Ponder: Run, Rose, Run

Run Rose Run co-written by Dolly Parton and James Patterson ©2022 was a relatively enjoyable, relaxed read but not any great literature to write home about. It is about a young girl from an Appalachian Mountains type background, AnnieLee Keyes, striving to make it big in the country music infused town of Nashville, TN. AnnieLee is miraculously discovered singing at honky tonk bar; the highly famous country music star Ruthanna Ryder takes her under her wing to help along her career. The ambience is meticulously developed. I could hear the twangy accent in everyone's speech; whenever a song was sung I had no problem hearing the voice harmonies and, in the background, I could imagine the picking banjoes and rippling fiddles enhancing the main melody.

Ruthanna Ryder has gone into retirement much to the consternation of her fans. I couldn't help but wonder if Ruthanna was modeled after Dolly Parton's views on the topic. She helps and guides AnnieLee, but insists the young woman stand up for herself and and remain true to herself. There are undertones that AnnieLee is hiding something from her background, something from which she must run. Dealings with record labels, managers, and radio stations are very interesting, depending on how true to life they really are. Ruthanna provides a back up band, and assigns a bodyguard /protector in Ethan Blake. Although there is strong theme of independence, AnnieLee leans on Ethan a great deal though she does not admit it, even to herself.

Although this book was co-authored, I had a nagging sense that the first two-thirds had been penned by Dolly Parton and the last third by James Patterson, the last third reading like an action movie. In that sense it seemed a bit disjointed. I enjoyed the narrative since I admire the music of Dolly Parton almost as much as I admire her philanthropy. I borrowed the novel from the library; Amazon readers rated Run Rose Run 4.5/5.

There is a CD of the songs from this book that I did download from iTunes and they, too, are pleasing. (Alex gleefully clapped through most of them – the peppy ones.)  Here is a YouTube link to the title song Run, Run, Run. I am not disappointed in this book/CD combination but it is nothing especially stellar. It will appeal more if you are from the Nashville area or very much into country music. I rate it 3 stars and am glad I read it.

★★★☆☆ Better than average; not a waste of time

Snoopy Surgery

The first week of May the right side of our dog Snoopy's face swelled up. We initially surmised he'd been stung by a bee and a small dose of the antihistamine Benadryl would help. But the lump got larger and harder and seemed to move over toward the top of his head as well. On Friday May 5th we took him to an emergency vet, not wanting to wait until we got him a vet appointment for Monday May 9th. The emergency vet diagnosed an abscess, perhaps from a bad tooth, and prescribed a best guess antibiotic and pain pills. At the Monday appointment the vet lanced the skin to relieve some pressure and extracted eight dental irrigation syringes' worth (about the volume of eight rolls of dimes) of pus/blood yuck. Snoopy would continue to ooze the rest of the day and night. We set up a appointment time for surgery first thing Tuesday morning May 10th. The following progression photos taken pre-surgery are pretty graphic so I have kept them small. The red is where poor Snoopy's skin had split due to excess pressure from the swelling; his eye is barely visible as a slit.

During Snoopy's surgery the plan was to take skull X-rays, check for tumors, and extract samples of the infection in order to fine tune the antibiotic and check for possible malignancy. If the swelling was due to a dental abscess, the vet would do the needed dental work. If the swelling was from a tumor we signed for the vet to not wake Snoopy up from the anesthesia. Snoopy is fourteen years old. Skull X-rays confirmed there was no tumor. The abscess was not due to a dental infection although there was a broken tooth on the opposite side of Snoopy's head from the abscess. Snoopy was under anesthesia for 4.5 hours. No reason for the abscess was ever found. Cultures days later confirmed no malignancy and found he needed antibiotics for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. There was concern that sustained pressure on the optic nerve put Snoopy at risk of losing the sight in this right eye or even the eye itself. Snoopy was on two pain killers, a patch on his rump to dispense Fentanyl, three antibiotics, eye drops, plus a modified diet of soft canned food and no hard kibble. Oh, and yes, the "cone of shame". I learned that Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and that if he ate or chewed on the patch on his rump, the dosage would be fatal. We also did not wanted him pawing at the sutures or the healing wound on his face. His skin had been stretched so taut during the swelling before surgery that the skin did not reach far enough to close fully. He still had an opening that had to fill in gradually with a healing process called granulation. I learned that  "Granulation of a wound is normal and desirable. [It is] That part of the healing process in which lumpy, pink tissue containing new connective tissue and capillaries forms around the edges of a wound." 

