Yesterdays memory Today

I remembered yesterday (9/28) that it was the ninth month after the incident but forgot to mention it in the blog. So, here it is. And I also neglected to mention by name the first Angel of Mercy to greet me following the incident. Thank you again for my life EMT Dick DeBoer (see March 29). I owe you a personal proclamation every day.
As I stepped out for my walk this morning there were a few scattered raindrops on the driveway. When I interviewed for my first job in California, I was promised that there would never be any rain between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Since 159 I can recall only once that it rained a measurable amount in that time frame. The few drops of rain came from these clouds.
The few drops of rain this morning reminded me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I never did my walk on Saturday because I went to the Flabob airport for the EAA Chapter One open House. Airplanes of all kinds lining the taxiway, factory built and home built. Walk, walk and walk some more. I had brought my bike along to use as a walker but the rear tire was flat so I left it on the car. It was good to see all the old compatriots. Roger Jan, Jim Pyle and all the others. Lee was there with his Pietenol, which only served to remind me of all the kindnesses people have shown during my recovery. Deb and Rick, brother Bob and don't forget Kathy who went out and brought me a pair of shoes to walk outside the rehab center which I still wear daily.
Which brings me to a recent coincidence. Yesterday I stopped on the way home to buy some coffee, of which was out. I went to pay but realize when I reached for my wallet that I had left it at home. I had not seen Homeland Security Agent Laura for a few days but there she was standing right in front of me. And kind enough to lend me $10 so I didn't have to go home and come back. Thank you.
It was heavy fog this morning on my walk. No airplanes and two cats way down the road which were gone by the time I got there.

My Ephemeral Self.

This morning on my walk I was intrigued by some shadows. The sky was clear and the sun barely above the horizon. This is an elongated photo of me halfway through my walk. Bow legs and all. I couldn't get my feet in the photo for geometric reasons.
Poor Tigger has something . Her feces are wet. EEwww! If I could catch her I'd take her to the vet. Budda still is trying to sit on my keyboard, afraid to be more than a few feet away. Could they be catching this craziness from me?
Tigger with diarrhea tells me that we're all on this fight together.

Dick

Metaphysical cats and physical jugs.

The jug is no longer in the store in which I saw it. Seeing it prompted memories from 65 years ago. (see August 7) Consider that on a geologic time scale the opportunity for me to walk past it and notice it approaches zero. It appeared at just the right time for me to see it after 65 years and then... disappeared into???
When I was in Texas with Suzy she had a cat named Stanley (one of seven). Stanley lived a life apart, one of independence with an occasional visit. But whenever I sat on the outdoor picnic table and started to play the guitar, there was Stanley. Freight Train, Cocaine Blues, Jimmy Rodgers, Willie Nelson. He loved them all. I miss you Stanley.
The confluence of a green jug and Stanley over a span of 25 years goes to show that we're all on this flight together

Dick

Cats and planes

One cat and two planes and a third plane I heard but didn't see is what I passed on my morning walk.
Both cats are sticking close to home and keeping me in sight. I wish this earthquake would come and get it over with.
There isn't much more to tell today. Rehab progress seems awfully slow but what else can I do?
This slow progress reminds me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Saturday, Sunday and today.

Saturday I had a hard time getting going. Actually, I never did really get going. For the first time since started walking, I chose not to walk. After going through WWJD, WWTD (Tiger Woods) and WWDD (Dara Torres) I figured "Screw it" and sat down for an intense day of college football on TV.
Sunday I took the iPod along for the walk. Although I started out listening to gospel, I soon heard Kris Kristofferson calling me. Somehow "Sunday Morning Comin' Down " seemed appropriate. And then any day the 49ers win a football game is a good day, as infrequent as they are, football wins that is..
This morning the both cats are still being weird. Budda will not stay off of my keyboard even when I'm working. He does seem interested in the monitor although I'm certain he can't read.
Even Budda and Tigger are with us on this together flight.


Dick

Images of the past

For those who are interested the force I was subjected to during the incident here are two pictures of the glasses I was wearing and the camera with which I had just taken a few pictures. That was a sturdy camera.
It's taken a while but here they are!
After seeing these I'm sure that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Maybe meditation works.

