Inventory

I have spent months trying to organize my coin collection. But somehow, collecting is far more fun than organizing and documenting! Yet, it has to be done! If I am ever to be able to identify and sell off the duplicates. My last attempt was some 2,500 coins done and then "someone got helpful and stuffed them all in a box and I had to start over. sigh Just another example of my being a non-person. [ So, I am thinking of trying again! I just have to figure out an easy way to do it. ... and time! so much to do, so little time! I think I need a nap now.....

Aging

I have been going back and watching shows from the 1970's ans 80's. My thought was to see how well they agd. You know, something that old still having something to say or showing that it can still captue an audience. Of course, I watched almost no TV in the 70's and 80's. Just no time. What with the mining operation, working with youth and keeping father's computers operational! Honeywell ... wonder when the last time I even remembered those computers? Such simplistic operating systems - sort of the Commodore 64 of the business world! Except the Commodore is more powerful! I got my first Commodore back when their price fell below $1,000. Back the, I had a buy option on one of those GE/Honeywell 50's. But one never came up on the market. But, as the Commodores got cheaper, I started writing stuff for them. Up until 1992,the Commodores did all I could ever ask. But with the internet, suddenly the Commodores limited memories and processor speeds - left no hope for old technologies! It is why I never got involved in PC's - they evolve too quickly to hope to keep up. Of course, today nothing seems to be changing in the PC world. It has reached the point of customer apathy. To many changes too fast. Without customer buy-in nor input. No product acceptance, No future. Been the rule of computing systems since the 1960's, Still true today.

My Precious!

Well, actually I was going to call this food wars ... I have long been interested in eating healthy, Alas, now at four months of not being able to drive, it is hard when no one will do any shopping with you or for you! Two weeks ago I thought I had GG talked into taking me to Trader Joes, lot of health and low salt alternatives to what is eaten around here! But once in the parking lot, the attitude hit! Making it painfully apparent I was being a pain the ass and she would in no way help me get what is needed! So, she did the shopping. Stocked up on noodle based, high salt, high sugar meals! Little of which I can eat! So, when Swede was over last week, I was able to get a few low salt pot pies. Thank heavens, I was able to get a few meals that way. Why not just stock up then? Because the refrigerator is completely filled with half eaten meals! I declared war on their hording of scraps of food about a month ago. But they do not listen .... Mostly because I am accorded NO respect in this house! Now Youngest Daughter has been leaving pieces of half eaten cake laying around. One bothersome piece of chocolate cheese cake on my printer! After 4 days, I threw that piece away! OMG! you would have thought I threw the only thing in world away she cherishes! "Sugar, my precious!" Well, at least she now understands we do not leave food scattered around the house! But of course, I am in the wrong and stand condemned ....

Salt

I have not used salt for some 30 years, maybe longer?

I was attending an IBM event in New York City.
Lunch had forgotten to be catered, so we were on our own.
I headed over to an interesting Italian place by my hotel, the Doric.
I ordered my tea and sat back to read the voluminous menu!

The owner was talking with one of the other customers,
Obviously,  a well known customer ....

".... Yeah, I first suspected something was wrong when my long time customers stopped coming by.  These were friends, parts of my family!

"So, I looked into it.  And you know what?  They were all dead!"

"This took more time than I had so, I contacted an investigation firm to give me a run down at how my friends were all dying!"

Okay, he had my interest!

They all died from heart problems!

The culprit?  Salt.

I perked right up!  Salt can kill you?
So, it does seem, though only recently has a direct link been scientifically proven!
In fact, many fatal ailments can now be traced back to the abundance of salt  in our diet!

But, it is sooooooooooooo tasty!

Last night I ate a half dozen eggs,
Some even with salt!
Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now they disappeared far too fast!

Well, I have now forgotten where I was going w this!
gess-Louise!
Me and my brain!
Or lack there of ......

Zippo

Well, my plans for a painting holiday did not come to fruition.
But, I did manage to watch some instructional DVDs!
Sort my painting related library.
Identify about 30 books to sell to the used bookstore.
And I did a bunch of cleaning!

Talked with my mining partner's widow.
She is just now starting to date.
I can understand her loneliness.
Especially in light of her having been with him for 42 years!

Then I got to thinking about my adoptive family.
He was not very wise.
Convinced that she was a fluff headed blond,
He knowingly refused to provide for her should he die first!
So, he did, and other than her own retirement, she has NOTHING!!!!

How does that show love to someone whom shared 65 years of their life with you?

Yeah, for as great of a Christian he was,
He left a hollow legacy behind him.
I know Gaelic Girl now stands to inherit my trust account for my disk drive technology.
It is not much but should double her retirement,
For life.

