The Betties in my Life

This is actually going to be a report of my week- but I decided to build it around a theme of all the people I know whose name is Betty (or Bettie!). Here is what I have decided, based on the ages of all my Betty-friends: between about 1920 and 1960, a lot of people named their baby girls Betty. Some of those (a minority) were named Betty- period- it's on the birth certificate. More often, however, the girl's real name was Elizabeth, but the parents decided to call her Betty (or Bettie!). I suppose some of them decided on the nickname themselves, but most of the time I believe it was done for the child. And while many baby girls are still named Elizabeth, they do not seem to be turning into "Betty" any longer. The oldest Betty I knew was actually my mother's age, and one of her closest childhood friends- her name was Betty Webb, and her family lived across the road from my mother and my grandparents, out on Wald Road in New Braunfels, and although Betty grew up & moved out, her parents were still there until I was a young adult, when they passed away in their 80's. I really don't know if that Betty was really an Elizabeth- I never asked her, and I have completely lost track of her. But I digress. So to begin with, of course, there is Bettie Nixon. She really does like it when people spell her name "right", meaning with an "ie" instead of a "y". So I have learned to do that always, and I try to remind other people (like my former boss) who continue to refer to her as "Betty". Most of you know, but for those who do not, Bettie & I go back a long way- to the early 90's at least. As you know, I was the PC salesperson at Entre, and after Jay Hicks left his job & Beaumont rather suddenly one day, I inherited the school districts as my customers- make that prospects. I worked for about 3 years, trying to get my foot in the door at Beaumont ISD (which had recently dissolved itself & been absorbed by South Park ISD, and then of course, they promptly changed their name to Beaumont ISD). As frequently happens in situations like that one, I had to wait for a change in Administration- not the Superintendent, but the Director of Information Services. Bettie moved into that position when her predecessor took another job, and Entre just happened to have a forum where we presented our capabilities to the business people who attended, and Bettie & her network administrator both came, and we clicked. And that began a long period of about 15 years during which she was my best customer- pure & simple. We never really had any issues about business vs. pleasure- we just became very close friends, and I made certain that she & her staff were taken care of, and just generally devoted myself to the account about 75% of the time, which it took- after all, that was like having 40 different customers. Throughout our years as friends, we have been in Bible Study, several different exercise classes, and an investment club together, and even after she retired, she continued to assist me & the school district with our summer-time rollouts. Now I'm retired, too- and sick, and as I mentioned in an earlier installment, Bettie is the kind of person who, when asked on a Friday afternoon if she would leave on Sunday for a week of Caregiving, said "Yes" without a second thought. And she is also on my Primary Caregiving Team for after the transplant. So that's "my main Bettie". Actually, she's my only Bettie- the rest of them are Bettys! On Tuesday of this week, my friend from High School, Betty Merendino Lebus, called me and said "I'm coming and bringing lunch- is 11:00 OK?" She also said she had enough for a third person, and suggested that I invite Suzanne Ryan- who is also on my Primary Caregiving Team. That lunch was (1) some of the best food I've put in my mouth in months, and (2) the best fellowship and the most fun I've had in weeks. She made corn & potato chowder, homeade pimiento cheese sandwiches on croissants, and apple pie for dessert! As Suzanne remarked, "A lot more than I usually have for lunch!" I frequently forget to eat- that was never a problem BPF (before pulmonary fibrosis). But I have no appetite- most of the time. Tuesday, the combination of the delicious home-cooked food plus the two good friends sitting at my table, conspired to see to it that I ate all my chowder & a half sandwich. Later on in the afternoon, I had some pie with a scoop of ice cream on it! And she left me more chowder, plus the other half sandwich, plus an entire bowlful of cabbage rolls, for another meal (or 4). Having been told that I need to keep up my strength & my weight- (I absolutely cannot believe that doctors are telling me to quit losing weight)- Tuesday was definitely "just what the doctor ordered"! And that's my second Betty. On Wednesday, my housekeeper comes. Her name is Betty Bass. I came to know her through Bea- we were both looking for a household helper- having decided that the one we had was no longer tending to business- and someone recommended Betty to Bea. She worked for us for a couple of months- back then (pre-Ike) I was taking care of the day-to-day myself, and once a month I had someone do a blitz. After the evacuation, followed by Bea's death, for whatever reason, I never called Betty again- or anyone else, for that matter. But I kept her number in my cell phone! And lo & behold- when I called, she answered- and she was SO glad to hear from me- that's what she said anyway! So I told her about my change of fortune- she knew that