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[ * January to 8 July 2008 * ]

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* J U L Y *

24 July 2008 / Thursday -- I decided to start a new 2008 YES page -- the first one was getting kinda over crowded already.

Sunday night, 13 July I had a VERY surprise telephone call from sister dearest -- it was the FIRST [and only] call she ever made to me -- my Uncle Ray, my Mom's brother, died on 10 July -- the viewing was about an hour north of me the following Tuesday -- on Monday I got an email from his son -- I called him the next day and said that I would very much like to attend, BUT the Honda is packed full of heavy boxes of things [with NO place else to put them] and I would be worried that it would break down along the road [I do not have a cell phone either]. I called my brother several times but there was no answer -- they must be on vacation, I assume.

I found the web site of the funeral home which had the following death notice ...

Raymond N. Sambor, Sr.
Sunday, July 28, 1929 - Thursday, July 10, 2008

On July 10, 2008 of Washington Twp. Age 78. Beloved Husband of Frances M. (nee Pollizzotto). Devoted father of Brenda Lee Courtright (Paul), Raymond N. Sambor II (Beverly) and the late Diana Williams. Loving grandfather of Anthony, Shanna, Samantha, Tiffany, Raymond III and Mackenzy. Great-grandfather of Angel Rae and Christopher. Dear brother of Gregore Sambor Jr.

Ray proudly served his country in the Army during WWII and the Korean Conflict receiving three Silver Stars.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend his viewing Tuesday eve. 7:00-9:00pm and Wednesday 8:45-9:45am at the EGIZI FUNERAL HOME 119 Ganttown Rd. Washington Twp. Mass of Christian Burial 10:30am at St. Charles Borromeo RC Church Washington Twp. Interment Woodbury Memorial Park, West Deptford. Condolences may be shared with the family at www.egizifuneral.com

"A Life Well Lived Is Worth Remembering"

On the 14 July the super duper government -- -- finally arrived -- JHC, I can now go out and buy a luxury home along the beach and an energy efficient Mercedes with all that moola! DREAM ON -- with 600 clams, what can one buy these days?

Over the past few weeks I became interested in the new Presidential Dollar coin rolls -- they come directly from the mint that coined them -- not too frequently one may find a misstrike in the unopened roll that could be worth hundreds of dollars -- they are designated BRILLIANT UNCIRCULATED by collectors and are already going on eBay for over ten clams more than the initial cost of $25. They are supposed to be issued four / year -- the following are the ones which appeared thus far -- in 2007 they include George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison -- this year they include James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin van Buren -- the last two have not appeared yet They are gold colored with the face of the prezzy on the front and the Statue of Liberty on the back -- I have two rolls of each EXCEPT the second in the series, John Adams -- click on the following scan for a larger view of the first four rolls

only a couple local banks seem to have a limited number of full mint rolls available -- I should look around for other branches in ratty neighborhoods that may have what I am missing.

Irwin's Tobacco and Candy warehouse across the street from me has finally been sold [it was mentioned many times in previous YES pages over the last several years] -- a Nigerian husband and wife bought it for an antique gallery! They told me they had an interest in my property, a former very successful art / antique gallery -- they called several times BUT the dumb Verizon phone service was faulty and I never got their messages. For several weeks they have had workers repairing MUCH of the inside / outside of the building -- the former owners did a really makeshift sloppy job of making the inside almost appear quasi presentable -- it still was a disaster inside -- the exterior was worse -- the roof leaked, the roof drain pipes were rusted and / or missing [when it rained the outside walls became waterlogged, large chunks of stucco fell off], the sidewalk is still in shambles, tall weeds flourish along the open spaces. They have yet to knock out a large part of the solid concrete front of the building to add display windows. The most unfortunate thing about this matter is that they could have bought my place, which is in great shape, and filled with stuff to sell for about what they are spending on the dump across the street!

