Hey everyone!
Scott and I had a great time flying over from the US, and we are safely here. On the flight I got 2 and a half hours of very fitful sleep, then after landing we were non-stop running until 10.
We’re preparing to head off to London, now. So, I’ll try to post more tonight, a real live blog entry!
This is just to let you, our faithful readers, know that we arrived safe and sound.
Well, the day is nearly upon us! But before I clarify that statement, I first want to apologize to all my readers who may have received notifications about blog posts that were basically TEST postings. I’ve not been overly satisfied with Google Feedburner’s email notifications. Those are limited to those who subscribe and go through all the rigamarole of acknowledgements. But I know in the past numerous people read my blog because they received notification via Twitter or Facebook that there was a new post.
Then, about a year ago, I was digging around under the hood of my WordPress sportster and apparently cut the wrong cable or something, because those posts stopped going out to Twitter and Facebook.
No big deal, I thought. But, as I indicate it IS a big deal because people who used to enjoy reading my blogs no longer can. That has made me a bit unhappy! When I went to reconnect those wires (you do understand there are no wires, I’m speaking rhetorically, right?) I can’t find where that setting was.
I’ve had to download and install two plugins, “Simple Facebook Connect” and “Simple Twitter Connect”. Except those are anything BUT simple! They basically have lines like “Just download and activate!” Except they don’t tell you that between downloading, activating, and getting it to work is another HUGE list of steps one must go through!
So, that explains all the tests. You may have gotten none of them, and if so great! Or you may have just seen one or two. If so, I AM sorry. About 20 went out; if anyone received all 20, oops. MY BAD and I am really, really, REALLY sorry!
But, I think I’m done, now!
Okay, now on to the really big news! We are only 2 days away from our takeoff to England! I didn’t want to post the dates until I had a few more arrangements made, but as of this evening, our dear friends David & Tony are now ensconced in our guest room! They’ll be house sitting for us in our absence! Yay! And Nikki and Ixchel will be taken to the home of our friends Cindy & Juline tomorrow night where they shall frolic with 4 other puppies for the next two weeks!
As usual, it is my hope to post here on a near daily basis, a sort of travelogue describing our trip. Scott and I plan on taking about a million photos, and those will be posted as close to daily as we can at:
www.scottneric.com/photoalbums/england-2012
So check both our blog and our photo album out daily!
To quote my hero, “Sayonara, babyyyyy!”
Today has been a good day! It’s been a long day, too. And it’s been a tiring day.
Today started before the usual time for me, at 2:45 give or take a few blurs. That’s when I awake to Ixchel crawling all over me. She doesn’t move from the center of the bed around the top of my head or past my feet. No, Ixchel believes in the direct approach. Over my face, or my chest. As I wake, I am aware of an eerie presence. I sense movement. I drift back to sleep.
Thirty minutes pass and, once again, I wake to that sense that I am not alone in the room. It whines, then, a low soft sound expressing a sorrow that seems to come from the depth of the ages. I crawl out of bed, pick up Ixchel and stumble to the door. Nikki follows close behind. She, it would seem, is the source of the whining. I shuffle down the stairs, slipping, nearly falling. Out the back door we flee; Ixchel and Nikki promptly take care of their pressing needs, then sniff the flowers and the dirt clods. “Really?” I moan, “It’s 3 friggin’ 30 in the morning! Can’t you sniff at a more reasonable hour?” They both look up at me and bound for the door. I turn to go inside. I step on a rock.
Turning out the lights, we make our way back up stairs, and Nikki heads directly for the shelter of her “under the bed” safe room. Picking up Ixchel, I toss her unceremoniously on the bed, then crawl beneath the sheets. I hold the sheet up for her, and she deftly burrows to her spot by Scott’s back. Rolling over I face the windows, and look out to the street beyond them, the gray foreboding hulk of the houses across the street just visible in the darkness. I take one last look at the clock, 3:35 am. I shut my eyes.
And hear IT. Thunk. Click. Thunk. Snik. This is followed by a “zooothssssh” like sound and another THUNK! I open my eyes, and look around. Nothing. But that sense that we are not alone, my canines, Scott and I. Silence. A whine. Thunk. Snik. Zooothssssh. Silence.
