Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween

My intention this year, as in several years past, has been to take Small Son out treak or treating as a Piper, dressed in my kilt and practicing as we went along. It hasn't happened yet.

This year, I was steeling myself for people giving me treats to STOP playing, but HH offered me more to never start.

[sigh]

Small Son went trick or treating with his friend, so I stayed home and answered the door.

Daughter #1 and Daugher #2 did get dressed up for their respective parties. Here they are:

Daughter #1

Daughter #2

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ringtones and Flexibility

LOL. It's amazing how a little thing will make you chuckle all day.

For example, ringtones. I downloaded 2 ringtones for my new cell phone (see previous) yesterday, after much pain and suffering and humiliating myself to call and ask for assistance. One is Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme, and the other is Gilligan's Island theme. Just remembering the antics of Gilligan and the rest of them makes me chuckle.

In other news, I interviewed for the temporary Crew Support Lead position yesterday. They want me to be flexible, so I was. Two days ago I got an email telling me the interview would be Wednesday (which meant I had to go in to the Center for the 2nd time this week). When I got to the Center yesterday and opened my email, there was aNOTHER email telling me the interview was going to be Friday, which would mean a THIRD day at the center. All this during a week in which HH was in Santa Fe. I accepted that interview time, too, but sent an email asking if this was my second interview already, or a new time. Then I mentally started preparing myself to work from Sandy on Friday. Finally, early yesterday afternoon, I got a 3rd (or perhaps it is a 4th) email telling me the first time was on, 2 people were doing the scheduling. Which meant I didn't have to drive to Sandy on Friday, but also meant I had 2 hours to get my answers ready for the interview.

That's flexible.

I consulted with my supervisor, "Leia", and got something ready, and showed up at the appropriate office. Out comes one of my interviewers, all a-flutter, telling me the other interviewer's father was just involved in a terrible car accident and she would either have to reschedule or get somebody else to assist in the interview.

I went back to work and awaited results.

Half an hour later she approached my desk and said "2:05". So at that time I went back to her office, and did the interview. We established that we had known each other from way back in Southwest Airlines days, and talked about piping, and then jumped right in.

I think I did pretty well on my answers. They wanted to know the 5 most important things a CS Lead does.

CS is the part of the company that
1) assists the agents in the more difficult areas of booking reservations,
2) books non-revenue standby listings,
3) checks people in,
4) calls customers if their flight is significantly delayed or cancelled, or if there has been a time change,
5) calls customers to let them know they booked the same reservation twice, or their card declined, or because of the way they booked, their bags are not going to get to their destination.)
6) communicates to the appropriate entity if something (like the website) breaks down

I named the 5 I could think of.

They wanted to know what did I think was CS's main jobs. I started talking about CS being the heart of the airline, everything has to come through CS to be processed and then recommunicated to the rest of the airline and the customers. It started to sound like blather so I shut up at some point. They wanted to know why I thought I was the 'man' for the job. I rattled--and I mean rattled quickly--off 7 things that are my strong points, including years working in the industry, sense of humor, I like a challenge, I learn quickly, love working with people . . . and some other things which just came out of my mouth and which I can't remember now. They wrote everything down.

It's kind of flattering to say something and then have 2 people scribble away on their papers, like I was a movie queen and had just made some important social announcement and they were reporters. LOL.

I didn't get nervous until the very end. I was shaking when I walked out of there. I should know in a week. Either way, I'll be happy.

In piping news, I've been selected (probably because I was a last resort) to play for a wedding on Saturday afternoon. Other piper playing is Tall Aaron. I think I'll contact him and see what he plans on doing, so I can prepare.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

You know how Tuesdays are my days from hell?
Yesterday was no exception. Even losing two items from the agenda.
My one-on-one with my supervisor was rescheduled to Wednesday, and the training never got created due to lack of facilities (I guess). Works for me. Except that here I am at the Center again today, leaving my kids to face the morning alone again.

I can tell you that it would be nice to get the temporary lead position, but it would also be nice to work 3 days from home, instead of driving in every day. Seventeen miles each way is a long way when you are used to walking 10 yards down the hall to work.

Band. Well, I was a little fuzzy. I could get nearly to the end of sentences, but not quite finish them. Thus, my cut-offs were non-existant. Sean was pretty upset about all the cut-offs I was missing, so finally I said I was going to sit out the rest of the practice and I had turned to walk down off the stage, and he got MADDER and said I was not allowed to leave, he knew I could do it. I agreed I had been able to do cut-offs in the past, just not TODAY. I got the next cut-off, but only because I cheated and stopped playing 2 measures before the end (also frowned upon because it's audible to the judges that somebody has stopped).

