Spring Is Coming…

…Or so the weather forecasters claim.

Temperatures are finally supposed to go above freezing for the highs this weekend and I desperately need them to. It has been a cold, harsh winter making my bones ache constantly. Thankfully, things have been rather busy the past month thereby causing time to fly and writing to fall by the wayside.

Lately we have been traveling to Gunderson Clinic quite a bit due to testing being performed on Dad to see if something can be done so he’ll be able to eat food again. So far we know that liquids pass through but not solids, so nothing has changed there except for the fluids transiting more easily than last year.

A wide variety of solutions have been speculated on, so once again it is time for referrals from department to department. Major resectioning of his stomach does not appeal to my father for obvious reasons. Another possibility has been brought up involving a pacemaker style device to make the stomach contract, however there may still be a physical blockage.

I have a feeling it will be awhile before anything is decided on. Meanwhile, he is getting stronger though not at former levels of activity. May warm weather help Dad grow even stronger.

Ragnar has been a huge help in keeping our spirits up, the little cat enjoys life so much that it is hard not to smile at the varmint while watching his escapades. Even the tomcat that has invaded the house and lives here part time is baffled by the boy and doesn’t get angry at him.

Oh, yeah, forgot to write about the latest weirdo to enter our home. Off and on during the coldest subzero spells a large tabby tiger over white would sneak into the basement for shelter from the miserable conditions. In the past week or two, he’s been sneaking all the way to the second floor to hide out and call for female cats. Those calls have been rebuffed by Snooky and Tessa, resulting in them getting fainter and more hopeless in tone.

I call him “The Bulldog” due to his facial appearance and build which resemble that of the English canine breed. He won’t go near us humans, though he has run just past me more than once. Never has this kind of thing happened in all the years we’ve been here or for that matter anywhere else we’ve resided. Life continues to be as strange as the previous eighteen months with no sign of letting up.

At least I’ve been able to start reading in earnest again. This will surprise people who know me, but I have been unable to read dense prose with full comprehension for a number of years. It has been a dire struggle that has made me miserable, so it is with great relief that I find myself able to read serious texts for an hour or more. For the past few years, minutes at a time have been all that could be handled with constant going back over previously read paragraphs to maintain contextual meaning.

Is this the result of the strange cycles that CFS has put me through over the decades or the changes in diet made since the end of 2013? Has the calling of Gospel Doctrine teacher reactivated my less active brain cells? Whatever the case may be, I’m able to finish reading complex books again with only a little rereading of sentences here and there.

To celebrate, I’ve restarted the membership in the 100 Greatest Books collection from Easton Press that was discontinued way back in 2009 due to financial woes. Giving up that meant giving up something I’d vowed to keep no matter what, so there is greater meaning to re-upping than just getting good books. Best part is my records were still kept so there will be no duplicate titles.

Well, that’s all for the moment. I still hold out hopes of getting back to posting reviews, but time will tell.