We did, however, get one window cleaned at Jim's - the PoolCam Window! (I guess that I should also mention that the pool is open, and cleaned up too. It's even been warm enough that I was in the water for about 10 minutes one hot afternoon.) I've recently updated my cam webpage (http://reigningpages.com/cams) with new colors and backgrounds and a NEW cam. pool cam is back online for the summer! Anytime I'm not at home or not at EAC, and the sun is shining and the temp high, you better check out PoolCam if you want to find me. (A dead give-away is if you see the pool ladder down. ) Gimme a call and I'll wave to ya!

Springtime in Ohio is always pretty volatile and this year is turning out to be no exception. Although thunderstorms loomed on the horizon, we sure didn't expect this storm to blow in so suddenly and so hard. No sooner had a few bolts of lightning crackled than Jim and I went to the porch to watch. Down the road was a slowly approaching wall of white. As it rushed towards us, we realized it was a torrential hail storm! And me without a garage and Jim's new car parked out in the open!!
	As the saying goes, here in Ohio, "if you don't like the weather, wait an hour. It'll change." Within an hour, the hail, rain and lightning has passed and the sun was returning for one last peek before setting.
Joxer checks out the hail and wonders what the heck it is. LOL (MouseOver)

MouseOver for a Monument CloseUp

As I mentioned earlier in the month, this Sunday was Canton's 15th Annual Candlelight AIDS Memorial, held in front of the McKinley Monument. My two best friends, Jim and DO, accompanied me to the service.

Jim and I took these pictures of DO, from each landing, as we ascended the monument steps

For good luck, here's another "GBS" picture for the month. ( that's the "Gratuitous Butt Shot")

Below is what happens when more than one person is taking pictures - you get pictures of you taking pictures of them taking pictures of you taking pictures of them.

Before the memorial started, and after Jim and I walked to the top of the monument, I took this large panoramic picture of Monument park and the Canton city skyline. (Check out the lower right. That's DO in white, sitting at a picnic table under the tree.)

Click to View the LARGE version (If you're using Internet Explorer, make sure to hover over the large picture and click the icon to enlarge the picture to it's actual size You might want to save the picture and then view it in Windows. You can view it actual size and then use the magnifier to see DO better.)

Now I did warn her earlier in the month, so I don't feel bad about the pictures below, except that I wasn't close enough for a really good picture. Highlighted is Vicki, from Trillium Family Services. This is the very kind lady who keeps coming to my rescue. (Feb - Mar - May)

It was on a rather chilly evening (after the last few hot days) that the memorial had several musical selections, a few prayers, a small speech (entitled: "We Remember"), and a nice ceremony. All the names of those who died from AIDS (in the area) had their names written on paper. All the audience members were given a name (many of us had several names, as there weren't near as many memorial-goers as there were names.) DO asked the worker who passed us names to make sure that Randy was included. A short time later, the nice lady came back. Not only was Randy's name on the list; but she had found his paper, which she gave to DO. Each of us stepped to the mic, read the name(s) and then lit the paper and put it into an urn, and lit their candle from the flames. Jim read his two names first, I read my two, and after reading her two names, DO continued with, "and Randall Rapp, one of my best friends".

I decided to include a word of caution here. The next section is rather sad; but it's a very defining moment in my life and shapes me into who I am now.

It was 10 years ago today (Sunday), that while Randy was in the oncology lab (getting a pentamadine drip, I think, in his clavicle port. The thrush was just unstoppable by this point), Dr. Hoppes spoke to me on the phone. He told me that there really wasn't anything left that could be done for Randy. At this point, I had to make a decision to either put Randy into the hospital for his last days, or take him home, and start Hospice Care. I took my Randy home and 9 days later, on the 25th, he passed away at 5:55am in a hospital bed in our living room surrounded by me, his mom, friends, and our dogs.

I had not slept in those last three days (even though I had help, I felt it was, not only my responsibility to care for him; but also I knew my time with Randy was limited to probably mere hours, I couldn't afford to lose anytime left to us.). I called Randy's mom (an LPN) over when Randy would no longer even drink water (he had quit eating 2 days previous). After she arrived and got settled in, she made me go lie down. Although, I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, I quickly dropped off. I only slept an hour, and within that time, Randy got ill. He knew he was going; but asked his mom and a friend to clean him up before waking me. I rushed over to him, held his hand, and told him how much I loved him. His last words were to me. A simple "love you" was all that he could muster. With a final breathe, he was gone, and his own mother pronounced him dead.

