WHEN A SOLDIER COMES HOME

WHEN  A SOLDIER COMES HOME (Read to the Very End!)

This email is being  circulated around the world~~~please keep it going.

When  a soldier comes home, he finds it hard......to listen to his son whine about  being bored.

 

....to keep a straight face when people complain about potholes.

To  be tolerant of people who complain about the hassle of getting ready for work. 

...to  be understanding when a co-worker complains about a bad night's  sleep.

 

  ...to  be silent when people pray to God for a new car.

 

...to  control his panic when his wife tells him he needs to drive  slower.

..to  be compassionate when a businessman expresses a fear of  flying.

 ....to  keep from laughing when anxious parents say they're afraid to send their kids  off to summer camp.

 ....to  keep from ridiculing someone who complains about hot  weather.

....to  control his frustration when a colleague gripes about his coffee being  cold. 

 

  
....to  remain calm when his daughter complains about having to walk the  dog.

.....to  be civil to people who complain about their jobs.

.....to  just walk away when someone says they only get two weeks of vacation a  year.

 ...to  be forgiving when someone says how hard it is to have a new baby in the  house. 

The only thing harder than being a  Soldier...  

Is loving one. 

I was asked to pass this on and I will gladly do so!! Will  you???

 
No  one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S.  Military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get  50% of their pay on retirement. While Politicians hold their political  positions, in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men  and women, and receive full-pay retirement after serving one term. It just  does not make any sense.  

If  each person who receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days,  most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one  proposal that really should be passed around.

Proposed 28th  Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that  applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to  the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that  applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to  the citizens of the United States."

You  are one of my 20+. I passed it on, will you?

"If  you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice," and these brave  soldiers have given you that choice.  

This from my cousin,

Pass it on!

Free Concerts...

...and a Flash Orchestra!!  (Updated and bumped!)



Via The Anchoress.

Merry Christmas!!

Update:  How they did it, from The Blaze.

I Knew This...

...from way back!

My personal rule has always been, "Do not interrupt the person you are talking with for someone else."  Unless. of course, it's the boss, or my kid (or her mom) with an emergency.  After that, flames, not smoke, and only for arterial blood.

I watched a fair number of folks get real uncomfortable when I ignored my phone and continued our conversation.  I never actually timed anyone, but my best guess is that it was less than a minute before I was asked "Aren't you going to get that?"

I suspect that anxiety is behind the compulsion to be in constant contact (and not the other way around, as stated above).  So I suspect that some people are just not comfortable in their own skin.

Via Drudge

Demon's Nest...

...this week's installment.

From Brooke's Pibgorn

Juxtapositions du Jour...

First this...


...from the daily Caller


Then this...

Going Boldly

December 5th, 2013 - 7:25 am

Faster-than-light travel — made real?

And explained in layman’s terms for those of us (especially me) who struggled through these things in high school and college.

...from the ever-suave Mr. Green!

Sexist Study du jour...

The hardwired difference between male and female brains could explain why men are 'better at map reading' 

And why women are 'better at remembering a conversation'

It's what, I think, most people have known all along (in the intuitive sense, anyway).  And if the theory of mis-wiring in autistic kids is substantiated, it blows the hell out of the "inoculations cause autism" theory.

Thank God!!
 
From the U.K. Independent, via Rodger!

Demon's Nest of the Week...

 

...at Pibgorn.

Demon's Nest...

I guess I'm not checking as well as I shood - gocomics sometimes gets a day or two behind, and I miss "episodes" unless I go look for them explicitly.

Here are the last two installments:

For 11/24...

...aaaand for 11/17

One Man's Take...

...on the Catholic Mass



WARNING: Unclean language in spots!

Thanks to The Anchoress!

Demon's Nest of Sentiments

This week's installment:

Whimsey du jour..

...lifted bodily from Gerard:

Bay Bridge's mysterious protector out of hiding

The troll, who has no name, was created and surreptitiously installed in 1989

on a quickly fabricated section of bridge deck that replaced the pieces that collapsed in the Loma Prieta earthquake. He remained out of sight - only bridge workers and boaters could see him on the north side of the span - and cast his magic to protect the bridge and its users. In early September, when the new eastern span opened, the troll was spirited away by ironworkers, who wanted to make sure he was free before demolition of the old span began. - - SFGate

Thanks, man.  I needed that.

Comfort Food

...presented without comment.

