60+ year old thread.

Morning

 

We're at war with some mice who seem to have decided our house is their house. Not for much longer, if I have my way! I also got a kit to change the oil and filters in the hydrostatic drives on our mower. Not sure if I'll get to that today or tomorrow.

Wow, those are some spectacular stories! Thanks for sharing.

We used to go to Watkins Glen every fall for the F1 race. Camped for the weekend. One year it rained hard all day Saturday. We were out watching practice and quali and not at our tent. When we got back we found that there was a river running straight through our tent from one end to the other. Everything inside was completely saturated. So we did what you did -- pulled up the stakes, picked the whole works up, threw it in the back of our MGBGT, and drove home. Sorted it all out later.

 

It is a discussion to be had... and overdue.

I don't know that the press ever had enough intelligence to see their role, positive or negative, in the good or bad they can do. We have rights to communication, both as consumers and suppliers, to know... but I have to agree that celebrity is attractive to young kids with guns. Notoriety a driving force, I suspect. The media could entertain the idea of having some self control... especially when they are all owned by the same guy and there is no real competition anymore. The mental health angle is being largely ignored too. I'd like to know how many of these kids have fathers in their lives. And if they were in a home with no consequences...

 

My wife had her five-hour Surgery yesterday; she is recovering nicely.

She had a fistula pop a year ago; the intestine tunneled to the abdomen wall. Bloated red belly was a sign of "that isn't right" she finally got into the hospital on July 3rd, and Surgery was done on July 4th, 2021. The surgeon was off to Mexico for a week after her surgery and didn't leave follow-up notes. Major cluster, a young surgeon who was on call that weekend. I wrote about that ordeal last year.

So she had another surgery three months ago, as her belly would just fill with all sorts of yech, and a second hole to collect into an ostomy bag was placed to act as a drain to help things settle down. Every time she got up, sat down, and rolled over, that second bag would often pop off. Not a good quality of life.

Old school surgeon was recommended, talked with him for many visits. Very high-risk Surgery for many reasons, but the quality of life is essential, and her world was pretty much bedroom, kitchen, and back porch. It was amazing that peritonitis hadn't killed her. She only has about 1/4 of her large intestine left. So it all comes out, every inched examined. There were three perforations, so that section was removed and the rest stitched back together. She has enough colon to reconnect, so no ostomy bag, but she will be one sore lady for the next year as this heals.

A long road of recovery is still ahead, but I slept well last night.

 

Spot on regarding mental health. Speaking only for myself, I’ve seen the press coverage and I am disgusted by it. But never once have I thought “Oh yeah, that’s how I want to be remembered, gunning down a bunch of innocent strangers”, because that’s not normal sane thinking. Who is or should be teaching these kids the value of human life?

 

Prayers for her and you too.

 

I sure hope and pray the surgery recovery goes as well as possible. Sounds like a long road ahead but it will be worth it in the long run. Take care of your wife and yourself as you go through this together.

 

Instead of patching use a data cut in box with a brush device with standard wall plate. CANTEX EZ Box 1-Gang Orange Plastic Old Work Interior Wall Electrical Box Mounting Bracket in the Electrical Box Mounting Brackets department at Lowes.com Legrand 1-Gang Cable Access Brush Standard Wall Plate, White in the Wall Plates department at Lowes.com

 

Yeah, pretty much how camping always worked. I'm with you on this one for sure!

I thought vein swapping was hard enough. All the best to her, Tom!


Good Morning Porch Pals & Gal! And the week fills itself. Off for a haircut, down to New Braunfels for a hearing aid clearing, and back to the used appliance folks in SM to check on what they may have. Utility frig freezer only getting to 10* now, which isn't cutting it. Figures. But, they'll deliver and haul off if I find a good one. Took the little co-pilot for a ride around town after dumping the cardboard. Hadn't had a ride in a while; he loved it.

 

I like it, good idea! Got me to thinking, to avoid having to enlarge the cutout I may just use a small blank wall plate and drill a hole in the center for the wires.

