The hope and heartbreak of a missing cat

Friday was a morbid day. Sandy and I each stole frequent glances out the window, hoping for a miracle. We left the front door open and often wandered onto the porch and called his name in that sing-song tone of endearment.

No response. Nothing. It was heartbreaking.

Thursday night as we were settling down on the couch to watch a movie, Sandy let our two cats out to do their business.

“We need to remember to let them back in before we go to bed,” she said.

After the movie we let the dogs out and Jack Jack, the eldest of our two cats, came in. He was followed by the dogs. But Gizmo was nowhere to be seen. We didn’t think much about it, as he occasionally stays out all night. Friday morning, however, he was not at the door waiting to come in like he usually is.

This worried us, especially since temperatures dropped into the 30s that night. Gizmo is declawed and we live in the country with all kinds of wildlife around and big neighborhood dogs that roam our property. Throughout the day we took turns searching for him. We called him. Sandy shook the cat treat container. Nothing. No sign of Gizmo anywhere. I did some yardwork to keep me outdoors in hopes of finding him.

I made up a couple of Lost Cat posters and put them up on the row of mailboxes at the entrance to our neighborhood. I went on social media and made pleas for his safe return should anyone find him. We prayed to God to bring him back to us.

Sandy was working from home. Frequently Gizmo would hop into her lap and be her work buddy. Sandy was crestfallen and looked forlorn without him. We were worried and the longer the day went the more the hope for a return started to cross over to bracing ourselves for the inevitable recovery of his body and the loss of a beloved pet.

We tried all day to be optimistic, but the “what ifs” hammered us relentlessly. As night came, we went to bed with unspoken words lodged in our throats and pessimism creeping into our dreams. I secretly kept telling myself to stop worrying so much because it was just a cat. I knew I was wrong about that. Pets are like family and losing Gizmo was painful.

Saturday morning came and once again it had been a cold night. We had work to do on the porch, including building a handrail for the steps and moving boxes to storage or into the house to be unpacked. The work kept us busy and took our minds off of Gizmo. OK, that’s not totally true. We were always glancing around, still hoping for some sign of the little gray furball.

Early in the afternoon Sandy went over by our detached garage. She thought she heard a faint meow. She called Gizmo’s name and heard more meowing. Our hopes rose as she looked around calling his name. She could hear a cat, but couldn’t see it. Then she looked up. There was Gizmo perched on a large tree branch about 30-plus feet up!

I drove the pickup truck under the branch and put up the ladder in the truck bed. That was no good. We were still about 15 feet away from him. On top of that, he peed on us. As we went after him, he started roaming the branches, getting higher and further away. Sandy was able to coax him back down to the original branch while I got our neighbor to bring over his extension ladder. He held it as I gingerly made the climb. By the time I got up there, 30 feet became 40 or 50 in my mind.

When I got to the branch I was as scared as the cat. I’m not normally afraid of heights, but with unsure footing and a long drop, my heart was pounding. Gizmo had moved a few feet out and I couldn’t reach him. Finally, Sandy got the garden hose and sprayed him. That did it. Gizmo started crawling toward me. And then he started past me as I kept my precarious grip on the ladder.

Sensing this was my best opportunity, I reached across my body and snagged him by the scruff of his neck. I pulled him to me and held onto to him and the ladder for dear life. His back claws dug into my chest as he struggled to free himself from my tight grasp. I very slowly backed down the ladder and deposited Gizmo into Sandy’s waiting arms. She immediately took him into the house and gave him food and water. I repeatedly thanked Juan, our neighbor, for coming to the rescue with the ladder while my pulse returned to normal.

We thanked God for answering our prayer. We annoyed the heck out of the cat loving on him. I updated posts on social media and took down the posters. The morbidity of Friday morphed into the dawn of a new day on Saturday and all was right with the world. At least our little corner of the world. And at the time of this writing, Gizmo has shown no interest at all in going outside.

That reminds me, I really need to clean the litter box. He made up for lost time in there.

Bleeding hearts bleed the best

Monday morning, I reported to the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in College Station to donate blood.