Ixchel pops her head above the sheets.
YAP!
YAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAP!
Thunk, Snik, Zooothssssh. Yap
Whine.
And I see it! The Bat of Doom! I flick on the light, jump to my feet and run for the bedroom door, hoping, praying… can I escape it? Will it get me? Will THIS be the night!
Scott turns and looks at me. ”Bat?”
“Yes, THE Bat, it’s come!”
“Oh.” Soft snores emanate from his corner of the bed. Sigh. No help there.
I turn off the ceiling fan (they interfere with a bat’s navigatory skills). Moments later the bat flies out the door. I slam the door!
Safe at last I crawl back in to bed. Once more, I hold the sheet high for Ixchel to return to her nest, then turn to face the window. Again I look at the clock. 3:45 am. I close my eyes. I roll on to my back, opening my eyes and stare at the ceiling. I roll on to my stomach. Now I turn to face the center of the bed, then immediately back to the window. Sometime around 4:40 I fall asleep.
At 5:01 the alarm goes off. Time to face another day. We snooze, Scott, the girls and I, until 5:30 most mornings. But at 5:02, shortly after Scott hits the snooze button, I hear it.
Thunk. Snik. Zooothssssh.
Groaning I return to the door, turn off the ceiling fan, pull the door open and hit the light. The bat has returned to the room. Scott reluctantly crawls from the bed, we snatch Ixchel from the sheets, and turn for the door. The bat flies ahead of us, out the door and into the bathroom. By 5:20, it has been consigned to the bathroom. I shut the bathroom door.
The day has begun.
I’m a bit groggy. But, we’re no worse the wear from our bat-encounter. I mean, I do seem to be feeling a bit photophobic today.
And the scent of blood is powerfully strong. Smells oddly…. delicious…
And that Damn bat escaped.
Remember the Reason for the Season!
I’ve heard that one a lot, haven’t you? It comes around twice each year. Every fall, folks fall all over themselves to remind us to remember the reason for the season… And that’s good. I don’t mean to sound as though we SHOULDN’T be reminded to remember the reason. It’s so easy to fall into the traps of thinking that Christmas is about the snow and sleigh rides (never been on one), or the christmas lights and decorations, and most problematic, the gifts. Both the ones we give, and the ones we receive. Perhaps for some of us, it’s more about the ones we receive. We DO need to remember the reason for the season. It’s about Jesus. It’s about Jesus’ coming among us. It’s about the GIFT God gave us, the GIFT of God’s own Son, the GIFT of Jesus, Himself. As an aside, do you get giddy at Christmas thinking about that special gift you got that someone special in your life??? Giggle, perhaps, while wrapping it? Feel like you’re bursting at the seams waiting for Special Someone to open it? Do you wonder if that’s how God felt in those days leading up to the birth of Jesus? I’ll bet it was.
So, too, at Easter, as we dye our eggs, and prepare our easter baskets, and then eat our chocolate bunnies or Peeps (may I just say here, “eeww”?). For us in this overly hyped and marketed era it’s so easy to forget what the real reason for the season is! It’s the bunnies! Of course! Well, of course, it ISN’T! Once again, it’s about Jesus. The real reason for the season is Jesus: the work wrought on our behalf, the suffering, the death, and most importantly, the resurrection. I can never forget that THIS is the reason for the season. That Jesus, God’s free and overly abundant Gift of Love to Humankind, didn’t just come to dwell amongst us and teach us, but to suffer, die and resurrect on our behalf. Think though, for one minute about this little truth: in a way, the Reason for the Season of Easter… is us. Humanity.
We have come now, in our Journey through Lent to a dark place. We have, some of us, given up something that was, at least in theory, special to us. Or we have taken on some new task, some new discipline. Whether giving up or taking on, we did so to help us to remember, to relive, to recall the One who Took Up for us, and Laid Down for us. We attempted to join in a special way, as special as we are capable of, the suffering and the task of Him Who Saves.
