Now what? More nasties??

I just can't seem to get over the fact that the world is changing and NOT always for the good. I miss the good old Andy Griffith show, the Petries, Mary Tyler Moore and Lawrence Welk. Nostalgia waxes my skis.
I also miss girls one could not mistake for boys. I liked the poodle skirts and the pleated plaid school uniforms. The boys seemed to all wear chinos and decent shirts with collars and were clean and belts were at waist level. Nowhere could one see t-shirts with depictions of animals procreating and innuendo frolicking in plain sight attempting to be "CUTE".
Now one can't find a TV show that doesn't have Sex in it and each tries harder to tittilate (odd word for this connotation) us. The FCC is now allowing the F-word to be said-- surpassing the euphemisms Friggin' and Freakin'. I don't like Porn, soft Porn, corn Pone (Hillbilly barn sex stories) and am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE the lessening of morality is one of the reasons gas prices are so high, Republicans are so self-centered and
people are angry so much of the time. It is time we got back to twin beds, girls who wore panties and people apologized for even mentioning a "SWEAR" word. Call me a radical, but you know this is true as I do!!!

Tornado sharing the World

You all know the old saying, "It's a small world." The Walt Disney company even wrote a song and has a section of one of their parks called that. I have run into quite a few instances of small world-ism or what I oftimes (or it it betimes? Shakespeare would know) call Baader-Meinhoff--another co-incidental happening in which one has apparently never heard of or seen anything and then suddenly he see that thing everywhere. When these sort of things happen, people usually allude to the occurrence as "Wow!! Small world isn't it?" I have never heard anyone actually come out and say "Wow!! Baader-Meinhoffie isn't it?" They aren't really the same, but close enough for me! If you want to argue about it go somewhere else, because I'm too Jung and aFreud and I don't want my brain to get all Adlered. The foregoing is my form of free association--I would do it for money if anyone wised to offer me some--Never turn down money--it's not comfortable to sleep on--it russles too much. One should turn down sheets as they are more comfortable to sleep on. And how come so many people use the euphemism "To sleep with" when everyone knows that they are far from sleep and deep into that other bed activity?? By the way, has anyone aver heard of the gullable birdwatcher who has spent years keeping a lookout for the very elusive "Double Breasted, Round-heeled Mattress Thrasher?""
And now to the point!! "AH, finally--the POINT!" Memorial Day 2008-- We had a tornado north of White Bear Lake where I live and a child was killed in Hugo MN, his sister is in critical condition and the Dad is hospitalized, also as well as about 20 others. Now for the small world part,
on that same day there was a tornado starting in Aplington, Iowa where my wife's brother's wife and two boys live. Their tornado proceeded East hitting Parkersberg, Dunkerton and New Hartford. Parkersberg had half the town (1900 people) destroyed 6 dead and as many as fifty injured.
This is a WHOLE LOT CLOSER THAN SIX DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON. What next? I guess the underlying rule in all this is that the longer one lives, the more chances he has for co-incidences to turn on him.

