early detection

I read that there is a new way of detecting Alzheimer's earlier.

The story got front page on the NY Times this morning.

I guess there is some advantage of knowing early and knowing for sure, but if there is nothing that can be done to cure or even really treat the disease, what is the point?

So far we have a few very spendy drugs that may or may not make the patient sharper as they are going down the dark path. These drugs do not promise a cure, and they don't promise to make the disease progress slower. But they might.

There is a lot of controversy about the very efficacy of these drugs, but once the doc says to take them, we are terrified of taking our loved ones off of them. Truthfully, some seem to get great results and some do not.

My suspicion is that we are talking about a whole lot more variables here than we might wish.

Hooray for a small victory, though I am less than wonder struck.

Sorry.

It ain't what it used to be, but it still is!

neighbors

Don is my daughter's neighbor.

He is straight out of a movie, not one of those romantic movies, but one of the horror ones.

She planted a little garden on the side of yard, and about the time it came up, "don" sprayed it with RoundUp, because: "It was bringing bugs into his yard."

The garden was throughly on her side of the fence, but oh well.

His place thoroughly covered by surveillance cameras. The neighbors on the other side had girl who would pose and make faces for the cameras. Mom: "Don't tease stupid people."

Once his El Camino was parked on the street and a local contractor's pickup rolled into it. "Don" made sure he got a whole new paint job and a lot of other stuff out of the insurance company.

Now he parks his 70 something Chevy pickup in the same place, obviously waiting for the same thing to happen again. The pickup is legally licensed (though I don't think it actually runs). Ever so often "Don" comes out with a paint brush and house paint and gives it a fresh coat of white paint, so it does not look abandoned.

I walked down toward his fence with a tape measure in my hand and he was out in a flash to check on my intentions.

When I think of my neighbors, who are about as good as they get, i am blessed.

The "Don's" of the world add a bit of texture to the mix, but at a horrible price, I fear.

53 cookies

Sunday was Father's day.

It is not one of those big time deals, and I really did forget it about it.

We were camping in Eastern Oregon, up in "Paint Your Wagon" country. Verizon people had phone contact, but the one that claims the best nation wide coverage (ATT) had none.

So I missed the messages from my daughters. And, once I got back within range my new phone, it turned out, is not set up to answer voice mail yet, so I still do not know what the messages were (or were not!).

But, we met Arline (daughter 1) to pass Griffy up the line of family, and she had a gift for dad.

53 cans of my favorite libation: Dr. Pepper Diet, as well as 53 cookies, in frozen dough form, for my enjoyment. Arline made the cookies, and froze them, so these were not some factory jobs.

"Do you understand the significance of 53?" I have been a father for 53 years!

The first year I was a father to be, but Miriam was definitely pregnant, so that year was counted.

Thanks for the wonderful memories daughters dear.

Somehow it does not seem that long.