And I am still working on trying to make it four more years.
sigh ....

Comcast Down

So, were it not that I posted Monday's post on last Saturday, there would have ben NO posts for this week!
Yeah, No connectivity this past week!
So, I called Comcast and asked for their help.

They patronized me.
Told me my computer was the problem.
Apologized profusely when I called them on this classic CYA approach.
Then repeated it alll again.

I made an appoint for my computer with their repair people.

So, I was to be down for another week.
But, when I was shutting down my computer, I accidentally toggled my browser
... and up popped Firefox!
Instant connectivity!

So, computer is back up!
Gees, what a day!

Forth Reich

A friend gave me a number of books before my hospitalization, not realizing I could no longer read!  With the return of my mind two weeks ago as come the ability to read!  Very nice, I love reading.

One of the books was entitled, "The Forth Reich".
For those of you whom are weak on your German, Reich, refers to the State.
Like your Federal Government.
Now, World War Two was fought with the Third Reich.
Hitler's self described, thousand year civilization.
Luckily for mankind, a conglomerate of godless heathens defeated the German forces.
(referring to the leadership, not those performing the fighting!)

Now what most do not understand is that, there has already been a war against the Forth Reich - and the results are a bit of a mixed bag.
In a combined effort, the US, Britain, Norway, and Russia combined an assault first on Antarctica and then on to Argentina in 1947.

The entire effort lacks any formal documentation!
It is all "Top Secret".
Really?
Why, 60 years later?
Nope cover up time, because you see America won WWII!
Hitler was either shot in the head by his own hand, took poison, died fighting in the streets of Berlin or escaped by Junker heavy lifter or submarine! Point is: he is officially dead!

And if he isn't dead from WWII, then America looses credibility in the world's eyes.
And somehow, that is more important than truth?
That is how we ended up with political correctness, what the elite dictate truth to be - becomes truth!
So, we have truth and then there is "truth"!

Not very convenient.

Oh make no mistake, the little war did occur, NAZI forces were subdued, if not utterly destroyed.  But not without cost.  Any you would think that cost documented - NOPE!
But a 1990's investigation found ALL of the suspected Argentinian locations of Nazi sympathizers utterly destroyed.
All antarctic sites are under "No Fly" zones.
Enforced by military jets and rockets!

Is it possible Hitler did escape?

There was a route from the Bunker to the surface.
There was a landing strip at that spot.
There were all 5 of the Junker lifters in town, with their 18,000 km flight range.
All 5 left in mass with virtually all staff, gold treasury and important documents.
And all Junker disappeared from history.

Now father told long ago of:
Having had a flight at the end of WWII from his base in northern Poland to Bergen.
The point of the trip was a U boat inspection of some type.
It is one of those stories of his which does not fit with what we know!

But today it fell in place, maybe?
Just stick in there with me as I piece this together.

So father is taken from Poland, to Bergen.
No idea why him.
To do something unique to him.
That was of value at the time.
He performed his task and was taken home to play cat and mouse with the Russians.
The tale would be meaningless were it not for father remembering the U boat's number!
The same number as a boat now thought to have ferried Hitler to Argentina!
Too weird.

I wonder now if his other odd tale of loading a U boat during an evacuation, was a part of the other tale?
And the execution of the captain.
How could all of this fit together?

Yet father never said anything about what is known about the Forth Reich, nor associated subjects one could wonder about.
sigh ....
So many unknowns .....
sigh

And this inquiring mind would like to know!

Blogging

One hard thing about blogging is thinking up something to write about everyday!
It is darn hard, when your life is as boring as mine has been for several years!
I have often just thought about creating a little routine to create a "Ditto" post for days I don't log in.
Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Well, my weird sense of humor.

I went out and browsed random Blogs like I used to do years ago.

I remember back about 2000, when I first started, the average Blog was by Japanese 14 year old girls, writing about their cats.
2005 saw a move to less clothing and fewer morals.
2010 and Bloglandia seemed to fizzle away.
And never returned.

Yeah I know there are many platforms now, and many more formats.
So, you either have an account with every platform or you don't get to play!

I did get several accounts the various platforms and after one day of trying to browse, I found it was too time consuming!
Life was so much easier with my old computer and its multi-processors!
I could be attending a meeting on one processor and browsing on the other!
Ah, the good old days!

Well, time to get ready for my daily nurse visit!
ciao

Question

So, last night, Gaelic Girl, asked me over dinner what the highlight of the prior year was.  Oh, tough one......

This past year has seen numerous surgeries, each gassing erasing my mind even further!
A very tough one!