We stopped practice early.

Sean said Small Son was doing very well in his lessons. I reciprocated by telling Sean that Small Son was very impressed by Sean. Sean thanked me for that info, stating SS never says much of anything, so he had no idea. I think that Sean pretty much tells it like it is, instead of talking through his hat like Ian used to.

Not one of my best days.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

I got my own cell phone.

Wow.
What a sense of freedom!

However, nobody has called me on it, yet, so I am alone in my freedom.

I got it because the "family" cell phone is constantly missing because we each assume the other person has it and then when we realize it was us, we can't remember where the last place was we saw it, and a major search is on, involving frayed couch cushions and frayed tempers.

Also, when HH goes on a trip and takes the family cell phone, I don't have a way for the kids to keep in touch with me.

How did we survive before cell phones?

I actually practiced on Saturday and Monday, but Monday was one of those days when I couldn't string two words together to make a sentence, much less a meaure, so it didn't go so well.

Another good thing is that I don't have a training class tonight, so I can go to band practice.

And I have an interview tomorrow at 1330 for a temporary crew support lead position, that is also being sought after by Brenda. She's a pillar of the JB reservations community and has been for a looooooooong time, so the light is growing dimmer in my dreams of leadership.

Oh well. I like to work from home.

ADDENDUM: I finally got a call on my cell phone. I was sitting there at the end of my shift making comments on the reservation of a difficult customer and suddenly this noise sounded. Everybody, including me, looked around and asked what the strange noise was. Dean said, determinedly, "I'll find it." Just as he walked past me, the noise came again. "It's you," he said to me. I pulled out my cell phone and . . . yup, I'd missed a call.

How . . . . . embarassing!

Friday, October 24, 2008

HH leaves for Santa Fe in 2 days.

Daughter#1 got promoted at work to Lead.

Daughter #2 had to go before the judge and either go on probation or take a Defensive Driving course, due to 3 citations this year.

Daughter #3's teeth are hurting her where the spacers are.

Small Son decided not to be a ghost, but instead to be Death, with a scythe, and speak in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, for Halloween.

I am not getting any practicing done. This is not working. What can I cut to give me more time to practice? Cooking dinner? Laundry? Sleep? Work? Scouts? I'm not making any progress.

Quotes from last night's lesson: . . . . . . . oh, who am I kidding? I can't remember 5 minutes ago, much less last night. It was something about taking it slow on Glasgow's gen-dah-yen's, and that runs down were our downfall. I asked why the lessons had to be so late at night when I am so tired. I'd be tired earlier in the day, too, so it doesn't matter.

TGIF.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Drew is flaking out. But then, what do you expect from a high school kid who spends his summers piping for free in Nauvoo, IL, 1500 miles from home? Maybe he just wants to get away from home. He also just got his wisdom teeth out, and the dentist has said 'no piping' until the incisions heal.


He and Lee and Erin are supposed to be doing a trio for the Dave Barclay competition (trio in this instance meaning 2 pipers and a drummer, Erin being the drummer), playing Heights of Dargai/Battle of the Somme/Brogues on the Cobbles. But he hasn't practiced with Lee and Erin yet. At all.


So Lee, panicking, called in a second: me.


After band practice last night we went over it. Definitely stumbling, I would say. Gotta work on that, y'know. But it was better than last week, so progress is being made. When Erin had gone, Lee and I went over his harmony on Battle of the Somme and tweaked it here and there. Sean was sitting over there listening. When we were packing up, he asked us to play that set for the band next time it's played (I read into that: next week). Cool.


I told you that since I'm the piper that has been with the band the longest of the two of us, I get to play PM in this group. So far, I've done OK.


This was a tuning practice. Since Sean has returned from LA, he's spent a lot more time tuning. We tuned for an hour and 20 minutes, then spent 20 minutes more marching in and out of the circle. No breaks. And that was it. We were excused.


