October, 2004

	October 2004

Week One | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four

Week One:

Hello, and welcome to October. I wanted to start this month off showing you pictures from a trip to Nelson Ledges; but things sure didn't work out that way. Instead I have some very sad news to tell you about. Last night, after Jim worked a late evening, he and I ended up in the emergency vet's with one of his cats. (Remember, it was just back in July that Jim's cat Showie passed away.) Unfortunately, Sarek was quite ill (11 yrs and 2 days old, diagnosed with feline leukemia as a kitten) and the prognosis was not good. I sure didn't envy Jim as, once again in my life, I stood inside the emergency vet's office.

What can I say that each of us hasn't already thought? Can I spend this much money on my pet? Will more tests find another answer? Will more tests hurt my pet before they pass away? Should we try everything, or give them a peaceful ending?

I hope I said the right things to Jim to help him through this. I don't want you to think me unfeeling; but quite the opposite. Unfortunately, I've been faced with this decision too many times in my life now. I learned to weight the facts (Jim had the vet run some tests to see how bad things were), and then make a decision and stick to it. Whichever route you choose then is the best one, no matter the outcome.

Sarek (aka Rekky) was a great cat, and Jim made sure that he had a great life. I'd like to think now (true or not, it gives me comfort - and I hope to you too) that Randy is more than happy to watch over one more of our pets until we get to be with them again.

Sarek
Oct 3, 1990 - Oct 5, 2004

	Sorry this picture is a little fuzzy; but you can see that Sarek was quite a bit fuzzy himself as a young cat.

In his arsenal of kitty tricks, Rekky had the cutest "squeak" of a meow, and the ever-loveable "rolling on the floor" move.

Take some time to be with your pets today. We never want to think that they won't be with us, but they do have such a shorter time on earth than we do. Thankfully, they do fill up those years with love and affection for us.

Week Two:

Wow! Halloween is becoming quite the holiday to light up for the festivities.

And speaking of spider webs, well, I was going to talk about them when I put the big spider web picture at the first of the month. Before the frost actually starts hitting the ground, I wake up every morning to see the dew glistening on the spider webs draped across the tops of my shrubs.

Some idiot (with a flat tire) decided to "park" their car in front of my driveway's entrance. Now, I don't use the drive too often (I usually park on the street out front of my house) but it is my driveway and it is illegal to block. This is the same fight I've been fighting for years here with the school parents and the construction trucks.

I know that it's hard to tell from this webcam shot, but that's a black lab in Carolynn's house. My Mom has been rescuing poodles and now my Mom(b) has saved this doggie named Riley.

This really seems to be an animal month so far. My friend Sharyn has a couple of new cats. Merlin's already been featured here on my site, so he didn't hang around for another photo-op.
	Jinx didn't really know what to think of me, or the camera flash.
Oreo, just starting on real food, hammed it up good for my camera though. Isn't she a cutie? MouseOver for extreme cuteness!!

	With the pool closed, I've actually been missing time outdoors. A good cure for that problem since it's Fall (well, it feels it. and it's nearly here ), is to go trekking through the woods again. Like earlier in the summer, Jim and I took some friends along with us and had a great time.
Click on our picture for a special Nelson Ledges Slideshow. Make sure to scroll back and forward to take in the beautiful vista and all of the picture. MouseOver for descriptions and special CloseUps.	larger version

Week Three:

I've been really busy with working the last couple of weeks, so there's quite a few things to talk about this update.

Do you remember that I've mentioned putting together a website for the local CarpeTime? Well, it really doesn't look like that is ever going to pan out now. The other day the CarpeTime guy called up Expert Auto and was fussing about something I had written in this log back in April (week five). First, how weird is it that they even found my comments? They claim they Googled "CarpeTime" and found the link, although my Google-ing did NOT find any link to MY site. Regardless of how they found it, they sent down a printout of this quote: "...I still haven't gotten a call from the CarpeTime guy (although I did see him in person after a "3-drink lunch" when he promised again to call me soon)...". Sorry guy, but the whole truth is that you've been talking to me about a website for nearly a year and still haven't gotten around to it, and, yes, the last time he mentioned this project he and his crew had been out celebrating Secretary's Day and had had a couple of drinks for lunch.

Jim and I watched three interesting movies this past month. "The Day After Tomorrow" might not have good science; but it's got great special effects. As to the storyline, it was an average disaster movie. I still give it a "thumbs up". The second flick we watched on DVD was "Fahrenheit 9/11". Wow! What an eye-opener. Even if half this movie is exaggerations it's still worth a look. (And don't forget to vote this year whatever you think of the candidates. LOL) And finally, we saw "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" at the theater. This is a very cool movie too. It's wraps an old, kinda boring, sci-fi tale in dramatic graphics and very cool effects. Make sure to watch this one too, if you get a chance!

Akron, about 20 minutes up the road, has a unique place to visit during October - the Haunted Schoolhouse and Haunted Laboratory. I haven't been in quite a long time (12 years or more), so Jim and I and our friend, Mike (from the trek at Nelson Ledges) decided that we weren't too old to have some scary fun. Seven floors in two old school building are a LOT of scary fun too! We all took turns walking in front and had an excellent time. I screamed, yelled and laughed till I could hardly stand it. LOL

Here's link to some stories about the haunted house I used to live in.

Any of you people Star Trek fans? If so, here's an interesting link. ( http://www.newvoyages.com ) Some fans have gotten together, with some money, and actually started producing NEW episodes to the original Star Trek series (with Kirk and Spock). Although it's weird seeing different actors playing these parts, it's very good and quite entertaining. Check it out.

Week Four:

	Ah! What's this a picture of? Is that Casper, the friendly ghost? Nope, it's my bad photo of the lunar eclipse starting. LOL After a couple bad pictures, I went inside and got my tripod. Boy, did that ever help.
Now, I had to worry about whether the clouds were going to be obscuring the heavenly event. But, no worries mate. As you can see below, especially if you missed seeing the eclipse in person, the clouds held off until right after totality. The last image, in the multiple-shot below, is just as the eclipse started to finally wane.

BOO! Cliff and DO had talked at the end of summer about having a Fall Weenie Roast one night, and we ended up having this party on Halloween Night. But it wasn't just ANY weenie roast, nope. It was a COSTUME event! LOL With hotdogs, s'mores, homemade doughnuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, and apple cider. All great on a chilly Fall night. .

Click the pumpkins for a special slideshow

Updated:
10/31/04


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leatherman
@reigningpages.com