Cancer is a son-of-a-bitch in all its 200+ forms. Nothing is quite as terrifying as hearing the words, “You have cancer.” What the doctor says after that almost doesn’t matter. Your heart drops. A lump rises in your throat. Your brain immediately starts recalling everyone you’ve known who died from some form of the disease. What was that? The doctor said it’s treatable. Treatable with what? Chemo is a bitch. Radiation is debilitating. Surgery is invasive and sometimes scarring. Yesterday, another friend received their diagnosis, the fourth friend this year. This time, it’s breast cancer. It’s small enough that the mammogram didn’t pick it up, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less deadly, any less frightening, any less anxiety-inducing. This friend is a good twenty years younger than me. They should have plenty of life left in them, but now, looking through a different lens, everything is in question. They still have some more visits with the doctor before knowing what the immediate future holds, but I’ve promised them that when they’re ready we’ll go somewhere and tie one on because cancer damn sure isn’t something you want to face sober.
My day needed to be a quiet one after Thursday’s emotional events. Tipper wanted us to walk the dogs together. We put the pups in their harness and took off down the street. Belvedere’s harness fits well and is strong. The one Hamilton was in, though, was too small for him and concessions had to be made. Those concessions turned on us when the pups spotted a small dog in the road ahead of us. Somehow, Hamilton wiggled out of his harness and the chase was on. He didn’t hurt the small dog, just sniffed its butt, but the vision of him charging down the sidewalk was enough to turn around the woman who was walking toward us. Tipper ran after him, got him back under control, and we brought him home. I immediately ordered him a new harness that was here in time for his afternoon walk. That one went much better.
Both dogs need new leashes. I’ve ordered such. They were supposed to be here yesterday, but they’re being shipped via FedEx. FedEx is one of the many companies affected by yesterday’s global technology outage. At first, I got a message saying the package would be delivered today (Saturday). Then, I got a second message saying the package would be delivered on Monday. I could have walked to the damn pet store faster, even with my cane. And while I know FedEx technically isn’t to blame for the outage, I do blame them for being stupid enough to go with a monopolistic service provider. I blame all the companies whose services were/are affected. They took the easy way out and now it’s bit the entire world in the ass.
Belvedere woke me up at 5:00 this morning, needing to go outside. I was trying to ignore all the scratching and shaking, but when he came over and started pawing on my chest, there was little choice but to get up with him. Of course, one doesn’t just get up quietly in this house. Once one animal is up, all the animals are up and all the animals want to be fed. NOW. Try doing that without waking all the remaining humans in the house, especially Kat who didn’t sleep well last night anyway. I took the dogs out and then brought them back to the room for treats while I fed the cats. I tripped over the water bowl twice while feeding the cats. I fed the dogs while fixing coffee, which seemed to take forever this morning. By the time I finished and sat down at the desk, G’s alarm was going off.
WHY was G’s alarm going off at 5:30? Because he didn’t shut it off for the summer. He didn’t want to lose that rhythm. Of course, most mornings, when the alarm goes off he just turns it off and goes back to sleep. He’s 15. What else would one expect him to do? He’s up this morning, though, trying to be quiet while still getting things done. Unfortunately, his door makes a noise every time he goes through it. I’m not sure anyone is still asleep now. I’m pretty sure Kat’s faking it so we’ll leave her alone.
Today is the 55th anniversary of the moon landing, but yesterday NASA killed a moon rover program because it had gotten too expensive. The consequences go beyond simply making another flight to the moon. Planetary scientists were shocked by the cancellation of VIPER, which would have hunted for water at the Moon’s south pole. This sets behind research necessary to determine whether the Moon can sustain any form of habitation. You know, there are caves up there.
A lot going on this weekend. There’s a big post coming later this morning that you’ll want to read, so carve out some time. Time to get up and get moving.
Yeah, you, too.