09:54 – Barbara’s dad is still rallying. As of this morning, he was awake, sitting up in bed, and eating breakfast. He’s also talking, but he’s not making much sense. His urine output is still nil, so I’m not sure how he’s still even conscious let alone behaving comparatively normally. Al stayed with him overnight. Frances took Sankie home with her, where they were both able to get some sleep. France dropped Sankie off at Hospice on her way to work. Barbara and I stayed home last night. Today, Barbara is working on science kit stuff while waiting for a phone call. She’s going to run down to Hospice this afternoon to check on her mom and dad, but we simply can’t sustain the 24-hour thing any more. Someone, usually Sankie during the days, will be with Dutch, but we’re no longer going to try to have several or all family members there until the final crisis hits.
And we simply have to keep up with business here. For the last week we’ve been out of the CK01B chemistry kits, which sell two or three a week. So I’ve been tearing down CK01A kits and using the subset of the components that go into the CK01B kits to build more CK01B kits on the fly. We simply can’t keep doing that, if only because I’ll run us out of stock on the CK01A kits, so we’re working today on building a new batch of 30 of the CK01B kits. Then we’ll turn around and build a new batch of 30 or 60 CK01A kits to replenish stock on them.
A new company in Texas is selling a precision rifle with a unique technology that allows even an inexperienced shooter to hit a target 10 football fields away. The price tag is a staggering $27,500.
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The TrackingPoint rifles, which are Wi-Fi enabled and have a color display so users can post videos of their shots on Facebook or YouTube, started shipping in May. Schauble said his company is on track to sell as many as 500 of them this year, to clients that he describes as “high net worth hunters” who want to kill big game at long range.
$27,500 gun hits targets at 1,000 yards
“Qatar promises 5 free LNG cargoes to Egypt”
http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/Article/3217172/Latest-News/Qatar-promises-5-free-LNG-cargoes-to-Egypt.html
“Egypt has faced a natural gas and diesel shortage since last year, which has led to rising food costs, long lines at filling stations and electricity blackouts. The energy supply problems have deepened popular discontent with Egypt’s Islamist government and exacerbated broader economic difficulties there.”
“DUBAI — Qatar promised Egypt five free shipments of LNG this summer after a meeting of representatives from the two countries’ governments in Doha, giving cash-strapped Egypt a reprieve from worsening energy shortages.”
Ah, the dealer is giving the junkies a couple of free fixes. The other wild thing about this is that Israel is in the middle of developing some HUGE new natural gas fields out in the Med. I doubt that the Egyptians are interested.
His urine output is still nil
This is not compatible with life. Something has gone very, very wrong. I am very sorry to hear this.
I have often heard that the expenses of your last 30 days on this Earth are usually the same as your previous 10 years. When my time comes, just juice me up and put somewhere. In fact, I may not mind if they pour in too much juice and I just go away then.
Sorry to hear about Dutch’s worsening condition. It sounds like he’s just plain too ornery to die…
Yeah, he’s a Marine.
I told Barbara some time ago that her father reminds me of Monty Python’s Black Knight. He *still* doesn’t believe he’s seriously ill. He thinks he’s in Hospice to recover enough that he can go back to his apartment. He understands completely that the doctors are telling him that he’s going to die soon, but he thinks he knows more about medicine than they do. As I said, Black Knight.
I fully approve the quitless attitude. Sisyphus is my patron saint.
On the other hand, it’s not good when someone else is picking up the tab for your refusal to quit. On the other other hand, socialized medicine is unsustainable, so we might as well bring the system to its knees as soon as possible, so ridiculously high last-month costs can be viewed as a net good.
Actually, Dutch’s heavy costs on the system are past. Right now, he’s occupying a bed in Hospice, but he’s no longer on any drugs except Atavan to reduce anxiety. The staff checks on him periodically and turns him to prevent bedsores. He gets a meal tray when he wants one. But that’s about it. He’s no longer tying up resources at the emergency room or hospital. No expensive scans or labwork.