Sam has been doing well since having the shunt put in but he’s having trouble getting through all his feeds without help. He hasn’t had a brady in days though. We’re trying to see if we might be able to (finally) bring him home, even if it’s with an NG (nasogastric) tube to supplement his feeds. I went to the hospital yesterday to learn how to “install” the tube. I do not know who came up with the idea of using the word “install” to describe threading a tube into an infant’s nose, through his throat and down into his stomach. It’s actually pretty simple, but I wouldn’t call it fun.

He has been in the hospital for 8 weeks. It feels like it’s been 8 months some days. He still needs to pass his car seat test though and it’s unlikely that we’ll get to bring him home before early to mid-next week. Still... maybe before Easter we’ll all be home. He’s doing very well, but just getting enough food is hard when you’re 5.5 lbs.

We got to give Bob the send-off he deserved today – complete with military honors and the flag going to his wife. When it was all over, I picked up the coins for the ‘32 set from him to try to update the pictures. I also have a copy of the full obit now. I’m going to use that to further refine the updates I’m planning for the set description. I’m hoping, soon, I’ll get put up the new descriptions with the new photos in one big update to it.

Since they were in the same box, I brought the Texas Commemoratives set back with me too – most of those don’t have images at all and it’s a great little set. If I’m remembering this right, Choya is a 5^th generation Texan through his father. That was the major motivation for him wanting to make that set. At some point, when life maybe gets just a little more settled, it could be fun to try to take that set and build it up and make something out of it from a family history perspective. If I’m right about him being 5^th generation maybe something could be done around the 5 generations and the 5 years of issuance of that half dollar...

In a different vein....

Some coins, as we all know, end up in bags or rolls in the backs of big vaults and they never see the light of day and never see circulation and they survive as uncirculated beauties for decades. That’s why we still have so many BU Morgan dollars floating around, 100-150 years after production.

Other coins… just don’t get that lucky…

I was walking down the street the other day with my son - very slowly making our way towards a local park – when I found this in a neighbor’s driveway.

Ouch…

2018…

Life is brutal and short for some unlucky coins.