AH AH AH Choo!

I finally completed and submitted my results to the scratch-and-sniff smell tests.  I volunteered to participate, which is a part of the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI), a landmark study from the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

I've been a participant in the PPMI studies for several years now and complete quarterly online questionnaires focused on PD.

The test came in the mail the day before I left for Miami and I just now completed!

A set of (4) scratch-and-sniff booklets, each with (10) smells to identify -

This is what one of the individual pages looked like.  Using a #2 pencil that came with the kit I'd scratch the brown label, which released the odor, then sniff to identify the smell.  Then choose the odor (or the one closest) from the four options listed on each page.

It was comical that half way through scratching these cards, Trixie was roused from her sleep and was intrigued by all the odors.

I'm hopeful these tests and the PPMI study eventually lead to break throughs in eradicating the terrible disease that is Parkinson's Disease!

Sickly Ms. Trixie

A couple days before flying down to Miami I started noticing that Ms. Trixie just wasn't herself, she had vomited a couple times, looked off, lethargic, had no pep and no appetite but fortunately she was drinking water.

The timing was not good but my hands were tied. Thankfully, my neighbors who had agreed to watch Trixie and Oliver are the best!  They went above and beyond taking care of her and trying everything to get her to eat something, anything. Special trips to the market to pick up different wet foods, special cooking of eggs, extra time spent with her and keeping me up to date on how she was doing.

Eventually, deli sliced turkey was what she started eating and keeping down, which was a big relief that she was finally eating something.

I scheduled a vet appointment and took her the morning after I returned home.

The initial physical exam went fine, no issues, all looked fine.

The next order of business was blood work and x-rays.

Everything looked normal for both of the above mentioned tests with the exception of her liver!

Her liver was enlarged in the x-ray, see below, AND all three of her liver enzymes from the blood work were elevated, with two of them being SO high they didn't even register on their system, YIKES!

Due to her enlarged liver a CAT scan was also done to ensure there was nothing else going on that area - thankfully there was nothing, all looked okay.

Before we left she was given an anti-nausea shot and a shot to stimulate her appetite.  We went home with (3) prescriptions - antibiotic pills to be given twice a day, an anti-nausea pill once a day and an appetite stimulant oral solution once a day, phew!

For a dog that was NEVER fussy about eating, she was now refusing most everything.  We tried a half-dozen types\kind of wet dog foods (even wet cat food), cooking her eggs, tomato juice, pumpkin, beef broth, crackers, banana and she wouldn't touch any of it.  Fortunately, what she did like and start eating was sliced deli turkey, so this is what we'd been feeding her for the first few days until the medicines kicked in.

I'm happy to report that she seems like she's back to her old self!  She looks SO much better, is more alert and has much more pep. Although, she's eating better and has eaten some of her dry food, she still refuses wet dog food and ironically many of the human-type food I used to share with her, weird.

We have a follow up vet appointment for blood work to check and make sure her liver enzymes are back to normal and where they should be, fingers crossed!

NO fun, for both her and ME!

The School of Hard Knocks

Lunch At The Barn!

 I finally got to meet Wisteria, my nieces wild mustang, as well as the farm where she is boarded!

What a great place!  The owner is very personable, friendly and seems accommodating, a nice person.  The barn, the grounds and all the other animals he has, e.g. horses, sheep, pig, quineafowl, geese, ducks, chickens, pigeons, dogs and cats, is super nice and a relaxing place to visit and get away from the daily hustle and bustle.

My niece, Alyssa, has done a remarkable job with Wisteria!  Taking her from a wild (literally) animal; one scared, petrified, confused and wild to one that is now the complete opposite!  She is calm, relaxed, trusting and smart as a whip.  You can now saddle and ride her, well Alyssa can.  She's trained and responds as a dog would to many commands, e.g. does 'fist bumps' with her front legs for treats, will lay down when commanded AND is infatuated with my niece! Alyssa has a unique gift when it comes to animals.  She connects with them unlike most and they all respond in kind, it's wonderful to see.