I’ve been donating blood since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. Up to that point I had been thinking about donating. That was the impetus to get me to do it. I wish I could say I’ve been a regular donor since then. I started out donating as often as I could, but life gets in the way. Work, moves, illness, and travel have caused me to miss quite a bit. I even had a year deferral once due to travel outside of an area they consider safe.

The thing is, there is a growing need for blood donors. The Greater Houston Metro Area is served by Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center and needs an average of 1,000 donations per day. In the United States, only 37% of the population is eligible to donate and only 10% do annually. Most of those are whole blood donations and can be done at a mobile blood drive or in a donation center.

I usually go to a center where I can schedule my time and the type of donation I want to do. I usually tell them to “take whatever you need.” That almost always turns out to be platelets and red blood cells.

In addition to whole blood, donors can give red blood cells, platelets, and/or plasma. Platelets are in high demand for cancer patients and those undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Because the body quickly replenishes them, you can donate more often than you can with whole blood.

Since 9/11 I have personally seen the need for blood donations through cancer fights and other medical issues with close family and friends. Seeing that impact up close has convinced me that I will be a blood donor as long as my body lets me. Trust me, the minor inconvenience of making a blood donation pales in comparison to the satisfaction of helping save lives.

If you feel compelled to donate blood, or if you’re a donor who just needed a reminder, you can go to www.giveblood.org (or search for your nearest blood center) and schedule an appointment or locate a convenient blood drive. Who knows, the life you help save could be yours or someone you know.

 

Fighting cancer

Another way you can help save lives is by donating money to the American Cancer Society. This is an organization very near and dear to my heart. Many years ago I used to participate in its signature fundraising event called Relay for Life – a couple times as a team captain. I am now engaged in a fundraiser on Facebook called the Photo a Day Challenge. The idea is to register on their page and then post a picture each day in November to help draw people’s attention to the worthy cause of fighting cancer. If you’d like to help, look me up on Facebook and click on my donation link.

Most of us are aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and November is Movember, or no-shave November where men grow a mustache and raise money for men’s health issues, including prostate and testicular cancer. To learn more, visit us.movember.com.

When it comes to fighting cancer, I am fully engaged in the battle. I have had three basal cell skin cancers removed in the last couple of years, but more importantly, my wife is battling melanoma skin cancer. This is on top of numerous family members and friends who have and are battling cancer. Not all of them made it.

Cancer does not discriminate based on age, race, gender, or any other identifying factor. There are controllable factors such as smoking and exposure to sunlight and certain chemicals that impact cancer rates, but for the most part it can hit anyone anytime. It’s important to get regular checkups with your doctor. For those of us over 50 it is highly advisable to get a colonoscopy. That can reveal cancerous and precancerous polyps that are easily removed. For the women, it is strongly recommended that you get a regular mammogram, and men a prostate check.

Early detection and treatment increase your likelihood of surviving cancer. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to get checked regularly, especially as you age.

When I was working for my hometown newspaper in Longmont, Colorado, I had what I called the bleeding heart beat. I usually covered most of the fundraisers and other events related to worthy causes, such as feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, and fighting cancer. Now I’m asking you if your heart bleeds for any of these significant causes to get off the couch and get involved. Whether you can do a little or a lot, every bit helps and we need your support.

Solar eclipse a sight to see

While most of the country had at least a partial view of the annular solar eclipse last Saturday, my wife, youngest son, and I were fortunate enough to be in the path of totality.

That means we were able to see the ring of fire as the moon blocked out all but the outer ring of the sun. It was a spectacular sight, something we will remember for a long time. I was also able to get some fairly decent pictures of it. The annular solar eclipse was kind of a trial run for the total solar eclipse that will cross Texas on April 8, 2024. That’s the big one that has everyone excited about when the moon completely blocks out the sun.

Both eclipses cross right over the Hill Country communities of Fredericksburg and Kerrville. We spent the weekend with Sandy’s parents in Kerrville. There was a community party nearby and they played songs like “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Ring of Fire” during totality. Our plan is to be back in Kerrville on April 8. Our son, Colton, was in Fredericksburg over the weekend doing volunteer work with college students from church. Naturally, their monthly volunteer project just happened to be scheduled in Fredericksburg during the eclipse (wink, wink, nod, nod – and hey, why not!?)