Dave and Teagan were there last night. Seems Teagan made the hockey team, so he was exempt from practice last night. It was good to see them.
Daughter #1 has scheduled her final interview with the Stake President for Sunday. We are discussing mission pictures and farewell parties. We are waiting for a location and a date.
I have begun the Total Fatigue portion of my week, Tuesday through Friday. Ugh. I wish they would pay me and not make me work.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Another 3 of Life's Little Victories

Victory #1:
I don't want to be a potty mouth, but this story involves our toilet. It has been leaking for about a week, so a few days ago, HH removed the toilet, replaced the wax ring, and replaced everything. It leaked worse!! How fair is that? I admit to being a lazy piper; HH is a lazy plumber. He does half a job and gives up or says, 'it's good enough'. I could see into the future on this one: the floor would rot from the water constantly on it, and we would end up replacing the whole bathroom. So I went and got another ring and some info from my friendly neighborhood hardware store (I'm a big fan of hardware stores!!). I went home, took the toilet off the hole again, removed the tank, and cleaned the old wax off everything. It appears that HH slapped the wax ring on there, and slid the toilet into place, which displaced at least half the wax, which let water leak out the other half. I put the new wax ring on, also adding some wax on the flange bolts to keep them upright, and gently lowered the bowl onto the bolts, coming directly down from above them and not sliding anything. It took a few tries. I had also asked about getting the tank back on without cracking it. I tightened the bolts with my fingers, and then with a wrench until the tank didn't rock, connected and turned on the water and it leaked. Of course. So Helpful Hardware Guy said take a wrench and tighten the bolts just a little until it stops leaking. Yay! No leaking at all! Not even from the original place! Yay me!!

Victory #2:
The Dishwasher. Father-in-law had installed a new dishwasher several months ago, but the bottom panel had been left of to let the floor dry out. By the time the floor was dry, Father-in-law had gone on to help another child, and neither I nor HH could figure out how the panel went back on. So it has been sitting there on the floor getting in everybody's way. I tried a few times to put it back together. Yesterday I noticed that the pieces had been reassembled, and . . . hey, if I just turned them upside down . . . would that fit in the space? . . . HEY! It does! So it's hanging in place, taking up much less room, but I can't bolt it in cuz the holes are in the wrong places from the old dishwasher. Have to get a drill in there and get it bolted in.

I can't remember specifically what Victory #3 was. Either practicing in the garage yesterday, or taking dinner over to the Nelson's yesterday, or getting D#3 braces on yesterday, no deposit . . . they were all victories of a sort.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

My home-made chicken soup is known in the family as Two Swipes With A Dead Chicken, because that's basically how it is made: drag a dead chicken through hot water twice and you're done.
When Daughter #2 makes chicken soup, it's a meal unto itself. She made chicken soup last night, and it was dinner, not an appetizer: hunks of chicken, carrots, potatoes, celery, chicken broth, gigantic noodles. She took some over to our neighbor who just got out of the hospital. Tomorrow I'm sure they'll be back on their feet, ready to conquer the world.


I'm practicing Cullen Bay on PC trying to get it memorized. It's pretty easy, it's just that I'm pretty busy and time is like gold.

The other thing: I found this Anatomy of a bagpipe in an article about piping in Nauvoo. I thought it would be informative for all you non-pipers out there:
My McCallum drones are made of African Blackwood, an extremely hard wood that comes from . . . you guessed it: Africa. You can make them play a little higher or lower by extending or shortening them at the joints in the middle. My Canmore bag is made of Kevlar or some similar fabric, which is puke green, but which I don't have to season like a hide bag. I have a Gale chanter which plays a note below the run-of-the-mill chanters out there and sounds beautiful. There are four reeds: one single EZ-Drone reed in the bottom of each of the drones, and a double Ross reed in the top of the chanter to play the melody. The cords are flashy, yes, but they also keep the drones together and keep them from falling off your shoulder. On Angus, you can't bend the chanter up like this picture because of the moisture control system hoses inside; it has to bend down. You can swap out the cover on the bag whenever you want, to whatever you want. Bands usually have everybody the same. The Salt Lake Scots cover is red with gold fringe. I've seen covers that look like leopards, sheep, pajamas . . . Sande wants to make one that looks like a dragon! That would be cool!

Friday, October 17, 2008


It was a subdued group at Group Lesson last night.

Sande was putting out fires, and didn't attend
Lee was being charitable or preaching to the masses, I don't know which.
Jason was recovering from a flu-like thing, but he did show up.
Pete had had a 19-hour day, it looked like. At any rate, it was a long week.
John got his braces off and was still getting used to his new teeth.

And then there was me, also at the end of a 19-hour day, and still adjusting to a Sandy Nelson-less life.

