Our journey is over....Oreo crossed the Bridge at 12:30m today, snuggled safely in my arms, getting kisses on his head. He's in my Dad's arms, whole and happy. We fought the good fight! 20 months! All at the vets said that's amazing. He was a fighter right until the end! He didn't want to leave but his little body couldn't do it anymore. My heart is broken, I've lost my baby. But he'll always be with me in spirit and I can't wait to see him again. Thank you all...you've meant a lot to my during this journey.

My brother was watching TV one day and happened upon a program where they were describing different types of skin cancer and one looked like a blue ink pen dot. He thought that looks like the spot on the bottom of my big toe. He had noticed this before and tried to wash it off but it stayed. He made an appointment and found out it was a melanoma! It was just a speck of a thing but they ended up having to go back a second time to get a clear margin. It wasn't so much the diameter as the depth they had to go. He was on crutches for several months as it took forever for it to heal. He is now over 5 years out and no other problems. Literally the TV show saved his life as he would never have gone to the doctor. Turns out it is not as unusual as you might think. Sometimes they are found between the toes or even under the nail.

greg: I erred on my grits: started with 24 grit on the drum sander, then moved to 60. This past week we took an orbital with 80 (I think; Mr. Weedy did this), and a hand orbital around the edges. All the scratches are out and the finish is off, so fingers crossed for a good seal/poly effort this week. jfc: painted floors are something to keep in mind for the kitchen if it turns out terrible. I think we'll go ahead and do the seal/poly just to see how it looks, and then decide from there. lazy: thanks for the reminder about character floors being "worth" something. We'll see what they look like after the hands-and-knees work this week.

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes. We received a phone call this morning informing us that our dear, lifelong friend, died quietly in her sleep this morning. She went rapidly down hill after her diagnosis and was on morphine and had hospice care. I'm so glad George and I got to see her that Sunday before my post on the 20th. She wasn't always lucid and at one point remarked to our friend who was helping look after her that "when are Steve and George coming?" Tore my heart out when we were told that. I know she's no longer in pain and that knowing Liz she's probably looking down at me and saying something like "O.K. Steve, enough of that now." We talked to her daughter yesterday who was glad to hear from us and at that time told us she thought it was only a matter of days or even hours. Farewell dear friend. I know you're helping with a production of some show or other in a different plane now.