Sandy and I are space nerds, making an effort to view the spectacular and unusual things in the celestial environment. We even run out to look at the tiny dot of the International Space Station when it flies over. Sandy’s parents are just as interested, both of them having worked at NASA during the Apollo era. The solar eclipses, however, are rare events and after April we will have to wait until Aug. 12, 2045, before another one crosses the United States.

Lunar eclipses, where the Earth casts its shadow on the moon, happen twice a year somewhere in the world. The next one happens in two weeks, but it won’t be visible here. The northeast portion of the country will get a partial view. The next lunar eclipse visible here will be on March 25, 2024.

Back in 2017 when we got to see a partial solar eclipse in Texas, we learned that the next two would be coming up, so we put them on the calendar and penciled in plans to be in Kerrville. Having a place to stay with an excellent view sure beats trying to get a hotel room or Airbnb, which have been sold out for a long time.

What we did not count on was Sandy getting surgery the day before. When she scheduled the surgery, we figured we would be on the road by mid-afternoon and she could sleep during the 4.5-hour drive from the Houston Medical Center to Kerrville. When we left the hospital at 8:45 p.m., we debated just going home and skipping the eclipse. But Sandy was a determined trooper, so we pushed on to Kerrville, getting in around 1:30 a.m. And for those asking, her surgery was a success and she is recovering very well.

I made up a makeshift filter for my camera using a special sheet of film we purchased online. It worked perfectly. I experimented with different settings and was able to figure out which ones will be best to use next time. After that, I’ll be 80 years old when the next one comes around and I’m sure the photographic technology will improve significantly by then.

Aside from natural events like eclipses, there are a lot of interesting things going on in space. It seems that SpaceX has nearly daily launches of some kind going on. Currently on the ISS, there is a woman from Sugar Land, Loral O’Hara, who is a flight engineer on the Expedition 70 crew. Sometime late next year, the Artemis 2 will be launched on an orbital mission around the moon, taking humans back there for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1973. Among the four members of the crew will be pilot Victor J. Glover. If his name seems familiar, it’s because he spoke last year in Wharton at Abell Street Church of Christ.

Glover, who was part of the four-person crew to make the first SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the space station in 2020, will become the first person of color to fly to the moon. He will be accompanied by Christina Koch, the first woman to go to the moon, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, the first non-American to go to the moon, and commander Reid Wiseman. Although they will not land on the moon, their mission will be very similar to Apollo 8, which was the first to send humans into lunar orbit.

All of this celestial activity really gets the juices flowing and makes me appreciate what a wonderful time it is to be alive to witness all of this history. I know we don’t take it for granted and hopefully you won’t either.

Have the vision to protect your hearing

 As the saying goes, growing old ain’t for sissies.

As a young man my eyesight was better than 20/20. I had great pride in my visual acuity. I could see things up close and far away with great detail. When I turned 39, I found it harder to see small detail up close. Over the years my vision got a little fuzzier whenever I tried to read or see things closer than my computer screen. Then the computer screen got fuzzy.

For the last 19 years I’ve been using readers to get by for my close-up vision. Earlier this year, however, I noticed everything getting a little out of focus. I went to the eye doctor and now I have a prescription pair of glasses. They are progressives, meaning there isn’t a sharp line separating distance vision from near vision.

I hate the things. I’m under instruction to keep wearing them so that I get used to them. That ain’t happening. I have a narrow spot where my distance vision is crisp and another one where my reading vision is nice and sharp. The spot in between and all around the edges is like looking through a fish bowl. Everything curves and distorts. My depth of field is almost nonexistent. I’m sure as I left the doctor’s office with them that I goose-stepped all the way to the car.

Too often I get frustrated, take them off and blindly plow forward without them. On or off, I have a difficult time seeing. That’s really tough for someone who prides himself as a professional photographer and a kid who had superior vision.

They say that when one of your five senses diminishes that the others become heightened. It certainly isn’t my hearing. When I was in my mid-teens, I permanently damaged my hearing through the use of shotguns and loud music. I have tinnitus, which is a continual ringing sound in my ears. The last time I experienced absolute silence was more than 40 years go. I have to protect my ears with earplugs any time I’m exposed to sound over 85 decibels. You’d be surprised at how often that is.