Bea had passed away- and I told her that I had reached the point where I could no longer mop, sweep, vacuum, change bed linens or clean bathrooms- those being the main things, in my opinion, that speak to a "clean house". Anyone who knows me well can attest to the fact that I am a bit of a packrat- I just take the path of least resistance, which is NOT to toss things that SHOULD be tossed. Hence I tend to have a lot of clutter around, but I am basically CLEAN- it's CLEAN CLUTTER!! And there is hope- since we moved, when we do unpack a box, if it needs to be given away or thrown away, that's what happens to it- then & there. That's also why we still have a carport full of boxes- but Stratton is coming Labor Day for a week! And knowing him and his energy level- assuming they have NOT called me to come to Houston for surgery, he will probably get the carport cleaned out while he is here. So that is Betty #3. For many years, on Rosine St., my down-the-street neighbor was Betty Heacker. She has moved to South Carolina, to be with her daughters, both of whome live there, along with spouses and 5 of her grandchildren. At Entre, back about 1989, my boss (who was then Andy Bridwell) told me to interview and hire an assistant. I couldn't believe it! I had never in all my life had an assistant at work. So I set about it, and I do believe I picked the best of the applicants- her name was Betty Whitehead, and she worked at Entre for over 5 years- she outgrew her job as my assistant in short order, however, and I never got a replacement! And on Friday (yesterday), mid-morning, into my house walked Betty Linscomb- who happens to be about the very first person I think our family met in Beaumont. We (that being me, my parents & my grandmother Nancy Schnautz, whom I called "Mom") moved here from Houston at the end of June 1955. We rented a little house on Parkway Drive in the South Park neighborhood, and directly across the street is where the Linscombs lived. It is amazing when I think of it- the passage of time- I'm talking about 55 years ago last month, but I remember it like it was yesterday. For one thing, I was in my diary phase, and I recorded that it rained in Beaumont every single day in July 1955. The Linscombs had a son Craig and a daughter Sue, and I think Sue was about 2-3 years old when we moved in across the street. Craig was closer to my age and he & I used to put bacon on a string and poke it down a crawdad's hole in the ditch in front of our house. We caught some crawfish, but of course there wasn't anything to do then but let them go- it was fun, however. Fast forward- when I got to high school, I decided against babysitting for income, and decided instead to teach piano lessons. (This impacted my future in 2 ways: I made more money than my friends who babysat, but since I was an only child, I was electively by-passing my only opportunity to learn anything about early childhood development, and thus was a totally unprepared parent.)I had studied the piano for over 10 years by then, and seriously, and my teacher even helped me get started, because she had more beginners every year than she could take. So she told the parents that if they let me train their child for the first 2 years (I was beginning my junior year in h.s.), then she would promise to take them if they still wanted to study. (That was a good way to filter the keepers for Mrs. Hebert!) Anyway, Sue was one of my piano students when she was in elementary school. Fast forward- after I graduated from high school, I was not in or around Beaumont very much at all for 25 years until I returned in 1979 following my divorce. After Steve & I married, we eventually moved our church membership to Wesley United Methodist, and it wasn't long before the Linscombs joined as well! Steve's family had known the Linscombs quite well all during the years I was elsewhere, because the Linscombs moved from Parkway to Giles, a couple of doors down from the Garretts, and both families were very active at St. Paul's UMC! So now Steve & I see Betty & James from time to time at church, but Sue (of course) has grown up, married & divorced, and since she doesn't attend Wesley, we haven't had an opportunity to see her. As I've said, my job for most of my 22 years at Entre was working with the schools- primarily the Beaumont ISD. Each school has a technology liaison- someone on staff who has some interest in & ability to handle technology problems, and I dealt with those teachers frequently- almost always via email or phone, however, because I didn't want to interrupt the classroom during the school day. For about 3 years, I had been emailing a teacher named Sue Little who worked at Southerland Head Start. It never occured to either of us that we knew each other in another life. And then one day, we were in a meeting together, and it all fell into place- she was little Susie Linscomb. So that is the story of my week, and the four Betty(s) (or Betties!) who have been a part of it. I thought I had listed most of the people named Betty (or Bettie!) whom I have known well recently- but then of course I can't forget my Insurance Agent! Betty Tipton LeBlanc has held our automobile & Homeowners insurance for as long as we have been married- she was also a member of the SPHS Class of 1962! I think all the people profiled herein fit the demographic of being born before 1960. If you know of any glaring omissions I have made- well, that's why there is a place to post comments! Until the next time, then......

