Haven't Been Posting, Here's Why

I haven't written anything here in a while. I have a choice, being somewhat functional and in a whole lot of pain or being stupid from the pain pills. I am on a somewhat self limitation of taking the Tramadol only three times a day, I really do not wish to be strung out on these. So they wear off and I sit around moaning. Stupid Shingles.

It's hard to explain the pain. It's kind of like being stabbed, first in one spot, then in another, but not really. It's kind of like the worst toothache ever, first in one spot, then in another., but not really. It's kind of like a hot coal, first in one spot, then another, again, not really. If one can imagine a combination of those things, that's Shingles.

Meanwhile, Linda Lou is in yet another hospital, this one 'way up in Allen, Texas. Each hospital is further north than the last. I wonder are they trying to get my Kansas girl back home? Anyhow, this hospital specializes in rehab. She's supposed to be there about three weeks and then, I hope, home. Thing is, the surgeon who did this work does not want her to put any weight on that leg for six weeks after the surgery. That should be very close to the end of those three weeks. So, she's supposed to re-learn how to walk at this hospital but can't put any weight on that leg. Somehow I suspect that there will be still more hospital.

Lastly, Bingo T. Pug is all up to date with his shots and meds. Next comes Cochise' Apache Princess. Unless I find that new home for her. Trouble is, I cannot take her anywhere without having Linda Lou to drive. Oh well, this gives us a little time to pay down Care Credit a tad.

I'm Repentin'!

I had my follow up visit with my doctor about these Shingles. I'm not going to try to take and post pictures, just know that Doc Lopez was impressed, he hadn't seen many infections that large and gaudy.

Y'all remember when we were little kids and the preachers were always talkin' about that guy with the forked tail, pitchfork and burning hot coals? I'm here to tell you that he doesn't wait until we're dead. He's right there jabbing me on my right shoulder, front and back, my right arm and the right side of my back. The lucky thing is that it's not hit my face, people would run screaming.

I feel like I should have someone walking in front of me, carrying a lantern, ringing a bell and shouting "unclean, unclean!" What I forgot to ask the doc was how unsafe it is to go to the supermarket, etc. I dunno. I suspect it's only dangerous if one touches the sores, as if! What I do know is that I don't dare go see Linda Lou in the hospital until this heals.

Doc Lopez wants me to get a Shingles Vaccine as soon as I'm healed, why did he wait until I was already sick for that suggestion? I guess that's why the Texas Legislature specifically put hospitals and Doctor's Offices on the list of places we can't carry guns.

Anyhow, I'm almost done with the course of antiviral meds and then it's just waiting for this to heal, while hoping I don't get a secondary infection. Back to the Doc in about three weeks, which shows something about how long he expects me to be tied up. Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Meanwhile, anyone know of any Demcocrat "Winter Solistice parties you can get me invites to? I'm feelin' real socialable and huggy!

I'm Ready To Re-roof The House.

Well, I went to the Doc yesterday. I kept telling everyone they needed to be in gloves and masks but nobody cared. I didn't see Doc Lopez, instead I saw Amy, the PA. She took one glance and said "Shingles."

I have 12 days to get rid of these so I can bring Linda Lou home.

Update: Linda Lou does not come home on the 28th. Instead, that's is when she goes to the rehab hospital.

Dear Justice Breyer

I'm trying to remember the oath you said when becoming a judge. I'm pretty sure it was much the same as the one I took back in 1964 except for maybe obey the Officers, etc. Funny how I had to preserve and defend the Constitution, there didn't seem to be very many copies of that in Viet Nam. You, though, have that as your daily job.

I'm trying to figure out what language you speak, Judge. You and the rest of those nineteen bazillion government drones, all claiming to owe allegiance to the Constitution of The United States of America. I really wish the Framers would have made a little test for anyone wanting to draw the governments dime and anyone failing would be out.

You, Judge, were on the national news about the Second Amendment. You say the right of the people to keep and bear arms only counts for the Militia. Judge, a lot of folks have been discharged from the military and the modern militia, the National Guard. Judge, when someone gets out of the Service, according to you, they are no longer part of "the people" What are they, Judge? If they are no longer people, Judge, what species are they?

Here are some questions for everyone, Judge, congresscritter, drone, President. What is an enumerated power? If the Constitution, which, I remind you, you swore an oath to preserve and protect, left an action or law out, why are you mucking around in it? Under what authority? Why, sir, should any citizen care what you think about something that the Constitution gives you no right to mess about in?