Carefully lifted from Gerard!

Merida Grown Up...

...and the feminists don't like it!

Apparently, someone at Disney/Pixar decided to upgrade Princess Merida for the Disney "Princess" collection.  So, she's a bit older, and a bit curvier, which can happen when girls grow up.  Watching a daughter turn into a young woman can be startling (if not downright shocking), but that's what they do!  Especially if, like me, you put a kid on an airplane, and four months later the young woman returns in her place.  Sadly, growing up to be attractive seems deemed 'sexualization' by the feminist cohort. But it's what little girls (and little boys) do.

The most quoted critic is the film's former co-director, Brenda Chapman, who was replaced during the film's production.(See the UK's Guardian and The Hollywood Reporter for more.)

From all the heat, light and noise, you'd think Disney had let Merida go the route of Miley Cyrus.
 Speaking of whom, I couldn't find quite the same outrage about her VMA appearance as I did about Merida.  Here are my searches at the Guardian and the Reporter.  Yes, there were critical articles, but no one was espousing that Miley turn back to her Hanna Montana persona, either.

Silly me.  I still think beauty in any form should be celebrated, not denigrated.  Yes, not every girl will grow up to be a Hollywood "princess" (which is actually a Good Thing).  And not every boy will grow up to be a leading man, which is also good.  Parents need to instill a solid sense of self-worth (not self-esteem) in their children, and teach them how to be the best person they can be.  I have seen both men and women who are outside of the leading man/princess ideal, who have learned to be their best, and who present  themselves quite well.  As a result, I find them handsome or attractive.

It's much more about character,  and much less on looks.

Happy Halloween!!

For your delight, Witch Hazel after hours:

Rachel Mariana Morgan??

Liberty Maniacs

From Ars Technica:

For 10 years, a Minnesota man has been selling T-shirts, mugs, and other items with slogans like “Department of Homeland Stupidity” and “The NSA: the only part of the government that listens.”

On Tuesday LibertyManiacs owner Dan McCall sued those agencies, arguing that he has a First Amendment right to parody the DHS, the NSA, and other government offices, and that he should be allowed to use the relevant seals.

Go.  Support them.

Death By Indifference

From Rabbi Benjamin Blech at aish.com:

Researchers at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have just released documentation that astounds even the most informed scholars steeped in the previously known statistics of German atrocities. Here is some of what has now been conclusively discovered:

• There were more than 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe from 1933 to 1945.
• There were 30,000 slave labor camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettos; 980 concentration camps; 1000 prisoner of war camps; 500 brothels filled with sex slaves; and thousands of other camps used for euthanizing the elderly and infirm, performing forced abortions, “Germanizing” prisoners or transporting victims to killing centers.
• The best estimate using current information available is 15to 20 million people who died or were imprisoned in sites controlled by the Germans throughout the European continent.

 The take away:

The “decent” people were somehow able to rationalize their silence.

I contacted the good Rabbi about his references.  He was kind enough to answer.  He said he had read about this in Erich Lichtblau's  New York Times Sunday Review article on the Holocaust Museum's discoveries.

I've Been Remiss...

...in keeping up with Brooke and Dru.  Here is this Sunday's installment, with the missing ones below the fold.

Go read the rest:

Obamacare In Five Pictures

I was reading an article on Tech Crunch about the tech debacle that is Obamacare, lamenting how start-ups were ready to have a go at it.  It mentioned, in particular, eHealth, one of the few companies certified as a "web based entity" authorized to act as a alternative to government web sites.  I got curious, and here's what I discovered.

My options for this year:

They say starting at $52/month, but...

...79 plans, starting at $209.75/month.

My options for next year:

eHealth estimates that I would get a subsidy of $451.00/month.  (They caveat the hell out of their numbers, solet's take this figure as a SWAG* for now.)

Now, my premiums start (supposedly) at $192/month.

 

And I find a whopping thirteen plans, starting at $593.11/month, pre-subsidy.  Post-subsidy, $142.11/month

I have no idea where they got the $52 and $192 numbers.  After poking about a bit by changing ZIP codes, I found that they changed, but stayed the same when I changed birthdays.  In any case, what's important is the final cost to me.  And I didn't even try to figure out overall cost based on deductables, co-pays and such.

It's a bloody mess...

Veteran's Day, 10/13/2103 - Washington D.C.

Then...

...and now!