It's Official Now!

Hooray and Thank You, God- it is now really going to happen. Blue Cross gave their official OK to be billed once I am matched, and I was put on the list, right towards the top. There isn't a way to say that someone is "first". That is because of the variables. The organ has to come from a donor with my blood type, which is A+, and he or she also needs to be approximately my height. Therefore, I may have the highest lung allocation score of everyone with A+ blood, but if the donor is 6' tall, then I will not be offered the lungs because they will more than likely be too large. And so it was explained to me. Now we wait- I have a lot of paperwork to complete, plus I need to "get my affairs in order", whatever that means- I believe they are in order. Then I need to pack a small bag- I'm not too clear on what I need to take just yet- so I have written to ask Kelley a couple of questions, and then I'll be able to pack the bag this weekend. It reminds me of when I was pregnant- packing a bag to go to the hospital- just a little different. It is past my bedtime, but I promised myself that I would not go to bed tonight without reporting this. And I will try to write from time to time before I get "the call", and I will most definitely post that- but don't look for details- there won't be any time! And as to when I'm able to get back online afterwards- it is anyone's guess. I'll probably turn the job over to Stratton & let him Ghostwrite for me for a while.

Unofficial Good News

Before I go into the details of the day, I want to tell you that it looks like I will be listed next week. Until Blue Cross officially agrees, it is unofficial- but if Blue Cross were to renege on me now, after all they have put me through, I don't know what I would do- wait & hope for Dallas, I guess. But they agreed to cover me in Houston when my case manager appealed it, and they have covered everything leading up to it, so I am thinking positively.

