Chronicles of Nani - Cutting

Today's blog is definitely not wha I planned. I was actually pretty excited about what I was planning on doing, but things that happened at the end of last week change my mind. 

I've said before and I don't currently have any home health aides that can help me out and my husband is usually the one that gets me is ready as he can to record. But this weekend he's been very sick with a series called and as a matter of fact on Tuesday when I recorded and edited this weeks video. I ended up talking about some thing very different. 

I had a horrible night last week ended up in some nasty self harm and today is just a little talking about the fact that there are definitely self harmful things that go through the minds of people with chronic the most positive of us on a bad day and we all have to do our best not to give in. 

The Chronicles of Nani - RANT, Losing Control

 This weeks video really is just what it says a rant. It's not the happy smiling me you're used to seeing or reading. (You'll see then again next week) but for this week it's me breaking down and putting it on video.

The good news is, much like when I do an art journal I am upset, once I finished editing this it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders and I was at peace. No more tears for the last four days!

The Chronicles of Nani - Support

Things didn't go as planned and this week's vlog ended up being done on a day that started with tears and almost no will to record. Instead it was plans changed and this is why the day started with tears. I think it turned out pretty good.

Happy 2018

Personally, I welcomed the new year quietly and alone. But it was good.

2017 was an awful year that worsened with every passing month. Worldwide, nationally, personally; I have more bad than good to say about it and I’d gladly give up the good for the bad to have never happened. I’d erase the year if I could.

Too much hate. Too much fear. Too much death. Not enough schnapps.

Not enough smiles.

2018 is a beautiful baby new year, but born from a crack whore we need to as a planet, a nation, as individuals, nurture it with love and protect it so it can have the hope and beauty a new year promises.

*** Christmas 2 will be posted soon pending getting a few photos I want for that blog.

*** Coming soon - 2018 Projects and Goals

The Best and Worst Week

The week started with a new month and me wanting to assess January as I went into it. But starting February 1 there was plenty of present to keep me from reviewing the recent past right away.

Of course Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. The game outshined the commercials this year! There were a few good spots, but the football was exactly what you’re supposed to see when arguably the best from each conference face off in the biggest football event of the year. As a Patriots house we were biting nails at the very end, sure that we were about to see the Sea Hawks grab the victory on a drive at the very end only to screams and exchange happy high fives as Patriot’s rookie, Malcolm Butler, intercepted what would have been the end of the game loss for his team and essentially won the game and the title for the Pats.

Add to the coolness, it’s four Super Bowl rings for Tom Brady, who was the game MVP and was awarded a new truck from Chevy in recognition of that. Brady wanted to give that truck to Butler. The huge difference in incomes of the veteran star and the undrafted rookie would have had major taxable prize/gift implications because the truck would have been taxed at Brady’s considerably higher income with an additional gift tax for transferring it to Butler. Chevy stepped up and changed the awarding of the prize directly to Butler, taxable just as a prize at his income. Three-way awesomeness!


But on Sunday the news wasn’t so celebratory before the game in Toledo. We had snow, tons of it, falling. I’d already made a call for Rapid, LLC., our fantastic plow guys, to come over to do clean-up Sunday night, after the snow stopped and after the game if they had the interest/opportunity to watch. Yes I know we aren’t their only customers but the snow wasn’t supposed to stop until Sunday night, so maybe they’d have some time before they had to head out. It’s a small local company; they’re leaving home to go to work, not a garage with an army of plow tanks.

We were at a Level 3 Snow Emergency, no one who wasn’t medical, street maintenance or media out on the roads. How that started and played out was the darkest part of Sunday. Mayor, D. Michael Collins, held a press conference where he said that the Level 3 would start at 3PM. While driving home after that he suffered a cardiac arrest and his SUV drove into a utility pole. Two people called 911, and with the 911 operator’s guidance, pulled him from the SUV and started resuscitation as he wasn’t responsive. I listened to the 911 recording on The Blade website; they found ID and at that time realized who it was. Mayor Collins was taken the University of Toledo Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition. He died yesterday afternoon when he was taken off life support.

I feel a loss for my city because while it’s only just a little more than a year since Mayor Collins took office he faced so many challenges so well. From losing 2 firefighters, to record snowfall, cold and the snow removal crisis that accompanied that last winter to 2 days without drinkable water to start August and the call left to him when it was safe to drink from the tap again, and he handled them all with strength of character and reassuring confidence. But I think for me personally it’s also shown me how much smaller Toledo is than Detroit too. As a citizen the loss is personal too. Maybe it’s that I actually live in the city where I lived in Detroit suburbs; the mayor of the big city in the area is a choice on my election ballots. Maybe it’s that the mayor lived a block away from us. What I definitely know is that in a year he stretched the shoes in the Mayor’s office enough to make them even harder to fill in the special election that will be held in November.

Please visit The Blade to read about a great man with a personal history that built him into a great mayor. Unlike so many in politics he didn’t create problems, he solved them.

Toledo mourns loss of Mayor D. Michael Collins



In the closer personal Naniland my daily Lasix, water pill, and I have reached a tentative truce area. Simply if I don’t take it I can feel It; my legs swell, what mobility I have is compromised and I feel awful, part because with the swelling I still don’t drink enough water because rising up from the chair to go to the bathroom is painful. The anti-Lasix stance was self-destructive at best. So here is my wake-up to midafternoon ritual that’s worked well for me for the second half of this week.

Wake-up time is when my lower back and legs ache the worst. Bless David, he helps get me through morning stretching and downstairs and once he knows I’m down safely he goes back to bed because it’s usually before wake up time for him. Then I have my morning coffee and breakfast. Notice how I prioritize there? Starve me if you will, but don’t deny me my coffee! I take the Lasix after I’ve had a chance to really wake up and when it calls me to the bathroom I drink 2 Nani-gulps of water. 2 Nani-gulps usually empties a 16-oz bottle. I have no idea why, but it works. The urgency is down and the 3 times and hour bathroom trips have gone down to about 3 in 2 hours. I’m also keeping hydrated and feel a ton better during the day.

I Can Has Do Over!

