Boomer Sandwich

Current Status... Unusual. Woke at 4:00 a.m. Got up at 5:30. Have watched the sky go from charcoal to stainless, where it remains. My nose is cold, I have a blanket over my feet. Across the hall, Stewart groans in his sleep, as he often does.

Lately I'm thinking... that I envy people whose relatives die quickly. Because my mom, who's 89, has been dying for years and years. Progressive dementia, congestive heart, bleeding ulcers, hardened arteries. This year she's gone from senior apartment to assisted living to hospital to extended care. She broke a bone, often the definitive push down the last slippery slope. But an operation pinned her porous ankle bones back together. She ended up mostly bedridden because she couldn't remember not to put her weight on that foot. That brought on pneumonia, and she wasn't expected to make it through the first night. But she did, and many more nights to come. After the ankle mended, though, she got very sick and was taken back to the hospital: kidney failure, internal bleeding, a raging infection. And she made it through that, too, though seriously weakened. An operation was suggested to fix the intestinal fistula causing serial kidney infections. She was sent to extended care to gather strength for that. There she ripped out her own catheter, took a couple of falls and developed a case of scabies. Scratching herself against the bed sheets, she rubbed a bald spot on the back of her head. Then she got pneumonia again, turned the corner, and is now getting up for meals (not on her own by any means). She sleeps a lot. She eats half her food and all her dessert. She recognizes her daughters but can't remember anything from one moment to the next. And I can't help feeling resentful that she's dragging this out. Is that cruel? Well, even she says, "Guess I just don't have the sense to die."

Currently reading... Finished The Worst Thing I've Done, Ursula Hegi, not great. The characters do one worse thing after another; they take turns narrating what story line there is, and then everyone's happy. But I never got to like them. Just didn't care one way or the other.

The Soapbox: Choose hope, not fear.

Momentum '08

Current Status... I didn't do a thing this weekend but spend money and read The New York Times. What a loafer! Bought some vitamins/herbs/supplements. Yeah, a lot. But I'm ahead of the curve on this, you'll see. Someday everyone will be kept healthy according to their needs/weaknesses by preventive supplements and fresh, organic, local foods. Trust me, it's been true since Hypocrates. It's been true through thousands of years of Chinese medicine. And it's true today.

Lately I'm thinking... Part of the money I spent this weekend was a contribution to the Obama campaign. I hear Colin Powell endorsed him today, and that this has been the biggest month for contributions. Taking no chances, keeping the TV ads flowing. I guess that's wise.

Currently reading... The Worst Thing I've Done, Ursula Hegi, The New Yorker, TNYTimes and the comics Doonesbury, Rhymes With Orange, Zits, Cathy and Non Sequitor

This is really interesting... Well, I learned that I have a couple of IQ points on Obama, and I respect his intellect and memory. So that's cool. Supposedly, GW Bush has an IQ in the 130s, but he sure knows how to hide it, not use it, deny it, ignore it and let it atrophy.

The Soapbox: I heard that Wall Street actually prefers Obama to McCain. I don't know if that's true, but I really think the Market will take a jump upward the day Obama wins (by at least 54%). Choose hope, not fear.

What Do I Know This Week?

Current Status...Friday night I needed two doses of entertainment to shake off the dreariness of the week's financial news: a movie and an episode of Band of Brothers. Today I spent the morning with a dear friend, the kind who listens closely and brings you up with her deep questions and empathy, sees fear for what it is: an imposter, an imaginary creature that can disappear in the light of apprehension.

Lately I'm thinking...that all this plays out in our inner and outer worlds. The Wall St. "panic" is just that. Contagious adrenalin rush. An addiction to excitement, good or bad. Yin and yang belong in closer balance, as equal partners. That's our "fix."

This is really interesting...I learned this week that while I thought I could still camoflage myself, still disappear at will, the cosmic joke's on me: What's inside is outside, whether I know it or not. People pick up much more from my being -- eyes, smile, body language, actions, mood, gifts, expressions -- than my words. Even extensive camo can be a big clue to authentic identity. I'm outed. No going back. And, no need to fear it, since it's a done deal. (Here I am, blogging on the Web.)

