My Journal

Let's Talk Food

2012-02-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

Let's talk food. Why because I've been eating a lot of it. I have Emphysema/ COPD, a large number of people do, it's a smoker's disease. Behind heart attack and stroke and cancer, it's the third largest killer in the world. I have been fortunate. I've been on the cutting edge of testament. Since moving two Oklahoma, my treatment has been even better. Doctors have had me in every three months, checking me, monitoring me, and trying new medications on me. I've been asked several times by the people who treat the lungs if I have forgotten to eat. I laugh. I asked my lung doctor to bring me back in six months instead of three.

In recent months I have had an off and on infection, a lingering inflammation that has been difficult to knock out or cure. In addition to a hefty dose of antibiotics, I am on a six week regimen of Prednisone. This is to make sure we rid the body of what has been dragging me down.

The Prednisone has a number of side effects. It can keep you awake and has. It can make you hungry and has. I stay awake at my computer and think about food. I have been eating us out of house and home. I was overweight, obese. Now I'm obese to the second power. I have put a way my scales. My intentions are to lose some of the weight when I get off this medication.

I went shopping this morning. I loaded up my walker and my portable oxygen into my bug. I had two destinations in mind. One a men's store, clothing ,etc. I 'm looking for shoes. Last night I looked at shoes online., Uggs and Sperry. And my wife had told me where a store was located that might have my size in a shoe I liked. I couldn't fine the first store but the second was several miles away and a breeze to locate. I wanted a Ugg but I didn't know all uggs had this wool lining. We're having a mild winter and in the spring and summer, they'd be hot.

I've been wearing a boat shoe, not a Sperry but a cheaper model. The right shoe has rubbed the end of my big toe raw and has also put a blister underneath the raw spot. The toe is so sensitive I can't stand socks, even the covers at night annoy me.The girl in the store asked if I needed help. I mumbled something like 'its's why I'm here but I don't think you can help me.

"Why not, she asked?
"I've got a size problem (most stores don't carry a size 13 or larger)."

She showed me Uggs, Sperry s and a couple of other brands. Dozens of manufacturers and distributors carry a Men's size 13. Most of them are too short for me and the reason I'm looking at these two brands is their advertisement on sizes and colors. I thought a 13 Ugg might fit but in a Sperry Boat Shoe I'd probably need a 14.

I started out a few weeks ago looking for a house shoe. That's what I wanted. A comfortable house shoe to wear around the house and maybe go out to fetch the paper. All the house shoes I've ever had were ill fitting and now days all I could find were house shoes that closely resembled lamp shades turned over on it's side, shoes that carried a name that reminded one of Cambodia or something. I couldn't find any house shoes. I settled on something casual I could use instead. That's why the Uggs and Sperry s, they're casual jobs.

I came home with a size 13 Sperry that looked pretty good, felt comfortable and My Toe didn't touch anything.The leather is soft an playable. The good woman I share the joint with had a fine salad and a bone-in ribeye steak, grilled outside on the charcoal cooker. I balanced it out with a chunk of soft cheese bread and washed it all down with a cherry Dr. Pepper. The steak was cooked medium with only a little salt and pepper for seasoning. We have been eating left overs and fruit for a week. If I had another steak to come home to, I'd go shopping again next week. I'd buy some fine driving gloves to heard that VW bug around with. I'm making do with a couple of golf gloves now. But next time, if there is one, I'd want a larger salad.

Some Scattered Thoughts ON Snooping

2012-02-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

There's an eye watching you. Google Homeland Security is Watching and you'll find any number of articles how homeland security monitors our activities. They hover like an unseen eye gathering intelligence about us, on Twitter, Facebook, and all other social media, you might say your telephone and computer are tapped. All in the name of national security.

Google 'homeland security watching' and several articles will jump out at you on some recent information that has become available.

Growing up and attending church regularly with my parents, the congregation where we worshiped sang an old song from time to time. There's An Eye Watching You. It goes something like this: All along on the road to the soul's true abode, there's a eye watching you. Every step that you take this great eye is awake, there's an eye watching you. At the time I first heard and sang that song I never fully appreciated being spied on by this all seeing eye. I could never see the joy or appreciate the protection of a God who must know everything.

