The countdown begins today

The countdown begin today to Valentine’s Day  my birthday. I know I was born this month, if for no other reason than I have already had four medical appointments schedule.

At one time my birthday was a big deal. I had birthday cake with the appropriate number of candles and ice cream and friends and relatives and lots of presents and lots of birthday cards.. That is not the case any more. As with my last 10 or so days, I shall spend the day with the Kitty Kids and no one else.

If there is cake and ice cream, I shall have to purchase it. The only card in the mail and the only present I can expect will come from my mother. If there are any other presents, I shall have to purchase them.

If past years are any indication, I shall receive lots of good birthday wishes from my Internet friends. I like that. I once wrote a birthday blog post chronicling the events on my birthday.

I suppose that when one reaches the age of 68, which I shall in two weeks, one really need not expect much of a celebration. However, I do rather miss the party with family and friends gathered round. However, I look forward, as I do each day, to spending my birthday with the best buddies I have:

Just for the heck of it, I am going to continue this countdown right up to Valentine’s Day  my birthday.

A Valentine Birthday Chronicle

It's no fun to be ill on one's birthday, Valentine's Day or any other day. However, that's how I spent this morning. Now, a bit after 1:00 p.m., I'm feeling much better and, after a 5-Hour Energy drink, eager to really get on with my special day. Actually, I have been attempting to do that all, morning; however, after falling asleep twice—once at my desk and once while sitting on the commode—I decided to nap in my chair until I was energized enough to not risk falling on the floor. That’s where I am now!

In my yesterday's blog post, Reflections on Being a Valentine Baby, I ended by saying that I have met many very special people during my 67 years journeying through this life and that a few of them were born a Valentine's Day. Two of those people are Facebook friends and I created and posted birthday greetings to them early this morning:

Welsh ex-patriot, Pat Eggleton, who now lives in Sicily

Louisville native, Gabbi Foster

Of course, I have also received quite a few birthday greetings:

from Linda Mellow:

♫♫.•*¨`*•..¸ ☼ ¸.•*¨`*•.♫♫♫

╔═════════ ೋღღೋ ════════╗

░H░A░P░P░Y░**░B░I░R░T░H░D░A░Y░

╚═════════ ೋღღೋ ════════╝

. ♫♫.•*¨`*•..¸ ☼ ¸.•*¨`*•.♫♫♫

from Nanna Aldrich Murakami:

from Tracey Chisholm:

also from Tracey Chisholm:

and also from Tracey Chisholm:

from Elka Emelelka:

from Tanurr Rowze (Sandy):

from Michael J. Golch:

I gotta Sing...♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪

♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪

♪♪Happy Birthday Dear Nicholas Temple,♪♪

♪♪Happy Birthday to you.♪♪

from Donna Olsen:

There are other greetings and events I shall chronicle; however, right now I am going to post what I have thus far created and go outside to enjoy the sunshine of this marvelous 54 F Valentine's Day!

I was outside for about an hour, most of the time sitting on my patio, enjoying the sun, and re-reading one of my favorite authors, Jack Kerouac. I then drove down to the mailboxes to check for birthday cards; unfortunately, I took the wrong key-chain (it doesn't have the mailbox key on it), so I shall have to check again tomorrow.  

When I returned home, I was exhausted, so I took a 3-hour nap with Alex napping on my legs and Little alternately curled up on my chest/face and leaping down to play with Sugar.

Regarding the kitty kids, Alex spend much of today enjoying the bright and warm sunshine...

Sugar was repeatedly begging/requesting/ kitty cat treats...

and Little Girl was, uh, being Little Girl.

According to Facebook, I received 64 friends posted birthday greeting on my timeline today, plus I received 14 tweets, and, of course, the comments to today's and yesterday's Nick's Bytes posts.

I couldn't locate all of the Facebook posts I supposedly received. Besides the birthday greetings I have posted above, here are the others that I have located:

Happy Birthday!! :) ~ Tracy Benedict

Happy birthday Nick! ~ Mimi Peizer Michalski

Happy birthday my friend! ~ Ann Dixon

Happy Birthday, Nick! I hope your day is as special as you are. Love you!! ~ Laurie Kelly

Happy bday, Nick :):):) ~ Dia Dahmer

Hope you have a wonderful birthday! Sending you celebratory hugs and jolly birthday vibes across the water! ~ Tracey Chisholm

Happy Birthday, Nick!!! ~ Peg Reilly

Happy Birthday ~ Gabbi Foster

Happy Birthday to Nicholas Temple ~ Edrea Matthew

Happy Valentine's day my friend! ~ Michael J. Golch 

Happy b day I sent you a message. Happy v day too! ~ Anne Owen

Happy birthday! :) ~ Joyce Mathison

happy bday man. ~ Jason Plewinski

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK ~ Georgia Schmidt

Happy B-day hope ya had a Great one. ~ Robert Curtsinger

Happy Birthday! ~ Henry Morgan

Happy Birthday, Nick ~ Michael Serafin-St John

Happy Birthday Nicholas. Enjoy the day ... if folks don't treat ya' right, let me know. ~ Tom Eggebeen