We stopped at Publix supermarket on the drive over on Saturday to pick up lunch, some delicious subs and chips, and ate with a menagerie of critters, both next to AND on the table, GRRR -

Now, if we can just get my brother to stop killing flies, which were incessant, with the noisy, high pitched  handheld electric fly swatter. Oh, it needed to be done but Wisteria wasn't too pleased with the high pitched zapping noise the tennis-type racket was making when a fly would get stuck and sizzle away.

All in all I enjoyed the two days I got to spend at the barn!  Getting to finally meet Wisteria, interacting with the animals, YES, I even road a horse named Blue, but more importantly getting to spend the time with my brother and my niece and seeing just how happy they both were in that environment -

Agalloping Alyssa and Giddyup "Gassy" Gus

#Blessed

The Devil Is In The Details

I'm still making a few small changes here in there to my bathrooms, which help make the recent upgrades, e.g. paint, look and 'pop'. It's a work in progress, as they say.  Here are some examples below -

Let me start by saying that the town of Franklin has very harsh water, which is evident over time on all things that the water touches and runs through, e.g. sink and tub fixtures, toilets, etc.

I stopped in at Lowes, and for relatively short money, picked up some new chrome bling for both of my upstairs bathrooms

Before - Master bedroom shower head trim -

After - Master bedroom shower head trim -

Before - Communal upstairs bathroom shower head trim - 

After - Communal upstairs bathroom shower head trim -

Before - Communal upstairs bathroom tub drain cover* -

After - Communal upstairs bathroom tub drain cover* -

*Apologies for the pics containing hairs!  I know EWWW!

Again, low cost and minimal effort to replace these items, yet they make a big difference in appearance.

Onward I go...

The Pooper-Scooper!

Saving the environment one turd at a time!

If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes I wouldn't have believed it.  My brothers infatuation with bagging and scooping feces wherever we went was on full display.  He even wears a special pouch on his belt to carry poop bags, latex gloves and disinfectant on his travels - YES, weird I know!

We were out on our daily walk and he just abruptly stopped, fetched a green poop bag from his utility belt and without hesitation and in full control of his gag reflexes, bent over and grabbed a fresh, full size load of dog poop like he was picking up something priceless, so gentle and caring. He carried that full bag with pure pride and chest out until we came upon a trash can where he could safely dispose of it!

Here is again this time eagerly scooping up horse dung, all the while humming some upbeat tune -

And once more, but this time tackling and raking the seemingly endless pebbles of goat excrement scattered all over the barn area, stables and pens -

Honestly, I can't make this shit up 😂 (pun intended)!

I'm fortunate to have had my camera handy to capture and share with you ALL these special moments!  He sure is "special" alright!

I am one proud brother!

#Blessed

What The Flock (Pun Intended)?!

Here are some pics of the featured critters I encountered while in Miami -

White Ibis and Muscovy Ducks, which are plentiful.  Actually, the Muscovy are invasive and although cute, they're messy -

Egyptian Geese and White Ibis.  The Egyptian Geese are a unique and beautiful bird, however, they too are consider an invasive species.  They're known to cause significant damage in suburban areas, such as parks AND, like the Muscovy, their feces can be a major problem -

A Muscovy hen with her little brood!  One of several hens with ducklings loitering about - 

An Anhinga, sometimes called a snakebird AND not to be confused with the familiar Cormorant, preening itself while drying out after a swim -

Chickens and Guinea fowl -

A Salmon Faverolle rooster, so handsome!  The Faverolle is a French breed of chicken and one of only 5 breeds that have five toes on each foot!  Now you know -

Something about wildlife that you just can't beat!

Homemade Bread

I made myself a loaf of fresh bread yesterday and I'm gonna toot my own horn here and claim, for my first attempt at bread making, a success!

Nothing fancy, a 3-ingrediant recipe I came across on Instagram.  Although, I did adlib a bit, I also added some chia seeds, sesame seeds and garlic, yum!

