Apr252012

One Year Anniversary

It seems hard to believe, but I’ve been a Florida resident for a year now.

My last post was more than a month ago. I’ve been pretty much mentally unavailable because of Talisman and my employment situation. I have many things to tell you about; both good and bad, but let’s start with Talisman. I won’t go into details that you can read about below, other than to give an update.

As of February, Talisman was diagnosed with metastatic hemangiosarcoma, and my vet gave him 3-6 months. Since that time, he’s had a couple more profuse lesion bleeds that were easier to control because of the location (on his chest and belly, i.e., his brisket,) instead of like the first one on his knee. Nothing recent thank God. His lesions are really starting to cover most of his belly, well, all over actually, and I can see many more lumps in the furred areas.

God, this is difficult. I assess him constantly. He seems to sleep about 22 of 24 hours. Although he has chronic diarrhea now; his appetite is still good. I recently switched him to organic raw bison and chicken meat, which he seems to enjoy and digest. Diarrhea remains though. It’s expensive, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to get this for him.

Despite his lethargy, he still gets excited at feeding time, but especially when I return from errands, or after leaving him alone for awhile. He gets very vocal (which is so endearing), like “just where have you been, and how dare you leave me alone!

So long as my Puddy Buddy doesn’t seem to be in any pain, and still shows signs of happiness, we will go on as before. I give him anything he wants, whenever he want’s it. He usually wakes me at 4:00 AM, goes outside, and then hovers while I make coffee, until I give him his Wagon Trail chicken treats. Of course I can’t go back to sleep, so I’m worthless after about 4:00PM or so.

Moving on, I still haven’t found any work. I’ve applied at three places. I’m not quite sure if it’s a matter of age, over-qualification, or just what exactly. Also, the employment market is still very slim, even here. On today’s new’s, I heard that “durable goods”, i.e., cars, washer/dryers, etc, were down 4.3% last month; housing prices fell another 6%, and unemployment (new jobs created) fell again. Although in parody, this is actually a good lession in economics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h8O7V-WxWQ&feature=youtu.be

It’s hilarious…

Speaking of slim, I’ve gained a hefty amount. I know why and don’t care to go there for now, but I realized that I’m an emotional eater. Lot’s of emotion right now, equates to lot’s of food. I don’t have many clothes I can fit into anymore, so I normally wear my boxers and a tee-shirt around the house.

Do you think Walmart would let me in? GAWD, I might just appear in one of those crazy “People of Walmart” videos on YouTube… LOL!

Well, two weekends ago, I joined my sisters garage sale. I sold several items, or rather “gave away” several items. Those guys are tough bargainer’s! We’re going at it again next weekend, wish me luck.

Very, VERY sadly, I took my beautiful Suzuki Boulevard 800 to the motorcycle consignment shop to try and sell. If it sells soon, that would keep me afloat for a couple more months longer. At least maybe until God opens another door for me.

That being said, I have another idea. I like working with wood projects. So I’m going to give Bird Houses a go!!! They’re really cute, and not too expensive to build. Soon, I will be offering some custom models that I hope y’all will be interested in. I’ll keep you posted both here and on FaceBook. If you know me, love me, or want to appreciate me for favors I’ve done for you in the past, here will be your chance. ORDER!!!

More on that later. In the mean time, I just planted two tomato, four basil, and one rosemary plant. I have some potatos sprouting in a dark cupboard, almost ready to plant. Who knows, I might just be depending on them in a couple months!!! CRAZY!

More later folks,

Love and miss everyone a lot,

Les

Mar232012

My Prayer

Dear Lord in Heaven,

Lord, I know that a lot of people pray, especially at the dinner table, hoping that you will hear; understand, and answer their requests… The problem is that usually these prayers are not heart-felt, and without genuine meaning, in other words; they are for public consumption: rehearsed and without sincere feeling. As You know, I’ve always felt that prayer is private and doesn’t need to be spoken. For some reason though, I have an urge to share this.

Lord, today I offer a prayer that comes from your well-spring, and hopefully you will accept it in written form. It isn’t rehearsed; it flows from my fingers.

Lord, I’ve told the person I most love in this world (who isn’t without fault), that I hate most people because they are rude, hateful, self-centered, and disrespectful, especially of your gift of life. Lord, please forgive me for not liking them. I know that all of your creations are precious and that you put a lot of love, planning, and effort into us.

Lord, please help me to love, appreciate and be more forgiving.

