Here we go again.  Another ferret has escaped the house.  Ivy left the to the cage door open, so the ferret climbed out and ventured outside via the doggy door and disappeared.  I searched and searched and couldn’t find him.  I also searched the neighborhood the next day.  No luck.  2 days pass and I finally gave up.  I said to Ivy, sorry, but he’s gone and something probably grabbed him. 

She was upset, of course.  But right about then, a neighbor posted a pic on our First Ward newsgroup and asked, “Did anyone lose a ferret?”  

Yes!  That’s Buddy!  

But they didn’t publish any info – no phone number or address –  so I didn’t know who to call or where to go.  Ivy was excited and said, well, let’s just go walk around and see if we can find them. 

We didn’t even go more than 1 block when I saw our neighbor.  He said “Howdy” and “Whatsupp?” 

I said, “Oh, nothing much.  We’re just walking around looking for our missing ferret.” 

“Is it white?” he responded.  I said yes! 

“He’s right here.” 

He told us the story of how his wife swore up and down that she saw a ferret in their yard.  He said she was crazy.  But then the next morning he spots a ferret in the yard!  He grabs it and puts it in a box figuring it was someone’s pet.     

Buddy was obviously stressed and traumatized from his 2 day outdoor adventure, but he was OK.  We brought him home and gave him some food and water, and that’s where he stayed for about a week.  He didn’t even want to come out of the cage and play or anything.  He was like, ‘Life in the wild?  um, no thank you’.   

I was supposed to go to a dentist appointment this morning, but overnight I began to feel very sick.  I felt feverish and nauseous by 6 a.m.  Plus, my hand was swollen and hurting pretty bad.  What was happing??  At first, I didn’t know.  

But thinking back, on Sunday evening I was cleaning up the backyard and moving some old wood boards to a burn-pile when I felt a small sting.  It wasn’t super painful.  More like getting pricked by a thorn or something.  I never saw a spider…. but I’m guessing that a spider is exactly what that was.  A few hours later I start to feel sick.  My hand starts to swell.  I could see two little fang-bites on my thumb.  By the next morning, … ugh… I felt so sick.  

I called the dentist and cancelled the appointment.  That something I never do.  But I apologized and explained I feel sick as if I have the flu or something.  She chided me for calling at the last minute (about 10 minutes before my appointment).  But, whatever.  It felt like I had Covid19.  Yes, I took an at-home Covid test right away.  It was negative. 

After thinking about it and doing a little digging on the internet, I concluded that I had, indeed, been bitten by a spider.  I considered going to the hospital, but first I consulted the mighty Google and began reading about spider bites.  I read that some spider bites are not poisonous, but will still make you feel sick.  If not poisonous, then the feeling of nausea and body-aches will go away after about 6 hours.  So, sure enough, the nausea and body-aches went away by the end of the day.  The pain in my hand, though, lasted a few more days.  Eventually, it all completely healed. 

Crazy situation!  I’ve never been bitten by a spider before.  That was a whole new experience.   

Today is Thanksgiving, a day we celebrate the first and oldest annual holiday tradition in (what would become) the United States of America. As you probably already know, it is the 1st year celebration of harvest after the Mayflower ship landed in Plymouth rock in 1620.   But what I didn’t know until recently is that the Dutton family has ancestor who was not only the Mayflower, but is the guy responsible for founding this tradition of Thanksgiving.  This holiday has even more significance now that I’ve learned I had some ancestry on the Mayflower.  His name is Edward Winslow.  He and his wife, brother, a servant, and young 8 year old child who had been entrusted into his care (check out the story of orphaned or dumped children on the Mayflower) were on the Mayflower in 1620 when it landed at Plymouth Rock.  He began writing and documenting the pilgrim’s experience in the New World.  Most everything we know about the their first year comes from this one man.    That winter was incredibly harsh and cruel.  Edward lost his wife and the child in his care, along with nearly 50% of the people on the Mayflower.   Edward and his family are on the bottom-row 3rd from right (click to open bigger pic).   His brother is the last person on the bottom row.  He survived.  (entertaining video about this chart by a snarky feminist gggrandchild of Winslow here) (another video with good details here)

