Recently in Family Matters Category

It’s a birthday weekend at CrabAppleLane. My sister’s today, mine yesterday, brother-in-law’s tomorrow. It’s also tax day. I prepared our returns without TurboTax this year just like I used to before last year. My returns are not all that complicated and I don’t have much trouble with the IRS. I’m one of their best customers. It went fine and I'm getting a refund. On the state side, the Louisiana e-filing website once again bowled me over. If you're a typical Louisiana resident filing a typical return for your household, you can go to Louisiana's website, file within a minute or two, and print out your return. You need not ever take pencil/pen to paper except maybe to verify. Very, very user-friendly. Aces to the person or persons responsible for it.

I offer one from the backyard on this rather warm CrabAppleLane Sunday.

Birthday present from Patsy - February 17, 2008

Quote of the Day

The powers that be at NASCAR have informed Ashley Judd, the movie star wife of Sprint Cup rookie Dario Franchitti, that she should not wear a dress at Sunday's Daytona 500.

Or any other races.

David Newton, ESPN.com

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "After trolling the garage area, it seems after about 10 laps in todays’ 50th running of the Daytona 500, that track conditions are going to deteriorate extremely quickly."

A few months after I started this blog, I had an idea that maybe some in my family would enjoy doing this. It was truly a half-baked idea. Most of them didn’t know what a blog was and I’m not very good at explaining what they are. Who is? To complicate matters, they were going to have to learn how to use the blogging software. Computer skills varied widely from one person to the next in the family. It should be said and stressed that computer skills are absolutely no barometer of intelligence. The ability to teach, however, is an excellent barometer of intelligence. That ability passed me by. I am lousy at it. They overcame those obstacles and turned that half-baked idea into a spectacular success. To make a great family blog, start with a great family.

Dad was an only child. All of my first cousins are on Mom’s side of the family. Her parents, my grandparents, Robert and Cora Tompkins, both deceased, married and had four children. Uncle Mark (Deceased), the oldest, married Aunt Pat and had four children. Uncle Pat (Deceased), the second child, married Aunt Mary Ann and had nine children. Aunt Catherine, the third child, married Uncle Dick and had nine children. My mom was the youngest of the four. She married Dad (Deceased) and had eight children. I’m the oldest of those eight. Mom and about half of the 30 cousins are regular contributors to the family blog.

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: “A year ago today, I made this rather inauspicious entry here. What has been posted here since has been nothing short of extraordinary."

We had a lovely viewing for Dad last night. There was a surprisingly large number of people there and that was quite wonderful. Not so wonderful was that I didn’t get to see all of them and I wish I would have had more time with some.

Preliminary autopsy findings point to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. We were instructed not to touch the body or the casket during the viewing. I suppose that’s because brain tissue had been removed and there was a possibility of residue. This is an easy disease to hate.

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: “I think I need to go find out where Snow White and the other six dwarfs are. I have this one covered."

Dad passed away this morning at about 6:30AM.

A page is about to turn and a new chapter will start in our family album. The beginning will be tough but we’re tougher. We’ll get through this.

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: “And if anyone from Texas, Louisiana or California (i.e. the most likely suspects) mentions wearing shorts and hanging out at the beach, you will go directly into my blacklist."

I love his plugin. Maybe he can forgive me for wearing shorts right now. -Rob

The Saints won a game yesterday. The only good thing I can say about their performance is they didn’t lose the game. Not impressed.

The family is awesome.

A spinal tap was performed on my dad Saturday and has come back clear. There are still a few tests to run but they don’t expect to find anything. They are now fairly convinced it was a drug reaction. He’s been taking a whole bunch of medication. He’s undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. One the family is focusing on is Xanex. He was complaining that it was making him dizzy and Mom said he was confused sometimes. The doctor told him to stop taking it. He did. Two days later, he’s in the hospital. We think it might be withdrawals.

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: “I'm blessed with the fact that today is going to be a perfect fall day. Not even sure if I can say that since it's suppose to be in the high 60's and that doesn't quite feel like Spring."

Spent the night in the hospital with Dad last night. He’s having a tough time. Tried to read more of a book that I had quit a few months ago while I was there. It’s a chapter to chapter book. Read a chapter, take a break, repeat. More on Dad here. Patsy’s there now with Mom.

I have nothing left. I'm off to take in the back of my eyelids.

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: “Somewhat random links that are funnier when at work."