Arrrgggh matey

Chugging along health wise, same old same old. Slightly anemic, sleep pattern all screwy, otherwise 50 going on 60. I am renaming my chemos salsa picante, as they have the same effect. My nose runs, my eyes tear, and my stomach aches. That is what they should tell chemo patients to expect – a trip to Old Mexico.

Amazing, the weather here stayed warm, hot even, long enough for me to finish the canoe, then temps dropped 30 degrees. Just in time, as Beauch was being driven nuttier by the sound of the flapping tarps in his yard. Frost in the yard yesterday morning, and it actually snowed in the county at higher elevations. Every few years this happens. I am very pleased I didn’t get caught up in the nice weather so much that I started pruning – my inborn procrastinator told me not to do the bonsai transplant yet. Good thing, because that pruning would have inspired some bud push, and those suckers might have been frozen.

Dana and Chrissie and Mike and a friend, and Stacy and Lia all went to Disneyland a week ago, Sunday and Monday, and had a great if crowded time there. I got to finish the canoe, as I am agoraphobic when it comes to Disney crowds. When they got back, Chrissie did not get her canoe ride. We tried, but the weather had already turned by Wed. last week. We loaded the canoe on the car and looked around for a spot in the back bay that was calm enough for canoeing, but it was not to be. The rains came Friday morning and lasted all weekend.

We did go to Mardi Gras parties though. The first, 2 Saturdays back, was a Shanghai Moon theme, meaning come as adventurers or smugglers or Chinamen or hot scantily clad femmes. The second party was last Saturday, the annual Pirate Party at the Avila Yacht Club, my favorite, yearrrgghh! I make a fearsome pirate, even with eyeliner. The Mardi Gras Ball is next weekend, and the theme is the Fire Within. Volcanoes? Hemorrhoids? Salsa picante? I think we are working on flame costumes. My input is too bizarre so I just show up when told and put on what they hand me.




I checked eBay and there were over 2600 completed auctions for walking sticks, US only. There were ongoing auctions for another 4000+ walking sticks. There was one auction that included the word ‘rock’, and that was a reference to rock and roll on some skull-head stick. So Mo, that’s the way to go. You get a huge marketplace and a niche in the walking stick market. Post 9/11, I would market to fear, same as most products in this country. Not just a walking stick but a weapon!

dX+1

Well, here we are a year later, diagnosis date plus one year, dX+1! I suppose I should be partying, and we are going to see Flamenco at the Performing Arts Center tonight. I may have an extra water, maybe flavored! It’s 5:30 am, I have been getting up every day about 4:15, it’s steroid week! My steroid week coincides with Dana’s, uh, concurrent hormonal swing week, or Cheswick as we call it, as in One Flew! It becomes very unclear during this time who exactly is Chief Bull-Goose Looney! Dr. Spillane has given me the all-clear, even for going back to work, and I am on the open market, looking around. There is a good job out there, stay posted.











One side effect of cyclophosphamide they don’t warn you about is the longer-term effect on your nails. I noticed this valley growing out on every toenail,and finger nail about a month ago. Then I started getting hangnails, 3 so far, and I can see that as this valley grows out it’s going to be trouble, broken nails. I asked the doc, and he said ‘Well, we don’t usually pull the nails out.” Yikes! He told me to keep them well-groomed and lots of lotion, and maybe to paint them!

Lots of comments on the last blog. Mac, Mac, who would want to edit you or have you tone down your mustard? You said ‘screw slow’, referring to golf swings. I made a joke, asking if that was sex advice. I love you man, and your sick and twisted sense of humor, sometimes over the top but my clutch doesn’t work that well either.

I have a picture here of Maurice’s present of a walking stick. This is now the primary weapon in the house. Mikey loves it, shaped like a light saber. Watching him wield it reminded me I need to do some earthquake-proofing.


















Nice to hear from the Berger’s too, I keep expecting to see Heather on American Idol or Dog Eat Dog or Survivor or something. Bill M. showed he is not a true Luddite and actually touched a keyboard, way to go Bill, good to hear from you. Pats coulda won it, one bad game.

Sue Beauch is having her very first Art Show with an exhibition at New Frontiers Market in SLO. I think she sold three paintings the first day. Go check it out, she's a great artist.

The canoe is killing me. The weather warmed up a lot, but the wind is making it difficult to get a clean final coat of paint and varnish on the canoe. I am driving Beauch nuts trying to rig up a dust-free zone on the side of his house. I’ll be heading out to check the surf in an hour, then on to Beauch’s and see what I can get done. I hope to have this thing in the water in a week. Chrissie is coming to stay with us for a week, and we want to take her for a paddle. Relax Mac, just in the canoe, as long as she is good.



Next project is new toilets in the house, and new tile floor in the boy’s bath, now that their aim has finally settled down. It is amazing how often a penis can get away from you while you’re using it, and what a mess it can make. And I am just talking about peeing. We are looking into Gerber dual-action toilets, flush your pee with 1 liter and your poops with 6 liters. We saw this everywhere in Yugoslavia in ’87, and it’s a great idea.