an actual accomplishment!!! last Fall ('06), I happened to pass the glassed-in room being used by volunteers readying cats for adoption, etc. & spied a gray one ranging around the area while her cage was being cleaned or? Instant love @ 1st sight. I thought I was in the mkt for another blk one but this one went home w/ me. she was here because she had been in a shelter which was flooded & had been brought out. She appeared to be young, maybe yr-old little solid gray. the color of cigarette ash. Lighter-colored nose & toes. When ever she could, she liked somebody to crack the tap a bit & she would drink from the stream. She was looked at by a vet who pronounced her fit, etc. Bullshit. she scratched alot although I couldn't catch any fleas. Finely combed out a tiny clue & rushed it to ANOTHER vet with a compound microscope & it turned out to be the shed skin of a louse. Looked it up. there is a somewhat rare species of cat louse and a dose of Frontline----no further problem.

back in the game

one of the earliest of my posts mentioned I had then recently rec'd a pacemaker. now a yr + a day or so later, i'm feeling quite good---sometimes exceptionally so. Dr.said steer away from alcoholic pleasures, which I manage sometimes manfully. maybe this is why i feel better. Late last yr another birthday.

i remain hopeful no one will ax what i did (accomplished) in the yr since the expensive medical treatment. i've written and had published several LTE on various non-toxic subjects, attended maybe a funeral or two, read thru several good books, taken my wife to dinner numerous times, prayed often, walked my trail a no. of times, contemplated, etc. saw & hugged our grand daughters several times, fully prepared two different recipes, chili and Pasta fagioli, etc. etc. Looking back, nothing major but life was generally agreeable & maybe, (hopefully) i occasionally made it so for others. New friend, a young guy---clerks in his father's shop. He is genuinely hi caliber & we sometimes talk about how peace might be obtained. Donated my big canoe to a place on a lovely lake---looking fwd to trying it out.

changed our phone svc, now have DSL (a great step fwd).