Olio (not to be confused with Oleo)

It's amazing what a difference one letter can make to a word even without changing the pronunciation. I really don't plan to write about butter substitute.

I'm quite excited to head East for Jeremy Jr's graduation. I have been working far to many hours and will enjoy the vacation. When Babs left for Alabama last Friday she told me to take it easy so I can recover from the pneumonia. I took her advice and wound up watching all 29 episodes of the TV series "Jericho." That's right, ALL 29 episodes. Fortunately I watched them on Netflix so there were no commercials. Still, 44 minutes a whack is still a lot of time to spend in a Lazyboy. I loved every minute.

Sometime Saturday during the Jericho marathon Benjamin called and asked if I would watch their five kids for a couple hours on Sunday morning so he and Lesley could go to separate meetings. No problem. I have had more kids that that of my own to watch at times.

Ok, I forgot that Bekah, Dan and Pete would all be gone. I was on my own. The kids were really rather fine. They picked out a church video to watch and settled down it the family room. All was well until the first video finished and one of them came to ask me to put the next one on.

As I walked into the family room it was like walking into a wall of absolute solid odor. I coulden't believe so much foul stench could come from cute little AJ. I was even more amazed that the other kids were completely unfazed by it. In the Air Force I had been exposed to a room full of tear gas without a mask. It was not as bad as little AJ.

Much water has passed under yon bridge since I changed a "soiled" diaper but I had no qualms of leaping into the breach since Ben ad left some fresh diapers and I remembered that we keep a package of wipers in the hall bathroom.

It turned out to be quite an easy process once I got past the gag reflex and put the offending nappy into the trash outside. I guess it's a like riding a bike. I didn't even have to call in reinforcements. I think I did quite well, thank you.

New subject. I noticed the other day something that I have lived with my whole life but now I feel the need to find out how many of my progeny have been affected by it.

My second toe is longer than my "big" toe. As a kid I remember being confused as to which one was the big toe. Did they mean the short, fat one of the long skinny one? So, I interested in knowing how many ad who of our ten kids have this condition as well as the same information about the 26 grandchildren.

Only Bekah's left foot counts, but it still counts. Pete says it's not that my second toe is long, my big toe is just way short.

Please let me know. It's not earth shattering or anything, I'm just curious.

Pneumonia, Feels Like the Same Old Monia

I still think silent letters in any language are beyond stupid. All they do is make spelling hard.

Last Sunday morning around 2:30 I awoke coughing and with my windpipe on fire. Not just burning but shooting three-foot flames out like some kind of dragon. I tried some Pepto but it just cooled my throat and turned my poop dark. Evidently I had acid reflux and aspirated some. I'd had that happen before but never that bad. It kept me up all night hardly able to breathe.

I spoke with the on-call nurse at the Base and she said to call 911. I thought she was crazy at first but then realized she was right. After all, if an old fat diabetic guy called me about having chest pains I'd have him call 911 too.

It was cool knowing the siren I could hear was actually coming for me. The EMTs wired me for sound (EKG) and found no heart problem (phew) and said I should to the ER. My favorite way to kill a few hours. By this time my shortness of breath was the big problem so off we went to St Josephs Hospital.

If you ever want to be seen quickly at an ER, show up as an old fat guy with shortness of breath and chest pains. It works like a champ. It didn't get me out any sooner, but I did get seen quickly. The nurse must have gone to the Marquis de Sade School of starting IVs. I was way dehydrated so I know it would be harder to find a vein to hydrate me, but sweet Florence Nightingale, that's me under there.

It turned out to be pneumonia in my left lung so they pumped me full on antibiotics and sent us on our way with instructions for me to rest for a few days. I only worked two hours on Monday, six on Tuesday, and seven on Wednesday and Thursday. By then I was so tired of not being able to breathe that I stayed home today (Friday). I'll take it easy for the next two days even though it means missing the fine and pleasant misery of the father and sons camp out.

I do enjoy the time with my sons and grandsons but I really would like to breathe normally again