deaf doggess

I once had a Boston who was deaf… she was so smart as a puppy we didn’t notice. An old Victorian house with wooden floors, so when I gave commands I usually stomped my foot for attention, lol/

She took up residence with a dear old gentleman… he’d gotten a dog through us once before and- get a tissue you’ll need it… He and the dog visited his wife (alzheimers patient) at her nursing home twice a day. The day his wife passed away, he left the little Boston at home; the house burned down. When he got home, he had a heart attack.

So, when he got out of the hospital, he had his grandson come straight to us. He was crying as he asked me if we had a dog he could have. I told him the only dog was this little deaf girl, and I was worried about him since he was fragile, elderly, and hard of hearing too. I told him lets make it a trial, and see if she’s okay with you.

You know, his grandson called me later. His son called me. Both his daughters called me. Hell, his vet actually called me. So it became a forever home… really. I went back years later to that little town, and stopped by his sons business. Turns out his dad had passed away, but there that little girl was, bouncing around, having a great time. And her “brother” played the same joke on people we had- “Sure, go ahead, call her for dinner…”

post stress reactions

I’m surprised for real. I want to thank the two lovely people who read my “stressed” rant. I never actually thought anyone would see it. 

Well, the foreclosure is over; damned if I’m not still getting calls from agencies who’ve decided they can help through their piss-poor pre-screening programs… And truly, as traumatic as the whole event was, it was a very black cloud with a solid gold lining.

You gotta love it… our house never had city water service… we had a well, and 3 separate systems including 2 septic tanks. The kitchen system consisted of galvanized pipes that had been run through the concrete foundation… and at 70+ years old, the pipes had rusted through for the most part I guess. Didn’t matter much to me as long as it worked, because here it’s legal to run gray water direct into your yard or flower beds, which is what our did.

However! Since the drought has been so bad the last few years our regular watering at the foundation level ceased to preserve the integrity of the concrete. Can you guess what happened? Yep, you are right! The 10’x10’x4 foot thick concrete slab a previous owner slapped onto the house to create a screen porch collapsed, taking with it any hope of the kitchen sink ever draining again! I figure it would have cost around 60K to repair the foundation given that it’s had 70 years to settle in other places too.

And another surprise was still waiting… as we are winding up things, and waiting for the lease on our new apartment to be finalized so we can move, the pump for our well blew out. That, or the well went dry. I don’t know which!

Really, it kind of felt like the house held together as long as we were going to be there, and when our final moving arrangements were completed, that old house heaved a sigh and died. II know I’m anthropomorphizing, but it truly felt like the house held herself together until we were just about settled, and then just shut herself down. Strange but true.

My daddy is doing really well, in fact he’s getting around better missing half one of his feet than he got around with 2 complete feet!

My brother had a major spinal surgery, and that was scary as hell… his heart started kicking up, so they had to delay replacing some of his discs for a bit, then he acquired an abdominal infection- yeah, it was that serious; half of the surgery on his spine was performed ventrally (abdominally), the other half dorsally. He’s got the cutest little cage around much of his back now. He’s about to go nuts from staying still though! And, while he’s glad to have lost the beginnings of a pot belly, he’s pretty perturbed that he’s losing so much upper body strength. Hell, he’s on mostly bed rest until September if everything goes well.

Myself, I had a surgery performed 8 weeks ago… I’ve had my nose broken 7 or 8 times over the years, most often by an ex-husband with a violence issue- and I outlived the bastard so there! Anyway, this was the 4th or 5th surgery I’ve had to repair the cumulative damage taken, and like all septal repair surgeries, it was miserable- when I woke up, they’d harvested some cartilage from my ear, and my nearly elbow length (when ironed 😉 hair was one big ass dreadlock behind my left ear. BUT!!!! For the first time in 40 years, I can breathe through my nose without feeling like I”m going to pass out from lack of oxygen. I’ve noticed my thinking is a tad clearer too. All praise to my ENT/Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Christian Stallworth- he’s a gifted surgeon, a handsome young devil, and has a hell of a good sense of humor too!

Well, I’m tired now, so I’m going to try and catch some sleep.