 

Meanwhile, at Gettysburg...

Park Police Mounties...

 

...face a hostile and dangerous force.

Mmmmmm, Could Be...!! (Updated)

This is probably not exactly true (he is speculating, after all), but it sure sounds plausible!

Head fake! Is Healthcare.gov only an

empty shell MOCKUP of a working

Obamacare exchange?

Wednesday, October 09, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
Tags: Obamacare exchanges, programming failure, mockup

(NaturalNews) As the days of glitches, snafus, down-time and critical errors mount up, evidence is mounting that the Healthcare.gov Obamacare exchange is not actually a fully-formed online application. More and more, it appears to be a mockup of a health care exchange enrollment system.

Go.  RTWT!!

(Via Mr. Taranto)

Update:  Added the "giggle du jour" tag so you all know that I'm not taking this article seriously.  You'll understand if you read the first few comments.  And, "The Health Ranger"?  Too cute...

Twenty-five Things

I found myself at Never Yet Melted, who has a list of "25 Ridiculous Things Obama Shut Down".

The first commenter posed a challenge, to which the second commenter responded:

JackOfClubs

We need a companion list: 25 things Obama could have shut down instead but didn’t.

leelu

25 things…, let’s see
Obamacare
HHS
EPA
Homeland (In)Security
HUD
IRS
Dept. of Energy
Dept. of Education
FEMA
Any non-DOD/DOJ/Treasury group that has its own weapons stash.
Post Office
NEA
PBS
NPR
Dept of Agriculture
Dept of Labor
Dept of Commerce
Reduce Social Security back to a simple retirement program
DEA*
BATFE*
NSA*
CIA*
The “Secret” Courts” approving NSA activities
All positions of “Czar”
Presidential and Congressional staffs

*Consolidate under the FBI, well-scaled down!

What do you think I've missed??

(Via Gerard)

xkcd du jour...

...presented sans comment:

Dakota Has Passed On

Koda (as he was affectionately known), went into convulsions at about 2:30 this afternoon.  I took him to the 24-hour emergency vet, after trying a few first aid things at home.  They pumped him full of valium, which reduced the convulsions to mild tremors.

The vet was straight up with the prognosis - based on what the expensive tests that I can't afford might tell us, she was not optimistic that he could go home and be OK.  So, I made the decision to let him go.

He passed peacefully.  The med they use anesthetised him immediately, and continued on to an overdose.  He slipped away in less than a minute.

Pax vobiscum, Koda.

Dakota (Updated)

Tuesday, Dakota took a pretty good tumble down a full flight of stairs, spine first.  Nothing was broken, but I noticed yesterday that he seemed to have lost balance and strength on his left side.

Last night, he went into full-body convulsions for a minute or so. 

We are off to the vet at 3:30.  Koda is resting on the air mattress down here on the first floor.

I don't like how this day is shaping up.

Update:  Back from the vet. We are treating "symptomatically", as the diagnostics for Koda would cost more than mine!  He now has industrial-strength steroids (Dexamethasone) to take over the next two weeks.  If his symptoms are caused by swelling resulting from the fall, this should clear them up.

I'm cautiously optimistic, which is a big improvement.

Happy...

...Broderick Crawford Day!

When I saw this:

I thought of Sip.

I guess I'm going to see how his sense of humor is...

About Damned Time!

The Washington Times reports that:

 "Mrs. Pelosi should be denied Communion until she changes her advocacy views on abortion, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke said, according to the Western Center for Journalism."

Seems she is continually breaking Canon Law 915, which says:

"...that Catholics who are stubbornly contrary “in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”

I wonder if she even goes to Mass?

Via Drudge.

(Sorry, Sister.)

Local Teen Does Good (Updated)

Temar Boggs and some of his friends chased down a kidnapper, who released his victim.

Story at LANCASTERONLINE

Update:
Yes, the first label/tag was what went through my brain when I first saw this poster.

The Freeburg Rule

Worth observing and passing on...

"You call me a racist for having a problem with His Majesty’s execrable policies, or insinuate in any way that my “real” problem is with having a black guy in the White House…

…I’m going to call you a coward for hiding behind someone else’s skin color."

From The House of Eratosthenes

And hiding behind someone's skin color does seem, well, racist, no?

Heh.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Avec update!)

The Kiddo PASSED THE BAR EXAM!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!  WOO-HOO!!!

Congratulations, Kiddo!!

