Happy Halloween 2014

I don't usually celebrate any holiday except for my birthday. Birthdays are REAL holidays. You don't share those with anyone else you know, usually. YOU are the star of the show.

Other holidays are too commercialized for me. Halloween too, but not as bad.

But I want to wish anyone who goes all out for holidays a Happy Halloween.

*throws glitter*

I am giving out candy and chips.

Chips, Now & Laters, and bite-sized snickers. I will ruin some child's teeth for sure tonight.

I went looking for full sized candy bars, but I would have to buy a box of 48 bars. It is not going down like that. I only have 10-15 children come through. What the world will I do with a couple dozen of left over full sized snicker bars? I will not be bringing those to work. No way. Negroes who really don't like me would be up in my face, cheesing at my desk. Nope.

The local Whole Foods have... interesting pumpkins. 

Interesting.  Heirloom fruits and vegetables are pretty popular. But these look diseased.  A regular pumpkin would do just fine. Thank you very much.


One of my cubicle mates Lady S is always up for holiday decorations at her desk.

I was very much mesmerized by the witch ink pen in front of the Easter Basket.

I joke with her, whispering "I'm gonna put a nice bible verse up here on your desk."

She usually has a voodoo doll. Not this year. So I will save my bible verse for next year.

The folks at work, in the building next to mine, like to decorate.

They put their shredded paper in a pumpkin plastic waste bag. 

Someone even built a scarecrow.

He has on a workplace lab coat. That reminds me to order new ones.

And here's a display at the local mexican restaurant near the job...

He looks a little sad or tired.

And that's how I feel and look after a long hard day at work... minus the liquor and cigarette and the sombrero.

LOL

Anyway, if you are out and about this holiday weekend, be safe... on purpose.

Word Play 5

Today we have a HUGE word:

magnetoencelphalograph

That is a BIG word.

8 syllables long!

And it's a type of instrument. Sort of kin to an x-ray machine, CT scan, MRI and the like. I think in this case magnetism is used in order to measure the electrical currents of the brain. And it looks as if some of the data was used to dismiss the whole notion that we use only 10% of our brain.

Something like that. I just know when I saw that word, I thought...

Dang! That is a huge word.

And I can use it for my 30 minute word exercise.

Let's see if I can get over 100 words in 30 minutes.

magnet, harp, net, mag, tone, cone, game, name, graph, rap, hag, gap, gape, halo, par, gel, note, net, lace, mace, hall, log, hog, rag, rape, goat, help, peal, goal, tone, agent, tame, came, cell, lame, collagen, call, mall, pro, heat, meat, neat, oat, pare, care, tare, tear, creep, ten, men, lean, goo, pool, cool, hoop, grope, rope, cope, hello, melt, goal, coal, rage, cage, parent, apparent, place, gent, gentle, lap, cello, pone, one, omen, once, loot, moot, mean, poll, placate, tonal, lent, meant, cent, pent, tempo, temporal, recent, logo, noon, moon, tangent, clap, clop, lop, gel, caller, hope, let, nap, pan, pane, cane, mane, halogen, alpha, mantle, camphor, camp, got, germ, gem, garment, cement, remote, large, march, arch, mange, gram, ram, tam, tome, gene, aloha, roll, toll, mole, pole, logger, hogger, tonal, local, mat, mate, pat, cat, grate, crate, rate, pleat, carpet, mono, monogram, champ, chap, hamper, camper, planar, plane, trace, grace, cram, telephone, phone. groan, moan, loan, lone

159 words.

I thought I would have done better than that. But I found that I needed a "s", and an "i".

Oh well. I learned a new word.

Of Pam and Motorcycles

So my car Pam has a few isshas from time to time.

That's her from her good side. The other side... well the tires have no hubcaps. I need to drive her more. Right now I may put around 500 miles a year on her.  I am sorry, but I have become a little more high class now. I like Lucy Jr. the Lexus' leather. Yes I do. But I jump in Pam every once in awhile.

Recently she needed some new front tires. It looks as if there were some dry rot issues.  They were REALLY old.  I bought some new tires a few years ago, but I like to buy two at a time.  That same day my brake switch broke. That's not that big of a deal. It is responsible for the brake lights going on and off. And with it broken, the lights stay on.

I could drive it, but I would have to unhook the battery for the night so the brake lights wouldn't drain the battery.

No big deal. I just order the part off of amazon. It is only $40.