Soapbox: Eight years ago, John McCain was still a man of substance. But during the disgraceful G.W. Bush years, McCain sold his soul to Win at All Costs and The Ends Justify the Means: bogus causes. Now we see the straw man flailing in desperation, flinging mud pies, or allowing Sarah to sling them. All this talk of terrorists and Muslims: Such silliness. Obviously, the potential for calm, focused leadership is with Obama. Choose hope, not fear.

Underwater in a Leaderless Void

Current Status... I spent two miserable days coming down with a cold, then went to my accupuncturist, Sharon. As usual, I felt great after the treatment, slept very well, but I also woke up totally without the cold -- sinuses clear, eyes dry and comfortable. Wow.

Lately I'm thinking a lot about my retirement plan. It's a good one, TIAA-CREF, but even with all its caution, I lost a few hundred dollars by the end of September. No telling what my balance is now that the DOW's plunged into the 8000s. I guess the idea is to work till I die. Perhaps I can get used to that idea. I still don't want to live beyond 2025 though. 

What's interesting is the effect the terrible financial disaster is having on the Republican party (negative) and on our first black candidate (positive). Please let the DOW go up when he wins...

Currently reading... A book by Ursula Hegi called The Worst Thing I've Done. Well-written, but so far I'm not that into it.

The Soapbox: I predict Obama by 54%

Victory Over the Varmints!

Success on the opossum front. After a week, we finally isolated and captured Possum Chile #2. This one was camping under the refrigerator. We had to find a way to keep our cats, Sara and Emma, away from the trap in the kitchen.

We captured our indoor/outdoor kitkats and put them in our bedroom with bowls of food and water. We rigged up the trap with kibble and water. And at first, the little guy just waltzed into the trap, knocked over the water and ate some food. Then waltzed back out. Stewart went down to the kitchen three times during the night. Finally, at 5:00 a.m. the last adjustment to the trap did the trick and the cocky little bastard was trapped.

The possum is a nasty creature. Dirty white. Pink nosed. Beady eyed. Rat-tailed and hissing. This is the creep who pooped in Sara and Emma's food dishes and on their favorite toy. And we're letting this varmint live!

So, yay us. We got rid of the infestation ourselves. And didn't buy a shotgun or blow up these rat-vermin. We are sooo cool! (Well, actually, I didn't do that much ;-)

Started a new book by Ursula Hegi, the first of her many that I've tried. Perhaps tomorrow I'll remember the name of it!

Infestation of Opossums

We seemed to be Opossum-free all day yesterday, but this morning we see that our kitchen has been revisited by the little bugger we didn't catch. See This Is Really Interesting below.

First, my husband saw a creature huddling in the corner of the bathroom. He put on some work gloves and went after it, but it ran under the washing machine, a new Bosch that's too heavy to shift. This was Sunday, and he came upstairs to tell me about the "baby raccoon," and see if I had any ideas. I suggested the Clarkstown Kops and/or whatever they call the "dogcatcher" these days, something like Wild Animal Manager. The kops said the animal management folks don't come for raccoons. Rattlesnake maybe. So then we talked about Hav-a-heart trap. But we'd rented the last one from Beckerle's Lumber, and they're closed on Sunday. At this point my sister-in-law called and she suggested that we could buy a trap at Home Depot. Since we had to buy it, and one large enough for a raccoon or woodchuck is over $50, I suggested the Large Squirrel size. Next came debating the bait. My husband favored canned cat food, but I said racoons love the dry kibble. So he put kibble on a small piece of cardboard and mounted it on the trap-snapper. Every few hours we would open the bathroom door and check. The creature finally went inside the trap, ate the kibble, and walked back out.

Now we got serious. My husband fiddled with the settings until the trap-closer was hair-triggered. The bait was peanut butter studded with kibble. It would not fall off and any attempt to eat it would slam the trap shut. We went upstairs to watch a movie. When we came back, there was this ratty, shaggy, dirty-white rat-looking thing. O may gawd, it's a baby possum, I cried. He was ugly and frightened. He had peed and pooped and his pointy mouth was open in a silent, absurdly nonthreatening hiss. My husband lifted the cage gingerly and said, What should I do with him, fling him in the lake? (Normally sanguine, Stewart was outraged at the creature's home invasion.) No, I said, take him over to the park, far enough away he won't find his way back here. He left, and I attended to the poop and pee on the bathroom floor. We felt pretty good. Until we realized we hadn't dealt with the entire invasion force. To be continued...