And now, we are come to Good Friday. In some way, today we should consider that we recollect today that we, as apostles and disciples of Jesus, are plunged in to darkness. The Light that came into the world on Christmas Day has been extinguished, the Morning Star has set. Do we as Christians look forward to “the third day”, knowing the Sun will Rise, more glorious than before?
Well, yes, of course we do. But, I think if we allow ourselves to do so too much, we lose touch with what TODAY is. TODAY it is dark. TODAY is dark. Can the brilliance of the “third day” mean anything to us, truly, if first we do not embrace what today is? What today means? I’m not sure. I don’t have that answer.
But I think that for a time at least, I shall consider that, and try to put myself in the shoes of those FIRST apostles and disciples. My everything is gone.
And it is dark. A dark no words can describe.
Well, we’re in the final stretch for Holy Week. Lent is nearly over. Easter is around the corner. And it’s time for “Eric’s Newslets” once again (see my post of March 14 for my first newslets post.)
Guess that’s the end of the little newsy stories. There’s one other thing. Over the years I’ve been interested in walking… going back now over 7 or 8 years. I get really into it, and then slow down, then don’t bother for a while, then get back into it. I always like the way I feel when I’m “into” walking. You may recall a couple of years ago, when I first got my job at DOTCOMM, I got into a challenge with some of my friends… we never finished it. It petered out.
Well, I’m back to walking again. But no challenges this time. At least none that my friends can participate in. I’ve decided to challenge myself. I am going to see how long it takes me to walk from Point Lobos, San Francisco, CA to Boston, MA. Then I’ll hop over the Atlantic, and walk from Land’s End, Sennen, UK to John O’Groats, Scotland. And then, I’ll mysteriously appear in Brest, France, and walk across Europe to the Pacific, and then from the north of Japan to the south.
And I’ll walk all those miles… 13,735 miles, to be exact… without ever leaving the US! It’s a virtual walk! Then, when I realized how long that’ll take, I decided to include all the miles I have walked since the beginning of my challenge in 2010. In the past 2 years, then, I’ve walked from Point Lobos in San Francisco all the way to Marion, SD. Yeah, I thought I’d take the more northern route offered me by maps.google.com. Just out of curiosity, though, I checked in to see how far that would be if I’d come out I80… I’d be in Seward today. That’s 1,634 miles.
Now, if I walk 2.75 miles per day, on average, I should get to the end of my destination by April 22, 2024. I can do that, right?
Hello? HELLO?!?!? Huh, I think I lost everyone…
I have a sunburn. In March. We mowed the lawn Sunday, and then hosed down the driveway (an annual tradition). In March. Our bedroom was 80 degrees when we went to bed last night. In March. We’ve not shut our bedroom windows (all three of them) in over two weeks. In March. Ixchel caught several earthworms this weekend. Highly ACTIVE earthworms. So active, I didn’t know they could move that fast! In March. In Council Bluffs. In March. I went outside in running shorts and tshirt at 5:30 am. In March.
In case it isn’t obvious, I’m a bit stunned by the weather we’re having this year. In March!
So, Saturday was a big day! Nikki got her quarterly bath (and whew, did she NEED it!) and nail clipping. It’s always a traumatic experience for her, she hates the groomer, she hates the bath, she hates having her pawses messed with.
And Saturday was also the big “Marco/Polo Family Reunion” at the St. Joseph’s Villa Retirement community in South Omaha. Marco is the daddy to three litters of Dachshund puppies. Polo is… you guessed it… the Mama to three litters of Dachshund puppies. The two of them and at least 9 of the puppies from those litters gathered at the Villa (where the Mama’s Mama works, as well as our friend Juline who introduced us to Mama’s Mama). The Villa is very pet friendly. We met the resident Black Lab who came when her mommy came for Hospice. The only way she’d consent to go to hospice was if her dog could be with her. After she died, only a few days later, the Villa allowed the dog to stay. Soon thereafter, a woman was admitted to the Villa who was very depressed at having to leave her home, and sank into a “funk”, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t talk, just sat in her chair with her head bowed. Then Bella, (the black lab) who was also mourning and depressed, came up to her one day. Well, to make this shorter, the lady is now very happy, and has a forever doggy!