I will be making this bread more often and will even kick up the creativity too.  I believe it's a much better and healthier alternative to the mass produced breads available in the market today and all the unnecessary ingredients and chemicals typically added to them.

I find myself salivating a bit as I write this <as I also wipe a bit of drool off my chin>!  Think I'll go toast me a piece now...

Miami Here I Come!

Flew down to Miami a couple weeks ago to visit with my brother and my niece, Mel too!

Up at the ass crack of dawn to get the Logan Express bus out of Framingham, then onto the airport, yawn!

The bus was on time, TSA security check was quick and painless and I was at my gate with plenty of time AND without the need to rush!

It was a VERY chilly morning but a beautiful one, as you can see in the below pic of the city of Boston - clear blue skies -

The flight wasn't too bad, except for the typical herding of selfish, inconsiderate people both getting on and off the plane, but it landed on time!

First order of business upon my arrival, and being picked up by my brother, was a frosty wobbly-pop or two and some chow, a delicious burger -

Now for a week of warmth and just hanging with no agenda or care in the world, priceless!

#Blessed

One Person

A Fresh Coat Of Paint Makes a Difference III

I've completed painting the master bathroom, hooray!

The ugly lilac color is no more and has been replaced with a light grey called "Etched Glass".  I like it SO much better and it brightens the room up too!

The shower has a new, more appealing curtain (yes, it needs to be ironed, just too lazy on my part) and I've replaced the light switches from almond to white. I even sanded and painted the baseboard heater to match the wall color.

I still have some decorating to do.  I'm mulling things over and in no rush.  Leaning towards a wall mounted, over the toilet farmhouse style vanity, new throw rugs and perhaps, even a new light fixture over the mirror and sink.

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

Before -

All the shelves and stuff were removed from the walls, all the holes patched and sanded before I began painting

After -

On to the next project...

Oh, Those Signs Don't Apply To Me!

I'm at the point now where I'm appalled at most people, their antics, how they carry and represent themselves. Selfish, rude, inconsiderate, hypocrites. Brace yourselves but I find dog owners some of the biggest hypocrites too, with many VERY opinionated that are quick to attack and defend how wonderful they are and how 'they' do no wrong.

I see it so often when I'm out on my walks, people out walking their dog but have almost NO control over them.  They pull and bark and lunge and jump.  I see piles of dog crap all over, not picked up, just left behind and lately I'm seeing more and more bagged up dog crap just left behind or tossed off the side of the road.

This past week I walked through a town recreation area known as Dacey Field, which is just up the road from me. This complex has a dog park that is used year round and always busy - keep that in mind.

Each of the times I walked through this area there have been individuals exercising their dogs on the baseball\softball fields even though both fields each have two of the below, "NO PETS ALLOWNED IN ATHLETIC FIELD AREA" per order of the town of Franklin AND the Board of Health, signs mounted on the fencing at each gate!  Yet for some reason these selfish POS ignore the signs and are on the fields with their dogs!

There are reasons why dogs are not allowed on the ball fields, e.g. some kids are allergic, kids shouldn't needs to worry about stepping in dog crap and how does on pick up or clean up after urination? Also, urine kills grass and these are town maintained fields, which means our tax dollars are going towards maintenance.

As mentioned above, there is a DOG PARK in this complex!

I see it more and more these days, people care only about themselves and with complete disregard for others!  Seems the town signs don't apply to these selfish POS.

I'm sure if confronted they'd have some excuse to justify why they can do whatever they want or become confrontational and it's just NOT worth my effort, however, it's infuriating to say the least.

Here are the vehicles of the offenders.

You just can't make this stuff up!

Survey Says!

I'm Throwing A Flag On Sports!

I've posted about this before, and yes I did recently go to a New England Patriots game, but came across the below screen shots from Foxnews.com the last couple of weeks and thought I'd reiterate my feelings about this foolishness.

