I had noticed that this date was coming up at the beginning of May, but with 1,001 different things happening this week, I hadn't realized that it was upon us. May 18th 2021 marks the 41st anniversary of the eruption in Washington State of Mount Saint Helens.
This is something that I've always been fascinated with. I love studying geology, and I find it interesting, the amount of devastation that can occur from the eruption of a single volcano.
Fun early morning. About 2:30 this AM, as I was trying to get to sleep, I was disturbed (I'm always disturbed, but this time, it was more than just my imagination that did it) by squealing tires, a crashing sound, and a thud so hard, it shook my house.
I hurriedly threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, and ran outside. I found a crowd already surrounding an overturned car in my neighbor's driveway. My son and daughter had hurried out as well, and my son said he saw the driver walking down the street when he hurried outside.
I was sitting down to write this morning, and I realized that today is the "birthday" of Marcia Chatham, the "Arctic Fox". Of course, that also means that tomorrow is the one year mark from her biological mother's death (which for some weird reason, I put on my wife and my REAL anniversary. Go figure.)
I'm posting this under pets, but I'm really not sure if Mya counts as a pet... She's definitely a fur child.
I've touched her ear and had her whimper a couple of times, but I thought shed stop, then she did again this morning, so I took her to the vet and had her ear checked out. Sure enough, there was an ear infection, so she's on an antibiotic and some ear drops.
I just finished a chapter and had gotten up to lock my kitchen (my cousin will raid it if I don't), and my wife asked me to help her out. She's got a migraine so bad that we ended up in the ER. She's never had a migraine before, so seemed like the most prudent move. Now I'm sitting in an overheated room and waiting.
Quick update the doc just came in, so giving Norma a few meds.
The 30th will mark the second anniversary of actually allowing someone to crack open my skull to remove a meningioma from my brain. I suppose the benefits of it being gone outweigh the problems I had before it was removed, but there are times it's hard to see how.
I used to sit down and compose music with no trouble, but now, I find that the creativity just isn't there. I can orchestrate a pre-existing piece, certainly, but to make something new doesn't seem possible.
This morning I had to get up at the unholy time of 4:30. I packed up my cousin and took him to the hospital. 6 hours later we were home.
The doctor said, even with toes freshly amputated, he can walk as much as he can bear.
We'll see how things look Friday at the checkup. Just praying that it goes well this week and he doesn't overdo it. He has no feeling in the foot, so no way to know if he's pressing too far, and I'm not to change the dressing.
Well. Over the weekend, I found that my cousin, who I take care of, had a sore on his toes.
He's had problems with this foot for as long as I've taken care of him, and he's lost 2 of the toes because of frostbite and diabetes.
Thankfully, he has no feeling in that foot, but it's a problem as well. He's developmentally disabled, and thinks, since his foot doesn't hurt, it's fine. He also has no comprehension of sweets being bad for him, and it's always been a problem keeping his glucose level down.
I'm sitting in a parking lot right now, waiting for my daughter to get done with an appointment. I'm sitting directly across from the door, so I can see when she comes out.
A little bit ago, someone walked out with tattoos all over his face. Now if someone wants a tattoo or two, thats fine. They're an expression of ... diversity, I guess, but as you can tell, I don't have one. Were I to transition, I might do eyeliner. That's about as far as I'd go, however.
Lately, I've had to classify many days as "bad". Yesterday, was a pleasant surprise.
I don't know why, but I actually slept most of the night, rather than only a small portion of it. So, I was actually able to get up at around 8:30, which is VERY early for me.
The first thing that happened after that was the new tablet which wasn't supposed to be here until the earliest the 11th, arrived on the 10th. While I was setting it up, everything was going great, then I saw I had a voicemail.
I'm not sure whether to be happy or not. Okay... I'm happy, but I'm sad because the first book of The Arctic Fox is going to be coming down from BCTS, at least for awhile, as it is going to be moved to Kindle in the next few weeks.
I found I have a herniated disk a while back and have been doing physical therapy for it. At the same time, I've been getting a pain in my left arm. Now having been a medic in the army at one time, and a certified nurse's assistant now, I know what a pain in my left arm can mean, but I was pretty sure that's not the problem.
2 years ago, I had a benign tumor removed from my brain. The surgery went well, and the incision site has healed pretty well, although it still hurts at times. The tumor was squeezing my cerebrum on the left side of my head, causing what, for all intents and purposes, were short circuits in my brain. At times, my memory would completely disappear for several minutes. The partial brain seizures were frightening, and when I told people about them, even my doctor, I received the advice, just get your blood sugar under control.
I am thrilled that I was able to take part in The Dozen Roses. I am looking forward to seeing the hard work everyone out into it to fruition. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who worked above and beyond, by putting the stories together by formatting and making the tales blend into a seamless get-together.
