And there were good times

Alright, I'm going to reach back a bit all the way to November to recap some of the travels and family shenanigans that we engaged in around the various holidays that take place this time of year.  First we traveled to Pennsylvania for the annual Giving of Thanks turkey and fixins. It started with visiting the world headquarters of Leddy's Telecom.  There we walked in the woods and then burned things in the backyard.

There so much cool stuff after the jump...

An Update About the Pooch

So, other than the flotsam and jetsam  of videos and funny pictures that I've posted since my major emotional unleashing, you haven't heard from me.  I've neglected to share tales of my holidays or commit any real events of my life to these pages.   Well here's an update on the d-o-g.  After the dark days around December 12 we leveled with the vet.  Once she was stable, we just wanted to bring Luna home and make her comfortable.  "Ok" the vet said, "She can go home this afternoon."  After 2 units of doggie blood, fluids, antibiotics, a marrow sample, and one dose of chemotherapy.  Luna was on her way home.  She was still weak, not herself, but we could tell she was glad to be home.  And boy, oh, boy did she get spoiled.  You want to get on the furniture?  No Problem! You want to eat table scraps for second dinners?  Sure, why not!  It's gone on like this since.  We've been giving her steroids, since she got home and they really helped turn things around.  She was back to very nearly her old self in a day or two, other then the incessant thirst and ravenous appetite which has her constantly eating snow, drinking from the toilet, and snagging any food foolishly left on the counter, table, stove, washer, etc.  I have event found myself, more often than I'd like, having thoughts like, "maybe this was all a big misunderstanding.  Maybe she just had some infection before and the steroids and antibiotics killed it and she's going to live for a long, long time.  Yeah, that's the ticket."  Then I remember that between two vet's and multiple tests there was never any hope that that might be the case.  I don't think there's a suprise ending to this tail er tale.

We eventually got the results from the tests and they confirmed the worst fears, stage V lymphoma or leukemia (the present themselves almost exactly the same in the test we had done, and we aren't have another done to determine which is going to kill her.  They both have the same prognosis. Thankyouverymuch.) So she continues to get spoiled.  She gets extra long walks. 

She comes to work with me 2-3 days a week (where there are new people to spoil her). And basically we don't say, "We'll do that next time." or "No that would be too much hassle."  Cause we've only got a little time left and we want it to be filled with love, fun, and more love.  Thanks Luna (and Ferris Bueller) for continuing to teach us, or reinforce, lessons like, Life is short.

On repeat. All. Day. Long.

Viva la Trailbuilders!

Well I guess if I had made different life choices 5 years ago, I might be in this video.  But alas, I chose healthcare.



The Trailbuilders (Trailer 12/18/12) from Tamarack Media on Vimeo.

Now for some inspirations quotes about Trails:

The pleasure is in the path, the search for something good… –HUNTER S. THOMPSON, US journalist and writer, 1939-2005

Let's get one thing straight: Trails weren't put there by the Supreme Being of your choice. They were cut my human beings just like you and me. —ALLEN ST. JOHN

The user doesn't need trails. The land does. –JIM ANGELL

 The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself. —FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT,

May your trail be dim, lonesome, stony, narrow, winding and only slightly uphill. —EDWARD ABBEY, environmental advocate, 1927–89

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. - John Muir

Breaking Away Bad

This is a mash up that gets to the heart of two things that I really like.  What meth and RVs you may ask? No the movie Breaking Away and the TV show Breaking Bad.



Breaking Away Bad from Jens Voigt's Army on Vimeo.

I am compiling a To-Do list for 2013 and will be finalizing it here in the New Year.  Doing something similar to this is on my that list.  Just friends having fun in the woods.


Bandit Cross: Ruining It For Everybody from Quality Bicycle Products on Vimeo.

Worlds Collide

This is where my love of music collides with my professional devotion to re-use.

It's Friday sooo....

Here're your tunes.

Ode to a dog (god)

Well this is shitty.  I've been thinking that shitty stuff clusters itself like cancer cells.  First you have news like this and that. Now I've got my own sob story to tell.  If you aren't partial to sob stories then just ignore the rest of this post because I've got to vent and I'm sure the waterworks are going to get turned on.  But I'll try to be stoic.  You'll see no emoticons I'll just take a moment to sob away from my keyboard.  With a disclaimer like that you know it ain't gonna end well, but let's carry on anyway shall we.

First let's introduce the players.