Sadly, the games have changed.  Sportsmanship just isn't what it once was and with more and more of the below happening these days AND it's all drive by BIG business and money. I have very little desire to watch these overpaid primadonnas.

The fighting.  The constant whining. The showboating. The endless penalty calling and game delays. Not to mention the endless commercials and ads that run while trying to watch a game, UGH!

It's also worth noting, that the behaviors below are NOT limited to the pros.  It's happening with fans in the stands and even happening at the high school and town rec levels too (parents fighting and assaulting coaches and refs), shameful.

The utterly foolish money many of these ballplayers are getting is just stupid awful. How can anyone justify a 15-year, $765 million dollar deal (for baseball player Juan Soto)?!  Ultimately, the fans pay the price for these ludicrous salaries.

It's already a bank-breaking proposition to attend a game in person.  Parking prices, ticket prices, food, souvenirs, concessions, etc., too darn expensive.

This right here is SO dirty!  An Arkansas linesman, or better yet POS, intentionally steps on the ankle of an opposing player, I kid you not!  He should NOT be allowed to play college ball ever again!  How is this ever justified and further proves my point about how sportsmanship has changed.

I find it ironic that the player has since issued an apology, which I believe the only reason he's done so is because he was caught; his dirty antic was caught on camera and the news media blew it up, so he had no choice but to apologies in an effort to save face.

I've not heard, nor could I find anything on the Google machine, about whether this POS has been punished.  College football is BIG business, so no surprised it's all been swept under the rug.

In summary, I'm all but done with pro sports.  I'll still watch here and there but very unlikely that I'll offer support beyond that.  I won't be paying extra streaming fees, nor purchasing clothing with team logos and at the end of the day, I don't care if my home teams win or lose.

Poor sportsmanship and what has now become big business has ruined most everything.  For another example, look at the holiday's now and what's become of them too. Over commercialized and shoved down our throats...

New Boiler Observations

If you recall, back in May 2024 I replaced my older gas boiler and water heater, see previous post - "BIG Home Improvement!", and for the most part I am pleased.

There are a couple things I'm still getting adjusted to, things that it would have been nice to have been given a heads up on by the plumbing company.  They're not show stoppers but rather annoyance that come with making the change from an older boiler to a newer, wall mounted system.

Now that we're into winter and the heat is on...

The first and most noticeable is that my basement is CONSIDERABLY colder, see thermometer pic below - mid to low 50s!  My old boiler was a steel box that sat on the floor and would radiating heat into the basement as it ran.  That alone kept the basement somewhat toasty.  I never took a temperature reading with the old but was definitely some ~10 degrees warmer than it is today, so mid 60's.

It was also nice, after shoveling snow, to be able to place my wet items, e.g. boots, gloves, hat and coats near the old boiler to help them dry quicker.  That 'feature' is no longer available with the new boiler, alas.

The second item is hot water.  I have endless hot water now, once it's warmed up, however, it takes much longer to call and get hot water when needed.  It's not the time that irks me, rather the amount of cold water that runs down the drain while waiting for the hot water to arrive. Potentially saving money, on gas, with a new energy efficient boiler but it's costing me more in water and sewer use for all the extra water going down the drain.

Meant as observations rather than criticisms.

I'm thankful for all that I have! 

To A Crisp

She burned it twice... 

Who Walks By Your Side?

I don't put too much stock in these silly things, however, and perhaps because it references my dad, I like what this has to say -

Hawk Walk

I took a different route on my walk yesterday to change things up a bit.  I made my way to Dacey Field, which is just up the road from me.  It's a pretty nice area with several ball fields, a swingset play area, dog park, frisbee disk course and walking trails.

Coming around a wooded path towards one of the ball fields, I spied a Red-Shoulder hawk perched atop the foul poll of the baseball field.

I was a bit surprised at how close I was able to get before it flew off AND equally as surprised at how well my iPhone camera captured the below pics -

I luv me birds of prey!

I saw several other perched hawks on the walk too but to far away to get good pics.