Mark, a virtual pal in Las Vegas, contacted me that he had another Apple 20 inch flat screen iMac, old version, to sell -- it was cheap enough so I got it to replace the last model eMac that sits to the left of my current old model iMac --

I need the old model because it can still run legacy applications in Classic Mode, which are basically what I use on a daily basis -- the newer models have a radically different operating system [I call it BLOATED -- too many bells and whistles that only the programmers understand / know how to use]. The old eMac is heavy as hell [I had a VERY difficult time getting it up the box filled narrow entrance stairway after I bought it new about three years ago], so it is still sitting here on my computer table until I get the energy to schlep it down stairs / pack it in its original box / stash it out of the way in the basement somewhere. So the new iMac is sitting on the bathroom counter top -- -- waiting for an empty space on my table top -- a closer view -- -- it is in apparently perfect condition, not even a scratch on it -- it has Bluetooth / AirPort / modem built in [the newer models have an external modem as an accessory at additional cost] -- I watched a DVD movie on it already -- I programmed it to boot in Classic at startup. I also thought of OPTION 2, which would save me the probably LONG wait to move the eMac to the basement -- Horacio in Tenerife told me on Skype recently that he always wanted an Apple computer BUT they do not sell them in the islands -- I could sell it to him at the same price I paid [plus shipping, of course], and forget about this dumb heavy eMac for the present. I shall wait until he reads this page to see my offer, and then figure out what I will do.

Yesterday was the court hearing about my slight accident -- since I want to plead NOT GUILTY, because the bitch was yapping on her cell phone [which is illegal here] when she stopped VERY fast in the middle of slow traffic on a bridge, the case will be set for a future date.

Ohhhh, and I almost forgot -- I found a kewlio web site where you can make animated gif [and plain old jpeg] images that you can use as avatars on social networking sites and elsewhere -- they can be downloaded to your computer and put anywhere you want to use them -- a small version of the first one I made is at the top of this page -- here is a larger version of the above and the second one I made --

If you are interested in making your own, go to MEEZ.COM -- there are many different body types / clothes / activities that you can add to your basic template -- have some fun -- that is what these dumb computer gizmos were made for

* A U G U S T *

21 August 2008 / Thursday -- I started mopping the kitchen again, BUT the Quickie Home - Pro mop broke on the lower plastic like base of the apparently metal pole, it broke off and there was NO way the pole would connect with the mop head -- they guarantee the thing for ten years, but I have only had and used it for about three, if that -- I replaced the mop head about 2 months ago. Incidentally, I also had one of their cheaper models as a backup, and the mop part refused to unravel after upteen tries, so that got thrown out too -- I may send a letter complaining about their poor quality. So I rushed out and bought TWO more of the same kind -- on 11 August I once again began the task. On 18 August I watered the plants in the large downstairs windows -- with the heat we have been having, they dried rather quickly.

I had to call Joe, the plumber, because the under sink water purifier was leaking at the shut off valve and the water was reaching the hallway door already -- I tried tightening the valve nut, but that helped only slightly. He was at his daughter's place in Maryland and said he would stop over the next time he comes to Trenton, which he did in four days. He returned a couple weeks ago from Beijing, China [before the Olympics started] and said he loved it -- in September he will go to Costa Rica with his wife and friends -- he said he chooses places where the dollar is worth a LOT more than the local currency. Well, his fix lasted an entire day, so I had to call him again -- he was back in Maryland and may be here on the 25th, at which time I may have him replace the two porcelain covered steel wash basins in the bathroom [which are cracked since I bought the place], plus the faucets there because they are on their last legs -- only two of the four work. He would replace the basins with solid ceramic, which is how they make them these days

I made another hormongous pot of green tea, TWICE -- still have two gallon jugs of the stuff in the fridge -- I drink three or four large mugs of it every day

