Future Baseball Stars?

Our grand daughter Shelby and great-grand son Dominick showed off their baseball skills the other day at Kendall Field.

Sunshiny Day

Finally!

After a couple of months of rain, rain, rain, we had a sunshiny, nice day!

We've lived here for over 30 years and I don't think we have ever had so many crappy days without a break.

We had grilled hot dogs and salad and sat there sipping wine and looking at wispy clouds that looked like hands or turtles or rabbits. The dogs enjoyed the sunshine just as much as we did.

It was a gorgeous day but unfortunately it was one day in a row. Now we're back to more rain.

Genetic Memories

Our Papillon puppy Squeak either has genetic memories going back to her wolf ancestors or maybe delusions of grandeur. She takes a mouthful of kibbles from her bowl in the kitchen, brings them into the living room and puts them on the belly of one of her toys, usually a ragged, white stuffed sheep. Looking like a wolf feeding on a fresh kill, she defends it fiercely until the last kibble is gone.

Luddites

The Luddites were a group who rebelled against the use of the machines that replaced people during the Industrial Revolution. Their leader was a man by the name of Ned Ludd. The name has since become a term for anyone who is against new technology.

My wife Carol is a Luddite!

When we got our first computer in the late 1990's I was completely enthralled and I was soon emailing, learning how to do spread sheets, editing photos, and using the word processor. Carol reluctantly and sparingly used it for email, genealogy, and solitaire games. That was twenty years ago and she hasn't updated her opinion or use of computers a bit since then.

When the old original Packard Bell became outdated, I ordered a new custom built computer from a company in Tacoma and then after a few years, when it got long in the tooth, I built a state of the art, super fast, new one from scratch. (With help from my brother!) I transferred all of our old video tapes to DVD and edited them using the new computer and it became an important part of my daily life.

Carol isn't comfortable with more than one remote control in the living room. Even though there are separate remotes for the surround sound, the Bluray DVD player, the CD player and the VCR, we keep them put away out of sight.

In contrast, my brother JC, has at least six remotes (at last count) sitting on his coffee table. His big screen TV plays 3D movies and his lab and bedroom are a technophobes dream. (Or a Luddites nightmare!)

Lately I've begun to agree with Carol. I know that when we all get together for a barbecue or just a visit, sitting outside on our patio or JC's deck and talking is a whole lot more fun than sitting in silence in the living room watching a movie on TV.

I've already made it clear how I feel about cell phones and now people are packing lap tops, tablets, iPads and iPods around with them also.

New cars come with GPS systems and built in computers, new refrigerators have computers to tell you if your food is out dated and that's just the beginning.

I'm afraid that if there was an electromagnetic pulse, either from a giant sun spot or a nuclear attack, which would fry the power grid, kill the computers in automobiles and shut down all of our electric and electronic devices, we'd all be walking helplessly around in circles not having a clue what to do next. Aborigines in the Australian out back would hardly be affected and would go on with their daily lives, blissfully unaware that the “civilized” world was coming to an end.

It's all coming so fast that I feel like technology just passed me by and left me spinning in its wake.

I'm afraid that I'm becoming a Luddite too!

Good Excuse

Three weeks ago a doctor recommended that I don't drink any alcohol for two months because of stomach inflammation that showed up on an EGD. I'm not so sure that was a good idea.

I've been reading articles about the benefits of red wine for some time, and I thought that now with Japan's nuclear reactor scare I should post some highlights:

Reports on the benefits of red wine are almost two centuries old," "The breadth of benefits is remarkable – cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity, and many more,"

Red wine contains a complex mixture of bioactive compounds, including flavonols, monomeric and polymeric flavan-3-ols, highly colored anthocyanins, as well as phenolic acids and the stilbene polyphenol, resveratrol. Brown said that some of these compounds, particularly resveratrol, appear to have health benefits.

Resveratrol exhibits therapeutic potential for cancer chemoprevention as well as cardioprotection.Resveratrol may aid in the prevention of age-related disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

And here's the kicker:

According to the latest research, red wine – along with its many other claimed benefits – may also protect you from radiation exposure. A team at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered that resveratrol, the natural anti-oxidant found in red wine, can protect cells from the damage caused by radiation.

Impending nuclear attack? Then scientists may soon recommend that it is best you start drinking heavily and not just because you may be facing oblivion.

Didn't I see on CNN that a tiny amount of radiation is showing up on the west coast? I for one, plan on being well protected no matter what the darn doctor says!!

Listening

Since Parkinson's disease has reduced my voice to little more than a raspy whisper, I sometimes get frustrated at not being able to speak loud enough to be heard.

However, I've found that because of this I'm becoming a much better listener. This is not a bad thing.

Now, during a conversation, I try to take time to think about what I want to say, and often after some consideration, I just keep quiet and listen. Like Thumper was told in the movie Bambi, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!"