Anybody out there reading this, I hope, I truly hope, that you are as lucky as I’ve been lately. And as a bonus, I hope your luck lasts a long time too.

me after surgery- be glad you can’t see the dreadlock!

stressed? naw, not yet.

let’s see… the Holidays are over- as is the foreclosure. My dad went into the hospital for an arterial bypass… which then clotted and had to be redone. Within the week, he returned to the hospital for a mid-metarsal amputation. My kid sister came home to help with Daddy… and her freaky high blood pressure was 185/108… so we got her medications and she’s a little better now. Her husband is freaking because he’s 1500 miles away and he misses his wife. My niece is bug fuck nuts, but doing okay so far as bi-polar disorder, borderline personality, and schizophrenic array will allow.

Oh, and I can’t go to the hospital, because I have a nasty ass sinus infection on it’s third round of anti-biotics (and an appointment with the allergist); of course, cedar pollen peaked at 22k last week, so I”m congested, infected, and coughing too. At least I don’t have the flu. Just arthritis and fibromyalgia, lol…

It’s not upstate NY cold, but it’s cold for TX this year, and snow flurries in San Antonio are just a tad freaky ya know. I need to get my cashmere coat to the cleaners now, lol, I haven’t worn it more than 7-8 times a year for I don’t know how long… I wore it daily in the winter in NY and never got a thing on it, I saved that experience for TX!

School is in it’s second week, and so far I am still afloat, but with all the stuff going on? Hell, I baked 5 dozen chocolate chip cookies to relieve the stress. Umm, I sprinkled salt on the last dozen as an experiment; ya know, just like you’d sprinkle sugar on a sugar or peanutbutter cookie- abso fab! Delixxxious!

I hope anyone who reads this is doing better!

Just read Jonelle Patrick’s Only in Japan, well, part of it anyway. I’m so going to read (and buy!) her new novel, because if her published works are as amusing as her off-the-cuff stuff, it should be well worth the ticket price.

and, I bought it, read it, and am buying the next one!

Dave Stewart

I had a platonic friend, an A&R rep for MCA back in the 80’s, his name was Wayne McManners. Wayne’s wife was a lovely woman, but she couldn’t travel with him anymore aftr their kids started school, so when he was in SA or Austin, he’d give me a call, and I’d be his ‘beard’ for the evening. I kept him out of trouble, and I got to see a lot of shows!

Wayne took me to see the Eurythmics here in San Antonio, from backstage, which is how I become so spoiled… I want to watch a show from the wings, or from backstage. After the show, we went to the Hilton Palacio del Rio, and had drinks with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

The Eurythmics were playing Austin the next night, so I went up for that show too. The after-party was at Chuy’s, the first time I had been to the restaurant. Since my kid sister was a HUGE Eurythmics fan, I figured I’d get autographs for her. Bad for me, Annie Lennox didn’t come to the party, but Dave Stewart di, so I grabbed a pen and paper, and asked for his autograph for Becca.

He wrote, and wrote, and wrote, and when he gave it back to me, it was a note saying that he and his friend [David] Bowie were staying at the XXXX hotel, in rom number xyz, and how lovely it would be if I could come up and party with them. I was very flattered (DUH!)… and I thanked him for the invite, explaining I was there with a date, which I think surprised him. I also explained that the autograph really was for my 15 year old sister, but that I didn’t think I could give her that one; he kindly signed one for her without the invitation, lol.

memories music 1

kk, when I moved to LA, we stayed with my friend Charlie Sexton… Charlie was 16, 17 the… and he was dating Carleen Carter, daughter of June Carter Cash.

Charlie and Carleen had been visiting with  Kathy valentine of the Gogos

anyway, Kathy’s gardener held them hostage for 18 hours… ultimately resolved well, no one was injured

but Charlie and Carleen ddn’t want to stay at the apt, so they checked into the Sunset Marquis

while they were moving from the apt to the hotel, Johnny Cash called… I swear to you I wet my panties

We chatted for a few minutes, and I gave him their room number… before h said good bye, he thanked me for being a good friend to his gal

a few months later, Carlen went home for Christmas. When she came back, her mom had gone through the Carter/Cash Gift Shop, and sent me one of damn near everything in the store that would fit in one box.

I still have a book she wrote, called ‘My Klediment’ with a lovely inscription.

that’s why I named my favorite photo album “Klediments’, it’s an old mountain word meaning ‘treasures”