This is great advice.
My perspective on this stuff was shaped by reading Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz right after I got Rupert.
She wrote about what a money and despair pit these medical interventions can be, which helped me form a sort of mental advanced directive.
Here’s your #Pittsburgh draft day #3Things2Know on this April 23rd, 2026. #KDKA #to #PAwx
feelings on the Draft aside, it’s always great to be reminded of what a stunning city we have
had a fun afternoon unboxing donations of 📚 for the library sale. i was in charge of the kids’ section, & there’s a really good selection this year! i got some good stuff for the smols, & i might be able to grab whatever is left over after the sale to make a pop-up free kids’ 📕 box for the residents
yeahhh, it’s a terrible stench and also can make your eyes really irritated!
a colorful sunset sky through both high and low trees that are still empty of leaves enough to see their dark silhouettes. the upper sky is a dusky blue at this time.
good sunset last night, but forgot to post
it’s a southwest wind, too, so it should be a great night for that! (ESE or E winds bring in the Clairton Coke Works stench, and it literally wakes me from a dead sleep to rush to shut my window)
a close up of all the brown blossoms on the rainier cherry tree that won’t become cherries due to a few freezes.
a shot of how large the rainier cherry tree is—it’s very tall and very wide, i can actually climb it—and literally every branch is covering the damaged blossoms. we would have had thousands of cherries this year. :/
so i learned that pome trees like apple & pear, often produce every other year when they’re older trees, & even tho the frosts didn’t get them, this seems to be their “off” year. The rainier cherry was FULL of blossoms about to open, but the freeze got them, so it’ll be a “berry year” only, probs
i ❤️ her so much, & am just so glad she got through that frigid winter well. i hope her babies this litter learn to avoid the (very sweet, but slightly territorial) lab, Sophie. last year, we lost 1 to Sophie. might ask my neighbors if they’d be up for me giving Sophie a little bell for her collar
in the video she’s eating the lord lambournes that are a bit withered & rather sponge-y, but she eats 4 in a row! the store-bought apples usually get one bite & then she drops them with disinterest. but we _are_ running out of her faves, so i got organic apples this time to see if that helps
close to running out of 🍎s from last fall’s harvest stored in the downstairs fridge, so i went to Aldi to get a backup supply for her—but we’ll see if she eats them. mom bought gorgeous pink lady 🍎s for her, but our girl is an organic lord lambourne 🍎 snob & left the pink ladies for 2 days 😭
:/
nice
🧵
the happiest of birthdays to you!!
🎂 🎈 🎉
ok i admit that i really do love that we have a giant GE buggy to zoom around the city during events
i can’t stand them. i ❤️ed how quirky & bright the old ones were—so unique to PGH, too.
i know i don’t get a vote here as a newish pittsburgh resident but i’m saying it anyway: _everything_ being black & gold isn’t a “cool, interesting city!” thing b/c it gets boring at this level of saturation
she is a very good girl
i am constantly astonished at how good you got so quickly! amazing, amazing work, and i know you’ve put the hours in, but also just, WOW
everyone goes thru the “oh man, i can’t do the same things at 40 that i did at 35 w/o feeling it the next day”, but apparently, by the time you hit 70, you’ve had 30 years to have that be the norm so you just push thru it & it’s part of your day like having breakfast, so it doesn’t register? 😂
mom just texted from Lowe’s “Ok. you’re right. We’re here and we forgot to get out the tie-down ratchets and bring them, so we have to buy a set now, and they’re allll the way on the other end of the store and i’m already tired.”
i don’t want to be “right”! i just want them healthy and safe. 😩
oh my gosh! 😂 yes, and it’s so hard to not say anything that makes them feel i’m trying to decrease their autonomy! i just want them to consider allll the parts, which i know is a new behavior set to practice.
and they were getting ready to go to Lowe’s this morning “for some stuff” & when i probed, they were like, “oh just going to get all the lumber for the deck” & i was like, “uh, hold on there, cowboys, let’s chat” 😂 They always go vague when they don’t want me to come in & slow their momentum lol
(we’re building a small deck and adding more/less steep stairs to the big shed)
i am so grateful they want and can do way more than most 79 y/o’s, and always am happy to do the grunt work, tho! i just need a PLAN with all the pre-work bits considered, which they’re terrible at, lol
they think they can just decide to up & go get the stuff & start building! i walked my mom thru what it really looks like: me cleaning out the trailer, hauling tools up to the backyard, setting up shade structure, moving 100 lb planters, lifting wood out of the lawn-mower trailer & she was like “oh”
my parents are in a new stage of life which is “can still do a remarkable amount of stuff for their ages and health issues, but forget that pre-project stuff—hooking up trailer, buying & picking up lumber, work station set up, etc. has to be considered as energy-draining projects in & of themselves”
a small, tan older dog with giant sticking up ears and he’s wearing a worried expression as well as a blue bow tie with the name “Edgar Snyder” at the bottom. a local rescue named one of their new arrivals after pittsburgh’s most famous personal injury lawyer 😭
he does kind of look like him
I have no informed opinions on Wegman’s as i don’t think ive been to one, but Mt. Lebo may be getting one:
www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/n...
just signed up for this!
