What day is it?

Good news from grandpa. (I guess) Starting in December, Lary Crews does one final go through of his life. For new followers and old alike.

I have some rules. I never sit in grandpa's lap. I dislike being brushed. He gives me treats when he first wakes up. I sleep on the bottom right side of our bed. I do allow scratching underneath my chin and on my ears. I also stop by to check when he is on the computer.

Looks like he could use a good brush. Does one of your neighbors have a cat? Maybe they would like to give yours a quick going over, get rid of those matted bits?

Me voice remote hates me

Our 2019 Samsung TV bit the dust the day before the 2024 election. We bought an Onn Roku 32" Smart TV from Walmart, and it was delivered that day. (Just $88.) We love it. We bought a "voice remote" for $25 and we can search with our voice. Remote also lights up in the dark when touched. Cool.

Stanford thinks of other cats on Bluesky.

Luckily, I discovered that our Renova Flats laundry is much easier to do and costs less than the laundry I used to go to. I use a phone program called Wash Connect which allows me to pay and start all the machines in our laundry. They even tell me when they're done.

One more failed book attempt happened when I turned 75 in 2021. Because many people suggested it, I attempted a biography called My 75 Years. I spent about 8 months trying to write it. Finally, I just put it into a blog and ended up using the guts of the book for my posts on Bluesky.

My writer's office in 2020 was moved next to the window. I was still using a desktop computer (Hewlett-Packard HP ProDesk 600) My last desktop. June 2022, I switched to an HP Laptop 14. (In June 2024, I switched to another BLUE HP Laptop.)

While Covid vaccines began to roll out in December 2020, Reno first offered the vaccine to first responders and health workers, followed by educators and residents 70 years and older. We got our first shots at a mass inoculation at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center.

January 20, 2020, the CDC reports the first laboratory-confirmed case of the Coronavirus in the U.S. from samples taken on January 18 in Washington state and on the same day they activate its Emergency Operations Center to respond to the emerging outbreak. For us, it meant we stayed at home.

Because of two months (Dec 2019 Jan 2020) without rent we got a 48-inch screen TV, a desktop computer for me and a laptop for Lori and a new chair. Life became easier for us both. Of course, something else was looming we could not have anticipated. The Covid Pandemic began on Jan 21, 2020.

Then on December 10, 2019, our life took a much better turn. Courtyard was going to be closed, and we were invited to move into the newly opened Renova Flats. We were granted two months without rent and a senior rate. Room 107 became our home.

Dec 27, 24 I bought a blue djembe. The djembe drum has a unique and distinctive appearance. It features an hourglass body carved out of a single piece of hardwood. The drum's body is hollowed out and covered with a drumhead made of goat skin, which is secured to the body with a system of ropes.

I, too, walk a Buddhist path. Some days I'm better at it than others but I do believe the Eight Fold Path is the key to a good life. There is no Buddhist temple near me, but I have found good company in the local Universal Unitarians.

Whew! I swear I will return to not so sober stuff tomorrow. Thanks for following.

Even after we got to Reno in 2013, her alcoholism and gambling went on. She finally did quit drinking in 2020. Her gambling at local casinos wasn’t as bad as it had been. In January 2025 she got colon cancer, and she lived until June 2, 2025. With all the bad times she was still my great love.

She was taking Xanax on the train. Once in Florida we settled into jobs and mom bought us a 1979 vehicle. But Lori was hospitalized when she started throwing up blood from her alcoholism. That put her on the wagon for a few months.

When we moved to Las Vegas in 2003 she managed to gamble away all her retirement money, and we lost our two cars to creditors. I was diagnosed with chronic depression, and we had to take an Amtrak train to Florida, hoping mom would help.

I loved her with all my heart but there were tough times. We sold books, CDs and VHS on Amazon in 2000. We made $5,000 a month gross. urns out Lori gambled online and wasted about half of our profit. It the only time I have been angry.

Stanford this morning

Married the love of my life in 1998. We were together 26 years until her death June 2, 2025. What no one knew was that our marriage was up and down because she was another alcoholic and had a gambling problem. I shouldn’t have put up with that, but I really did love her