Well, now that I have wiped away the tears (again - I've been crying off and on all night), I should say that I'm sorry that I unloaded that on you. I had been very lucky to have been on unemployment most of our final year together (thanks to an extension from pres. Clinton) and I cherish every memory of all the things we crammed into that year. But those last 9 days, that last week, those memories are always so near the surface and so painful. This time of year, I can't help but re-live every tragic moment. So, somehow it felt very right tonight to be with my very best two friends still remembering Randy a decade later. And I thank all of you, my readers, for sharing this with me too.

Depending on the weather, DO, Jim and Randy's mom Carolynn are going to accompany me to go put some flowers on Randy's grace either this coming Sat or Sun. If you wouldn't mind, please try to stop and take a moment on Tues the 25th to think about Randy. (By this weekend, I'll be posting a special website just for Randy. More details soon.) As long as he is remembered, he's still with us. Even if you didn't know Randy, just think about the impression he made on me, and how I'm a better person for having had him and his love in my life.

Dealing with Randy's illness and death, and my own illness has changed me greatly. personally, I never would have believed that I would still be here 10 years later. But don't take that the wrong way. The medicines and the knowledge about AIDS were much different in 1994. At that time, I had to realistically believe that I, too, would probably pass away within another two years. Now, another 8 years past that, my health is still in question and it's a struggle that I fight every day when I take my meds. So I've tried to consider every day as my "extra time" - and I try not to waste any of it! Even on an occasion like this, I enjoyed the beautiful park, the expansive view and the love of good friends who are always there when I need them.

mIkIE MouseOver Mania

Now, as we move into the last of the month, I'm finally going to take a few days off. Not only have I worked too much the last couple of weeks (I've been trying to take Thurs. and Fri. off for nearly 4 weeks now; but every week have ended up working all 5 days!); but the tenth anniversary of Randy's passing is on Tues. and I'd like to take a little time to myself. Since not everyone could take Tues. off, on this past Sat., Jim and I picked up DO and Randy's mom, Carolynn, and drove over near Youngstown (about an hour and a half from here, to North Lima) to visit Randy's grave site to put out some new flowers. The last time I visited the site was to commemorate the fact that I had been without Randy for the same length of time that we had been together (when Randy passed away we had been together for about 9 years and 8 months).
(MouseOver CloseUp)
please take a moment to check out a special page that I've put online about Randy, covering the years while we were together. My Memories with Randy Jim took this picture of me, Carolynn, and DO tended to a little headstone cleaning and changing the flowers on the grave.
It's probably too late, but before you think that I am too maudlin about this time of year, let me tell you some of my thoughts as I watched my friends at Randy's grave. Earlier I mentioned that Randy was only home and in Hospice Care for 9 days before his death. I've always believed that Randy passed away so quickly out of his love for me. He could see how his death was affecting me and with no possibility of recovery, he gave in to the inevitable to relieve me of the burden of caring for him. But standing by the grave, I realized that he had done even more to make sure he helped me out. Although he had taken me away from my family in NC, he made sure not to leave me alone when he left. Not only did he leave me our family of loving dogs; but he's the reason that I have these great friends standing by me at this time. Instead of having to deal with all of life's problems by myself, I have my very best friend, Jim and two "extra" Moms! How bad can life be when one has three moms and a best friend?!?

With all the rain that's been falling lately, we were forced to take a detour on our trip from Salem to Randy's grave in North Lima. Route 153 had a bridge flooded out. MouseOver to see the flood up close.

There is another story to tell here. We did have to drive through about 1/2 foot of water running over a bridge very close to the grave yard. Luckily, I was driving Jim's car at this point. Why lucky? Several years ago, Jim accidentally put his Honda into a puddle that ended up flooded the car clear up to the seats! Needless to say, Jim was a little nervous about putting his new Hyundai through the water, and just tried to ignore it all as I drove on through.

Back at Christmas, Jim and I stopped to visit a camel that is corralled just outside of Salem. We had to stop off again to show off our "friend" to DO. I'm still expecting that camel to slime Jim on one of these trips. LOL

Some poolCam pictures

Hail Damage is a Good and Bad thing

Not only had the recent weather been disastrous with flooding, lightning, and hail; but it's also been a blessing too. Business is booming at Expert Auto Collision! Tara and the crew have been open every night an extra hour and even worked this past Saturday. WooHoo! Things had been going pretty slow for the shop for several months, and this amount of business is sure to boost the EAC crew's morale. .
On the other hand, the hail was bad for other people. My last employer, Waikem Auto Group, probably had $1.5 million worth of damage to vehicles on their lots (the Nissan Maximas were all parked with their rear windows all facing west and all of them had that glass shattered by the hail!). They've hired me to track all the damaged vehicles, so I'll have to let you know, when all the estimates have been written, exactly how much damage they really accrued.

Since I had so much sad news this month, I wanted to try to leave you on a happier note. And what could be happier than Springtime irises and dogs playing in the yard??