So my cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre's father "Daddy Cre" takes care of that. Here he is the last time.

I am not limber enough to take care of all that. So when it broke this time, I called him up early on a Saturday morning. He told me to come on over. So I had to jump out of bed and shower and hightail it on over there before he left out for the day.

They only live 10 minutes away. So I made it over there in 9 minutes, lol.

Anyway, I like to go on in the house and chat it up with Momma Cre while Daddy Cre fixes my car.

And I like perusing the beautifully framed pictures on the dining room wall.

If you go in many black family homes these days, there will be pictures of the Obamas up on the wall. There is a nice one on the wall there:

That is nice...

But the pictures that draw me like a magnet are the ones of Daddy Cre... on his motorcycle.

That's a cool picture right there.

But this next picture is the coolest of all...

Now that is an awesome picture. I love it!

"I think I took those pictures," Cowgirl Cre said, when I asked her permission to post them.

I can believe that. And I can hear him now. "Hold on Cre, let me put my foot up. Let me lean over. Now take the picture."

*Cre snaps picture*

And that was long before the advent of digital cameras and cell phone cameras. Those pictures are from cameras loaded with film. And the film had to be developed by the drug store's photo department.

Those pictures will never get old. They are full of character and originality.

And Cowgirl Cre said, "That's how I remember my Daddy."

That's how I remember him too. I know he doesn't ride his motorcycle anymore, but those photos are timeless.

And I hope they will always keep those pictures up on the wall.

Quote of the Day: Of Self Worth and Opinions

I heard a couple of interesting quotes on Sirius XM this morning. I don't have the person's name, but I think he's a financial and business guru. But I thought they were good quotes to write down...

Not one ounce of my self worth depends on your opinion of me. 

Now that's a good one.

You know, when I make decisions, or I am talking to people about decisions they want to make - especially positive ones or ones that move towards our purposes- it never fails that one big thing comes up: worrying what others will say or think about it.  There's that old fear of rejection, too.

And I always wonder... if what others have to say was out of the way, would we do more with our lives?

Just a question.

And all of this is complicated by people are experts on the lives of others... but are not fully aware of their own lives.

We are terribly judgmental, yet afraid to be judged. 

You know it's true.

So I thought that was a good post. Worth remembering...

Here's to a healthy since of self-worth. 

Friday Freestyles

Today...

Is...

Friday...

Thank goodness for that. For one, it is PayDay. Second, it has been a LONG week. Too much to post about. 

I have a ton of posts, and a ton of pictures. The problem is loading all these pictures. And I haven't felt like doing that.  So I may just do some abbreviated madness.

The biggest thing this week has been with your girl Callie Jo...

She is a long way from the little 0.3 pound kitten she was...



Her eyes changed color. When did that happen?  And thank goodness I don't have to clean her eyes everyday. She grew out of that.

She is 5.5 pounds now... all cat at 6 months of age.  And Wednesday she got...

SPAYED.

She had her ovaries and uterus removed. Ugh.

It is more than a notion. Lawd have mercy, remind me to only get boy cats from now on. LAWD. Neutering is a lot less intense than spaying. Oh my!

I will write more about that ordeal next week.

Right now she is a prisoner of love.

A prisoner of love... in her Elizabethan collar. And she is NOT happy about it. Not one bit.  You can tell by the way she has thrown all that shredded paper all over the place.

More on that next week.

I also, on the same day I dropped Callie off at the vet, picked Grandma up... Well first I got a phone call.

*phone rings*
"Hello?"
"Hey Lisa, is that you?"
"Yes," I said. I knew it was Grandma.
"The doctor called about my shoes. They said they are in"
"Uh okay," I said, as I remembered that she ordered a pair when I took her to the podiatrist last month.
"The doctor said my shoes are ready," she repeated.
"Okay," I said. "You have another appointment in a couple of weeks. We can get them then."
"But my shoes," she said again. "The doctor say they are ready."

So you know what this means... Grandma's shoes were IN and she wanted them as soon as possible.

So we went and picked up her shoes. This is a serious trek, as Grandma walks as slow as Tim Conway.


So I picked her up...

 Look at her... She was ready in her sweats and pullover windbreaker. I got there at around 8:45 am after dropping off Callie Jo for her spay. I thought I would have a couple of hours to just sit around and wait for her to get ready, but she was standing there ready. 

And we went and picked up her shoes...