I just went through the drive-through at Jack in the Box, as I often do while dropping off my daughter somewhere. I decided to try their jalapeno cheese smothered tater tots. Alas, they didn't provide a plastic spoon to use, and my napkins got a workout. I was happy I hadn't just gotten a manicure!
As often happens, this got me thinking about other guilty pleasures with their own punishments. My wife and I used to joke that the McDLT was NOT a date meal, as you would be wearing your meal. I suppose that could make a date more interesting.... Anyway...
After was was apparently a current and nasty ailment, (at least I had every symptom) I am getting back to wakefulness, and will be writing more again.
However, I doubt people will see much of my writing for a little while. I'm working on 3 multi-chapter stories, and one 2nd part to a one off I wrote awhile back.
I kinda fell behind while I was sick, so I'd like to catch up a bit.
For those fans of Arctic Fox, the sequel is in the works. I'm also working on The Letters and To Head Home.
One of my dogs apparently has a food allergy, so I've gotten her a different type of food.
She doesn't seem to like it. She has taken to trying to bury the bowl with her nose -- unless, I feed it to her by hand. Then, she is quite content to eat the stuff.
I woke up this morning with a beautiful case of the Martian Death Flu, as I unaffectionately call it.
It's the one where you feel every molecule that hits your body and alternately need a blanket, then feel like throwing your clothes across the room because you're too hot. Also, every muscle in your body feels like it's been overused for the last week and a half.
After some naproxen, I felt much better and could crawl out of bed, which was good. After 18 hours in bed, my back was calling me every name in the book, and some I'd never heard before.
Sorry for not getting The Arctic Fox Chapter 19 out at my normal time of Thursday night.
Last night, I had my grandson over, and he was getting into everything he possibly could. He's very cute, but likes to manipulate. Everytime I would get after him, he would hold out his arms and come to get a hug, which was not forthcoming.
Since taking care of him is a regular Thursday night thing to give my son and daughter-in-law some time off, I think I'd better plan on Tuesdays and Fridays for The Arctic Fox, rather than Monday and Thursday.
One of the great things about insomnia is the time you have to think about stuff. I think about consequences a lot. For example, when I finally get enough sleep, and I feel guilty about staying in bed because it's now afternoon, I get up and reach for the light chain from my ceiling fan, and my body says, "Nope. You do that, I'm gonna dump you on the floor."
We've been having fires all over in Washington State. Most of the state has unhealthy air at the moment. A couple of days ago, you could see nothing of Seattle from the Space Needle. Now it's reasonably clear.
However, I live on the other side of the state in Spokane. We are in a valley, and have no wind at the moment, and none is expected tomorrow either.
Schools are closed, and many businesses are as well.
About a week ago, a town south of us was 80% destroyed. What a mess, on top of COVID.
My parents love Greyhounds. They've had two wonderful girls for seven or so years. One is kind of skittish, and never raced. The other was a champion racer. Her name is Princess, short for Princess Leah (I know the spelling is wrong for the Star Wars character, but it's correct for her.) I looked up her stats on the internet after my parents adopted her, and they were impressive.
She broke a leg while racing one day, and was no longer of any use to her owner, and after her leg was pinned back together, she was sent to a greyhound rescue, and my parents got her.
While I try not to hate people, I dislike the following type of person intensely, which is why this originally hit my facebook page a few years ago.
For those who know Spokane and the south hill, I was on 57th where Hatch Road comes up the hill and merges with it. A woman in a Subaru Outback came up the hill like a bat from Hades and got right on my backdoor.
There are times I think I should have been born with a much lighter hair color (before anyone gets up in arms, did I say blond?) rather than the bright red I had as a child. Yes, it darkened into a nice auburn when I was a teenager, and then went boring brown as I got older.
I mean, what kind of idiot eats ghost chili potato chips, then (even after washing hands and using alcohol wipes) checks blood sugar levels, then injects insulin?
When I was a child, I didn't like spicy food. The nearest I can figure is I had wimpy taste buds. At about fifteen or so, I had some hot ribs, and I realized that the flavor was wonderful.
Now, being young and dumb, like a lot of fifteen years olds are, I thought that eating spicy food would make me more 'masculine'. All I can say to that, is it hasn't worked yet.
Not exactly sure why the picture turned sideways, but my phone does that to me at times. It really can't decide which way it's going to take a picture.
Saw my girl, Mya, laying on the floor. It's a lazy day for both of us. Nothing really happening, so she's laying on the hardwood floor.
I've tried getting her a bed to sleep on, as other of my dogs have had.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
Not exactly sure why the picture turned sideways, but my phone does that to me at times. It really can't decide which way it's going to take a picture.