I’m starting over on my reading for this year. I didn’t think the idea of having two books at a time is bad as long as I accept that the paper pages will go slower than the e-pages. The current paper page book is a hard cover. I’m slow at reading it and slow at getting into the story. That's not because I read slow. Until my first ereader in 2010 I always read slow and had to work to do that. My reading comprehension has always been great, I scored well in school, the Mensa test and thankfully I didn’t need to reread chapters to take tests in college. I just read black on white paper slow. But I read the whole Harry Potter Series, Gone With The Wind and the awful fan-fiction sequel, Scarlett in paperback or hardcover, the current book I just not captivating me. It does interest me though and books that have been slow but interesting to start in the past have often ended well for me. So, while it’s hardcover and honestly, I drop it a lot, I’m going to keep reading.


I think the problem was with the eBook I started with. I was reading that one at night because I wanted to get it over with, but I seemed to have100 pages left every time I looked. Here is the “When I stopped review” that I put on Good Reads when put it in my “did not finish” file.

The Lost Code by Keith Emmerson

I know this is a "young adult" book and sometimes I like to take a break from heavier reading and enjoy some light reading. I got as far as 178/276 pages and I couldn't bear the fact that there was still 100 pages to read. This wasn't the fluff mystery I was expecting it seemed to lose another screw from the reality cap with every chapter. It was taking me forever to read because it just never made me actually want to read it so I never picked it up. Maybe I'll finish it someday but for now I'm letting my brain wake up again in the worlds of murder and political gain. :)

So starting February 1 my new goal for the year is 22 books read, 22 reviews that I’ll post here. It’s the same hard cover in the “currently reading” window at the left but new e-title.

And so the do-over begins! :)

Sales and Art

David has shopped a couple places for post-zombie sales. Last night he found a pack of a half-dozen Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins and a box of Pumpkin Spice K-Cups for half price for me and for himself a 6-pack of mini 7-up cans. This is three goodies and 2 talking points. I’ll address those in just a moment.

This afternoon he found a bigger booty in his cheap-sweets treasure hunting. At Target he scored a big bag of assorted fun-size candies and brought me a bag of mellowreme pumpkins as well as pumpkin spice Hershey’s kisses and M&Ms. I’d forgotten trying the pumpkin spice M&Ms last year and immediately remembered when I tasted on today! I can’t figure out why the kisses are easier to find. They are good, but made with milk confection rather than chocolate; they only sate the pumpkin craving. The M&Ms are a heavenly combination of milk chocolate and pumpkin spice. Next year I’ll get the M&Ms from Target first then look for a bag of kisses in November.

Now the talking points from last night: There is never an issue with Peanut Butter Cups. They are always good at any price and on sale they reach new points of nirvana. But, while I thought the half-price was wonderful, I don’t really understand the K-Cups being on closeout sale yet. Halloween is over but it’s still pumpkin season until the last pumpkin pie dessert plate is washed after Thanksgiving dinner. They’re dissing the turkey for the fat man in the red suit again!

I don’t really hold that against Santa. It’s just something else the evil corporations are doing to kill our traditions and take our money.

Remember to vote Tuesday!

Anyone reading this ever get a can of soda in their treat bag when they were kids? I mean even a little can takes up precious candy space in the bag and it doesn’t take to many cans to weight a TON for a little kid. Who thinks of these things?

We could probably blame that on corporations too, but I’m really not on a political soap box today. Wheelchair lady already voted absentee. But I encourage everyone to exercise their American right to vote. If you don’t take part you give up your right to complain. You don’t deserve the fruits of or protection from our government either.

Just sayin’; Make sure you vote – better to be part of the system than to be helplessly run over by the system.


I have a scrapbook page that I did Saturday to share:

Credits: Pieces from; Bumpershoots and Puddle Makers by Cherekaye Designs and 

Lissykay Designs, Chill In The Air collab by the Designers at Ginger Scraps,Ginger 

Scraps, Autumn Art paint clusters by Day Dreams ‘n Designs, Rain overlay by Miss Edna, 

First Frost by Seatrout Scraps, September Morn by Mandy King, Snowball Fight 

elements by JenC Designs, Snuggle Season by Mandy King and Mye De Leon, 

Winter Blues by Chunlin Kathryn's Digital Designs

Art journaling really is scrapbook poetry. There was a specific emotion I was feeling as I selected the pieces to make this Page, as I searched for just the right “costumed kids” to represents the Halloween beggars. That emotion was strong as I assembled the page. I have that page posted in a few scrapbook galleries and on Facebook. I’ve gotten comments but none that get that same emotion from the page. This picture-book poet has no problem if people don’t feel the same thing looking as I did creating, but the differences in what people get out of ”art” are fascinating to me. I’d love to hear a word or two about what you feel looking at it.

Thanks for sharing…and remember to vote!

Global Climate Change Is Evil!

That clipping is the scariest thing a trick-or-treater can see minutes before the start of candy begging time. That was the weather at the start of the 6-8PM festivities for the kids tonight. It's raining on Halloween for the second year in a row and tonight it's 38 degrees and mixed with snow. I think we need to move trick-or-treating to September next year. It only has 30 days, so we could just switch the 31st to the end of September instead of October.

I didn’t do candy this year of course, but I have a plan to be back at the door with my 150 bags of “stuff” enabling the sugar buzzes next year. I’m kinda glad I had to bow out this year. Not only would I be so cold I couldn’t feel my hands or feet womaning the door but I’d feel guilty for giving candy and encouraging kids to come out in the wet and cold. I heard just a few squeals outside, but I think the majority of costumed cuties found an indoor party, at least I hope they did! This is their night and they deserve candy and costumed fun.

I’ve been thinking of being scary and wearing my “Got Celery?” shirt to give out candy next year, but after last year and this, celery might be just too scary!

Happy Little Pill and Happy Little Pumpkins!

Yesterday was a really rough day, I mean the type of day I just don’t have, rough! I know that’s rough because I’ve been told that many of what I call “little challenge days” are “shoot me please” days to others. You see, yesterday I got to find out what one of my meds really does for me! I ran out of the medicine I take for spasticity and stiffness and put in an order for the refill just at the right time that I wouldn’t be able to have it delivered or ask David to pick it up before I’d been without it for a day. It’s just 2 pills in the sea of a gazillion I take and it’s not even a specialty pharmacy pill. How much harm could missing ONE day be?

Let me tell ya, all pills are NOT created equal! A thin little round pill can be a lot more potent medicine than one of those big horse-pills. I still had the giant anti-inflammatories that reduce swelling in areas and thus quell pain, But the smaller pill seems to do a strikingly lot more! I don’t think there was any place on my body that wasn’t stiff and in pain. Even sitting at the table, when I usually don’t feel pain and little discomfort, was an excruciating experience yesterday. When there weren’t little shots of pain beaming through my legs and arms, there were stiff spasms I had little control over, some in my legs so strong they almost made me slip out of my chair!