 

Ya know... I'm not a Bible thumper. FAR from it. But society has lost something as churches have declined. Religion had value that has been lost in a more secular society. We have had a real change too, as parenting flipped from teaching children consequences to protecting them from all consequences. Even the schools have climbed on that bandwagon regardless of teachers being disrespected more and being miserable in their jobs as a result.

 

So sad but So true.

 

I'm a believer in old school mouse traps. I hired an exterminator company to get rid of a basement full of sewer rats, and the guy came out with a large box full of rat traps. He started setting them out around the perimeter of the basement, and before he got half way around, they started to pop off. He made three rounds that day, came back 3 days later for another round, and again two weeks after that. My task, he told me, was to screen over the storm drain, repair broken vent screens, and put a weather seal skirt on the bottom of the basement door. His guarantee was for one year even if I didn't seal up the openings as he had instructed. That was 20+ years ago, and I never had to call him again.

 

At 70, I decided I was too old to sleep on the ground any more, so I ordered me one of those fancy teardrop campers to haul behind my 2005 Taco. It'll be ready next summer when I retire from teaching for Conroe ISD. Well, one thing lead to another, and I found myself needing (wanting) something newer to pull the new trailer. I found a 2015 I couldn't live without, and am spending the last days of Summer Break 2022 rehabbing and adding all my old stuff to the new truck.

In the words of Bill Waterston, "The days are just filled."

 

This is true. These losers are desperate to be heard. They need understanding, and all they get from us is "Take your meds and shut up." They are outcasts of society, and they blame society for their being unpopular. It's no wonder that they pick up on the mass shooter news as a way to get their message heard.
We fall short on ways to help them, and they see our failure as preventable. We are the losers in their eyes, they are the victims. No, I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, my solution would be somewhere on the opposing horizon. What we don't need is for them to find satisfaction in the notoriety of revenge.

 

^ This!

Between me needing a CPAP machine (I still don't have one with a battery backup) and my wife absolutely wigging out over "creepy-crawlies", a small trailer is definitely in our future. The biggest stumbling block for me is the Taco I have money down on; my sales associate said, "Yeah, you're looking for kind of a unicorn; figure six to eight months, maybe never, before it is built." My requested unicorn? A new Tacoma TRD Sport 6MT in Blue Crush Metallic, fully tarted out with Premium/Advanced Technology package. Yeah, not holding my breath.

If/when the Tacoma gets built I'll then need to decide which trailer; for the moment at least I'm thinking about getting an Airstream Bambi.

 

Welcome to the porch Ken (you make 3 Kens) . Pull up a spot and join in. Great group, many subjects except politics ( ban material) and the rest of the folks will be along shortly.

 

Dale, to run your cpap get a spare 12 volt car battery. You can run it off that for almost a week. If you use heated humidifier that will cut down on the number of days run time. You need to get a adapter to run it off the battery which are readily available. You can use that setup in a travel trailer too.
I’ve been an outdoorsman (hunter, fisherman, camper, backpacker etc )my whole life. Even at 73 I still enjoy “roughing it” although now I mostly sleep in the back of my truck. I must admit a small travel trailer is looking better and better.

 

I looked into it, unfortunately my CPAP is a 2007 vintage and it draws a fair amount of energy, even without the humidifier, which I don't even use any more. Last year when I changed jobs, part of the job description was to be on an airplane 26 weeks per year and I looked into these new travel CPAPs; the Respironics DreamStation GO is the perfect fit for my needs, however, Philips had a huge recall last year and the new DreamStation GO isn't expected to be on the market again until next year.

 

If you have Medicare you can get a new cpap at no cost every 5 years. They don’t go cheap on these. They’ll give you a new AirSense 10 by ResMed. Top of the line probably the best cpap on the market. Older cpap’s become less and less effective over time. Your sleep therapy decreases. It is recommended they be replaced at 5 years. Also private/employer group health should cover cost of a new one. They are way better now a days, they have advanced light years.