Lord, I know that many people have already prayed for the salvation of the world, but please God, hear me also. Please give us all another chance. Don’t let us go. Please?

Lord, please help my companion Talisman, as I can’t stand seeing him suffer. Please help him, or guide him quickly across the rainbow bridge. He is so innocent and sweet.

Lord, I need a job to pay my bills. I have faith in You and I know you’ll open a door somewhere for me. Please make this a place that I LOVE going to, that has no stress, and that I can work at until retirement age (assuming that You decide to keep me here until then?) I’m not quite sure why you might continue to keep me here. I know that you have a purpose for everyone, including ME. Maybe it’s that you want at least one intelligent person on earth… (humor is Your BEST gift Lord) but is there someone who needs my help? I’ve always treated everyone in a way that I thought You would approve of, even if I didn’t much like them… Please tell me if I’ve not read the instruction manual incorrectly.

Lord, on a last note, please help those of us who are suffering with strife for their own family. Please free us of our addictions, and help those of us who are ill or overcome.

Amen

Feb072012

Nappage!

I diggggg taking naps!

I know... I am irresistable, so go ahead and KISS ME!

Feb072012

What’s New…

Well, as many of you know already, Talisman had surgery last week to remove three lesions. A few days after, one of his sutures broke and the vet had to restitch him.

Dr. Ellis & Talisman

The histopathology results have come back, and my fears are confirmed. He has malignant hemangiosarcoma. This would be equivalent to melanoma in humans. For my boy, it has already metastasized.

Dr. Ellis say’s we might have 3-6 months left together, but I’m hoping for longer. In the mean time, he will be on daily pain meds and antibiotics throughout. She said I would be the judge of his situation, since I know him best, and can tell when he’s in pain or doing okay.

So for now, I will tend to him palliatively, and make sure he’s the happiest, most comfortable puddy dawg in the world. I’ve been working very hard on the privacy fencing, so hopefully it will be done in a day or two. Then Tallyman can go lie in the sun, which he loves to do. At this point, it doesn’t matter anymore. If you have a companion that has fair skin and short hair, don’t let them lay in the direct sunlight for too long. Or, at least put some sun block on the skin where there’s no hair.

Pathology Report

 

The whole thing hasn’t sunk in yet. Yes, I know what it all means now, and in the future. For now I just want us to be happy. There’s no point in letting him sense my feelings and making him anxious. SO as they say, we’re gunna live each day to the fullest.

____________________________________________________________________________

To help keep me occupied, I’ve created a new page. The son and daughter-in-law of a good friend, have started a fun little soap business. She has asked me if I could design a web site for them. Of course that’s no problem, but I’ve never done an e-commerce site before. Setting up credit card transactions with merchant coding is new to me. I explored a lot of options but didn’t like a lot of them. Paypal for example is pretty lousy, and it costs the merchant a lot in fees. I then found Google Checkout was fairly easy to learn to program, and the fees are reasonable. They would have to pay 1.9 to 2.9% + .30 per transaction. The more they sell, the lower the rate is. From what I can find, that is about the lowest fee schedule around.

So, I opened my own merchant account, and programmed this page, which I will link you to in a minute. It actually works! If you want to help Puddy Buddy and me, pleeze do! I’m running out of money and will need to find a job really soon, so I won’t complain if you click the “ADD TO CART” now and again… It would be awesome if I could somehow turn this into a viable turnkey e-commerce business. I have the ability, now I just need the right thing, or things to sell. Any ideas?

Anyway, here’s the link.  You can also always find it up top and left.

Take care all. I miss everyone and love it when you read my site.

Les

 

 

Jan222012

SOPA & PIPA Defeated!

Your Kungfu is NOT strong, but the internet’s IS!

Watch out Congress, We The People are coming for you in November!

SOPA and PIPA Bills Are Dead: Wikipedia Blackout Caused Congress to Shelve These Fascist Bills
By Dennis Bakay at 1:45 pm on Saturday January 21, 2012

The proposed legislation came at the behest of Hollywood and the Music Industry, who have lost millions over the years in lost sales due to P2P file sharing.

When you dig a little deeper and look at who donated the most money to Lamar Smith’s election, the TV/Movie/Music Industry was his biggest contributer.

It’s no shock that Lamar Smith was ignoring the public outcries on Wednesday and still moving forward with trying to make this horrific legislation a reality…until Friday when the bills were withdrawn.

Damn politicians...

Smith issued the following statement, “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.” Smith also added, “The committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”

Except shown. Read the article in it’s entirety here.