Of the many August memories that I have, one of the strongest is that for many years, August meant the arrival of an AFS exchange student (AFS.org) to live with my family for the academic year.  Over the years, we hosted 12 exchange students, who came from(in order): Italy, Paraguay, Armenia, Brazil, France, Thailand, Japan, [...]

Well, I was actually 4 for 4 with my rugby pics for the weekend: The Waratahs, Crusaders, Munster and Bath all won. I’m a bit irritated that my Tivo did not pick up the Waratahs-Crusader’s match. My friend Jacques, a Sharks fan, was hoping to come over and catch that game versus the Waratahs. (Given the result, he may be glad he did not see the match) At least I could see the highlights on Matt’s blog at greenandgoldrugby.com… Munster-Toulouse ended up being a really, really fun game to watch. Toulouse started out just dominating the first 20 minutes-but for all of the beautiful movement with ball in hand and domination, the team from southwest France was only able to translate that into 3 points off an Ellisalde drop goal. Munster ended up dominating the game, and won 16-13. That makes two Heineken Cups in the last 3 years for the team from southwest ireland. I had to laugh at the Toulouse coach and player’s sour grapes about how Munster does not win with style. Now Toulouse must concentrate on trying to win “Le Bouclier de Brennus”, the trophy that is the Holy Grail of French Rugby. At this point, they are behind Clermont-Auvergne. The way things are looking in France, it looks like it will be Clermont-Auvergne against Perpignan(But Brives is gaining fast) in one Semifinal, and Toulouse-Stade Francais(losers 9-6 this past weekend to last place Auch) in the other semifinal. The men in gold from Auvergne look like it will finally be their year-but Toulouse has the capability to regroup after this past weekend’s disappointing result in Cardiff, and Guy Noyes will have his guys ready to go for the last part of the season in France. One thing for sure, if it ends up being a Clermont Auvergne-Toulouse final, it WILL be a high scoring game. Toulouse will need to cash in on possession and territory-and keep their heads. The lack of those quallities cost Toulouse dearly in Cardiff. It is a match they could have won, but the amount of whining and sour grapes from Guy Noyes and Ellisalde amount to poor sportsmanship in refusing to give Munster the props they deserve.

Rodrigo played in his last regular season game with the Plymouth Panthers, yesterday. It also might turn out to be his last rugby match during his stay here in the USA. In the first half, while Rodrigo was tackling somebody, he got a knee to the head that knocked him for a loop and left him lying on the deck for more than a few minutes.He had some neck pain as well, but he seemed to be doing better as the game wore on-I was still adamat that he was NOT going back in to play. When we got home from the game, that Plymouth lost to Saint Michael-Albertville, he started getting severe headache pain, nausea and dizziness. I ended up bringing him to the Emergency Room. The good news is that that the CT scan showed no skull fracture-but he did have a concussion. He is out for at least two weeks. They have a playoff game next week that he won’t be able to play in, but if they win-a big if-then he can play in the second round playoff game. He was really frustrated, but that is the nature of rugby-it IS a very physical game. He has needed some pain medication today, but Rodrigo is out with his mates, so obviously he is not feeling that bad.( I also had to put my foot down on proposed trip to the amusement park-the last thing a post concussion person needs is to be on those fast rides with sudden drops and decelerations.)

We had to put down our 12 year-old Golden Retriever, Rambeau ,  last  night.  As  I  write this morning,  I  still feel pretty raw emotionally. It’s very odd to let only one dog outside, and not two. It’s now also odd seeing two food dishes, when now, one will suffice.

In June of 1996, my sister Wendy’s Golden Retriever, Maddie, had a bumper litter of puppies. I realize that all puppies are cute, but that said, I don’t think there is anything cuter than 8-12 week old Golden Retriever puppies. Ian and Rachel were 9 and 5 at the time, and were all pumped up about the possibility of getting a puppy. Being a typical dad, I was saying “No, No, No”. I was saying no all the way to my sister’s place out in Orono, but my kids did not whine, or argue with me. They knew in their hearts that I would not be able to resist the charms of Golden Retriever puppies…well, they were right. I saw the puppies and my heart just melted. The kids picked out from the unsold puppies the one that they wanted, and my wife put a little bit of red fingernail polish on the inside of the puppy’s ear to mark him. When we drove home with the puppy that my son had named Rambo, he threw up in the car on the way back to our house in New Hope. He never DID  enjoy riding in the car…