The point I'm making is that I don't like Homeland Security snooping into my privacy any more than I liked that all seeing God of old watching my every move. I trust Homeland security much less than I trusted that God of love and wrath and vengeance back then, in my youth

President Bush started this snooping with the Patriot Act. President Obama campaigned against the notion but when elected changed his mind and kept all this Patriot Act stuff and recently added to it. I hold it against him. He may not get my vote. When he campaigned against a government that spies on its own people, he earned a measure of my trust on something important to me. In my opinion there is not a candidate running that is worthy of the Office. I have long held the opinion that there is not a nickels worth of difference between Republican and Democrats. Their rhetoric is different but their actions differ little. None of them have our interest in mind, they have their own interest to look after.

It doesn't matter. Our privacy is gone. Homeland security will do what the FBI has always done, collect and file away information on and about us. That's what they do. Like the scorpion of fable and lore who stings his benefactors, that's what they do and they will use what information they gather when they need to. I don't know it makes us any safer. I don't know we're any safer after 9-ll. I think we over-reacted and still are. Men not quite sure of themselves trying to look bold and forceful, more of a political statement than anything else. It's what politics is and what politicians do. There's an eye watching and monitoring us and I feel less secure, because of it.

Notes From My Memory

2012-02-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

I'm on my way to OKC again. I was there Tuesday when my wife had an appointment. We've been keeping the road hot between Norman and OKC. We use the back roads and take Sooner Road up north. It takes forty-five minutes to an hour depending on traffic, whereas if we went by Interstate it takes thirty to thirty five minutes. I don't drive up north on the Interstate so I need the extra time.

I resolved yesterday after a trip to the Mall never to go anywhere without my walker. I need somewhere to put my oxygen tank. I can no longer carry it a round, it's too heavy and it zones me out in just a few feet. My shortness of breath continues to worsen over time. I get in such a way sometime people think I need medical help when I'm out and about. It's a bit embarrassing. It's okay. It's the way it is.

I have noticed that my memory seems to be in decline and that I can get lost easily. I'm going to have to start staying home or have somebody go with me. Still all these ailments I've mentioned are in control and are are not a problem unless I 'm tired, upset or need more oxygen. I'm a grown man and hate to admit to all this. Butt it's happening before my eyes. It's called old age and if you've never been there, it's the pits and I hardily recommend it. It's bad but not as bad as the alternative.

Sill you wonder about yourself. Is it the forest or merely the trees, Alzheimer's or senseless old age.

Stay tuned

Dealing and Living On The Wild Side

2012-02-08T23:57:00.000-08:00

It's vague in my memory now. Back when it happened it was it was clear as mud. I criticized one of the boys for smoking a joint while he was on the job. He was selling papers on the street and he didn't appreciate my advise. One thing led to another, heated up a bit. I could have fired him and started to but he beat me to the punch. He stung me. Stung me bad.

"Why you coming down on me, why don't you jump Peewee? That's where I got it. Peewee sold it to me, the whole lid. You bitch on Peewee, not on me."

"Peewee don't do drugs," I said but I knew it sounded lame. I hadn't seen much of Peewee lately.

Peewee was my kid brother. I looked for him, tried to find him for a week. I got a tip the kid was hanging out in Stubs pool hall. I slipped in the alley entrance. There he was. Had him a shoebox and was shining shoes at two bits a throw. The kids a hustler, gotta give him that. I feared that's not all he was hustling. He had not been coming home at night and mom was giving me holy hell to find the kid and talk some sense into 'em.

I grabbed a cue stick from the rack and leaned against the wall, chalking the stick as I watched him work the shine rag. He was making it pop like the song on the jukebox, 'Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy.'

"Making any money?" I asked.
Peewee looked at me with a 'Huh oh', knowing look.

"A little," he said.

"I don't like the way you been spending your money."

He collected his quarter from the next on deck then asked, "You been talking to Sweat?"

"I know what I know. Let's go. We gotta talk. I ought bust your head." I grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged him out the back entrance. I turned him loose and thought he might run. He was opening his shoe box.

"Don't mess with me," he said, and he was pointing a nickel plated .22 caliber at me.

"Why you little." I heard the hammer cock and a loud noise.

I sat up in bed trying to figure out what was happening. I had knocked my iPod off the bedside table. I was covered in sweat and for a moment I thought, 'where is Peewee,' and then, Sweet Jesus, those dreams again, every night. Medication! Side effects! Sleepless nights, hunger, and wild dreams are doing me in, why they call it the sweet poison...

