notinKansasanymore

Hey, Dot - where ever did you get a picture of my husband?

Just putting the sickth corps back on top

Hey, ya'll. Please pray for my family. I was in the middle of typing something vitriolic about unutterably stupid, historically careless, probably drunk young men, and the computer winked out on me. I'll take that as a sign, and just give you the short story. My nephew (see description above) and his girlfriend (too innocent to take his measure the moment that she met him) had a baby girl two weeks ago. They are both large people. They were sleeping with the baby girl between them, and overlaid her. Coroner said "SIDS," but I think he was just trying to spare them further anguish. This is horrifying. Please pray for my nephew, his girlfriend, my sister (the grandmother), my brother (who feels like it was really his grandbaby), and please pray for me to be able to . . . pray better; mean it more; not be so, so angry. Wastrels waste; that's all that I keep thinking. Maybe if he hadn't lived the way he has, I'd have more compassion in my heart. The girlfriend, I'm sure, is demolished. Difficult time. Trying to grieve, but just keep being angry.

Ah - weather reports. Someone kidded us about those on the 9th Corps thread . . . Hmmmmmm. Howdy, ya'll.

It's not a weather report when you're one with Nature, as so many of us are. All together, now: OOOhhhhmmmmmmmm . . . I have to be as one with the rototiller, and help mr.niKa get the garden ready. Last year, we planted the first of the garden on the last day of January (can you say Global Warming, Mr. President?); this year, we'll be about a month behind that, I expect. Rocky: I was kidding! There should be Girl Scout Cookies for sale at various Walmart front entrances, or wherever the scouts in your area get permission to sell them. I've handled all that I care to handle for this year! Anyway, even though they've taken out almost all of the trans-fat (according to published reports), they're still really high in whatever other kinds of fat there are. Okay, it's still Thin Mints, which is pretty near earthly Nirvana (ohm), but it blows my diet. Weather report: I have it on good authority that it rained the day before yesterday in Christchurch, NZ, but that the sun came out for awhile in the afternoon yesterday. It was actually today, but yesterday was today there. There are about a thousand extra Americans in town this weekend, due to a transfer of personnel into / out of the Antarctic stations.

Yo, sportsfans. We were fourth; I'm shocked. Rhino, you posted on the 10th thread and didn't come and put us back on top? All that notwithstanding, SPRING appears to have begun. Aaaaaaaaah. Two Wednesdays ago, we had an inch of snow on the roads; now the kids are running to school in short sleeves. It'll be Spring Break before we know it. We also sold 110 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Thin mints, anyone? Caramel Delights? What are you all up to these days? Any news? love, niKa

I believe it was a po-boy shop. Ninth is going back on top again.

Du-uude, you know that I was keeeeding you! We are jealous of your weather, as we seem to be in what I hope will be the last cold blast of winter. How's the banana situation down there? We miss you, too!

Sooo bitterly cold today. BUT - the forsythias are starting to show some yellow color. They're not dumb enough to bloom yet, but the buds are there. Spring is coming!

Johnny - only you know what is best for you. Thanks for giving us the chance to say 'bye. That said, don't be too much of a stranger; you know that your chair can never really be occupied by another. love you, niKa

Fellowshipper: I am not an "it"; I am a "she." Pay attention! You are letting that February sun get to you. Here's a deal for you: send me some of your Sun, and I'll send you some of our Winter. Know what I saw a couple of days ago? 'Bout a hundred ROBINS, flitting around in a couple of bushes. That gave my heart a lift, because they're always the first birds to come back for SPRING. Waaaaa-HOOOOOO! Where is Rhino, and where are SimonNeverSinister and Tommy and the rest? We need some baloney sandwiches and tea; that'd bring 'em around. There's been a thread about Gene Slavit over in the Friend Finder area; does anybody hear from him?

Gee, learning really IS an exciting adventure! Never try to re-heat a hardboiled egg in a microwave. Don't ask me how I know.

It's FRIDAY!!! Let's have a Doo! String the chairs, fire up the Wowburgers, and get Harve up there with his guitar. Slick down your hair, spiff up your leisure suit, and let's party!

Quite sad news. So young, and with a baby girl who'll never get to know her Mom. Lots of people looked down on Anna Nicole Smith because she'd been a stripper, and because they felt that she married for money. Heck, lots of single moms have had to do worse than that to support their children. She used the tools that she had. She was reportedly broken-hearted over the death of her son - who wouldn't be? God rest her soul, and her son's.

Tommy, Tommy. You joke and blaspheme. This is OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL you are teasing about. Get a grip, man. There will be universal consequences for your life, over which we have no control; I didn't write the book! But I'd like to make an appointment for a snowcone in the sun by the pool at next year's Texas BBQ. This recurring Minnesota impersonation that Oklahoma is doing is getting old. Do you have a green card? Where do I sign? Tell me more.

Hi, sickthos. You people were always too cool for my own good. Evan - years ago, we ran into one another out of the blue, in a sandwich shop in Louisiana, where I'd gone as a grad student for some English conference. You were as sweet and gracious as ever. The 6th corps was amazing. But I'm gonna go put the 9th back on top of this thread.

Gene: if you're reading this, come and be a Greasespotter! There are weird, cool, funky people here! You'd love it!

Yes, Tommy, you caught me on a day when I hadn't read the sports page (go figure), but Mr.niKa set me on the right path of understanding that evening at Tappas. Our Bobby loves the Sooners, and we love him right back. He just has a cool way of running the team; based on personal responsibility and hard work. The players who come through my class are some of the most dedicated scholars in the room, and they do tons of volunteer work, too. It's a college football revolution, man. Happy Tuesday, everybody!

Tappys? Speak English, brother. I need to hear it in the original.

Thanks, Tom and Rock. Peg shopping, indeed. I have to say that I've been noticing amputees more in the past six months than in the rest of my life put together. They say that old age isn't for sissies, but it's just not right for stuff to try to fall off the same year that I turn 50. I'm only halfway to my hundred (just knocked on wood). The Prudential lifestyle calculator says that I'll live to be over 98. I want to be dancin' right up until the last. Hopefully this will be only a minor occasional thing. Soooo, enough about that. Fellowshipper, what's the weather like down there? I've got a friend visiting New Zealand (Christchurch) in a few weeks, who wants to know what to pack. Tommy, you didn't answer the question about your efforts to subvert the mighty OU Sooners by stealing away our coach. There are lots of cars in Norman with "STOOPS FOR PRESIDENT" bumper stickers; we do try to show our appreciation. love, niKa

He's 70. After all, he had to spend a few years getting to be the Yoda of circulation. But he's a great example of health; he swims almost every day. love, niKa

What wheel? What real estate? What are you saying? GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY COACH. Do you know something I don't know? As Fellowshipper would say, throw me a bone here! Rocky, the leg news is not good. It's finally been diagnosed, after trips to the top infectious-disease guy and the top circulation guy in the state. Lymphedema. Lifelong, but still in its baby stages, should respond to treatment, probably was hereditary and just got flared up by me almost breaking my foot around Thanksgiving. It doesn't mean that I'll miss out on all of the hiking that Mr.niKa and I have planned, but it means that I have to be really, really careful, and if it's swollen, I can't hike at all (truthfully I taught half of last semester in a houseshoe). This is kind of a surprising development, as I am generally very healthy. If it were something that I could take a pill for, or have surgery to fix, I'd be a happy camper, but the guy who pioneered treatment for it says that isn't going to happen. The tests that they've done to verify are only performed at a very few places in the nation, yet we have one right here in OKC; this means that it's been caught well before my leg got to be the size of a tree trunk. It still looks like my leg. On a good day, it still looks just like my other leg, too. Thanks for asking. I danced in the kitchen today, just to prove that I still wanted to. The sweetheart doctor e-mailed me the powerpoint that he uses to teach about lymphedema at the medical school. I got off very, very lucky.

Hi, folks. You all okay? love, niKa

I always thought that Gene Slavit was one of the sweetest and smartest guys in the 9th Corps. Gene, if you're reading this, hope you're doing well. Please consider getting out; there really is life out here. And there is still Glory To His Name. "Doxa Eis Auton?" I used to remember that song. Best Greek teacher I ever had. Okay, only. But if there had been several, you'd have been the best.

I met my oldest friend the day after I graduated from high school. It was at Lake Grapevine, Texas, where we were camping in tents for a weekend training. Paula Butler and Robert Belt were preparing us for the summer Minuteman program. I was 18; my friend was 19. We were pseudo-hippies. We were assigned to Waco, Texas. We bonded that summer, and have drifted in and out of one another's lives in times of great need or great triumph on the part of one or of the other; a divorce, a marriage, a surgery, a joy to share, or sometimes just a call because it's been too long. When we talk, even if it's been a while, it's like we last talked yesterday. We love one another and support one another even when we don't see eye to eye. Sometimes, in our busy lives, we are able to visit just to catch up, and those days are treasures. Beach, hospital room, living room: it really doesn't matter. I last saw her this past August. We went through separate Corps programs. We live in different states. Between the two of us, we've had three marriages, six children, and more blind dates that you'd like to know about. We've got very few secrets from one another. I am on her side. She is on my side. After 31 years, we still are.