We all had a great time chatting getting to know each other, while all 9 puppies and Marco and Polo all romped and played in the courtyard. Might I just say that one could always find Ixchel because one merely had to look at the pack of dogs, then follow it to the front of the pack, and there she was, leading them all (not always to good places!)
A lot of the residents came out in to the courtyard to watch, and puppies went and introducted themselves and got lots of petting and “ohhs!” and “Awwweee!s” and “How preciouses”. Several had tears in their eyes. Many would say “We had a dachshund” with that far off, happy memory way of recollecting that we get when we have fond memories. Many of us confessed that we were “Big dog people” who fell head over heels in love with these little creatures!
Alas, for Ixchel, it was not a 100% happy day. Toward the end of the 2 hour event she had… an experience. There was a woman there with her 2 small children and her bigger dog. She didn’t have one of the Marco/Polo pups, but had been invited as a friend of one of the people who was there. She kept a very close rein on her children… until the end. Her little boy, about 3 or maybe 4 years old, set his sights on Ixchel, put his arms up like a scare monster, fingers curled in to claws, let out a “ROOAAAAAHHHRRRRRR!” and started stomping and running towards my litte princess! I stood transfixed with horror, too far away from her to help her as the little monster (and I DO mean that affectionately) came at her. She rolled over in submission, peed a little and was horribly frightened.
Mother called her son back to her, and scolded him. And Ixchel jumped to her feet, looked around for the nearest of Scott or me… and ran straight to me. I picked her up and she shook a little.
It was clear from what I heard that Mother had warned him up front how to behave around puppies and dogs, and had told him the ramifications of misbehaving… which was he was to be removed from the event. And that’s what she did, to much howling and yelling by little boy!
Now, less you think otherwise, let me be clear here. Little boys will be little boys. I hold no animosity towards little boy OR towards mother. I would have stopped her and told her it was okay, but this was obviously a teaching moment for the little boy, and mother quite obviously had things in hand. I was concerned that to interfere would have been improper, and threatening of her teaching and disciplinary authority. In retrospect, and after it was too late, I do wish I had asked her before she left if she’d let her little boy come to Ixchel and pet him sweetly and calmly – with my very close supervision of both, naturally! I didn’t.
Ixchel has never met a person in her life that she was afraid of and who she didn’t want to greet… enthusiasically so! Whenever we go someplace and people don’t come to her she yips and yelps and barks and is very obviously saying “Hey, come play with me! Ilikeyou! Ilikeyou! Ilikeyou!”
After the party, we took Ixchel and went to PetSmart to pick up Nikki. There, as we headed towards the front door, a family came out with a little boy about the same size and age as the boy at the party. Ixchel took one look, stepped back, growled low, then started barking menacingly. We snatched her up and escorted her past the family (who ignored us, thankfully).
I can see we have our task cut out for us… we now have to reverse the effects of this experience for Ixchel. It just breaks my heart that my little girl who knew no foe, is now afraid of little children – and that I wasn’t able to protect her! Very not good.
Gosh, over a week since I wrote last. Lots of “newslets” but nothing really serious to write about! So, I guess I did not succeed at my hope of writing daily through Lent. Sigh.
So, let’s go over some of those “newslets” (small newsy type items). I’m getting a triple root canal today. One tooth, 3 nerve channels, 2 of which will be “difficult to drill” – so says my endodontist. Oh happy day. 
Of course, the Heartland, where I live, is known for its wicked winters, bitter cold, snow, wind, grey skies. It’s why Scott and I are so excited about our move to New Mexico next year. This winter, I just don’t know if it’ll ever end! We’re suffering through bitter, 80 degree days in early March, gentle balmy breezes, sunlit skies. Oh, the misery.
This is the year that Scott and I do major house work. Not the dusting and window-washing. The “install sump pump in basement ($3000), shore up soon to collapse rear retaining wall (was $3000, now looks closer to $6000), shore up sagging soon to collapse HOUSE ($6000), paint exterior of house (eh, never mind the cost – you really don’t want to know)” kind of house work! Oh, and then, once THAT all is done, we can start on the infamous bathroom! Actually, the bathroom is only waiting on the sagging house repair.