Take A Break... and Smile

2012-02-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

We can overdose on politics. We've dined on solid politics for a year or longer now and we still have many months to go before the campaigning finally stops. Our politics are filled with lies, half truths, innuendos, and sound bites, ready made for an unthinking electorate, to put words in his mouth, and fill his head with doubt.

These are deliberate. In other fields of endeavor, mistakes are sometimes made due to: too much work, too much to think about and are probably the reasons that lead to the following mistakes and bloopers which were assembled from medical charts! Some could make you smile.

The baby was delivered, the cord clamped and cut, and handed to the pediatrician, who breathed and cried immediately.
Exam of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until 1989 when she got a divorce.
The patient was in his usual state of good health until his airplane ran out of gas and crashed.
Rectal exam revealed a normal size thyroid. (Long fingers?)
Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.
The patient lives at home with his mother, father, and pet turtle, who is presently enrolled in day care three times a week.

Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
She is numb from her toes down.
The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as stockbroker instead.
When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room.
Examination reveals a well-developed male lying in bed with his family in no distress.
She can't get pregnant with her husband, so I will work her up.
Whilst in Casualty she was examined, X-rated and sent home.
The patient states there is a burning pain in his penis which goes to his feet.
On the second day the knee was better and on the third day it had completely disappeared.
The patient has been depressed ever since she began seeing me in 1983.
Patient was released to outpatient department without dressing.

I have suggested that he loosen his pants before standing, and then, when he stands with the help of his wife, they should fall to the floor.
The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
Discharge status: Alive but without permission.
The patient will need disposition, and therefore we will get Dr. Blank to dispose of him.
Healthy-appearing, decrepit 69 year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
The patient has no past history of suicides.
The patient expired on the floor uneventfully.
Patient has left his white blood cells at another hospital.
Patient was becoming more demented with urinary frequency.
The patient's past medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.

She slipped on the ice and apparently her legs went in separate directions in early December.
Patient has chest pains if she lies on her left side for over a year.
He had a left-toe amputation one month ago. He also had a left-knee amputation last year.
By the time he was admitted, his rapid heart had stopped, and he was feeling much better.
The patient is a 79-year-old widow who no longer lives with her husband.
The patient refused an autopsy.
Many years ago the patient had frostbite of the right shoe.
The bugs that grew out of her urine were cultured in the Casualty and are not available. I WILL FIND THEM!!!
The patient left the hospital feeling much better except for her original complaints.

Appreciation For A Good Breakfast

2012-02-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

I can remember growing up, watching and listening to my daddy, sitting around the dining table with some of his family, talking about how much he enjoyed food and eating. The entire clan was that way. Dad would say, " That was a fine, meal." And the family would talk of fine meals past as they ate. Just table conversation but the family enjoyed food and time together around the table.

I've never been that way. A meal was something you needed to get the job done, like fuel in the old tractor that pulled the old hay baler that kicked out fresh bales of alfalfa hay. Oh, I could tell the difference between a hamburger from Luke's Drive-in from the one at the lunch bar in the drugstore. I never had a great appreciation for food. I went half my life not eating breakfast and lunch was a hit and miss sort of thing. Dinner was the biggest and best meal and after a day's work I wolfed it down.

I guess I took after my mother's side of the family. The men in her family that I can remember all came to the table famished. They didn't talk much. They came to eat, and they ate fast. If you wanted a second helping at their table you'd better get with the program or it would be gone. I've always eaten fast, barely tasting some of the food, just filling the stomach in quick order.

Flash forward now to retirement when things slow down, even your metabolism. Along the way I have gained an appreciation for food, nay, an appreciation for the food I like. More foods taste good. Like the family of my youth, and now, my Italian connection, who still discuss past meals and the fine dinner they can expect tonight when they return home, I have developed an anticipation of the coming meal. I have discovered that foods are transitional and that most foods I like are starchy and transcends to sugar and sugar has consequences like a bulging stomach and perhaps other unwanted benefits.

I'm a simple person and eat simple meals. This morning it was two eggs, one thick sliced bacon, and two hot biscuits, properly buttered with home made wild plum jelly and a cup of coffee, simple fixings. I said to my wife, "That was a good meal. Your biscuits just set it off, make it a really fine breakfast.