I notice that you, and the other Washington types are messing about with the First Amendment, also. Take religion, for instance. Okay, the Federal Government says we don't have a mandated state religion. Great. It also says that the Federal Government should butt out of "the free exercise thereof". Now I'm just a poor dumb redneck but that clause pretty clearly says that if someone wants to say a prayer before a football game it's none of your business.

Exactly how many laws make up "no law" Judge? You bozos are trying to regulate internet speech. Aside from being cheaper than buying a printing press, how is the internet different than a pamphlet? I do not have the power to force anyone to read my blog.So, who gave you the power to regulate it? Please point those words in the Constitution out to me. Funny, my copy is from 2004 but I read Instapundit every day. and Althouse, too. You'd think a couple of Law Professors would mention a Constitutional Amendment. Maybe it happened during my stroke, I lost about a month there.

I read where the plaintiffs in the suit about Obamacare went to a conservative judge and it made a difference in the outcome. And where other suits went to liberal judges and there was a different outcome than that. Sir, that is not right. The Constitution is written in plain 18th Century English. The Federalist Papers are also right there, written in the same language. Judge, if the outcome of a trial differs because of a judge, we don't have law. I'm not sure, persactly, what we do have but it ain't law.

You Washington types keep piling rule after rule where it says "Congress shall make no law". So, Judge, how many laws are "no law"? Now I'm just a pore dumb redneck but they taught me in school that Congress shall make no law" means it's not the Federal Government's business. There's that pesky Tenth Amendment saying stuff like if the Constitution doesn't give you that power it belongs to the States or to the People. Well, Judge, I'm one of those People, no matter what you might think. I did not cede my freedom to you or your ilk.

So, when are you going to be through? How many laws make up no law?If you do not care about the well defined limits of your power and keep sticking your long federal nose into things that are clearly none of your business, when will you be satisfied?

You know, Judge, we don't need anyone to translate the law. We need judges, and congressmen and Presidents to follow the law. If a law comes out written so confusingly that a Judge needs to interpret it, it needs to go back to Congress to be re written so that a high school sophomore can understand and follow it.

Judge, just who the Hell are you to put your prejudices in instead of the clearly written Constitution? Seriously, who do you think you are?

Strange Days

Something strange has happened to me. I look like the kid who cut school to go skinny dipping, the truant officer came along and I hid in a poison oak patch to hide. Since I haven't done that, I dunno why I have weeping blotches that itch and hurt. To the Doctor with me. I shall call for an appointment. Chicken Pox? I don't remember if I had that as a kid.

There is good news and bad news on the Linda Lou front. The good news is that she will be released from the hospital on the 28th of December. The bad news? I have to clean the house. Eep!

I am trying to figure out exactly what is going on with this Me-Chelle Obama "nutrition" power grab. I don't recall her running for any office and I am unsure of just how a lawyer, whose main job was sending poor people to community clinics in order to save her hospital money is particularly qualified to tell parents how to feed their children.

I am not sure if it's me or society that is really getting strange. Me-Chelle was rattling on about how children get half their daily calories at school. And how we can't leave it up to parents to see that kids get a decent diet. Excuse me? Why are kids getting half their calories at school? I never got half my calories at school. Breakfast at home, a bag lunch, from home, and supper, at home. Or at Mario or Charlie's house.

Pardon me, I'm going to put my hard man hat on a minute. If a parent cannot feed the kid, the kid belongs in an orphanage. If the parents cannot feed the kid, the parents are certain to be failing in the rest of parenting. We have so many different programs to make sure that poor kids (and not so poor) have food that there is simply no excuse for poor nutrition. Show me a child with poor nutrition in the United States today and I will show you a "parent" selling the food stamp card for dope money. I don't know exactly how to fix that but this four and a half billion dollar boondoggle ain't it.

One last comment about Me-Chelle and her "nutrition expert" gig. Sorry. Nancy Reagan was fine with her "just say no" campaign. She said no and it didn't cost the counrty any four and a half billion, either. Laura Bush and her childhood reading? Great, she was a trained school librarian. Me-chelle and nutrition. Have you noticed ththe backside on that woman? Mercy. Me-Chelle, you need a different cause.

Bingo and I saw Linda Lou today and that's the doings here at the Poorfarm.

Picked Up A Bad Case Of The Germs

Well, I have picked up a bad case of the creeping crud, not in my body, nor in Linda Lou's but in my computer. Seems I have several virus types and now I can't do anything. Payday I'll take it to the computer doctor for a system flush or whatever it is they do. Until then I'm working on my old computer which is like a six year old waiting for a promised Christmas present, in February.