The natural aging process it taking its toll on what’s left of my hearing as well. I am forever asking my wife or whoever is next to me what was just said. Whenever I interview anyone for a story I record it so I can play it back later – multiple times – to make sure I heard correctly and that I get exact quotes.

When it comes to protecting your hearing, I have no problem getting on my soap box and stating my case. It hurts me to see people drilling their skulls with loud music through their ear buds. I hate going to churches where the music is amped up to unsafe levels. I’m bothered whenever I’m at a game, concert, or other place where loud noise is expected and seeing people without hearing protection.

I don’t want anyone to have to experience what I do 24/7. It’s so unnecessary. Unfortunately, most people won’t listen to me. I guess they have to experience for themselves what it’s like to have that ringing sound you often hear after a loud noise continue nonstop for the rest of their lives.

I couldn’t tell you if my senses of taste and smell have improved or not. Even if they have, they hardly make up for sight and sound. That leaves the sense of touch. Ever since we moved last summer, I have been doing a lot of hard, physical work. My body aches too much for me to know if I feel anything other than pain better than I did before my eyes and ears pooped out.

I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m not. Considering that the average age of newspaper reader is my age and older, it’s more like I’m commiserating. We may be old, but we’re not sissies. Besides, I’d rather cope with the struggles of getting older than to deal with the alternative. As a friend reminded me over the weekend, “it’s better to be seen than viewed.”

P.S. I want to wish a very happy birthday to my father, Red Southern. I love you, Dad!

Texas Renaissance Festival kicks off with Queen’s birthday party

 

The Queen and King of the Texas Renaissance Festival.

While it may be good to be the King, it’s every bit as deliciously enticing to be the Queen.

This year the Texas Renaissance Festival is honoring her majesty by celebrating her birthday during the opening weekend, Oct. 7-8, at the festival grounds in Todd Mission. I recently had an audience with her highness and she shared with me her delight at having such a recognition of her special day and explained how the celebration came to be.

“The King wanted to throw his wife a fancy celebration for her birthday,” she said. “It’s going to be a wonderful time. We want you to come out and celebrate with us. That would be the best birthday present ever!”

The celebration will be in conjunction with the traditional Oktoberfest theme which kicks off the eight-week run of the festival. Naturally, a dual celebration calls for a special drink. Brigadoon Brewery is crafting a special beer just for the occasion. They can be found left of the main entrance by the Odeon stage.

This is the 49th season for the Texas Renaissance Festival and it is the 23rd for Rosella Gonzales in her portrayal as the Queen of the Festival. Each year brings something new and different, and this year is no exception.

“The Queen’s Pantry has expanded their booths and are offering new foods, new drinks and such in that area. And we have several new vendors as well,” the Queen said.

She noted that many vendors are preparing specials to help celebrate her birthday.

“They (TRF) wanted to add something a little different that will give the vendors something to work with,” she said.

To find out exactly what, one must accompany the royals as they prepare to greet tens of thousands of guests each weekend. If you can’t make it to this weekend’s birthday celebration, don’t worry, as there will be seven more themed weekends of medieval merriment, mischief, and mayhem. Next up is 1001 Dreams weekend (Oct. 14-15), followed by Pirate Adventure (Oct. 21-22), All Hallows Eve (Oct. 28-29), Heroes and Villains (Nov. 4-5), Barbarian Invasion (Nov. 11-12), Highland Fling (Nov. 18-19), and concluding with Celtic Christmas (Nov. 24-26).

Among the highlights of the festival are the jousts, live music, stage acts, scrumptious morsels of all kinds for your dining pleasure, games, rides, escape rooms, fireworks, costuming, unique vendors, and so much more. For TRF veterans and virgins alike there will be a lot of new things to experience this year. The big thing is the Dragon Forge Experience where guests get to wield the hammer to forge their own metallic piece. Walk-ups are welcome or you can schedule a time at www.dragonforgeexperience.com/.

Although there has been camping at New Market Village for years, this year there is a Stay and Play option that includes weekend tickets and everything from rustic camping to rental RVs and luxury glamping tents. New entertainment acts include Wolgemut (pronounced Volga-moot), Opal the Fairy, and Fakespeare, a fast-paced comedy show. Many favorite vendors are back along with several new ones.

