The Good News

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

The good news is that I’m alive, even if this post is ridiculously late.  Older son grabbed me by the scruff and dragged me to doctor.

Turns out this thing I thought was con crud isn’t.  It’s massive allergy attack triggering all three auto-immune, which explains why I’m eczemy, walking like both knees are broken, and suffering asthma attack.

As best we can tell it’s set off by the paints and woodstain I’ve been using on the other house.  Now, how in heck I finish the house without killing myself is a GOOD question.  We’ll figure it out.

But we won’t figure it out today or likely tomorrow.  I’m on steroids and stuff, and the REALLY good cough syrup, which means over the next few days I’ll be quite (QUITE) loopy.  Because right now cough is a huge issue, and also that with my auto-immune flaring anything will trigger an attack, as in I tried to die at the supermarket cashier stand, wheezing and coughing my head off, because… I don’t know.  I suspect the cashier was wearing cologne, though I couldn’t (consciously) smell it.

Anyway, the good news is that I’m not dead.  I’m not even sick.  My body is just conducting an all out war on itself.

What else is new?

I’m sorry for weaseling out on post today, but I spent the entire night awake and coughing and then son frogmarched me to doctor in the dark of early morning.  So, once cough syrup takes effect I plan to go crash.

225 thoughts on “The Good News”

              1. Ooh – the dreaded “twinkle” – that’s a microaggression,dude, for people with no hands! You should, like totally provide a trigger warning for that. #TriggerBeforeTwinkle

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      1. At some point in the future he will tell his mom that in his considered and licensed opinion he recommends that he take her to consult her own doctor. But knowing our esteemed hostess, who while capable of learning a great deal, when it comes to her own health just telling her to go won’t do.

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        1. That’s why I said might. We can always hope that she…oh, hell. Who am I kidding? Getting her to do anything is like herding huns.

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    6. Yes: VERY good son! Knows his mother isn’t sufficiently skeptical of her own health when she thinks she has things she must do, willing to take action. Well done!

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    1. Oh, merciful heavens. So, Doherty distances TOR from Gallo’s comments… not distancing himself from other comments, and their problem isn’t that he’s failed to apologize for other horrible behavior, it’s that he apologized for that behavior at all. And the comments are rich, rich, rich.

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      1. Their problem is that Tom Doherty is a good man who respects everyone, expects his employees to do their job without much big boss supervision, and who is also sick at the moment (from what Mr. Wright said on his blog). He has not previously gotten in their face, so they assumed that he must be totally okay with opprobrious comments as long as they are aimed at the designated outgroups. (To be fair, many New York bosses in media and arts organizations apparently are okay with Five Minute Hates.)

        Now that they have learned that he expects and demands civilized behavior even toward the untouchables and peons of the flyover world, much less blameless Tor authors of the puppy kind… they are filled with horror. All they can do is double-down on attacking him.

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        2. From what little I’ve seen (and less that I have bothered to read) it is not so much Tor’s employees as it is those with no dog in the fight and thus eager to see blood.

          I expect churlish non-apologies from Gallo and her fellow staffers. Your employer has no right to tell you what to think, only the right to tell you that not pissing off the clientele is a condition of your continued employment.

          There are always plenty of people (and it seems they occur disproportionately among the SJW throng) eager to gather ’round and shout “Fight! Fight!” when somebody else is putting their butts on the line. It would be appropriate for Irene Gallo to say “Stand Down!” to the #standwithGallo crowd, but if she had the character, the class, the smarts to do that she wouldn’t have engaged in the toe-munchin’ that got her into this mess.

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  4. “… which means over the next few days I’ll be quite (QUITE) loopy.”

    Please wave a small flag or something so we can tell the difference.

    And good for the boy. When Deborah finally managed to drag my ass to the doctor my heart was down to 15% functionality.

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    1. And good for the boy. When Deborah finally managed to drag my ass to the doctor my heart was down to 15% functionality.

      …..geeeep?

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        1. One doesn’t start out that ill. Over time you kind of forget what well feels like.

          In my case The Spouse finally told me we WERE going to the emergency room, no ifs, ands, or buts (thankfully). Turned out I was in the process of dying from two separate causes — other than the one that we all hold in common of being alive in the first place.