We got a new tune, to help us all feel better (except for John, who we had to scrape off the ceiling). It's called Cullen Bay. I've heard this tune before. I thought it was a jingle, and while Jason was getting copies of it, Pete and I sang through various commercials to see if I could pin it down, and then because it was funny. But we didn't figure out where I had heard it before.

On the way home it struck me: third grade, Immaculate Conception School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1967. The nuns taught us a song called (I think) the Bell Ringer. It follows pretty much the same melody as the first part of Cullen Bay.

High in the steeple hangs the bell.
Old Father Simon rings it well.
Ding-dong-ding, every day, every hour.
Ding-dong-ding comes the bell from the tower.
Clang overhead calls to bed.

It's good to get that figured out.

Small Son got a compliment from his instructor (Sean again). He has mastered the birl, a 4-note grace . . . uh, note. A four-note set of grace notes. Sean said he's making good progress. He is, now that Sean is teaching him. He's on the verge of learning tunes. Just a couple more grace note combos and he can start. He's chomping at the bit to learn a tune.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sandy Nelson: In Memorium


My dear friend Sandy died yesterday after a two-time battle with uterine cancer.

I had confessed to her just at the start of the second battle, that I had abandoned a friend when I learned she had cancer, and that I didn't know what ever happened to her. I promised Sandy that I would not abandon her. I did not.

I was always there, hovering in the background. I didn't always go visit her. But I took them banana bread, gave her a hug every Sunday, and got my Scouts to weed her yard. Nothing like I did for Wanda, but Sandy had family around her all the time where Wanda was alone. I felt compelled to go see her last Saturday. We talked for a few minutes while I held her hand. We both confessed to being scared of what was going to happen. I hugged her twice and we cried. Tuesday when I took dinner over to her (a dinner Daughter #1 and #2 had made), she could no longer talk and was throwing up all the time, so didn't want to see anybody for fear she would throw up on them.

Wednesday at 1400 she got promoted.

Her funeral is Saturday at 1100.

I first met Sandy about 8 years ago. She started as a reservations agent at Southwest Airlines shortly before I did, but quit after only a few months because her family was falling apart in her absence. She was a Young Women leader for several of my girls. Her youngest daughter and Daughter #2 were friends, and Daughter #2 even dated her youngest son, Chase, once or twice. She was a steadfast, honest, friendly woman and I will miss her. I hope she is waiting for me when I get promoted.

I still can't believe she is gone.

It's gonna be bad, when it hits me.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Another 20-hour day

Band practice last night. After getting up for work at 0200, doing my 10 hours (and getting a compliment for being so diligent at working the schedule change queue), making dinner for Sandy's family and our family, Parent-Teacher conferences, Scouts for an hour, dinner, cleanup, band, and a story, I was pretty well done in. However, I was not in a fog at practice, so I carried on to the end. I kept moving to stay awake.

Sean said they had no problem getting home. They called the night before and learned that getting to LAS would be a problem, so they changed to the 0700 flight and came home then. Sean said he had a whole row to himself. Nice. I said, "Yay! Now it feels like I'm helping the band!" and he said, "Nonsense! You always help out the band!" So that was nice.

Lee, Drew and Erin were going to do a trio competition at the Dave Barclay competition in November, but Lee said Drew was flaking out on practices and didn't know if he would show or not. He asked me if I would be a second, a pinch-piper as it were. So we ran over their tunes after band, when I had no lip left. They are doing the Battle set plus Brogues, with a weird break. I've been working on the break today, but it's not that easy. I emailed Lee to see if he would clarify. We'll see if he answers.

I took 3 hours of vacation this morning and slept in til 0630. I feel much more rested with 7 hours of sleep as opposed to 4.

Friday, October 10, 2008

It's sort of a game with us, to see how long we can wait before turning on the furnace each fall. Sometimes we make it to the end of October. Some years we have to turn it on while it's still September.

I turned on the furnace today. Mostly upstairs you can survive with slippers and a sweater; a quilt if you are sitting still. But downstairs your feet start to complain about being out in the snow so long and could we please go inside. My feet have loud voices--well, they are big feet--so I had to listen to them and turned the thermostat up. Usually, with this furnace, the next step is to take the cover off the actual furnace, get down there with a lit candle and light the pilot light. Today, I could hear the gas hissing before I even got to the furnace itself. I was afraid it would just be gas, but a closer inspection showed the pilot light burning brightly, and the after-burners (or whatever they're called) already lit! Wah-hooooo! The blower kicked in about 3 minutes later. The house is all warmed up now, an hour after that. I hope this is a portent of behavior to come!

