This has been a good week. The weather, for the most part, has been warm and beautiful, something that goes a long way toward ensuring I have decent cognitive functioning. Also this week I completed a project that my wife’s friend asked about some months ago, making her an urn for her cremains. I told her that my skills were deteriorating rapidly but I would give it a go. So, at the beginning of this week, I started the urn. It is a scroll saw urn. Meaning that the wood is cut into equally thick rings on a specified angle. Each just a bit smaller in diameter than the one above or below, depending on whether it's the top or bottom. The rings are then glued together as concentrically as possible and then the fun begins. Freehand sanding. The final shape of this urn is more or less predetermined by the angle the wooden rings were cut on and the thickness of the wood but the final shape in your minds eye when you begin the sanding process is what determines the true final shape. For in…

For what it’s worth, I believe the true victims of dementia are those who are caring for loved ones with dementia. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no picnic having dementia yourself, but at least at some point I should reach the potted plant stage and will cease to care about such things.

The caregiver of a loved one (LO), in most cases, are their caregiver 24 hours a day. They often have little to no help, and they are so devoted to their LO that they often neglect their own health to ensure the comfort and wellbeing of the patient. But this is far from the worst part. In my opinion, the worst part by far is being your LO’s primary caregiver and having to watch the person you may care for the most in the world wilt and die away just a little more each day. Many, if not most, suffer a slow grieving process as they see the progression. Then, when the LO has taken their last breath, they get to go through a 2nd, often much more intense, grieving process. Aren’t they lucky that they get to los…

I would like to make today’s post a little different. I don’t want to have the normal this is what I’ve lost recently, not another gloom & doom story. Today, I would like to introduce you to Oscar. Oscar is just over 1 year old and is a Shiranian (half Shih Tzu half Pomeranian). I found him on Craig’s List last fall.  He was an interesting little fella. He was ~6 1/2-7 months old, living on a cattle farm with many other animals including a pot belly pig, two big dogs (not sure of breed) that I swore were ponies when we 1st pulled up, chickens, and, of course, cattle. He had never had a leash on and was accustomed to running freely between the indoors/outdoors. He had burrs in his coat from running through the weeds in the field. And, he is the friendliest dog you would ever want to meet, doesn’t know there are strangers and dangers in the world that he shouldn’t approach, and thinks everyone we meet on our walks, including other dogs, should come over and play with him. He is stil…

I have a question for those of you who wholeheartedly support Donald J Trump. In particular, for those of you who are Christian, especially the evangelicals. And I’m not trying to be combative, rude, or condescending. I’m honestly interested in how you can support this man in light of your Christian beliefs.
I am a born again Christian and there is just no way I can support this man or his actions, especially the adultry, multiple marriages, lies, misogyny, hate filled Tweets, racism, and cheating. That’s throwing aside all the members of his campaign team and administration officials who have been convicted of some type of crime. He’s always bragging about doing more in his first two years in office than any administration in history. Well, on one point he is correct, he has had more of his campaign and administration officials plead guilty or be convicted of a crime in that time period than any other administration. And he is approaching the first term record. With all of the investi…