Ziggy, my oldest male Sphynx, continues to have nose problems -- his nose gets encrusted with brownish layers of whatever [even closing off the nostrils] and he has a lot of light colored buggers coming out of his left nostril -- the vet has treated him several times with different antibiotics which did not seem to help very much. Ziggy appears to eat by smell -- if he cannot smell it he does not approach the food dish. Over the last three days I have not seen him eat anything, so he is basically all skin and bones -- he does drink water though. Earlier today I let him out of the kitchen to be closer to me, setting out a dish of water and food in the bathroom -- he drank some water, used the litter box there, but did not touch the food. I then placed him on the sleeping bag and blanket I have on the floor in my study --

born on 10 January 2002

he loved it, and purred a lot, snuggling up to me as he always did in bed -- that gave me the opportunity to remove his nose crud so that he could breathe again normally [although he usually vigorously fights this cleaning, he actually allowed me to do it with no twisting / turning / clawing at all] -- when I went to my desk chair, he followed, jumped up and sat on my lap for a while wrapped in a shirt, until he wanted to get more water -- I later put him back in the kitchen to be with his catty friends.

The summer vacation season is over in a couple days -- hopefully the eBay bidders will squeeze out of their bathing suits and crawl out of the woodwork and start bidding again -- at this point I have sold about 50% of the treasures I listed over the past three months, which is NOT very encouraging considering the vast amount of time I spend on them.

* S E P T E M B E R *

29 September 2008 / Monday -- where should I begin? Quite a few news items to kinda rapidly cover this time

Perhaps Ziggy's favorite food was shrimp salad -- he always perked up and ran over to me as soon as he saw me opening the container -- he stopped munching everything I put out for him -- the morning of 23 August I brought him back into my study, wrapped him up in the blanket on the sleeping bag, and hugged him every time I had a chance -- near midnight on Friday 23 August, still watching me with his loving eyes and weakly purring as I snuggled him, he expired

On Friday 29 August Girlie had four kittys in the lower box apartment in the kitchen -- the father was Boysie, who is usually seen with her and the babies -- although she only has one functional eye, she has cared for her babies from the start -- Guichy, a light colored one eyed female who usually accompanies Girlie, also sits in the box with the youngins and, now that they are venturing out onto the floor to walk around, she keeps a watchful eye [ no pun intended! ] over them -- -- pics taken on 29 September -- -- notice that the lighter color kitten seems to be attached to Guichy [Guichy has never had kittens, but assumes the maternal care / duties, other than suckling, of course] -- -- the fourth baby was resting in the box when I took the last three pics -- I have not looked to see what sex they are yet, but I think at least one is a female -- they are a month old today.

My court case for the Honda accident has been rescheduled until 19 November 2008 -- I find that sorta unusual, but what the hell, I assume they know what they are doing -- waiting until after the prezzy elections ??

The evening of Sunday 7 September I received a VERY surprise email from a pal from way back in the 1960s -- Richard discovered Kardas.net and assumed it was a web site of my son!

To Sigmund Kardas Jr.

Greetings to your progenitor from Richard Cross ; an old friend from The Main Line who crawled through caves, ardently collected fossils / rocks, and routinely "hung out" with him and Pete Hanscom many moons ago.

I recall that Sigmund kept a pet chinchilla (Chin'-che) in his parent's basement, ended up getting his posterior severely beaten in Ocean City, NJ just before he, I and Pete were going to explore sink holes in Florida, "defected" to Russia for a while, and was one of the most complex and intelligent folks I met during my misspent youth.

Anyway, I retired to Panama City, FL in 2000, after 32 years as an investigative journalist for a national magazine, recently discovered the awesome Kardas web site, and wonder if your dad has any memory of me.

Quite naturally, I had to reply and set the record straight -- MY DAD ??? you gotta be kidding me ... I AM WHO AM -- always was -- NOT a clone or stand in, I am still the original, one and only !! -- he then sent me a recent photo of him with a visiting neighbor and his Thompson -- Richard is on the right -- I wonder if he hunts with Sarah ? Richard has two sons, two granddaughters and two grandsons -- still married to the same spousal unit

On Tuesday, 2 September the new water filter arrived -- a two cartridge OMNI Filter OT32, basically the same model I had before -- they are supposed to last ten years, but the one I am replacing was only about seven or so. I half installed it under the sink but need a small plastic tension washer to finish the job -- I know I have one somewhere

