Dribble by Chuck Ferris

ALL YOU WONDERFUL J-LAND FRIENDS

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:46:37 GMT

CHUCK HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!

Dear Ones,

He's left the planet, actually, I assume. Your comments and prayers, your thoughts really worked, Chuck released his body knowing he was truly loved at 10pm PDT July 1st. He told us weeks ago he wouldn't be around for the 4th, he was correct.

Your comments are a huge blessing to all of his family, and we thank you soooooo much! Wish I could be more creative, more like Dad in how I express this to you...but I know he would say it something like this:

THE CURMUDGEON HAS CHECKED OUT!

Our love and thanks for a great ride for our Dad, Grandfather, Cousin, Uncle and old friend! You are ALL AWESOME! I probably cannot respond to each and every one of you, so please know our heartfelt thanks and hugs across the web! XXXXOOOO

Blessings, Kate and family

Tags: so long, thank you, blessings in disguise

Pitch hitting

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:19:37 GMT

Hey everyone, this is Chuck's daughter, Kate...you remember me from when Chuck was in the hospital at the beginning of the year. We'll I'm pitch hitting again...making it up as I go along though. No dictation at this time from Chuck./

I was chatting with BAMA who let me know you would all like to be updated on Chuck's progress. He's had a major downturn. Here's what I think Chuck needs from all you friends now...prayers, thoughts, comments that let him know how much you've enjoyed your relationship with him, and that it is okay to let go, and go on to the next life experience, whatever that may be. He is struggling and fighting, though his body is ready to lie down and be in bliss. I will be happy to read them all to him, to encourage him relax and let go.

Sometimes without realizing it friends and family can hold on too tight to a person, and especially one who is so dedicated to all of us...we can hold them back from moving on. It seems his friends here at the "old folks' home" have been planning a big Chuck fest for 4th of July, and so he's been conflicted in his mind I think. Anyway, probably more than you needed to hear, or that he would want me to say. I'm not sure.

Chuck's whole family knows how important all of you have been to him!!! Please hold us all in your thoughts and prayers for a peaceful transition.

Namaste, Kate

Tags: dying, living, release, peacefullness

Guest Typist

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:36:57 GMT

Hello, my name is Stanley Hahn, designated typist for Chuck today. And it is an honor. Chuck says (he is dictating)...

....I had a bad morning! The staff came in to transfer me from toilet to wheel chair but I was so weak that my legs gave out, and I sank to the floor. Then it took the whole staff to lift me into my chair. I was exhausted, but unhurt. Now when I have to transfer, I have to call for help...not one or two...but three care givers come to help me make the transfer.

....Talk about loss of dignity...but I am well, even if out of breath.

I would like to make this funny, but I don't know haw to make the situation funny. Suggestions appreciated. Stanley types 10 times faster that I, ( or so he thinks) so it should be easier to read. Thanks, Stanley for your typing.

Gotta go...time for lunch but I'm not finished with breakfast yet...still sipping on a soda for breakfast.

See you later!

Upside Down Night

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:15:59 GMT

Went to bed at eight PM. Woke up at two AM. Now everythng is out of whack. I'll talk to you in the morning wehn I am awake again...hope not still.

LATER 7:15 am Finally got some rest. Waiting for breakfast now. Took tour of garden. Twiggy has the nicest crop of second bloom red roses in the garden. More later.

LATER: 8:45 am cALLED COUSIN bERTHA.NO ANSWER. nO ANSWER FROM A NURSNG HOME? cURIOUS. sorry about the Caps Key... too lazy to type ofver. Breakfast a bite of Oatmeal and one poached egg. Not bad. Off to play music for exercise class. More Latler.

11AM: They had a doll show here with a lot of pretty dolls; etnic types and I was able to play some music for the fun and fitness..Mandy the nurse came and treated my various ailments. We had a heart to heart talk. More later.

2:30 PM Lunch was a piece of chcken, mandarine oranges, cottage cheese. Then a half an hour nap. ..More later...

