The Last Meal

It was a Saturday evening. I was with my mother, when her meal arrived.

We offered her the food; she wasn't hungry, but we managed to get her to eat a bite.

She made an attempt, but faded and didn't swallow. All our efforts failed, so I helped wipe the food from her mouth, so she wouldn't choke.

She eventually awoke long enough for us to get her to take a sip of Ensure. She soon fell asleep again, and I wondered how much longer she would last. She would hardly respond the next few days.

She passed Tuesday morning. I wasn't there, and wondered about her last moments. Did she have a moment of lucidity? Was she frightened? Did she know the end was near?

I'll never know. She was gone in a moment and I only know I wasn't there at the end.

The moments you have with your mother are finite. While the number of moments seems to be large, they may only be few. Take some time and tell her you love her.

Hastags and Hash Marks

I'm somewhat of a dumbass, when it comes to the social media/smart phone nomenclature. So, when I first heard the term "hashtag" all I could think of was "hash mark".

I had to look the term up on the interwiz. From my perspective, there's not a whole lot of difference between the two.

I suppose I should be sorry, if I offended anyone; but I'm not.

So, Where Did Everyone Go?

I know I haven't written much lately, but that's no reason to not post a comment.

Driving, Driving, Driving

An end  on a hydraulic cylinder broke on a large hydraulic excavator on the project today. The break was at the upper coupling pin housing, which is about three inches in diameter.

This isn't the first time this happened, and the problem is associated with crappy steel used for the initial fabrication. If I had to guess, forged steel was avoided, due to costs, and the manufacturer crossed their fingers, in the hope the warranty work would be minimal.

Anyway, the repair was warranted, so I had the exquisite opportunity to drive to Houston and watch it repaired.

Have you ever driven in Houston, Texas? If not, you should avoid it, unless necessary. There are enough drivers without the skills to drive in traffic to cause problems; maybe more than enough. People wandering in from the boonies are more than dangerous.

To add insult to injury, I've had enough experience driving in Houston; and I know enough about the freeway system to navigate with few problems. That's good for me, but leads to moments of anger, when people don't pay attention to the multiple signs that indicate in which lane a driver should exit. Their panic, last minute lane changes, and failing to accelerate into the merging traffic leads to all types of mayhem.

I escaped, before I lost my mind.

A Law Proposal

"Any person that loses the value of their property, due to the construction of public housing, shall be compensated for the loss from the salaries, and pensions, of members of Congress and their staff."

If this was passed, I'm thinking Congress, and their staffs, will owe taxpayers all compensation for the next twenty centuries.