Cliff took his first official steps last week! He had been taking some baby steps with the aid of furniture, keeping in touch with it as he worked his way around a room, but these steps were unaided. Talking can't be too far behind. Rachel, Drew, Cliff, and PJ spent a night with us last weekend. At one point, I counted more than 40 continuous unaided steps by Cliff. Impressive! We're loving our role as grandparents!
Oscar and Rudy have been with us for nearly nine months. We feel blessed to have them sharing their lives with us. Like all of our pups before them, they've wormed their way into our hearts in a big way. We have so much love for them. I tell them they're not just loved; they're "super loved!" I often think about how they beat the odds to remain together when they were strays and found their way to us. We're grateful.
Rehab for my knee is ongoing, and I'm pleased with how far I've come, considering how difficult my recovery has been. Before my manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) on January 13th, my range of motion (ROM) was stuck at 68°. I've steadily increased that to 117°, which gives me all of the ROM I'll need for cycling and walking. After the MUA (where he got me to 130° of bend), my doctor told me I'd be doing well to maintain 110°-115°. I'm there, and I'm relieved.
I've been walking outdoors, doing a 3-mile (5-km) loop a few times a week as I work to build stamina in my knee. I get frustrated that my recovery rate hasn't been faster, but when I look back at where I was a few weeks ago, I'm encouraged by my progress. Somewhat against my better judgment, I went golfing with Steve last week at Emerald Greens, a mostly flat course. I only intended to play nine holes, and I was glad that's all I planned for. After two hours of walking the links, I was ready to return to my car and take a load off. My knee was tired and sore. I told Steve I'd wait a few weeks before trying again.
I've been wearing my new glasses for a week. I wanted to see how well the prisms (I spoke of in a recent update) in my new lenses would work to fix my issues with double vision. I couldn't be more pleased. I no longer see two TV screens while watching a program or two computer screens when using my laptop. I'm so impressed with how well they eliminated the problem. I feel stupid for not seeing an eye doctor sooner.
If it's not clear to everyone by now that our country's president is an unapologetic white nationalist, it should be. He's currently removing from our government archives any mention of remarkable achievements made by minorities throughout our nation's history. I'm talking about thousands of such references, all in the name of anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) nonsense. He was elected because people were upset about inflation, disregarding that inflation had been brought down to less than 3% and that our economy was the envy of the developed world. Thanks to his ill-proposed tariffs, our economy is beginning to show signs of contraction. The stock market has been taking a beating as well, with the DOW down by 3.5% in the last month.
The red meat of late for Trump's MAGA base is hate speech directed at transgender people. They've been singled out for his ridicule as much or more than any other group, even though transgender people account for less than 1% of the population. If this sort of divisive culture war rallying cry appeals to you, please, be better. Our democracy is on life support, but hate for transgender people is what energizes the MAGA movement. This juvenile pettiness at the expense of serious internal threats to our republic will be our undoing. (No offense to juveniles.)
I'm sad for our country as I watch an ever-entrenched oligarchy take over the reins of our government and lurch it in a direction away from working for the benefit of the people and, instead, cede more power to the wealthy—power and influence that could leave millions without healthcare or meager Social Security retirement benefits. Unless Republican politicians grow a spine, those entitlements will likely be gutted and privatized. It won't end well for many millions—many of whom make up his base.
Voice of America was established in 1942 as an anti-propaganda outlet against Axis propagandists during World War II. It continued to provide news and information in nearly 50 languages to an estimated weekly audience of more than 354 million people until last Saturday when Trump shut it down. For my conservative friends, what did you think when you learned of that? Are you okay with that? VOA is a service meant to help those living under authoritarian oppression understand actual world news and not state-run propaganda. It's no surprise that this move did make some very happy.
It wasn't enough that he turned friends and families against one another; now Trump has turned Canada against us.
Are you seeing a pattern yet? If not, please try harder.
It's Easter Sunday. In my previous life, I would have been rubbing elbows with the faithful at Hosanna this morning while listening to a condensed sermon from one of four or more services they would hold to be able to accommodate the demand of the C and E (Christmas and Easter) crowd. I used to love Hosanna—the convenience of its location, the meaning I would take away from the sermons, and the grounds (I used to mow the lawn at the church). I knew it was the right place for me at that time. I wrote about what I felt, and still feel, was a God experience the first time I attended a service there. It's an interesting read if you have the time. But it wouldn't last. Many years later, I would have a falling out with the lead pastor , and that left me disillusioned with organized religion. It's where I remain today. It too is an interesting read. I still see Easter as a time of renewal; a time to reevaluate my life and consider changes I can make to be a better person. I ...
I was on a ride yesterday when I found myself waiting for the light at the intersection of France Avenue and Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington. I was only a mile away from where I grew up from 1966 to 1975. As I sat waiting for the light, I quickly surveyed the area and noticed that there was very little left from when these were my stomping grounds. I thought to myself that I should come back to take a slow walk around and do some reminiscing. I got up this morning and drove my truck back to the same intersection to have a closer look; my camera in hand. I pulled into McDonald's parking lot and went inside. I ordered my usual: Egg McMuffin, Cinnamon Melts, and a large decaf coffee. I recalled when this McDonald's first opened in the early '70s. Before then, the nearest McDonald's was off Nicollet and I-494. Maybe once a month a couple of us would go there and bring back dinner for our family of eight. I can still remember holding the warm bags of food on my lap fo...
The first church I was a member of as an adult was Family of Christ in Lakeville. We started out as not much more than a dozen families meeting at what is now Kenwood Trail Middle School off Highway 50. That would've been in the spring of 1988. The church grew over the next few years, and we eventually built on a piece of land in an undeveloped area south of 185th Street, just east of the freeway, where it remains today. As part of the organizational process for any new church, there were formalities we needed to follow, and one of them was officially calling our pastor to the position of Pastor at Family of Christ. Dell had been serving in that capacity for about 4 years, so I assumed this was a no-brainer. But it wasn't. To my surprise, one woman stood up and expressed her dissent with the nomination. I couldn't believe it. What was Kathleen thinking? I was totally oblivious to what had been happening behind the scenes there. It would take a couple more years to fully...
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