The day didn't get off to an auspicious beginning, however. I received a call from the hospital Thursday, and it was a technician confirming that I was going to be in the basement of the main building for an MRI at 7:45 am. Well, I told him I'd be there, but then of course I had to tell Suzanne that we had to leave at 5:30 instead of 6:00! She arrived promptly, and we took off. My paperwork not only had a start time of 8:20, it also said I was to report to the outpatient building on the 17th floor! It turns out that Methodist has about 3 MRI Departments. That test was quite difficult for me, because like so many other procedures that are being imaged, or photographed, you are supposed to hold your breath in order to produce images that are clear. Holding my breath is just not possible for me, at least not beyond a few seconds. I don't have anything approaching normal lung volume- hence, there is no such thing as a "deep breath" for me any more. And so, although I told the technician before we began, he said he was sure I would do fine. Yeah. Really. Sure enough, after about 3 tries, the technician stopped and said "I'm really not getting acceptable images because of the movement." I said "Yes, I'm sure that's true. I told you that I can't hold my breath anything like 30 seconds." (I wanted to be snide and say "What part of that sentence didn't you understand?" but I refrained. It never pays to alienate medical people.) Well, they took me upstairs to another machine on the 2nd floor, and although it also asked me to hold my breath, and I still couldn't do it, they injected the dye and took photographs without asking me to cease breathing. Apparently, they passed muster. I had 4 more tests, each pretty involved, with much waiting in between, but just like in Dallas, they never could tell me that I had an hour to go eat. I had taken a protein bar, and I told Suzanne to bring some things to snack on, plus when I was about to cave from hunger, one of the CT Scan departments had some emergency food in the refrigerator, and the technician procured a banana, a muffin and one of those tiny little single servings of Blue Bell ice cream. That helped enormously. Finally, at the end of the day, they typed and cross-matched my blood, and I went up to the transplant center to let them know that I had been there and to have the nurse remove a catheter from my arm, because it had been there all day since the MRI technician said he was leaving it in because someone else might need it (if I had to have any more dye). No one else needed it, and it was pinching the hell out of my arm, so Maricella in the transplant center did the honors. (Only an RN can remove a catheter, and they have whole departments in the hospital with no RNs!) Then Kelley came out & told me that they had already processed the MRI, and I was on the way to the list. It's a good thing,too, because I feel like I slipped another notch yesterday. Maybe it was just all the stuff I had to do, but I "de-saturate" almost immediately now when I am off oxygen, and even with it, I could only walk slowly for 2 minutes before my saturation was too low to continue. I have learned so much through this- how much it means to have enough oxygen in your blood- the fact that just standing up takes more than sitting down or lying down- talking uses it up really fast- and trying to lift anything is all but impossible. What it adds up to is that I'm really unable to do much beyond sit quietly. I want to stay positive- and I will- this was just an extremely difficult day.

Stratton came down- he took Brian to his folk's down in Port Arthur, then spent the rest of the night down there, because they were late arriving, as always. But he was here this morning- bringing his love and cheer and some new gadgets for me like a massager & a neck pillow. It's so nice to have family around. I'll sign off- will pick this up & report when the listing is official, as well as whatever location on the list they assign me.

Another Trip in the Works

Somehow, I must have missed something. Once Kelley Fry received all my test results from Dallas, she said that I needed to come over for up-to-date lab work plus consultations with each of the specialists (surgeon, internal medicine, plumonologist, GI doc, Social/Psyche worker & Financial Counselor). So I asked my cousin Cullen, and he took me over for the day, and I thought I was done, once Kelley got a copy of one other test done here in Beaumont last year. But as I said- I missed something, because she called me yesterday, and said that my case had been presented, and the committee thinks I am a good candidate, but they have 5 additional tests in their evaluation protocal that Baylor-Dallas does not use. So now I have to return this Friday (the 20th) and undergo those tests. One is an MRI of my liver- since I have not drunk alcohol in 25 years, I didn't expect problems from that area, but one of the doctors saw something on the CT scan that looked vaguely like cirrossis- I don't like that at all. Anyway, I now have 5 more tests to pass, so Suzanne is taking me to Houston for those- we leave at 6:00 AM Friday and my first test is at 8:20. You would think that needing to arrive south of downtown Houston at 8:00 or thereabouts would mean allowing a lot of extra time because of "rush hour", but it's basically always rush hour on the Houston freeways. Anyway, when Cullen & I left at 6:00, we arrived at the medical center at 7:45, so since this appointment isn't til 8:20, surely we will be fine. Then they want to see inside my mouth & x-ray my teeth! I feel like a horse that is up for auction. I have a very difficult time keeping crowns in place- on the one hand, I'll tell Tommy Gautreaux that he must be doing something wrong because all my crowns come loose after a year or so, and I have to go back & have them "re-glued" on a regular basis. But then he tells me that none of his other patients have trouble with crowns coming loose, so he thinks it's me. I know one thing- I'll never superglue another one in. I did that once, and I believe it is proper to say that my dentist came unglued - totally - over that issue. So now I use denture adhesive!