If you’re even thinking for a moment “Oh, Nani I feel so sorry for you,” then trust me; you didn’t want me to write a blog post or visit/comment at your blog yesterday. My Papa was a Navy sailor in WW2 and the language and decibels those words were screamed in when I tried to lumber into the bathroom would have confused and offended him. (I’m not proud of that but owning my shortcomings gives me the right to be proud of my accomplishments, right?)

Today, properly medicated in the right amounts at the right times I’m feeling like me again. I speak like me again too. I find it easier to live with the PG rated version of Nani too!

Tonight is Game 3 of the World Series. It’s tied 1-1. It was sad to see The Royals lose their first game of this post season in Game 1, especially so brutally. I harbor no ill will to the Giants or their fans, but Kansas City is such a great story since it’s been so long since they won the World title and the momentum and downright joy the team and the city brought into this season and especially the playoffs is just electric. Are they heads and tails better than the Giants? No way, they both deserve to be where they are right now. But with two World Championships since 2010 (and it doesn’t matter that in 2012 they swept the Tigers) I’d just love to see a fresh logo in that World Chaps spot.

GO ROYALS!

Since we already didn’t end up able to pass out candy last year because it rained on Halloween and the reschedule night David and I weren’t in town, I made the sad decision to stop doing the door service. It had been getting difficult for me by 2012 when we had 169 kids visit. I’d prepared 150 candy bags for last year that were donated to the school David’s work sponsors sine I couldn’t share them in person, I still shared with kids. This year I’m just not physically up to it. Maybe if I could figure a way to remove the door and be able to sit there without the house getting cold or any cats getting out… I ran several legit scenarios through my head too. I love giving candy out and seeing all the kids in their costumes. The truth is being home while trick-or-treating is going on outside the door will really compel me to fix this problem before next year. David is one of those no-kids guys who works on Halloween so coworkers with kids can make sure their kids can get out. (One of the many things that makes me adore him) It means I’m the only one home, so there’s no one to fill in or help if I start to wear down. For next year I think I’ll see if I can find a local volunteer through the MS Society to come over for a few hours and help me set up and pass out candy. (That idea just popped into my brain and I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it a month ago.) That would actually be pretty cool. A volunteer to help me pass out candy and then after we close shop I can have a bus scheduled to take us to Bob Evans and I’ll treat them to dinner as a thank you. I might have a good plan for Halloween 2015 – I’ll be back, kids!

Last thought today: It’s the heart of Pumpkin Spice Season! It’s a huge fad at this time of year now! I’m proud to be one of the setters of that trend because now I get to reap the benefits of everyone trying to one-up the last guy on the pumpkin goodness. I really was pumpkin when pumpkin wasn’t cool. From pumpkin pie and the fresh pumpkin seeds Pop used to roast after making our jack-o-lanterns when Dave and I were kids to using a can of pumpkin spice and Cool Whip to make low-cal desserts many years ago, I was a pumpkin pioneer! There wasn’t even a question the first time I saw pumpkin spice cheataccino in a gas station. Now every fall holds some magical new pumpkin discovery. This year is the almonds.

Oh my, the Blue Diamond pumpkin spice almonds are incredible! Similar in style to the cinnamon roasted almonds that can draw you into any festival on their smell alone, the pumpkin spice almonds are little cans of euphoria for the pumpkin aficionado. They are 7 for 1 Weight Watchers point and a healthy fat if consumed in the proper portion. My RDA 2 heathy fats a day is 14 almonds, by the way. You know the first thing I had to do after I tasted them was figure out how many I could have in a day! There are lots of ways to make that seasonal pumpkin spice addiction fit into a healthy eating plan; and I know every one of them!

Too Many at the Bridge Lately

There will be no Friday Fill-Ins this week. Hilary’s beloved feline furbaby, Alex, left for the Rainbow Bridge Monday morning. I understand the pain. It was only a year ago that we said goodbye to Baggle after he went through the serious weight-loss and loss of luster that Alex did.

Photo of Alex from Feeling Beachie

Hilary is taking a mourning break from blogging.

Alex blogged on his Mom’s blog. If you follow this link you can read about Alex and see his posts. He was a fun and very loved cat. Please send a prayer and positive thoughts for comfort for Hilary and her husband, Marc, as they adjust to a little emptier new normal.

You can visit Feeling Beachie to leave a comforting word.  Feeling Beachie

How Far Have We NOT Come?

I was incensed when I read this story this morning.

Some real Shock and Awe:
Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit

Shoshana and I both live in Ohio and have similarities in backgrounds. Just the father I look like doesn’t frighten the childlike minds of the paranoid.

I don’t say that to insult children, most of whom are smarter than the prejudiced fools who base “suspicious behavior" on how a person looks. Idiot adults have to teach children to be stupid.

We have to beware of the terrorists from outside out country and just as aware of the small-minded terrorism inside our country that will point out someone based on appearance while they don’t even see someone who looks like them actually acting suspicious on the other side of where they are sitting and pointing. In many ways the terrorists who attacked us ten years ago have won as long as their accomplices in this country point their paranoid little fingers without actually seeing anything, our way of life is disrupted and our freedoms have changed, many of them gone.

Please read Shoshana’s story and share it wherever you can.

Sunday Ponderings

Just a few things that have been on my mind today, a little long, a little controversial too.


“Grow Up and Eat Your Vegetables!”


I love this time of year, veggies a plenty! Whether it’s a roadside stand, a farmers market or that friendly sign at Kroger or Giant Eagle telling me how they are supporting local farmers by carrying Ohio-grown produce whenever possible, the fruits and veggies are naturally ripe and fresh! Last weekend when Pop barbecued for my birthday, he also gave me my birthday present. My birthday presents from Pop are always awesome! I got a bag of cherries, a half dozen white peaches and a big bag of zucchini. Pop always picks up my favorites, down to choosing the white over yellow peaches. With him working in the produce department, he picked my goodies up after work Saturday morning. I couldn’t get fresher if I got them myself. But, I also get the “pick of the litter.” Pop knows what looks the best coming off the truck in the morning! I still have a couple of zucchini left, but the peaches were finished by mid-week and well, the cherries lasted through Sunday!