But, my mind started working.
Albeit, with little to do since the brain keeps getting erased!
I can sit and read again!
For hours if I want.

But most of the year was in one hospital after another.
Though, I do have a well working heart, which is a major deal!

My non-medical accomplishments are almost nonexistent!

So, that has to leave my family.
I am generally proud of most of their statuses.
Of course, I am a bit worried that they all have selected paths away from their Creator.
But, I can not live their lives for them ..... sigh .....

Just prayer, lots of prayer for each of them .....

(oh yeah, she liked my answer.)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes the inevitable as occurred again!
I have lived to see my 65th birthday, but not by much!

Celebration was dinner out to Red Lobster.
I was a mite concerned, what with Snow-mageddon and all!
Of course, it turned out the was NO snow between Seattle and Federal way, a distance that covers most of the south Seattle landscape!
So I am clueless as to where all this disaster area is - even up at Swede's there was only 3 inches!
Lord, Washitonians have grown into a group of whiny butts!
Years ago, if there was 1.5 feet of snow, we would roll over and thank God for a day off!
Not today!
No, we need FEMA to tells us not to drive on icy roads!

REALLY??????

Of course all of these transplant to the west have come from nanny-states where people have assigned the task of thinking to the state!  All you have to do is do your drugs and remember not to OD!  Oh yeah, and expect the public at large to provide all the NARCON you will need to stay alive!  Let's face it, we have become an irresponsible culture and society, all in the name of tolerance!

Okay, that is my birthday rant.
Backing off of my soapbox.
:^)

Snow

Let it snow,
Let it Snow,
Let it snow!
Ho-Ho,Ho,HO!

Yes it is that marvelous time of year when we get  annual allotment of big fluffy frozen rain flakes!

So beautiful, so calming.

I can remember sitting as a child in the inn in Basel, a big mug of steaming cocoa.  My window seat was sort of an alcove, quietly nestled off to the side, a 180 degree view of the street.  My sister found her Archies comic books more interesting than watching snowflakes, people slipping and sliding and dumping their roasted chestnuts all ove the street!

I stayed here so often, the service staff all knYeah, good times,
Warm memories.

I wonder If I got some cocoa mix?

Freedom vs Materialism

It has never ceased to amaze me at no matter how poor or rich your surroundings, greed and hoarding are a problem common to man.

I have seen this in Mexico with the Indians seeking their living on the garbage dumps, yet equally amongst multi-millionaires seeking that elusive next million!  Apparently you never do have enough!

And you can not talk to either end of the spectrum about the foolishness of pursuing more that they they need or could use!

I once had one close friend that he could in no way ever spend it! 
Image so much wealth that you would have to SPEND $11,000,000 per day for the rest of your life! And he was 26, with a long statistical life ahead of him!
"Imagine my surprise when that life was suddenly truncated four years later!
Drunk driver, bad roads, a statistic in the waiting!

Last I heard the lawyers were working hard to spend as much of it as possible!
Before any heirs would see a nickel!.
Yeah, such is greed

As I have long stated:
I have been rich and I have been dirt poor, and was Christian walk was much better when I was poor and in need.
Yeah, when you NEED God, He has you where you belong.
And you are then free to live His life.

If you were living a non-materialistic lifestyle then:
You could HELP the needy and not hoard
You would concentrate on what is not perishable
You would be able to focus on eternal things
You would realize life is not about loot

Yeah, Matthew 6:19-24, lays it out nicely, if you want to check it out.

Bonus points:
And what are those eternal things?

Mother

You know, this past year has been hard enough without my mother inflicting me with her weirdness!
She is simply fixated on the concept that if she is not in her house - it will be stolen!
And there is no reasoning with her!

So next Wednesday is her birthday and I am trying to get together with her.
Nope!  Not going to happen because she demands a party at her house!

But with 8 stairs that is not going to happen with my injured leg.
So I talk her in to going to Tims in Orting.
Close to home, She knows everyone and okay food.

It took 30 minutes to get her to understand that there are four days I can get a ride down to Orting.
Another half hour to get her to understand this is a dinner, after 5:00, not a breakfast or lunch!
No matter how hard you pout or throw a temper-tantrum!

Finally an hour later she opts for this Saturday!
By now, Gaelic Girl is in kill mode and would just as soon not play my driver for this event!
Mother is PO'ed because she is not getting her way!
And me?
I would rather be on a sunny beach somewhere else!

I can hardly wait for Sunday!

Hospitals In Seattle

So with all of my excitement over 2019, I was a bit taken back by changes in the Seattle medical field!

I was in college when I first had to use a hospital - stupid here, tangled with a roll of razor wire, aka concertina wire.
The powers that be shipped ASAP to the nearest Emergency Room, Highline Hospital!
Two of the core-men passed out, as did my Sargent!