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      2. My heart had expanded to about two and a half times its normal size because/and the four chambers were pushing against each other. Had to get a defibrillator implanted and I’m back up to about 30% so far. On the plus side, I can shock the cats on cool dry days now.

        I thought it was cedar pollen allergies.

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        1. Yeah, Richard, we must be related. I’m the person who once walked into ER with no detectable blood ox. As in, none registered. They said they’d never seen anyone WALK in like that. I thought I had a bad cold.

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            1. Could easily be vapor skin contact, too (I have that, fortunately just with a few things and nowhere *near* Sarah’s reaction).

              Looking at this, I think it’s probably time to see if a few Huns can be herded over there (there have to be some reasonably close, dang it, I am not) to finish things up.

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            2. We bought the house next door and the “quick remodel job” has been a full-time three year project so far… the plan is to live there and use the current (much larger) house for office-slash-storage space.

              One of the upgrades on the Project House is a new air conditioning system. Colloquially called a “mini-split”, it’s a super-high-efficiency setup with AC, heat pump, electric booster heat, remote controls, and… HEPA filtration. I’m really looking forward to that.

              I use a CPAP machine at night now. Its main purpose is “Positive Airway Pressure”, but as far as I’m concerned its biggest advantage is double-filtered air.

              When you’re allergic to almost everything, every little bit helps…

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        3. Yep, the friend I mentioned below had a defibrillator/pacemaker put in this last December, and his heart is up to 30%. If we can just keep him from killing himself, he might make it to a decent age. Shortly after he had the defibrillator installed, when he was allowed to walk around, but not lift his arm yet, he asked to ride along on a hunt with me. He was JUST going to ride in the truck, and stay in the road. Now, we were going into Hells Canyon, I about came unglued when I got about a hundred feet from the truck and looked back to see him climbing up through the bluffs behind me. Using his good arm to pull himself up, and having the other hand tucked in his pants pocket.

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      3. I have a friend who is only 24, last summer his wife came home from spending the weekend with her sister and father (estranged, first time they had spent time with their father since grade school) and took one look at him and hauled him into the hospital by the scruff of his neck. His heart was at 15%.

        It’s a good thing he spent over a week in the hospital, because that gave his wife time to calm down, so she didn’t strangle the stubborn feller.

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        2. Most illnesses affect the judgment, which is a big problem. An EMT once commented in an online discussion that it’s usually the spouse who calls.

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      1. That’s why I only get my German food from Wienerlicious!

        Never settle for less than the wurst.

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      1. You do realize that by leaving that channel on in the diner, it would represent at least an order of magnitude increase in viewership for them, don’t you?

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        1. The tapping of the gnomes under the floorboards is starting to rattle the espresso cups. I think they’ve had enough “news” for now. Maybe we should change it back to the fish tank channel. That at least pleases the cats.

          Now if I could just figure out which of the 3276 buttons on this remote – thingy I found behind the couch changes the channel. I’m pretty sure it’s not any of the red ones in the ‘launch’ section.

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          1. No, that one changes the policy of the Loxian-socialist Party on Nebulon XI. No idea why that button is on the TV remote.

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            3. You might want to take a closer look at that — of sounds as if instead of a TV remote you’ve picked up an LGBTV remote. If so, believe me: you do not want some of those channels.

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          2. Possibly my favorite line from L.Neil Smith’s “The Probability Broach”: “Fifteen hundred channels, and still nothing worth watching.”

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          1. Awwww, man — I’m so old I remember when the only thing on the Weather Channel was weather! I don’t mean that fancy-schmancy stuff like people talking about planes flying into the eyes of hurricanes; I mean pan&scan across an array of thermometers, anemometers, barometers and baristas.

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                  1. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the last Western music fan in the country. I loved the old Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies.
                    I can stand Country, but I do have a fondness for Bluegrass. It drives She Who Must Be Obeyed nuts, though, so I don’t get to listen to it very often.

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                    1. http://www.hpr.org/
                      ?

