Dr. Larry Pittman Goddard Blog

I woke this morning early angry at myself for the inability to sleep late.  Outside it was rainy—just enough to be a mess—and probably freezing.  Immediate thoughts went to my grandparents who had a dairy about 60 miles from my childhood home.  Those of you who know dairy folks understand their lives are not easy but dedicated.  I thought of my gra ndparents this early Christmas morning—they would milk their cows, pack their car, and drive the hour to our home on Christmas mornings and arrive long before we woke for Santa.  They loved Christmas, especially Granddad, who was as excited as we were about “Santy Claus” coming.  He was loud when he laughed and clapped at a good joke.  In the late afternoon of Christmas day, the melancholy of their leaving was heavy—even though they had left presents galore in pretty paper along with fresh eggs, milk, cream, preserves and home canned garden vegetables which made all year a bountiful plenty. They both died twenty years ago this

Summary of a trip to Morocco. Dates, names, facts all changed. Perhaps one of the last pleasure trips to that country. The "Funky Fido Butt Smell" of the Medina (Bazaar Bizarro World...) is still with me!  Saadia Haider  Raf....(Ralph) and children T and Z...my wonderful one friends--can you believe it has been SIX years? Morocco Trip Friday, 1 December 2006 Getting to Morocco Leaving DFW Airport during an ice storm involved begging and pleading; cancelled flights; de-icing the plane twice and finally getting a flight to Atlanta; then to New York and an overnight flight to Casablanca: All a long but adventuresome journey. Got booted to first class since the many changes to the original schedule…free drinks…sat with a mega wealthy mega drunk Brit who cussed like no one I had every heard....it was the filthiest conversation but because of his accent it seemed quite proper.... He told me that the Brits drown all the children who have good teeth.....Raucous flight conversa

And, so this happened.  About a month ago, a friend gave me a birthday present--one of those 23andMe Ancestry DNA kits.   It was a hectic time, so I just glanced at the instructions while not wearing my cheater readers....I was shocked and appalled...never in my life had I thought THAT was the specimen....figured it was just a Q tip and I'd rub inside of my mouth....so it went to the bottom of the 'to do' stack.. The other day, now that things have calmed down....I picked up my cheater readers and re-read the instructions which said to "SPIT" in the glass tube.  Not the other 'S' word I thought I had sworn to have read with my nekkid eyes. So, I started SPITTING in the test tube and it took about an hour...have you ever tried to spit so much....seemed like a quart....my mouth was so dry I was spitting cotton...(old saying by an old man).... Then I mailed the ginormous bottle of SPIT off to the lab and am awaiting my DNA results. It'