Roderick, do you blog? Where may I read your writing

Saturday, my husband flew back to Seattle, while I traveled back to the Ottawa Valley. I’m spending another week with my father. This summer, I hope to get him to travel out west. Travel is emotional for him. I can only l speculate what is behind this.

About ten years ago, when mom was early in her dementia, she developed many phobias around travel. So they decided to stop. Mom passed away almost two years ago. Dad is still healthy and mobile, though increasing lonely. A little trip may do him good.

Happy New Years all! Toronto may be cold and snowy, but we have many friends here and are enjoying our time. 

 Lately, my posts have been a dump of facts. 

Tommy’s post has me thinking… https://bricks-on-the-red.blogspot.com/2025/12/thinking-of-future-and-good-thoughts-of.html?m=1

What is the end game of this blog? I don’t have many readers. It certainly earns no money. So why write?

I’ve always kept a journal, then 25 years ago blogs became a thing. I was deeply involved in the dot com bubble at that point and thought why not? I moved my journaling online and in a fit of madness made it public. Now we are here.

Why continue?

First, to write. It helps me collect and clarify my thoughts. It also helps me remember. These are all good reasons.

Also, I’ve found a few readers over the years, other bloggers really. Staying in touch with them is worth it.

It is disconcerting when a blogger stops writing. It’s like an old acquaintance has just vanished. I can’t blame them for not keeping on, but a good bye would be nice.

It’s been a busy week. We have started our holiday week of coffee, treats and visiting. 

Christmas eve we hosted a large dinner gathering. There were more extras than expected, including a crew from a treatment center.  We ended up with double the attendees than planned for. Still there was plenty of food.

Christmas we had dinner with my mother in law. Afterwards, we met up with C2 and gave him all the leftovers from Christmas eve. Not sure what he plans for them, though I have seen him feed his local homeless.

The 26th we flew out to the Ottawa Valley. There was a large snow storm after the first leg of the trip, so our travel plans to the valley were delayed by half a day.

We arrived by mid day on the 27th and went right to my uncle’s 95th birthday party. Relatives from all over drove up.  It was great to catch up with everyone. More pie and squares. 

My uncle is doing very well for 95. I hope to be like him.

Sunday was church. The church continues to get older and smaller. More coffee, more treats, more catching up. 

Last night, we brought dinner over to Allen and Evan's place. Evan is very sentimental right now. He cries easily. He gushes often. He thinks it's a combination of the pain killers and the emotional recovery after life saving surgery. 

Evan showed us his scar. It's massive. It starts where his ribcage meets his spin, goes along the ribcage to the sternum and then down from the sternum to his navel. 

There but for the grace of God go I.

I am baby sitting baby Huff tonight. I am reminded how much patience parents must have and how little I know of infants. Baby was crying at the top of her lungs for many minutes. I tried many things to help her to calm down. Nothing worked. Then I ignored her for 30 seconds to gather my thoughts. Baby conked out and has been sleeping peacefully since. 

Later Huff and I discussed. She can tell the difference between cries of hunger or exhaustion, but readily admitted that it is not easy for others. Entertaining baby can help with crying, unless she is tired, in which case play over stimulates her. Huff also reminded me that Baby takes emotional queues from those around her. If I look worried then Baby will copy that. To hammer her point home, Huff looked over at Baby with a bright and happy face. Baby instantly responded with her own smiles and laughter.

Evan is home from the hospital. All things considered, he is recovering well. 

Saturday evening was dinner with friends. These friends are dipping their toes into vacations that are clothing optional or party friendly. For example, they recently went on a cruise with a right light district. 

My husband and I had a good discussion afterwards. We have an unusual number of acquaintances that are  either in AA or on Only Fans We aren't interested in going down that path though it can be good dinner conversation to hear the adventures of others. 

 Tommy wrote...

Acts of Kindness are the building blocks that we, as a Caring Population, must have to survive this period that our Nation is going through. Thank You for posting !!!

The vet called my husband and reported that the dog has been returned to his rightful owner. We did not receive a thank you from its owner which miffed my husband and prompted a discussion which matched Tommy's comment. 

Continue to be kind to each other. Don't assume that minor ingratitudes mean anything-- never attribute to malice that which can be caused by stupidity. There are many reasons for a thank you to be missed-- they may be embarrassed or felt awkward from loosing their dog. They may have sent a child to pick up the dog who was not self aware enough to reach out. They may have had other urgent issues to deal with. None of this should be a reason to assume the worst and to be unkind in the future. 