Yesterday seemed no different than most days.Rambeau had a good appetite, and he was in fine spirits when I took him and Buddha for a walk on Sunday afternoon after I got home from Rodrigo’s rugby game…

We decided to spell Rambo, “Rambeau”, for a little French flavor. He was just a joy as a puppy. He was by far and away the quickest learner as far as house training him.  He was just a joy as puppy-our exchange student at that time, Luis, was the first of 11 of our 12 exchange students to have Rambeau be a part of his exchange student experience living with us. Rabeau loved everybody, but my son Ian was his buddy. He slept most of the time with his boy. Rambeau was a playmate and confidente to Ian during what could be some tough patches from when he was in 4th-6th grade and Ian had really bad migraines and did not have many friends in the neighborhood.(The one down side of not going to local public school and going to Lutheran School) Rambeau was the main constant in Ian’s life, shepherding him from childhood, through the potential minefield of his teen aged years to being a mature 20 year old adult. When Ian left home to go to college out at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the thing I will never forget is waiting for Ian in the car while he went back into the house to say goodbye to his dog. When he got into the car, his cheeks were tear-streaked.

The first indication that something was not quite right was Rambeau’s behaviour while I was cooking dinner last night. He was breathing really, really heavily, seemed a bit agitated, and actually tried to jump on the counter while I was working on the Spaghetti Bolognese…

Rambeau loved everybody: adults, kids…he seemed to remember people who have been here before. Whenever it was a familiar face walking into our house, Rambeau would frequently grab a pillow in his mouth and taunt whoever the familiar person with his pillow, DARING them to try to take the pillow from him. He would also make his happy growling noise, or whimper in delight at seeing a familiar face. He was great with the cats, and his 12 years overlapped the lives of Kesha(an American Eskimo), Olivia(a retired Greyhound racer), and Buddha(our Olde Englishe Bulldogge). Kesha helped show Rambeau the ropes about being a dog, Oliva was a good friend, and getting Buddha a couple of years ago took a pudgy 85 pound Rambeau kicking and screaming into geriatric Golden Retriever fitness. Rambeau’s overall health the last two years had been excellent.

The first seizure happened just before 10 PM. In the next hour, he had 2 more seizures. Each seizure lasting longer, and more violent than the previous one. He walked with great difficulty. His left side seemed to be going out. In between seizures, he still recognized me, my wife and the kids. It was obvious though that he seemed perplexed, as if he could not quite understand why his body was letting him down now. We brought him to the emergency vet in Golden Valley. My wife, my son and daughter all cried and hugged each other as we said good bye to our wonderful Golden Retriever. 

My Aunt Kay has remarked that animals are much less disappointing in our relationship with them compared to our relations with other human beings, because dogs do not care about our bank balance, our looks, our waistlines-none of that. Their love is pure and unconditional. There is no savings or investment that gives back more of a return than our relationship with our dogs.The warm thoughts of a now-departed dog is one of the few things that can make a human smile and cry at the same time.

Rambeau was the centerpiece of what is maybe my favorite memory of my son and daughter. When Ian came back home from New Jersey for Christmas, my daughter Rachel made a framed photo collage of pictures of Rambeau as her Christmas gift for her brother. When Ian opened the gift at my dad’s house, he was so moved by his sister’s gesture, that he just lost it. My son and daughter argued a lot as younger kids, but watching my son and daughter hug and support each other last night as they were mourning the loss of a wonderful dog, made me think that among the many great qualities Rambeau had, in the end, his love helped bring and keep us all together.

Good night old buddy. We’ll never forget you.

Well, here I sit in a Panera Bread, taking advantage of their free Wi-Fi…Becky and her mom are at the bank taking care of some financial things at my mother in law’s bank.

My mother in law has done amazingly well post op for the foot surgery she had. The surgeon broke three toes on my mother in law’s left foot and applied pins. The hope is that when they heal, it will allow her to walk with greater facility and less pain. Overall, I thought that she had good nursing care-although one of the nurses confided to my my mother in law that “your son in law has a STRANGE sense of humor.” To paraphase Jeremy Irons: “They have NO idea…”

On the bright side, had  a chance to have some excellent deep dish pizza-a true Chicago specialty and treat. I am hoping later tonight to go to this fun little joint close to my mother in law’s apartment to get either a Chili-dog or an Italian roast beef sandwich, a beer, and some time away from my wife and her mom. The two of them together are just as toxic together as chlorine powder added to boiling amonia. Thank God we are going back to Minnesota on Saturday. My back cannot take one more day on that fold out couch.