In the world of trying to make less of me, I tried Nutrisystem. It’s a good program if you can afford it and if you have a modest amount to lose. For me it was a good jump start. I dropped 40 pounds after a slow start. Their counselors on the phone are great. I switched a few things around and changed my dairy or protein add-ins to mostly protein instead of dairy and then I started losing better. Well, the start of the year I quit losing, even gained a little. Mostly due to stress as I was going along on the journey to the ultimate MS diagnosis.

Unfortunately, while the switching out most of the dairy worked for getting the weight loss going, lowered Vitamin D goes with MS and my blood work said my Vitamin D levels were DRASTICALLY low. That’s not Nutrisystem’s fault or the fault of the counselors. I didn’t even know I had MS when that “fix” was made in my diet. A year later the only “good riddance” feelings I have is to the prepackaged food. The diet plan is sound but the food as a whole isn’t so great.

So, I did some doctoring with the food, adding spices to save the flavor. Some of it was beyond help. Those things were mostly the dinner entrées, which are usually just swimming in not-so-good to gross gravies. I do still have a few breakfasts left that I will miss when they are gone.

Visiting the community message boards there was a shock! I was hoping that someone had already called counseling and gotten an “Okay” to dump most of those gravies or at least had some good ideas for fixing the flavor. What I found was a lot of very unsupportive people insisting you had to “do it MY way” because they were “experts.” It only takes losing some successfully and posting a lot to be an “expert.” Oh jeez, I can’t stand uncredentialed experts. The board bullies were brutal to people and probably lose Nutrisystem as many customers as they help.

The one thing the board bullies had in common was that they HATED vegetables. Oh, GROW UP! I’m thinking that’s maybe why they ended up there in the first place! For me it was mostly the nuts. I discovered my greatest nemesis in the weight gain world was the portion sizes of nuts, pumpkin seeds and the like. Maybe that explains the cholesterol issues for me? I got my fat servings under control and not only did I drop some weight, but I got my cholesterol levels down too. Of course, I didn’t get the adults who don’t eat vegetables. I mean, they hate ALL vegetables? What are teaching their kids?

I’ve always eaten a lot of vegetables, often raw and when they are cooked I only seldom add any more than a little spice or a touch of butter. The bully experts told me I had to eat all the gravy because it was important for "the stats." They all seemed to agree that the answer to the gravy issue was to steam large amount of vegetables and pour the gravy over them because it made it easier to eat the vegetables. What? After already saying that I ate lots of veggies raw or naked and liked them they tell me to put the gravy I don’t like on my veggies? My answer was that I quit ordering the stuff with gravy. That made the selection very limited.

So, I switched to Weight Watchers when I found out how bad my Vitamin D level was. Like I said, not at all blaming Nutrisystem for it, but I’m eating lots of dairy now and losing again. I’m also not bored at all and no gravy baths for anything because I cook it and my veggies-a-plenty are raw or un-gravied too! I’m diet-wise in a better place.


Stem Cells


I’ve always thought that stem cell research was a good idea. The results there have been in tests are near miraculous, but I’ve never climbed on the soap box and supported it because it didn’t promise a benefit to ME, so I hadn't researched a lot. My bad on that one. You never know when something that’s a good idea for “other people” may end up being an idea you want more done about for YOU! That’s kind of where I am now. There is a lot of research being done on the results of stem cell treatments for MS patients. So now I’m stepping up on my soap box in support of it. It was a great idea before, but when it became personal, my eyes opened wide enough to see my empty soap box.

The political world is quite threatening. I am not a registered anything but a registered voter. As far as party goes, I’m American. But I’m a disabled American now and I’m starting to see myself leaning left enough that I could totally walk away from the Republican party members because they have become quite anti-people. If that party has its way, the healthcare reform that was passed will be revoked. In addition to healthcare for people who can’t afford it, it also means that if my husband were to change jobs, I’d be uninsured with a life-long debilitating disease. That reform includes the end of “pre-existing conditions” as a reason for an insurance provider to refuse to cover someone. In the end, money is SO much more important than care, right?

Also, greatly influenced by the religious anti-choice nuts, the Republican party is really paying at least lip service to cutting funding and halting stem-cell research, because I guess research to save lives encourages abortions.

Don’t misunderstand me on this one. Anti-choice is a carefully chosen term. As an American I am pro choice. I don’t understand how anyone can not be. Personally, I would never have an abortion or encourage anyone close to me to have one. I also personally don’t condone use of fertility clinics. My personal thought is that there is a reason for unplanned pregnancies and a reason some who want babies can’t have them. It’s my spiritual beliefs that say if you are pregnant, didn’t plan to be and don’t want a baby, DO NOT KILL IT. Have the baby and give it up so the parents who want a child can adopt it.

Of course, I realize my belief that it’s killing a baby is religious. In a country where we have the freedom to choose, or not choose at all, a religion that’s right for each individual, we cannot make laws that prefer one religion to any other. If there are religions that do not hold that a fetus is a human life until birth, how can we as Americans govern when the fetus is a life?

The mini-abortion rant does go back to stem cells, really. There are two things the Republicans that are sleeping with the church ladies need to consider. The first is that not all stem cell research is embryonic stem cells. There is a hospital I was reading about, not in the US, because the treatment isn’t approved here, that uses your own stem cells, drawn from fat cells that are processed and reinjected. There have been good reviews from MS patients who have the courage and money to try it out. Last I checked the most obese country in the world has plenty of fat to donate to that cause.

The second thing, while they are kissing butt for the anti-choice religions, is MY religious beliefs. Who do I have to cozy up with for my religious convictions to be a political star? I don’t know if someone is going to Hell for having an abortion. As a ‘lil old human, I’m, not qualified to say “God says….” Best I can do is say “I feel like what I am doing will or won’t please God.” But let me ask this of those church ladies. If it’s a baby before it’s born and it’s killed. Does it go to Hell too? My belief here, it would be un-American to choose a religious influence to create a law, my spiritual beliefs find some solace in that the stem cells from aborted fetuses can be instruments to save people that are already living with diseases. The anti-choice church ladies may be seeking to strip those lives of their purpose.

Ah but, these are the same people who throw their own children in front of cars to keep people from going in to a family planning clinic. People or a soul’s purpose have little meaning to them compared to their own agenda and being right at any cost.

If you have an opportunity to talk to a candidate or your legislators, ask them where they stand on stem cell research and if they’re against it, WHY?


