I Was Tagged

I've never been tagged in one these games before. Thanks, Leah.

Here are the rules…
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My Eight Things:
I know which gin to use in a negroni (Beefeater), which gin to use in a Martini (Tanquerey) and which gin to use in a gin and tonic (Gordon's).
I have both of my US senators on speed dial.
With a scope-less rifle I hit everything I aim at within 300 meters.
My first pet was a Manx cat named Bossman. He was a dog-killer.
I used to read encyclopedias for fun as a child, and can still get lost in my sons' encyclopedias for hours at a time.
I often worry that I dissapointed my Dad.
I am afraid of dying from colon or liver cancer.
It bothers me that I do not know 8 people to tag.

My tagee's: Jeff, Doug, Matt

176?

Ha! In my last post I said I was down to 176. I meant 276. I haven't been 176 since the week I was graduated from Army basic training. I don't think I'll eer be that light again.

I took the boys to the beach today. Good time had by all, though it was cold and foggy. Watched some seagulls hunting sandcrabs. Basil found a cave to explore while Anselm dug holes in the sand.

Coming home I was run off the raod by a 10 wheeled dump truck while on HWY 1. That was a new and startling experience! I got back on the road and tried to chase him down so I could give his plate # to the highway patrol but he outran me. The last place saw the truck was on Hwy 84 heading inland. It was going about 70 in a 35 zone up into the hills toward La Honda. He was far ahead of me by the time I got to La Honda, but an arborist said he had seen the truck. I drove on as speedily as I thought safe but I never found it. I was appalled that anyone would drive like that on such narrow and winding roads, let alone a behemoth of steel like the truck that sent me off the road and into rough gravel while I was going at 50 mph.

Sometimes, I feel like my life is amazingly boring. Then something like my encounter with the truck happens. I hope nothing like that happens again for a long while.

I put Basil to bed about 7:30. Read "The Wind in the Willows" (beautiful prose. Makes me long for an England that probably never existed.) to Anselm until his mother got home at 10. Doing laundry now.

Prayers at church for Athanasia's mother tomorrow evening.

Good days

Saturday and Sunday were the first two good days in a while. Church both days. Confession and communion. Bishop Benjamin was with us. We finally found a route to church that we can use during gay parades, marathons, and Bay-to-Breakers. And it is a pretty drive, too.

Joined the YMCA Saturday. Family membership. the four of us went swmming this afternoon. Had to buy a new bathing suit. I am no longer a 3X pushing 4X. I am a 2X. And my weight is now 176 lbs. (I was 300 lbs. during bright week.) I am only 6 lbs away from the weight I was when I got married.

Read a new novel: Yiddish Policemen's Union. Except for the last few chapters it was pretty good. It isn't often that my training as an old-earth creationist comes in handy. I totally wasn't expecting to come across the hebrew prhase tohu-bohu in the novel. But I was ready. I bet my Dad was proud of me.

We went to our fave sushi place for supper tonight. We haven't been there in 18 months or more. It was Sooooooo good!

Fr. John will do a service for my mother-in-law on Wednesday. Thank you all for your prayers.

Death

Sunday morning my mother-in-law died a hideous, ignoble, sudden, tragic, and unexpected death. I hope she finds peace in death that she did not have in life. My wife has been in Portland dealing with the situation since then. She just got home a few minutes ago.

Yesterday, the boys and I went to Rancho San Antonio. We saw two does and a 5-point buck. We stood about 50 feet away from them and watched them grazing for about 10 minutes. Anselm found a hive of honey bees in a hollow tree. I watched a robin skittering around in a woodpile then it hopped up on a hollow log and posed as if to say, “I can make hollow logs. What can you do?” I was hoping to see a bobcat hunting for ground squirrels, which we have seen in the past, but not today. Neither did we observe any wild turkey. But we did watch a hawk hunting. That was neat. It kind of hovered in one place for a long time then SWOOOP! Down it bolted like lightning to snatch away a ground squirrel.

Mom update

First, thank you all for your prayers. My mother is home from the hospital. She is not well and is not expected to be alive long. But she is happy to be home.

Mom

My mom is not doing well. she has been going down hill since my last post. Her doctors have told her she needs heart surgery but that she probably will not survive surgery, and if she does survive the procedure she will spend months in the hospital recovering. She has decided not to have surgery.