The peeps who bought the shop across the street redid the entire sidewalk facing the side street and in front, replaced the upstairs windows from the olde fashioned iron ones to insulated vinyl [because I told them the iron ones suck, the cold streams in during the winter and the rooms would always be frigid] -- I have a series of photos of the process that I want to include on a new Special Report page when I get around to it. Oh, yeah, and the city dug up the street surface on the main drag in front of my place and resurfaced it, only taking three days, which I thought was kinda extraordinary although they only did two blocks

* O C T O B E R *

19 October 2008 / Sunday -- three of the four new kittys remain and are seemingly progressing nicely -- I finally took shots of the two males kittens in the bedroom, born on 6 June 2008 -- -- I call one Spotty and the other Blackie. Yesterday the city planted trees across the street, the pic may eventually appear on that special Irwin's page. On 1 October the city finally cut down the remaining tree trunk along the curb outside -- click for larger view -- -- the lower inset shows an enlarged view of growth rings. Joe the plumber [NO, not THAT one] left me an empty space on the bathroom counter top after removing one of the sinks to take it to the place where he buys his supplies -- -- to find replacements of the size that would fit in the open space. Soooo, on 16 October the doorbell rings -- it is Joe again, he found the pair of sinks -- he also found a new used car that had been sitting on his street for months untouched -- all dirty and seemingly abandoned -- he contacted the owner who asked 5k for it -- Joe offered a LOT less, the owner said no way -- in a week the owner said ok [ it must be these crisis economic times, ¿ no es así? ] -- Joe washed and polished it several times, resulting in a sparkling new looking really low to the ground auto -- it is a 2004 Sebring convertible and he got the thang for a measly two thousand dollars -- -- how he fit all the plumbing stuff in there remains a mystery -- anyways, now the new sinks are installed -- -- the brass accented stainless steel faucets are gorgeous -- he will have to start on the shower faucet ensemble when he returns from Costa Rica in two weeks. I put gas in the Honda yesterday at $2.659 / gallon, seventy - two cents cheaper than the last time I filled up

I have been feeling terrible for several days already -- after not wearing my Crocs for many weeks because they may have been causing a rash / lesions on my feet, I thought I would wear them after my feet were back to normal as an experiment to see if they were the cause of the problem -- so I went to the post office wearing the Crocs on 14 October, came home and discovered that an even greater area of my feet [ exactly where the Crocs came into contact with the bare skin ] was reddish and hurting -- that night LARGE blisters containing a colorless liquid appeared, but I was in such pain that it did not occur to me to take a pic. The next day I did take a photo when the blistering largely disappeared because I popped them the sleepless night before -- -- today the feet are not much better, but a crust is staring to form over the lesions -- when I wake up in the morning and walk around a little, the pressure on my feet causes the tight scabby skin to crack again -- it may take another two weeks or so for the new crust to flake off totally and my feet will once again return to normal, hopefully -- soooo, if you have Crocs, throw the futher mukin things away before they cause you grief

25 October 2008 / Saturday -- in case you were wondering, the new dense ceramic / stoneware bathroom sinks were made by American Standard * colour Bone * model # 0700.004.021 -- when I find the info about the awesome hardware I shall include it later.

OK, back to my feet -- let us once again view the pic taken on 15 October 2008 -- -- so you can compare it with the same footsies on the morning of 20 October, five days later, taken in the bathroom, 20 October 2008 -- -- as you can observe, the scab / crust has begun to form on the lesions overnight [ incidentally, sleeping, what little I was about to get, was a chore with MUCH pain ] -- once I start walking around after getting up from the sleeping arrangement I have in the study, the little walking I did, the crust begins to separate from the bare skin, causing painful more or less open spots, which themselves will form a crust eventually -- in the morning and evening I liberally apply CARMEX to the affected areas to soften the crust / scabs and relieves the pain quite a bit -- although they still look like hell, from the one and only previous experience with a MUCH milder case due to the Crocs, I sorta knew that after some weeks the crust would fall off, leaving my skin baby fresh once again, hopefully. A short while ago I took another photo outdoors on a cloudy rainy day, 25 October 2008 -- -- notice that MOST of the crust has already fallen off, thank God -- no infection was noted thus far throughout this ordeal, which is a big PLUS -- I guess the next photo will be taken in five days, and if all goes as expected, there should be virtually no remnants of the bruises caused by the damn Crocs. I would suggest to anyone wearing those dumb rubber compound shoes to stop wearing them immediately and get rid of the things, just in case. Better to be safe than sorry!

* N O V E M B E R *

1 November 2008 / Saturday -- this is a pic of the enclosed shower / bathtub -- the faucet stuff is really old and extremely difficult to turn completely off -- -- that is the next job for Joe the plumber when he gets back from vacation -- he has to remove some tiles and replace that complicated system of levers to a single pair that controls both the shower and tub, not breaking my wrist every time I try to turn the water off. I wonder -- the toilet fixture is also excessively low, probably because the original Italian owners were short -- I find it painfully annoying to stoop down so far, then get back up again -- Joe told me he had to install a higher model toilet fixture at home because of his bad back -- after my near fatal auto accident which broke my hip many years ago, the insurance company provided me with an unsightly add on that raised the seat area a lot, which did help somewhat -- I have to think about maybe replacing the old toilet with a higher one sometime in the future

the three remaining kittys born on Friday, 29 August 2008, the ones in the kitchen, are progressing nicely -- they already know where the litter box is and have been eating both dry and other cat / human food -- this recent pic shows them munching away with their daddy, Bluesy, on the left bottom, and mommy, Girly, on the lower right -- -- the two darker ones are probably male, while the lighter one is a female, almost the runt of the litter BUT the first one to find the litter box and eat on its own, as well as always run over to me when I go to the kitchen -- they are now ten weeks old and adoptable already if anyone is interested

I think it was last autumn that I took a photo of the three Metasequoias growing in the small side garden -- the largest one was then a few inches over the garage roof top -- at this point, after a year it is now at the level of the two story property, way above the garages -- -- I trimmed the lower branches away thus allowing me to paint and repair that side of the garages when the spirit moves me [which better be very soon before the snows arrive again].

Oh, yeah, and do not forget to turn your clocks BACK this weekend when daylight saving time ends

10 November 2008 / Monday -- the following has been an ongoing activity for several weeks already

a new supermarket, the FOOD BAZAAR, opened in a large space at the old Roebling Complex after some two years of being vacant -- at least three others had been there over the last ten years, all closing simply because more merchandise walked out without being paid for than went through the registers -- I saw many walking in the entrance empty handed and leaving with a shopping bag filled with goodies while the security guard/s was / were yapping with pals / girl friends. The new entity advertised a prize contest in which some one thousand prizes would be awarded to customers who filled out the single entry form given out at the checkout counter on each shopping trip -- I managed to get my paws on HUNDREDS of these slips, spending MANY hours filling them out for Bernar, my brother's wife, Thom [a friend from Philadelphia], and myself [plus an alias] -- they numbered about, respectively, 200+, 80+, 50+, 400+ and about 20 ...

the prizes varied from $25 gift certificates valid at FoodBazaar, to laptop computers / handheld GPS devices / large screen flat panel TVs / digital cameras / a set of cookware, to the grand prize of a Toyota Prius. I was kinda sneaky and twice folded each and every entry stub in an irregular way, making them stand out so that they might be easier picking when the hand that drew the winners would fish around for a new one. It proved to be quite successful -- THREE of my different submissions each received a phone call as the lesser prize winners were selected, followed by a letter in English and Spanish on 31 October 2008 explaining that we had each won a $25 gift certificate plus the details of when the other prizes would be selected / distributed, on 8 November. On 28 October 2008 I sent the entries I made out for them to my brother and Thom via priority mail, and also talked to them on the phone -- I then organized those of Bernar and mine in sequential numerical order, making a list of them, calling him on the phone to come over and get his tickets -- this was sorta easy because there were MANY series of numbers in number order. The hormongous list of winners by number were on many sheets of paper tacked to a large bulletin board at the store -- problem was that the sheets kept dropping off and it was not the easiest to follow the lists in order -- the next day I went back again and finally found MY number for the gift certificate -- because all the prizes were to be handed out on 8 November, now the wait begins -- the overhyped / super expensive / filled with instantaneous negativity as never before [of course, not that many voters had high speed interNUT in major previous elections] / fuzzy hypothetical promises abounding presidential elections came and went in the meantime.

I personally like the tons of selections at the supermarket -- most of which are brands / items that would be found in Hispanic countries, thus the shoppers AND most of the stock boys are from Mexico, Middle and South America, and I suspish that illegal aliens abound among the two groups as they do in my area of Trenton This pic shows the rice stock in just about every package size imaginable piled from the floor almost to the ceiling, enough to feed regions of the world where they are rioting for lack of rice and other food necessities -- -- their large seafood room has two rows of aquaria with eels, other fish and lobsters swimming around, while the iced floor displays contain every type of fresh fish / snail / clam / cephalopod [squid / octopus] / shrimp and other delicacies -- --. As I am writing this I am watching a really kewlio live puppy cam with six ancient Japanese Shiba inu pups romping around / playing with their toys & with each other / snoozing in really weird ways / sqeeking / interacting with their breeders -- LINK -- check it out, it is VERY interesting.

OK, so the big day arrives, Saturday, 8 November 2008 -- it was raining the day and night previously and also that morning when I left the house about noon to see what was happening -- the parking lot in front of the store was roped off having several food tents and a large inflatable kids play house inside -- it was not easy to find a parking spot -- here is a view of the front of the store -- -- long lines of peope were getting their free hot dogs and other treats, but I was more interested in getting my gift certificate -- BUT, there were some new lists posted in several places, yellow ones -- ohhhh, they were for the lesser prizes such as the cookware sets -- since I already got that official letter telling me I had won the gift certificate I almost did not even look through these yellow sheets -- oh, well, my curiosity got the best of me, so I checked the numbers -- OMG, my winning number won one of these thingys ... to the prize table I hobble, hand in my ticket number -- the lovely Hispoanic gal behind the table then handed me my surprise package

the girl beside her also wanted her photo taken, so I obliged, of course -- -- would you believe, I was one of the lucky duckies who won a new - in - box Olympus Fe-340 8 Megapixel digital camera with a 2.7 inch LCD monitor / video capability -- thinner than a deck of playing cards, complete with rechargeable battery / recharger / cables to connect to a computer, and other stuff in the box !!

I was spellbound, effusively thanked the ladies -- I also began thinking -- I already have three digital cameras, what do I need this one for? It may appear on my eBay seller list if none of my news readers wants to purchase it for $80 [not including shipping, of course], about half what they sell for in the stores.

I headed back home until the magic 15h time rolled around for the car drawing -- I called Thom, who decided not to come here for whatever reason -- then my brother, whose son answered, telling me that brother & sister in law dearest were on their way to Trenton -- I told both callees that I won the camera and that they have to be here to check their winning number against the new prize list. Although I called Bernar a couple times over the last two weeks and he swore that he would come over to get his ticket numbers, I have not seen hide not hair of him for months already -- always the same excuse, he is too busy, just as Thom always says he is. Fhy da wuck should I bother doing all that work? Maybe I am just olde fashioned and enjoy helping out pals or something, gawd only knows.

