BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?

Subject: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 12:33 PM

Yesterday I received my "Golden Buckeye" card from the Ohio Department of Aging. I had no idea we had such a department but.......Anyway, I was a bit depressed.....okay, a lot depressed. Then I thought how happy I was to be aging and recalled the importance of the date in my life. It was another step towards a tighter community here at the 'Cat as well. Do you remember?

On April 28, 1999, I had a dissecting aortic aneurysm running from the aortic arch to the femoral arteries. Its the same thing that killed John Ritter and its pretty high up the morbidity ladder. The difference between John Ritter and myself amounted to about an inch as mine extended into the aortic arch but not into the heart. There is no real repair for this short of replacing the aorta which is far more dodgy than heart replacement with all kinds of ways for it to go wrong fast. Ten years later my ripped aorta and I are still here which put a different perspective on the Golden Buckeye status.

That was also a turning point of sorts for Mudcat. The membership was slowly growing. We were all talking back and forth but it was still early in our development and some of the threads then were pretty humorous as old folkies learned what you did (or weren't supposed to do) on the internet. The bonding and friendships that mark us as different were forming. When I went to the hospital, Mudcat went from being a group to being a true community. Believe me, I had nothing to do with it. I was just the one in the barrel.

What happened next was remarkable. I had well wishers galore. Mudcatters were completely stunned at their own reactions to the troubles of someone they had never met. Folks drew together and began relating as though this cyber world was a real one......and indeed it was, and is. By the time it was all over a month later and I returned, I was amazed at how the place had changed. The openness, the camaraderie, the banter, the true neighborly feelings had grown far beyond where things had been only a few short weeks before. We leapt forward that day and, for good or bad, the place has never been the same.

And if you don't believe it still can be that way, just read about Severn's accident
a few weeks back or the search for Ezra. I'm awful happy to be here on many different levels.

I hope you are too............


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 12:57 PM

I too am happy with the Mudcat and its people. And I'm happy that you are here, Spaw.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: mouldy
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 01:13 PM

Good Lord! has it actually been that long? Doesn't time fly when you are enjoying yourself!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 01:20 PM

Dang it Spawdarlin'...I did not need tears today, BUT they are joyful. I remember it so well, We were so frightened for you. It really did change this place. I think it took that young'un, Max, completely by surprise...what had he wrought and what it was becoming because of all of us. I am most grateful that YOU and your aorta are still here and also for all of the support, love, and care I have received through my own AFGO*

Long live the Mudcat and all its denizens!

luvyakat


*Another Fecking Growth Opportunity

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 01:22 PM

:~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: gnu
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 01:48 PM

Indeed, kat... sniff. Me too.

Thanks Spaw.

Thanks everyone.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Wesley S
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 01:54 PM

Well my son Brendan turned 8 last December. I was touched by the outpouring of emotions my wife and I received from the Mudcat members when Brendan and his brother Patrick were born. Brendan is dealing with autism - but he's a healthy growing boy. He must be - he runs us all ragged.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Amos
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 02:05 PM

I thought the Golden Buckeye was what Ohioan gays dreamed about, but, hey, what do I know?


Anyway, congratulations on coming so far, from having gone so near...



A

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Wesley S
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 02:13 PM

It wouldn't be the same Mudcat without you Spaw. And none of us care that since the operation you havn't been able to get it up anymore. We love you anyway.....

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 03:38 PM

Being a relative newbie to the 'Cat - I think I first came across it in 2003 - all I can say is that it changed my life and gave me friends in so many parts of the world.

Spaw's right - this really is one hell of a community. There are so many good people keeping others in their thoughts during the hard times, and Kendall and I have been through a few of those in the last few years, and joining in the happiness during the good times, which have come along as well.

Long may it continue (and you Spaw!).