That, and remember to say thank you. 

Evan is doing very well. He is upbeat, though he is on pain killers. He'll be a few more days in the ICU.

My M-I-L is home, but struggling. Her edema is not going away.

The rain has returned, another atmospheric river.  Our neighborhood is OK, though floods, mudslides and breached levees have happened closer to our neighborhood. A nearby six mile stretch of highway was closed for a day, adding much time to our tenant's commute.

This morning, we came across a stray dog. The dog was frantically pacing around, running from house to house. My husband lured the dog into our yard with some treats. There we fed and watered him. After that he greatly calmed down. He was a big, well behaved dog. 

My husband walked the dog to a nearby vet and checked that the dog was chipped. The vet has reached out to the chip company and is keeping the dog until they receive an answer. I hope they track down the owner. 

For the past week, it's been raining heavily. There are flood warnings for the outlying areas. There have also been landslides-- one over the interstate has hit the news. We are fine, though we have to stay cooped up in our house. The dogs have are restless as we can't take them for longer walks.

My M-I-L is out of the hospital and is slowly recovering at home.  

But that is not the main drama in our life. Evan discovered he had an aortic aneurysm. Evan had been having unexplainable stomach pains so his doctor arranged for a scan. Evan was immediately sent to the hospital after the doctor saw the result. They quickly schedule a surgery to remove the aneurysm-- a 13 hour process. 

Today Evan is recovering well. The prognosis is good. The surgeon said Evan was one of the youngest and healthiest he has seen have this surgery. He will spend a week more in the hospital and six or seven weeks recovering at home. 

My M-I-L is still the hospital. Her vitals have not yet returned to normal. The treatment for one problem exacerbates another. She is certainly fiery in her dealings with the hospital staff. 

My brother in law and I were discussing her situation. I quipped "Do not go gently into that good night." He laughed and nodded.

Saturday has been a long day at our house. The film crew arrived for set up by 6:30am. Filming started by 9:00. Aside from the actual interviews, they also filmed much for quick cut aways-- half a dozen angles of my husband packing his suit case, him looking at photos, him chatting about the great work is team is doing while I smile, nod and sip coffee. 

I'm serous about the sip coffee part. We did a dozen takes. They replaced my mug with every take to make sure it was nice and steamy. 

It's all fun.

 

My mother-in-law is still recovering in the hospital. We are taking care of her dog until she returns home. 

News about my husband-- he is a speaker in a documentary and it is not a small production. A film crew of about eight people spent the first part of the week with him in Alaska, checking out and filming at various locations up there.

This morning, the film crew were at our house,  scoping out the light, sound and views from different rooms. They'll return Saturday morning at 6 am to set up and film the interview. I'm playing the part of "Supportive husband who sits by interviewee." They've asked me to wear warm colors. 

 

My mother-in-law had her surgery yesterday. While there were some problems along the way, and it took much longer than anticipated, the surgeon was successful. The stent was inserted. 

She spent the night recovering in the hospital. This morning she ate without pain.

We hosted a dozen people for Thanksgiving. It turned out well. The notable absence was my mother-in-law who has been in constant pian

She’d been contemplating a medical procedure for some time: a stent to address constant, severe pain. Her heart and breathing aren't strong enough to make her an ideal candidate. For her the pain outweighed the risk.

The procedure happened on Friday and didn't go as planned. They couldn’t place the stent and she required emergency surgery to restore proper blood flow. It was a terrifying few hours. 

She is stable now. We're picking her up to take her home while the surgeon and doctor consult. They plan to try a slightly different approach in a few days.

What of my job?

Over the past few months, a new company president and executive churn has made something clear-- my business org, while valuable, is no longer a strategic area of investment. My job then changes. I can either align with the new plan, or fight for every dollar while my org is nickel and dimed to death.  I'm not interested in these discussions. At heart, I'm an engineer who is good at getting others to work together. My career grew from that core. I have never had a passion to debate budgets and corporate strategies. 

I've decided I'm leaving after the midterm elections next year. Maybe it's a retirement. Maybe it's some time off before I transition to something else.

With that decision made, my interest in my job has dropped. I'm still doing the day-to-day tasks. But I've stopped seeking out and participating in the larger discussions. What's left of the work swings between boredom and stress. 

I'm wondering if the executives will even notice? The executive churn has caused the executives to disengage. As long as the revenue keeps coming in and unless there is an emergency, they may not even be aware. There are fires elsewhere in the company and it's sucking up their time.