With the cone of shame on, Snoopy could not navigate his dog door in and out of the garage (lower left of next photo). For most of the week after surgery we did not leave him alone, Frank or me stayed home to watch over him. But eventually we would need to go some place together. Even once the cone was off, we did not want Snoopy scraping his granulation scab on the flap of the dog door pushing in or out. Frank erected an elaborate fencing system and we left the side door to outside from the garage open. We could still lock the door between the family room and the garage for personal security; our attack mutt was not up to the task. We did acknowledge the possibility that some robber could steal the garage empty but Frank philosophically declared that that would be a blessing and most assuredly worth the risk.

Snoopy healed well. He had twice weekly vet visits to check the surgery and monitor his eye pressure, once changing the type of eye drops. Once his sutures were removed he still has a Frankenstein appearance but that will be camouflaged as his fur grows back in. His skin is pink where is black fur on the right side of his head is still growing it is but no longer an angry looking red. A rose colored oval remains and will fade when the skin fills in. How much hair growth there will be in that area is yet to be seen. The following are photos about two weeks and four weeks after surgery.

A comical feature that still remains is the rectangle on Snoopy's rump where his fur was shaved for the Fentanyl patch. Frank was tempted to write on it "Your ad here." Perhaps the publicity income could help defray the vet costs.

Chabot Space and Science Center

On Sunday, May 22nd, Frank and I took Alex to the Chabot Space and Science Center in the Oakland hills. It is about an hour away tucked among the trees. We initially missed our exit and began our outing navigating narrow, winding roads as we approached the complex from a direction other than planned. No problem. Alex loves car rides. Once inside, our first stop was the planetarium to see how Alex would like the experience. Shows of varying durations from 12 minutes to 45 minutes cover a variety of topics. A short 12 minute one on the universe was playing when we arrived. It was swirls and motion throughout the stars and asteroids and planets to far reaches of galaxies projected in an artistic, colorful, soothing style. Alex was mesmerized by it. Frank and Alex posed at the mural on the outer wall. We took in two other shows later in the day. One was on astronauts and geared for a younger audience. Shortly before leaving we watched another about future missions to the moon.

After the show, we got oriented with a map and ate lunch outdoors. The complex is arranged in three levels, the cafe and the patio are Level 1, the lowest. I hesitate to say "ground" level because the center is tucked into a hillside and topography is such that "ground" can be at any elevation.  The weather was gorgeous; we could not have asked for better.

Shortly before crossing the sky bridge on Level 2 toward the Dellums Building we came upon a blue globe. It looked like the earth without any continents but with a polar ice cap at the top. When Alex spun it, the fluid inside undulated in pretty waves and ripples. It was quite unique and soothing to watch. In its surface, it reflected us standing nearby as well as all the sunlight streaming in from the surrounding windows.

At the other end of the sky bridge was an interactive exhibit explaining the phases of the moon. Alex appreciated the rotating riding aspect of it.

We continued on into a large room themed with habitat building for Mars. At its entrance were large LEGO type bricks; Alex spent a fair amount of time building with them.

Farther back along the wall was a display for building a habitat and testing it for its ability to survive during a quake on Mars. Alex really got into the building part, not so much the shaking part. Frank initially showed him how to build with the wooden timbers and then Alex was gung-ho to go at it all by himself. He pulled up a chair to make himself comfortable while building. His attention span for this activity was so long that Frank and I had to pull up chairs also and wait him out!