                      I like the classic western stuff, and the 80s stuff. Not so big on the new stuff that sounds like either pop or 60s rock, it…well, sounds like pop or rock, and is on the same boring stuff as most modern music. How many ways can you say “have sex with me?”
                      Classic country may have a lot of depressing songs, and cheating songs, but there are also a lot of “you’re awesome” songs, “I love you” songs, and just chipper FUN songs.

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                    2. The last Western music fan in the country?

                      Not so long as Joey the Cow Polka King, Woody Paul, Ranger Doug and Too Slim are ridin’ in the sky, carrying on the legacy of the Sons of the Pioneers! (Lawsey, ah does miss Riders Radio Theater, no longer carried by any of my local outlets of NPR — National Proletarian Radio.)

                      Have you tried Hot Club of Cowtown? Just remember, Western Swing isn’t dead, It’s Asleep at the Wheel.

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                    5. How many ways can you say “have sex with me?”

                      273 so far. If only I could find one that worked.

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                    6. The old stuff has a far higher good-great / horrid ratio, Bluegrass is usually pretty good, not what I buy often (Does Bela Fleck count as Bluegrass at all? :-/)
                      Did SWMBO hear any Mumford and Sons or the rage not long ago of Banjo “rock” bands? Twas a bit odd hearing banjo leads on New Rock stations.
                      What’s next? Maybe:

                      (I considered going instead with I Started Out With Nothing, And I Still Have Most Of It Left, but he uses a real, fully stringed guitar on that. (the shock!)

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                    7. “You don’t have to call me mister, mister,
                      The whole world calls me Hank”

                      Thanks for posting my favorite David Allan Coe song. I like Classic and 80’s country, but I like a lot of the new stuff that sounds like Southern Rock, to. But then I like Southern Rock, on the other hand, I like some pop, probably more so than I like the country that sounds like pop. Generally I don’t like music without a good beat to it, unless it is something special. I pretty much despise most soft rock, rap, and classical music (with a very few exceptions) I like stuff in about all the other genres, although I tend to identify my likes by artists rather than genre.

                      I’ve always had a soft spot for ballads, maybe it’s the storyteller in me. :)

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      1. Babylon 5, The Librarians, Dead End Express (Deliveries to the edge of the world delivery by horse pack trains, dogsled teams & Piper Cubs.) and Swamp People(LA, alligator hunters)

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        1. Gave up on NASCAR years ago. Do like short track, dirt, flat track motorcycles, speedway, ice speedway (mavtv has this), real road racing ( hey look, a small Irish village… You know what’s missing? Motorcycles blasting past the stone walls at near 200 mph) , car road racing, and whatnot.

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            1. I didn’t know that was a sport in South Africa, I thought that’s just how everyone drove all the time… :)

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                1. I had a friend who rally raced (officially, he drove that way all the time) he told me that the actor who played McGyver started carrying duct tape and wire (the rally racers semi-official repair kit) shortly after he started rally racing.

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                  1. that reminds me, I need to refill my safety wire bottle in my tank bag. I keep a small set of safety wire pliers in the bag as well.
                    I carry duck/duct tape wrapped around a credit card sized medical card in my wallet (Actually I think it is Gorilla. I ran out of Gaffer’s).
                    Used a bit of it, and the rest of the wire while camping last weekend when one of my tent poles started to split.

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  8. The good news is that I’m alive, even if this post is ridiculously late. Older son grabbed me by the scruff and dragged me to doctor.

    *stops feeling silly about checking to see if any of the Hoyt family had said anything this morning*

    I suspect the cashier was wearing cologne, though I couldn’t (consciously) smell it.

    This will sound odd, but I’ve found it in others who have mold/house dust issues— did you get exposed to any heavy pot smokers shortly before? Seems to be about a half-hour lag between someone who isn’t stuffed up smelling it and having a really nasty allergy attack. (Actually how we established my husband has the allergy– he had a bad enough cold he couldn’t smell that the neighbors were smoking, but half an hour later he was dying. Needless to say, we’re not exactly ecstatic about recreational pot use being legalized in WA.)