Here is a picture of me ready for my morning walk. The last full photo of me was with the Padre and Tom Conklin walking down the hallway at the rehab center. I never noticed the distinct list to port before. Look carefully to see the Sheriff's badge I wear to give me the authority to deal with any terrorists I meet along the way. The badge has kept any terrorists out of sight so far. Not too easy to see is the 'feather in my cap' sticking up over my left ear.
Yesterday morning I had blood drawn to determine the status of the modules on my right thyroid gland. I didn't expect any feedback for a few weeks. Surprise! Kaiser called at 5 pm yesterday to inform me that all was OK. Maybe meditation works... or maybe it was fate. Or maybe it just happened.
On my walk this morning I recalled that there were two prayer groups praying for me after the incident. One on the West coast and one on the East coast. The question occurred to me.. is it a one time thing, does a prayer expire or must there be some kind of notification?
Somewhere in another universe there is a guy less lucky than I which still allows the perception that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

A metaphysical question.

In the midst of some of the probing following my recent incident someone noticed as an aside that there are modules on my right thyroid. Yesterday I had some blood drawn to more definitively diagnose the nature of the modules. Every day my 40 minute walk is a walking meditation. For the past month my concentration has been on "My thyroid glands are healthy." My question is whether the test results taken yesterday vary with the condition of the modules, or are they inextricably tied to the initial findings without regard to the changes. In other words, if the condition of the modules changes as the result of prayer or meditation will the test results show the new(changed) condition or will they erroneously show the modules to be unchanged? A modified example of the quantum mechanical Schrodingers cat problem.
Tigger remains hidden during the day but I know where she hides out so I can check up on her periodically. Budda continues to keep me in his sight. He has decided the place to be when I'm at the computer is sitting on the keyboard. I sure wish the earthquake would happen or the cats return to normal... either way.
Earthquake or not we're all on this flight together.

Dick

She's back!

Monday at dinner time, there she was. Acting as though nothing had happened. I had all but given up after searching the yard and house. More stand offish than usual but she would allow me to brush and pet her. But let one hand get under her to lift her up and WHOOOSH! gone the wind in Texas. Wherever she's been and whatever she's done, welcome back.
Walking along in the mornings I often cross paths with lots of ants. It constantly amazes me how efficient they are as scavengers. When they're done there's nothing left.
All those ants remind me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

FELINE MYSTERIES

I last saw Tigger on Saturday morning after having spent the night hidden away somewhere. (Her choice not mine). She was an orange blur as she sped past me on her way outside. I call her but there's no answer, then again she never answers my call. I've looked in all her known hiding places but can't find her. She's never violated the boundaries of our yard. The food dishes haven't been emptied but then they never were. I hope she turns up and found to have been giving me a hard time. Maybe this is part of her odd behavior for the last week.
It's predicted to be a hot one today.
The walk Sunday and today was at 92 steps per minute. A stretch but doable. Today there were two airplanes and one cat way off in the distance (not Tigger).
Tiggers attitude shows that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Another small goal

Thursday I walked about a quarter of the way at 92 steps per minute but had trouble keeping up. Friday I transversed the entire walk at 92 sps and found it to be a stretch. This morning I did it again at 92 sps and think I'll keep it there barring some unforeseen weakness. WWDD? (see July 6 entry)
The cats have been acting funny lately. Tigger is even more stand-offish than ever and Budda follows me around talking up a blue streak. Both cats never leave the yard when they are outside. I don't think they know how to climb fences. Yesterday Budda was outside and I was in. I heard him talking to himself and went out to investigate. There he was OUTSIDE the gate crying to be let in. I never did find out how he got out unless he went out while the gardeners were here. Look for an earthquake soon.
One person, no cats and no dogs on the morning walk.
Cats acting odd before an earthquake proves that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

IMAGINE

Imagine had we reacted to the events of 9 /11 as we had following the previous attack on the Workld Trade Center. Had we treated them as criminal acts rather than a more general terrorist act, 3000 Amercan deaths in Iraq and Iran could have been avoided. 1 million Iraqi refugees and 100,000 innocent women and children would be alive and well. 30% of veterans of the war in Iraq come home with mental issues. How many Timothy McVeighs are coming home? How many come home in pieces? And how many more will not even get that far? Let's not forget the estimated 5 BILLION dollars borrowed from our children and grand children to pay for the war! And don't get me started on what the couch bound warriors have done to our Constitution at home. Dig up the videos of the unidentified police, dressed in black, performing mass arrests in St Paul during the recent convention. Our right to peaceable assembly... Gone. Our right to free speech.... Gone . Our right to habeus corpus... Gone.
And all this for what? Freedom? Liberty? Where did it go? Was it worth it? It makes me sad just thinking about it.
End of rant.
But it all reminds me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The LHC and brother Bob.

