The Red Brick Times

Linda decided she wanted to memorize the Greek alphabet. So she did. She also wanted to see how many of the books of the Bible she could recall ("I used to know all of them, you know.") and rattled them off to me while I sat there and tried not to look too lumpish and dull. Her mind is sharp.

Linda will leave home ioon to enter residential hospice care. Friends and family, though willing, are simply not strong enough to help her up when she stumbles. She cannot be left alone. Her palliative care physician said yesterday that her metastasis "is the worst possible kind" at this stage, as far as the devastating side effects. She was warned to expect complete blindness or deafness.

We must now count in days.
Posted 8:25 PM by Sally D. 0 comments

As forces were being massed for the Iraq invasion I posted a link to a blog called "Where's Raed?" that was just beginning to get a lot of attention. It was supposedly being written by a 29 year old Iraqi living in Baghdad. Maybe because it seemed so heartfelt and well written a lot of people started suspecting it was yet another internet hoax. Apparently not. The Guardian found him and wrote an article called Salam's story. Cool.
Posted 4:01 PM by whatley 0 comments

Mary Anne and I just got back from seeing A Mighty Wind. If you haven't seen it yet, GO. I liked this even more than their mockumentary on community theatre, Waiting For Guffman. If you remember, This is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest and his partners from that are the Folksmen in this send up of folksingers. They wrote most of the music too. It is definitely worth the outrageous price of movies these days.
Posted 12:34 AM by Michael Hagedorn 0 comments

I'm on vacation all next week so if you email me (please only use the 7393.org address) I may not reply for a while. Here's hoping for a week of sunshine and lots of new posts to read when I get back.
Posted 2:54 PM by whatley 0 comments

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a maximum for the year. Of course, daylight saving time means that the first Sunday in April has 23 hours and the last Sunday in October has 25 hours, but these human meddlings with the calendar and do not correspond to the actual number of daylight hours. In Chicago, there are 15:02 hours of daylight on the summer solstice of June 21, 1999.


Go look at Science World to check out human meddling with the calendar and the Solstice.


Remember, Becky offered to host Summer Solstice up along the Lake at Volunteer's Bay. Big house, overnight quarters for those who stay up the short night through, access to the private beach for dipping and dabbling. Since I seem to live the closest to the site, I will accumulate a list of those planning to attend. Get in touch with me by whatever means. All carrier pigeons will be cheerfully defeathered, roasted and eaten. All carrier chickens will be egged on. Carrier cows will be milked for information. Get word to me or I will keep punning until you fall to the earth moaning in pain and sorrow. Don't make me come down there!

Email, Blog posting, comment thread, phone call, snailmail, divine revelation, anything. About one month left until the big day. Say what food you plan, just so we don't wind up with three thousand pounds of pound cake and no piles of pounded steak or hake to bake. Dust off those antique lawn Jarts and wear your helmets while driving at home, to work. Unleash those super squirters filled with lemonade. Break apart the copralite-like lumps of ossified marshmallows and snaggle-tined fire-blackened toasting forks. I dunno if there is an outside fire pit perchance, but corroded old ash crusted charcoal grills and gallons of volatile starter fluid will fill the bill just fine, thank you. Now is not the time to be shy and retiring. Step forth and take back the day to forge the link between the world of Homeland Security and the ancient world of waning days and moon cycles. Stop and smell the grass clippings.
Posted 9:59 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Go Tribe!!!
Posted 12:29 PM by whatley 0 comments

Did anyone mention tRBT to Scott while he was here? If anyone has his email address/phone number could you send it to me?
Posted 8:55 AM by whatley 0 comments

Sally emailed me some pictures of last Saturday's ramp raising and asked that they be made available here. They're jpg's, about 60kb each and will spawn a new window when clicked (sorry, I'm at work and don't have time to make thumbnails). They already had short names which work for me so, without further ado: Worksite, Worksite2, Delivery, LumberCut, AndyBetsy, ClayScott, Framed, girlswork, handsaw, JoshDoghouse, Level, OldVsNew, Platform, WomenAtWork, Before, After, Crew.
Posted 2:57 PM by whatley 0 comments

The Ramp at Linda's is finished, except for the coat of "Skid Not" (or, as we wanted to call it - Slip Not) that needs to be brushed or rolled on when temp and moisture conditions permit. The lumber was delivered shortly after 9:00AM. Construction began by shredding the old wooden steps at the back door. We dug out all of the bricks under the steps and the doghouse for reuse as supports.

Under Scott's professional foremanship, we cut, ripped, drilled, screwed and bolted all day, with sundry comings and goings, implementing Adam's vision and design in three dimensions of pressure treated lumber and plywood. By 6:00PM, the deed was done, several silly pictures taken, toasts made, neighbors scared and terrorized, and sawdust swept away. Sally festooned the site with crepe, red-faced red-brickers blew up balloons, and Ray decorated the dog house in shades of Green and Red streamers.

It was a good day to work, a good day to be together, a good day to show our caring and love for Linda, and a reaffirmation of the feelings that drew us together over three decades ago. We are the same odd, malcontented, unadjusted and unapologetic lunatic fringe that we always were. But now we have power tools.
Posted 1:57 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

I am acutely aware that I have not posted any updates on Linda's condition recently. There's so much to post, and so very little to say.

Two hip replacements, multiple medications, admissions to and releases from hospitals, the advancements of the disease itself, and arguments with medical personnel regarding the course and quality of her care have pretty much exhausted her. Today, she's at her sister, Shirley's. Plans are to move her back to her home as soon as a ramp can be constructed. She can't negotiate the steps, and getting her in and out of the house to get to appointments is too tricky. She's in a great deal of pain, even with two strong medications. Monday's brain MRI confirm an earlier CAT scan which showed a growing tumor in her brain. Regardless of her next decision (to continue or to suspend treatment, ) Linda wants to be at HOME. And we'll have her there as soon as possible.

Sally
Posted 6:34 PM by Sally D. 0 comments