I Bad!!!

DeBary, FL.

49 deg. rain, no wind.

Forecast = Showers early, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 62F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.


Yeah!!! I know, I'm Bad!!! It's been over a month since I've last posted, but to be honest, there hasn't been much interesting happening here. First there was Christmas and everything went fine. Laura, Lindsey, Anna, Ashley and her friend Chris came over Christmas morning and everyone enjoyed "finger food" and then opened presents. It seemed like everyone had a good time.

Jim and Linda spent New Year's Eve watching TV until after midnight. (Nothing exciting to write about).

On the 5th of January, Kevin, (the local handyman), and a friend came over and installed new flooring in the kitchen and dinning area. The old stuff was some peal and stick vinyl tile and it was coming loose in places and breaking up in other places. The new flooring looks really nice don't you think?

Yesterday morning, Jim and Linda took Lila and headed over to Thonotosassa, Fl. (which is over near Tampa), for Dave and Dee Dee's fish fry. You long time readers will know that Dave and Dee Dee are part of the "Illinois Bunch" that come down to Florida in the winter and spend the summer's at their homes up in Illinois. Actually, Dave and Dee Dee are the last of the Illinois Bunch that still travel. We lost Gordy a few years ago and now Denny and Bev have sold their Motorhome, so Dave and Dee Dee are the only ones left that have  RVs and still travel. :-(

Anyhow, Dave does a lot of fishing  during the summer, up in IL. Then it is frozen and he and brings the fish down to Florida each year. Then some time after the first of the year, they invite a whole bunch of people from the park where they winter in and have this big fish fry. In years past there have been as many as 50 people there, but this year, the count was down to 30 or so. The weather may had had something to do with it. it was kind of cold, cloudy with some wind, making it kind of uncomfortable to be sitting outside for too long.

This photo taken before most folks arrived.

 
Both Jim and Linda said that the fish was great though, and so was all the other food that the other folks brought.

When Jim and Linda returned here last night, they were both beat, but both said that they really enjoyed seeing Dave and Dee Dee again, and all the others that they knew from times that we used to stay at the park when we were full-timing in our Motorhomes.

That pretty much brings us up-to-date. Both Jim and Linda seem to be doing well. Jim has doctor's appointment with the chemo Dr. in the middle of February for a check-up and then, unless something's wrong, (and he doesn't expect there's anything), the next doctor's appointments for both Jim and Linda will be in April.

Hope all of you are doing well and I'm really sorry about not posting sooner.

Oh, and those of you who called or e-mailed to see how Jim and Linda were doing, Thank You!!

Did you know that on this date in 1963 - The first members to the NFL's Hall of Fame were named in Canton, OH?


Woof!!!

"Bad Dog" Has A Gripe!!!

DeBary, FL.

43 deg; clear, no wind.

Forecast = A few passing clouds, otherwise generally sunny. High 56F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.  Tonight, clear. Low near 35F. Winds light and variable.


I've got a gripe!!!!!!   It's about Jim's cancer.

You see, a few days ago, Jim got his current medical records off of an Internet site. I don't know what many of those things mean, but when it come to patient's "Social History" it only says one thing!!!!

Now, throughout most of Jim's adult life and even as a teenager, he worked on cars and became a mechanic at a car dealership at the age of 19. During these years, he preformed many brake jobs and clutch replacements, dealing with asbestos dust. No one knew how dangerous this dust was so there were no masks or any other type of protection used. In fact, they used to use compressed air to blow the dust off of the brake parts as they disassembled the brake system. He was also exposed to all kinds of fumes, including gas fumes, solvent fumes and other cleaning and lubrication fumes.  And, I'm sure he also inhaled gas and diesel fumes from the running cars, trucks and heavy equipment that he worked on.

Also, from the time he was 13, he worked on farms in the area around the small town he was raised in. Even as an adult, he worked on the farms on weekends and evenings, as a hired hand doing all types of chores including spraying insecticides, weed killers and general work out in the fields breathing in a lot of dust dirt, fertilizers and whatever else was in the soil.

Then, a few times during his adult years, he remodeled some houses, dealing with fiberglass, plaster, lead paint and asbestos shingles and asbestos house siding.

Back in the 50's, 60's and 70's no one even though about what was in all of the above chemicals.

Also, throughout most of these years, Jim smoked cigarettes. In fact, he started at a very young age and didn't quit until he was in his late 50's.

Now, can you guess what was listed under "Social History" on his medical records?????

Yep!! Smoking!!!! Nothing about farming, working as a mechanic breathing asbestos dust, breathing fiberglass or asbestos during home remodeling!!!!

So,  ,  ,  , as you can probably guess, my question is why is everything blamed on smoking??? He may or may not have gotten the cancer from smoking, but why couldn't he have gotten it from all that brake dust and clutch dust that he inhaled or all those chemicals out on the farm!!!!

It's popular right now to blame smoking for a multitude of ailments and so I'm thinking that they didn't even really listen to Jim when he told at least 4 doctors about the jobs he had throughout the years. It was easier to just blame "smoking"!!!!!