It's Wednesday and brother Bob won't be making his usual after lunch visit. He is 'traveling' this week and next fishing or gambling or otherwise showing his how well he has adapted to retirement.
The LHC is the worlds most elaborate scientific experiment being conducted in Switzerland (and France). Its aim is to shoot two beams of protons at each other at the combined rate of 99.999999% of the speed of light. This is to simulate the conditions which occurred an instant after the Big Bang.
I tell you that to tell you this. This morning the clockwise and counterclockwise beams were turned on separately to prove that the protons will successfully transit the circular equipment (after spending more than 5 billion dollars). The two beams are expected to be directed at each other to achieve the maximum effect before shutting it down for the winter. When the two beams hit each other there is a tiny possibility of the formation of a black hole which could run away and consume the earth. Wouldn't that be exciting? That would beat the propensity of even the Bush administration for destruction. Or maybe that would be the Armageddon for which they so ardently long. I remind everyone that the same possibility existed when the Trinity explosion ( the first atomic bomb experiment) was carried out in 1945.
This morning I made my walk at 91 steps per minute. I started out thinking maybe I should up the rate to 92 spm. By the time I reached the half way point I realized that would have been a mistake. Even such a small increase would have been difficult.
No cats, one dog and two light twin engine airplanes but no single engine planes on my walk.
The ephemeral nature of the results of the LHC shows that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Random thoughts during a random walk.

As soon as I stepped out this morning I knew summer was gone. It was almost too cold to go out in just a T shirt. Having written that it appears I should point out that I also had shorts on. Holding the pace to 91 steps per minute warmed me up in a hurry. Anyway, the streets were empty but I did see a black cat across the street and an orange tabby quietly laying in someone's yard. Two airplanes flying beneath the overcast.
All this political hoohah makes for great theater but who's to believe? After they are in office they all change anyway. This isn't the America in which I grew up. Seeing the activities of the police at the GOP convention reminded me of the mass arrests and street roundups we saw happen in Europe in the 1930s and 40s. And the treatment of prisoners taken in Iraq and around the world was rejected at the beginning of our country by none other than George Washington! And after WWII the Japanese were punished for doing the same things we are doing today. How could what were war crimes in 1945 be excused in 2008?

The paradox of the war crimes proves again that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Am I the only one?

Am I the only one who gets a chill down his/her spine when John McCain smiles?
Sinister smiles and all we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The Highway Men and the fabric of space and time.

This morining I stepped off my walk to the tune of "The Highwaymen. "The Highwaymen is a singing group including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings (RIP) and Johnny Cash (RIP), four icons of country music. Each sings a part of a man dying violently in the span of time from swords and knives to space travel. The point of the song is that the soul will return again and again and again and...
It's going to be a beautiful day today to fly.
Which hints to me that through the infinty of time and space we're all on this flight together.

Dick

An Adventure

I didn't go on my walk this morning because I planned to go to a trade show later this morning. I knew that could entail a lot of walking. The show is the North American Reptile Breeders show. Snakes, lizards, turtles galore! I was surprised at the variety of snakes. These guys breed for particular characteristics, like breeding dogs to get Pekenese or pit bulls. anyway I wore myself out walking around. Here's a picture of a tortoise which is two feet from stem to stern and will grow to two or three times that size. Like a Galpagos tortoise but another species.
These animals show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Yesterday after my walk I took the bike to Venice and rode the bike path for about 5 miles. No great effort but the weather was perfect, warm and no wind.
Dennis, brother Bob's friend and fellow traveler, remarked that he had seen an article on the internet which claimed improvement in Parkinson's Disease patients who had been taken on the rear of a bicycle built for two and that alone resulted in improvement. I used Google and found an article which described the experiment done at the Cleveland Clinic. There is an expression, "forced exercise", which basically says work harder. In this case riding along in the rear position at 80 to 90 RPM increased from 50 to 60 RPM. Those who have been following remember that a while ago I bought a metronome to force me to walk at a faster pace (read: forced exercise) and thereby work harder. It seems to work, at least holding off progress of the disease. Today I walked the route stopping only twice to watch airplanes pass by. My pace was 91 steps per minute. At the end I know I've been for a walk.
Leaning my head back to watch planes fly by only points out that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Head size and a faster pace.

Two unrelated topics. During the OJ trial (remember him?) it was obvious sitting next to his attorneys that he had a physically big head. Truth be told his head is as big as a watermelon. Coincidentally a few days later I prompted Vanna White from the game show. She is tiny but she has a disproportionately large head. Since then I have noticed that often famous people have larger than normal heads sizes. Check it out next time you're watching TV.
I increased the pace of my daily walk from 90 steps per minute to 91, a small increase for sure. And yet it took considerable effort to complete my walk without resting midway. I'll leave it at the higher rate tomorrow and see where it takes me.
This recovery surely is slow.
It's a beautiful day! There was only one plane while I was out but for the first time in a long time I really wished I could have been up there.
That plane reminded me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick