Es and I were heading up to Fresno to spend a week just maxin' and relaxin' with friends.
The trip started well.
Sunday night Old Tom II and I roared up to Es' condo in my 2006 LA FORZA and she piled in with a basket of treats for the road. We were having a fun time until I got a call on my 4G from my old friend Laurent just outside San Luis Obispo. It turned out my arch-nemesis, Snakes McGraw, was in bad shape. Turns out he had cancer of the pooper really bad (prostate cancer as those of us in the medical community call it).
I haven't seen Snakes McGraw in probably about 10 years and we've never exchanged more than glares and mean words to each other as long as we've been acquaintances (since about '78). He's a grizzled old US Army vet with a mean streak to beat the dickens.
Annnywho, according to Laurent, Snakes McGraw has been living in Bakersfield. I thought about it long and hard but Es talked me into it and we cut across to Wasco and then took the 99 south to Bakersfield. We roared up to Kern Medical Center in my 2006 LA FORZA. I had Es park while I grabbed Old Tom II and raced into the oncology wing. Staff waved me away, informing me visiting hours were over but I told the charge nurse I was an old country doc so she said it was okay and waved me through.
Gang, I was there as Snakes McGraw passed on, holding his hand. Gang, as much as Snakes McGraw and I have jawboned and gone tete-a-tete over the years, I've known him longer than just about anyone. It made me realize how short life is and how much we need to cherish each other gang.
IN MY CAPACITY AS HAPPINESS OMBUDSMAN, I am declaring this week UN-FOE WEEK ON CONQUER CLUB.
Find someone in your FOE list and UN-FOE them and then FRIEND them. A FOE is just a FRIEND you don't know well enough. Report whom you un-foed and friended here so we can celebrate as a community. Gang, this is a major initiative for me so I want everyone to really get behind it. Let's make this happen for ol' Snakes McGraw, gang.
Respectfully,
Saxitoxin
Unofficial CC Happiness Ombudsman 
