Scabbers?

Of course, Scabbers is the obvious name choice. That was the name of Ron Weasley’s rat in the Harry Potter series, and the first name that came to my mind. For what, you ask? Well, yesterday was the 4 week anniversary of my second bike accident of the cycling season before the season had even begun. You can click that link in the previous sentence to see my bloody leg, but I don’t necessarily recommend that. Suffice to say that it was a bloody mess. I recall at the time seeing blood pulsing out of one of the wounds and thinking, “I may want to get that one stitched up.” An urgent care location was on the way home, but I didn’t stop there. I cycled home, washed it off, and bandaged it. It oozed and bled for 2 more days. And the end result is a scab that is 4 weeks old yesterday. Happy birthday! Don’t worry, I will not post a picture. In the book Blogging for Dummies, the authors clearly warn against posting scab pics as 93% of readers will move on to non-scab-related blogs.

But I will post names I’m considering for it. I think after hanging on for 4 weeks with no end in sight, it deserves one. I have ruled out Scabbers as too trendy. Even though the Harry Potter movie series started over 20 years ago, a recent NY Times poll found that over 76% of all people with bloody limbs still name their healing wounds Scabbers. For that reason, I’m pondering other names.

If it’s a boy, I like Scabraham Lincoln as a strong historical name. It has lost some diameter over the weeks, so I could name it Li’l Scabner after the old cartoon. If I want to show how open and welcoming I am to all races and religions, maybe Scabdul deserves consideration.

I want to choose a pretty name if it is a girl. Maybe Scabagail, although I am afraid that others would call her Scabby as a nickname. Thinking of the old Bewitched TV series, I came up with Scabantha and Scabitha, both of which I like.

I think I have some good options from which to choose, but does anyone know how to identify a scab’s sex?

Just Another Saturday

Yesterday started as a Saturday like any other Saturday … until I woke up. My wife had been replaced by our 50 lb. poodle who was hogging most of the bed. The reason?

Yes, Kevin, a sub-10 lb. Shih-Tzu arrived on Friday and terrorized my wife and youngest daughter all night while I snoozed blissfully unaware. Here’s Kevin in action during the day.

That went on much of Friday and apparently into the night. I can’t confirm the latter. Zzzz.

That chaos continued on Saturday. Somehow, I snuck off on the pretense of biking to the bank and came home with this surprise. WARNING: Not for the faint of heart.

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False Spring Payback

The last two days in Chicagoland have been amazing with partly sunny skies and temps over 54F/12C each day out by us. Yeah, they had wild thunderstorms two nights ago in Chicago, but I live 40 miles west where we got but a sprinkle. It’s been great.

But we are a fatalistic lot here in the Midwest. We believe that we will pay for enjoying a false spring in early February. We have history and facts on our side. The year my oldest daughter was born on the 5th of February saw a mild winter … until after she was born. Then is snowed and snowed through March.

However, while the false spring was around, I did what millions of others in greater Chicagoland did and headed outside … in shorts. Two days ago, I amazingly took my second bike ride in February on a normally unnavigable trail so early in the year. It is usually slop until May. But two days ago, it was relatively free of snow and muck. I was having a great time, although my out-of-biking-shape legs protested mightily. I had the trail to myself, and I was comfortable in shorts and a sweatshirt in early February. Glorious. And then, I received some payback for enjoying myself so early in the year. This happened …

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Eye caramba!

When last we blogged, I revealed my beautiful new black eye. On the second day, there was a significant change. As I noted in my linked post, if you are a sensitive person, you are reading the wrong blog and should not click Continue Reading.

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I’m Dreaming of a Black & Blue Christmas

I finished decorating (my face) for Christmas this year.

WARNING: If you are a sensitive blog reader, you probably are not reading this blog, so go ahead and click to Continue Reading in order to see the graphic pic on the next page.

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