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Groggy eyed and snorting the almost bald pleasantly rotund grizzley bear pulls himself out of bed at the horrible time of 8:30 am. Doesn't help if you regularly go to bed around 2-3 am while waiting for news of the Countess -- a loss I'm in hopes of being short lived. I have a full day ahead of me. Brandy is coming over to make sure I get to the hospital and more importantly stay there and to ensure I behave myself. Not that I practice arrogance; or worse - entitlement--but if I feel pushed in certain matters I'm just as likely to say have a nice day and depart. I swear the silver bullets I remove from the pedal extremity on a recurring basis would keep the Lone Ranger supplied with ammo for a year easy.

The long suffering one is wrapping up some pre-school homework--she is a morning person big time-so I grab the shower first and shave three days growth off and the stuffiness of the house. We use fans--air conditioning is pricey and inefficient at our rented place. Ruth then surrenders the box which I no longer contend for. I have learned to wait--those PMs from Logos don't come everyday you know. I KNOW I'm her favorite. Today is Ruth's long class day so I won't be annoying her until11:30 pm tonight (or last night as I type this up.

A small battle in my soul regarding straightening up the place occurs which results in the litter boxes being emptied and taken to the road--trash is being picked up later and later these days. The victory of dishes washed last Wednesday night/Thursday morning has been replaced by the next generation of bad eating habits on display. I stack them neatly--think the next day off is Thursday and we still have some plates left. Company is very rare at our place. They'll keep.

The forms from the clinic are finally removed from the envelope and I spend a few minutes trying to decide if chest pains are all in my head or if there is a problem. Decide this is 10 years in the future and mark off ok. Do indicate a kidney infection of almost lethal consequences but I was 11 when that happened and there has never been a relapse. It's done at last with a minimum of false pretenses. One deliberate omission I refuse to divulge is that Ruth works--can't see why that's any of their business and we share the same health insurance company anyway so there is no deceit involved far as I'm concerned.

Next step is to fill out the Previews catalog for July (for comics books coming out in October I believe) and it takes about 30 minutes to go thru. About a year ago a company put out a reprint volume of Gasoline Alley and now another company is releasing Sunday strips in color to the tune of $99. I sense overtime in my future. Other then a bunch of specials for Green Arrow and Black Canary getting married--No DInah No!! He's irresponsible and a commitment phobe. Who needs soaps?? nothing major coming out that month.

I'm just puting the paperwork in the car and rolling the windows down when Brandy calls. Water is out at her place so she's going to Sam's to shower up and will be a bit late. Half hour later she calls again and I give her directions that she completely ignores and takes the approach from the other side of Fairborn -- and manages to find me anyway.

I give a quick tour of the house, my library and visit the back yard of doom where lawn mowers drive their owners to a fast heart attack (and leave you in a patch of poison ivy for good measure-they have no mercy but they do have style.) Brandy implys that from all my whimperings and sighs she expected a much larger yard. Ah the mountains that the young can climb! A renewed offer to assume grass chomper duties receives the same warm hearted rejection and appreciation for my not dead yet status--I need to work on this cough more and add a droop. The Bible does talk about the generations getting more and more hard hearted as I practice the time honored tradition of making the Bible say what I want it to say. (Note: This last remark is a joke and not to be a way of practicing the faith--I have many sins that the Lord died for but deliberately leading souls astray I hope is not one of them.) The dogs show due attention to her and the cats hide. I show her a copy of Felix the Cat #87(1958) and World's Finest 102 (1959) which features the first time I ever laid eyes on Batman (who appeared with Superman who I knew from TV). I thought Bats was a bad guy becaue he had a mask. (The Lone Ranger wearing a mask was perfectly acceptable because He was the exception to the rule for good guys - to my tender 8 year old mind anyway.) I inform her that these issues paved the way for the rest of my reading life and hobby.

We visit the Bookery where I drop the order form off, show her the News Outlet where her Harry Potter novel will be picked up at Midnight when it's released. She gives me permission to see who dies but not tell her. It's my birthday gift to her from last March. Manager Tina informs me she hasn't started work on an order I've placed but I assure her there is plenty of time.

Up the street for lunch at Foy's Burger shop designed in a Happy Days motif with 45 records hanging fromthe ceiling and a pool table near the benches. We go Dutch per her request. We say grace, eat, then back to my place to pick up car and off to the doctor's.

Twenty minutes later and one wrong turn gives us a quick tour of a new shopping development called The Green which reminds me of Patrick McGoohan in The Prisoner--can he escape this village unlike any other. It is designed to like a minature city. This delays us just enough that I arrive with only two minutes to spare to avoid being LATE which I rarely am (expect church). We are admitted to the patient room very shortly after that. I bring Brandy along to listen in and she actually is very helpful. She asks a couple questions on my behalf I had not thought of. The doctor is charming and to the point. Too much to the point. I start to imagine my scalp being peeled back by the queen Alien (with Ripley assisting of course). We are about ready to go when I mention next health issue after this will be the blood pressure (trust me you don't want to know). This sends the surgery appointment to a crashing halt and two extra weeks added to the slice and dice date so I can get it down. I promise it will looked into (for real) the 26th. Surgery is 30 August so we'll see you then.

I go to work, Brandy goes whereever. I inform her she will never know how special she is to me for her kindness. She took a vacation day to babysit the old man. My son Dan will never know what he missed when I was trying to get him to go out with her. Stuborn misguided idealist. What's wrong with getting a wonderful daughter in law for a son's father?! Kids--no respect.

And that's a wrap. Or will be on the 30th.