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    1. I’m not exactly sure one way or another if scents can give me migraines, but one time that I got hit with a migraine, my wife noticed a couple of students with heavy perfume just outside my office door. I hadn’t noticed a thing, though…

      I have the impression that the scents that might give me migraines are also scents that I don’t notice…which makes identifying triggers maddeningly difficult. (That, and only getting migraines only about three or four times a year…and you’d *think* that not having anything identifiable as a migraine for the last couple of years would give me comfort…but there’s always this certain fear in the background that I’ll get wacked…although sometimes I’m stressed and tired enough that I *hope* I get wacked, so I could have an excuse to go home and lie down in a dark bedroom for a period, even if I have to suffer in misery during that time…)

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      1. It’s possible that there are multiple pre-triggers that have to happen before the final trigger, too.

        Yeah, incredibly hard to identify anything, and not knowing…. almost makes you sympathetic for the old witch hunts.

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  9. Well, you’re not alone on causing yourself problems working on the old house to sell:

    Sunday, I used a belt sander to smooth out the bumps in the stuff I laid down on top of the particle board in the second bathroom, to cover up the rough surface. However, I can’t really work on my knees right now, so I did it bending over from a standing position. My sciatic nerve did not like this one bit, and told me so in no uncertain terms a couple of hours later. It’s also been continuing to complain about its poor treatment at night when I try to go to bed, so I haven’t been able to sleep but a few hours per night.

    Stupid. I should know better.

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      1. Really sorry about your auto-immune problems–I’m dealing with several of them, along with a few other unpleasant conditions. But we women are tough, and accepting while we deal with the consequences and try to make our lives better. (Although I guess sometimes it’s good to have a loved one “take you by the scruff of the neck” and get you to a doctor.)

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      1. It’s all about the stretches, trust me. I’ve had to deal with a pinched sciatic ever since my brother in law bent me over backward while carrying a sofa down the stairs.

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    1. Fluffy approves.

      (When the dragon wants to be called Fluffy, no one felt up to explaining that Scaly would be more suitable.)

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      1. Current science suggests feathers, not scales.

        One wonders what those feathers’ appearance might be.

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          2. If they had it so right, why did I have to keep paying my bills after the 2012 Winter Equinox?

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            1. Because the *real* meaning of the end of that calendar was “time to create a new calendar”. [Very Big Grin]

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              1. What happens at the end of the calendar in every culture in the world? Throw party, hang up new calendar. I want to know why there wasn’t a big party from all the people fussing about that calendar.

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                1. I could give a humorous answer (or try) but I dislike what I see as the reason for the fuss.

                  IMO it’s related to the “Noble Savage” idiocy.

                  Just as some people apparently believe that “life was better before civilization”, there are people who believe that we lost some mystical knowledge/abilities when we became civilized.

                  Of course, it can be related to the dislike/hatred of Western Civilization.

                  Thus non-Western cultures have mystical knowledge/abilities that Western culture has either lost or never had.

                  In some fantasies I’ve read, the Celts had mystical abilities that the Romans lacked. One story had a Celtic Bard “lose” his mystical abilities when he entered a Roman built town.

                  We get these fantasy/horror novels where American Indians has these “special powers” and when non-Indian Americans have trouble with “Indian curses” they have to find the “local” medicine man to help them out.

                  We get these stories where Asians/African have mystical powers that Westerners “can’t match” and need a Asian “mystic” or African witch doctor to help them out.

                  Now some authors can make those stories work and I’ll accept the idea in a story but I get pissed off when people believe this nonsense.

                  Like the idea that the Mayans actually knew when the end of the world would happen so we have to run around scared because the Mayans “were correct”.

                  Hey! Where Did This Soap Box Come From!!! [Very Big Grin]

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                  1. No argument here. Those stories irritate me all the more because they almost never make use of the one REAL ‘advantage’ that I’ve heard of.

                    My dad’s family has been in Korea since 1885ish, missionaries. And my Great-Grandfather observed that the converted locals were better at casting out evil spirits than the Europeans. Why? The locals actually believed there were evil spirits there to cast out. Yet that kind of thing is rarely addressed, much less addressed well.

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                  2. So you don’t like racist fiction? I’m shocked, shocked.

