in case you didn't know...

it has been pointed out to me by a number of people that some folks didn't receive my weekly email from tuesday. i'm not sure why that is, but i am sorry for the blip on the radar and of course apologize profusely. the quick word on the street is that i am having some surgery in february. part or all of my lung will be removed, hopefully just part but i won't know until it is over and i am awake and have a hole in my side. stay tuned. first i ski in utah next week... then comes surgery...then there is recovery in the hospital, outside the hospital, and then we see what comes next. perhaps radiation or chemo, or a combo of the two. i'll take whatever they order up for me as long as it comes with a chocolate milkshake.

the gorilla dog would like it to come with birdseed, thank you.

this afternoon my outdoor recreation consisted of a walk with said canine through some of the fields in the neighborhood. one of the other dogs was monopolizing the road so we headed off track. this proved to be quite an adventure. we investigated fox holes, almost fell in the creek, muddied our pant legs, shoes, and paws, found a deer carcase picked clean by hungry winged things, and found lots of tracks on a sandbar in the creek.

when we were younger my brother, our friends and i used to play in the creek all the time, floating down in in small inflatable boats, building forts along the banks, and trying to dam up the water. today i found a tree house that had never been there before; i thought it odd that it could be there and i never discovered it. but when i got to thinking, it has probably been more than ten years since i walked back there. a lot can happen in ten years, especially in kid time. tree forts can go up and come down. little creeks can undo the dams of twelve year olds and make it look like they've never been there. hundreds of animal prints can cover the sandbars and wash away again.

i'm glad i took the dog back there today. it reminded me of how far i've come and that i can do it again, no problem.