We have had a satellite now for a little over a year. We were extremely pleased until just recently. You know that Beaumont has lots of rain- like 60" per year. Well, Beaumont still has a lot of trees, in spite of having lost half of them in the hurricanes, And lots of storms + lots of trees = lots of failure of systems run across wire- from the power to the telephone to the cable TV. That's one reason we were pleased for the entire first year- Time Warner Cable (including our Road Runner high-speed online service) went out periodically- sometimes with a storm, other times for no apparent reason. After they took their support call center away from our area, we didn't see service getting any better, so we got DirecTV plus a nice, large flat-screen Sony TV that is unbelievably beautiful in HD. Then we had the 2 summer storms that we have had just recently- one is still going on, in fact, because it is a remnant from that tropical disturbance that never materialized or matured into a named storm. The other storm was a few weeks ago. These have apparently knocked our dish askew or something has gone haywire each time. On the earlier one, we were able to secure the services of a technician on the day after we called. When he left, he highly recommended their protection plan, and for about $60 per year, it is worth it- it means that when something goes out, they will fix it and we will not pay for labor, and we thought he said that the contract customers got serviced faster, but this problem was reported Sunday night or Monday morning, and we will not see a representative from DirecTV until next Monday! In our case, it is Steve who misses it. Bless his heart, after working all week, he deserves to watch baseball games & the pre-season football games that are taking place- especially on weekends. As for me, most of you know that I am totally a book person- and a magazine person & a newspaper person. I like hard copy when I read, and I really did resist the idea of an eReader until Steve gave me the nook for my birthday & pointed out how easy it is to hold, and how I can store enough matter on it to see myself through whatever is to come re: the transplant & days in the hospital. So I have taken to it, more or less- but the neat thing about being a reader is that it doesn't require power or any wires. If it is dark when we lose power, I read by flashlight or oil lamp, in the daytime I just get by a window. I can read and I can write without anything fancier than pen & paper and a book.

I need to pay our bills- I have usually done the mid-month stuff by now. I've had to devise a new structure for when I pay what, because now we have Steve's check every other Friday, and my great big SS check once a month on the final Wednesday (which is payment for the month before now), and then I need to work on my paperwork that needs to be returned to the Social Worker to let her know who is going to be with me when I am recovering in Houston after I leave the hospital. More after I see the transplant team Friday.

Reporting the News

I had written an introductory paragraph 4 hours ago when my old friend (High School) Suzanne Carlisle Ryan came by with lunch- and when I got up to greet her, I closed the blog without saving it! Now that admission took some courage since I made my living for 22 years selling, configuring and (on occasion) installing computer networks. I've lost a lot more than one paragraph in times past- I just didn't publish the fact.

I have been so blessed by Suzanne's presence in my life lately- we were very close "spend the night" buddies at MacArthur & South Park, plus we attended Roberts Avenue Methodist Church together, which included summer camp and lots of youth activities, but then we diverged when it came time for college, and after we had both married and moved off in different directions, we just lost touch like people do. We've been sending Christmas cards for several years, and then last summer, she & David moved from their long-time home in Austin to Beaumont. Suzanne's mother Norma had passed away in 2007, and David & Suzanne live in the townhouse she left which is not too far from here. She has attended a few of our SPHS "Girls Night Out", and in fact she went last night, so she was able to give me a report on that. My purpose here is to update everyone on the transplant process- it has been such a convoluted mess, that I don't expect anyone to be able to recall the twists & turns, so I have tried to summarize it here:

