I'm glad no one caught me on film when I drove through a Florida toll booth on Halloween night dressed in a Gumby suit.
Halloween isn't so popular in Europe, so hard to say if this is the "real" Animal, or some loser wannabe dressed up like him. Anyhow, someone resembling the muppet Animal was caught speeding in Germany.
Remi the Post-Op Wonder Dog has been dropped off at the "Hotel Dr. Hofmann" for the next couple of days while I got to Krems to teach a two-day seminar to a gathering of Greek journalists at the Danube University.
Preoccupied with a dog in pain. She had surgery Thursday afternoon/evening to repair her ACL ligament and kneecap. The surgery went well, but it's been hell since then. A lot of pain. A lot of pain. Maybe tonight will be better?
The vet called late last night(after 10) to schedule an appointment to get Remi's leg worked on once and for all. His receptionist had tried to work something out earlier in the day but all the appointments were too far off, so we agreed that the vet and I would talk together to arrange something. Remi's been hopping around on three legs for a month now and that's enough. So the end result is: he scheduled her in for today.
One of my older sisters was recently reminiscing about my arrival in the world.
She sent along some notes she jotted to my mother on that day, inexplicably scribbled onto a prescription pad.
And judging from the opening sentence, she must have assumed Mama suffered an attack of amnesia or had some sort of short term memory loss. Come to think of it, the latter rings true.
Nevertheless, I hope it was clear to all by the packaging that the memorandum had to do with a "girl" and not a "gril."
From Sarah:
"Dear Patti, I remember writing this note. We were all sitting on the living room floor with these notepads and we were sharing the family Webster's Dictionary because it had names in the back, and these were the names I picked. (I liked Trixy!!!) I remember being on my stomach with my legs up in the air as I wrote this masterpiece.
I can never look at a dictionary now without thinking of that moment. And I always look to see if it has a list of names."
Took Remi in for the ultrasound yesterday. On Friday evening she had pre-op (knee/ACL ligament) x-rays taken, just to be sure everything was good to go with the anesthesia.
The discovery was made that she had, to my complete surprise, congestive heart failure. She's only 6, but since she was poisoned with DDT when she was younger (Eastern Europe), such a thing can be a complication. But she's a Jack Russell firing with all pistons--olympian. And no apparent symptoms.
Two other vets and a doctor looked at the x-ray and came immediately to the same conclusion. But she has some sort of, I dunno, something around her. When I took her in for the ultrasound yesterday, the specialist looked once more at the x-ray. Yep, same conclusion. But when she did the ultrasound, nothing but a perfectly healthy heart and lungs appeared. An EKG also showed everything was strong and healthy.
Relieved and grateful. And thankful for answered prayers.
Meanwhile, the knee surgery can move forward. A long recuperation over the winter, but that's a piece of cake compared to what I thought was going on.
My sister sent this Piece of Cake, No Sweat affirmation from Remi (altho if you figure out what the first word says, lemme know).
Remi goes for her ultrasound tomorrow with the heart specialist. It turns out that there's some trouble along those lines and until the heart and lungs get stabilized, the vet can't do the surgery on her knee and ACL ligament. Suffice it to say, it was a horrific shock to hear that not all was right--she is a strong, active, highly athletic Jack Russell, with no apparent symptoms of heart disease. I never in a million years would have guessed. But life is tricky that way. Cuddling her helps me cope. So I'm cuddling.
I voted today.
I tucked my ballot inside the little ballot envelope. Sealed it.
Then on the other form I filled out all the personal info: Name, DOB, SS#, Passport #, Every available address.
Then I turned that over to find that it's the BACK OF THE ENVELOPE. You're supposed to wave all that personal info around for everyone to see.
Let's see --
Front side of envelope: To: Voter Registrar, USA. From: Yours Truly
Back side of envelope: Patti's name, date of birth, addresses, SS#, Passport#, bank account numbers, safe deposit box info, favorite fantasies, and for good measure, GPS info on her whereabouts (updated on the half hour).
Oh, what the hell.
One of the two Vietnamese journalists going on trial
works/worked for one of "my" newspaper in Vietnam. When I was there in June, the guy had been in jail for several weeks and had allegedly still not been allowed to see his family, much less a lawyer. He's a nice guy. A hardworking, serious reporter.
The reaction to Joerg Haider's death last night from a car accident is most pronounced, of course, in his home territory of Carinthia.
The letter in this photo, placed near the crash site, says that "you will never be forgotten," and "you are our 'Diana.'"
It's hard to see in what way it will change the political landscape, which has been in both turmoil and gridlock for ages.
The most recent election was a shocker, in large part because of Joerg Haider's far right BZO. The lesson is: never count them out.
A couple of years back, Haider left the FPO, the longstanding far right party, to form his own party (the BZO). With Haider's death, the two parties have a good chance of merging into one again. Considering that together, they got nearly 30 percent of the vote in the last national election, a single far right party might be a force to be reckoned with.
After a second opinion, which included a horrifically excruciating physical exam, it turns out that Remi will need an operation within the next few days. Her ACL ligament is completely torn and part of her kneecap is damaged.
Remi is still hobbling around on three legs. She tore the ACL ligament in her right hind leg about a week and a half ago.
Here is the good life of Austria: The other day, I ran into my friend Hans and he said he'd quit his job. The employees would now have to travel farther to work, for the same pay. Which means less pay, since there's no reimbursement for the (very expensive) gas for the (very long) trip.
I shot this image on my Mac as a still from a video I took when I was in Saigon. I think it turned out pretty good.
I wrote an essay for the Christian Science Monitor on what it's like to ride a motorbike in Saigon. It's in today's edition.