Last night at group lesson I was more conscious (no fog), but for some reason I could not get the fourth part of Brogues on the Cobbles. I played it fine last week. I played it fine 3 days ago! What gives? There was a lot of laughter at the beginning of the lesson, but I can't remember what it was all about. Mostly it was teasing Lee about his new drone reeds (not the popsicle stick ones, but carbon fibre ones. Ooooooo!) and all his tinkering. He lends himself to teasing.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

It's interesting to look back on blog entries and see how far I've come, instead of dwelling on my near-total failure of one day (yesterday).

Last year I was struggling with lots of tunes that I have now mastered. I was struggling with cut-offs and strike-ins, which I can almost always get now. I've improved my overall playing ability, especially slow aires (after Memorial Day gigs). I've learned another 6/8 march named after a guy which goes on and on, but it's a fun tune. I've got 3 more competitions under my belt and I'm nearly not nervous at all. The List has been handled. The New Uniforms have been received and look very nice. The new chanters are definitely better as far as solo performances go, and even band performances, but massed bands requires us to put in old chanters and retune drones down a half a step, which does not make our PM's happy. I can tune my drones myself, mostly. At least close.

Yesterday I forgot about Small Son's Cub Scouts. I could hardly keep conscious after work. Pretty much a wasted day.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

I discovered Pete had used band funds and booked BJ and Sean a flight to LGB on Friday. Not a cheap fare, either. However, they'll get down there for sure. BJ is already listed for a return flight on buddy passes.

Sean was very grateful at band practice last night. I haven't decided if I like someone being beholden to me or not.

It was another of those 19 hour days, and by the time the 17th hour rolled around (band practice), I was in a fog. We were in the "balcony" at Highland HS, a long narrow room, probably about 8 yards across the short way, with folded-up bleachers along one long side and huge doors to a gymnasium on the other. It was pretty poor for acoustics, but great for marching, so that is what we did.

By 7:30 I was hurting, and playing wrong notes on tunes I could play in my sleep. In fact, I WAS playing them in my sleep. I don't play them very well, sleeping, but I get a lot of the notes right. Not enough to make the PM happy, however, so at the break at 8:15 I requested to be able to go home. Sean was quick to excuse me, and thanked me again. The best part was as I was leaving, everybody--and I mean EVERYBODY--said good-bye to me. It made me very happy to hear them. Warmed my heart, you might say.

It hit me that these people are my friends. I see them at least once a week. We know each other's weaknesses and strong points. We've sweated through numerous competitions and other adventures together. But mostly, their real lives don't exist for me: families, homes, jobs, etc. It sure took a long time to earn their friendship. I remember at least 2 years when the only people who talked to me were Dennis, because he was my instructor and even then he only said 'hi', and Pete. And sometimes Jack. 'Course, I was an atrocious player.

Now that they all speak to me, I try very hard to speak to all the new people consistently, more than just 'hi', draw them into the conversation. Drew and Lee are two I can think of. I saw Heather, who is not practicing with the band yet, still just doing lessons, at Olive Garden last week. I gave her a hug and asked how piping was going. She was waitressing, so she didn't have lots of time, but I made it clear I was waiting for her to show up to practice one of these days. I hope I am making the band a better place.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Chief Drummer Dude of Grade III, BJ, and JTDunnie's PM, Sean, have been invited/permitted to practice and play with the LA Scots (in L.A. . . . you know. California?) Every couple of weeks they go to LA for the weekend. We got to vote on whether they could go or not, because they would be enrolled as members of the LA Scots so they would not be able to play with the SL Scots (except as an instructor). I was wondering how they were getting down there. I don't know how BJ is set up, but Sean is a student, the same age as D#1, and works at the State Liquor Store, so he can't be doing much more than hand to mouth to Westminster College, and can't be financially able to buy round-trip tickets to LA every month.

So I got an email from BJ asking if they could use some buddy passes to get there. I had assumed they were driving down there so they had a car to get around. Guess not. Luckily for them, D#2 didn't get married after all and family did not come out, so I still have plenty of passes, and I sent them some. Sean didn't get his email with the buddy pass info, so he called last night and I gave him the info. He seemed really grateful. I am happy I could help. I don't think this will help my playing at all (I wish), but it helps out the band.