Opening out onto Level 3 were two domes and a rectangular shed that housed three telescopes. We did not spend much time here. Not being night, we decided we were not trained enough to see anything. After reading an Optics Trade article titled Can a Telescope be Used During the Day, I learned that

 Thinking that watching the sky during the day is restricted to birds and clouds is also missing out on some incredible sights.

Besides as we went into each shed or dome Alex gravitated to the nearest seat. He was saturated and tired so we headed out to retrace our steps and leave for the day.

We stopped at the cafe for a snack and to recharge my cell phone. I wanted to be sure to have directions on the way home and not repeat our indirect arrival route by some random circuitous pathway.

Our final activity was a sedentary one, a final 35 minute long planetarium show, titled Forward to the Moon.

 Kari Byron from Crash Test World and MythBusters launches us on a journey beyond the Earth towards a sustainable future in space. NASA’s 21st century Artemis program, named after the Greek moon Goddess and twin of Apollo, is the next step in our mission to explore the universe and land the first woman and person of color on the surface of the Moon. [7 minute trailer]

Fortunately we had an uneventful, direct, drive home. The day's outing had been an enjoyable one. Frank and I had taken a chance that the Chabot Space and Science Center would appeal to Alex and it had. Success! We would definitely go there again.

April Visit to SoCal

Frank and I flew down to Southern California Friday April 22 and flew back Tuesday April 26, the day after Dan's birthday. It was a whirlwind few days during which we went to a party Saturday in the park for William's 4th birthday and watched a swim meet for Vivian, Lillian, and William on Sunday. Monday we rested in the day before we celebrated Dan's birthday in the evening at a Mexican restaurant – Dan, Frank, me and his four kiddos 8 and under. Frank and I were glad we had rested first.

4th Birthday Party for William
Since William's entire preschool class was invited to his party (plus parents and siblings) it was held outdoors in a neighborhood park. It had a construction theme. Dan arrived with a huge bundle of balloons in the yellow, red, and black of a construction zone colors and some huge mylar balloons of a giant "4" and two construction vehicles. Carrie came prepared with an assortment of dump trucks and bulldozers and front loaders for sand play in the pits. Party favors were all matchbook size construction vehicles.

                 

As for other decorations, Carrie had bought plastic construction tape (like you would see at a crime scene) that eight-year-old Vivian helped Carrie and me wrapped around pillars. There was also a long banner with traffic of construction vehicles and the letters to spell out Happy Birthday". Carrie assigned me the task of pre-stringing that banner the night before so it only needed to be suspended at the party scene. I spread it out on two leather cubes and debated the order of the letters and vehicles for longer that it deserved before stringing them in three sections that we joined together at the party site. Not interrupting the letters was the final decision. The vehicles were in the middle as it they were a line of traffic.

The morning of the party all were assigned tasks and worked as busy bees. Dan and Frank were in charge of: getting inflated balloons from Party City, getting Pizza and cupcakes from Costco, and picking up chicken nuggets from Chic-fil-A. Carrie had planned and prepped yogurts and drinks earlier and I cut up a watermelon into wedges the morning of. There were only a few snags. Inflating the balloons took way longer than anticipated. The pizzas were not ready. Costco no longer baked cupcakes. The guys ran out of time to get the chicken. A friend needed to be pressed into service to pick up the chicken on their way to the party. Frank and I ran out during the party to locate and buy cupcakes. Other than those few hitches, the feast turned out incredibly well.

As I was cutting up that watermelon at the kitchen counter Vivian looked and me in the green splotchy top I was wearing and said "Grandma, you look like a watermelon!". I laughed and asked her, "the color or the shape?" She was absolutely right on both!