Feline World


David and I are thinking of expanding out family again. It’ll be a while yet. We didn’t want to run out and adopt another cat right away, part because we wanted to honor Baggle’s memory and let Kaline and Carla get used to each other without him. Yeah, they are a little different together than they were. Kaline and Baggle were that way after we lost Chester too. But the other part was that we do a lot of weekenders in the summer and have vacation plans coming up too. It wouldn’t be fair to introduce a new cat and then leave. All three of them needed us there as they got used to Carla being in the family. There are definitely things we could have done better with introducing Carla and I’d like to make sure we do them better with the next new cat. So, we’re probably looking at mid to late fall, like we did with Carla.

We do have a name picked out, Joe or Jo Morgan, Joe for a boy and Jo for a girl. I think we’ll probably use the middle name, but as David says, “it depends on the cat.” I guess I gotta agree with that. The reason for the choice was that we have a Red Sox cat and a Tigers cat. We give bonus cat treats when all three of our teams, Tigers, Red Sox and Reds win. I thought we ought to have a cat named for a Reds Hall of Famer. But David thought it was a little unfair to have two cats named for my teams and only one for his. Joe Morgan is the name of the Hall of Fame member of the Big Red Machine, 1972-79, and also the name of the Boston Red Sox manager, 1988-1991. No, not the same guy. Their playing careers overlapped just briefly at the end of the Red Sox manager’s career and the beginning of the Big Red Machine member’s. It’s a puurrfect name for our third baseball kitty!

Sad Day

Bagheera Patch

4/1/96 – 6/21/11

Yesterday started off like any regular good day starts. We had an appointment to take Baggle in to see the veterinarian to see why he has gotten so thin. At 15 years old and having had some problems lately, we could see the signs that one of these visits to the vet, he wouldn’t be coming home with us. We were prepared. But, can you ever be prepared to say “goodbye?”

Baggle had been in because he was losing weight before. At that time he was also having loose stools and not using the litter box to deposit them. When we took him in he got some fluids injected in him for the dehydration that caused and an antibiotic prescription. Giving him the pills was a chore, but after the prescription was done, he stopped losing weight, even gained back just a little, and we were happy to see a major decrease in the loose stools, we called them “Baggle Bombs,” on the basement floor. He seemed to regain some of his energy, appetite and had returned to his old self.

But in the last couple weeks, we started to see some changes again. He wasn’t eating as much as he always has, although he was still insistent on pushing his sisters away from all three bowls until he decided which one he wanted to eat from. He started to visibly lose weight again and we made an appointment to see his vet. David and I were both thinking the same thing would happen. He’d get fluids and we’d have to administer medication again. The doctor felt his stomach and chest. She was concerned because, while he felt constipated and dehydrated, there was more, his chest didn’t feel right. She did an x-ray.

Baggle’s heart was not shaped correctly for a cat and there was a shadow, a growth or tumor. She explained options for the next step. Measures to remedy the digestive issues would only be temporary and they would be unpleasant and stressful for him, maybe more stressful than he could take in his condition. There was nothing they could do for his heart, given his age and strength. She danced around what her recommendation would be, waiting for us to suggest it, that would be easier on us. Baggle wasn’t showing it in earnest, but there were many ways that we could see he was in pain and struggling. I knew what his vet was trying to say, but couldn’t bring myself to verbalize it. David managed to and the vet said she was sorry, but euthanasia would be the most humane thing, given what he was going through and what could be done for him. They could do things to make his life longer, but it wouldn’t be comfortable or pain-free time. We couldn’t be that selfish.

I had been holding back my tears, but when David’s started, I couldn’t stop mine. Seeing David hurt on top of losing Baggle was beyond my emotional threshold. We had some time with him while they were getting ready for the procedure to pet him and tell him that the pain will be gone and he’d be able to play with Chester and Azzie again.

That was yesterday.

Today is the first day of our return to a 2-cat home. There were no whiskers tickling us awake and no desperate eyes looking up and begging for my lunch. There aren’t squeaking sounds from wet paws rubbing on the kitchen floor after he dipped them in his drinking water. David will miss someone sitting on his mousing hand when he’s on his computer and I’ll miss the cold paws on my legs. Although he was afraid of strangers, Baggle was loving and affectionate with the people he knew. Baggle was the former alpha, having retired from that position when the bossy kitten moved in. Kaline still gave him the job of “Food Czar,” always letting him at the dish first. It was the only “boss job” she gave any other cat. I think Carla may take that job now. Kaline never complained when Baggle stole her treats, but Carla did!

Kaline and Carla took turns having a thorough sniff at the carrier when it came home. I’m really not sure that they realize that Baggle isn’t coming home. When Chester left us, he was in great pain and howling from it. I think Baggle and Kaline knew that and understood what the empty carrier meant. This time, Baggle didn’t show his pain often and he wasn’t crying in pain when we left. I think maybe they knew he wasn’t doing well. Maybe that was communicated in an instinctual way that cats understand that we don’t.

Last night when we went to bed, we had Kaline on my hip and Carla under the covers between us. We usually don’t have them both, one or the other. It seems they did know we needed extra kitty-love last night. This afternoon they came down together at lunch. One rubbed the front of my legs and the other the back.

Baggle always watched his sisters play “chase.” I think it made him tired to watch them. He got rattled and didn’t want to pick sides when they scrapped. Maybe they’ll get along better now that it’s just them. What a nice tribute to their brother. As for David and me, Baggle wouldn’t want us to be depressed or grieve too long. He’d want us to love his sisters and “eat well and share it with the cats!”

It’s going to be a little emptier for a while, but we’ll always remember and treasure the years we had with our Baggle-Buddy.

Wrapping up Monday

A little taste to kick off the week!

The first bit of business I need to address to start this week is a “fix” from last week. I got several points wrong in my early rant about how Sally, the mother goose from our post office, died. I didn’t correct the mistakes or take down my original post because I don’t want to delete the comments and my demeanor hasn’t changed. It’s settled now after a few days, but the anger about it is a little fueled. The stupid mistakes were made by people who should know better, WAY better. The people who moved the family were from a center for the “rescue” and rehabilitation of wildlife. When they moved the goose family, with three goslings and two un hatched eggs, to a “better” place across the street, they were caught by surprise that geese are territorial and the incumbent geese in that area would threaten the new geese and try to drive them out.

