Lucy the Bruiser

The other night Susan took Lucy home to the Puckett's next door. However, it didn't take Lucy long to break free and head back over to our house. She cried at the door. Of course Basil went nuts and barked along with her. A few minutes later, Lucy came waltzing through the doggy door and into the living room. She had knocked open the back gate. She is a tiny little fullback. The next night Lucy tried the same manuever but Susan had propped a big 4 x 4 post against the gate. Lucy knocked out one of the slats on the gate trying to get in. I am very flattered that she wants so badly to stay with us.

Susan drove down to Milton this morning with the B so I have the house to myself. I chickened out on Saints Day and didn't do my standup. All the jokes I liked were too risque. I was impressed that my 1:15 students showed up on time while all the BBQ and games were going on. I have three lectures left and then finals week. I always get a little sad to see them go. I've had a good semester. Of course I have made mistakes but overall we survived.

I have picked out a destination for my May trip; Pittsburgh. You may ask why. Well, Andrew Carniege funded some of the earlier dinosaur digs in the western states. So the natural history museum in Pittsburgh has a magnificent fossil collection. After Pittsburgh, I thought I would drive east across Pennsylvania and see Gettysburg. My mom and dad took us there when Brent and I were kids. Of course, it didn't make any sense to me at the time. I was so moved by other battlefields I have visited: Vicksburg, Corinth, Bull Run and most of all Shiloh that I thought Gettysburg needed another visit. I would like to visit Antietam one day since that was the bloodiest battle of the war...insanity.

After Gettysburg, I want to visit Bethlehem to see the giant steel mill that built much of America. I heard the other day on NPR an interview with a former steel worker who now gives tours of the site. I know the Sloss Furnaces are just up the road in B'ham but Bethlehem steel sounds like the epicenter of the industrial might of last century. Just down the road from Bethlehem and Allentown is Philadelphia, home of the nation's oldest natural history museums: the National Academy of Sciences at Drexel University. The NYT had a wonderful slideshow of their collection including an early photograph of Edgar Alan Poe in the museum (he studied mollusks). And then there is the fact that Edward Drinker Cope worked out of Philly...one of my paleo heroes.

Last of all I am thinking of returning home down the coast through Delaware, the southernmost state I have yet to visit. I will probably be ready for home after that so I may just speed home as fast as I can. Time for lunch. May all your bases be paired.

Lucy and Basil

Our neighbors the Pucketts have a chabrador (half chow half labrador retriever) named Lucy. She comes over several days a week to play with Basil. We feed her and she often stays the night with us. I would love for her to live with us permanently but Susan thinks Basil would feel neglected. They are so active with each other. They chase each other, romp and play. I love watching them run around the golf course or Lake Armstrong.

My microscopic hematuria seems to be idiopathic. My IVP (intravenous pyelogram) showed my kidneys and ureters to be normal. However, I did see a gallstone. Dr. Benet did a cystoscopy on me on Wednesday afternoon to check for bladder stones or cancer. My bladder looked fine. He gave me photos of my ureteric orifices and my prostate. Luckily I was on valium before during and after the procedure. The only pain I felt was when he squirted some numbing gel up my urethra and then when he moved the cystoscope the last few centimeters into the bladder. Once he got into the bladder the pain was gone. After the procedure I went and home and slept for a couple of hours. The only side effect was getting up to pee and it stinging. I am back to normal now thank goodness.

I am down to five lectures left in the semester. My numbers have shrunk with some of my student groups down to one sole survivor. This week is Saints Day and I promised to tell some jokes. I am not looking forward to it though. Spring is here. The weather is warm but not hot. The privet is blooming and all the trees have leafed out. I have missed the green.