                    There is in every human heart a longing for Romance, for Fantasy, and a rejection of Logic. Unhappily for us, Western Civilization has driven the romance out of science (because scientists apparently aren’t up with current fashion trends) and turned to myth in its stead.

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                    2. The soap boxes also “ambush” people here. Somebody’s reading a post and the soap boxes get under their feet so the person has to “make a speech” on some subject. [Very Big Grin]

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                  4. *grin* I’m actually working on a world that uses this, and justifies it– via the honored method of paying attention to the source material and just phrasing it so people can maybe get it.

                    Hint: the thing most of these things miss is the cost of all that mystical stuff. Like having to worry about offending this or that spirit, or just having a random ax-crazy Power decide you look yummy.

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                    1. Look forward to it. [Smile]

                      As for your “hint”, I’m reminded of a C. S. Lewis comment that a certain place near where he lived had a ghost and a fairy.

                      People avoided the place because of the fairy.

                      The “Good Folk” weren’t called that because they were “Good”. [Smile]

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                    3. Bingo.

                      Main reason I’m being obscure is because I haven’t done enough research to synthesize a Grand Unified Theory of Fairies.

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                    4. Yep. Oh, the Percy Jackson novels’ usage is straight from the ancient Greek usage. [Smile]

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                    5. Ah, yes, I’ve wrestled with the Grand Unified Theory myself.

                      The problem is

                      I’ve read a work with the Good Folk, and it had kitsune in it, and they were vulnerable to cold iron, and I twitched, because of course the kitsune are vulnerable to virtuous government officials, and have other difference. (Less fairy gold — more stolen goods for instance)

                      I’ve read a work with the Good Folk and it had satyrs and centaurs in it, and they were not vulnerable to cold iron, or to church bells, and I twitched, because the effect was even more random than if the vulnerabilities had been rolled up on a D&D table.

                      It’s a problem.

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                    6. Butcher has attempted to address this element with his recognition of various “Courts” of the supernatural realm. While his Faerie Courts are (largely, so far) the traditional English ones, his Vampire Courts have “explained” the vampiric styles of Dracula, Nosferatu and Succubi/Whatever the other is.

                      I m curious to see what Dresden does if he runs into some of the Asian mythologies or up against one of the djinn. (Harry Dresden and the Magical Lamp?)

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                    7. One of the shorts in the Dresden universe had the Fomorians show up as the bad guys.

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                    8. Dresden also made what I think is the mistake of getting metaphysical. Needs a higher level of consistency on that plane.

                      Also, we have the Winter Court and the Summer Court. These have a deep metaphysical purpose — and I’m thinking, What happens in Australia?

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                    9. The Dresden files are actually part of what got me to pay attention– specifically, the big honkin’ hole where Christianity would fit, if it were being treated similarly to all the rest. It had to be removed, because it’s frankly too explosive for the kind of story he’s telling and especially for the audience. Frankly, Christianity (and what I know of the Jewish faith) is a game-breaker, mostly because all the power is in one Being, not a bunch of competing interests.

                      I do not intend to try to appeal to that large of an audience, so I have it a lot easier.

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              2. Head Mayan Mathematician: “The Emperor wants us to calculate another long count for the monument.”
                Assistant: “D*mn that’s a lot of work. Pity we can’t say the world ends or something.”
                Head Mathemetician: “Wait a minute, I think you’re onto something.”

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            1. I remember those birds. (No, I’m not that old, I remember reading about them.) [Grin]

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        4. Well, not all Dragons have feathers but some that do have very sharp feathers. [Dragon Grin]

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      2. Said dragon ordered a pink leather dog collar, labelled Fluffy, off Etsy. Four inches wide, six feet long. I don’t know who made that dragon-sized mouse, and don’t know how Fluffy keeps filling the paypal account, but i’ll keep openign the boxes…

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        1. What does Fluffy like for snack? I’m probably going nto cater a birtyhday party for some (True Dragon) dragonets. kindergarten age. I refuse to take them to Chucky E Cheese.