Yanno, I just don’t get how you can work for a wildlife center in an area where there are a lot of geese and not know that. They said it was a “no win” situation because Sally was nesting in an area where there was so much traffic. How about carefully move the family to somewhere that there aren’t geese already living? I mean, if you’re moving the geese and have already invaded them, why not put them someplace safer than where they already are? Sure, a busy parking lot by a busy road is not ideal, but it’s not like no one knew they were there. Putting them in an area where not only is there the human factor but also territorial other geese sounds like a “maybe lose” or “lose big” choice and they chose lose big.

You can read the story on the Toledo Blade’s website here: Blade article



I SO don’t want to be all doom and gloom n a cloudy Monday, here in northwestern Ohio. We’re still on the lookout for that arc! ^The rain was hard and nasty Friday night into Saturday morning. The tulips took quite a beating! In the front half of our side bed, there is a lot of petal litter! That’s from the blooms that just exploded from the driving down rain on them. I’m glad I got my photos when they were strong and healthy! There are more exploded tulip blooms in the front section than the back, so there are still flowers, just not as many. The smaller tulips seemed to fare better than the taller ones, but they weren’t as open. David reported this morning that the absolute las6t of the crocuses, a couple of the stripey ones that bloomed later and stayed a little longer, had finished for the year now. That ups my resolve to get some bulbs in the ground for summer and fall. Now if we can just get a day that doesn’t rain. Our forecast for the beginning of this week: today was “cloudy with a shower or two,” we got three or four, then “mainly cloudy, showers around,” and on Wednesday,“ warmer with showers.” Hey, at least it’ll be warmer! Just give me one weekend day that’s cloudy, but no rain, so David can help me, and I’m good!


There are things that make me happy. The Reds swept the Cardinals out of town over the weekend and hold first place again and they beat up the Cubs in the sixth inning tonight for another win. I like this kind of roll!

David and I got out to the grocery store yesterday and left with many bags of groceries and a lighter pocketbook for the effort, but we saved BIG TIME with coupons, careful sale shopping ahead of time and a good buy ten and get $5 off deal at Kroger. I also got my almond milk supply refilled and Dannon Greek Yogurt comes in peach now! This morning I made a cup of warm cocoa with almond milk and a scoop of Splenda-ized dark chocolate. MMM!!!! I let David try a sip and he was impressed too!

Okay, it was a little bit of a mundane Monday, but it wasn’t a bad Monday. I still really do like Mondays, even if the telling of them is really just wrapping up the weekend. It’s a fresh start to a new week.

Now if we can just get it stop raining or get passage booked on that arc…

A Grim End To The Tale

This is so sad! Remember the Canada Goose family that was the subject of the April 13 Photoblog Wednesday? They had a sort of fan club visiting but keeping a safe distance, leaving food for the geese and basically being the “Gosling Watch.”

Then this past Monday the goslings started to hatch, not even all of the eggs had hatched, but they started to. Some idiot, and I use the term idiot with every bit of vinegar, spite and blame it can conjure, thought it was a good idea to move the mother goose and goslings/eggs to the other side of the road. When the mother goose was approached and her babies threatened, she went nuts and in the frenzy ran in front of a car and was killed. What was something beautiful to the post office patrons was destroyed, murdered, by human ignorance.

You don’t ever touch a baby animal. The smell of a human on them can make a mother abandon it. If you approach a baby, a mother will react. In this instance, that reaction cost the mother goose her life and probably the lives of the babies. I haven’t heard that the father goose was involved at all, which means he probably wasn’t there at the time. That means he wasn’t able to be there to save any of the goslings. A young gosling must be warmed by a parent about every 15 minutes and these were newborn and still unhatched geese. Geese mate for life and are absolutely as attached as humans are. Scratch that, most humans can’t comprehend that kind of a bond in this day and age. The gander would have returned to find his family massacred.

In thinking about the goose’s reaction to a strange human with plans to move her, touch her hatching eggs, I completely understand the reaction. If I was holding my newborn baby and someone who didn’t speak my language said nothing but grabbed the baby, I’d go nuts too. That’s a natural reaction

As simple humans who have many generations ago abandoned the use of our instincts for conscious thinking, and usually under-thinking to the point of touching a nest when the eggs are in the middle of hatching, my only hope is that we learn. I hope that everyone who was touched by the potential simple miracle of nature’s new life in the spring, can learn from the sad feelings that range from disappointment to anger, and get a better understanding and respect for the animals that come to live in the city when we’ve grown our cities in so many of the places they live.

Life renewing itself in animals of any species is an everyday miracle, the art of life itself. Treat those miracles like art in a museum. Look, but don’t touch and when security tells you you’re too close, respect.

I Need a Break

Yeah, I know, “What? Already?” It’s just that 2011 has started off with so much, so fast!

Of course, there was the sad part, losing Kendal and then hearing about Tom on the same day. Well, you know I was a bit of a wreck. But, my faith is strong. I’ve had my personal periods of mourning, my alone time to meditate and accept. Kendal’s funeral was huge, as can be imagines for someone so young who fought so hard and inspired so many. I have experienced twice what I had long thought was the most gut-wrenching sight at a funeral, a pregnant woman crying. One carried the child of the man being laid to rest and was a good friend of mine, the other was Deanna just a few weeks before Tori and Rina were born at my Grandfather’s funeral. In both cases, my strength faded and the tears came freely. Greater than my own loss or feelings, was the pain of what the future would not have to hold.

I thought that was the most poignant example of human pain I’d ever witness until the night I was at Kendal’s viewing. At the end of the evening, a large group of her friends came two or three at a time and gathered by the casket, holding each other, heads bowed, some tears, some just holding on so tight. THAT was both beautiful and painful to watch. That show of love for Kendal and support for each other by her friends. The way it happened spontaneously. Teens are in their invincible years. When a disease can attack one of them, take her from her family and her own future, take her from her friends’ future, they are all robbed of the joy of those immortal years and forced to accept the sobering reality of mortality. I think that especially stings in me because I love teenagers. I worked with them many years at Omnicom. I think they deserve a few years of careful immortality.

I’m still reading my cousin’s posts on Team Kendal. Part to share in the celebration of her life and part to make sure he is doing okay. Love and courage are two things that grow when they are shared. Kendal derived strength from her parents and brother and gave it too. In reading the memorials on Kendal’s Facebook page, she shared that with her friends too. The family and her friends, in time, will all be okay. Guardian Angel Kendal says so!