Yeah, about the sagging house. Ever since we moved in, some doors in our house just do not close! Someone suggested we just shave down the door… well, in at least one case, that shaving would have to be 1/2 inch! Last September the engineer took a precursory glance and said “Oh, just jack it up here and here… it’s easy.” I kept looking at it and thinking “this just isn’t right. If the sag is HERE where he says, why is their no weight, whatsoever, on this support post that is right here at the same place?” Finally after looking and looking and looking at the basement, Scott and I figured out the sag and had the engineer back. He started humming and hawing and oh-mying. “How old is this house?” “92 years? Really? It should have collapsed during the building phase!”
Yup, looking at the basement we can see major stress points with NO support under them, whatsoever! It turns out that first of all, we need EIGHT new jack supports in the basement, not two, and secondly, when they put in the sump pump they discovered that our concrete basement floor is only 2 inches thick! Had we jacked up the basement where he initially told us to, it wouldn’t have supported the weight! Hence the huge amount of work, and the huge cost accompanying it.
Did I mention I’m getting a bit of dental work done today?
Did I mention that it’s going to be 80 degrees out today (2nd day in a row)?
Oh Happy Day! Today, this wondrous of days… I learned I am soon to be the joyous recipient of not 1, not 2, but 3 – THREE – root canals. I think actually it still qualifies as only 1 root canal, but the tooth has what appears to be 3 separate channels that will need to be ground out. And since apparently Iowa makes it virtually impossible for dentists and endodontists to qualify for licensing to use nitrous oxide, instead we will be getting a wonderful pre dose of valium! Which of course means Scott has to take me. Just writing about this dental work is giving me a case of shakes. Ugh.
Scott and I had a very hectic but super-enjoyable weekend. Between 10 am Saturday and 8 am Monday we drove 1, 127 miles, visited an uncle in Newton, KS, a grandmother’s old digs in Stillwater, OK, as well as her grave, and then experienced a DOUBLE 80th Birthday party, a 60th Anniversary Party AND… a DOUBLE Surprise! Both Scott’s Aunt Edwina and Uncle Doril celebrated their 80th birthdays this past week as well as their 60th anniversary. And, when we got to the party we were totally surprised to find that Mudder & Pops (Scott’s parents), along with Terri, Bethany & Eleanor had made the trip from Las Cruces, NM… and they were equally surprised to learn that WE had. Of course, the surprise then gave rise to the recriminations of “failure to communicate”! I quickly disavowed myself of any responsibility for said failure.
The party was at 2 pm on Sunday, and was supposed to be done by 4… but we ended up staying for the “after-party” as well, until 6 pm . We drove through until 12:30 am Monday, arriving in York, NE, where we stayed the night in the Holiday Inn (meh!) We slept 4 hours, then came in to work, arriving a mere 15 minutes late!
I know, not very spiritual of a post today… so be it! On that front… I got nothin!
He thought then he had chosen a high road and would walk it to the end, whereas I know now that roads choose us and what they unfold before us is not the person we want to be, but the person we already are, the person time slowly discloses to us.
Holloway, Richard (2012-03-01). Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt (pp. 10-11). Canongate Books. Kindle Edition.
Another book I’ve started reading this Lent is “Leaving Alexandria”. I heard about it the other night listening to a BBC4 program that my cousin Dan recommended to me. To be honest, I’m not sure what to think about the book yet… I thought it would be a little more theological in nature. It appears to be an autobiography. But I’m not too far beyond the 12th page, yet, so I’ll hold off judgement.
The quote above, though, did catch my attention. It’s an intriquing thought “roads choose us, and… unfold.. the person we already are…” I think that quote goes hand in hand with yet another quote from that book:
The toughest lesson life teaches is the difference between who you wanted to be and who you actually are.
Holloway, Richard (2012-03-01). Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt (p. 10). Canongate Books. Kindle Edition.
I find this rather poetic, sitting here, thinking back on all the people I thought I wanted to be, seeing the reality of who I am. I’m not particularly disappointed, mind you, but I’m not what my day dreams led me to think I’d become!
Going to Yukon, OK, this weekend, so no posts until Monday. God bless you all this weekend!
