Howdy Dear Friends, Family & Accidental Visitors!!

News of the month! I'm fish free! The kids came and brought their finny pets home and up the hill to join their other critters (dogs & cats) at Casa Casses II. Byron & Taylor are still having a great time working Old Edwards’ kitchen.

I came in from work one day two weeks ago, went in to feed the gang and noticed the Betas were missing !? They lived in individual gallon+ containers without pumps & filters or anything else you have to plug in so I guess they were the easiest to move first.

Two days later I came home and found the fish room (retro fitted guest room - the fish were the guests) empty of the other two big tanks and all their buckets, hoses, tubes & electronic accoutrements.

I also found it weirdly quiet.

Guess I had gotten used to the comfort of bubble/splash sounds coming from the big tanks. Each tank had several air & water filter pumps and being a water person (July 1) myself I found those background sounds kind of soothing. I missed them a tiny bit - the goldfish would get really excited when I came in the room and start doing the underwater equivalent of cheering (gulping & splashing) - that was fun.

But not the weekly chore involving moving & lifting @320lbs of water (a pint weighs a pound - 5 gallons weighs 40 - 8 buckets is 320lbs) & several hours of warming time.

The fish were (are) tropicalish & used to relatively warm water. My supply, the stuff from my pump, is right out of the 400 ft. well and @ 58 degrees so I had to "sun" the buckets for a few hours so’s I don't shock the fish with cold.

Well, my dear son and his lovely esposa have their darlings and the caretaking chores back. I'm overall glad they kept their plans & promises and no one suffered (OK, I complained a bit but no real inconvenience - I got family love mileage from the couple of months I kept the icthys.)

I'm considering getting one of those little ornamental waterfalls - might be the soothing water sounds without the chore labor.

The guest room is being retro-retro fitted back for humans. Cleaned up big time, a queen sized bed where the tank table was, a touch up paint job, desk & computer. We're ready for walking talking people guests again.

Unless you're one of my Deep Southern friends, I don't have to tell you it is getting chilly. Somehow sunset has migrated from 10 pm to 7pm.

Soon enough it will bottom out at @ 5p. I kind of bottom out with it. I then, ever so gratefully, watch the days ever so slowly lengthen - other choice? Nope.

My yard leaves are not yet all off the trees but I do have increased sky showing. A week ago my rising time of 6 went from a promising dawn light in the east to pitch black. That's OK. The 6am sky now will be at midnight on Christmas - Orion, Sirius & the Subaru all straight up.

With creeks & rivers all about, we get the morning mountain mist here quite often so I was very pleased to have a crystal clear starry morning on Monday. Saw a tiny ball o light cross Orion going from the Southwest to the Northeast - a satellite. It was a fine start to the day. I live far enough from town light to get a pretty good Milky Way at that time too. Love it.

4 "normal" days pass - Tuesday (free time), Wednesday Ubuntu, Thursday R&R practice.

OK, that was then, this is now. Things happen.

Friday was a heck of a day. Major changes. It started off pretty darn zippity-do-dah. Great crispy blue morning - no frost but cool and "envigahrating". I took the day off work to go to GA for this new plasma therapy I'm doing and to setup to play music Friday night.

The plasma treatments don't hurt and so far seems to be cumulatively effective (I'm a serious judgement reserver). Mt Medical Specialties Web Site.

We have beautiful blue skies with little puffy clouds - a fine drive to Clayton with all things obviously "in the groove" - small stuff works easily, parking places appearing in front of me, etc. (I'm noticing more and more days like this - do we think It's always so and maybe perception is the adjusting factor?)

Anyhow, great healing session, good talk with my clinicians & drive back. Loaded up the equipment for the R&R job at Chris & Charlie's and we went & setup.

Setup is going pretty smooth & quickly these days as long as the wires don't need repair, it takes barely 2 hours to setup most of the band. (drums & bass show up later.)

I had a good lunch & went home to change my guitar strings and go over a few tunes on the list, etc. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry later so I didn't eat dinner. I did drink lotsa water during the day because I've learned (the hard way) if I don't hydrate big time, then standing 3 hours and burning calories like a racehorse (playing R&R) can give me serious leg cramps @ 3am.

I do mean serious. I hope everybody doesn't have ‘em like this. Immediate full-tilt pain that literally jerks you out of bed in instant agony. No position gives relief, every step is colored by either an audible or silent combination of cursing and yelling for mercy - literal self-torture. Arf!

The music went well - I played my best (used up my reserve) and the crowd was enthusiastic but I suddenly began to get weak feeling near the last set.

My drummer & bassist didn't want to quit (they are serious crowd junkies - I'm more in it for the actual musical content) and I was literally forced (by my own kindness) into an extra final song that almost did me in. I will not do that again.

I came home from the music job feeling pretty worn out. Then - some urgent tummy troubles almost out of nowhere and I was immediately dehydrated. (no details please).

I went from worn out to totally exhausted & went to bed (I never did unload my Friday equipment until Sunday afternoon and then quite slowly.)

The lifetime peak leg cramps began in about an hour - worst ever. I had a perfect storm combination of dehydration and long term standing & burning calories.

I've found that a shot of Apple Cider Vinegar (in water, if time) will calm the cramps in about 2 minutes if you keep walking hard and cursing but my body must have been over the top needy.

Yes, the "cure" kicked in and I got to feel the change and relax a bit and breathe but it only lasted about 20 minutes. I was up 6 or 8 times during the night never actually sleeping but waiting for the next bout as relaxed as I could force.

The sky got light way too early for me and I realized I had spent the night in battle - that was one heck of a Friday! Full scale on both ends. Think I prefer moderate as opposed to radical. A bit less wear & tear.

I spent all day Saturday in the recliner eating cautiously and rehydrating. Only 2 more cramp episodes spread out during the day and I was so very grateful that our usual Friday/Saturday music job had been chopped to one day a week before.

Been planning to go see Phillip John Brooks (the finest solo guitar player/singer I've seen) at the Rathskeller Saturday night. Those plans included a meet with a passle of my Ubuntu family members to enjoy the show but I had to make an energy choice - spend it Saturday Night or conserve for Sunday's Ubuntu Service at UUFF.

I stayed home. Though I received a very sweet email from an Ubu sister saying they were holding a seat for me - temptation - it didn't take much to resist and continue my recovery.

Sunday a.m. I drove a dear friend to Wayfarer's in Georgia (she does the preludes) & turned around to go back to Franktown to sing with my spiritual family at UUFF.

It was a very nice morning but I was still feeling a bit hollow so I stashed a folding stool in case I needed to sit during the performance - I was going to sing as planned if physically possible.

I didn't need the stool for support - the energy of our very dear musical assemblage and the personal energy boost from a brother baritone & Reiki healer and it went well.

Thank Goodness I get "timeless" when we’re singing - totally engaged and it always seems we just started when we have to finish. After the service I was re-energized Spiritually (music hath charms you can't imagine) and that "bump up" slowly leaked into my body.

Sunday afternoon was blessedly quiet and by Sunday's end I finally felt hungry again - made & ate some rice, boiled veggies & a bit o beef.

Heck of a weekend, I’m back to work but still a bit iffy.

I apologize for sharing my miseries, I generally try to spread The Light & other good stuff.
It was an adventurous ordeal like we all have every day to one degree or another.
Hang in there. More Later.

Big Love to All