At 15h it had stopped raining, finally, and I head back to the store with my winning ticket, just in case -- found a parking space way on the far end of the parking lot after driving around for about ten minutes -- all the hot dogs were gone and only the small snacks were still being given out, none of which looked interesting -- throngs of peeps standing / sitting around, the main tent occupied by the car and a large disco like music setup constantly blaring Hispanic tunes was easily visible / accessible -- -- ten minutes pass, the crowd starts moving right up to the car area -- I finally saw my brother and his wifey -- they talked about as much as a rock -- he says, you are getting fat / your toe nails look like claws [hey, that is because I cannot stoop down far enough to cut them due to my bad hip, duh!] / it took us two and a half hours to get here / we are missing the birthday party of a grandchild -- they had not yet checked the special yellow prize lists, which I suggested they do -- NO, nothing there from their number list. Another ten minutes pass, some local politician has not net appeared to pick the remaining winners -- he finally shows up to the cheers of the masses. First he will pick out the five laptop computer winners -- my brother asks me where is MY number list -- holy shit, I did not bother to bring that with me because I thought they would only be only picking the car winner! If the person with the winning number did not appear, they choose another ticket -- then came the four 37 inch flat panel TVs -- at least ten called numbers for these two prizes did not reply -- sister in law asks, do you want to take the numbers home to see if yours was among them? Yeah, what do I look like, a masochist or what! I was quite happy with what I won already so why be greedy [although, after the fact, I was somewhat unhappy about not bringing the rest of my entries -- the gawds planned it this way, of course]. So there you have it -- if anyone of my readers might like to buy the digital camera, please contact me at the link provided below -- NO, I will NOT accept less than stated above

26 November 2008 / Wednesday -- within hours of mentioning that I had the above camera for sale, a lady emailed me and said she wanted it -- so it is paid for and already reached her doorstep -- she says it takes fabulous pictures.

Speaking of pictures, for weeks I have been glued to a live puppy cam from California, mentioned above -- I took a couple dozen screen shots thus far -- the following are about the best of the bunch ... here are the six pups, most looking at the camera while their human daddy stands nearby ... the viewer number at that time is below the image

here are a couple others I obtained -- all six of them peacefully asleep in their original large crate bottom -- -- them eating -- -- a view of a new crate in the background that one is exploring -- -- here is a link to older puppy cam video clips -- -- a story about them from the interNUT --

Someone online told me about a rice substitute from the Andes region of South America -- it comes from a plant that looks like this -- -- the name of the smallish grain stuff is Quinua or Quinuo, according to the source you read online -- -- I found it at the FoodBazaar after asking several people there if they know anything about it -- curiously, nobody ever heard of it -- it was a Manager's Special at $1.99, so I bought three packages of it [maybe I should have asked the manager about it ?]. I made it just as I do rice, two cups water / one cup quinua, some salt, some butter -- the cooked grain expands to perhaps four times the original size, and each has a mini curly tail which is the germinating part of the seed -- I like the flavour -- for more info about this seemingly little known food, click HERE

It is Thanksgiving Day already in the USA -- This years links -- Me * eCard * -- Celsia * eCard * -- Bertie * eCard * -- Me * Turkey Shoot - Interactive game * --

30 November 2008 / SUNDAY -- not a lot happening -- I got an email from the happy adopting parent of Ringo, one of my male Sphynx kittys -- Eric submitted a photo of his baby to the New Jersey Monthly Magazine and the pic won an award on their web site -- -- he really is a cutie.

Tony, one of my former students in the Canary Islands MANY years ago emailed me that a local newspaper did a story on his harmonica classes -- it appeared on Australian uTube -- LINK -- quite interesting stuff, and VERY talented.

In theory the Puppy Cam, mentioned above, will probably go off the air the first weekend of December -- they added an open smallish dog door to the terrace sliding door -- the doggies already know that their bathroom is on the terrace after only a couple days of use -- the breeders apparently are keeping one of the pups -- I wonder if it is the one with the red collar

For several weeks already I have gotten my usual ailment at the onset of the colder weather -- coughing spells and a dreary feeling, dozing off all the time -- I finally went to see the doctor on 20 November -- diagnosed as a severe upper respiratory infection [as usual] -- he prescribed an antibiotic and some cough liquid -- I have to get some blood tests done the first week of December and return to see him on Tuesday, 9 December -- I only hope he does not find anything serious

I have not started thinking about my personal Christmas card yet -- they are usually sent out by 10 December -- then I have to design new banners and stuff for my 2009 YES page -- GAWD, how time flies

My December updates will appear on a fresh new page as this one is getting quite lengthy already -- same link as usual, but this URL will change slightly

Countdown to Los Reyes Magos

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God Bless !

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