She is now licensed to practice in two states.

We celebrated long-distance w/ burgers - she had McDonald's, I had Five Guys'.

(Me.  Proud?  Nah... )

Update:

Since Montana is a "Uniform Bar Exam" (UBE) state, she will also have  leg-up on practicing in eleven other states!  UBE state are: 

 Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

States have the option of simply allowing someone to practice, or may add other requirements as they see fit.

Spam du Jour!

Lucky me!!

Hello

I am Mrs. Suzanne.. the wife of the former Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak who is currently on house arrest and facing a retrial on charges of complicity resulting from political turmoil during the 2011 uprising which was fabricated without evidence. the government has seized everything we have here and prevent us from traveling out of Egypt.

As a result of this, I need somebody outside Egypt to represent my interest to manage our reserved funds value (150,000,000.00 U.SD) in long-term business venture especially in public and private business (including real estate investment,

I am willing to negotiate with you how much i will offer you to handle this for me after your acceptance.And the legality and movement of the (150,000,000.00 U.SD) shall or will be duly follow in due course.

Yours Faithfully,

 I figure 10% sounds about right, no??

As We Suspected...

...Barry leans east:

Found at Mme. Scherzo's

Good News About Abortion!

Really!!

From Christianity Today:

Abortion Clinics Closing at Record Rate

 The reasons vary, according to the article, from retiring doctors, to more state laws requiring clinics to adhere to the same standards at outpatient surgery clinics.

Yay!!

Go!  RTWT!!

(Via Drudge)

Sippican Cottage on the Boulder Colorado Flood Cleanup

Sip nails it:

"Say, shouldn't you people be out looting or something? Waiting for a morbidly obese governor to hand you a check? Getting your stories straight for your fraudulent insurance claim?...What the hell's wrong with these people"

With a very nice accompaniment!

Go.  RTWT

Demon's Nest of Sentiments...

...Dru on voters and politicians:

International Buy A Nun... (Updated x3)

...A Book Day!

 Update III:

Got this from the Sister to whom I'd written:

Thank you so much, Lee. I can identify some Sisters who will be thrilled to receive the books.

Sister Kathryn

 Update II:

My book club has notified me that two of the books I've requested have been mailed.  No word back from the convent, tho...

Update:

 Didn't hear back today, and since the day is next Tuesday, I went ahead and ordered books that I've enjoyed and though the good nuns might also.  Here's my e-mail:

Hello, Sister,

 

As the 'official' day is next Tuesday, I went ahead and picked out four book to be sent to directly you for distribution.  They will probably be arriving over the next week or two, which is a function of how the swap club works.  Each book will be coming from a different member, so arrival is a function of how soon each member gets to it, and how far it has to travel.

 

I wound up ordering three books that are favorites of mine, and one similar but different from a series I have read from.
 

They are:

 

A Letter of Mary, by Laurie R. King

The Dante Club, by Matthew Pearl

The Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tsu, translated by John C. H. Wu

The Best American Short Stories 1997, ed. by Kenison(?)

 

I hope you all will enjoy them!

I wondered what books to get, and who to give them to.  I suddenly realized/decided that I wanted to send them to the nuns (or the order, anyway) who taught me in grade school.  I've managed to track down the "Mother Ship" convent in California, and sent an e-mail off asking what books might be appreciated.

So, if you know (or knew) a nun, buy her a book!

(This seems to be a word of mouth/blog thing, so pass it on!)

9-11

Where are we today?  And what has happened to us?

Cheese Nazis....

...from Fox:

Florida official tells Christian charity to choose between Jesus and cheese

A Florida ministry that feeds the poor said a state agriculture department official told them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read “Jesus is Lord” and stopping giving Bibles to the needy.
“They told us they could no longer allow us to have any religious information where the USDA food is going to be,” said Kay Daly, executive director of the Christian Service Center.

Florida is saying its the USDA's call.  The USDA is saying, according to the article, that basically as long as a religious organization is not discriminating against people of different faiths, religious display is OK

I didn't vote for him.

Demon's Nest of Sentiments...

Dru* on Syria:

Remember, kids, "When it comes to the law, what really matters is the name you succeed in imposing on the facts, not the facts themselves"!  (Harvard Law Professor Jerome Cohen, ca. 1971)

* I shall attribute these to Dru, since she is more of  a demon (a succubus) than Mr. McEldowney, and it's her picture at the bottom of each sentiment.  (I'm giving Mr. McEldowney the benefit of the doubt...)

Stolen From Gerard

Hatefacts

Things that are true but must never be spoken for fear of penalty: Some other hatefacts - things that are true but must never be spoken for fear of penalty:

• Native Americans were not living in peace and oneness with the environment before Europeans arrived in America.
• Men are raped more often than women in America - in prison; the Justice Department estimated that over 200,000 rapes of men happened in 2008 alone.
• Gun ownership has skyrocketed in America, but gun crimes dropped - and the tougher the gun laws, the more gun crime an area suffers.
• On average, men test 5 points higher on IQ than women.
• Groups of young black men are attacking whites due to racial hatred, and the incidents of this have exploded in frequency and number since Obama became president.
• For the last fifteen or more years, the average warming on the planet has been .05 degrees per decade... plus or minus .08 degrees.  As in no warming, or even cooling.
• On average men are better than women at mathematical skills.
• Homosexuals are much m ore likely to suffer from and transmit sexually transmitted diseases than normal people.

-- Word Around the Net: HATEFACTS AND HERESY

My log for the fire is this one: Asians have a higher average I.Q. than whites, who have a higher average I.Q. than blacks.  It's only a coupe of points either side of us whites, but, still.  Dunno about Hispanics.

I'm hoping to get a place next to Gerard in Hell.  You know it's where we're going for this.

My Take On...

...Syria:

Hamas and al Queida duking it out.  What in God's name is the UPSIDE of getting involved? For a line in the sand he denies he ever personally drew.

Unless by "involved" you mean nuking the entire area (excluding Israel) from orbit.

(Another one grabbed from Gerard.)

Feeling Gerard's Pain

When I got the "bad ware" alert from Firefox/Google about the comments section on one of the posts are Gerard's site, I sent him a e-mail by way of a heads up, and we had a little conversation  (bottom-up post order):

Condolences.

 

On September 1, 2013 at 11:37 PM Gerard Van der Leun wrote:

I'm working to fix it and eradicate the code the bastards snuck in.

On Sun, Sep 1, 2013 at 3:17 PM, leelu <lawebber@cwassociates.net> wrote:

Got this on my Firefox browser when I clicked the comments ;ink on the Michelle's shower curtain dress comment link:

 

https://www.stopbadware.org/firefox?hl=en-US&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandigest.org%2Fmt%2Fmt-comments.cgi

 

Maybe Bill got miffed about something?? 

But, when I saw this post this morning:

For those who have come through the deadly warning barrier!

My apologies. This is a very annoying time. Fixing this issue takes, I have found, lots of digging with the superb staff at Hosting Matters, a good deal of digging out of code that came in from Croatia, a resetting of all security params, a restore from a backup and then a review from Google.
It is indeed a royal pain.

I felt I should condole him some more.  (Read from the bottom up...)

...sorta sounds like my last divorce. 

On September 4, 2013 at 2:16 PM Gerard Van der Leun wrote:

It takes, I have found, lots of digging with the staff at Hosting Matters, a good deal of digging out of code that came in from Croatia, a resetting of all security params, a restore from a backup and then a review from Google.

 

It is indeed a royal pain.

 

Sigh.

On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:14 AM, leelu <lawebber@cwassociates.net> wrote:

STILL at it!?  Wow... that shit is nasty.

 

Have you tried re-generating the dilithium crystals??

 

"When is leelu not in trouble?"
Korben Dallas

 I suspect he would appreciate prayer in any denomination at this point.  It does sound as if he's getting good support at Hosting Matters, tho.  Big plus in his favor.

Racist Cookies

Oreos were my favorite cookie when I was growing up.  Being a touch OCD, I would eat them three at a time, so the three rows in the bag would always be even.

As I got older, I learned that "Oreo" had a connotation other that a tasty, creme filled cookie.  It also referred to a black person who was really "white" on the inside.  Dr. Benjamin Carson, Mayor Mia Love, Sen. Tim Scott, (C), S.C., and Allan West, to name just a few.  (I suspect  that Dr. Martin Luther King would be on the list, if he were alive a preaching what he preached in the 60s).  Don King, Karl Malone, Harriet Tubman,and the Rock are all mentioned in a HuffPo article as being Republicans (as was Dr. King.)

This, however, is not a label that would apply to our President.  Yes, he may be a half-and-half kind of guy, but is innermost self is definitely not white.  Which brings me to what I found in the local Giant on my last trip out:

Pink filled Oreos.  As you can see, there is a "plain vanilla" Oreo, for those of us who are white both on the inside and the outside.  There was also a double-decker - cookie, vanilla filling, cookie, chocolate filling, cookie.  A more appropriate symbol for our president's ethnicity, I suppose. But the pink filling hit the spot, in a way that the term "red diaper baby"was applied to children raised in the U.S. by Communists.  So, we have a pink Oreo president.

Is anyone surprised?

He's Back...

...with A Demon's Nest of Sentiments

I can see Obama doing the Hokey-Pokey with the Girl Scouts.  But not Michelle - she's be on the sidelines, rolling her eyes and giving him The Look.

Latest (and Greatest)...

...Unorganized Hancock:


Proud dad story at Sippican Cottage.

Not Counting Well..

For reasons not exactly well-known to me, I had it in my head the Brooke McEldowney had only posted a couple of his "Demon's Nest of Sentiments" Sunday offerings.  But when I clicked around the calendar over at gocomics.com, I discovered that he'd been at it for a couple of months.  So, today's post will allow you to get up to speed on this.

I swear, he sounds like all of the founding fathers rolled into one!

It's important (and below the fold).  Read 'em and laugh.  Or, read 'em and weep.

(Note:  none today...)

Ultimate Interweb Post

The BSBFB has won the prize for this one: (Caution... mildly NSFW)

I think we're done here.

A Demon's Nest of Sentiments

Brooke McEldowney has been on quite the roll off and on the past few Sundays.  I have taken it upon myself to share:

 

Whilst you're at it, visit his blog and store, too!

And don't forget 9 Chickweed Lane!

When I was in college, our chief engineer and some of us students had arrived at a similar sentiment.  We decided that anyone who received a "no confidence" vote could never, ever run for office again.  For anything, anywhere.

Conversation With A Friend Updated: Instructional Video

This started out as an email to some friends about this scale-model B-17 that's about the size of a Cessna 140.

As it happens, our exchange makes for an interesting post (reversed to chronological order:)

On August 9, 2013 at 10:58 AM rob  wrote:

Which leads me to a question, do you have any current hobbies? I guess the blog keeps you busy, but do you do any traditional hobbies (e.g., model building, stamp collecting, wood working, sewing, book club, etc.)? What are you in to these days?

To: rob
Subject: RE: Here is something you can do in your spare time....

My first answer would be "computers", but that is fading some.  Much less of a need to stay up with the curve these days.  Before the back detonated, I was teaching some basic computer classes at the library.  I'll probably e-start those in a month or so.  I've been gardening - just picked about 2 gallons of tomatoes yesterday.  And, I'm catching up on my fun reading.  Read a book called "Jack 1939" by Francine Mathews.  She re-works JFK's summer before senior year trip to Europe to research his senior thesis in to quite the spy/adventure novel.  Discovered she writes as mumble Barrett, doing a series of mysteries with Jane Austin as the detective.

 

I start PT 2 - 3X next week, so that should be a boost in getting me back to some sort of regular physical activity.  (Somehow, without trying, I've dropped 40 pounds since my melanoma removal!  275 => 235)

 

I read the internet a lot.  And yes, I'm a little B.F. stir crazy.  Need to explore the countryside some more.  Also want to get a shooting range membership.  Did I tell you that I now own a Springfield Armory Stainless Steel 1911 .45, and a Hi-Point .45 ACP carbine.  I have shooting to do!!  One can get a permit to use the target ranges at some of the state hunting grounds, but between the back and the weather ("mostly overcast, chance of showers and thunder storms"), that's not happening.  Doc doesn't want any sudden jarring on my spine, and .45 ACP has a habit of doing that.  Especially, I think, coming out of the carbine.  Sigh.

 

Oh... and I'm working on a plan to overthrow the government.  It involves lobotomies for just about all current office holders, reduction of the number of Cabinet positions, and a return to basic free market principles.  For starters.

   

How you two doing?? 

 On August 10, 2013 at 11:13 AM rob wrote:

It's really interesting to hear what you are up to. I'm still into programming and actually doing much more of it than I was at Boeing, where management is less about management and more about brown-nosing. Carole is still keeping her hand in real estate, but backing out slowly. Her daughter and her partner just had twins so Carole is getting more into that.
 
