I yield to exhaustion

This picture is from yesterday, not today. Today was sunny and I took some sunny pictures, but am too fatigued to transfer them from the camera into the computer.

Early this evening, after taking a ride in the car going nowhere but back home again, I helped Margie take a seat on the couch and prop her injured leg up on an ottoman. Then I sliced an apple and a pear into a bowl, sat down, placed the bowl between us and shared the fruit with her as we watched the local news.

It was my intent to then come out here, read through my unposted, final Inauguration entry, see if it made any sense and, if it did, post it.

But as I ate my fruit, the tabby cat Pistol-Yero climbed onto my knee and then spread himself out across my lap. I did not want to disturb him, so I stayed put as CSI-New York came on. I figured that I might as well watch it so that the cat could get some needed rest, as he had only gotten about 16 hours sleep so far today. I repeatedly closed my eyes and opened then again to see how the story had progressed and then one time I opened them only to find that the program had ended without me knowing how. For A Few Dollars More had taken its place.

The cat still dozed. I could not budge him, nor could I budge myself. So I stayed put, opening and closing my eyes until Clint Eastwood drove off in a wagon filled with the corpses of the 27 bad guys he and Lee Van Cleef had just killed.

The cat was gone, but another, the black cat, Jim, had taken its place and now snoozed soundly.

I did not want to disturb this cat either, but I knew I had to take action before The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly began, for I could not allow myself to be pulled deeper into spaghetti, but the movie began instantly, and who can get up once those images flash onto the screen, accompanied by that sound track?

Not me. No way.

And the black cat was sleeping. On my lap. There was nothing I could do but sit there and doze in and out as people murdered each other onscreen and then got justifiably killed.

My trip, and all that we have been through, has caught me. I am exhausted. Fatigued. Too exhausted to read my final inaugural post. It will have to wait.

It doesn't matter. The Inauguration is history. Even if I still remain behind, on the National Mall, as President Barack Obama is sworn into office, the world has moved beyond that glorious moment into the myriad of crisis that beset us. Part of solitary me wants to remain there forever, in the midst of two million people, because that's how wonderful it was.

So maybe I will take forever to finally post the final post. Once I put it up, the experience is truly over.

Cats meow at me, 

begging to be fed. 

I must feed them, 

and then go to bed.

I find myself all alone with Kalib - well, not quite; sorry, cats, for ever saying that - two are never alone when there are cats about

As usual on Monday and Tuesday evenings, I strapped Kalib into his car seat and then drove him and Margie to Wal-Mart, where I dropped her off to go to work.

Normally, Jacob and Lavina return home about the same time that I get back - sometimes, they even meet us at Wal-Mart and take Kalib away from his grandpa. Hey - I know that's me, isn't it? "Grandpa!"

Even though I like being a grandpa, I can't get used to hearing that word applied to me, because it sounds like a word used to describe someone old, whereas I am still young. Absolutely. I am young and I intend to stay that way, no matter how old I get.

But I digress. Tonight, his parents didn't pick Kalib up. They called to say that there had been an accident on the Parks Highway and they were stuck in traffic that moved only occassionally, and then not very far.

So when we got home, I sat Kalib on the floor and watched him as he scooted around. He often looked up at me and made walrus sounds. I wonder where he learned to do that?

I made walrus sounds right back. I learned to do it from listening to walrus, and to Eskimos, making Walrus sounds during certain motion dances, or even just when they are very happy, like when they've caught a whale.

Given what happened with Martigne, you might think it wreckless of me to let Kalib get this close to Royce, but if you knew Royce, you would know the cat is in far more danger from the toddler than the toddler is from the cat.

As much fur as Royce has, he has lost great clumps of it to Kalib's yanking hands. Royce's eyes sometimes go wide when this happens, but Royce will take a mauling from someone he loves and never strike back.

He is that kind of cat.

And he is growing old - so very old.

And no kitten will ever call him, "Grandpa." 

Sorry about that, Royce.

The culprit

Tonight, I prepared 11 photos to place in this entry, eight of them taken at Mat-Su Regional Hospital during our trip to the emergency room with my little grandson, Kalib. But it is 1:23 AM right now and I have had a busy day. I have another one ahead of me shortly.

So I will save ten of those photos for tomorrow and tonight will run only this one, taken shortly before midnight.

Yes, Martigny is the culprit who sent Kalib to the emergency room. Some may wonder why she is still here, but this is her home. Where else can she be? Plus, the whole thing was a fluke, brought about by an unfortunate event that caused Martigny to panic and lash out, not so much at Kalib but at whatever happened to be in front of her during a terrifying moment.

We are taking action to make certain that such a thing does not happen again.

I would explain, but I have to feed my tropical fish and go to bed.

I am very tired.

There are many tired people people tonight, right here in Wasilla, Alaska.

Most of them are asleep.

But I'm not.

Kalib's first birthday, part 2: The one year-old throws an insane party

On December 26 at 3:19 AM, Alaska Standard Time, Kalib Lokaa' Dine Hess, my first grandson, turned one. About 12 hours later, he was presented with his first birthday cake. Kalib did not know that he was supposed to blow out the candle, which looked to him to be something fascinating, something that he should reach out and touch.

So his mother prepared to blow it out for him.

Of course, the party did not begin with the cake.

It began with the arrival of guests, most of whom were adults - uncles and aunts, and friends of his parents. Two other little people did come, both of whom were slightly older than Kalib.

This is party-girl Bryne, Kalib's senior by three months. Sadly, she and her parents had to go to another dinner elsewhere, so she was unable to stay to the end, but Bryne was a delight while she was here.

And this is party boy Lafe, Kalib's senior by one month. Lafe just might be the strongest baby that I have ever seen and he is a real tough guy. 

He and Kalib have been buddies practically since the day Kalib was born. I think Lafe will be a good person to have as a buddy in future years.

I hope that the two don't raise too much hell together, but that they do raise just enough. For what is the life of boys if they don't raise some hell?

Hell. That's what such a life is.

Hell.

A group picture of the three tots is needed, so Dad Jacob sets about to pose them on the front-room couch. He will face greater challenges in life, I am certain.

The three tots: Kalib, Bryne and Lafe.

Can you remember when you were very small and an adult, especially a pretty woman, smiled at you and spoke in a certain kind of voice and said something that made you feel like you were very unique and special?

That is how Sarah, Bryne's mom, is causing Kalib to feel, right here.

Cake time! Lavina blows on Kalib's behalf, lays the flame down and out it goes.

Sadly, Bryne was gone by now, leaving the cake all to the boys. Left to their natural male tendencies, they made hogs of themselves.

"That's enough sugar for you," Lafe's Mom Markie says just before yanking him prematurely from the cake. "Remember what happened the last time you ate too much sugar?"

With Lafe removed, Kalib has the cake to himself. He will be hyper not only for the remainder of the day, but on and off through the night, as well.

One only gets one first birthday party. Might as well go full hog.

The adults eat their cake (cut from a second slab that no one had wallowed in). Kalib demands more.

Something has upset Lafe. Maybe a ride in Kalib's new sled will make him feel better.

When Kalib saw Lafe riding across the floor in the sled that he had received for Christmas, he came crawling across the floor about three times faster than I had ever saw him crawl before. Until this moment, I did not realize that Kalib had such a strong sense of ownership over that sled.

Kalib opens his presents.

A present lights up; Kalib reaches for the light.

Among Kalib's new presents was a frog puppet. At first he wasn't interested, but Lafe was. Then, when Kalib saw how much Lafe liked the puppet, he became interested.

Eventually, everyone had to say goodbye. Of course, this goodbye is from much earlier, when Bryne and her parents left, but I only wanted to have one goodbye here, so I saved it for now.

My dear Melanie! When she arrived at the house, the driveway was filled with vehicles, so she decided to park at the side of the road. She did not realize that the snow plow operator had drug his blade partially over the culvert, cutting flat the snow that topped it so that the culvert looked like it was the shoulder of road.

Thus, when Melanie pulled over to park, her right wheels sank through the deception and into the culvert.

Jake had to pull her out. Kalib helped hook up the car as Muzzy supervised.

See how pretty the snow is, bunched up on the spruce branches?

A big wind would arise overnight and blow it all away.

Life, right here in Wasilla, Alaska, is like that.

Click on any photo to see a larger copy.

Christmas Day, 2008, Wasilla, Alaska - post 2: we eat, give gifts, and go to the movie

We sat down to eat our Christmas dinner about 4:00 PM. Baby Kalib was in the bedroom he shares with his parents, fast asleep.

About half-way through, we heard him cry. His mom went back to get him. Everyone was pleased to see him. See the picture of Kalib on the cabinet? I took that on the day that he was born - December 26, 2007.

Guess who's going to be the big star of tomorrow's entry?

The first gift that I grabbed from under the tree was addressed to Stephanie, from Charlie. Everyone watched as she opened it. It was ear rings. After that, the gift unwrapping became a free-for-all.

Everyone cheered when baby Kalib sat down in his new sled.

I got a new pair of snowshoes. Ever since the snow stuck in early October, I have been longing to put on my cross-country skis and head into the mountains. But the doctor told me to be patient, to wait until next year. Lately, the kids heard me talking about how I was going to get my skiis out, and go, and they thought it would be safer for me to be on snowshoes.

I have a pair, somewhere, but who knows where? Maybe one of my kids borrowed them. I don't think I am in good enough shape right now to go very far on snowshoes. But I will soon go, anyway.

After the gift-giving, we went to the 7:00 PM showing of "Marley and Me" at the Wasilla theatre. I usually avoid this theatre, because the movie rooms are very small and the tiny screens cannot hold the full image, but none of us felt like driving to Anchorage or even Eagle River, so here we went.

Baby Kalib started to cry after awhile. His Dad took him out into the hall until he quieted down, then brought him back in. Soon, he started to cry again. Dad again got up, but Margie wanted him to be able to enjoy the movie, so she got up and spent the rest of it out in the hall with baby Kalib.

This is how I found them when the movie was over.

Afterward, we returned to the house and ate pumpkin chiffon pie and raspberry goup. Melanie made the pie. It was superb! Lavina whipped up the goup. It was the best goup that I have ever eaten.

I should have taken a picture, but I was too busy eating pie and goup.

note: A click will reveal a larger copy of any photo.