We had a nicer than expected visit with my brother in law and his family last night. His wife has a lot of anipathy towards my family and his mom over the last few years. We ended up having a very pleasant evening. the have little girls ages 5 and 2, who are not only really well-behaved, but a lot of fun. I was not sure how they would react to me-kids can  be kind of scare of men, but they were willing to play and rough-house with me. I got to play nurse and take out a splinter from Ellie’s thumb. She was such a good little girl. She did not move, whine or complain at all. My mother in law really enjoyed seeing her grandaughters, whom she does not get to see as much as she would like.

On the rugby front, I am going to miss Rodrigo’s game against Edina tonight, but I wil be able to see his Plymouth Panther club play Hopkins on Sunday. Hopkins is the defending statge boys champ in Minnesota, so I think Rodrigo’s competitive juices will be flowing to have a chance to have a run at the best in the state. Plymouth is going to need him to have an  excellent game from the fly half position to have a chance against a really good side.

I am looking forward to getting back home. There is a lot I like in the Chicago area-but 3-4 days being around my wife and her mother could just about drive Mahatama Ghandi postal.

Nothing like finishing off a 5 day in a row stretch of night shifts by…preparing to go to Chicago. I got most of my packing done on Monday night. I wish this one was a rugby-related road trip, but no such luck-I gotta go with my wife down to her native Chicago(which is actually a fun city-when you are not getting shot at) to help out her mom(who is NOT such a fun person) who is having surgery on her foot on Wednesday. I think we will probably be back late Friday, but we will see how she does post-op, because with her heart issues and age, there really is no such thing as simple surgery.

Well, hopefully we can be of some help for my Mother in Law, and hopefully she won’t mind the help…and hopefully my wife and I will be still on speaking terms after 3 angst filled days with Da Redhead’s mom. 

Well, with today being Monday, I hope this week goes well for you dear reader. At least I hope it goes better than the week ended for the people in Myanmar(the former Burma), Zimbabwe,China(who had a horrific earthquake on Monday, with at least 10,000 dead and counting), and the folks in the south-central US( Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri…) who got tatooed by some seriously strong tornados. When everything goes bad, sometimes all you can do is just sit or lie down and just take everything in, like this dog in Oklahoma….Hope your week is a good one.

With this being Mother’s Day, I wanted to reprint a posting from last July, which is kind of an homage to my mom and what a charachter she is. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Your card (with money for cigarettes ) is in the mail….

I just got back from a 3 1/2 day weekend 
http://www.50states.com/flag/coflag.htm visiting my mom in Montrose, Colorado. It’s a beautiful area in Southwestern Colorado by the San Juan Mountains and the Black Canyon.

http://www.visitmontrose.net/

There are a couple of things that you need to know about my mom. She loves leopard print clothes and bright sequins. She loves to gamble. She has supported herself in Colorado the past 15-16 years by running a poker game out of her spare room in her house. She has played cards for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, the card-playing and gambling can take a major toll on relationships-she’s been married and divorced 3 times. You cannot blame it ALL on the gambling-but it clearly played a roll in deep-sixing 3 marriages. She also smokes. But to  say my mom smokes would be like saying Madonna or Paris Hilton enjoy the company of men. My mom RELISHES her smokes. She smokes 3 packs  a day. I have not even seen French guys who can out-smoke my mom.  There are absolutely two ways that you can send my mom into a frothing-at-the-mouth apolectic fit: ask her not to smoke around you, and bring up Mexican Illegal immigrants.

Now lest you think this is some sort of “I’m going to blame all my problems on my parents” posting, forget it. My mom is a lot of fun, she is very social, loves conversation, loves going out(well, used to now that Colorado became a smoke free state in it’s restaurants) and does not forget a birthday for me, my brother and sisters AND the grandkids. I can honestly say that when I was a young child, she had a profound impact on my life by reading to me and being there for me when I took my tentative first steps reading Dr Seus books. At Christmas time, I not only got the presents that I asked Santa for, but I got gifts that I never would have dared asked of Santa because they were too expensive, like hockey equipment and such. Even when she was a single mom, Christmas was always a blast.