We moved the Sleeping Couch upstairs--through the window--yesterday. We set up the step ladder, on top of which we laid the 20 foot ladder from next door, reaching from the ground to the (upstairs) family room window (from which we had removed the screen and window). We tied a rope around the couch the long way, leaned it long-ways against the 20' ladder and HH and I pushed from below while D's #1 and 3 and SS pulled from above, with the rope anchored around the railing. When HH and I had pushed it up as far as we could reach, I ran upstairs and helped the kids to pull it in through the window.

Yes, it did fit.

We neglected to pull the ladder down so the tops didn't dig into the couch when it was passing through the window. So they did dig in and ripped the upholstery a little. I hope we didn't release the spell. It doesn't really matter about the rips because we have had a cover over that couch for almost a year. I am glad that didn't happen to the new couch. The new arrangement of couch pieces in the family room makes the room look much bigger. I like it. I got up early to put the clean cover back on.

The only drawback is that I can't put clean clothes on the back of the couch in personal piles anymore. I sorted some onto the floor, but they picked up some of our pet hair collection. I know that's not going to fly with the Fashion Police Officer.

Only one injury: I pinched my fingers in trying to extend the extendable step ladder. Nobody was crushed by a falling couch.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Henry Tustlosh: In Memorium

Tuesday we had a 2 hour practice. On pipes. No wimpy PC's for us. And I didn't have to ice my lip, and it didn't swell up!

I don't know why this should happen, as Practicing and I haven't been too chummy lately. I'm beginning to suspect I have one (or more) leaks in my bag and I'm afraid to look.

I can't access my email any more at work. It tells me I'm not authorized to view this page. Ever since I got that stupid email from the mystery callers people at work, this has happened. So I don't have access to any work emails right now. Plus, now I can't even pull up new Internet Explorer thingys, so I hope I don't need anything new until IT opens at 7am. Three hours! Ugh! What is wrong with this computer?!

My friend Jean finally came home from the hospital. I don't know what condition she's in as I haven't been over there. But at least she's back in the neighborhood.

I started the work for the Egg Man last night.

I will explain.

When we lived in Glencoe, there was an old gentleman who came around and asked for empty egg cartons. These he would take away to some local farm, fill with farm-fresh eggs and return them to you and only charge 50 cents. They were good eggs. He was a good egg. I don't know how he survived on that. Anyway, our family got to know him. His name was Henry. He and his wife lived vaguely over there [gestures in a south-westerly direction], a couple of blocks away (anybody in town lived a couple of blocks away, it was that small of a town). They had no children, and were retired from farming. Henry the Egg Man came around every week, rain or snow. I always invited him in to have a sample of whatever I was baking, and take some home to his wife, Emma, too. Then suddenly in Feburary 1999 he stopped coming. I didn't know exactly which house was his, nor did I know his last name, so I couldn't go hunt him down.

After a couple of months he came back, but completely changed. He had lost weight. His clothes were shabby and worn. There was pain written all over his face. I invited him in, as usual, but when I offered him some muffins to take to his wife, he started to cry. She had passed away in February. He had no one else, no children or parents or siblings. Every corner of his apartment reminded Henry of her, so he tried to stay away from it as much as he could. But this was winter in Minnesota, going and staying well below zero for weeks at a time, so that wasn't a valid option sometimes. I gave him rides whenever I saw him around town, but if you don't want to go home, getting a ride home is not something you really appreciate.

After a family council, we decided to offer Henry our back room to live in. He accepted, and moved in, but he still wandered around town a lot. After staying with us for a few months, he got an offer from some distant cousins to visit them. So he packed a small bag and went to visit. While there, he was helping to repair a roof, fell off it and broke his back. He was in the hopsital in Glencoe, and I went to see him several times and brought him chocolate (his favorite), but in less than a week, he died. I think he just gave up on life.

So, with no sibs or children, there was nobody to do his work, seal him to his dear wife, etc, etc. I know how he longed to be with her again. I was waiting for Daughter #2 to get the info collected, cuz she said she wanted to. But it didn't happen. So last night, after 9 years, I finally went and got his info into a file. Soon, Henry. I'm sorry it took so long.
In Memorium
Henry F. "The Egg Man" Tlustosh
born 19 November 1914
Glencoe, McLeod County, Minnesota
died 12 September 1999
Glencoe, McLeod County, Minnesota