated by a neighbor and a second neighbor who had a key discovered that Charla had passed away sometime either Tuesday or Wednesday (we weren't privy to the coroner's report). The fate of Charla's elderly beagle Skippy was up in the air until late last week, when the friend of one of our members agreed to take her. Cue the scramble to find Charla's brother (northern Iowa) and sister (Georgia), and a substitute organist for Sunday worship on Jan. 29th.

I feel horrible about Mom's wrist; sad about her friend Thelma, who I've heard about for years and finally met on our trip to Michigan and Canada a few years back; devastated about Charla, who was easily my best friend at the church and my back-up advisor when it came to Presbyterians and church office details, for over 22 years.....

Like I said, a long two weeks. At least Mom got to attend Thelma's visitation last Monday (she hadn't heard yet from Rockford, so everyone told her that if they hadn't called her by 11 a.m., she should just go).... And later in the week, Younger sister took her up to the doctor where she had more x-rays, was fitted for a more flexible temporary cast and was told it looked like a 'good' break (meaning no surgery required to correct misaligned bones), and come back in a week for a better cast....

Obviously, Pastor Katie got a hold of Charla's family and the past week was spent in clearing out her home and her office at the church. We found the organist that Charla had been talking to about subbing for her later this month, he fell in love with our sanctuary organ and has stated that as long as we want him, he will play for us (we're still looking for a formal Music Director, though, because we don't know yet how well he will work with the choirs), and Charla's Prayer Shawl ministry, which was one of her passions and which I have been a part of for the past three years ... is currently in limbo. Everyone talks about how keeping it going would be a TRIBUTE to her memory, but no one wants to take charge and do the work.

Sigh. Me, I'm still learning PowerPoint, one mistake at a time. And dealing with Jethro... one long-sleeved t-shirt at a time.

So effing tired.

"hello, KONE, my old friend,
I've come to ride with you again..."

(Or, what happens when you get into the elevator at a convention hotel following the filk-sing - and you've lived the past 40 years in a community where the 5th largest employer is an internationally known elevator manufacturer).

This is vaguely apropos, as one of my 2023 resolutions is to find another Science Fiction/Fantasy/Anime convention that is NOT in downtown Chicago (sorry-NOT Sorry, CapriCon!) that I can accompany Older Sister to this coming spring, hopefully before the pain get too bad for her to function.

It's not the cancer, per se -- that's sort of in a holding pattern; it's the arthritis pain, and the waiting to find out how much damage she did to her liver taking too much tylenol for we're not certain how long.

If we can't find another convention, at least we had WindyCon last November! Elder Sister was so happy to go and see people and be with her tribe.... Shout out to Bill Roper, who cheerfully sold both us scads of filk CDs (I joked that she was going to buy one of each -- she didn't, quite, but between us it was close.) And the booksellers got quite a bit of business, too.

Unfortunately, since then, Elder Sister has had more bad days than good. On the other hand, this time last year, we weren't certain if she would still be with us 12 months later.

Back to the resolutions:

2. Continue to strive for healthy living -- even if that means walking Jethro around the block a minimum of 3 times a day. He's gotten a bit better about going out on the tie-out by himself, but he DOES love his Walks! and I have to admit they're probably as good for me as they are for him.

3. Reduce the amount of yarn in my stash -- even if that means giving some to the Prayer Shawl ministry at the church....

4. Read more of the books in the "To Read" pile -- mostly books that Elder Sister has 'loaned' me, since she WOULD like them back eventually... Also to make use of the 'Book Journal' that Youngest Sister gave me for Christmas 2 years ago....

5. Learn how to use Power Point and EXCEL -- this is non-negotiable, as it's for work.

That's it for now, I guess...