Medical Dusting and Cleaning

Used to be that Dusting and Cleaning to us older nurses meant only one thing-- D & C-- a dilatation and curettage( Podden Mah French!!) which is a medical procedure to remove the contents of a uterus (WOMB) after the opening of the cervix is dilated. This could be a GOOD thing or a BAD thing, but the results were the same---a nice clean uterus ready to go for the next thing that those organs do.
I got into the habit of using Dusting and Cleaning for myself (totally male) as any form of a medical "tuning up" such as lab tests, X-rays, body part manipulations, and surgery. As a retired CRNA (CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETIST). I consider myself an expert on surgery. MANY OF US CRNAs JOKED THAT OUR JOB CONSISTED OF SITTING ON A STOOL ALL DAY LONG AND PASSING GAS!!!!! So, don't laugh---it's funny to us.
Another aspect of my expertness is that I have had over thirty (30) major opertions and an uncounted number of minor ones, SOOOOOOOOOOOO I can talk about my own D &C's. Not fun, but all were absolutely necesssary. Catch me in a verbose, garrulous and loquacious mood sometime and I'll tell you all about all of them.
Today I went to see a new (to me) orthopedic surgeon at Summit Orthopedics. At their office I was offered and given a darn near perfect cup of coffee in the waiting area, and was treated with the complete respect any patient should get. Not that I was mad or upset about the care I had received before, but at age 67 this was GREAT!!
I have had left knee pain since a basketball injury at age 14 that caused my OSGOOD-SCHLATTER'S DISEASE (look it up) to cause the insertion of the quadriceps tendon to completely tear away from the tibia. THAT WAS A WHOLE LOT OF FUN--- The only treatment available in those days was to have my left leg casted straight from the groin to the toes hoping the tendon would grow back and be OK. As the leg lost its muscle strength (atrophy) and movement, each time the Doctor sawed off the old cast and tested the aforementioned sore spot on the front of the tibia, he then applied a new, smaller cast until he thought it was OK at 371 days. By this time the thigh was only 5 1/2 inches around halfway between the knee and the hip and there were hairs 14 inches long!!! It took me months to be able to bend that knee to 90 degrees and three whole years to get the left leg muscle looking somewhat like the right. It never got there, but who could really tell the difference of 2 1/2 inches? I don't blame the doctor--this was a small town in South Dacota in 1954-55. The speciality of Orthopedics (Straight Child) hadn't even been thought of. The doctor said,"Well, it's cured, but someday you'll have a lot of trouble with that knee." Prophetic---I could never kneel on that knee(bad for a Catholic altar boy--The LOOKS I got!!). Also pain in varying degrees, but never completely gone.
Total knee re-placement at age 55 with severe infection, pain and more pain followed by pain. Worn out replacement at age 67. Increasing pain, deformity, swelling and no good sleep for weeks on end. Thank God for Codeine.
Back to the free coffee. I had more X-rays (not free) and then the doctor came in exactly on the scheduled time. He had a great rep but looked 16. He said, "Man, you sure have had problems with that knee!" He then proceeded to gently examine me, then asked ME what I expected from him. First time I had been asked that question by a doctor in my whole life. I said,"Less pain and just a little bit more bend so I can sit straighter and maybe even get some sleep."
He told me that he felt he could operate and get my 57 year old terrible knee to bent to 90 degrees with no pain, but with no guarantees, of course.. I had not realized just how much my damn sucker of a knee had affected me. I actually started to cry and Dr. Daniel Hoeffel grabbed me and hugged me!!! I was so overcome by this sincere act of kindness that I would have let him operate on me right then and there even without anesthesia. NOW THAT IS MY IDEA OF A DOCTOR!! IF he can do as he said, it would be the first time in my whole adult life that I could sit in a theater and NOT to the right of an aisleto stick my left leg out and in a car for more than 30 minutes at a time and maybe even walk without a cane and not fall over for no reason at all and most importantly, kneel at Mass and say a pray of thanks.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO lucky!!! The LSW made me a rhubarb pie which, when I first smelled (3 whole minutes), I damn near went into sensory overload. I had mentioned the large cake the two of us ate in two days, but still could hardly control my tastebuds as they tried to pry open my teeth and get to the steaming hot pie. Hold on!!! you don't want R_O_M (Roof of Mouth) burns again this year. Patience is a virtue.
When we finally dove headfirst into this great pie, I was astonished that it was every bit as good as the cake!! Man!! What a cook!!! She is too great to be believed. This first rhubarb pie of the season was so good, we didn't even need whipped topping or icecream to cover it, and that is really saying something for topping and IC addicts.
We had another great meal on Sunday. I grilled steak outside and she made the first potato salad of the year AND we had MORE of that fine pie. Fried mushrooms, too. Life is good. The Lindens are all leafed out and the grass is as green as the face of a first time boater in a gale. The yard looks like a prize winner again. It's amazing what a plan followed to its end after 10 years can show. I want to call our place God's Little Half-Acre since we don't have as much as the Title of Erskine Caldwell's 1933 book. Ours has much less sex and intrigue, though. More later---pie time again.

