#64: Happy Birthday to Pepper

"Squirrel!"

Pepper is only my second dog, and my first to reach the ripe old age of 13. So as King of this blog I consider a little tribute to him on his birthday to be in keeping with the theme here.

Pepper is special. Not necessarily "good" special or "bad" special. Lately we've taken to calling him the Best Worst Dog Ever, "B.W.D.E." which can be pronounced "Bowdy." One of his many nicknames. We spend more time than maybe is healthy waiting for him to die. Almost as much time as we spend cleaning up poop. He'll probably go on another six years, and toss in blind and deaf, just to spite us. And we'll love him for it. It's complicated, yeah?

He is a dog: take him for all in all, as a feller says.

#63: Fishing Practice

Yesterday we got the family geared up for fishing. This included Pete picking out his first fishing pole. Today he works on the fundamentals. Inside, in his underwear.

(I have some uncles who would fish outside in their underwear, but that's advanced studies. Like I said, starting with the fundamentals.)

#62: Hebo Lake

Tuesday we went and scoped out this fishing hole south of Tillamook, up in the woods above Hebo. It was built by the WPA in the Depression. More recently it was improved to include a wheelchair accessible path all the way around the lake, with a number of well-spaced and fully accessible fishing platforms.

#61: A Walk In The Coastal Woods

We're down at the coast for the week at my mom's house. Her neighborhood is basically surrounded on three sides by the wild back acres of Nehalem Bay State Park. It's great country to go tromping down elk trails for a small afternoon hike.

I set out today with my 13-year old dog. And then, after he pooped three times, he developed a bad limp and I ended up having to carry him home. All 80 pounds of him. I guess our days of bushwacking together are behind us.

Once he was safely home, I set out again. I ran across some seasonal ponds and one interesting mushroom.

#60: Peanut Butter Syrup?!!

This was an awesome thing a cousin laid on us at our several-times-a-year cousins brunch. Something I never woulda thought of, and fantastic.

And yes, from time to time, it might seem like this is just becoming a food blog. What can I say? Food is one of the most dependable sources of new experiences.

3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt

Warm for 30 seconds in the microwave and stir it up. Prepare to go to Flavor Village!

#59: St Patrick's Korean-Style Nachos

Yes, I did this.

Corned beef. Kim chi. Green olives.  Also chipotles and pickled jalepeno.

Don't try this at home on your dad's stereo.

#58: Bacon. Mayonnaise.

Inspired by a recipe in a cook book called Nom Nom Paleo. Read it and weep.

1/2 cup bacon fat
1/2 cup veggie oil
2 egg yolks
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp dijon
salt and pepper

My spin?

First, not calling it aioli when it is mayonnaise.  (I thrill to the notion of making your own mayonnaise.  Why put on airs when you do so by calling it something else?) Second, using just plain old canola oil, whereas the paleo folks called for macadamia nut oil, which I can only assume costs $37 a liter.  (I read an article the other day that crapped on the Whole 30 and other paleo diets as basically ways to justify status spending on high-end meats and oils in the face of millennia of accumulated wisdom on the nutritional and economical value of grains and legumes. Seeing a recipe call for half a cup of macadamia nut oil? Yeah.) Third, when making mayo I've always found that 2 egg yolks is better than 1. Finally, their recipe called for sherry vinegar, but I used the wife's home-brewed tarragon-infused vinegar because it is awesome and I use it on everything.

Had some today in a grilled tuna sandwich.  Ho ho, hey hey.  This is the business.

#57: I Am Qualified To Write About Neurogeneticsses?

Our Henry has been diagnosed with a vanishingly rare (1 in 91,000) genetic mutation in one particular gene that plays a role in the release of neurotransmitters so that the brain cells can talk good to each other.

Because it's so rare, there is a wonderful effort afoot to bring together families affected by this. Not only is it rare, but it's only barely beginning to be studied and understood. The first indication of this mutation was discovered only in 2008 and the field has been finding its way along the bleeding edge of genetics and neurology since then. It's barely an exaggeration to say that every new case is in some ways unprecedented.

For example, Henry's particular mutation of this gene? Yeah, basically unique to him. Not seen before, not documented in the literature. And this is not unusual.

(As an aside, we've grown accustomed to this kind of thing. He was diagnosed with one of the rarest types of epilepsy. We treated it for a while with a rarely used orphan-drug hormone therapy that cost so much that the contents of our fridge at one point could have been valued at $60,000, not counting the mayonnaise. He's got the less-common variety of cerebral palsy, and his one-man-band array of diagnoses adds up to one Special Boy.)

Anyway, all of this is to say that some good souls we're in touch with on a Facebook group for families of kids with this kind of mutation are working on a website to explain this to the world and help other families learn more as they come into the fold. It's early days but you can find it here.

