01Aug20: What’s up, Doug?

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Andy’s curious. Why won’t I let him come around to the other side? 

Maybe it’s because he has “Itchy Paws” and all I need to start hyperventilating again is Andy to wipe out what little hard won progress I’ve made on the nightmare configuration issues on my new laptop and photo sharing from my smart phone.

20200729_110740

Seems like I resolve one issue and bring up twelve more. I’m not kidding about hyperventilation! ( I hope the person who cuts my beard and hair is operating again soon or I might be tempted to do it myself. >self to myself< “Don’t do it, Doug!”) 

 

Post 1896: The kitty boys are back!

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We’ve had a grumpy few days, thanks to a laptop giving up the ghost, but my new laptop means the kitty boys and I can return to regular posting.

What’s going to fall apart next? I suspect it’s time for the smart phone to go belly up. I mean, don’t expensive things always fail close to expensive holidays like Christmas? And it’s about the only bit of technology I use that’s left to croak!

30Mar23: unlikely important kitty business…

Important kitty business coming up!

Not kitty playtime?

That was very, very, very exhausting! Kitty business is very, um, hard to predict. I was sure it was kitty playtime! We’ll check back after the kitty naptime.

29Mar23: watching me…

Andy sits there, just watching me. As soon as he sees me watching him, he flinches or averts his eyes.

Of course, he can kitty bathe, too, to pretend he isn’t watching me!

25Mar23: in which I tease Andy till he plays…

Come on, Andy! It’s time for fun!

“I’m upset with you, Doug. Let me do important kitty things. Go away! Leave me alone!”

Play is important, too, Andrew!

“I see!” RAWR!!!!

=(^+^)=

Andy has to be teased a bit till he plays. I think he was taken away from his littermates and Mommy too soon because he’s never been one of those kitties like the late Dougy, who instantly got into the fun of the moment and played. 

23Mar23: he would have turned 82 today…

 

Today was my brother Dick’s birthday. He would have turned 82 today. He was lots of fun, a lover of children and animals, both of which responded easily to him, as this video shows. Andy and the late Dougy remembered Dick from year to year and were really happy to see him step in the door each year when he visited! I looked forward to his visits, too. We’d talk and laugh the whole time. Dick was a good fellow.

Marijean, me with Ladybelle our neighbor’s pug, Kathy with Laddie (Grandma McKenzie’s dog), and Dick with some dog I can’t identify for certain. This how I think of my siblings and me, though lots and lots of water have passed under the bridge sine this scene in the 1950s. 

Dougy and Dick.

22Mar22: the big seventy-five…

I turn 75 years old today. No celebration is planned other than one recognizing I’m still above ground! It didn’t look like that was possible back in 2003, the year I came down with WG/PGA. I survived that, thanks to my pulmonologist, my rheumatologist, and a host of others. You don’t ever get over it, just get it into control and try to keep it there. In my case, I have a blood sample taken once bi-monthly to measure something called c-ANCA.

c-ANCA – Wikipedia

Its presence is indicative of a flare and the need to evaluate the need to kick WG/PGA butt in hospital or with less aggressive means, pills known to handle the trick.

For the fun of it, I’m going to educate you this special (personal) day by leaving a link to information on this disease. Don’t feel sorry for me. I came down with it at a time medical treatment for the disease was becoming possible. Not that long ago, people just died from it because there was no known way to treat it. I’m able to live a reasonably normal life and reach birthdays like Nr. 75!

Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis – Vasculitis Foundation

Andy plans to take a nap on my special day. Sounds like a winner!