Jim is doing fine, he now has had 2 chemo treatments and 9 radiation treatments. He had kind of a  bad night this last Saturday when he was kept awake because of coughing. But by Sunday, he was feeling better and his breathing seemed a little easier. During the night, he coughed up a lot of  "junk" and that probably means that the Radiation is working and has shrunk the tumor a little, allowing some air in and out of the collapsed lung. At his radiation treatment, yesterday morning, he told the techs what had happened and they said that although they didn't know for sure, that was what happened many times when the lung opened up. :-)

They did a scan and this morning, Jim will see the radiation doctor, (Dr. Graham), and maybe he'll be able to tell Jim and Linda if that's the case.

A Quote to Ponder:  “One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.”
Jack Penn


Grrrrrrrr!!!! Woof!!!

We Survived The Freezing Temperatures and Bad Dog

DeBary, FL.

53 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast = Sunny to partly cloudy. High 82F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

We' survived the freezing weather we had down here in FL the other day. As far as I know, there were no freeze-ups here at the house or over at the CG where Nora is parked. Jim and Linda went over to check on Nora the next day and he said that everything seemed fine.

Today, the weather guessers are forecasting that we're going to have temperatures up in the 80's!!! I suppose soon I'll be whining about the temperature being too high. :-)


Nick Russell who publishes Nick's Blog that I follow almost every day and is the publisher of the Gypsy Journal Newspaper, has a blog called "Bad Nick", and that's where I got the idea of, from time to time,  naming some of my posts, "Bad Dog"!!!

I hope Mr. Russell doesn't mind that I stole his idea, but I just couldn't resist using it to vent some of my feelings about different subjects.

These posts are not meant to stir anything up but to just give my opinion on things that bug me. Your opinion may be different than mine and I respect that. I will not get into a discussion or argument about any of these things because I don't think that any of them, in the  whole scheme of things, are worth jeopardizing my friendship or relations with anyone.

Bad Dog!!!

Well, here we go.  There’s something that has been bothering me lately and I think it’s time I got it off of my chest!!!

I want to talk about the latest thing that’s happening at the Daytona Speedway concerning Kurt Bush.

 

Now, I want to start by saying that I really don’t like Bush much, because I don’t like his style of driving. But, I don’t think that what NASCAR is doing to him is right!!!

Kurt has not been proven guilty of anything!!! Yet, NASCAR has chosen to be judge and jury and suspend him indefinitely!!!  Now, I don’t know if he’s guilty or not, but I do think that until he’s proven guilty, he shouldn't be suspended.  Now, once there’s a trial with a jury, then as far as I’m concerned, let the cards fall where they may with him or anyone else.  If he is found guilty, then suspend him!!

What ever happened to “Innocent until proven guilty”?

In fact, in my opinion, I think that lately, this has been happening much too often. Its happened in the NFL, and it seems to be running throughout many of the different sports. It's also been happening with teachers and police officers, just to name a few professions. 

All is takes is for 1 person to accuse someone of doing something,wrong. Then the media jumps on it, and in most cases the first thing that happens is that person is suspended or even fired!! 

Just My Opinion!!!!

A Point to Ponder; You should not confuse your career with your life.

Woof!!!!

This And That and A Little Change

DeBary, FL.

52 deg. partly cloudy, NW wind @ 6 mph.
Forecast = sunshine. High 78F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.

It's been awhile since I've posted, but there hasn't been much happening around here lately. About the only thing I can think of is that Jim and Linda took all of the Christmas decorations down yesterday.

I don't know why, but it always seems like it's much more fun to put them up than to take them down. :-(

Linda's been working with her Family Tree Maker program and has been finding all kinds of  "good stuff" on the Internet. Most of the things she's looking for are accurate dates and maiden names of some of the wives of her ancestors.

While she's been doing that, Jim has been out in the shed organizing some of the things out there. He's found a few items that he's been looking for since he and Linda bought this place. :-) He's also been organizing some of the things inside of the house. Mostly items that were just stashed someplace in closets and drawers when first brought into the house.

The weather has been really nice lately, but it sounds like we're in for a cold snap. I've been watching the weather up North and it looks like some of that really cold weather that they're having up there is heading this way. The weather guessers are saying that by Thursday, the highs will only be in the 50's, which is quite cool by Florida standards.

I've been kicking around a new idea for this blog lately. There are some things that really bug me and some other things that I think are worth thinking about. I'm going to try to stay completely out of politics as that subject can get really messy. Here's an example of the new section of the blog that I'll be calling "Bad Dog"!!

There's a national chain that sells chicken. You've all seen their adds on TV. They advertise a lot and on TV they show families around the table with a huge bucket of chicken set in the middle. Well, here's my "Beef" with their ad. They show the bucket over full with the chicken protruding above the rim of the bucket.

It sure looks nice on TV.

But, what does your bucket of chicken look like when you buy it?  Well, it doesn't look like the ad on TV. The chicken is at least 2" down below the rim of the bucket and it sure doesn't look as appetizing as it does in the commercial!!! Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the chicken. I think it's very good, but to me, the commercial is very deceiving!!!

There's lots of things like this that bug me as well as some news items that I will comment on. I know it doesn't really make any difference what I think and in the whole scope of things they're really not important at all, but maybe some of you will find them interesting and maybe even a little thought provoking.

A Point to Ponder : A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Woof!!!