And the inevitable conclusion.

Waiting for me in the email this morning:


"Hello,

Please could you go and visit The Wheel of Fortuna and leave a supportive message for Steve.

http://spinfortunaswheel.blogspot.com/

His partner BobRobert has just died in the local hospice.

It is not so long since his diagnosis in 2007 which makes it all even more sad.

Thanks for your support.

Love,
Herrad"

I'm not much of a praying person these days, but please visit the site and send your prayers, too.

pb
Little Pond

Loving relationship.

Got a note from Herrad today. Usually anything from Herrad is a morale booster to make my day happy. Today is not that day.

Herrad directed me to this post on another blog.

Anyone who is living out the last days of their partner needs all the support anyone can offer.

She wanted me to visit and leave a comforting comment. I complied.

Now I am asking you to do the same.

pb
Little Pond

BTW--attack of Violet!

Here's the naughty little girl, eyeing my camera, and simultaneously poking at it, just before she globs up the lens. Just spittle and spitup, that glob.

Got that look her mother always got just before she got naughty enough to send herself to the emergency room. Same naughty look her second cousin used to get just before she attacked the family dog, who let her do it.

Glob is an anagram of blog. I suspect there will be lots of these.

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Little Pond

As you can imagine, this was really just a photo op for the whole family. Here are a few of my favorites.

Less cute, but more normal post, just below.

Learn something new each day!

Well! I finally--after a couple of years!--figured out why one of my posts in a photoblog of a local nature site was collecting ads for a certain men's drug, both legit and ripoff.

The first comment was "Where can I get a (mythical creature that looked like a white horse with a narwhal's tusk)." I don't even dare to type the word, which begins with "u."

This morning it dawned on me that the darned word must be slang for (a certain men's mating display). You can bet your life I don't want to type THAT word, which begins with "e."

Sure enough, when I Googled the word, it came up just exactly that!

All along, I thought it had to do with the title of the post, although for the life of me I couldn't understand why.

Older and wiser, as they say.

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Little Pond

Response to the Prom

That was the title of the piece buried in the back of the first section of our newspaper. Here is the original article posted to their local newspaper.

The brave girl, who took on the local school district and won, is a lesbian who just wanted to attend the prom as herself. In a tuxedo. Prom dresses and tuxedos are de rigeur, for proms, aren't they?

The school board told her she couldn't. Then she sued for discrimination and won.

Now the parents are unilaterally scotching the prom. They are refunding the other couples' money. Just like that; it's over.

In case you think the girl is simply looking for her fifteen minutes' fame--you know, the one promised by Andy Warhol:

The girl, Constance McMillen, asked for and got only what she wanted: the decisions and court costs.

Now the parents have organized their own private prom, designed to exclude the sort of people they don't like. Sound familiar? This sort of thing happened when the bigots decided they didn't want anyone but Caucasians to attend.

The new bigots, of course, are now what we used to call homophobes.

Heaven forbid there should be more tuxedos than prom gowns at their little social! Then life surely would be out of whack.

First it was people of color, now it's alternate lifestyles. What or who is next? They will find something to make them feel superior, you can bet on it. A bigot needs to exclude someone, or they can't face their puny little selves in the mirror. The new bigots are just old bigots who lost the earlier battles.

Please God: don't let the bigots win this one.

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Little Pond

Finally back to business.

I am back to my usual shutterbuggery, even daring to go out alone to the Chemung.

Also, check out the new header, courtesy of Digital Karen, my very own blogsis, at the MS Companion!

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Little Pond

Look towards the light!

Step-granddog Jake, left, and the HuggaMutt Ellie bask in the warmth of an open door. The sunlight makes them sleepy and quiet. Not their usual.

Spring is on the way, folks.

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Little Pond

Any help?

An earthquake shook Chile earlier this morning, with its epicenter 250 miles below Santiago.

Our Brian Alegria, our foster son, lives in Valparaiso, closer to the coast. My brother-in-law's family, his mother and siblings, also live there.

The last I heard, there were 78 dead in Chile and the first tsunami has already hit.

At this time they called off the tsunami alert.

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First Crawl

Update: I finally gave up on trying to get Blogger to accept this video. Webshots (and Facebook, for that matter) had no trouble at all.

Overly-cute-ness alert! On the other hand, it's not even two minutes and full of baby chortles.

The seal pup.

Wish I could find a way to get it to my parents, who refuse to get a computer...

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Little Pond

Midwinter thaw 2010

As much as I love to see the river flowing again, I can't help but remember that these presage scary days for those who live where there are no levees to protect themselves from the Chemung.

These massive blocks can clog narrow channels and cause flooding. Right now, though, they provide a lovely haven for waterfowl seeking a sheltered area for the night.

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Little Pond

Happy Holidays to all.

A very special Christmas photo, featuring Granddaughter Violet and older daughter MamaDog playing SantaMom. Love to all!

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Little Pond

Bubba Says:

No snow here in Elmira, NY, but it's too cold outside. Stay in and stay warm!

Ellie still wants out, though, and we got our eagle!

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May we keep them, please?

Wandering with Ellie Saturday. She's been a bad girl, and must now stay on leash, at least until she learns to come, stop, stay, et cetera, all over again.

So she was pulling me merrily along the bike trail on Foster Island, when she stopped and refused to lead. I tossed her back in front and told her to go ahead.

Yup, that's a real command. I need her to be able to lead: to pull, actually. She reluctantly began to move slowly along the shoreline, with me tottering among the skinny trees and slippery leaves.

I was dumbfounded when I first saw it:

Ellie stopped directly on command and waited.

Girl, do you see that? Let's go in for a closeup:

We swung around the windfall mess that clogs the "pond." Sure enough, there is no mistaking a beaver lodge. And the chews, fallen trees and even scat all around would attest to the size of a beaver, not just a cute little muskrat.

Will the Water Board or Department of Environmental Conservation allow them to stay?

My camera will be loaded and ready for my first beaver in the wild shot from now on!

pb

Little Pond

Unexpected bonus

...of being willing to walk the frosty wet river bank after the snow. Naturally I bundled Ellie in a sweater and scarf, while I wore my winter walking coat and heavy headband.

Freezing temps prevented me from taking many shots, but when I saw this beauty, I forgot the cold and zoomed in for a photo. A pileated woodpecker.

This bird is half the size of Ellie. About two feet tall. Completely untouched photo. Double click to blow it up. We never got closer then about the full length of a football field.

Very gratifying.

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Fall back this weekend.

Ellie and I enjoyed our visit to the river today.

Enjoy

I also did a little alone stuff, while she hunted on Foster Island.

Tonight we will set back the clocks to gain an extra few weeks of sunlight in the morning. Sounds good to me; I am tired of waking up to the bleak blackness.

Good news! We expect to be completely laid off this summer. I am more than ready; the commute is killing me. Gannett will move us to our temporary quarters in November.

Frankly, I don't care where we work. Just let's get it over with. It's been a miserable half year. We have adjusted, but don't like it any better than before.

I want out, and I'm getting out in another ten months.

Enough said.

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Little Pond