She replied, "It was a good breakfast, I could eat breakfast every meal. I might want to substitute bacon for ham."

"Works for me, Mom, it works for me. After all, ham and eggs are one of God's great breakfast."

Yes sir, I have slowed down and for that effort, I have gained.

2012-02-04T08:23:00.000-08:00

I had a late lunch Friday

afternoon and thought I'd not need or want dinner, But last night in the vicinity of seven o'clock I found myself hungry. The pantry is getting low but we had some leftover cold chicken thighs in the frig and a half pack of baloney. The chicken sounded better. If I eat the chicken I can get by with one slice of bread, if I make a sandwich with the boloney, that calls for two pieces.

And that brings up another problem we have in this country. The bread problem. It's not as bad yet as the potato famine was in Ireland, in the 1850's, but the bread situation in some parts of this country has deteriorated to such an extent that one has to go far back in our history to find a comparison. Let me quickly explain.

Just a few short years ago all our fine bakeries in this country who rightly could call themselves by that name, baked bread at night and in the wee hours of the morning delivery trucks picked up this bread and delivered it to all our favorite stores. It was good, soft, fresh light bread.

If you don't know what light bread is, you're probably too young or spent most of your time north of the Mason-Dixon Line. It's a bakery baked loaf of white bread, sliced. It was lighter than most home baked breads of yesteryear, and most of it was delicious, and convenient, since much of America's families had less time to eat together, because we were running off to a world war. America took to sliced bread like a duck to water. You could slap a piece of processed sandwich meat between two slices, grab a soda, and you were off.

In spite of America's inclination and willingness to brag and boast on all things American, we never did manage to beat or even come close to equalling anything they did, bread wise, in Europe. We just didn't have the time, the know how, or the equipment.

One Italian who managed the family bakery in Potenza, Italy told me it was their four hundred year old ovens. Well, I don't believe that for a minute, but I couldn't argue with him because he had the proof in his grubby little hands, just pulled from one of those 400 year old brick ovens.

But let me get back to the chase. Friday night the only white bread I had in the house was a ten day old partial loaf of Wonder Bread and there is no telling how long it's been since Wonder turned out a good fresh loaf.

But Wonder is not alone. Wonder is not yet owned by Bimbo but they are limping along in bankruptcy.

The bread scene started changing a few years ago. I don't know if it was over wages or equipment or supermarkets running out of bread, or 'under new management' due to these sale outs, but about that time Bimbo Bakery started buying up many of the bakeries in this country, things started changing.

At the moment, the only makers of good bread are small regional bakers around the country. All I've got is a piece of a loaf that I've had for ten days and before that probably sat a week to ten days in the back end of some grocery store. Bread does not have the quality it had only a few years ago. I think distribution has something to do with it. Quality of manufacture seems to be another, but I'm guessing.

You can go on line to Bimbo Bakeries to see what they now own. They also own own many of the commercial bakeries in Europe. Bimbo should furnish the best bread anywhere. After all, they're the largest in the world and therefore, the experts. I can't nail down the problem. All I know I used to buy good breads off grocers shelves, anywhere. It is now rarity.

I'm not particular about many things I eat. When I have steak I want a good thick one. If I use butter, I want a good tasting creamery butter, the real McCoy. I drink whole milk. I don't want a two percent or a half percent, or a skim milk, I want the whole enchilada. But my pet peeve is bread. Take a sandwich. Good bread can make up for bad ingredients, like less than tasty lunch meat, but the best of ingredients, regardless of what they are, can not compensate for tasteless, stale bread that comes off our grocers shelves today.

Do you remember Dagwood and Blonde? Dagwood invented the Dagwood Sandwich. It could have never happened in today's world.

Writing Notes To Myself

2012-02-02T06:16:00.001-08:00

I may be complaining about nothing. It may not be some phenomenon that has invaded our premises like black mold. I have not been sleeping well, getting by on four hours a night of fitful sleep. During that four hours of restful bliss I am dreaming of working in some stressful environment that leaves me drugged out when I do finally awake and realize that I don't know if I won that perpetual sales contest or if a pink slip is soon to follow. I mean I might have been retired so long from work that I have forgotten what work I did except for those dreams.

