Left Behind

 While some might think this is a reference to a hindquarter, it is not that at all.  Before I clear the air, I do want to make an odd aside.  This so called "quarter" has only two glutes (or gluteus maximus sides), while the individual sides are actually composed of three gluteal muscles.  So what is it? Six groups or two halves in this misnomer of "quarters?"  Having (without halving) attempting to put this right (and left) I now feel the need to put all this behind me and get back to the purpose on today's blog.  

For the next two weeks I will be left alone to my own devices, which are also limited by both numbers and effectiveness.  While it will seem to be like the first episode of "The Last Man on Earth," I won't be completely alone, I'll have a co-conspirator, Oliver.  Even though he has four legs and is only 20 inches or so tall, he is still a willing companion.  

We (Oliver and I) will be moving on paved and poured surfaces while exercising our bodies and minds, mine by observation, his more by scent and taste. He is a dog, but not at all a sly dog.  The  fact is he has much a much better disposition than most bipeds I have known and loved.  Still, as companions go, only one of us really thinks he knows what the other is thinking, (I think).  So I must assume that I have our real purposes in mind. Oliver's primary purposes are to leave many liquid messages and predigested materials.  What we would call "P-mail."  

Luckily there are still many forested areas interspersed within the neighborhoods for shade and P-mail breaks.  

Well it seems we've come full circle and we are now back at the hindquarters!  Butt, at least it's a friendly K9. conversation. 

Daze and Knights

How it started. A friend posts on Facebook:  Help. I'm having a special party at the end of October and wonder if anyone had a round card table I could borrow.  I need 3 please  and thank you , love and kisses - plus, you're invited.

Being a bit of a smart alec and a friend I thought of my response...
I've  been looking for a round deck for years  I'm  tired of shuffling around with squares.  If King Arthur was one of the kings in a typical deck, he would certainly require a round table! I bet he'd drive an Excaliber, while Sir Lancelot would most likely have a Lancer .

Her response...
Ok....

Me...
Thanks for the invite, XOXO's to thee as well.  I'm sure it will be a great  knight, iif I don't make it  say hello th the Lady in the Creek for me!

Her response...
Yur my nite in shining armor.

Since then I have been over run with punny comments, begging for me to entertain. Here goes.

In the mythology of King Arthur stories and retellings it is said that there where from 12 to more than 150 Knights. Although the Winchester Round Table allows for 25 Knights.
Best known in the days of the nights are Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad along with Sirs Bedivere, Percival, Bors the Younger, Gareth, Erec and others.  I have yet to find any reference to Brave Brave Sir Robin.
I can not leave out other persons such as Merlin, Mordred, or the auspicious Lady of the Lake! Crucial to the story is Elaine of Corbenic, the wife of Lancelot, making them the parents of Sir Galahad. I tend to dispel the rumors of The Tropic of Sir Galahad, whom with his oil can and in his regal armor was said to look like the Tin Man.  I'll believe that when monkeys fly!

With so many Knights in attendance it is safe to say that King Arthur saw a lot of knights in his day!  One can only imagine the gala had when Sir Galahad aquired the Holy Grail!

Reasons 2 B Cheerful

Reasons To Be Cheerful: Part 3.  

Before I start embellishing about all the joys of being a grandfather, I have to step back a few decades to explain the reason for the title of todays post. 

So here it is. 

When I was in college (over 3 decades ago) I had a substantial music collection of vinyl records and singles. I'm sure a few readers are saying what! This guy has a record!? Yep, the type of that plays on a turntable.  

Anyway, I chose today's posts title from my storied musical past. "Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3" by Ian Dury & The Blockheads.  This 45rpm single, released in the UK in 1979 was exactly as advertised, cheerful, the B-Side "Common As Muck" also great fun. I purchased this treasure in 1980 along with their 1st single "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" the B-Side "There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards" elicited even more auditory joys.

Okay, I have to give more relavent details before I can get to the grandfather thing. 