(1) I started at Methodist Hospital in Houston, on the advice of my pulmonologist, and on March 22 I had been accepted into the transplant program, pending full evaluation
(2) The first thing they verified, of course, was my insurance. Although Methodist is a Blue Cross/Blue Shield network hospital, they refused to cover an organ transplant anywhere in Texas except Dallas, because they require hospitals they approve to be certified as "Blue Transplant Centers of Distinction". The fact that organ transplant surgery was pioneered in Houston seems not to be a factor.
(3) my Houston pulmonologist put me on the fast track to be evaluated in Dallas, and I spent a week there having about 50 (low estimate) different tests run- they literally run every test they can think of on every organ in your body to ferret out problems that have not been diagnosed
(4) While I was there, my BCBS case manager appealed the decision re: approval in Houston & Blue Cross reversed it, giving me the green light to have the surgery in Houston
(5) With absolutely NO help from Dallas, but with lots of footwork by Stratton, I got all my test results moved from Baylor in Dallas to Methodist in Houston after working on it for 3 weeks

When I left Houston, after being there from 8:00-5:00, it was with the understanding that the general consensus was that I am more or less an ideal candidate for a double lung transplant, and that they will be meeting to consider listing me Tuesday. So we will see. That is what they said in Dallas, too- 6 weeks ago. Of course Houston is my choice for all kinds of reasons- mostly their experience. When you compare a center whose surgeons have done 71 lung transplants so far in 2010 with one that averages 10-20 per year, there has to be some consideration given to the fact that the more they have done, the more efficient they become, and also, they will have seen all kinds of potential and real complications and have an idea about best practices. I will write again next week- definitely on Tuesday or Wednesday if I get a call with my status.

The Denizens of 566 Devon

When we first moved in here into this house in January, one of the neighbors brought us a list called "Denizens of Devon Drive" which was a very nice and handy list of the names and addresses of everyone on the cul-de-sac. We love this house for other reasons beyond the fact that it was Bea & Henry's home for over 40 years. The neighborhood, so close geographically to our former house, is entirely different in character. Almost every home is occupied by a relatively long-term owner. The majority are middle-aged and older, which means there isn't a lot of party noise on weekends and no 24-hour basketball bouncing next door. One neighbor has a band that meets in his detached garage, but they are more like "Mid-life Crisis" (a real band here in Beaumont) than heavy metal or rock & shock rap. So I only hear them if I am in the kitchen which I rarely am at night- and they play good music. The downside to an older neighborhood is that I can't find a young person (meaning middle-school or younger) to weed my flower beds. My cousin Cullen & his wife gave us a landscaped backyard for my birthday, complete with some really lovely flowers, and I have a man who mows & edges, but I need a weeder! Bea used to have one- he lived 3 doors down, and for several years he kept her beds looking great- and it did not cost her an arm & a leg. His family still lives there, but he is now in college or married! My blog reader Ranger Wright is supposed to be looking for someone for me (LOL)- actually, he just asked what he could do for me and I said "find me a kid who will pull weeds for $5 an hour." Believe it or not, when I was healthy, I loved weeding! There was something very therapeutic about it, and I used the time in various ways- since it is a mindless chore. If I had a problem I was wrestling with, it was a good time to wrestle & many solutions arose from the weeded patch. Or if everything was going well, I used the time to sing the Doxology and thank God for my blessings. Now, I wrestle with my only problem (staying alive) and thank God for all the wonderful people and doctors who are helping me and all the friends and family I love, and I do it all from this chair- the green recliner. The atrium which sits just to my right is another reason why we love this house- I think I mentioned the mammoth job that Stratton did on about 4 separate visits, cleaning it out after it had been allowed to overgrow for years. The first day when he was just beginning was back when the weather was cool/cold, and since my oxygen cord reaches easily, and I have a little stool, I sat on it & pulled weeds that first night for quite a while. I was much stronger then, and still it taxed me. Today it is gorgeous, and if I ever take the time, I want to read how to upload a photo of it so you can see. I had always thought of atriums as part of really expensive homes until I saw this one- the man who designed this house built in just those things that were important to him, and I am so glad that he liked atriums! It has a skylight for a roof and walls on 3 sides- the side between it & the den where I sit is glass with a sliding door, and the fourth side, which faces the sidewalk, is screened, so I can always see who is walking up to the door (which is helpful, because I am not always what I would call street-ready!) We recently installed a bamboo shade which allows me to cut off my own view AND that of anyone looking in!