Meanwhile, the pills the Vet gave Bingo for his flea allergy really worked. He's like a new dog. He loves not itching horribly on his back where he can't scratch. He still loves his ear scritches, though. It's nice being able to scritch his ears and not have him move to where I'm not scratching right above the root of his tail.Bingo and I are going to see Linda Lou tomorrow.

I don't often agree with Bill Clinton but I sure did when he told Obama "please go". It would be nice to have an honest Administration in, like Harding or U. S. Grant. It was a strange scene, wasn't it? It made me believe more that Obama only likes to be seen as President, rather than be President. He loves him the big jet, the White House staff catering to his every desire. What he doesn't like is the mind boggling amount of work involved. Poor feller. He's spent his whole life being told how special he is. He's never had a job where he had any responsibility. I wonder how different this guy's life would be if he'd worked his way through college, say in a machine shop?

It would have really been fun to be in that office with no corners when they brought in that first huge pile of papers and told him, this is yours, deal with it. The look on his face when he realised that there is no one else to sluff it off on would have been priceless.

One Doc Says One Thing, Another Doc Something Else

I cleaned out Linda Lou's room at the old hospital and said my thanks and goodbyes yesterday because Doc Buch, the surgeon, said she was through there. So, today, the other Docs sent er back to that hospital. As near as I can figure, those Docs want her to finish the six weeks of IV antibiotics. At this point neither I nor Linda Lou know if this is six weeks from the start of the last time, in mid November or a brand new six weeks.

So, Linda Lou is back in Triumph Hospital in Dallas. In the same room as a matter of fact. The difference is that they came and took her (their) little fridge and microwave and, of course, I brought all of her stuff home. I spent today doing laundry so I'll take the clean clothes back in the morning. It's strange. I ask these Docs for a straight answer. I do not expect anyone to tell me that Linda Lou will wake up twenty-five years old or anything, I just want to know exactly what to expect. Yet everyone tells me something different.

Update: In answer to the question about why Linda Lou is back in that hospital for the antibiotic regimen, well it's simple. They have something called a PICC line in her, it is a widget that foes in a vein in her arm all the way up to her shoulder (?). Three times a day they hang an antibiotic drip that runs in for around an hour. The rest of the time she reads, sleeps, watches Law and Order, SUV (them Yankee cops up there in Noo Yawk sure must have problems with the Suburbans and Lincoln Navigators bein' stole) and being lonesome.

This lonesome is not the fault of the staff there at Triumph. I think the staff there deserves a whole blog post, along with a little primer for folks who may someday be old and need long term hospital or nursing home care. Hint: it's all in how the patient and regular visitors treat the lower level staff, the nurses and aides, the receptionist, the custodians, etc. Treat those people right and you or your loved one will get that extra inch or care that makes all the difference. Otherwise, you'll get the correct care but without the smiles and, yes, love.

I'm Just Too Old To Sleep On Couches

I spent Sunday night trying to sleep on Dean and Stephanie's couch. I'm way too old for that, plus it's more of a love seat. The thing was just too short. Anyhow I got up at five thirty in he morning and drove to the hospital Linda Lou was in, she'd already been taken away. So I got to Medical City and after a little bit of wandering, found her.Along about noonish they came and took her to the surgical suite and after a while they wheeled her away and took me to the waiting room. I sat. And sat. And sat some more. Shortly after four the Doc came out.

Doc Buch told me that they found no infection at all in there so they went ahead and fixed her leg bones. He claims that her bones are kinda weak (so that's why they broke!) so he is not sure if this fix will hold but he's got everything put together. We'll see if it lasts.

So, no four to six weeks on more antibiotics while waiting for the repair. It seems that she should go to a rehab facility for just long enough for her to be able to get from the wheelchair to the bathroom, etc. Hopefully, home by Christmas.

Thank you for the prayers and good wishes.

Scattershooting While Wondering Whatever Happened To Killin' Jim Miller

Well, Linda Lou is going from the hospital she is in to Medical City, Dallas Monday morning, they will be going in to take out the last piece of metal in there and then, if there is infection found inside, plant more antibiotic beads, leave it with nothing holding the loose bones, close it up and send her back to Triumph Hospital for four to six weeks before the Final Solution. If there is no infection in there they will go for the fix. At any rate she will be back in one of those "boots". I swear, they ought to put her in a plaster walking cast like they did with me back in 1967.