I have volunteered my abilities in writing and editing copy if they need me. One of the first things I was asked to do was try and revise the "About" page to flesh out and make the science talk understandable to laymen. Now, I am not necessarily a science talker. But I can grasp at it OK, and I am used to studying, digesting, and then explaining technical or esoteric concepts to laymen because that's what I do all damned day.

So I've jumped right in. I like my first draft but it's not up to me what ends up seeing the light of day. Still, I think this will be another great way to keep my mind, you know, uh, limber...while also wrapping my brain around Henry's diagnosis and helping others wrap their brains around theirs. We'll stay tuned on this one.

#56: Switchel

You down with switchel?

Switchel! Also sometimes call swizzle, ginger-water, haymaker's punch, switchy, godsweat, or snarf water,* switchel is basically a highly refreshing drink made with water, vinegar, something sweet, and maybe some herbs and spices as you do.

It's one of many new and interesting things to be cooked or brewed up by my mother-in-law lately. This past weekend I got to sample this recipe, which I am much too lazy to retype:

Mighty good stuff. Said to be favored by sweaty farmers at harvest time, hence the "haymaker's punch" name. Very refreshing.

Switchel fever: catch it!

#55: Egg Hunt 2: Enter the Beaver

Oops, I did it again.

#54: Dusk Walk Along the River

I got out of work at the miraculous time of 6 pm today, and had an AA meeting at 7 at the opposite edge of downtown. It wasn't raining in any meaningful way so I decided to walk down to the waterfront and work my way uptown.  It was moody down there, in the good way.

The Burnside Bridge

Looking north south! toward the Morrison Bridge

The Morrison Bridge from over the prow of the

Oregon Maritime Museum

(It's a boat!)

#53: Cherry Blossoms

A cheery sight on the walk to the bus stop this morning.

#52: Play Til You Drop?

On Saturday I took Pete to the Portland Children's Museum with the specific goal of being there as long as possible and ideally letting him run himself into oblivion.

Six hours, three snack and pee breaks, seven full circuits of the entire museum grounds, and he still had not gone to ground. I'm not sure it's possible. But we gave it our all.

#51: Mr. Mom

My wife went to the coast over the weekend by herself and I got to hang with the boys. Big deal, right? Well, I'm always happy to have a boys' weekend. Here's just a couple things we did: spent a long time at the playground and had pancakes for dinner.

#50: My Name in Cupcakes

There were a bunch of cupcakes at work with letters on them. It was for somebody's birthday and the lettered cupcakes spelled out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY _____" and so on.

But there were enough around that I was able to gradually eat one with a D on it, then later an A, and finally an N. Yes, I ate my name in cupcakes! Try it sometime!

Pictured is only the A cupcake, because the other two got eaten before I could get to my camera.

#49: A Sunrise

Based on the sunlight like colors and the time of day that this happened, I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that Spring might be coming.

#48: Henry Nap

He is six years old, seven before we know it. He weighs in at just over 50 pounds and would stand almost 4' 2", except that he can't stand. Can't walk. Can't talk. To a large but ultimately unknowable extent, he can't see either. He can't feed himself and he can only be sustainably fed by us via a feeding tube. We've come to accept that he may never learn to speak, to read, to walk, to drive.

But he can love.

And except for those moments when he is shrieking at us like a banshee, usually because he's feeling bored, he radiates a gentleness, a sweetness, and a playful, loving warmth that just melts you.

No matter how much time I get, I never feel like I get enough time for just Henry. Between my long work hours and the attention commanded by his little brother, it's hard to fit it all in a day. I do get him up and ready for school in the morning, but during that time he is eating his breakfast via tube so he's up in his wheelchair. It's not cuddly time, though I do give him a foot rub and he pokes at me whenever I dare turn away to drink my coffee or read the news.

So those moments in the evening when I just get to hold him before bed, and he is calm, and content, and drifting off to sleep, when all 4 feet and 50 pounds of him draped are across my lap, those moments are utterly precious. I had one of those moments tonight.

Understand, when he sits on you, radiating his warmth and his comfort and his gratitude at being in your arms, it is like being put under before surgery. The sleep washes over you and you will just drift away. He is the world's largest sleeping pill. And I'm always glad to just cast off.

Thanks for the nap tonight, Henry.

#47: Fast Foot Shoegaze

I've tried late nights on the treadmill with Motorhead and with scary stories.

For my latest experiment, I decided to dig out a classic album of what the kids used to call the music for gazing at your shoes, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. It's dense, atmospheric, dreamy, once described by one reviewer as having "an intense ability to disorient....[oozing] a sonic balm that first embraces and then softly pulverizes the frantic stress of life..." Surely that kind of thing could get me pumped to shed the pounds, right?  I mean, who can't get up for this?

In all seriousness, though, that track is more the exception than the rule. Most of the tracks are fairly uptempo yet hypnotic, perfect for marching away for a half hour or more, lost in the dream. And of course, the obsessive, dense production is very well suited for headphones. This might get into heavy rotation alongside old Lemmy. You know, for something completely different.

Try it at home!