Happy Birthday, Valentine Baby! ~ Candace Williams

Happy birthday, dear St. Nick!! ~ Billie Greenwood

Happy Birthday Nick. Such an interesting day for a birthday! ~ Bryan Renaud 

Happy Birthday! May your day and the rest of your year be freakin' AWESOME! ~ Stacey Hooper

Happy Happy Bday Nick !! ~ Pj Chapman 

Happy Birthday ~ Annette Fricke

Have a Happy Birthday ~ Shannon Fisher

Happy Birthday! ~ Auna

Happy, Happy Birthday!! :-D ~ Lois Humphrey

hope you have had a wonderful birthday!! ~ Jenny Runyan Hughes 

Happy Birthday Nicholas!! I hope you enjoyed every moment of your special day! ~ Kathy Bergeron

Happy Birthday, Nicholas! ~ Diana Vowell Swofford

Happy Birthday! ~ Priscilla Hamilton Bragg

Happy birthday ~ Molly E. Whitt

Happy Valentine's Day and Birthday, Nick! ~ Tonay Brasher

Well, that's all of my birthday greetings I've been able to find. I hope I've not missed any!

I don't believe anything of unique or of great interest will take place in the 2 hours remaining of my birthday. I plan to enjoy a cup of green tea and a few crackers and cheese until Chelsea Lately comes of TV (the kitty kids and I try never to miss Chelsea). Then,,, who knows? Maybe sleep, maybe playing with kitty kids, etc.

My thanks to all for helping me celebrate my sixty-seventh birthday!

Alex and I say, Bye-bye!

Friday Mishmash

The Fire

There is little new to report about the fire that destroyed Tina and Anne's home. Tina's last message about is read:

Ok my 3days in the hotel is up at noon today. The red cross cannot help further with shelter, they have referred me to shelters, but my dogs would not be able to come wit me. If anyone would be able to help me pay another night in the hotel, I would really appreciate it. It supposed to be hot today, but I will stay on my car b4 I get rid of my dogs! I need help asap! Thanks. [My phone #is 502-851-1534 if anyone can help]

Anne remains at my apartment. She hasn't much of her property left: One change of clothing, 1 pair of sandals, her guitar, and a few old books. Today my  pension check was deposited,  I again have gasoline, so Anne and I drove into the Highlands area of Louisville where she traded some used books for used books. That, at least, helps take her mind off of the fire.


Chairs

The body of my electric life-chair is pulling apart; I can't sit in it until I can have it repaired. So I moved this only other comfortable chair in which I can sit to under the living room window where I can sit and read.  Of course, Alex has claimed it as his own. I laid one of my canes across the arms so that I don't inadvertently sit down on the furball.



Video Tour


Anne shot this video tour of me and the apartment:

Two Poems



Lost In Your World  
by Anne Owen


I get lost in your world
More each and every time
I come close or near you
And pretend that you are mine


I get lost in your words
Whenever you decide to speak
The words echo through me
Yet there is more I seek


Wash away the wounded years
With kisses and loving touch
Hold me tighter and draw me near
To show you care that much


 I get lost within your world
Wish I could stay there with you
Tell me every now and again
That you’re lost in my world too





There are Men Too Gentle to Live Among Wolves 
by James Kavanaugh


There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who prey upon them with IBM eyes
And sell their hearts and guts for martinis at noon.
There are men to gentle for a savage world
Who dream instead of snow and children and Halloween
And wonder if the leaves will change their color soon.
There are men to gentle to live among wolves
Who anoint them for burial with greedy claws
And murder them for a merchant's profit and gain.
There are men to gentle for a corporate world
Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass
And pause to hear the distant whistle of a train.
There are men to gentle too live amount wolves
Who devour them with appetite and search
For other men to prey upon and such their childhood dry.
There are men to gentle for an accountant's world
Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass
And search for beauty in the mystery of the sky.
There are men to gentle too live among wolves
Who toss them like a lost and wounded dove
Such gentle men are lonely in a merchant's world
Unless they have a gentle one to love. 

A REAL Artist

Meditating Furball

I created the "painting" above and the one in Nick's Bytes header from photographs using the program Corel Paint. They required absolutely no artistic talent. I simply played around with the images until I decided that I liked what the program had created.

A few days ago I was thinking about my "art" as I visited the blog (A Life With A View) of a real artist, San Merideth. She is a real-life artist and art gallery owner who lives with her husband, Bennie, in the magical city of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Often San includes one of her paintings in her blog posts. Her creations awe and amaze me. Below are a few recent works by San that have appeared in her blog. (You may obtain a larger view of the painting by clicking on it with your mouse; you may access the blog post in which it appeared by clicking on the painting's title below each image).

My Forgotten City

Canyon Spirits

Travels with the Magician

A Good Omen 

In One Dream and Out the Other

You may also desire to visit San's website (different from her blog) to view much more of her work:

And, if you are so lucky as to be in Santa Fe, New Mexico, may I suggest that you visit San's Convergence Gallery at 219 West San Franciso Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501:

http://convergencegallery.com/index.htmll

Thank you, San, my dear friend, for bringing so much creative beauty into my life through the years.