Those are some good shoes. If I could slip my size 10s into her size 6s, I surely would.

And you should've seen the smile that spread across her face when she tried them on at the doctor's office. I wish I could've taken a picture. I reached down to make sure that her toes were in the right place and asked her to wiggle them. The shoes are just right for her feet.

She got up and walked around in them. It was like the scene out of Forrest Gump, when Forest walked around the office in his new leg braces (all 'cept Grandma didn't fall down).

She is happy with her shoes.

And I am glad I could take off to take her to go get them.

That was the pinnacle of my week. My feel-good moment.

And that is it for my freestyles. I don't have much going on for the weekend. I have to keep Callie Jo still for 10-14 days. That's not going to happen, but I will be eyeing her from a short distance.

I have a lot of reading to do. I came across something I have never heard of before... Fractal Geometry. It peaked my interests. I must investigate further.  I am also reading a book on the origins of ebola. Ya'll better get out here and read instead of watching all this manufactured news... hear me now, believe me later on that.

Overall, I am hoping for a quiet weekend. I hope the temperature gets up, though. Aren't you tired of this weather already? It is COLD!

Have a good weekend... On purpose!

Good-Bye Oscar-Tyrone.

I was looking through my cell phone and I saw my last few pictures of Oscar-Tyrone. I picked a couple to post.

I knew he didn't have much longer to go, as he has slowed down so much, so I took him outside to get some fresh air and to let him play around in the grass. He'd been sleeping a lot, so going outside woke him up a bit.

I know that had to shock him. He was an inside cat and had rarely been outside in his 17 years. When I did take him outside, I would have to hold him tight so he wouldn't run away.

But he seemed content with this little bit of time out.

At one time, he stood up and scampered towards something. I ran over to see what it was. It was a wasp. I said "Oh no, dude... you bite a wasp, you get stung. And that'll be a problem for real!"

But he seemed to enjoy his time outside. He wandered behind the bushes and all around. He wore himself out, though.  When he'd climbed the stairs and lay on the porch, I knew he'd had enough and it was time to go back in the house.

And this is my very last picture of him, taken 3 days before he died.

He was laying on the ottoman on his blanket. As usual, he was staring at me hard.  His scowl was especially hard in that pic. Yet, he would just stare at me... then he would jump down from his spot and walk over to where I was lounging on the sofa. After much more staring, he would jump up on my lap.  I rubbed him until he fell asleep. And sometimes we would listen to some Mahalia Jackson.

But he died on Columbus day, some time in the middle of the night. He hadn't come out of the closet at all the Sunday before (he would usually make an appearance to drink water and hit the litter box), so I knew he didn't have much to time to live. I sat his box, some plastic bags and some gloves next to the closet just in case I needed them. I found him and carefully placed him in three bags and placed him in the box which I had lined with one of my winter scarfs. I taped up the box and later wrote his name and a couple of messages on the box. Then I placed his box in the garage until I could dig his grave in the backyard.

Now digging his grave... that was more than a notion. It was going well until I got down to that red georgia clay. It might as well had been concrete. Between that and the mosquitoes biting the stew out of me, I was done.

So I drove around my neighborhood looking for one of the locals who helps me with yard work. He was supposed to stop through that day, but hadn't due to the rain. So I found him after a few minutes...

... and he came over to finish digging the grave under a tree in the backyard.

He needed a pick axe to get through that clay (I knew it wasn't just me. I ain't that weak).

I didn't want to stand there while he dug the grave. I played around with Pam (my mazda), which is parked in the back of the driveway next to the backyard. Cowgirl Cre's father had just replaced the brake switch that had broken, and he told me that I needed a quart and a half of oil. So I checked my oil and added more while Mr. Dwayne finished digging the grave.  He called me over when he finished.

He asked if I had any last words or requests.

I didn't have much to say. I was more concerned with not embarrassing myself by falling out on the ground crying.

I slapped my arm hard. The mosquitoes were at me again.

"He was a good cat," I said. "He had a good 17 years of life. A good cat, he was. Good-bye Oscar-Tyrone."

And with that, Mr. Dwayne placed his box in the ground.

And I watched as he covered him up. I blinked back my tears.

 I held my composure, though. I didn't wail as he packed the dirt down.

I thought I should sing a song... or play some Mahalia or something.  But the mosquitoes... ugh.

"You want me to cut the grass for you?" Mr. Dwayne asked.

