Near Miss?

(I wasn't going to blog this because it's not that darn interesting, but I wanted to move the previous bad news from the top of the blog--thanks to all for the kind words and phonecalls)

So, between Norway and everywhere else, you will normally fly Scandanavian Airlines. (there isn't much of a market for larger airlines) The biggest part of their fleet are Dash 8's. Those are cool little turboprops.

My coworker in Norway "warned" me that they didn't have the best safety record, so I checked them out before I left the country. Nothing I could do, but it was interesting.

In a nice twist, the NY Times reported that just a couple of weeks after I returned, Scandanavian Airlines announced that they would retire their entire Dash 8 fleet after yet another landing gear failure.

Oops.

So Long and Farewell

Today I say "goodbye" to Trogdor. For over four years now, he's been the best cat I could ever hope for. It's said that "dog is man's best friend" and I can't dispute that. But Trog came in a close second. Not a day went by that he wasn't waiting for me by the door when I got home. He rarely left my side and more often than not could be found sitting in my lap. (if I wanted him there or not) And whenever I'd lay down to sleep at night or just for a nap on the couch, he always slept with me. He was a very loving companion.

But Trog had been strange in his eating habits recently. Some days he wouldn't eat much and other days he would eat just fine. But other than appearing to be a little lazier than usual, he seemed normal. But when he started quickly loosing weight and almost stopped eating entirely, I got worried fast.

I took him into the local vet and was immediately referred to the vet school at A&M. After several tests and a long night of worrying, I got news even worse than I'd feared--advanced kidney disease. Surgery might have prolonged his life for a while, but not long. Nothing else could be done.

So, Wednesday I drove back up to A&M and did the only humane thing I could think of. At least I got to comfort him in his last few minutes. He laid on my chest and--even as scared as he was from not being at home--I got a little purr out of him.

It's been a couple of days and the worst of it is over for me. But I still find myself forgetting that he's gone and wondering why he isn't sitting next to me on the couch. That part will take a while to get past.

So, I just wanted to say "thanks Trog--you were a great cat."


P.S. I also want to say "thanks" to the Bloyds for their advice and support duing all of this. I really appreciate you two.

Either you get it or you don't

...but damn, it's funny.

Child's Play

It's that time of year again, folks.  Everyone know's about Child's Play and I'm sure everyone gives at least a little, so I won't get on my soap box and start preaching like most years.  ;)

But I will be leaving the banner on the blog until Christmas in case any of you are like me and keep forgetting until the last minute.

Tired

So, everyone knows that I go into the hospital every 8 weeks to get my nice meds dripped-in. All is good. The sucky part is that a few days before that happens, I get really, really fatigued.

Apparently it's a common symptom and nothing bad. But, man it sucks when it hits. It's like I ran a marathon yesterday and only got a couple hours of sleep last night.

I'm guessing this weekend I'll probably spend about 80% of the time crashed on the couch. It's not a bad thing. I'm finally getting to the point where I've accepted it as a part of the process and don't feel nearly as guilty about being "lazy".