Sick as a dog

Poor Shelby. Here's dad getting all this attention and he's wheezing and sneezing and bleeding from his leprosy spots. I mean, the dog's a mess. It's ironic because mom and dad got a Jack Russell because of thier alleged hardiness, and the poor old thing is just a mess. I gave him a half a child's Benadryl and he seems to have stopped snotting up. It's just the most pitiful thing you ever saw, an old dog walking around sneezing and snorting and not being able to walk well because of his pain.

Dad has felt a little off the past couple of days — it could be a side effect of the drugs he's on (about a jillion), part of the natural depression that comes with the heart surgery recuperation process (it's in all the pamphlets and booklets), or just part of all the pain and muscular stuff that comes with having your chest cracked open. Nonetheless, we soldiered out to the mall the other day for walkies.

Dad did a loop of each of the three floors, the top one twice, and there were lots of benches and even some leather la-z-boy style chairs to crash in. As we were at dad's last bench before leaving, he was approached by a guy who was a member of the same club as him — the broken heart club, so to speak. He was 59 (like dad) when he went in to get his new valve, a pacemaker and a quadruple bypass. He said his heart was so enlarged it had split his valve. Jeez. It was all stress, which he quickly depleted himself of — sold his business and divorced his wife — and said that he's about as good at being a bum as anything.

Dad has been sad about Katrina. Lots of human misery and all that. As a non-Arkansas resident I feel liberated from the bonds that usually restrict journalists from doing anything nice for anyone anytime and have offered up my name as a volunteer to do whatever with a couple of churches. See, a lot of the evacuees are here in Arkansas, and they haven't got a thing or a clue about what's going on in N.O. They are being put in the Ark. State Fairground, Barton Coliseum and War Memorial Stadium. What is up with putting these folks in sports arenas? If the Superdome was a terrible place partly because it had no showers or anything that made it an appropriate place for people to live with dignity or privacy for a couple of days, what will make the Astrodome better for an untold period of time? I am really curious.

Dad asks why not reopen Fort Chaffee? Bases that are being closed? Seriously, why not?

Anyway, it doesn't sound like there's a strong interfaith alliance that is getting things together to take care of people up here — though lots of churches are sending supplies southward, there is an opportunity to get things done in this community.

So dad's still soldiering on and pretty much the same as before except now with a voice.