Well, here I am again. Who wood-a-thunk-it??? Me>>>blogging? I still don't even like the word, but the term "Journaling" seems too confining---think "daily". I get to it when I can and it seems there are a bunch of thoughts in my head that are clamoring to get out. ( Do you thing this word might have roots in the word CLAM which is soft and trapped in a hard shell just like our brains? Don't argue---just accept and don't think you have to go to the dictionery to check---I could have done that!!!
Anyhoo, Spring is here and we are finally getting real, honest to God leaves on our trees. The LSW got a bunch of transplanting done and mowed the yard and we had it fertilized by our guy. Looking very good. No flowers yet, but we did have the first of our rhubarb. I'm almost embarrasssed to say she made the greatest cake (9 X 13) and we ate it ALL IN TWO DAYS!!
Lack of rhubarb over the winter can make a person go NUTS!! Glad I gave up most other toxic substances. Rhubarb really isn't toxic, except the leaves and who would eat THEM? It sure can be a lower tract stimulant, to the point that visitors sniff the air and exclaim, "Ah, you had rhubard, didn't you?" Hard to keep it a secret. They aren't complaining, but sort of noodling for a bunch to take home to be able to fragrantize their own homes. Some fun!!! More later---have to go!!

RACE FOR THE CURE

Though I use a cane and have to soon have my artificial knee replaced due to its wearing out in only 11 years, I have a lot of respect for those nearly 50,000 people who did the actual 5K race in the Twin Cities (one of the largest in the USA). Kind of wish I could do it, but maybe later.
I prayed that they would have a nice day and it turned out!! Kind of cool but no rain or snow here. Dau-in-law, Kate and grandau, Lucy did it while son Chris coralled the two boys, Tom and Ned. It was Mothers' Day and our dau, Margie and husb, Tom and two grand girls, Elizabeth and Claire came up and took Mom (Virginia) and husb (Byron) to MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM at the wonderful new Guthrie Theater. What a deal!!!!!!!!! It was fun and showed how good we have it for culture here.
Flowers, book, plants and the now famous Hallmark card that played out the "Chicken Dance" music. Everyone was trying it and laughing like a bunch of goofs. So good. Life is grand>

RASH

Years ago in nursing school a mnemonic device was used to help us remember what must be included in a treatment for a rash (RESORCINOL, ALCOHOL, AND I FORGOT THE LAST TWO!) Not GOOD, or perhaps it is the age of the person trying to reach back into the past? 48 YEARS!! MAN!
The only good thing about this lapse in memory is that when one gets older, they can't remember what happened yesterday but MAY have near perfect recall of long-ago happennings. Since I DON'T have this near perfect memory, I must be free of Alzheimers!!
Back to the point>>>> I have developed a terrible, itchy, red, raised rash on most of my body. I have had this four times in the past forty years. Every time my Doctor prescribed some form of oral Cortisone like Medral or Prednisone. This time it hasn't helped much at all. I need to delve further into this--I don't want my corpse to be covered with "ADULT FLESH-TONE COVERS ALL" body make up. Remember Rod Steiger in the great movie called "The Loved One"?
I some how have the tune of MY BONNIE LIES OVER THE OCEAN coming to my mind, but my words are "MY BODY IS COVERED WITH LOTION, IT MAKES ME SO SLIPPERY, YOU SEE.........Oh well, I tried.

Going green

Finally the weather is changing and the new warmth is whispering through the dirt, "Spring is coming! Turn green! Let your chlorophyl be seen. Poke your tender tendrils up and feel the sun."
On many trees the buds are swelling, but others haven't gotten the message yet. It is like children, some walk and talk earlier than others,, but eventually it happens. The squirrels are racing about like nuts (Now ther'e a strange thought!) hunting for Fall-buried nuts and checking out our bird suet cakes. They like them better than the birds it seems, at least they put in a LOT more effort to get up to the suet cage on the shepherd's crook. Fun to watch.
This week should be slowly warming and by Mothers' Day it may even be good enough to grill outside. The RACE FOR THE CURE will also be that day and it's much better for them to have nice weather. We'll see.