And that's another curiosity, dreaming. I went for forty years and didn't dream or if I did, never recalled them and now every night I'm in a situation best forgotten, that is to say, the worst, tense moments of life come streaming through my shrinking brain like a movie. I'm tired of it. If that's going to happen I want to see some Mickey Spillane or some Mike Hammer or be on an airplane that's not going to crash, or surely that's not me in that small boat without a motor and no paddles, on a swift river, and I can hear the roar of that vast waterfall and panic ensues…well you get the idea. This is not restful. Thank goodness it happens only in those last moments of Rem sleep or I would be dog-tired all day.

It just occurred to me I have absolutely no idea where I am going with this nonsense. This is not some stream of consciousness narrative or some flowing thoughts in a conscious mind where resolution is around the corner. There is no corner, no turning off, you're stuck, trapped in a dark sultry word arcade that has no meaning. I'm going to get a cup of coffee. You have a good day.

What Do You Say After You Say Hello...

2012-02-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

I have for several days been feeling poorly. I haven't been sleeping well. I continue to get up early but I have some difficulty getting to sleep at night. During the day I have been light headed and dizzy. My pulse rate has been dragging down in the forties. It's been a pain in the behind. And my wife has been having health problems. There seems to be a general degeneration, not only in this household, but in the whole of the country. Maybe nobody else notice it. Maybe I'm a little depressed. This republican primary is enough to cause depression. Maybe I take it too seriously. I seem to be the only one it bothers.

Then to show that misery loves company, I've made a series of guff s, which are too embarrassing to discuss here, having mainly to do with my rudeness to people who don't need it. I saw where a man and woman living in a nearby town were apparently having some problems. She had Alzheimer's and he, I guess her only care giver, shot and killed her and then killed himself. I can understand that. When you do all you can do, then what's left. Where do you turn for a sympathetic ear? There is none. Everybody's got problems.

I can remember talking with my mother, who had Alzheimer's, although I wasn't too aware of it at the time, and to show my gross ignorance, knew very little about the disease, I talked to her about her medicine and what it was for. She seem to be taking an awful lot of it or so it seemed to me. I remember thinking at the time, thank God I didn't say it, but I thought she'd probably be better off if we threw all this medicine away, she might even get better.

I look at myself now today, tonight.and thank back on those crass thoughts knowing that just today my wife went to Walmart and among the several things she bought was a double decked pill box for me. My little plastic weekly holder broke. I take more medicine than my mother ever did. I take so much medicine I really need it choreographed. Sometimes our words or thoughts come back to haunt us. How calloused we sometime get in our ignorance.

I'm staring at the online edition of USA Today and on the front page is a jogger running on a path below the Washington Monument with this brief headline: "Mild Winter delights, depresses… Maybe that's what it's all about. If we had some great snowstorm maybe the country and the disposition of it's citizenry, would vastly improve... Say good night Sweetheart.

A Thirst For War

2012-01-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

There has been, for the last few weeks and continues, an awful lot of rhetoric being generated about Iran, reminiscent of our pre-Iraq adventure. I wouldn't be surprised if Iran does not soon corner us in another Gulf of Tonkin type attack, giving an honorable excuse to take out their nuclear facilities. I expect common folk around the world are already making book on some kind of action in the near future. I've already read some comments indicating they are. The President has on a couple of occasions, said Iran couldn't have nuclear weapons. I trust all this is being correlated with Israel and France and Germany and our friends in England. And I suspect that Russia and China have and continue making their own observations as this nation, through rhetoric and threat, continues to prepare its people for the possibility of some attack from Iran or our need to defend both ourselves and Israel. The nature of the beast is such that he seems to feed and thirst on war.

When we leave a Theater of War, as in Korea, where we gave the South Korean Army all the equipment our Congress allocated, then dug football field sized holes for each regiment and buried the rest of their equipment, all across Korea, from small arms to tanks. Of course we didn't have a chance to do that in Viet Nam. We were thrown out there. No doubt it's cheaper to leave equipment than bring it home. I don't know about the replacement costs.

All of which brings to mind, have we had a chance to replace all the equipment we carted off to Iraq? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a partner or two we could turn to and say, "It's your turn, go get those Nuclear Bunkers." But I guess that's what being a superpower is all about. I'll continue watching our Iran buildup and monitoring
the international stage. Here in the U.S. we can read about it from coast to coast. Are the war drums again beginning to beat? I hope not. Time will tell.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-clapper-threat-assessment-testimony-20120131,0,3951748.story

Does Anyone Remember Joe

2012-01-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

Joe the Plumber was a big deal back in 2008. He wasn't a plumber but he knew how to use duck tape. Joe was in Moore, Oklahoma pouring tea for the Tea Party last night. I understand he is running for Congress from the Special 9th District in Ohio.