Two years ago my mom passed after a long battle with cancer, leaving my father to a very solitary lifestyle. We would talk nearly every day from 990 plus miles away, watching pro and college basketball, football and NASCAR races, favorite TV shows (Person of Interest, Elementary, etc..) or just updating daily stuff from five states away. In August of 2013 after several of those daily stuff  conversations dad and I decided that I should move in with him in Old Town Florida.  For years I had been taking all my vacations in Florida, I would visit my parents a couple days, then head further south to visit my daughter, and then stop back with the folks before returning back to Indy. So a permanent relocation of this sort was a perfectly natural progression.  

Plans started hatching, cogs started turning and the wheels where slowly gaining motion. For many reasons I knew I was ready and Dad was very pleased.  With the plans evolving, it was still a few weeks before I announced my retirement plans.  After 25 plus years of employment at Roberts Camera in Indianapolis I was stepping into a new and completely different adventure.  

As fate is prone to do, fate stepped in. Dad had a seemingly minor bump into a chair arm bruising his back between hipbone and rib cage. This 'bump' was causing a considerable amount of pain and was not improving. Dad started having serious mobility problems. Dads neighbors, the Lamberts had to force dad to see the local Doctor.  Eventually they persuaded him to see more qualified Doctors at the University of Florida Hospital in Gainesville. As they helped nearby, I kept in touch, I still had four weeks to undo more than just my job.

Saturday September 7th was my last day of work at Roberts, it was more emotional than I expected. Meanwhile in Dixie County Florida, Dads neighbors were forcing dad to see local Doctors, and taking him to the Gainesville University Hospital. As they helped, I kept in touch, I still had four weeks to undo more than just my job. 

A week and a half before my departure, David Andrichik and the Chatterbox (my longtime favorite watering hole) threw me an outstanding going away bash with food and drink. So many people attended that the inside, outside patio, sidewalks and street were packed with so many of my wonderful friends until well after dark. 

A yard sale came and went, my lease car was returned, a U-Haul rented.  On September 26th 2013 I left with as many possessions I could box and pack. At 4:07 AM on the 27th I locked the rental, dragged myself up the stairs of the stilt house on the Suwannee River.  Within minutes I fell  into a deep cathardic sleep. I awoke in the same house I had slept in at least 60 times during the last 11 years, but this time I was home.  Dad stopped driving the minute I arrived, he rode shot gun. After a few weeks he signed over the title,  I got ownership and a Florida liscense. 

About a month later dads "bump" threw a clot, eventually causing a massive stroke. He never regained coscienceness and passed on November 7th. His physical remains share agravesite with my mother in Old Town. My brother and his wife were there for a few weeks before dad passed. My daughter and her family were up from Port Saint Lucie several times before and after dads stroke and eventual passing.  Two weeks after the funeral, another U-Haul, a three hour caravan south with daughters family and me. 

I awoke again in a bed I had slept in a before. I was, for the third time in less than three months in a different home, and I was home. 

Despite all the sadness of my parents passing, I am still with family. Better yet, I am now in the same house as my grandson Tucker. He's 25 days away from his second birthday and is adding to his personality, skills and vocabulary daily.  Eventually I know I will have to find a decent job and my own residence, but even then I will certainly have Reasons to be Cheerful. 

"Reasons To Be Cheerful, 1,2,3."  Part 1: Being near my daughter's family. Part 2: Being able to watch my awe inspiring grandson grow and learn daily.  Part 3: In July I will have a second grandchild to fawn over and spoil as much as I possibly can.

  

Just Walk It Off!

This morning I woke up with a weird thought.  Not weird like 'weird' -more like- how weird my mind works, weird.  I was (am) thinking about my new passions, my new motivations, what makes me want to take the next step to happiness.It got more weird when next I wondered -just minutes from waking- what happened to my old High School coach, Coach Scharnowski. 