The Texas Renaissance Festival has been a big part of our lives ever since my family moved to the Houston area in 2008. Our first visit was in 2009 and we have not missed one since. My wife and three of my children have worked there before. I’ve been covering it for newspapers and look forward to it every year. We’ve also gotten to know the King and Queen, some of the knights of the joust, and a few of the other performers and shopkeepers over the years.

TRF for us is like a seasonal home away from home. Like any family, you have to take the good with the bad. Although it is a “family friendly” event with things for children there are also a lot of adult-only options. There is plenty of smoking and vaping by guests on the grounds, which for me is very annoying. Some guests tend to over imbibe, but are mostly well behaved. In the early weeks the weather can be very hot and the latter weeks pretty cold. Generally, the weather is great in Texas this time of year.

So, if you’re looking for some entertainment and adventure, a day or weekend at TRF just might be the escapism you and your family need. Come on out and maybe we’ll see you there. If you’re lucky, there may even be some birthday cake this weekend. God save the Queen!

It’s a frog gone mystery to me

Where did all the frogs go?

When we moved to our little acreage a few miles outside of Bryan/College Station, we had a little pond that was teeming with hundreds of frogs. Thanks to the drought, we eventually got a look at what lurked in the water under a thick layer of duck weed and other pond scum. The pond was shallow and full of branches, leaves, and other debris. But it was also full of frogs, tadpoles, minnows, a couple water snakes, and some goldfish that I added to help control the duck weed.

A few weeks ago we had the pond dug out to be much deeper and wider. The remaining water still held an abundance of the aforementioned wildlife. The frogs were everywhere – until they weren’t. Overnight they just vanished. The snakes, too. There are still a lot of tadpoles and fish in the water, but all the frogs are gone. And I haven’t seen the snakes either, though they tend to hide a lot better than the frogs.

There hasn’t been a die-off, as there are no dead frogs around. It reminds me of the dolphins in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. Only I don’t think space aliens came and took them away. And there was no note saying, “so long and thanks for all the fish.”

Unless someone can tell me what happens to frogs when they disappear like that, it will have to remain a mystery. I asked the question on Facebook and got a lot of answers. The one I liked best was, “They croaked.”

The nice thing about having a pond is the wildlife it attracts. We frequently have white tailed deer. One morning I got a picture of six of them standing by what will someday be the shoreline. They took turns walking down the steep bank to get a drink of water. I also see a lot of animal prints in the mud, most notably raccoon.

We’ve seen an abundance of wildlife on our property, including rabbits, squirrels, turkey, and all kinds of birds, especially cardinals. I’ve seen signs of armadillos and I’m pretty sure some fox prints (it’s hard to say for sure will all of the neighborhood dogs that run through our yard). Fortunately, we have not had any wild hogs and I have yet to see any venomous snakes, although my next door neighbor said he has a problem with copperheads.

Last week we put up a hummingbird feeder and now we have about a dozen of them buzzing around our front porch. They’re amazing little critters and so much fun to watch. On Sunday we replaced the stairs to our front porch and I found myself getting distracted watching the little birds flit about. They’re like the squirrels of the bird world.

I know that once we get a garden planted and start raising rabbits, chickens, and ducks that a lot of this wildlife we are admiring will become a nuisance, but I am determined to have the best of both worlds – farming and nature. And yes, I can already hear the farmers and gardeners laughing at me.

So far we are really enjoying the rural life. It’s hard work but very rewarding. Each evening we have the good kind of tired that comes with a feeling of accomplishment. Every day we come one baby step closer to making this place what we want it to be. Frequently we’ll have some kind of setback, but that’s part of life. You take each one in stride and move forward. Every problem we solve makes everything else that much better.

Take the porch stairs for example. We knew they would eventually have to be replaced; we just didn’t think it would be this soon. Now we have new stairs and they are solid and will last a long time. We also didn’t plan on doing so much work on the pond, but it brings a lot of value to our property. We’ve been busy cutting down dead trees. Soon we will have a lot of firewood to sell.

These aren’t the kinds of things I would have imagined us doing when I was a fulltime journalist living in the city. But here we are living the dream and making things happen. I think for now I’m going to take a break and sit on the porch watching the hummingbirds and contemplating where all the frogs went.