 Despite the epic loses and tragedies of that first year, Edward survived and went on to establish numerous diplomatic relations with the native Indians – including the Mayflower Compact, the very first seeds of democracy and government in the USA.   This is significant because Europeans had already been visiting the Americas for more than a century, but none had attempted to establish a colony/government separate from England.  The Pilgrims came to form a colony based (motivated) entirely on their evangelical (protestant) Christian beliefs, and to live in a land where they could practice their religion freely and govern their communities democratically.    Edward not only managed to help create a first village and first government, but also a first harvest that would become the first religious holiday (thanksgiving) which would last for centuries to come.   It is interesting to note that the Indians who came to the party outnumbered the pilgrims by almost double (90-50).   There is a TREMENDOUS amount of information on online about the Pilgrims, Thanksgiving, and Edward Winslow.  I can only suggest you search ‘Edward Winslow’ on Youtube or Google to find hours and hours worth of details and data to sift through.  The details of Edward’s life are it is VERY fascinating.  So much drama and tragedy and triumph in these stories.  More than I can write about there.  So I encourage you to check out the videos and links below…  Links with more in-depth information:

• Fox News Origin Story: https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/meet-american-gave-nation-thanksgiving-origin-story
• Edward’s Wikipedia page:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Winslow
• Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-edward-winslow-plymouth-hero-thanksgiving-180961174/ 
• World Encyclopedia: https://www.worldhistory.org/Edward_Winslow/  
• Unsung Pilgrim: https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2019/june/edward-winslow/  
• Some info on his portrait:  https://www.pilgrimhall.org/pdf/Edward_Winslow_Portrait.pdf  
• List of the Mayflower Passenger List  
• The Mayflower Compact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact
• Story of the unwanted, dumped, and orphaned children on the Mayflower (the first pro-life activists):  https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2019/august/children-of-the-mayflower 
• Interesting story of George Soule, Edward Winslow’s indentured servant who joined him on the Mayflower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLURYMFSl30

  You can also watch this series by National Geographic on the first years of the Pilgrims.  It is unique in that it emphasizes the fact that the Pilgrims were not the first white people to come to the Americas. They were not opportunists, but instead oddballs.  They were religious folk seeking to stay in the New World, rather than exploit it and get rich.    This series is also available on Amazon Prime.

  Edward Winslow’s story is well-documented in encyclopedias, museums, and online.  Here is a brief 2 minute overview… 

Edward Winslow also has a statue in his hometown of Droitwich, plus he is included in a famous 1899 painting of the Mayflower Compact signing… 

Our stacked washer and dryer is old.  It came with the house.  But it has worked just fine for many years.  Until around Halloween it decided to give up the ghost.  A shoe got stuck between the dryer blade and the side of the dryer, and as it grinded to a halt it burnt out many components in the dryer and washer both.  Repair costs were insane… about $500… so the repairman said, “Hey, man, you should just use this money to buy a new one.”  

So we did.  

It’s got some pretty cool features such as wifi remote control, water level sensors, and lots more.  Our ferrets were drawn to it like a magnet and immediately climbed inside to explore. 

Dogs were barking like crazy.  Why?  Because another opossum had wandered into the yard.  This is a fairly common occurrence around here.  So I picked him up and put him out of reach of the dogs.  He immediately played dead.  

As always, I rehomed Mr. Opossum to Woodland Park near our house.  It is on the Bayou and has LOTS of wooded area, so I figure an opossum would find a good home here.  Ivy was at home that day, so she came with me.  It was also the same day as the Astro’s Hero Parade (for winning the World Series).  There were lots of people parking in our neighborhood and walking the 1+ mile downtown to the parade.

While we were there trying to get the opossum to dash into the woods (he was still playing dead), a man walks by and say he spotted an alligator in the bayou.  We go take a look.  Sure enough, … there was an alligator swimming around!  These pictures don’t do it justice (Ivy snapped the photos), but still you can see the ‘gator.  

 

After 7 years of living with us, Jose Francisco decides to move to Florida.  He got a job through a friend of a family of a friend (as latinos so often do), and packed his car and … took off… well, sort of took off.  I drove him in his car.  He was concerned about driving that far (about 14 hours) from Houston to Tampa, Florida.  So he asked me to go with him.  I figured that meant drive the whole way.  Sure enough.  I drove the whole way.  But that was okay by me. 