This is a good dog.  Just starting to grow out of her puppy energy.  She's three and will be four in May.  She has a incredible knack for finding her way onto furniture and a strong desire to get cozy right at your feet. She is a member of the family and If you've met her you've likely been greeted with an enthusiastic volley of licks, tail wags and probably some jumping.  After she calms down you will have experienced about a half an hour of her trying to make constant physical contact with you by sneakily placing her head under your hand (hey how'd that get there?).  After she's calmed the fuck down she's the best dog ever. Period.

Don't argue just let me continue.  Also, she's fast.  I mean she's a mutt, a lab mix, but I think she's a lab mixed with a rocket.  Throw a ball 50 yards and she'll get to it on the second bounce with out even trying. I'm partial to jogging with her and I'm sure she increased my time by about 1 minute per mile.

With that said Monday I woke up with out any indication that anything was amiss.  Luna (that's her name by the way no use hiding her identity any longer) was waiting for me at the door. However soon after we left the house for our morning jog and constitutional (her not me) I noticed something was wrong when I felt a tug on the leash an looked to see Luna lagging behind in an uncharacteristic fashion.  I encouraged her and she rallied for about 3 blocks and then it was lagwaggon time again.  By this time we were at the park and I thought I had the cure.  It took her off leash and let the pure joy of freedom whip her into an uncontrolled frenzy of attacking pine cones and chasing sticks. Instead... nothing, "no thanks, I'll just sit right here thanks", was the reaction I got.  Now I was starting to get worried.  So we hightailed it home, well more like moseyed, where Luna promptly went to lay down and proceeded to ignore her food and practically everything else in the house.  I thought wow looks like the doggie flu has got her down, I'll have to keep an eye on this.  When I got home from work, she was a bit perkier but not herself.  The next morning Luna was up with me and seated at the door saying, "yes please let's go out." Alright I thought this is more like it. After one trip around the block we were back at the house and Luna was back on her bed when I went to feed her... nothing. So I call her...she lifted her head but nothing else.  Well, I thought, "Shit just got real."   Tiff said she'd call the Vet to make an appointment and while i was slightly worried there were no big warning bells going off in my head.  I mean she is a young healthy pooch who only two days before  was running around the back yard.  However there was a little voice in the back of my head that I was trying desperately to ignore that was saying, "Pssst, you know this ain't good."

Tiff called me at work to say they were at the vet and the vet was worried. Luna had a very high temp and had become extremely disoriented.  They were taking blood and running some tests, but he recommended that we take her to the Emergency Vet.  "OK, this is a bigger deal than I thought" I says to myself.  "Not really, you knew it might go this way." the little voice said.  I rushed to the Emergency Vet who was using words like Stage 5 Lymphoma and severe bacterial infection when I got there.  I knew at this point the outlook was not good.  (By the way, if you would like to hear a different rant about trying to apply for credit to pay for your dieing dog by phone in the vet's office just ask. I'd be happy to go down that road another time.)  By the end of the day all signs pointed to the Lymphoma in her marrow, and while we await the final results, we just want to take our family member home.  We also haven't received any concrete options outside of the vet pushing for chemo which is seems has a best case scenario of 9 months and a worst of 2 months, and a huge price tag.  I'll be looking for a second opinion.

Now I'm looking forward and can see that I very likely don't have much time left with her.  This is naturally when I start looking back at all the things I'd done differently.  All the times I thought, "No you don't need to a big walk tonight we'll just go out to the back yard." Or, "sorry Luna, It's too much of a hassle to bring you on this trip we'll just get you a nice weekend at the kennel or at a friend's house."  Or the time I got really mad and may have gone a bit off the deep end at you over this little mess.

All these things struck me as we were holding her as the technicians came and went and they prepped her, and T__ leaned in and said, "Luna, from now on you can get on the furniture when ever you want."  And that's what I'm talking about. I have an increased focus to make the most of the time we have left together, no matter how short a time it may be.  I also reflect on how much she has brought to us. She has a never ending well of love that is unconditional and a reserve of patience that allows her to endure reoccurring dress up sessions by loving kids.  She knows just when to give a contented sigh and when to come put her head on your lap.  I hope in the coming days/weeks I can give back a fraction of the comfort that she has given me.  As I said at the beginning of the post she is three years old, now I'm hoping she'll live until May so she can see the ripe old age of four.

Music For a Friday

Right on.

And another because it's never not a good time for Zepplin.

Get ready for a few recap posts from the Thanksgiving slog to PA.