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The
Squamidian Report – May 11 / 24
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1146 Russ Nova Scotia Sus The Ontarion Doug
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From Russ
No news is good news It's been 5 days since my colonoscopy and I haven't heard a word from my family doctor - is it safe to assume they didn't find anything of concern while "up there" or "down there" ?? Being "the eternal optimist", I believe I have neither a stomach ulcer, nor bowel cancer! At the moment, all I can tell you is I will never go through that again!! The preparation for a colonoscopy is downright cruel for a person with incontinence!! And I can show you the truth by the "trail" from bed to bath. I've been planning to replace the carpet in my bedroom ever since my beloved dog Donny, proved he had chronic kidney disease - the proof permanently staining the carpet!! My son Greg to the rescue. He has been working for a contractor who buys old houses and turns them into one bedroom apartments, and rents them out - making a good profit. Greg learns quickly, and can do almost anything required for these renovations, including laying "snap-flooring". Moving all the furniture and tearing up the carpet will be just as "painful as prep for a colonoscopy". I had a dream about this very issue, and my son, who has a notoriously bad temper and is bereft of patience, got so angry he began swearing profusely, and throwing things all over the place!! The 'last straw' was when he thew his pry-bar smashing the window!! I felt the draft - and woke-up. Was this an omen? * I know you must be 'burning-up' with curiosity not knowing the answer to my quiz of the past week or two: "What am I?" The dictionary on my desk reads> "A mud puppy is an aquatic salamander" There were two other names that were also correct, but 1st prize went to aquatic salamander. Russ PS Now, you can sleep nights! ****
From Nova Scotia Sus
We are finally getting the much needed rain...things were looking pretty dry. The lawns will be ready to mow when we get the next dry day. I have a John Deere lawn tractor and just love it. I not only mow our yard but Zanes too and down by our pond. It takes awhile but everything looks so good when it is done. Our road is under construction for the next while. We are way overdue and finally the county has realized it. The ditches have all been cleaned out and dug deeper. I forgot how deep they were when no trees were growing in them. New culverts are to be installed at each driveway.....that should be interesting. I may have to shut down my business as no one would be able to get in or out our lane. Next job is to tear up the old pavement and put down new. So we are in for a long haul. The latest addition to our pond is a male duck and a female with about 5 little ones behind her. Again we try not to disturb them so we watch from a distance. Tomorrow we pick up our meatbird chick's. They're so cute at 1 day old but so soon turn into lazy birds eating their way to 6 weeks old. We will do another batch after that. It gives up our meat for the next year. They are so easy to raise. We take them to a butcher who handles the hard part. My brother Warren is coming for a visit later this month. He loves to visit and get away from B.C. for awhile. Sus ****
The Ontarion
Well, the surgery is over and so far a success! I was home and sleeping by 1:30 pm Thursday! The procedure went perfectly according to the surgeon! I am sore but feeling well after all! This was another surgery where I had to lie awake for the whole thing and it was terrifying indeed! Oh well it’s over now and I’m back with my family! Now all we have to do is make it through the next month til all is healed and we can start the home dialysis! I’m so happy to still be able to contribute to the weekly squid! It was supposed to be raining today but turned out sunny and bright! All in all a lovely day which is what I’m wishing each and every one of you this week! Take care and I’ll talk to you again next week! HAPPY MOTHER’s DAY TO ALL THE MOTHERS IN THE SQUID GROUP. Bye for now! Greg ****
From Doug
How’s it going…..eh? This just might be my last addition to the ongoing saga of my cataract situation. As you may remember, the results for my right eye fell well short of expectations. To that end, a second surgery was suggested, a more invasive one that would remove the current lens and replace it with another. Well, and this took me by surprise, one day about a week and a half ago, I realized that I could see quite well through my right eye. It had gone from very poor day vision and useless night vision to almost as good as my left eye. Just like that. We were out for a walk and as I looked around at the mountain scenery I realized that I could see it, clearly. Wow. I sat on that for a few days to see if it would change again or stay at this improved state or perhaps get even better. Vision seems to have settled into a very usable state with the only issues being in low light or dark conditions but even during those conditions vision a bit improved. So, I’ve made an appointment with my optometrist so we can evaluate the eye and possibly cancel the surgery or postpone it for a while. That would be a good thing given the risks and discomforts of any surgery. The only thing I can think of is that 2 things have happened and it has taken this long for them to happen. Firstly, that eye had gone through a lot of painful trauma and it took this long for that to settle down, heal, etc. Secondly, my brain is now learning to use the lens in that eye now that the eye itself is doing better. The optometrist may have a more informed opinion. But, vision is vision and I’ll happily take it. Now this has all lead to something a bit silly. With good vision I could possibly pass a TC flight medical exam. You may remember that back in the 70’s and 80’s I had a private pilot license and flew Cessna airplanes out of Waterloo airport. The idiotic thought that I could again go through flight training and re-qualify for a PPL entered my head. I sure hope I’m not that silly but I kept thinking about it. So, in order to distract myself I installed a flight simulator on my computer and purchased a yoke (the controls needed to pretend to fly) and have been re-learning to fly on screen. Even that has turned out to be exhaustingly hard as these sim programs are very realistic. Just learning to do simple things like straight and level flight, takeoffs, landings and so on take a lot of concentration but each ‘flight’ gets a bit better and a bit smoother. What is mind blowing is the quality of the graphics and the ‘realness’ of the flying (minus the cost and the risk). Hopefully this will satisfy my silly brain and I won’t be tempted to start hanging out at the local airport. There would be several big reasons NOT to let myself get too interested in ‘real’ flying again. The cost would be staggering and there are lots of other things to waste money on if I wanted to waste money. Then there is the mental investment, it would take a very high amount of mental energy and concentration. I’m not sure I’d be able to pull that off. And, I’d have to attend ground school again. I’d love the learning part but it would be twice a week for 12 weeks and be from 6 to 9 pm. Heck, thats past my bed time. On the other hand, lots of old farts go back to school to get a degree or to update their education but hopefully I’ll settle for flying around the country in a computer simulator. Boys and their toys, regardless of age. Here’s a pic of my computer with the sim setup. On screen I’m pulling a tight turn while flying over Howe Sound.
This simulator screen shot is of Anvil Island as I ‘fly’ south out the Sound.
* I believer that last week I mentioned that I might have the video, bare bones just me and my guitar version of that ‘How I’d Love To Be Alone With You’ song ready. Well, I do so here is the link. How I’d Love To Be Alone With You (the video version) Doug ****
Have
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Good One ****
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