Living by herself the last several years has meant that my mom is very independent and wants things done her way. Compromise is not a word in her vocabulary.

I had wanted to go to the Four Corners area-it’s  the only location in the United States where 4 states(New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Colorado) border on a point where you can stand on that point and be in all 4 states. http://www.mesaverde.com/fcmonument.htm Part of the reason I wanted to go was that by going to the 4 Corners, I would add Utah to my list of States-and would make it that I had set foot in every continental state west of the Mississippi River. (The only states I have yet to set foot in are South Carolina, Alabama, Alaska and Hawaii)

My mom was up for a road trip. The catch was that her car was not in good condition for a tough 3 hour drive through mountains and into the desert. We rented a car, a Toyota Corolla. The one problem: My mom could not smoke in the car under the renters agreement. What should have been a 3 hour trip ended up taking about 5- we would stop roughly every 20 minutes at my mother’s strident behest so that she could either A-have a smoke-usually a couple of cigarettes would get power-inhaled, B-get an Iced Tea and C-get something to eat.(Diabetic…low blood sugar) At no point on the way to  the 4 Corners area-or back- was I able to  drive for more than 25 minutes at one shot. Oh yeah, Mom wanted to make sure that we got LOTS of pictures of the scenary. Good thing I just had disposable camera with 27 shots or we would still be on the road by Telluride or Rico.

We stayed at the Ute Mountain Casino and Hotel in Towaoc, Colorado. http://www.utemountaincasino.com/  It was a nice place and Mom was in her element. She played Poker untill about 4 in the morning. It was tough sledding getting her up in time for the 11 AM Check-out, but we made it-barely.

I admit it: I’m a wuss when it comes to gambling. I think I spent about 15 bucks playing the nickle slot machines. I spent most of Saturday night watching my Mom and marvelling at how much fun she had playing cards. I was on a tight budget for this trip, but mostly I am just not into throwing my money away. I think Mom lost 40 bucks that night, but she was down more than $150 earlier in the night, so she rebounded well after I left at 1am to try to sleep.

I really did have a good weekend with my mom. It was fun talking and reminiscing, but I think 3-4 days was all my lungs could take. I am sure I have the beginnings of black lung disease. In all seriousness, there are a lot of people my age who do not have living parents. I’m glad I took the time to do this trip, because with my Mom’s health, there is no guarantee that in the future that she would be up for such a road trip.

When you spend time with an aging parent, it makes you realize just how time really is a fleeting thing. I thought about my mom as a young divorcee` in her 20’s bringing me and my siblings to a drive in, because that was cheap entertainment for a single mom with limited funds. She would pop up a bag of popcorn and we would be dressed in our pyjammas, because we usually nodded off during the second feature.

I thought about that same period in our lives in the late 60’s when she would say that we were going to have breakfast for dinner. My brother Bill and I thought  our Mom was being cool. As kids, we did not realize that it was cheaper on a limited income for my mom to buy eggs and pancake mix than meat and fresh vegetables. 

It did not seem that long ago when I was giving my mom and dad a hard time about turning 40. Now here I am in my late forties and my mom is almost 70.

It is a complex relationship we have with our parents. But we have to make good use of this time that we have them around, because life is short.

I love you Mom.-Steve

In my line of work, I can see a slight change in the health complaints kids are having. I am not getting quite the volume of of kids with vomiting, Diarrhea and RSV/Bronchilitis symptoms, but I must confess I am still amazed how many calls related to Croup that I am still getting.

Anyway, I have my first night shift of 5 in a row tonight. Later on Friday, I gotta find some time and get with my kids so that we can get their mom her Mother’s day gift. We don’t have anything fancy planned-eating out is getting so expensive, that I decided just to grill some steaks on Mothers Day this Saturday. Hope everybody in my house stays healthy.

One of the things in the USA that has changed, thanks to massive amounts of Mexican Immigration, is that Cinco de Mayo has now become a part of the lexicon of American holidays. When I was in the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas over 20 years ago, you just about had to be in south Texas, Arizona, New Mexico or Southern California to know about this holiday.  http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm

Hasta Manana!