3:00 PM Got put on new protocol. Every transfer... chair to chair, chair to toilet, chair to bed, bed to anything...will be done with caregivers' aid. Changes my life style IMMENSELY.

4:00 PM Girlfriend Anne came over. We had supper together,then held hands through two and half men.

9:00 PM A caregiver put me to bed where I stayed until four am. Two caregivers got me up and I wnt out and looked at the waning moon.

4:00 AM Wrote this. That's it for this entry.

Beein Too Pooped to Write

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:20:23 GMT

I have been too weak and too tired to write any stories or amusing anecdotes. How I miss it. It is the best therapy for me.

Meanwhile, the archives are here... going back several years. All on file, and all as good as new.

Found: Cousin Bertha

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:22:36 GMT

I found Cousin Bertha. She is in a nursing home in Texas. She was mighty uncomvortable... but so am I, today. I did my best to be cheery.

The family moved her on Wednesday, and I learned about it today, Sunday, that same time as her daughter did.

more news later as it comes in....

A Word about Printers

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:37:55 GMT

..and the word is &%#@^. or it might even be "help"

Now, Angie, I am not whining. This is plain cussing.

Are you in the market for a printer? I would say avoid HP Deskjet 350 All in One. I bought it because it was cheap. But it was built to gobble ink like a sailor with a 12 hour leave drinks beer. I paid less than a hundred for the machine, but since then, I have paid over a hundred dollars a year for ink.

But worse than that... the software has some idiosyncratic twist. If you run out of paper, it sulks for days. It was my own fault. I let it run out and I knew about the sulk. Now I have no printer for God knows how long.

But I'm not whining. I am swearing.

PS... The Inkoholic is working again. I must remember not to let it run out of paper or ink.

Snap amd Ginger

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:25:26 GMT

Snap and Ginger

When I was a child, my grandmother used o make up stories about two little puppies, one named Snap and one named Ginger. That’s Gingersnap, the cookie, you see, but it was not obvious to me at age six.

When I was a parent I made up stories about Snap and Ginger for my children, AND when they were parents they made up Snap and Ginger stories for their kids, my grandchildren. So Snap and Ginger lived on for six generations. That’s some life span for a pair of playful puppies.

Yesterday I wrote a story for a self-imposed writing assignment called Rover on duty. I put it online in my Blog and later in reading it discovered in wonder what a neat Snap and Ginger story it could become.

I played with the story this way.

Snap on Duty

We bought and moved into the Temecula house because of the wonderful back yard. It was fenced on one side by the house, and on another by spectacular view of the whole valley below, but on the other two sides was a gigantic .fieldstone sculptured wall.

It had been built by an artist whose name was never given to us. Most of the stones were granite stones found in dry riverbeds, but some were bit of lava, rough lava, that contrasted with the main smooth blocks of field stone.

It was plumbed for a fountain, but there was no recycling pump, so obviously when it was built times were different and water was plentiful. It was just as beautiful dry with cactus plants as it would have been with moss and water lilies. One flat fieldstone projected from the wall and was meant, no doubt, to hold a plant

Our two cats, Missy and Goneril liked to climb. Inside the house. they climbed furniture and drapes to sleep on curtain rods or the fireplace mantle. Outside it was bushes or trees or especially the rock wall, and they liked to loll on the projecting flat rock. Snap, the self-appointed leader of the menagerie watched in envy as they scaled the wall to their private sanctuary. After all, he was top dog around here He was master of the feeding dish and got the choice scraps first. He had a spot beneath the kitchen table witn Ginger, and cats were not allowed. But the cats had a place of their own, and Snap was not allowed.

Snap began to climb. He was no cat, so his first efforts were feeble.

Ginger used to say to him, “Cut that out, Snap. You’re not a cat. Why try to climb like one?“

Snap answered with histail drooping, “What a wonderful look-out place. Why should it be wasted on cats?” And he watched as the cats nimbly leaped from stone to stone.

