"I have two doctors, my left leg and my right." ~ G.M. Trevelyan

Here I go again. I have a new walking plan. I printed it and it is posted on my office wall. I'll let you know how it goes.

My father-in-law seems to be doing pretty well since my mother-in-law's passing. He's sleeping well and still going out for his morning walk every single day. We had him over for dinner last weekend ~ meatloaf WITH gravy (the kitchen doesn't serve it with gravy) ~ and we sent him home with leftovers. I also saved some chicken and dumplings for him from the day before. He was in old fashioned comfort food heaven.

It's still hard to believe my mother-in-law is gone. The phone rang the other day and their name came up on caller ID and I thought briefly, It can't be Dad. He NEVER calls. It has to be Mom...but it can't be. Of course, it was Dad, but it was a weird, unsettling feeling indeed.

Tom stopped by his Dad's apartment yesterday on his way home. The staff at the retirement community where he still lives has been wonderful. They did his laundry for him yesterday. Tom was going to bring the ironing home, but the staff had already done it, too! Good deal.

I posted this information earlier this week on my Facebook page, but I hadn't done it here yet, so this is an update on my sister Karen.

Her Crack-Dog is gone. Tom took him to the shelter a couple of weeks ago, checked in with the staff a couple of days later and found out the dog was adopted the same afternoon Tom dropped him off. Phantom Cat no longer has front claws with which to destroy my leather furniture....but she's still hiding under the blankets in Karen's room, coming out only when carried by Karen for food and litter box activity, then fleeing from the laundry room through the den, kitchen and dining room to the sanctity of the bed covers once again. Karen should have named the cat Flash instead of Dusty, although Phantom Cat is equally descriptive.

Karen had her first appointment with a new cardiologist on Monday. She goes in Friday morning at 5:30am for an angiogram to find out why she is having repeated angina. During her visit, the doctor told her that the stent her previous doctor put in her aorta was experimental and dangerous because if it collapsed she would die. So maybe they will decide to do another bypass surgery or replace an existing stent that has scarred over and partially closed. I just don't know. I will know more Friday afternoon.

In the meantime, Karen still hasn't found a GP or Internist who takes her insurance so that she can make an appointment for a check up and get a prescription for the other non-cardiac related meds she has been taking.

I guess I'm still trying to understand the point at which all the combined medications cease being an antidote and become poison.

On a lighter note, I take The Dude into the vet's office on Monday for his annual vaccinations and a much needed grooming. He's starting to look like Dread Dog the Rastafarian. So he will get his second haircut since we've owned him. And, of course, once again we will make fun of the gross prominence of what is left of his male privates. I know. We're merciless.

About the nation and the world around me, I can only quote Richard Louie, "I just can't say anything nice."

Are you keeping up with the news?? Do you know what's going on around the world and in Congress? Do you care ~ particularly about Congress? Every day at about 4:00pm we turn on the TV to catch up on the news and politics of the day while I start doing the prep work for dinner. About 30 minutes into it and about half way through my martini or glass of wine, I'm yelling at the TV and can hardly take any more. Japan's earthquake and tsunami and the resulting devastation, coupled with the impending nuclear catastrophe. First Egypt, now Libya and the mental midgets in Congress who want to impose and enforce a no-fly zone over Libya (read:start another war). Then the exit from the war in Afghanistan is moved for the third time and now it's not until 2014 and Patraeus says "maybe permanent military bases," while a new poll show that 2/3rds of Americans want us out NOW. Then the budget cuts the Boehner Boys want to impose on Social Security instead of merely raising the wage base cap. Then there's the rising gas prices, not because of a gas shortage, but because of Wall Street speculators and Obama's unwillingness to release oil reserves to help bring prices down while the middle class chokes every time we pull up to a gas pump. Then there are the largest protests in American history taking place in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan and the only news about them anywhere is on Twitter! Then there is Donald Trump's bloated face and petrified and dyed strawberry blonde locks on every television station because, even though he "doesn't need the publicity", he thinks he might run for President of the United States (think about that one for very long and you'll shiver uncontrollably).

And finally, I get the news that Nate Dogg died.......and I didn't even know who he was! Which can only mean two things: I am really old and really white.