Wednesday Stuff

My uncle, John Adam Hertle, is 87 years old. He, like, me requires additional oxygen to breath. At the moment he is hospitalized in serious condition. Please keep Uncle John in your thoughts and prayers.

Uncle John speaking at the service celebrating my ministry at St. John United Church of Christ, Cannelton, Indiana, 1987

The trial of Aung San Suu Kyi has reconvened. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Clay Gorton, the son of Major General Charles E. Gorton, one of my close college friends, has been wounded in Afghanistan. Please keep Clay in your thoughts and prayers.

Major General Charles E. Gorton

Alex and I found Blind Dogs.Net some time ago. It is dedicated to dogs who have lost or ar loosing their sight. The is quite a bit of information there regarding how dog0s who are blind can live a wonderful and fulfilling life. There are also lots a inspiring stories about dogs who have lost there sight. Alex and I really recommend that you take a look. (Alex says: "OK?")

http://www.blinddogs.net/

Merlin

Speaking of Alex, he is quite happy with no thunderstorms for a while and has been spending quite a bit of time (when he isn't harassing me) sunning himself on our deck.

I really like the flag widget! Besides what you see on the sidebar, clicking it will give the number of visitors from each of the nations from which I have had visitors and clicking the flag of a nation will provide historical, geographic, demographic, economic, transportation. communications. and military data regarding the nation. I think that is neat.

http://s05.flagcounter.com/more/ATK

Saturday Stuff: A Neat Award & a Natty Leg

Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money. ~ Jules Renard (1864-1910)

 

The PREMIO DARDOS award is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing.

Thank you, Mimi, for presenting Nick’s Bytes with such a meaningful award!

Do you remember my blogging about my pulled, strained or whatever Sartorius muscle in my right leg last Saturday? Since then I’ve taken the meds prescribed and followed he doc’s directions. By last Wednesday I believed that healing was well underway—at least I didn’t have the severe pain I had experienced when moving my leg and I could actually lift my foot off the floor when I walked.

So I had no real concern about driving to an appointment at the VA clinic yesterday. I should have! Most of the drive was on expressways, so I didn’t have to move my right leg: I was able to control my speed using the cruise control and, when merging from one expressway onto another, gearing down from 5^th gear to 3^rd gear (as I usually do when I merge at that location). My left leg, although still a problem, had no difficulty working the clutch.

However, when I left the expressway, I encountered three red lights in a row. I experience a jolt of pain as I approached the first light and tried to engage the brake. By the third light, I couldn’t lift my right leg onto the break and stopped—just barely—by putting the gear in neutral and using my left leg on the brake. When I turned into the VA parking lot, I ended up stopping the car by letting it roll up to the concrete thingie at the end of the parking space.

Then I found that I couldn’t get out of the car on my own! I couldn’t lift my right leg.  With Tasha’s help—and a lot of pain—I made it out and entered the clinic in a wheelchair that Tasha had brought from the clinic. (Thankfully, they have a couple of huge wheelchairs that I can get my obese ass into!)

After the appointment, I realized that I couldn’t safely drive home. Realistically, I probably could not even get into my CRV! Again thankfully, my home church, Salem United Church of Christ, is located next to the VA clinic and my colleague, friend and pastor, the Rev. Doug Fowler, was in his office.

Doug borrowed a huge four-door Mercury from a parishioner who lives near the church and, with Doug and Tasha’s help—and lots of pain—I was able to get into the car and out of it after Doug drove me home. I then fixed myself lunch, dragging my right leg around in that Chester Goode style —I’m a-comin’, Mr. Dillon—that I wrote about last Saturday.

I made telephone calls back to the VA and to Dr. Mike’s office for medical help. At VA I was told that they will “try” to speed up the referral for me to obtain a (large) wheelchair that was made last month. Someone will come from Dr. Mike’s office to see me at the beginning of next week, which may be a problem since I have VA medical appointments on both Monday and Tuesday.   

I then took one of the pain meds and napped with Alex for a couple of hours. After helping Alex write a blog post about how his silly hoomin bean has again hurt his leg and how the cat who owns me is taking care of me, Alex and I both retired again, this time for the night, only to get up after about three hours because of the pain in my leg.

There are some strategic plans I need to make regarding my life, my car and next week’s appointments. I need some groceries for the weekend and have no way to get them. The CRV remains in the VA parking lot since Tasha could not drive it home for me because she doesn’t know how to drive a vehicle with a standard transmission. I must arrange transportation to the two VA medical appointments I have next week.

That’s the story. I am grateful for the help of Rev. Fowler and Tasha and most thankful that I didn’t wreck my car. One must look for the good things and the humor that can usually be found within bad situations!

The Shadowbox

Bob, one of my oldest and dearest friends, has always been very observant. When he saw the above photograph, he emailed me and asked me about the shadowboxes (that I can hardly see) that are in the background. So I took the photographs below in an attempt to capture the inhabitants of the boxes. (Of course, you can click on the photos to greatly enlarge them for better viewing).