About those cupcakes... Frank and I dashed off to the nearest grocery store and ran over to the bakery section. We were under strict instructions to find plain white, not chocolate, cupcakes and they must be decoration free, even devoid of sprinkles. Carrie had decorative toppers planned. High above the glass counters of Ralph's bakery along the ceiling was a bold sign that read DESIGNER CUPCAKES. We looked at each other and groaned. We asked the clerk where they had plain white cupcakes, not the fancy ones. He looked at us and said that there were none; those kind had to be "Special Ordered". We wandered through the multi-table display of creative cupcakes with ladybugs, unicorns, beehives, pigs, etc. until finally locating some vanilla bean cupcakes and some yellow cupcakes that had confetti sprinkles baked inside but not visible on the white icing. We bought both kinds and drove back to the party at the park. I helped Carrie arrange them on a cupcake tree and insert the construction vehicle and truck toppers she bought. Those were so unique and appropriate, just in keeping with four-year-old William's love of all things construction.

Somebody, not invited guests, had brought a pair of fluffy white puppies to the park. They were willing to share the joy of those pups. Kids flocked around them when not engrossed in vehicle play in the sand pits. Vivian, six-year-old Lillian, and sixteen-month-old Irene were each in seventh heaven holding one of them. It was a cute closure near the end of the party.

Once home, William posed in front of his presents before digging in and opening them. Grandpa looks on, collapsed at one end of the couch until he really relaxes and stretches out at the other end. Vivian wanted to be sure Grandpa was covered and comfortable during his nap.

Later that afternoon, Irene is toddling around in the back yard. Apparently her chair's placement was not to her liking. She picked it up and placed it squarely in Grandpa's lap to keep it out of her to-and-fro walking path. Grandpa of course obliges.

Sunday Swim Meet and Date Night
Dan helped the kids sign up for the event they want to enter before walking into the pool area. They had a choice but breast stroke was featured for the older two. It was to be William's first meet and he was excited. Lillian was apprehensive, worried she might forget the correct movements for breast stroke. Vivian was an old hand at this.

Dan encourages each kid. He explains to William what is about to happen. Well, supposed to happen. William leaned off the pool edge in a way that discombobulated him when he tore his goggles from his face while entering the water. He did not continue down his swim lane but climbed out. He was offered a second chance to race but turned it down. His favorite part of the meet was playing in the roped off sections of the pool designated for the swimmers while awaiting their turn.

Dan assures six-year-old Lillian she will not forget her motions for breast stroke; Lillian's swim teacher walked along the lane poolside giving Lillian confidence. Lillian did fine, coming in second, I think. It was a close race.

Vivian needed no coaching before hand, just congratulations afterward. She came in first in her heat.

We did enjoy the swim meet. It was less formal than those all-day ones I remember from Dan's competition days where I often worked ribbon writing duty. Viv and Lil would get ribbons at their next class. William is not in the photo below because he is playing in the roped off area a little longer before heading home!

That night Frank and I babysat all four kiddos while Dan and Carrie had a date night Sunday for his birthday Monday. We did not have much to do. Irene was already in bed and the other three were allowed to watch TV or play on their iPads. I helped Vivian with a sewing project since she was allowed to stay up later. She was a quick learner and made a stuffed felt donut. Justifiably, she was very proud of herself.

Monday, Day of Rest and Dan's Birthday
The kids's went off to school, pre-school, and daycare while Dan and Carrie worked. Frank and I slept, read, and relaxed at our hotel. That evening Carrie taught class and seven of us went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. There were only two spills and one sticking a sleeve in food. Grandpa took four kiddos outside to run off excess energy while Dan and I finished our meal. As long as mama is not within eyesight, Irene is very content to let Grandpa hold her. Frank challenged himself to succeed at that this trip and he certainly did. Maybe holding that chair for Irene won her over?

Back at Dan's place "Dan" opened his gifts from us, with lots of help and turn taking of his kids. I just realized I took no pictures of the unwrapping, it was too hectic. Summary... he got clothes, books, a game, and smiled thank you accordingly. At thirty-nine, events are a bit low key. We did, however, take photos of our last night together before heading back the next day. It had been a whirlwind, fun, time well spent.