In This Cornerrrrr.....

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are privileged to be in the presence of one of the most physically fit athletes of our time.

In this corner, all the way from hot and steamy central Arkansas, weighing in at a solid 6.2 pounds, ready...no eager... for his next challenger...... Joe...."The Dude".... Maltese !!!!! **loud cheering and clapping**

Yes, to keep Joe's svelte physique and encourage my physique to trim down, Joe and I are walking. Two miles. His head down and determined, eyes straight ahead, legs going a mile a minute...okay, actually it's a fifteen minute mile, but c'mon, his legs are short. If he walked any faster, he'd take off like a kite. But he does well. He's very focused and not easily distracted by other walkers, runners, bike riders, kids or other dogs. Little to no tugging to stop, not even to pee or poop, until we get near the car where he waters the shade tree I've parked under. His fierce determination dwindles rapidly once he reaches the confines of the car and he doesn't even make it all the way to the passenger seat. The center console is as far as he'll go and I get the "look", which means

I ain't movin'


He's done for the day.

Like the rest of the south, midwest and east coast, it's freakin' hot.

Tom keeps checking The Weather Channel app on his iPhone every hour or so for the current temperature and weather conditions, but really there's no need to be so obsessive. There's no need to view radar video. No need to look at the weather map. No need for the meteorologist to assign a number...92 degrees at 8:30am, 94 degrees at 10:00am, 97 degrees at noon...it doesn't matter. It all feels the same. All you need is four characters... H O T !

We reduced the temperature in the hot tub to around 90 degrees, so we now have a cool tub. Ahhhhhh. Some relief anyway. Nice for a cool down before bed.

So what else? Well, the obsessive internet stalking of my blog has subsided considerably. I guess they finally got a life elsewhere.

Tom's cataract surgery on Tuesday went well. He had a follow-up appointment Wednesday morning and another this coming Thursday. I had an appointment with the ophthalmologist last Friday. These floaters in my eyes are driving me crazy, but apparently they are quite normal for a person of my advanced years age. I can expect floaters to remain in my vision path for a few more weeks to months even. But my eyesight is still good, very negligible changes in the past ten years (yes, that's how long it's been since I last had an eye exam) so no new prescription. My 10 year old reading glasses are just fine.

Karen's surgery to cut open and scrape all the crap out of her carotid artery is scheduled for this coming Friday. We head to the hospital about 4:45am to arrive at 5:30am for her to be admitted, prepped and surgified. The doctor says the surgery should last about three hours and she could be released the next day. I wonder if he'd be so optimistic if he knew her history of hypoxemia (low blood oxygen). The last time she had surgery - an appendectomy - she was in the hospital three days because of it. Funny...we just finally got rid of that oxygen machine she required after the last surgery and she'll probably have to get it back again after this next one, since apparently low oxygen levels are a routine byproduct for her during and after surgery. Of course, it doesn't help at all that she continues to smoke. Go figure.

Yesterday Tom and I took his dad to church for a mass in memory of Tom's mom. Holy cow! If the priest was any slower, he would be moving and talking in slow motion. He'd say a sentence, then pause for at least 15 seconds, palms raised heavenward- for drama, I imagine - then say another sentence, then another pause and on and on and on. Then there was the chanting - a responsive prayer four pages long...in small type. I had no idea what was going on because they don't provide a program or bulletin. I suppose they're thinking is that if your a "good Catholic" you should already know all this by heart. I'm not Catholic. I didn't know shit. I felt like a person on speed in the middle of a crowd of people on Quaaludes. An hour - a very sloooowwww and painful hour - into the service, they started communion, which meant in Catholic that we'd be there at least another 30 minutes and Tom's dad was ready to leave. "Too much talkin'" he said.

Today, I am blogging outside on the patio, in the shade, and it's 97 degrees. My pits are dripping (I know, TMI), my palms and fingers are clammy, but I'd rather be outside than sitting inside in air conditioning. Tom will go pick up his dad later for a barbecue this afternoon. Everything is pretty much ready to go, but I need to go in and make some deviled eggs. After that, I think I'll be ready for a quick dip in the cool tub. Hoooo baby, this is going to be one very long hot summer.