Time Slips Away

As expected, September kinda sucked - mostly due to my grandfather falling ill and winding up in the hospital again.

But October decided to top it.

Today was the burial.

What can I really say about him? Words seem inadequate. This was a man who never saw a problem he couldn't invent a way to fix. This was a man who raised four kids after losing his wife, and never gave up or walked away or hid in a bottle or a job. This was a man who served his country proudly. This was a man who taught himself how to make jewelry and build musical instruments in his retirement. This was a man who, when told he couldn't make a particular instrument a particular way, deliberately set out to do it - and succeeded. This was a man who danced well into his 80's. This was a man who had had numerous brushes with death before, when the doctors wrote him off... and came back. This was a man who endured congestive heart failure, dementia, and numerous other ailments - and still managed to hold on long enough to die on his own terms, in his own bed and not in the hospital.

Rest in peace at last, Grandpa.

Last Gasp of Summer

Today's the last day of August, widely - if not officially - considered the end of summer. I can feel fall in the shadows outside, yet another reminder that time is slipping past and the end of the year will soon be staring me in the face, demanding to know what I'd done with it.

After a fairly lazy start, it seems that August also decided to be The Month In Which Everything Happens. Two shirt logo runs, a trip to the dentist to replace a "temporary" tooth filler that had lasted since third grade, a new roof (just before the rains started), not to mention multiple outings to the nearby lake, drives to view the "super moon," a jaunt to the zoo, and a day trip to Mount Rainier National Park to visit a thousand-odd-year-old tree in the Grove of the Patriarchs.

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The cars also decided to make this an exciting month. My sister's car has an issue with the radiator tank, and the Taurus's turn signal lever needs replacing (it still works, but it won't auto-cancel, and once in a while it'll jam on me.)

It's been rather exhausting, really, but today August is finally over. Things are bound to slow down in September, right?

Right?

(Photos: Old lion statue at Woodland Park Zoo; Tree at Mount Rainier National Park; Rufous hummingbird from the back yard)

Let's Get (a) Physical!

Just another quick I'm-not-dead post...

The summer's been reasonably uneventful, except I finally went in for an actual physical today. Between that and new glasses, I can almost pretend I'm a responsible adult.

I also finally figured out (more or less) that tripod of mine; turns out it's a bit directional. But it cooperated enough for a decent shot of the supermoon. Well, decent by my standards, anyway...

Guess that about does it. I'll leave with one of my better moon shots. (Yes, that does mean I'm technically mooning you. I may pretend I'm a responsible adult, but that doesn't mean I am one...)

Interlude with Butterfly

Because it's halfway through June, and I'm killing time.

The Taurus eventually came home after a two-week stay in the shop. Technically, I should've been entitled to a federal rebate for having a catalytic converter failure before 80K miles, but they weaseled out of it on a technicality (which apparently hinged on me not knowing it was the catalytic converter failing when I took it in to the shop, and therefore not following the preferred repair chain of command.)

I also completed my annual run at Copyright Infringement Hell with a camp logo, despite them being late to contact me. (I did a logo for a second camp, too, but haven't heard back from them yet.)

The rest of my life is more or less the same as it has been for far too long. Unfortunately, change is expensive... at least, the kind of change one wants, as opposed to the kind Life likes to throw at you when it's bored and wants a few laughs.

At least the butterflies have been pretty this year.