"Yes," I said. I had worn myself out from the one hour's worth of digging. I didn't have the energy to mow grass. And I wasn't in the mood.

He went into my garage and got my lawn mower. I stood out there and reminesced for a moment... until I heard the hard whir of the lawn mower. 

And that was that.

I still need to go buy a marker for his grave. A nice brick with his name painted on it will do. 

I have been fine.  There has been a bit of tearing up and sniffling when I am around the house and I am calling Callie Jo "Oscar" by mistake. Or if I see some old pictures of him, I tear up a little.  And I guess that is to be expected.

But 17 years is a long time. If that cat could talk, he could tell some stories about me...

"That LadyLee," he would say. "That Oldgirl has done a bunch of questionable mess."

Yes I have. And "mess" is not the word he'd use... He could tell the whole story. Yes indeed.

He was always a loyal animal, as animals tend to be.

I am not much of a cat or dog person. But one thing about animals: they don't judge like humans do. No they don't. 

This warrants a song of the week... One that sent me a cryin' while standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes yesterday.



My goodness. I must remove that from my oldschool rap playlist.

Or maybe not.

Goodbye Oscar-Tyrone.

I will always remember you, good cat.

HaPPy 50th Birthday to the Uncommon One, Chele

I want to say a extra special Happy Birthday to one of my favorite bloggers CHELE!!!

Wait!

A Happy 50th Birthday!!!!

And this is what 50 looks like on Chele! 

Ummph, Ummph, Ummph.

That Chele don't look a day over 20.

I wish I could look that way at my age of 44. Might don't make it, ya'll. Nope, might don't make that one.

I look at her and think... "Lawd... I wish I could be uncommon like her."

She is uncommon... meaning unconventional, unusual, atypical, extraordinary.

Don't forget exceptional and noteworthy.

She is uncommon. In other words, Chele is ALL THAT and a bag of chips.

And like the caption reads in the picture above...  

"If you believe in yourself, anything is possible."

Anything. 

Chele has had such a powerful influence over the way I look at things over the years. So many times I've prayed about problems and I turn to one of her posts, and all the answers are laid out right before my very eyes. I have loved her transparency in so many of her posts, and I have learned much from her willingness to self assess and make the necessary changes. And that's saying a lot in this world that has the mentality of "I'm right and everyone else is wrong". With her, it's more of "I see a problem and I want to change to make things better and to make things right within my ownself".

And we know that true change comes from within.

I have never met her. She came to Atlanta one time several years ago, and I had a fleeting thought of asking if I could meet her... if only at a stoplight or in the Wal-mart parking lot.

But I was afraid. It would have been like that scene in The Color Purple, when Shug was leaving, and Celie wanted to say something... But she fainted.

Chele hollers  "Hey LadyLee!" in the Wal-mart parking lot.

I try to speak. But my words are caught in my throat. And I faint. I pass out on the hard concrete.

No way man. I would not embarrass myself like that. Un-unh.  So I just left it alone.

I will be like Celie, and just follow from afar.

She is iconic in my minds eye... so uncommon. Almost to the point of being mythic.

So Chele, I wish you a Happy Friday... and a Happy Birthday.

And I end with one of the quotes I've posted in the past that you seem to like.

"Don't discuss your uncommon dreams and goals with common people".

Dear Chele, the dreams you have had over the years are very uncommon, even recently. I have sat by and read what you've dreamed, and I have whispered a silent prayer of agreement. I have hoped your dreams, these uncommon dreams, will come to pass.

And I see that happening, right before my very eyes.

And what a blessing it is.  No hate from me... just a standing ovation and a mighty hand clap of support.

So here's to 50. 

Your 6th decade of life has begun.

And I am more than sure that you will uncover more layers of yourself, and make even more discoveries of who you are and find out just how far you can go...

I am sure you will reach more of...

The Uncommon.

Much love, Uncommon Original Oldgirl.

Enjoy your day...

From your fellow Original Oldgirl...

LadyLee.

RIP Oscar-Tyrone... October 1997- October 13 2014

Oh man.

I tell you it was so hard to go and find Oscar-Tyrone gone this morning.  It was to the point that I didn't want to go check on him. I knew he would be gone. But when Tazzee texted to ask how he was doing I said not too good. I'd just woke up and wasn't looking forward to it. But I opened the hall closet door, and looked in.

And there he was, looking as if he was sleeping peacefully. All day yesterday, he would look up, and he would look up at me with that familiar surley scowl, as if to say "Gal, would you close that door?"