Well, I called this "Denizens off 566 Devon" because I always thought of denizens as animals, for some reason. I'll have to look it up- I think it means "natives" or maybe just "residents". But here at 566 we have two 4-footed denizens. I know that many of you know Bo Peep- if you have been to see us in the past 14 years, you are familiar with Bo. She is our Old English Sheepdog, and we are devoted to her, as she is to us. You know they are often called "shaggy dogs" because one was used in a movie of that name- and when they are allowed to have their full coat, it is over 12" of topcoat, rough & slightly curly, wiry, and if you do not groom it daily, it mats. They also have the characteristic flop of hair over their eyes, given to them by nature to protect their sensitive eyes from too much bright light and debris from the rough English countryside where they were bred to guard and herd sheep. Well, Bo Peep's name says it all- you know Little Bo Peep lost her sheep- well, this one never had any- and our little Bo Peep doesn't live in northern England but in Southeast Texas. So in the winter, she has about 5" hair, but in the spring we have the groomer take it down to 2", and she always has those bangs pulled up out of her eyes with 2 little bows because she has cataracts and runs into things, so she needs the little bit of sight that she has. Steve says she has outlived her warranty by 4 years- soon to be 5, because the breed life span is about 10 years. Thus we treat her very well (always have), and today she needed her shots plus I had the vet run her blood work which is does twice per year to check her liver & kidney condition. (Most dogs who do not succumb to accidents or cancer eventually die of liver and/or kidney failure, so it is important to spot it early when you can do things to preserve existing function.) Well, Bo has severe arthritis- she's an old lady, even though much of the time she doesn't act like it, so she has a hard time getting into a car. The front feet go in, but even a low car like the Mercedes is too high for her to get her rear end up on her own strength. Before I got unable to do just about anything, it was no big deal- I got down & lifted her rear end and she was in. So when my cousin Susan Ramsey called yesterday and asked me what she could do, I said "You can come take Bo to the vet tomorrow." Thus at 9:00 this morning, Bo was limo'd to the doctor in Susan's SUV- and that was a chore, even for Susan, because her car is REALLY high! When I go after her, they will put her in the car, and she can get out by herself, so we are set.