A few of our family and friends are getting hard of hearing, which compounds the problem, but as long as they can see my face, a little lip reading on their part helps.

I've also found that It's pretty hard to put your foot in your mouth if you keep your mouth shut, although it is possible, (especially if you're married.)

Doctors and Nurses

Lately it seems as though we spend more time at doctor's offices and hospitals than we do at home. Between Brad's ongoing stomach problems, Carol's arrhythmia , JC's cancer, my weight loss, and now Don's latest scary close call with a perforated intestine, the doctors and nurses are getting all too familiar with the name Cleland.

JC and I have already had our hospital records switched when my records were accidentally put in his folder and his in mine. Luckily we caught it before Dr. Frank Stein operated on the wrong hump.

More than once when I've gone in for a test or “procedure” a doctor or nurse will say, “Hmm, Cleland, are you related to Brad? Or Don? Or John? Or Carol?

Hopefully one of these days we can all get back to normal and become strangers to the doctors and nurses again.

Skinny Bob part 2

Well, I finally remembered not to eat before a fasting blood test and got that accomplished. A few days later the clinic called and said the results were negative.

Then I went to the hospital in Newport for chest x rays, and again the results were negative.

Next was the CT scan, and except for springing a leak and dripping blood all over the floor after they unhooked the IV, I passed it with flying colors.

A Colonoscopy was next and when I went to the pre-op appointment to see Dr. Hoque, he suggested having an EGD, (Esophagogastroduodenoscopy) also. Which is basically the same as a Colonoscopy but they go down from the top end to look at the inside of the stomach. (Hopefully not with the same equipment!)

Carol and I arrived at the hospital a little after 6:am, since I was the first “procedure” of the day. I weighed in at 131 pounds. The nurses and anesthetist all were great as they prepped me,and at 8:am they rolled me into the operating room.

The next thing I knew I was in the recovery room waking up.

In a little while a nurse helped me into a wheelchair and wheeled me back out to the outpatient room where I had started. They paged Carol and after she arrived another nurse sat down with us to explain what they had found and what the doctor had prescribed.

They had found and removed a polyp from my colon, (No big deal.)

The doctor advised a high fiber diet. Yum, sticks and twigs!

The EGD however, revealed a Hiatal hernia and Gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) and they had the gross pictures to prove it!

The doctor prescribed Carafate liquid, 2 ounces 4 times a day for 2 months. The nurse pointed to the sheaf of instructions for me to take home. The Carafate can only be taken 1 hour before and 2 hours after you eat. Huh?

The doctor also advised no coffee or alcohol for the next 2 months. WHAT?

My head was spinning from the leftover anesthetic and the instructions, but I did manage to ask, “Could any of these things be the reason for my weight loss?”

“No, the doctor doesn't think so.” Great!

So I still don't know why I'm losing weight, my morning coffee and my evening wine are gone for two months and I have to drink this gunk that tastes like watered down Pepto Bismol 4 times a day.

Seeing

Sometimes while I'm taking my daily walk up to JC's house I find myself sleepwalking, day dreaming along, not paying attention to anything but the gravel under my feet. I'm sure I've plodded right by a lot of wildlife and scenery that I would have enjoyed seeing if I had only opened my eyes and paid attention.

I find however, if I take my camera along I start looking around and seeing things, like the Blue Heron trying to catch a minnow and keep an eye on me at the same time. Like the Otters watching me from the lake and the Wood Ducks paddling and quacking along in the bay on the north side of the road.

Yesterday, which was sunny, but one of the coldest days of this winter, I bundled up in a down jacket, pulled on some wool gloves, and as an afterthought slipped my camera into a pocket.

Even though the temperature was in the thirties there was a fisherman trying his luck from the bank next to the highway.

Just east of the lake is a meadow where Elk come to browse quite often, but almost always at night. I see their fresh tracks several times a week as I walk by, but I've only seen the Elk three or four times. Yesterday they were calmly grazing in the cold sunshine.

I wonder how many times I've walked right past them.

What day is it?

Despite having an atomic clock next to my computer that tells me the date, day of the week, phase of the moon and even the time, and despite the day, date and time being displayed in the lower right hand corner on my computer monitor, I very seldom know what day it is.

I get a clue from my pill minder, a plastic compartmentalized gizmo that helps me keep track of the colorful array of pills and capsules that I'm supposed to take every day. It's clearly marked M T W T F S S, but usually I ignore that information and just take the pills in the compartment next to the empty one.

I also get a clue when I walk out to the mailbox, (usually in the rain,) and there isn't even any junk mail. That's likely Sunday, but not always.

Doctor's appointments are carefully marked on our desk calendar but when I ask Carol about them she usually says, “I don't know, what day is it today?” This causes me to go in the den to check the computer and find out.

Paying bills by check also makes me ask, “What's the date today?”

Most of the time though, I really don't care!