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 03:39 PM

Don't know what to say except I am glad you are still here. And just to show off, here's a picture of a heart. Wanted to be really clever and subtitute the parts for Mudcatter's names. But I didn't know who.

 
            |  \ \ | |/ /
            |  |\ `' ' /
            |  ;'aorta \      / , pulmonary
            | ;    _,   |    / / ,  arteries
   superior | |   (  `-.;_,-' '-' , vena cava
            | `,   `-._       _,-'_
            |,-`.    `.)    ,<_,-'_, pulmonary
           ,'    `.   /   ,'  `;-' _,  veins
          ;        `./   /`,    \-'
          | right   /   |  ;\   |\
          | atrium ;_,._|_,  `, ' \
          |        \    \ `       `,
          `      __ `    \   left  ;,
           \   ,'  `      \,  ventricle
            \_(            ;,      ;;
            |  \           `;,     ;;
   inferior |  |`.          `;;,   ;' vena cava 
            |  |  `-.        ;;;;,;'
            |  |    |`-.._  ,;;;;;'
            |  |    |   | ``';;;'  
                    aorta 

You can print it out and colour it.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: MMario
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:00 PM

'spaw's various episodes; Rick fielding, births, deaths, meetings, matings...
a lot has happenned in the last 10 plus years.

A biggie for me was getting news FASTER from Mudcat then from other sources on 9/11; and the world-wide concern that was hugely evident as we waited for NYC 'catters to check in.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:35 PM

Yes, that was incredible, wasn't it, MMario? I remember those of us who were at home, watching it live on tv, relaying our horror and disbelief to those in offices who were posting wondering exactly what was happening. Columbine was a bit surreal that way, too. We have marked major events in our lives and world through this new medium, in our own ways, and, I believe are the better for it even though I would not wish for any of those things to have happened.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:37 PM

Damn....911......That was a huge one Mario. And Rick. The first get togethers at annamil's......the fight over the Armalite thread and the recovery from it with the advent of Leej's Mudcat Taverns..........all which served to stepup the community.

And Wes, I know you probably hate to relive this in a way and I apologize.......but that period had a huge effect on many of us and the 'Cat as well. Though I know we couldn't feel what you guys did, we traversed the emotional peaks and valleys together as a community and I know a lot of us remember the painful juxtaposition of joy and sorrow........It could have been happening next door or down the street.........but indeed, it was. Thank you for letting us in.

What a place...............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: gnu
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:55 PM

What a place indeed.... death, joy, sadness, humour... and on...

And, not to take away from this thread, all allowed by Max, who made only two rules that I know of.... free speach... be nice. That young pup taught a lot of peeps a good lesson, even when it was hard. And there were some hard times.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:57 PM

Ah, yes. Ye olde Golden Buckeye card. I remember when they first started issuing those (really!).

Now I've got a Golden Eagle passport.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 05:20 PM

There were interesting threads, some wild debates on music (see http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2514) and 'characters' about even in mid-'97, but yeah, when Pat went to the hospital, something happened to the 'feel' of the place. Maybe it was the awareness that all those names were real people, and that we were interested in them, as well as musical opinions.

When "messages since last visit" and "Private Messages" was added, it added a whole new level to the place. 'Spaw just gets an *, as he says, for being "the one in the barrel" when a lot of the coalescing from 'space debris' to 'solar system' was occurring.
(hey, I'm too tired to think of a cuter metaphor right now...ok?)

Anyway, one the highlights of my time here was getting to actually meet Pat & family for a couple of hours a couple years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 07:28 PM

One of mine too Bill!

I didn't mean to imply that the place was dead before any of these things but the "feeling," as Bill rightly put it, changed. Almost all of the events that changed/matured/whatever this place were just accidents in a way that allowed us to move together. I think only annamil's gathering was scheduled and nobody knew how that would come out. The other fun thing that changed the place was the advent of Mudcat Radio and that hit a high note after Allen and Bill Sables countrywide Mudcat "loop." Like many others, I miss Mudcat Radio.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Janie
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 07:46 PM

Like Jacqui, I wasn't around then. I didn't come to the 'Cat until immediately after my 1st Getaway in 2001. I was also pretty new to the internet, and Mudcat was the first on-line forum or community that I visited or posted to, and remains the only one that I come to regularly or feel apart of.

This awesome community was already here, caring, daring, welcoming - in short - real.

'Spaw, I'm grateful to you for starting this thread. Your post, and subsequent posts from others sharing the evolution of this place from simply a not truly "real" cyberplace" to a true community enriches my understanding and appreciation of Mudcat.

