A house without Terriers

We had to put Sparky down today. We diagnosed his bladder cancer about a month ago, although he clearly had had it for a while. The ultrasound by the vet confirmed the inoperable tumor, and we have tried to make the most of every day with him since then.

Sparky picked Scout out when we went to the Scottier breeder in TN 13 years ago. 

Scout's obituary is late because she ran away 3 weeks ago. So hard not knowing exactly what happened, but she was 15+, stone deaf and a little dotty. Sophia and I were on the dam with Sparky, and Scout went up to the house, as she was want to do when she had had enough walk time. But when we returned, she was nowhere to be found despite the red harness and 20 foot red leash. 25000 steps later, it was clear she was nowhere on the park. It seems that like our huskie, Tillicum, back here in the early 70s, she just went off by herself to die.

It will be very quiet around the house without those earth dogs. I hope a picture is worth a thousand words, because my words are not flowing well today

Sparky has killed countless snakes, many moles/voles, some rabbits, a raccoon and a possum. And tried with this turtle

He loved to Kayak. We called him the Commodore:

Scout loved snow and her Kong Frisbee

We called it a FRAP (frantic rapid action playtime). They loved living here

Thanksgiving in Pinehurst in 2008

Spoiled at the end - he was allowed on the dishwasher

His last day - at his favorite place in the world

MS Walk 2019

Not to bury the lead, you can donate to the MS walk 2019 here

We've been doing the walk for a long time.  You can read about Mary Anne's progress, and why the advances that this walk funds are important to us in these earlier posts:

MS Walk 2009

MS Walk 2010

MS Walk 2013
MS Walk 2014
MS Walk 2015

MS Walk 2016

MS Walk 2017

It's been a good year for Mary Anne since last year's walk. She went to England again for needlework, and the Royal School of needlework did their only US workshop in downtown Lexington last year. You can see some results below.

We continue to have lots of company out on the creek; life is very good.

The MS Society continues to make progress against this disease. I'm including some material you can read if you want more perspective on living with a chronic disease.

NYTimes: Five Things I Wish I’d Known Before My Chronic Illness

What do I mean when I say "She is counting her Spoons"

I wish more people understood...
What she has is not a cold or the flu. She will never get better. A nap won't help. She is not lazy but she is tired to the point of a lethargic state. She's on meds to try to make it easier to thrive and merely survive. Many people say that she's faking it or that she just needs to push through it. Well sometimes she can push through the pain and live her life, but there are days where she can't walk without having to hold on to something. Her joints hurt. Her body hurts. Her mood varies, and she is sad a lot. She tries to control her mood swings and intermittent bouts of depression. She takes her meds daily, and more vitamins than you could fathom, to help keep her up but most days nothing works.

She has an autoimmune disease.

This is to honor anyone who is fighting MS, Chronic Lyme Disease, Dermatomyositis, Lupus, Graves Disease, Scleroderma, Ulcerative Colitis, Fibromyalgia, Sjogren's syndrome, Crohn's, Sarcoidosis, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Celiac, Hashimotos Thyroiditis, PBC, CIDP, Aplastic Anemia, Psoriasis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Takayasu's Arthritis or any other autoimmune disease...

#NotAllDisabilityIsVisible
#WeAreAllFightingABattleYouCantSeedaily
#NMSS

There are a lot of diseases we need to conquer. Please donate. Let's all do what we can.

I want a new truck

Back in 1984, I was driving MA to work every day in Atlanta (in our Renault Alliance, which is a different story). We would listen to Gary McKee on 94Q, and Huey Lewis and the News had a song out I want a new drug. Gary loved to do parody songs in the morning, so when we weren´t singing the Boss´newest wo, wo, wo, my wife´s on fire, we enjoyed the lyric:

I want a new truck

I want a truck that´s blue

Fast foward several decades, and I spotted a beauty in brother-in-law Tom´s front yard

Tom goes through cars much more quickly that we do. We just sold the 2002 Lexus RX 300, but are still driving the 2010 Lexus RX 350 (affectionately called ¨the new hotness¨from the Men in Black). Well, Tom had 7 cars for two drivers, and we had one car for 2 drivers. And MA won´t let me call the Lexus a truck. So the blue truck has moved to the bluegrass

The commonwealth has agreed to send me a license plate EBEN; it just takes a while to get that and I wanted to share now.

This 1982 Jeep J10 was restored by a doctor in upstate SC. It´s a real beauty now.

Come on by and I´ll give you a ride

MS Walk 2017

Quoting my buddy Chuck, "Not too sure how long it has been since I actually sat down and put fingers to keys and felt as if I had something to add to the global blogosphere; but I decided it was time." 

Besides, it's my annual plea for funding for the MS Walk. If you care about nothing else, and just want to give money, click here.