Of course, everything good and bad all happens at once! School started the week of the funerals. This semester is all online classes, but I added to my class load, so I’m juggling and sorting files to get myself focused correctly. My XML class is assignments due every week and my Imaging class is two weeks of work due every two weeks. I have things pretty well organized now. I have to be honest, the imaging class is a little boring right now. The beginning of the Photoshop CS5 book reads like it was written for someone who’d never even seen an Adobe interface before. If I had bought the software and the book to help me learn the new tricks since Photoshop CS, the most recent one I have on my Mac, I’d have skipped the first few chapters and gotten right in to the good stuff. ::sigh:: But as a student I have to read the chapters, know the vocabulary and do the exercises. My fellows scrapbookers will chuckle at the idea of reading in a book, “layers are a very powerful tool” The thing is that was peeking a couple chapters ahead. I just finished “how to open and save a file!” I need this class for the web design certificate. But I hope the first test is multiple choice so I don’t have to come up with words that don’t start off, “what worked in 1997 and still does today..." hehe

The XML class is pretty cool, all new stuff, well, newish, different code, but similar in many ways to HTML. I just like writing code and opening it a browser to see a cool page. It’s like unwrapping and unveiling a present.

I’m doing better and better in therapy, but sorer and sorer outside of therapy. I try, I really try, to NOT take the super-charged ibuprofen prescription I have, but it doesn’t do any good. I do the therapy stretching exercises at home, they actually can be hard to get started, but then they feel so good! Still, I can’t function well without the anti-inflammatory effect of the ibuprofen and forget about trying to sleep without it. I hate that, feeling like a junkie, gotta have my drugs! Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be going to the hospital for an MRI on my back. About time, huh? It’s really a toss-up with me whether I dislike drugs or health insurance companies more. We’ll see what happens after the MRI If the insurance company okays fixing me, the drugs are worse. The insurance company might even be deemed good if they okay surgery or whatever it takes to make me okay. I don’t know if one can get addicted to ibuprofen, but I’m fearing addiction because it’s something I’ve had to take every day for the last 6 weeks. Too much!

Okay, let’s finish this blog off on a happier note, shall we? I’ve been working hard on scrapbook pages, Lots of templates used, even one quick page. Yes, I do Darlene’s Clutter It challenge at The Studio every month and I have used a couple clutter-it kits, but this one was a freebie page:

Credits: QP by Pixiepics & Scraps, using Snow Princess by Rainamoon Scraps

(Click name in credits to go to blog for QP)

Isn’t it cool? I seldom use quick pages and I always doctor them up. But this one just struck me as perfect for these photos and the only thing I added to the layout was journaling. I had originally done a layout for these photos at the Monday Night Chat with Ambowife at The Studio. It was the “paper-only” layout. I liked my layout from chat, but Pixiepics’ quick page was just better. It was there for me to find. Needed to find it!

I am getting a couple or three done a day. I’ll finish up Kelly’s visit in early October tonight. Then 7 more to finish the month. Yes, I know. Today is January 20. I hope to have all my Imaging homework done by tomorrow night. I’ll be huffing and puffing, but I still think I can get 2010 done by the end of the month.

Okay, now back to school. I’m learning how to find a file using the browse button!

Sad Day For Our Family

I saw snow falling today after I found out you’d left us.
I know it was the angels dropping
feathers from their own wings
to give you a soft path to Heaven to join them.
Kendal, you will always be one of the strongest
and most beautiful people I’ve known.

We sent a new angel to Heaven early this afternoon. Kendal’s Facebook page and the Team Kendal Blog have become cyber shrines where friends are leaving their goodbyes. That one was mine.

Please keep my cousin and his wife and son, our whole family in your prayers.

Long Time No Write!

My Mother did tell me that when you don’t have anything nice to say, better to say nothing at all…unless you can make good changes by speaking up! Unfortunately the last few weeks haven’t been ones where I could affect any changes at all. I just needed time to deal with things.

You know from my last posted entry that my Grandma passed away on January 26. I had crammed my first test in for my XHTML/CSS class, that is I took it quick and distracted the very day before Grandma passed. As far as the grade goes, well, it’s a grade I didn’t think they gave in college because I hadn’t seen one since I was in high school. It brought my semester grade down more than a full letter! That was the very smallest of my challenges.

I had thank you cards to send after the funeral and so many things to attend to with Grandma’s estate, but a week, to the day, after Grandma passed and just after we got back from her funeral, David called me from the hallway at work. His Mom had just passed away. There was one funeral for my relatives and one for his, but two for us in a span of 2-1/2 weeks, one him holding me together and on me returning the support.

Yeah. I’ve been a little too wrapped up in life stuff to blog!

We just got back from our unexpected trip to Connecticut a couple hours ago. I have another test this week, due by Wednesday, that I’ll be really consumed with preparing for tomorrow, so the Monday Mug Shot will return next week, but I ought to have things back on track for Photoblog Wednesday.

In the next few days look for a little about two wonderful, progressive women born in 1925, who touched my world with my admiration for their accomplishments and gratefulness for their loving and nurturing maternal fruits as well. There is also scheduled a look at progress on Java 365 with at least one freebie this week, My “country bumpkin” showing with pondering in shock, “pork tartare?” and my thoughts on becoming the family matriarch.

Back SOON!

A Very Hard Day

Yesterday was a rough day. Lots of negative things happening.

I visited Grandma in the earlier part of the afternoon. It was a nice visit, but not one of her better days. I’ve been spoiled by seeing her so often on her really good days. Those conversations are like the ones I’ve always had with her. Yesterday, the conversation was a bit more disjointed. She was doing well remembering people and places, but was having difficulty staying focused and changed the subject of our conversation in midstream, picking up a conversation I wasn’t in! Those are the days that drain rather than energize me when I visit, but I still enjoy my visits with her.

After seeing Grandma, I met Scotty. We were going to see John in the hospital before dinner. I’m saddened that John is not at all doing well. When we were leaving the hospital after seeing him Saturday, I asked Scott if he was ready to quit smoking now. John has emphysema from years of smoking. Yesterday he was in a breathing mask with a morphine drip. When I spoke to his sister last night, she told me his time is very short. My dear friend, a big brother to me for the last 28 years, will be leaving us very soon.

