Lee Duigon

Lousy Day, Weather-wise

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

Today was one of those New Jersey specials. Gray, dark, with a fairly steady mix of sleet and rain. Yuck.

The upside was that when I went to Walgreen’s to get my prescription, there was nobody waiting in line at the pharmacy. I was in and out in 5 minutes. Usually there is a line there.

I avoided the candy section, because it would be full of marshmallow Peeps,(which Lee loved) and which I used to get him for his Easter basket every year– along with a ton of other candies. Once when I was checking out his stuff the clerk asked me how many children I was buying candy for. When I told her it was all for my husband, she was floored. He made it last, though, he didn’t gobble it down all at once.

Spent some time doing my bank reconciliation. One of the myriad of doctors that saw Lee when he was in the hospital finally cashed his check. From October! I was almost ready to write it off.

Other than that, a quiet and rather gloomy day.

We are in for a few days of rain. I don’t mind as I don’t have anywhere to go right now.

I will be very interested in what the phone technician says on Thursday. I really hope he can fix whatever is going on because the static (which comes in random bursts) gets so loud I literally cannot hear what the person on the other end is saying.

That’s about it for now.

God bless everybody.

Patty

Critter Break REPRINT

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

From August 1, 2018

Why cats and dogs take so much guff from cockatiels is one for the Durants. Look for more of those unexpected animal friendships.

Also look for two critters you hardly ever see in video–a softshell turtle and a bush baby.

Tiny Pig Happy Little Person

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

Bat Loves Belly Rubs

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

They’re Doing It to Us Again…REPRINT

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

From March 10, 2018

There are many scientific studies, including one from the government’s own Center for Disease Control, declaring that Americans don’t get enough sleep (https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-dont-get-enough-sleep-cdc-study-finds-1455818427). In fact, says the CDC, fully one-third of us is sleep-deficient: less than seven hours of sleep a night poses a risk to one’s health.

So what is that same government preparing to do to us this weekend?

Why, take away an hour of our sleep, of course!

Yes, it’s Daylight Savings Time again, which means we have to turn our clocks ahead an hour tonight and then, for the next week or so, be short on sleep or else be late for everything.

Is this really stupid, or what?

Bad enough we have neighbors aiming floodlights at our bedroom windows, sedentary jobs that wear us out without benefit of exercise, and a disintegrating culture to stress us out. On top of all that, they’ve got to take away an hour of our sleeping time.

Why don’t they spare us this? Is this just another one of those things that government does because it’s done it for so long, everyone’s forgotten the reason for it–if there ever was one–and nobody thinks anymore, they just freakin’ do it?

Yeah, probably.

Comedy Wildlife Photo Winners

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

These are really funny!

My Valentine’s Day Present REPRINT

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

From February 14, 2017

I was positively mad about this book when I was in sixth grade. My wife knew that, because I had mentioned it occasionally, during rambles down Memory Lane. So she got it for me for Valentine’s Day.

Roy Chapman Andrews–the first to find dinosaur eggs: explorer, museum director, writer of books that ignited the imagination–was one of my childhood heroes. Quest in the Desert was his only foray into what we nowadays call Young Adult fiction. Having read much of his non-fiction, I can see that a lot of the material in the novel comes from his actual experiences in exploring the Gobi Desert and knocking around Mongolia. No way that’s bad! Andrews had adventures in some pretty wild and woolly places, and knew how to write about them.

As a glorious additional attraction, the book is illustrated by the great Kurt Wiese, who illustrated all the Freddy the Pig books (by Walter R. Brooks). Wow!

China, Mongolia, and the Gobi Desert in the 1920s were not places for the faint-hearted. Andrews loved the people and the land, and as an explorer of the Amundsen school, he always went into the desert well-prepared. He once remarked that for an explorer to have “adventures”usually meant that the explorer didn’t know his business. He did have plenty of adventures, but nothing his expedition was unprepared to handle.

The climax of Quest in the Desert is, of course, purely fictional–the discovery of the long-lost tomb of Genghis Khan (still undiscovered to this day). If you can’t get excited over that, you may need an autopsy.

What a totally wonderful time I’m going to have, reading this again!

P.S.–My Valentine’s gift to Patty was Unnatural Death, one of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries: great stuff.

I can’t imagine a life without books, and I don’t want to try.

Ave Maria Sung in a Stairwell -Beautiful

leeduigon(patty)March 3, 2026

Quiet Day

leeduigon(patty)March 2, 2026

Not much in the shape of news today.

Did finally set up a visit from a telephone tech. I have had incredible static on my phone for awhile. I just hope I don’t have the Macy-Gimbel conflict because I lease my phone (yes a wall phone/landline) from AT&T. There has been a problem (I think it is because the wires are not properly arranged in the back) ever since I got it a few months ago. The static is so loud sometimes I can’t hear what is being said.

I also had to have some harsh words with Walgreen’s today. They first send me an e mail saying they don’t have my RX, then they say I can pick it up on Thursday–not acceptable. Bottom line I can pick it up tomorrow. This happens just about every month. I get the feeling they don’t quite know what they are doing.

Later this week I have a medical appointment.

That’s about it for today.

Pray for our troops.

God bless everybody.

Patty