The razor wire had caught me behind the right  elbow, around rhe arm and down to the first knuckle of the thumb.
132 Stitches and it almost looked like an arm.

With only the two core-men on its side, Fort Lewis' medical team got a big FAIL from me.
Highline got a PASS.
And no matter where I was living in the world, or staying at the time, I held off treatment until I could get to Seattle and Highline!
The worse it ever was, was the day the Polish government failed and I was injured and trapped by politics.  28 hours to get them t
o release me and 10 more to make it back.  In the meantime I was calling and getting apppointments so there would be no hang-ups!  Being a medical emergency has its advantages, with most governments.

In 2015, I again needed medical help and Swedish was the choice, since the best surgeon in the Seattle area did not work in the Highline Hospital.  Weird but what-ever.

And Swedish became my hospital of choice!  Except that their nursing staff was straight out of a Nazi horror film!  It really was not funny and I swore never again!

Come 2016 and I needed some heart tests that were done by UW Medicine and Swedish.  This time around, both got a passing score.

Now we come to 2019 and my how medicine has changed!

In 2018, I bought my insurance and 90 days later my policy was rolled up into a HMSO. As explained it seemed to be no big deal, just more paperwork for everyone!  But in 2019 that concept was failing badly!  Virtually ever doctor I relied on - retired or now works for Loew's Hardware!  The new batch simply will not play the HMSO game and referrals are impossible to get.  Further, hospitals have collectivized and list of "I don't work with group"
creates a bit of a problem.

So some examples:
We knew in August I would need heart surgery.
I got my team lined up, even hassled through the facility issues!
The approval came 5 days after my aorta had ruptured and all work was done last day of October as an emergency!
2.5 months for heart failure work!
REALLY?

I will never deal with an HSMO again .....

Then it seems that Highline, my hospital of choice for most of my life, no longer actually does medical stuff.  They will do bandages and kiss your boo-boo's.  But injuries are shipped to Harbor View in Seattle!

The staff are happy at Harbor View.
The in room food is pretty good to.
The nursing staff understand you are a living breathing paycheck for them!

But best of all - they talk to you!
Yes, they ask questions, they listen to answers and they speak English!  No big uncommon words last used by some veterinarian at the Battle of Sparta!

So, it is a pain to get to, but they are now my hospital of choice!

2019

So much has happened in 2019!

Of course, it all revolves around my heart and its problems.

In February I had another heart attack!  And it was a bad one!  In fact, I did not recover from it.  Randomly, my heart began failing.  As the year progressed, the failures came be more frequent.  But the hospital just wrote me off as a complainer!  Finally in August, after a particularly bad event - Gaelic Girl marched into my heart doctor’s office and confronted him, face to face!

He was so embarrassed, that he reopened my files.

By the time he was done with me, they had found the problem, a blocked artery in my heart.

Further testing showed four of the arteries were blocked and I had a bad valve as well!

They installed four stents to reopen the arteries - but the failures continued.

So I was scheduled for open heart surgery in October!

My heart continued to grow weaker and by the time of surgery my heart failed four times the day before!

If that was not enough excitement, my lungs failed in August and I was on pressurized air just to breathe!

I could not sleep either, for I would choke by even leaning backwards!

And I could not talk as I could only say, Yes and No.

Sigh …….

On the day of surgery, the doctor again recounted at how there was little hope for success, death was almost assured!

However, the drugs they used on me put me in a coma!

I came out of the coma two days later with no surgery done!

They thought I would die, so just waited!  Really?!!!!?

Sigh ……

So a week later they tried again.

When they cut into my chest, again, the major artery ruptured and a blew a nickel sized hard ball of whatever the blockage was - at the doctor!  He was filming and so has a movie of this!  By the next day, everyone in the nursing stations had copies of it on their computers!

And the blockage contained four stents!

Four arteries had to be replaced in the heart and a valve clipped (not sure what this means).

I spent a month recovering from this.

Then somehow my left foot was badly chemically burned!

No idea how.  I know I did not do it!

So, I have been in recovery from this since the end of November and at least 3 to 6 months more to go!

Large parts of the bottom of the foot had to be removed and are now re-growing!

Sigh …….

So, God certainly has been with me - just too many opportunities to die not happening!

Most people in my church are in awe at just how true this is!

Of course, those whom think I really am Satan - still do…..

Last week, my mind finally cleared enough to think again.

In fact I can see how my mind began to fail 12 years ago!          

Probably the oxygen issue but I was unaware of it at the time.

I am just glad 2019 is finally over!

And I am on the rebound.