We've been doing the walk for a long time.  You can read about Mary Anne's progress, and why the advances that this walk funds are important to us in these earlier posts:

MS Walk 2009

MS Walk 2010

MS Walk 2013
MS Walk 2014
MS Walk 2015

MS Walk 2016

There were many more walks than that, but I didn't start writing until fall of 2008.

I have been active on the MS board this year. We are beginning a five year 1 Billion dollar campaign. The goal is to eradicate MS and restore lost function. A big dream, but one we strongly share.

I have a team, but need some teammates. If you are in LEX on Satuready 4/1, please plan to walk with me. Let me know and I'll share details

Mary Anne has been doing very well. She came out with me to Pasadena, CA (where my current client is, so where I spend most of the week every other week). She walked around like a trooper. Pictures below.

Huntington Garden

Getty

Herself is doing so well that she is headed to England this spring without me. Thanks to friend Pam, they are headed to Whitby, where they will enjoy a seminar with Martha Lunt.

It's been another great year living out on the creek. We have hosted countless parties, and loved all the time with family and friends. Pictures below are from one of the highlights, Aunt Leslie's 90th birthday party.

Blog posts have been sparce - it's a busy life with all the travel. We are well. Please come see us. We thank you so much for your support.

Gruner has left us too soon

Thomas (Tom) Alexander Grunwald  1942 - 2017
Gone too soon

This blog has way too many funeral notices. Need more weddings and babies, although that is partly my fault, as the next generation is doing its part, but my compulsion to write has been driven by those we miss.

Gruner was so much a part of the family that he is in the post that is the introduction to TGP in this blog. He was a regular at our whole family July 4th gatherings.

Tommy July 4th 2006

While I clearly remember the amazing way he gave us geography lessons in 7th and 9th grade (quick, what countries are N,S,E,W of Sudan?) and the not so politically correct way he taught us about where the road to hell was really paved, what I appreciated most about Tommy was the way he continued to contribute, no matter what his position.

He showed me and wife Mary Anne and daughter Caroline around Sayre in 1994, as Caroline was beginning her stint at UK. He was so proud to limp over to buildings that weren't there when I graduated in 1979, and he was head of high school.

After moving back to KY, we enjoyed having more time with Tommy and Judy. They were at a dinner party at the house a couple of years back. We were sitting in the den, and he looked at a couple of prints on the wall. I never have thought much about those prints - they were in MA's house growing up, and she choses/places what goes on the walls at the house.  So, we were sitting there, reminiscing about who knows what, and he perks up and says - "That's the clipper ship red jacket"  He regaled us with the entire story!  1853, fast ship, etc. Who needs "OK, Google", when Tommy Grunwald is in your life?

We are all thinking about Judy, Matthew, Andrew and the rest of the Grunwald family. It's always hard to lose someone you love, and doubly so when he was such a great man, loved by so many.

Mary Anne Jones Horton 1928 - 2016

MA's mama died last Sunday morning in her sleep. The girls called her Anna. She believed that a woman should be in the paper three times: when she was born, when she married and when she died. Her third mention is here.

Her husband of 67+ years, Ira, misses her terribly. They were a devoted couple, a model of what it means to do for one another. We are glad to be able to spend a couple of weeks seeing Ira every day.  We had a service at the Franke, where they have lived for the last nine years, and a graveside service in Orangeburg on May 26th.

Anna loved her children and her granddaughters. She was very happy to make it to Caroline's wedding last fall. She spent hours in the garden while Mary Anne was growing up, and loved her social life in Orangeburg, including weekly bridge parties. She was always impeccably dressed. She knew her Bible better than anyone we know. She was an avid reader beyond that as well, especially British literature. She practically memorized the Samuel Pepys diaries, quoting entire stories and laughing and laughing.

We will always miss Anna.

1968

Alice, Mary Anne, Anna

Laughing before the wedding  1983

Recap from MS Walk 2016

Who knew it could be only 37 degrees at 10am on Saturday April 9th at 10am? Despite the chill (and the wind) we had a great turnout at MS Walk 2016 Lexington. I was proud to serve as the chair of the walk.

It's never too late to give, if any of you missed the opportunity.

The walk made the nightly news (WKYT - channel 27). I was interviewed, but they wisely went with a person who actually had MS. I am, however, in the background over her right shoulder, sporting my Eben hat.

It did make me glad we didn't do the WOC in early spring and get caught by this kind of cold.

Mary Anne and Muv came. Muv did two half mile laps with me. The cold was more than MA could take, so she waited in the building.

Masteron Station was full of people. When people are this strongly touched by a cause, weather is not a deterrent.

I have raised over $3500 so far, and the team is over $4300, with come more checks in the mail. Special thanks also to my colleagues at Xerox for joining the team and raising money.

Don't you love the party hats?

Muv during the walk

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