Had I known he was going to be in Moore I could have driven the six or eight miles and heard him speak instead of staying in and watching TV. Maybe that's similar to drinking a glass of tomato juice and only later finding out later you could have had a V-8. But then I always figured if I had to go the V-8 route, I might as well go ahead and have a Bloody Mary. Remember those commercials? Well, anyway, I know you will be, as I was, sorry we missed hearing a possible future congressman speak. It reminds me when I was a kid selling newspapers on the corner of Eighth and Scott in Wichita Falls and wishing something would happen so I could shout out, "Extra! Extra! Read All About It." You can do that here, read all about it.

http://normantranscript.com/new/x370173664/Joe-the-Plumber-serves-Tea-Party-in-Moore

Today's Quote

2012-01-27T10:54:00.000-08:00

A warrior from the King's Brigade

"I like being lazy."

Martino Sggob
December, 2011

A warrior in the service of his Majesty.

Have Brain, Will Travel.

FYI

2012-01-27T06:19:00.000-08:00

Here's more on Google Tracking from Linda Thomas' blog, "The News Chick," a reporter with channel 5 out of Seattle, whom I read on a regular basis: 

http://mynorthwest.com/646/616587/Google-will-soon-own-even-more-of-you

2012-01-25T17:52:00.000-08:00

Fidel is not going to make any points in Florida but I kind of like what he said:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/01/fidel-castro-calls-gop-race-greatest-competition-idiocy/47862/

Google's New Tracking Policy

2012-01-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

So what do we think of Google's new privacy and tracking policy? You can't opt out. I could close my G-mail (delete it) account which would automatically delete my blog.spot blog here. Has anybody investigated this WordPress blog thing? All this mixing and matching with Google goes into effect March 1, although Google has tracked me as far back as I can remember (Note the products you look at that show up everywhere you go).

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/national-international/article/Google-expands-tracking-users-not-able-to-opt-out-2684296.php

2012-01-18T12:48:00.000-08:00

Here's the skinny. I have a new problem. I think the drier has shrunk my britches and the washer has eaten a couple of my socks. The socks are not the problem. The problem is the britches. I'm already in a size I don't want to be in and now these are getting too small. It's got to be the drier. I am no longer using the scales. In fact I may donate them to the Salvation Army for their resell shop. They can embarrass and weigh heavy on the mind of someone else.

Today's Quote

2012-01-17T20:43:00.000-08:00

Do you pray for the senators, Dr.Hale?'
"No, I look at the senators and pray for the country!"

Edward Everett Hale 1822-1909

Still appropriate today.

Ain't We A Pair

2012-01-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

The blind leading the blind.

Okay we go in the 19th, you for brain scan and me for blood work. I forget why I'm getting blood work. You don't remember either. That's the pits. We're driving into Oklahoma City and we ought to know why we're going. Of course we know why you're going. A brain scan.

I don't know what to call these things you're having. We, you and I have used different terms. You always say you fainted. On the other hand when you had one while Denise was here she called it a seizure. I've said you passed out. What we don't know is if it is related to diabetes or low blood sugar out of balance or something on the brain triggering these things.

Anyway, they last two to three minutes. Your eyes take on an unseeing stare. Sometime you're clammy about the face and neck, sometime you tell me you feel a chill before going into one of these. You nearly always call me. I don't know what you said this last time. All I know is it scares the hell out of me. You always look 'recently departed.'
Maybe we'll find out something but I have doubts. You've always been hard to diagnose.

I have been having some low spells. My breathing has been bothersome but now it is better. I have been diagnosing myself. And that's always a misguided practice. Well, I have been looking at the four stages of COPD. I have severe COPD but I also have some symptoms of very severe COPD. I am going in next week for another Pulmonary Function Test. I don't expect to learn anything new.

I had one last September. I hope this one will be as good as that last one. I am not yet house bound but it is damn hard to get out and do anything. I got a haircut this morning. I just have to do things more or less in slow motion… t a k e.my.t i m e. Living with COPD is the pits, but it's better than the alternative. It's better than it used to be before we knew a whole lot about it or had effective medications.

