Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Rosie has a bit of a cold but she was in a cheerful mood for Skyping.  She chattered to me quite a lot.  She seems like such a big girl now - no more baby.  She is surely a happy girl when she's upside down or having her belly buzzed.

Second or Once Removed?

Back in August we had a wonderful week of family time.  

Gus and Meara and Rosie came from Portland.  Cara and Jonathan (Karen's son) came from Denver.  Emily (brother Fred's daughter) and 2 year old Presley also came from Colorado.  It was so great to have the 3 cousins together again.

This reunion of cousins made us wonder - what's the difference between 2nd cousins and cousins once removed?  So we Googled and we learned that Presley and Rosie are 2nd cousins as they are the children of 2 first cousins.  

Jonathan is Rosie's and Presley's 1st cousin once removed (one generation apart).  Meara would be cousin-in-law to Jonathan and Emily, and Meara is Presley's 1st cousin-in-law once removed (I think).

Whatever the relationship there was lots of family and lots of fun.  On the Sunday of that week we all went to my Dad's.  Everybody had cameras to commemorate the occasion.

Rosie had a tour of Poppie's park-like backyard.

   As noted ... lots of pictures!

Poppie was 90 in June and Karen turned 70 just after this visit in late August, so of course we celebrated.

The whole week was a celebration.  And full of smiles!

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Rosie was not running today - guess it's just routine now.

Bye until next week.  Gromma loves you all.

Who Could Sleep?

 I have been told, countless times, that I never slept as a baby.  Even after almost 60 years, I still hear this.  It's one of those family urban legends that I will never live down. 

I was just watching the local news and the weatherman informed me that the record high temperature for today was 100 degrees, set in 1953.  He noted that several record highs were set in 1953.  I was born that year so I checked.  Here's a list - please note that record highs were set for 6 straight days in 1953 in Albany New York when I was 7 months old.  No wonder I didn't sleep.  Probably no one in the city was sleeping that summer.  

A U G U S T

DAILY NORMALS (1981-2010)           DAILY RECORDS (1874 THRU 2011)
   HI LO AVG HDD CDD    MAX      MIN     LO MAX   HI MIN     HI MEAN    LO MEAN  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

29 78 58 68   1   4   95 1953  34 1982   57 1903  71 1984   81.0 1900  51.0 1965

30 78 58 68   1   4   98 1953  38 1982   60 1903  71 1979   82.0 1921  53.0 1965

31 78 57 68   1   4   93 1953  37 1965   62 1985  71 1959   80.0 1881  49.5 1965

S E P T E M B E R

DAILY NORMALS (1981-2010)           DAILY RECORDS (1874 THRU 2011 

HI LO AVG HDD CDD    MAX      MIN     LO MAX   HI MIN     HI MEAN    LO MEAN

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

1 77 57 67   1   4   96 1953  41 1967   59 1951  75 1881   83.0 1898  55.5 1991   

2 77 57 67   2   4  100 1953  39 1991   57 1951  73 1959   84.5 1953  53.0 1987

 3 77 56 67   2   3  100 1953  39 1976   58 1974  72 1937   84.5 1953  55.5 1994

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

I Skyped with Meara, Gus & Rosie today.  Guess we're getting back to a non-Summer schedule - it's back to school for Gus this week.

Sometimes (rarely) she was still.

She did stop long enough to let Meara check on the progress of the last molar.

But mostly, Rosie was on the move.

Dog Day

Today is Dog Day.  Dog Day was established when Bear was born on September 1,1995.  At the time we had Oppey,  Buddy & Jezebel - Bear was the last in that long line of great Labs.  Rather than celebrating so many birthdays I declared September 1st as Dog Day.  The celebration has continued throughout the years, even after the incredibly sad loss of Bear (http://ddramblings.blogspot.com/2012/03/sad-anniversary.html).  It has become less a birthday celebration and more a day to honor all dogs and the place they share in our lives.  In spite of the name, the day is also for cats, indeed any pet, because they are all members of our families, and they all give us great joy and comfort.

This year is a somewhat sad reminder that Blackie is no longer with me.  But Dog Day is a celebration and so I will  remember Blackie (and Bear, and Buddy, Oppey, and Jezzie) with love and gratitude for all they have given me.  And my beautiful Lucy will have the traditional dish of venison, and all the cookies she wants.

So in honor of Bear, and in honor of all our fur-friends past and present, please celebrate a very happy Dog Day.