I admire your willingness to teach at the library. I just don't have the patience to teach, but I keep thinking that I should find something I could at least volunteer at.

After your PT is done we should talk. Your congressional lobotomy idea could fit into the killer robot idea that I'm working on. I was going to use a death ray in my robot but a lobotomy ray might be more humane after all.  (Let's see, we've mentioned death, killer, congress and guns. If the word "al-qaeda" shows up in this email it's bound to be picked up by the NSA.)

Deny everything.

My response this morning:

Dude, congress was just a start.

 

I think we could get by with a cabinet of DOD, DOJ, State, Transportation, and maybe Interior.  Make the idiots at TSA US Marshals, (real ones, with training and everything), put a couple on each flight originating in the US, one ICE agent every 1/4 mile along the Mexican border, w/ air and mechanized support.

 

Lots of training input from the Israelis.  In Costa Rica, *ALL* bags are searched, in front of you, before they can be checked in.

 

Oh, and listen when the Russians have something to say about potential terrorist activity, and follow up on it. 

Saw two Warthogs fly over this morning.  No big booms, so I guess everything was OK,

He responded:

Now you've done it. Expect to get audited next April.

And then, Mr Bingely takes the proverbial cake with this instructional video!

I Am Now Free To Roam About The Planet! Updated!

Update - moving this thread to the Window on Red Lion blog.  Too much crazy shit going on to mix my health issues in with 'em.

Well, that was fun...

I was released from the therapy hospital last Wednesday, and stopped off to see the surgeon on the way home.  He pulled some of the staples, and I have another appointment next Wednesday for the rest of them.  Healing well, take it easy, no strain, etc, etc, etc.

So, why 2 weeks instead of 2 - 3 days??  I'll tell ya.

Apparently, Oxycodone and I do not get along.  As you know, I went to college during the late 60s and early 70s.  The oxy took me to places that were a) weirder, b) not really fun, and c) where I have no wish to return.  It also (apparently) caused my bladder to go off line, so I got to get yet another catheter.  I slept most of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, sleeping and detoxing in a military-industrial Alice in Wonderland sort of world.  Seemingly very real, so when I awoke, I would have to remind myself that none of it could have happened, because I was in a hospital room, and had been for a few days.

I got transferred to a rehab hospital for physical and occupational therapies.  The night before I left (Monday) as I was taking my evening constitutional around the nurses' station, I saw two people in wheel chairs w/ IVs, and heard someone in the room next to me discussing how people are treated with dignity after death.  I then saw the two people in wheel chairs, and one in a hospital bed being moved out.  I have a feeling that there was some donor/transplant stuff going on.  Next morning, I awoke to a conversation amongst several women just outside my door.  It seemed to be about the three individuals, but it had the tone and quality of a Seal Team debriefing.  Someone said three words, someone else responded with three words, done.

I wondered a) if they had rappelled into the OR from a Black Hawk, b) if they knew I was in the next room hearing all of this, and c) what my current life expectancy was due to b.

Obviously, I hadn't completely dried out.

Rehab was mostly about making sure I could do things like manage stairs, do all of the things one needs to do in a bathroom, cook, do laundry, and some basic strength and stretch work, within the limited weight and motion restrictions I'm under.  And walking.  Lots of walking.

So.  I seem to be healing up nicely.  I've over done a bit here, since I left the house thinking I'd be back in 2 - 3 days, not two weeks.  Laundry is done, dishwasher emptied and partially re-loaded.  Not expecting company, so not worried about the rest of it.

I'm rejoicing in an almost complete lack of pain for the first time in almost 40 years!  The incision itches, the back muscles are sore and achy, but I can walk unaided (I use a cane for assist in balance when necessary, or going up and down stairs).  Took the dogs for a walk yesterday, first time in ages (don't ask).

I'm scheduled for out-patient PT starting next week.  I have a feeling that this will more about strength, endurance, and range of motion.  I tire easily, and that's a bit frustrating.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and good wishes and thoughts for me.  I know that has supported me through this "interesting" time.

I am comfortable, all news is good, and I'm figuring out how I want to live in a house with a basement and three stories.

Thank you all.  Blessings upon you and those you hold dear!

Live From Skowegan Riverfest...

...Unorganized Hancock!



Gerard makes the best comment so far: "It's comforting to know that we'll have a replacement for the Everly Brothers and the Beatles in one duo."