He didn't look up this time. He wasn't asleep. I shook his shoulder.

He was gone.

And I cried.

Poor Callie Jo is all confused, not knowing what's going on. She sat and watched wide-eyed as I put on some latex gloves and grabbed some plastic bags and removed his body. I placed him in a box I had ready for the past few days next to the closet.

That was so hard. But I was ready. But man... my heart wasn't ready.

He lived a good 17 years... He was my ex-husband's cat and he didn't want to break our cats up. So I was a little miffed that I had to take care of him. I guess it was just that he was a constant reminder of love lost.

But the Oldcat grew on me. He became more surley over the past couple of years. I guess a bad liver and gall bladder had him like that.

But 17 years is a long time. He has lived in many places, even in New Orleans.

And ya'll know how he do with his party beads...

Yes. He knew how to keep it gangster.

That's OT for you.

No one mean mugs like him. Human or animal. No one.

And there were many times when I was running around looking for him, only to find him staking me out from the beams above my living room.

He hasn't been well enough to get out on those beams in over a year now. I missed him out there.

And he even tried to get along with the feisty Callie Jo... She spent time grooming him in his last days. I think she knew that it was time to get serious and not give him a hard time.

Dear Original Oldcat...

Thanks for hanging with this Oldgirl for all these years. You were so good. Too good for me.

And now you're gone.

Thanks for always being there with me...

Rest in peace.

Love,

LadyLee.

Get Yours...

I have three college degrees, and this young lady makes me want to go BACK to school and get some more education.

They tried to shoot and kill her to silence her... but it didn't work out like that. She's more vocal than ever.

And she has just won the Nobel Peace Prize. Take that, haters of women getting an education. 

Good for you, Malala... get yours.

And let us all be sure not to take getting an education for granted.

Friday Freestyles

It's Friday...

And it's PayDay.

And it's a 3 day weekend, seeing how Columbus day is on Monday.

I may turn it into a 5 day weekend. Or at least a 4 day weekend.

This Oldgirl needs some time off. Really.

We will see.

I don't have much to say today. But I do want to post.

I just got off yet ANOTHER national conference call. Somehow I ended up on this expert panel concerning something we do in the lab. It is not making me great because they are trying to initialize a new program and I am getting a box full of confusing emails from 20 different folks.

Do me a favor. Leave me off the email thread. Please and thank you.

And everybody uses such big words and such strong scientific language. I want to send out an email saying "Can ya'll bring this back down to earth?"

They are making my brain hurt.

Yeah, I know all ya'll are smart. We all got the same degrees. But make this ish simple and plain please. My head is not all the way in the game.

I heard one of my coworkers, Dr. Ling, ask a question on the call. So when the call finally ended, I marched across the hall to her cubicle area and we had a 10 minute vent/discussion about it all. We each filled in the O_o spaces for each other. I feel better now. And she does too. 

(I like her. And she's teaching me some Chinese. I know 2 or 3 phrases. I consider myself fluent now. Yes I do.)

But I am reminding myself to add this expert stuff to my resume when I do an update. Yes indeed.

Otherwise, it has been a good day. It has.

Quote of the week.  Uh, I have no idea. Let me look up something in a book I am reading.

Nerp... those are too deep for you. I am still trying to process it all myself.

Moving on.

Video of the Week. I saw this on Facebook today. It gave me life.



That is awesome. It takes me back to my 7 year old self, and how I would wake up on Saturday mornings and watch cartoons and then watch Soul Train at 11:00 am.

Fast forward to present times. Saturday morning is filled with news programs. And most of it's bad news.

Oh how I wish for the Saturday mornings of my childhood.

I am looking forward to the weekend. It's going to be a good one. On purpose.

You have a good weekend too!

Ten Thursday Thoughts

I am so sorry, but I haven't felt much like blogging. I think it's because I am have a lot of food for thought posts in my head, and that takes up so much time. So for today, a Ten Thursday thoughts has to do.

1. I am enjoying these nice autumn days. My bank account will enjoy it more, as my electric and gas bill will be quite low due to ambient temperatures.

2. Someone is standing behind me talking to someone in another cubicle. It seems like he or she is introducing some salesmen around. (Luckily I am on a conference call right now, so I don't have to deal with the false pleasantries). The problem is, one of them has a strong onion smell, almost enough to make my mouth water. I know it's not me, because I haven't had anything since this morning's kale, blueberry and pear smoothie. It is quite distracting.