(And boy, was I scared of you at first:>)

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 10:46 PM

Funny - after reading this, I was walking from my office at the U of A (Life Sciences South building) and saw a flyer posted: "Careers in Aging". Can we get paid for this??

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Amos
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 05:18 AM

If we could get paid for showing style in aging, the 'Cats would be rolling in dough.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 05:47 AM

I didn't know you then , Spaw, but I'm glad you got through it so that I can enjoy your company on the 'Cat now.

Best wishes, Bryn

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 06:21 AM

I refuse to believe it's been that long... I just can't do it.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: bubblyrat
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 06:50 AM

So what's a Golden Buckeye then,for the benefit of non-American- speaking people ?? In the British Navy,we had a Golden Rivet,but that DEFINITELY required one to be "The one in the Barrel " !!No need for elaboration,I'm sure !
                         Seriously,Catspaw,congratulations on surviving the dreaded DAA----my dear Dad died of one in 1987,thinking that he had really bad indigestion--it was all over in minutes .He was only 63---I have recently had tests myself,but had the "All Clear" luckily.
            All the best,
                   Roger (b.1947)

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 08:28 AM

State nicknames.... New Jersey is the Garden state, Florida is the Sunshine State, Missouri is the Show Me state. Ohio is the Buckeye State, etc. Tennesee is the Volunteer State. Says so on the car license plates. So do they dip volunteers in gold?

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 09:15 AM

You mean that people who posts on Mudcat are real?

:o)


Thanks for starting this thread, Spaw. And thanks to you and you all who make Mudcat a real community.

I'm glad to be a member of this community where people throughout the world can meet and share musical & non-musical information and opinions and (as spaw wrote) where people also share "camaraderie, banter, and true neighborly feelings".

Best wishes,

Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 10:00 AM

Bubblyrat......cool name btw........That's how the DAA's go and I'm sorry about your Dad. Glad you had yourself tested as well as I see you're coming to the same age. I just got lucky. The only time in my life I was glad to say something was an inch too short!

This wasn't meant to be a history lesson but like so many threads it drifts away and back or away and away or.......

You'd think though that after all these years and 25,000 posts I'd remember to explain things to a world community. Ohio, where I live, is The Buckeye State known that way for the state tree, the Buckeye. I have no idea why they chose the Buckeye.......The wood is pretty mediocre and the nut is inedible. They do grow here but no more abundantly than in neighboring states so.......Anyway, that's it. The GB card is a discount card issued to "Senior Citizens" for discounts on all sorts of stuff from prescriptions to fast food. All of a sudden I moved to a new demographic!!!

And again, I'm thankful all of you are here and enjoy the place as I do...............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Wesley S
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 10:36 AM

Like Janie this was the first online community that I became a member of. I'll guess that's true about a lot of us here. We came because we loved the music and stayed because we loved the people. With a few exceptions I can think of......

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 11:46 AM

Thanks for not croaking, asshole.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 11:50 AM

LMAO!

And, I thought the Buckeye was a fish, truly, I did! Well, who would name a tree a "buckeye?" What's that supposed to mean? Does it have knots that look like the eyes of a deer in the headlights or sumthin?!

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 12:16 PM

LMAO......geeziz kat......a fish? Okay........

Here's more info than you'll ever care about and the nut looks like a "buck's eye". Do note the leaf clusters.

The OSU football team (The Buckeyes or just Bucks) get little buckeye stickers for great play that they put on their helmets. The more great plays or extra effort, the more buckeye stickers. By season end the good players have their helmets covered. The sticker is a buckeye leaf cluster but does that look more like something else to you?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 12:30 PM

Hey! Well, at least I figgered out the buck eye resemblance, yeah?**bg** So, another English version of an NDN word..I can accept that. Those decals, though...one, giving stickers to grown men...that's just funny and fun and two, oh boy do they look like Mary Jane or what?! Too funny!!

Oh and I loved this (my emphasis): The buckeye nut is bitter and, if eaten in quantity, is poisonous to man. The poisonous quality apparently does
not affect squirrels, which will eat the nuts in the absence of
more desirable food. You'd better keep those squirrels well-fed, Spaw!