John, me and Scotty at John's 50th birthday party earlier this year

Dinner started out very quiet for Scott and me. We’ve been a pretty tight family for years. This is scary. It hurts. We all just celebrated John’s 50th birthday this year. January 16 will be a hard date for us in 2010.

A stop at Trader Joe's when I was in Novi was a bright spot in the day. There are some things that I really like that I can only find there, only there for a reasonable price anyway. So I came home with a large grocery tote with some special stuff.

After I pulled in, while I was unlocking the door, our neighbor from across the street came into the driveway. He apologized for the intrusion, but said he had sad news. Then he asked if we had a black cat. One had been hit by a car and died. It was crossing the street from our house.

I was a bit shaken. I told him we have a tuxedo who is mostly black. My mind was racing. There was a stray, or anyway an outdoor black cat, that I’d seen in the back yard a few times, a skittish cat that ran when anyone looked like they were going to come near. But just a couple weeks ago while David was bringing something in the house, Baggle stepped outside in the driveway. David told him to get back inside and he gently walked back up the step and into the house, but could he have snuck out while I was leaving to see Grandma?

Our neighbor asked for a description of Baggle’s markings. He said he’d check out the body to see if it matched. I said he was a 16-pound cat with a white chest and paws. Right off the bat , when I said 16 pounds, the neighbor said he didn’t think it was him. He told me he’d look at the body and if he didn’t come back, that was good news, it wasn’t a match and he’d continue to see if he could find the cat’s owners. I shook his hand and thanked him for coming over to let me know.

Too big, not enough black fur - THANK GOODNESS!

When I went in the house, Kaline was in the dining room watching the door. No Baggle. My heart raced. I called him and shook the treat bag, sure he was home, but needing to see him. Baggle walked in around the sofa in all his beautiful fat-cat glory. I showered him in scritches. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you tonight, Baggle Buddy!”

Our kids are house cats, that is exactly why. We live on a 35 MPH road near the corner of a 50 MPH main road. It’s just way too dangerous for domestic animals to roam outside. The city wildlife, bunnies, chipmunks, squirrels are not domestic but acclimated and they don’t even always win. Domestic animals take greater chances because they trust people. Even the ones who animals really can trust, can’t necessarily see them quick enough to react in a car. If that is the stray we sometimes see in our yard, I don’t know if it does have a human family. It was always a scaredy-cat whenever anyone tried to approach it.

After the rough visit with Grandma, disheartening news about John and the scare with Baggle, last night was a night for a good cry, and extra treats and hugs for the kids.

Signs of the Times

It’s a sobering statement of the economic woes in the Motherland. I was watching the Tigers game at lunch. Gotta love afternoon game during the week for lunchtime TV! The announcers read ad copy, not unusual, but this was VERY unusual ad copy. There are still tickets available for the Red Wings game tonight! It’s the payoffs. It’s game 7. It’s hockey in the city that calls itself Hockeytown!

I know plenty of people who’d sell a limb for one of those tickets. I’d love to see them give away any tickets they don’t sell. The Red Wings fans turned over the ticket prices without batting an eyelash when the money was there. It was the RED WINGS. Now it breaks my heart on their behalf. I know it must really sting that there are tickets available and people who just can’t afford to buy them now.

For me, getting a hockey ticket is NOT an issue. When I was in college and worked for the Tigers on game days, I had thought about working for the Red Wings in the off season. But it didn’t work that way. Hockey wasn't consideed the off season. The iltch family owns both and when the Red Wings were in the playoffs, and they are almost always in the payoffs, if the Tigers and Wings had home games at the same time, anyone who worked for both was told that the playoff game was the priority. Humph. No one's going to tell ME that hockey is a priority over baseball. It was a just over minimum wage college job after all!

As for lunch today, the Tigers gave up a 5-0 lead in the 6th to lose 6-5, completing the sweep for the Twins. **sigh** Well, I do have the sweet memories last night of the Reds sweeping the Diamondbacks. **happy sigh!**

Why Do The Guilty Walk Away?

I was shocked. Then I hurt for the people left behind. Then I wanted to know how and why. Then I was angry.

Getting old doesn’t suck. It never will. I’ve always said it’s NOT getting old that sucks. Three people, including Angels’ top prospect and rookie pitcher, Nick Adenhart were killed early this morning and another passenger in the same car is in critical condition. Adenhart was 22 years old.

The drunk who murdered three walked, no, ran, from the crash to try to save his worthless behind.



Andrew Thomas Gallo drove drunk. It wasn’t the first time. He was driving on a suspended license from a prior DUI. He was speeding. He ran a red light. He crashed the Mitsubishi Eclipse with enough force to crash it into a phone pole. Then he ran on foot from the scene. Three people are dead. One person is in critical condition. HE RAN AWAY.

I know this will up my cuss meter rating, but next to “Selfish Bastard” in the dictionary, you’ll see the mug shot of this worthless waste of air.

It starts with so selfish that you don’t care that getting behind the wheel of a car drunk is the same thing as loading a gun and aiming it into a crowd. It’s even more selfish when you do it again. Keep in mind that most DUI criminals, especially repeat offenders, have driven drunk many more times than they were caught. Oh yeah, he didn’t care that the state found him too irresponsible to drive at all either. Every time he drank and drove, it was unsuccessful attempted murder. Well, now he’s a success.

When he finally killed, all he knew was he was driving illegally and didn’t want to get more trouble, so he'd better hide! He likely didn’t even know he murdered three people. He shattered many more lives.

I am not a proponent of the death penalty, per se. I’d like to see him with a long sentence for the DUI, vehicular manslaughter, murder and fleeing the scene of an accident he is being charged with. And I’d like to know he’s sharing a cell with a hardened criminal who is an Angels fan, better yet, who has a 22 year old son or a 20 year old daughter in college like the deceased driver of the car. Put him in prison, force him to sober up and make him hate himself or at least make why he’s there is well enough known that he’s the only one there who doesn’t.

:::deep breath:::

Remember that I write to calm myself, to get things off my chest, to look for answers. There is no answer for this. It’s sad and so painful in an empathetic way. Why do people who don’t care about themselves take it out on other people? What makes a repeat DUI felon do it again? Why do the murderers with a bottle and wheels shatter lives without getting a scratch?

The story on mlb.com starts with a wrenching image of the groundskeeper smoothing the mound at Angels Stadium where only hours before his death Adenhart pitched 6 scoreless innings last night. There will be no game tonight. It will be played at a later date. Tonight, the Angels mourn.