We can put me on ice. It's you we have to worry about now. Maybe we'll find out something good. In the meantime…

What'a you think of this haircut, babe?

Listen Up

2012-01-13T09:31:00.000-08:00

Okay sports fans, boys and girls, 'here's the skinny'. Do you know what that means? Here's the skinny. Have you heard anyone use the term? I first heard the term December 12, 1951 when I was sworn in to the United States Marine Corp. A marine sergeant said to the several of us, "Listen up. Here's the skinny. We're going to march to the restaurant down the street, where you will be fed, after which you will return here, pick up your orders, after which you will march to the railroad depot where you will be boarded on train. Your destination is Marine Corp Recruit Depot, San Diego, California. Remember you now represent the United States Marines. Mind your manners."

The origin of 'skinny', I'm led to believe, goes something like this:

During world war two until the late 1960's, military orders in the
Marine Corp were copied on paper that resembled the skin of an
onion. It was extremely thin and fragile, and translucent in
appearance.

One might asked back then, "What's the skinny on liberty? Therefore, skinny means what is the straight scoop or what's the low down, or what's the information on any given thing that was important.

That being the case, here's the skinny on the political climate in this country. We have a bunch of candidates running around proclaiming gloom and doom to anyone who will listen. All preach variations of the same theme. America is going to hell if we do not elect the particular candidate speaking. One says we're going to wind up like Greece or a socialist country like those in Europe, as though our allies were the worst thing in the world. Another will say it's the end of the world as we know it unless we elect them. That's what we hear all day long and every day until one of them is crowned the winner. Don't you believe them.

President Obama is not the best president we've had and I'm sure there have been worse, but right now it appears he's better than anything the GOP is running. This gloom and doom is a tactic. It has worked so often in America that now everybody tries it. Don't buy into this. Don't be fooled. There is nothing wrong with this country that a few jobs won't fix. We can always do some mending even in the best of times. Don't believe these doom and gloom politicians. We're smarter than that.

This site will stand adjourned until its author has something to say.

P.S. FYI: This FBI warning of a new bank scam.
http://www.bankrate.com/financing/banking/fbi-warns-of-new-banking-scam/?ec_id=m1078093

Living With COPD

2012-01-12T20:01:00.001-08:00

It was cold today. I stayed inside all day. A good day for watching television or reading. I finished a paperback western novel I had started last night. I had gone out yesterday and got my glasses fixed and bought three paperbacks at the used book store. I was going to get a haircut yesterday but as I drove down the street looking for the barbershop It suddenly dawned on me that today being Monday the barber shops are closed, so I abandoned the idea of a haircut.

When I got home with my books my wife said, "I thought you were going to get a haircut."

I said, "I was going to but the barber shops are closed on Mondays."

She replied, "That right but today is Wednesday."

So it goes. I don't know why driving down the street I suddenly thought it was Monday.

I'm going in later this month for another pulmonary function test and a brief confab with the chest doctor. I was in three months ago for the same thing. My primary care giver came by to see me yesterday afternoon. I seem to be getting a lot of attention from my medical people. It seems to me the less I see of them the better off I'm likely to be. Everything is going so smooth I'd hate for them to mess it up.

The only problem I have is a pain in my left chest when I cough or breathe in deeply and I seem to always be cold. COPD has a lot of tributaries to look after. Fortunately I've got some good help looking after them.

Did You Know

2012-01-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

We are not eating enough Twinkies. Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkles and Wonder Bread files for bankruptcy. They live in Irving,TX.

I, on the the other hand have not eaten a twinkle in many years but I have eaten too much. And it shows. I am five foot eight and I'm shrinking. Did you know that old people shrink. They do.

I carry around on my skinny frame enough weight so that it is now a robust 216 and 1/2 pounds. I resemble two or three of these big tractor tires side by side. That is obese to the second power, depending on how many tires you resemble.

I went to bed early last night. It made for a long night. I awoke a one a.m. and got up fully awake. I turned on my computer and scanned the web for an hour. I got cold and went back to bed at two. I got up again between four-thirty and five and stayed up thirty minutes or so, got cold, and went back to bed to get warm.

It's been a busy week what with all the things I was going to do. I have planned since Sunday afternoon an early week schedule so I could get things done: chores run, bills paid, entertainment tied down and secured. I thought I might even go by the cleaners and bank. I haven't done any of this. I have procrastinated. My energy level has been low. Still I have things to do and I must get to them and this bothers me.