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 01:13 PM

Buckeye BURL is highly coveted by woodturners, even though it is soft and hard to control. I have seen some drop-dead gorgeous things done from it. Google "buckeye burl" to see more. (A lot of it comes from California now.)

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 01:38 PM

I haven't been around for 10 years, but I kinda blinked when I looked and found that it's coming up 5 years now. I stumbled in looking for the words to a stupid song, and then started poking around. It was my first exposure to online discussion; I lucked out in that I immediately found indications of how thoughtful, caring, funny, and entertainingly weird a bunch of the regulars here are. I guess the weird part made me feel at home : )
                      Dean

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Morticia
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 01:43 PM

I am wondering just how much time I have spent here in all these years? A significant chunk of my life, for sure. I could have written a symphony or a best selling novel in that time if I hadn't been held back by you lot!

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 01:55 PM

Ten years, eh? I do remember it well.   I did not know I could cry over a computer keyboard about someone I never met who lives in Ohio, and that's what happened. I have learned a great deal about myself and how I work within a community that I have been able to take back to the face-to-face world. I do miss the "old" mudcat in some ways. It was a much smaller space. It was also a place where I could help others who needed information about some aspect of folk music. Now, I find I have less information to offer, because the answer is already stored away on some thread somewhere. I've done some unusual (for me) things, because of the Mudcat. I travelled to New Hampshire to Barry Finn's house for a singing gathering. I had met not a soul, but because of the Mudcat, I felt I knew many people and I felt I could "trust" them. Then I went to Annamil's, again not having ever met a soul and the result was just as positive. Finally, I went to a Getaway. A stranger named Dick greeted me by name as I walked in the door, because he was waiting for me to show. How special is that? Again I had ventured in to a territory where all I knew were names and personalities. FSGW and its network has become an important part of my life. I am not on any other sites like Mudcat, so I can't compare, but I know without a doubt it is a special place. Max has managed it with a very light hand and it has not fallen apart. I's looking forward to the upcoming changes Max has talked about. How far can a group carry on this friendly anarchy?

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: gnu
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 03:38 PM

The Buckeye... yes the nuts do look like buck eyes. However, when I opened Spaw's link, MY eyes came to the Yellow Buckeye seed pods first and I nearly busted a gut laughing. They might actually be yellow but they appear a yellow green to me. And, green is what a deer's eyes look like when a jacker shines a light on a deer at night.

Deer jacking is shooting them at night with the aid of a light... highly illegal.

Of course, as Kendall will tell you, ya can't jack deer in Maine because the deer in Maine close one eye when ya shine a light on em.

Of course, as far as shootin deer betwixt the lookers goes, that's fer them fellahs from Maine. The deer here in New Brunswick also close one eye when ya shine em up, but New Brunswickers is such good shots, well... you know.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 04:32 PM

I support my right to arm bucks.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 01 May 09 - 05:50 AM

"Use it as an amulet and make vast claims for its ability
to cure rheumatism and a wide variety of other ailments."

Is this true?

Would someone please send me some buckeyes? I will make me bracelets for my hands and wrists, anklets for my feet and ankles and girdle (medieval type) for my hips.

Nothing else has worked so far.

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 May 09 - 12:02 PM

A buckeye in full leaf

Subject: RE: BS: Dept.of Aging-Has It BeenTen Years?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 02 May 09 - 02:12 AM

I never doubted for a minute you would pull through that episode, Spaw. I had a real sense that we would be trading insults and grins for years afterwards. And I was right. We got on here about the same time, and what a long, strange trip it's been since then. It has really changed the way I view music, the internet, and has brought me close in spirit to people who couldn't be farther away in the flesh. We who are still around after a decade have seen em come and go, but in a real sense, this joint never really changes. Occasionally, an old thread pops up, and I see comments by Rick, or LR Mole, and I realize that in a very real sense we all become part of this place for as long as this place exists.

So here's to ol Max and this little fully-realized oasis he created in cyberspace!
Like it says on the door to the Neil Young Center..."Long May You Run!" And so may we all!