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          1. Well, the virgins were causing indigestion, the knights we causing gum damage (the armor was sticking in the teeth) but bbq seems to sate (but, instead of whole hog, it is whole beef … herd, whole herd)

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              1. Yes, that’s why Fluffy prefers the caramels, which do. The “r” adds flavor, I’m given to understand.

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  11. Best wishes on a speedy recovery. I don’t have allergies anywhere near that severe, but they can be bad enough I totally sympathize.

    Total non sequitur (or at least tangent): I first read “I’m on steroids” as “I’m on asteroids” and while I hope the steroids work wonders, I have a feeling being out among the asteroids would be more exciting.

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    1. “I have a feeling being out among the asteroids would be more exciting.”

      But probably wouldn’t facilitate her breathing.

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  13. You didn’t weasel out of a post, I just read one. Life as a head of household/mom/wife is an acceptable topic. Take some time off from killing yourself to regain your strength. I understand (I have a wife too.)

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  15. Sarah, are you on the auto-immune protocol diet? Juniper and I just started on it about a week and a half ago, and I’m already starting to feel better — should have done it a long time ago. (We have, between us, seven or more auto-immune diseases — she has lupus, celiac, autism, and vitiligo; I have celiac, psoriasis, arthritis, sjogrens syndrome, and probably fibromyalgia. Add weight and blood-sugar issues to the list….)

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      1. I’ll pass that on to my wife. Since the dermatologists are batting zero she’d probably try anything.

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        1. Yeah. That’s where I was. Then read in a forum that someone had issues with sugars and carbs and voila. it controls it. Though I have to be super-low-carb and say too much milk will tear it.

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  16. So, once cough syrup takes effect I plan to go crash.

    Sure, that’s what you think now, but tomorrow you’ll wake up and discover Stories You Have No Memory Of Writing!!!

    Just make them short. No typing up a novel in your sleep. We want our Evil but Beautiful Space Princess of Evil authoress healthy.

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      1. I think that before Burroughs usage it was employed by Sam Coleridge.

        Sarah: don’t answer the door!

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      2. Stephen King admitted that he had no memory of writing a couple of his books. IIRC that had to do with something much stronger than cough syrup then.

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        1. no memory of picking the story items out of a hat and lining them up together? Sorry, that’s every book if his since the mid-90s isn’t it?

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          1. Yeah, but he was talking about something else. Apparently he had a pretty terrible coke habit in the early 80s. I’d have to reread On Writing again to remember which two but basically he spent the entire time he wrote the books high.

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    1. There was an article last week on Fox News, I think, about scientists having grown an entire rat’s arm in the lab. So, we’re close on that front. Now we just need to work on the brain transplant part…

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      3. They were recently talking about doing the first head transplant – somehow, I thought it as more of a body transplant for the head.

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        1. Agreed — calling it a Head Transplant is just soooo cranionormative!

          Besides, naval plumbers have been doing head transplants for centuries.

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      1. Cyborg Sarah?

        Wouldn’t it be simpler to just upload her consciousness into a computer?

        If we did, would she be able to roam the internet? Would she be malware or the ultimate anti-virus?

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        1. Download her into an android body which looks perfectly human. Call her SarahData. [Grin]

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          1. SarahData SarahData SarahData
            ret set set.
            SarahData SarahData SarahData
            ret set set.
            Adooooooray-oh, a dore-ay boom day oh,
            a door-ay boom day ret set set,
            ah-say postay oh.

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        2. Now I have an image of Sarah using a cyborg body that looks like Motoko Kusanagi…

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  18. I was kind of wondering how you would be able to paint and stuff. I am also allergic to certain smells (paint, perfume, etc). Understand. I also have been on massive dosages of steroids. Get better.

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    1. Set up a buy Sarah house finishers fund. We’ll donate, they’ll paint and clean. Rest and get better.

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            1. Sorry — this is a Constitutional Monarchy: the Kingdom of Hoyt.* You cannot take the Fifth here.

              *Not to be confused with the Kingdom of Payne.

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              1. But you can certainly take *a* fifth…

                Sarah, again, rest up, get better, take as much time as you need.

                But do put the men to work – at least on the carp trebuchet. PLEASE!

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  22. I hope you at least found your kindle.