There is a couple living across the street from me in a brick house. There is a stone fireplace chimney on the front of the house facing the street. I think they work at the university. There are two cars under their carport. One black and one white. Every workday morning he comes out, gets in the white car and drives off. Minutes later, most days, she comes out, gets in the black car and leaves.

What I've been wondering since I moved here is why in the world would a man make his wife drive a black car, while he sashays off in his white carriage. I know there are many explanations. I have never met the man. Some say they are unfriendly. I'm wondering now if they buy two parking spaces on campus. Parking on the university is expensive. I mean really.

Hitchhiking In The Jungle

2012-01-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

After tonight I suppose anything is possible in football. And that's it until next year. Sure we've got a few pro games left, but these guys are out there to make a living. It's their occupation, selling themselves, keeping the boss happy, nursing their hurts, trying to keep on keeping on till age catches up with them and shoves them out the door.

Of course we've got politics for entertainment the rest of this year when in the final month of the year the Electoral College will select a president. And tomorrow is the New Hampshire primary, then it's on to South Carolina and Florida then points west.

For the past several years I've been roaming around three continents busying myself visiting with other peoples. I have managed to wear out my welcome on two of those continents. So I've got to find something else to do with my time. If I was younger, I'd learn something new but as everybody knows it's hard for old dogs and old men to learn new tricks.

I need to get out and about tomorrow. While the people in New Hampshire are voting I need to run some errands. I need to stop by the cleaners and drop off some things. I hope they can rejuvenate a pair of pants that are supposed to be dry cleaned but the misses washed them. I don't know if they can be restored. I want to go by the used bookstore. I ned to find something interesting to read on these cold winter nights. Also I broke my glasses. An earpiece fell off. I don't know if they can be repaired. I'm getting along with my old glasses but I need to get the others fixed, if possible.

I've mentioned on this network that I want to lose some weight. I didn't make it a resolution or anything, I just need to lose a few pounds. Let me bring you up to date. It ain't happening. After that week in Austin when I dropped a few pounds, I've gained part of that back. This losing weight is a struggle and a hard hill to climb.

I've got a doctor's appointment Wednesday afternoon late. My Nurse Practitioner is stopping by. It's one of those follow up deals where they listen to your lungs. check blood pressure, tee, etc. Considering the shape I'm in, I'm in good shape. The only thing is I'm too fat, obese to the second power. And you know what? I'm not eating that much. The wife is seeing to that. She's about to quite cooking.

I've been trying to read up and get photos of this Detroit Auto Show. I'll never be able to buy another new car but I like to know what's coming out and get a look at what's new. I'm going to have to start reading these auto magazines, I guess. But which one to buy. There must be a dozen or more car magazines on the market.

So what else is happening? I don't know, but what's going to happen with Iran. Are we going to have a run in with them? Look out cause there's snow on the ground and snow cones for sale.

2012-01-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

Our cognitive ability starts to slip away much earlier than previously thought.

Those senior moments we have once in a while may be more than senior moments.

Just thought you'd like to know.

yourlife.usatoday.com/health/healthcare/studies/story/2012-01-06/Mental-decline-can-start-at-45-study-finds/52413054/1

2012-01-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the new roof for Cowboy Stadium?

Almost A Parable

2012-01-04T18:24:00.001-08:00

A dog showed up at my house one spring morning. He was hungary. You could count his ribs. I fed him some left over biscuits, just pitched them out to him one at a time and he caught them and swallowed them whole. He was a cur dog and I named him Spot. He hung around our place all spring and summer and into the fall when we left for a few months.

When we returned we were warned about wild dog packs running in the area, killing live stock up and down and on either side of the river. One day one of these packs came running by the back of our property chasing rabbits. I spotted my dog, Spot running with the pack. I called to him and he broke off the chase and came toward me. He came close but would not come to me. I gave him food and he hung around awhile but one evening I heard the pack attacking something down by the river. Spot took off at a run in that direction and I never saw him again.

Spot reminds me of our congressmen. We elect them and they are good for awhile until they fall in with the pack in congress. They are never the same. They are not our congressman anymore. They are a pack looking after their own interest, chasing dollars. And we give them our vote ear after year, sanctioning their unforgivable behavior.