They just walked off. Thank goodness. Whatever they ate for lunch must've been REALLY good. Really.

3. Oscar-Tyrone is just a shell of his old self. It brings me to tears. Sigh. I take him outside in the evenings when I get home and let him lay in the grass until dusk. He can't run away, so he might as well enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. He walks over and explores behind the shrubs, and he walks up and down the porch stairs... slowly. If he gets much worse, I will have to have him put to sleep. Sigh. I am not sure I can take that, though. I want him to pass peacefully at home.

Okay, no more of this sad thought. Man.

4. I can't seem to wake up before dawn. If I wake up and it's dark, I go back to sleep. And it doesn't get "light" outside until 7:30 in the morning. Something deeply bothers me when it comes to getting dressed when it's dark. I need to work on that. Hmm.

5. I haven't had lunch yet. And it's after 2 in the afternoon. I am still on this conference call, though. Nothing worse than a conference call that lasts past an hour. We should be done soon, as I am sure some of the West Coast participants are getting hungry.

6. I walked in the lab and Commander By was playing Supersonic by JJ Fad.



Even though that song is over 25 years old... we still know ALL the lyrics. LOL.

7.  Rest in peace to the African who died from the Ebola in the USA. Ah yes, The USA and our top notch health care. It just looks so bad. And I won't even talk about why. It's so obvious.

Yeah. I hate to feel that way. But oh well. My biggest prayer is that there are NO more cases of it here. Time will tell.

8. I took Grandma to get her flu shot on Tuesday. I got mine also. When I don't get my flu shot, I get the flu. And it is HORRIBLE. I have learned my lesson. This will be me and Grandma's "girl thing" to do from now on.

9. Conference call finally over after 1 hour, 22 minutes. Good deal. Not sure why I am on the call. This was a specialists call, and I am not a specialist. I refuse to do what my specialist should be doing. They have dogged and used me for years, and I can't get the promotion to that. So I stay in my corner. I took some good notes, though. Good scientific food for thought. But my specialist needs to step up. Seriously.

10. Now I can leave and go find something to eat. *lee grabs work badge and heads for the door*

That's about it for my Ten Tuesday thoughts... I need to get back on track with my blogging because it is such good bootleg therapy.

And that I plan to do.

On purpose. 

E's of Leadership

One of the security guards went to a talk and brought this back. I think it is useful, whether we are leaders or not.

Good stuff indeed.

Happy Birthday, Oscar-Tyrone

Happy 17th Birthday, Oscar-Tyrone," whispers LadyLee.

I whisper because he is sleeping. Heck, he's always sleeping.

He's sleeping with a frown on his face in the picture above. I came home to find him a bit stressed because he was constipated. Some of his hard poop had stuck to his but so I had to clean him up. He did NOT like being handle like that. And I don't think it helped that Callie Jo stood by watching with a look of bewilderment on her face as if to say, "What the world are you doing to him, LadyLee!?"

And for some odd reason I thought he was turning 18 today. But he was born in 1997. So that makes him 17.

He is old and sickly now. He has a funky liver, but his kidneys are still good. And he is hard of hearing. He needs to go to the vet, but I think they would encourage me to put him down. And I don't want to do that. Nor will I be spending two or three grand to fix him up temporarily. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, just quiet. And he likes to be held and rubbed.

I hold my breath every day when I come home. I look for him if he's not out in the open. I don't want to find that he has slipped away.

He rarely eats these days. I think his teeth are bad.  Right now he refuses to eat his expensive food. I mix some of Callie's food with water and I add some peas and carrots to it. I puree that up for him. He seems to favor that. And I see him walking around a little now, and his tail is wagging. But I miss the sprite Oscar-Tyrone. Even Callie Jo is looking at him like uh... "Maybe I don't need to do the flying squirrel jump on his head." She leaves him alone for the most part. But he was playing with her yesterday, however much he could. He is even sitting quietly next to his food dish, letting me know in his surly way that he may be hungry. I guess those peas and carrots are giving him life.

But for now, when he is sleeping, I lay my cell phone next to him and let Mahalia Jackson's Greatest Hits play soflty. He's an old man, so I know he has to like some good Mahalia.

So Happy Birthday, Oscar Tyrone. 

It has been a great 17 years, dude!

Let's try to make it to year 18:)