I will go up there Sunday, spend some time with Linda Lou, then pretend I am a kid again and sleep on a couch so I can get there early enough to hold Linda Lou's hand on her way and be there when she comes out. Plus I'll see the three boys and Stephanie and Dean.

It's funny, I hardly ever get comments on my guns and shooting posts but I do get E-mails about them. I just got a nice letter from a feller who was given (!) a Winchester Model 71 in .348 Winchester. I once was given a rusted ol' .22, never a fine levergun. Sigh. Then I got an E-mail from the feller who runs Carolina Cast Bullets. He casts bullets in the Lee molds, the same kind I use for my smokeless loads. He casts in a hard alloy, which is the right alloy for most autoloading rounds and for hot loads in the magnum revolvers. He also casts a softer bullet, mainly for cowboy action shooters. If I was buying cast bullets I'd try his cowboy action bullets for any loads I was loading below say about 1200 feet per second, which is, of course, just about all revolver ammo.

Anyhow, during my conversations with Jerry, the feller that runs Carolina Cast Bullets it turns out that he is a vet from about the same time I wore Uncle's suit, a Navy guy who served on the Tin Cans. If the cold war had turned out differently, he would have been the one in more danger, not that the 'cans are all that safe anytime the cast off the lines and move away from the pier.

While we were writing back and forth I got the thought of why we veterans, as well as most serious Christians and observant Jews, seem to be happier than leftists. Seriously, have we ever seen a happy leftist? This deserves a lot more thought than I have time for now but I believe it's because most lefties are the center of their own worlds. The Armed Services teach us that there are far more important things than us as individuals. Christianity and Judaism teach the same thing. Well, except for that idiot new age type Christianity.

I need to think about this more, when I'm not spending all my time running back and forth about Linda Lou. Or, better yet, you smart readers discuss and I'll write something about the old west or guns or something.

Did I mention that I finally got Bingo T. Pug to the Vet for his basic yearly checkup? When Linda Lou fell in February we got behind on money some and Bingo and Miss Priss lost out on their heartworm pills. Well, I managed to get Bingo in and he is heartworm free, and I have a six month supply of his pills, plus some pills for his skin. Seems he developed a flea allergy and so we now have him on monthly flea pills. It was not cheap. Linda Lou says Bingo is worth it. Funny, by the time I'm done with this, I could have bought a new shotgun or a used lever action. Had to get dogs. Couldn't get a nice pet rock.

Killin' Jim Miller was also known as Deacon Jim. His preferred weapon was a shotgun, sometimes a rifle. He was a killer for hire, being paid anywhere from 150 to 2,000 bucks a kill. He is reputed to have killed Pat Garret, the Sheriff who gunned down Billy the Kid. Born in Arkansas he ranged and killed from there to Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma for sure, perhaps further. He was active in the sheep and fence wars of the turn of the 20th Century southwest.

He always wore a black broadcloth coat. A Sheriff Bud Frazer in Pecos found out why the long, black coat in a gunfight with Miller. Frazer got four shots into Miller's chest and one in his right arm. Miller, thanks to the steel plate under that coat walked away with only bruises from the chest hits. Miller later took Frazer's head off with a double charge of buckshot. Miller beat this, and other murder charges with some fancy lawyers and some artful perjury from friends. Along with a willingness to murder witnesses.

Miller eventually claimed that he killed fifty-one people, not counting Mexicans*. His last killing was in 1909 outside of Ada, Oklahoma. He dispatched a tough rancher and ex-lawman named Gus Bobbitt with his trademark shotgun. Later arrested in the Trinity River bottoms in Fort Worth, TX he was sure of his chances in court as there were no witness to the actual shooting. Gus Bobbitt, being a very popular fellow while he lived, had lots of friends in Ada. Some fifty of them broke into the jail and took Miller and three of the men who had hired him to kill Bobbitt out of that jail and to an abandoned livery stable and hanged them, tried and found guilty by Judge Lynch.

It is popular today to decry lynchings. People back then were somewhat more pragmatic. They had, in their midst, a man who had been tried for murder who had witnesses killed, even a judge died under mysterious circumstances. After that many trials, they took the matter to Judge lynch. Killin' Jim Miller's shotgun was finally quiet.

* Miller had an unusual hatred of Americans of Mexican descent. No one is sure exactly why. Prejudice was more open back then but it didn't usually run to bloodshed. In Miller's case it did. He may have shot them for sport. The West would have been better off had Miller hanged in 1870 or so.