Coach was Hulk of a man and great motivator, he coached calisthenics, weight training (machine and free), wrestling (my brother, not me) soft ball, basketball, dodge ball, Football, Soccer and Gym. He pushed those who could be pushed, inspired those who could be inspired and encouraged the rest to do their best and get better.  
This weird assault on my grey matter linked rather quickly with the creative side of my brain.  Following this direction; way left of my original field of thought, I sought to find a link, common or coincidence, that would make sense.  
Up and dressed, I was waiting (and waiting) for the coffee maker to make: you guessed it, COFFEE. Suddenly a synaptic connection was made!  

Over the last two and a half years I was free to improve, maintain or destroy myself.  Luckily I followed the stages of this regimen in reverse, going for a while into a very internal darkness. Prior to that time (April 2011) I weighed nearly 240lbs. For a few months I slept on a friends couch.  I attended too many favorite bars, stayed out too late. To often I was driving home after one (or more) too many.  Then I leveled off. 

I found a small place I could afford. I called the place The Hovel! When I moved in it had blood red walls in the dining room. It had a bathroom tub with a perpetual drip, it didn't have AC, it didn't have many outlets, or storm windows. It did have other incentives. It didn't cost too much monthly. 
The Hovel was two blocks from a long time good friend. She was supposed to help me paint over the faux massacre colors, but before she could, her heart called her to visit her brother and his children just outside of DC.
I thought I was rebuilding my life (different from all I known, but still a life), then my beautiful and inspirational friend permanently moved to DC.  All her local family were gone, so the logical course was to go where her remaining family was.  I agreed, and I was again in stasis mode. Atrophy. 
A year later I uploaded the MapMyWalk app and started tracking my walks. Then as temperatures went up I added the MapMyRide bike app as well.  
After being 12 miles from my job site for over 24 years I was extremely pleased to be just over 5 miles away at the Hovel. 
A plan for the future presented itself. Then in two years, just like my DC neighbor, my mother was gone, and my father was ailing.  In late october my father had a massive stroke, then in early November he passed. After his funeral the logical course was for me to go where family is. 
Over these last two plus years I've done hundreds of walks, and over 85 bike rides. Three months ago my dad passed, just about two weeks before the aniversary of moms passing. It still hurts (and the coaches voice said "Walk it off").

So, when I awoke this morning my second thought was about the weather. The previous 5 days were rainy, too windy or both.  Still, I needed to work out. I had been doing situps, planks and lots of short walks, but biking was out of the question. So even before I opened my weather app this morning, in my head I heard coach all the way from 1976  say, "If it rains, just walk it off. If it hurts, just walk it off." 
I walked off 3 miles, no hurt, no pain.
Thanks coach.

Back On the Saddle Again

Change from the top down.

You can't even imagine how frustrated the last few hours have been. Trying to get something to work that just refuses to cooperate. Finally I got some small modicum of satisfaction. (Hint)You're reading it  I decided it was time to tell stories again. Not create stories, just tell those that find their way to me and through me. It's been a long time coming. I'm back!

You can't imagine how frustrating it has been to be out of the blogosphere for the last five years. 
I only just now discovered that my original www.chuckpace.com/Thoughtpukes blog is no longer around. That blog was a pride and joy for a very long time.  Over five years of blogs and a hundreds of photos are all gone now.  But then again, that too is just a drop in the bucket to the changes I've recently encountered. 
In the last four years I've downsized just about every aspect of my life. Voluntarily and involuntarily,  so why not just start over again. Those days are gone just like those old blogs are gone. The wife and I separated after 29 years. I moved into a one bedroom duplex for two years. My mom slowly died from ovarian cancer.  I retired from the job I had for 25+ years. Moved a small portion of my possessions at a yard sell, moved another portion into a U-Haul and headed south to Old Town Florida.

           A Suwannee River Dragon Fly in Dad's Backyard, September 2013
I was there to keep my dad company, and help him with medical treatments and getting around.  Two months later dad had a massive stroke.  Dad was buried on Veterans day just weeks before the one year anniversary of moms passing.  Two weeks after Dad's funeral; another U-Haul, more packing and storing of parents possessions and my possessions.  Since then I've been living with my daughter's family in Port Saint Lucie.  I've got all the change I could hope for.