Snap thought if I could just choose the right rocks, I could climb that too.

Ginger, although she did not approve of his cat-like behavior, said, ”Snap, remember when you were a puppy? You were learning to climb the stairs. You had to learn to get one hind foot up before you could get on the next step..”

“Foolishness,” said Snap. “That’s the way humans walk…one hind leg after another, and not using their front legs at all.”

“Well, watch the cats then. See if you steal their secret.:”

Snap just growled at that thought. But later he tried climbing the rock wall by finding places for his hind feet first, and his front feet later. Lo and behold, he made it part way up the wall before tumbling down, painfully striking the sharp stones.

He yelped in pain, but Ginger licked his wounds, and soon he was ready to try again. And this time he got farther before he tumbled again, and the fall was farther too. Ouch.

Eventually he was able to climb to the flat rock. The cats were promptly evicted and had to settle for individual pieces of lava to nest upon,. It seems a cat can sleep on anything somehow. Rover was king of the mountain.

From his elevated post, Snap had a full view of the whole back yard and the streets and sidewalks in front of the house.

Snap was a “greeter“. That is, any person on the sidewalk had to be greeted by Snap.

If Snap approved the person then Ginger greeted too, but sbe always waited to see whether Snap would bark at the stranger, or happily wag his tail in welcome. If that person had a dog with them so much the better. That meant a smelling contest with each dog trying to smell the other‘s behind.

When the smelling and the greeting was over, Snap dashed back to his elevated post on the wall. and became the lookout for the next visitor. Ginger settled down at the foot of the wall, and said to herself, “Cats are cats, and dogs are dogs, and dogs should not try be what they are not.” .

Dog on a Rock

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:35:58 GMT

I lay in bed playing a writers’ game. There is no need for “writer’s block”. The world is too full of colorful images and adventures.

Let’s see. Take any simple phase. Dog on a rock came to mind.. Two nouns: dog, rock. Dog is modified. He is on a rock. , We can do anything we like with the dog. We can make him a Chihuahua or a Mastiff or anything in-between and any color or any temperament we want. However, he is on a rock. The rock is unmodified be it Igneous or sedimentary. Is the dog on lava or sandstone? We decide.

I played with the phrase this way.

Rover on Duty

Our two cats, Missy and Goneril liked to climb. Inside they climbed furniture and drapes to sleep on curtain rods or the fireplace mantle. Outside it was bushes or trees or especially the rock wall, and they liked to loll on the projecting flat rock. Rover, our Australian Shepard watched in envy as they scaled the wall to their private sanctuary. After all, he was top dog around here He was master of the feeding dish and got the choice scraps first. He had a spot beneath the kitchen table and cats were not allowed. But here they were with a place of their own,

Rover began to climb. He was no cat, so his first efforts were feeble. Eventually he was able to climb to the flat rock. The cats were promptly evicted and had to settle for individual pieces of lava to nest upon,. It seems a cat can sleep on anything somehow. Rover was king of the mountain.

From his elevated post, Rover had a full view of the whole back yard and the streets and sidewalks in front of the house.

Rover was a “greeter“. That is, any person on the sidewalk had to be greeted by Rover. If that person had a dog with them so much the better. That meant a smelling contest with each dog trying to smell the other‘s behind.

When the smelling and the greeting was over, Rover dashed back to his elevated post on the wall. and became the lookout for the next visitor.

That’s why when you say “dog on a rock” to me, it brings back images of a wonderful rock wall draped with two lazy cats and a happy greeter. .

Great Cousin Bertha Hunt

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:29:41 GMT

Hospitals sure are tight lipped. Almost every day I call Cousin Bertha in the hospital and we chat. Chat about nothing, but we chat.

Today I called and was told, "She is no longer here." Nothing more/

Nothing more, just she is no longer here. Leaves me wondering did she die? Surely the family would have called me. So she must have moved. But where"

Stay tuned.