The other 4-legged denizen is Hei Mao the 13-year old black cat. Steve & I have almost always had at least one cat to go along with Bo (and our previous dog, Chock the Sheltie), and for years we had an Aussie named LeStat as Bo's companion animal, but he had to be put down in 2008 at an indeterminate age of at least 17. (Steve's sister found him in a ditch and he was already a young adult. She had him for 3+ years and then we had him for 12. Curtis Wilson, our vet, said he was probably at least 6 when he saw him the first time, so you get the idea). Our last cat made it through the Ike evacuation, staying in a kennel in Dallas for 3 weeks, only to come home & run out into the street & be hit by a car. It was just so sad- he normally didn't leave the yard, but he was just so glad to be out of a cage. So when Bea died, I was left with not only all her assets to liquidate, but also her diabetic lab and Hei Mao. Barbara Beard, one of the city librarians, who was Bea's "supervisor" in the adult literacy program, adopted Folly the lab, and she had 10 months of a decent life after that before she had to be put down from too many complications of diabetes. We adopted Hei Mao. The name means "black cat" in Chinese. Bea, you know, never wanted to stop learning, and she also wanted someone else to live here- just a presence, not a caretaker. So shortly after Henry's death, upon the advice of her grief counselor, she advertised at Lamar for a graduate student who wanted a bedroom, bath & kitchen privileges to rent from her @ $200/month. Her first student was from Taiwan, and she stayed 4 years getting as much chemical engineering as she could- I think it was a PhD, but I'm not sure. Lan Fu was legally here on a work permit, and she successfully obtained a student visa for the time she was at Lamar, and after that, she applied for permanent residency & is now employed somewhere in the Chicago area. I was last in touch with her when Bea died. Well, long story a little shorter, Lan Fu was the first of about 5 or 6 Asian boarders who lived here. All but one were from either Mainland China or Taiwan, and the last one was from Thailand. I'm not sure who was here 13 years ago, but that was when Bea acquired this little black kitten and needed a name. Oh- in addition to the boarders, Bea served as "grandma" to the daughter of one of the Lamar professors who was Chinese. Lulu attended the Academy at Lamar that gives students 2 years college + 2 years high school all in 2 years, and Lulu did it fresh from China at 15. She was whip-smart, and she went on to graduate from the University of Texas and most recently, from Yeshiva University School of Law- now that was a strange one! Anyway, Lulu might have been the one who told Bea that black cat was Hei Mao in Mandarin, and that is how she got her name. For years she was a typical aloof cat- she did not want to be picked up, never got in Bea's lap, and was just as independent as they come. Towards the end of Bea's life, Hei Mao changed. She still didn't want to be forcefully picked up, but she started getting on Bea's recliner (which sat where I am sitting), and she started "talking" to her. We took her to Rosine in January 2009- I had left her here but came by daily until then, because I wasn't sure if I could train her to a litter box. Bea has a pet door, but we did not, and Hei Mao was used to going in & out on her own. Once I saw that she would use a litter box, I moved her. She has been the most affectionate cat you can imagine for the last year- and when we moved here, which was her true home, she just blossomed. Bo has always been around cats- Bo is absolutely non-confrontational, and she will just turn and leave if anything threatens her. (She's different if she senses any threat to us, however- then she watches (LOL). She has never even growled in anger, and she would lick an intruder to death. Her most embarrassing trait is crotch-sniffing because she is just the right height. Anyhow, evenings around here are about as mellow as they come- a dog & a cat, both elderly, snoozing on the floor or on Steve's chair or my recliner (cat only), Steve alternately reading the paper, watching a game or napping (he swears he can do all three at once & not miss anything), and I am usually curled up here with my Nook or the paper. I fade rapidly and am in the bedroom by 9:00 or 9:30, and Steve puts the animals to bed- Bo now sleeps at the foot of our bed, Hei Mao on Steve's chair (he says she is just waiting for him to leave so she can occupy it, and he's close to correct).

We had a wonderful weekend with Kathy & Alex. Already I have forgotten whether or not I reported that- I don't think so, because they didn't come until last Friday. Kathy worked with me at Entre until 1993, when she went to Houston to work for Compaq. She now works for Centerpoint Energy. Alex was born the year after she moved- Alex's dad was a cad whom Kathy was smart not to marry. However, he put his name on the birth certificate, and Kathy tried to get him to pay child support, so he left the country. Kathy has done the most wonderful job of rearing Alex, who is now 15, that one can imagine. I have seen her through thick & thin, and it's just not easy- to work fulltime and be the only parent, and she has had many moments when she despaired. But I always told her that she would come out the other side, and for years I was able to go over & stay with her for a weekend, to take a bit of the burden off her, especially a couple of times when she & Alex were both sick, because I remember how that was and I DID have a husband. And now, with her freshman year behind her, Alex is set to enjoy high school in a big way. She sings- beautifully- and has a strong interest in Musical Theater. We tried to get her into a camp last summer for budding theater artists, but they cancelled it at the last minute. This year, our Christmas gift to them was a pair of tickets to see "Wicked" which came back to Houston in July. Alex was so crazy about that show- Steve found a book all about it which he sent so that Alex would have something besides the promise of a play 7 months down the road, and she started hauling it around. So of course she is in the choir, in a select group, and is already doing UIL solos. She became our goddaughter upon her birth, and she calls me Nana just like my grandchildren do.

I guess I've gone on enough- I have an appointment next Thursday in Houston! I will be there all day- my cousin Cullen is taking me over since Steve is on call, and since this is mostly routine stuff- it is the last piece that they need in Houston before deciding about listing me. I'll be sure to let you know what they say!