    And as far as “weaseling out” on a post… just think of all the time you’re saving us by letting us START with the tangential threads, instead of having to try to at least start on-topic.

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  23. Don’t know if this applies in your situation but: After a year of job hunting after being laid off, I got an out-of-state offer – if I could start the next week. Wife stayed behind to get the house fixed up for sale. During that time the housing bubble popped. We’d have been better off selling as-is. YMMV.
    Meanwhile, please continue to let yourself get better – you don’t need to do it all yourself, that’s why other people were invented :)

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  24. ” Now, how in heck I finish the house without killing myself is a GOOD question. ” Sons and Husbands doing the work while you sit outside in the shade with a cool drink and a book recovering LOL

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  26. “So, once cough syrup takes effect I plan to go crash.”

    Don’t you know you are NOT supposed to drive or operate heavy machinery, after taking that stuff?

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    1. I think it’s okay, if you’re planning to crash anyway. It’s only if you DON’T want to have an accident that you shouldn’t drive.

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    2. Nor light-, lighter-than-air- or anti-gravity-machinery.

      Also no teleport/transmat/transporters.

      Also, lasers are right out.

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        1. And no locking yourself in the engine room, shutting down the warp drive, and singing “I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen” over and over and over again on the intercom.

          But if you want to say ice cream will be served with every meal, that’s okay.

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              1. Ooh… threw me a curve ball (I had to look up who you were referring to, since I have not seen any of the Austin Powers movies end to end). I was expecting to be told not to call you Shirley. :-)

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  27. As happy as we all are that “our” Sarah is getting much needed medical attention (having proven that if you are sick long enough you can forget what “well” is) it is worth pausing and taking note of the passing of a delightful entertainer:


    Sir Christopher Lee, a Prince of an Actor, R.I.P.
    By John Fund — June 11, 2015
    Chrisopher Lee’s acting — and singing — career spanned 65 years. He was a James Bond villain (The Man with the Golden Gun). He was Count Dooku in the Star Wars films. He was Saruman in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. He was Sherlock Holmes. He was a master of Hammer Studio B-horror films. He acted until just before his death this weekend at age 93, racking up a total of 270 film roles.

    He had other talents. He bravely served his country during World War II as a spy in Europe. But he never talked about his exploits:

    When people say to me, you know, were you in this? Were you in that? Did you work in this? Did you work in that? I always used to say “Can you keep a secret?” And they would say “Yes, yes” and I would say “So can I.”

    He was a trained opera singer. He issued an album of Yuletide songs. He even issued his first heavy-metal album at the age of 90.

    He was also a proud Conservative, who counted British Tory leaders such as Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith as personal friends. He once complained that “in Britain, any degree of success is met with envy and resentment.”

    When it came to his own career, Lee’s success was sweeping enough to have in theory brought with it an ocean of envy. Except that he was such a gentleman that it’s difficult to find anyone who disliked him. All in all, a man who honored us and his profession with his manifold talents.

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      1. Have you seen what being inside one of those does to you hair? Our BBESP would become the Beautiful But Evil-Tempered Space Princess, and then all the minions, Hoydens, and Huns better duck and run!

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            1. I’ve found that looking innocent and pointing at someone else nearby as the culprit has been more successful than running. Especially if she’s armed.

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  29. Take care young Portagee. Your continued ill health is and will continue to be a matter of great concern to all your loyal followers.
    If nothing else, I’m sure 770 is reporting this and all the anti puppies are popping a few corks in celebration. Let us endeavor to piss on that parade. Your job is to get well and disappoint them.
    It’s only two weeks to Liberty you know, and the Hoyts are major players.

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  31. 100% understandable. Writing while sick and/or tired is a bit like trying to force cornstarch and water through a funnel: slow, laborious, and likely to take just as long if not longer if you sit and force things.

    Take some time, get better, and let yourself get back up to snuff. Sometimes patience is the proper path.

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  32. Oh, good Lord. Sarah, you know every time you’re four hours late on the blog I assume you’re at death’s door. And sometimes I’m darn near right. Pay attention to your medical student Doc son from now on, he’s a great resource for someone with your health problems.

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