We left Friday afternoon, November 4th, and drove for about 6 hours.  We stopped at the Florida state line Visitor Center and slept in the car.  It wasn’t terrible.  Wasn’t that great either.  The temperatures were fine for sleeping, and there weren’t any police or vagabonds around to bother us.  There were LOTS of semi-trucks and about a dozen other cars/trucks with people snoozing, so that helped us feel safe and okay.  I leaned the seat back and took the best 5 hour sleep I could muster. 

Next thing I know, the sun is up!  We’re on the road again by 8 a.m.   more hours… and about the time the sun is starting to go down again… we arrive in Bradenton, Florida (south of Tampa).  It has been a long time since I’ve made such an epic drive like that.  It was good to know I could still do it.  But I was tired, for sure.  

We use the GPS to find his new home… his employer’s house and office…. and we chill out for the rest of the evening.  The employer wasn’t there, nor were his family.  Only his teenage son came to let us in, then quickly left.  So I ended up never meeting the employer or anyone else.  Saturday, we make our way to the airport where Jose would drop me off.   The drive to the airport was actually kind of nice!  Tampa has LOTS of beach access and fishing spots right off of the freeway.  I’d really like to come back and stay a few days here.  But we finally arrive at the airport, I gather my bag, and say goodbye.  Yes, that was kind of a sad moment.  

I hop on a Frontier airline jet and fly to Denver.  No, not Houston.  Denver.  Frontier Airlines often has super cheap deals, but it often requires you making some wonky connection that can add HOURS to your trip.  For me, it was a total of 8 hours to fly from Tampa back to Houston (by way of Denver with a 1 hour layover).  Cost?  Only $79.  Not bad.  

 

Good grief, I thought I had removed all kidney stones 2 years ago.  Nope!  I awoke about midnight Wednesday 19th with a pain in my right-side abdomen and lower back.  I thought, surely this can’t be a kidney stone?!  No way!  But after 4 hours of tossing and turning and vomiting and walking around the house in the middle of the night, I finally gave up and drove myself to the ER at Hermann Memorial on Studemont street.  

Sure enough, another kidney stone.  It was 7 mm in size.  That’s too big to pass (6 mm in size is the limit to be able to pee it out).  So I get a comfy Ambulance ride to the bigger Memorial Hospital on north 610, where I lay around and wait for nearly 24 hours before getting a procedure.   Finally, at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, I get wheeled into surgery, given some anesthesia, and with Laser Lithotripsy my stone gets removed. 

The procedure only took about 20 minutes, they said.  I was unconscious for it, so I don’t know.  But by noon, I was getting dressed and on my way home.  Cost for all of this?  I’m not sure.  Insurance will cover most of it.  But I anticipate some bonus bills.  Altogether, I suspect my 36 hour vacation at the Hermann Memorial resort will cost at least $10,000.  

 

That day has arrived.  Ivy starts High School today.  She’s actually excited about it.  I think it makes her feel like she is in the big leagues now.  Her experience with High School is quite different than mine, at least population-wise.  This school has a total of 2,377 students!  Whereas my entire school from kindergarten to 12th grade was about 700.  She is also a racial minority with the majority of students being Hispanic (73%), black (23%), and only 4% white.   I’m glad this seems to be a non-issue to her.  

This school was recently renamed from Reagan to Heights by the school board, with support from crazy liberals like Sheila Jackson Lee and Amazonian lesbian freak Jolanda Jones.   The notion was that John H. Reagan, the postmaster general during the civil war era, was a confederate and racist.   So, by golly, we must erase him from history.   Even though it is offensive that wack0s like Lee and Jones won their racist erasist battle, the new name “Heights High School” is actually okay by me and seems very fitting. 

As with any big well-funded school, there are LOTS of electives and clubs and opportunities for her to plug into.  We’ll see what she dives into…   

To celebrate Ivy’s birthday, she invited her two gal-pals to a fun day at Schlitterbahn and Rainforest Cafe in Galveston.  I was the host and transportation.  It was a hot day.  Super hot.  Schlitterbahn was super crowded.  But overall, it was still a fun day.  We didn’t get back to Houston until about 9 p.m.  Everyone exhausted and worn out.  

Ivy gets bling! 

She got braces on her teeth today. 
She likes it.  Very proud of it. 
Weird.