Bloggus Interruptus

My regular weekly blog was interrupted by two family matters recently. My mother, 90, required emergency abdominal surgery two weeks ago. A foot was removed from her small intestine (how that foot got there, nobody knows). She has recovered nicely, was moved to a rehab facility a week ago, and is being prepped to be sent home. Today, a rehab person will be looking at mother's apartment to suggest ways we can make her apartment more "user friendly." So it won't be long. The other family event was a wedding last weekend in Kansas City. My niece Rachael wed her Anthony, father of their young Anthony III. She was beautiful and Anthony was handsome and their son is a source of joy for them. I met many of Anthony's wonderful family. With my mother in the last phases of her life and my niece starting a new phase of hers, it has been an interesting emotional time and space. * * * * * * * * * * I'm still processing Nebraska's 2 win and 4 loss start to the season, and in deference to all those who said Mike Riley was a great pick, and considering NU has been ahead or tied in all six games with no more than 15 seconds left in every stinking one of them, I'll just say he's most certainly the unluckiest coach in Nebraska college football history. I am also living with the realization that my prediction we would go 5 W and 7 L may have been wildly optimistic. * * * * * * * * * * * * The new Select Republican Congressional Committee to Produce Fake Planned Parenthood videos is requesting $20 million for photoshop training for its newly hired staff. "The fake videos we have produced in the past have simply not lived up the standards of deception and dishonesty we strive for," said a spokesperson. "We envision sending scores of our staff people out to make fake videos of a quality heretofore unseen." * * * * * * * * * * For me, the most important take away from the other night's Democratic debate was the realization that no one up there on the stage would, at any moment, say something so mind-bendingly, astoundingly stupid that the entire nation would roll their eyes back in their heads simultaneously and then weep for the Republic. For that, we have to wait for the next Republican debate. * * * * * * * * * * No more nude photos in Playboy? What? What's this world coming to anyway? I'm thinking those predictions about last week's apocalypse may have turned out to be true. * * * * * * * * * * * * So last week, two neighbor boys were playing catch with football in the yard behind ours and the ball ended up in our backyard. Carefully considering their options, the boys decided not to open the gate and walk in to retrieve the football, or knocking on the door to accomplish the same. Instead, they decided to throw rocks at the porch window to get our attention (not knowing, of course, that no one was home). What could possibly go wrong? Well, as you might imagine, a good sized rock broke a storm window and an inner window on the porch. The father of one of the boys wrote a note of explanation and got it to us. They have since gotten the glass replaced and I reinstalled them and all is well. I told the father that that was definitely a "boy idea." * * * * * * * * * * Republican Kevin McCarthy said of his dropping out of the race for Speaker of the House: "I am quitted for racing of Speaking to Houses. God in America today United States am greatness Benghazistan." * * * * * * * * Ben Carson has apparently decided to campaign for President part-time now and is instead going on a book tour to sell his book. Listening to him, I had no idea brain surgeons could be so f****** stupid. * * * * * * ** * * * * Finally, I am taking orders for my new 2016 Art by Bud Cassiday wall calendars. They are 11 x 17 in., feature all new dates, and Feb. 29 included for no extra charge! $20.