I took Paige shopping this afternoon. She needed (?) a new backpack so we went to Sports Chalet. Next to the wall o' backpacks there was the fishing section. Right there in the aisle was a trough of crawdads. Of course Paige had to have one. We talked a while about whether or not a crawdad could live for long in our aquarium. We decided a crawdad's chances would be better with us since he would either die neglected in that trough or he'd meet his Crawdaddy at the end of a fish hook.
We picked out the biggest, reddest, prettiest crawdad and took him (her?) home. Paige named him Sporty because we got him at the Sports Chalet. We put him in the aquarium right away. Them fishies were confused! Sporty seemed to settle in nicely. Jim did a little research about crawdads and found that they need extra aeration because they're not great underwater breathers. I figured if we get him an extra air stone he'd do alright.
On the way home from NOT walking with Jeff (ahem), I stopped by Elliot's and got some crawdad supplies. I got another air pump, a bubble wand and some algae pellets. I stopped by the studio to let Jim know that I was home. He was on the phone with Scotty. New family crisis. Ruth has had a stroke, her second one. Aunt Ruth is Dad's older sister. We made some phone calls to try to find out her condition and try to decide if we should tell Dad tonight or wait until tomorrow when we'll know more. We decided to wait.
I can't even think right now. Ruth is my godmother. We just came through Lindsay's car accident event. Sporty needs air!
Ok, I'm going in the house and set up the crawdad. Then we're going to band practice. I've already had all the carbs I want for the day but maybe I'll add in a glass of wine.
11 comments:
Hey, we used to have a cat named Sport. Called her Sporty too. Also had a cat named Betty at the same time. Never had a crawdad tho.
How's Ruth? Any word? Sending lots of good vibes that way.
Did ya have a good rehearsal? How about a good glass of wine?
cxhjlo: mountain site in Peru
We won't know much about Ruth's condition until tomorrow. They're going to start her with some rehab therapy and see how she does. Her vitals are good. We'll see.
Band practice was very good, just what I needed. I only had water, no wine. Had a few nuts when we got home. Added about 6 more carbs to the day's total. Tonight John the bass player noticed that I've lost weight. Oh yeah!!!
Tonight I set up Sporty's bubble wand. Boy, any time you add anything to an aquarium you have to practically take the whole thing apart. It looks good. Sporty has a wall of bubbles to play in and some big river rocks to hide behind.
Some day I'd like to get a kick ass aquarium, 40 gallons at least. This one is 20 gallons which is just too small. I'll wait until we land someplace semi-permanent.
Not much new about Ruth. She's paralyzed on one side. Too soon to tell if she's going to get any movement back. She can't talk.
Lindsay, Kyle and a couple friends drove (in Lindsay's rental car) up to Berkley today to see a stage show. Afterward they're going to spend the night at Mary and Jon's in Napa (Thanks, guys!). I'm sure they're all having a good time. Bet they're driving carefully, too!
Hoo boy, it's late.
I wonder what happened to the comment I posted last night? Hmmm, must be out in the stratosphere.
Poor Ruth, does she know you've been calling? I hope someone has put the phone to her ear so she can hear your voice.
Yay, for noticable weight loss!
Dean said she's been having trouble with the other blog. I've had comments disappear before, too. I don't know what the problem is.
I'm going to call Ruth this morning. I wanted to give it a couple days to settle down. She won't be able to speak to me but I can at least tell her I love her.
Sporty update- Sporty's gone!!! Last night he was climbing up the filter tube. At one point he was completely out of the aquarium and sitting on top of the filter. I knocked him back in and taped a couple paper plates over the big hole hoping that would discourage him. Hey, it was late. Paper plates were all I had. So, now there's a crawdad loose in the house. I don't think he'll be able to live long and it's possible the cat or one of the dogs already got him. Or he squeezed into a hole somewhere and we'll find his stinking, rotting body in a few days. (sigh)
He was really active last night. He was making a lot of noise moving small rocks around the aquarium. I really enjoyed watching him. Oh well, so much for our rescue. I'm sure Paige will want to try again. We need to come up with a heavy duty cover for the back of the lid assembly. Something that will accomodate a climbing crawdad wanting to get a breath of fresh air. Maybe some kind of wire mesh thingy.
Too bad. He was pretty cool.
We replaced Sporty with 2 (!) more crawdads. Paige named them Russel and Bubbles. I went to Lowe's and bought some hardware cloth and made a cage to go over the back of the lid. They'd have to muscle it pretty hard to move it and I think their bodies are too big to fit through the gaps. Crawdad experiment, phase 2.
Ruth has been living with Molly and Joe for the last 3 years. Sometimes she stays with Chuck, Molly's brother. They'll go out to the ranch on the weekends. After Ruth dies Molly and Joe will inherit the ranch.
After I'm through here I'm going to call again. I talked to Joe this afternoon. He said he found out that stroke victims who can't talk can sometimes be able to if they're angry. Something about the part of the brain that processes speech. Ruth got pretty mad this morning when she thought they had forgotten to bring her breakfast. Joe said she was talking a lot. Funny thing.
They couldn't really let me talk to her until she was ready. He told me to call back this evening.
Ok, I talked to Ruth. She's pretty mumbly but she can croak out a few words. I did most of the talking. I just told her that I love her and that I'm thinking about her. She cried. I told her to be good and do what they tell her so she can get better faster and talk better. I kept the call short. I'll call her again in a couple days.
I don't think she'll recover from this one. She has a fierce, fighting spirit that won't be contained in such a broken body. She'll have to go into a home after this. Joe and I agree that she'll decide she wants to just check out and go be with Uncle Charles. He died about 7 years ago.
Ruth is 86. She's got a big bag of health problems including diabetes and early Alzheimer's. This is her second stroke. She could barely get around with a walker as it was. Molly and Joe have their own health problems including a bad back for Joe. He can't lift her. It will be too much for them to have Ruth live with them any more. And even though I love her to bits, she can be real mean. Meaner than Dad!wkddoz
One of these days I'll write some more about Ruth. She was always so good to me. I was her special girl. Hey, my middle name is Ruth.
Man, meaner than your dad? Wheeee hooo. Is she older or younger than your dad?
I wonder where Sport is? Out on the town, in the bowels of a doggie?
Ruth is 9 1/2 years older than my dad. She's quite a stinker now but that's illness and old age. Sometimes she can really give Molly and Joe a hard time. When she was younger she was quite a woman, very loving and generous. And tough! And very funny.
I have a feeling we're going to be catching a wiff of Sporty in the next few days. I think he probably crawled into some tight spot somewhere in the living room or kitchen. So far the 2 new ones look pretty happy. They're not as pretty as Sporty, though.
xjojet- New Chinese discount airline
Sure, no problem! I'll get Jim right on it.
You'll also like my fish tank diorama. It's got tikis and a volcano. It doesn't show up so well right now. I need to take the tank down and start over.
Ah, well, Jim says we can't post pictures because the cable for our camera is either missing or Rory has it. So, we'll either get it back or order a new one.
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