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Month: January 2018

Thur. 11, 2018- Nick here….

Good morning all, the polar snowmaggedon freezing hell on earth end days – otherwise known as “a bad winter storm”  seems to be over for  a while.  It’s 60F and dreary here in Energy City.

Our continued best wishes to RBT, Barbara, and OFD.

Some interesting things going on in the world-

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/swedish-government-warning-citizens-be-prepared-least-week-without-help

Only a week, seems short to me.  FEMA says 72 hours, but after the Cascadia rising exercise, they increased that locally to 2 weeks.  Ebola (or similar) could take 45 or more days to burn thru an area…  do you really want to be standing in line with a bunch of other people if SHTF, even locally and temporarily?

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/second-developer-wikileaks-inspired-securedrop-commits-suicide-36

Don’t know the two guys’ histories.  Often creative people have other issues. Could all just be coincidence.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/replacing-cashiers-robots-just-makes-sense-jack-box-ceo

 

  • “”With government driving up the cost of labor, it’s driving down the number of jobs,” then Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s CEO Andy Puzder told Business Insider in 2016. “You’re going to see automation not just in airports and grocery stores, but in restaurants.””

“Elections have consequences.”  Hah.  What does society look like when there is no entry path to the world of work for indigenous people?  What are the long term implications of that?  And what happens when you continue to allow the influx of low skill, low education laborers into an economy that has fewer and fewer low skill jobs?

Weeelllll, one possible answer is an increase in crime….

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/brinks-reports-theft-mysterious-11-million-international-gold-shipment

That’s a lot of shiny.

 

nick

 

 

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Thursday January 11, 2018

It was 47 degrees, raining, and calm when I took Colin out at 8:15.

We have a possible rehab bed at a place that will support the trach. Bob is still coughing up gunk, they call it secretions, a lot. The trach is protecting his airway so he does not aspirate on the fluids again like he did in December. Until he can swallow and the gunk decreases he will have to have the trach. The place he may be going does have a respiratory therapist on site. The goal is to get him strong enough to swallow, go off the feeding tube, and eventually the trach. He is talking with the trach well enough we can understand most of what he is saying.

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Tues, Jan 9th, Nick posting- placeholder- with update from Barbara

Update 13:42. Bob is still waiting to go to a rehab facility. Yesterday morning the place we had lined up decided not to take him because of the trach which they knew about Friday when they offered the bed. Oh well. I ended up staying in Winston yesterday hoping we could get something else worked out. Also, there was inclement weather up here and supposedly heading to Winston so Al and I decided we would stay in our respective locations until today. I spent the morning at the hospital working with the case worker and visiting with Bob. He is doing well BTW. He had a good
PT session and when he speaks slowly and loudly I can understand him even with the trach tube. There are not a lot of choices in our vicinity that will take trach patients but fortunately the hospital is being patient until we can find a place.
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Hopefully this is just a placeholder for Barbara’s update, but if she’s busy (and that’s pretty likely!) I’ll open the day.

I’m out and about most of today, nothing like the waste of time involved in a 12 hour appointment window for the gas company. It’s cold today too, 46F, and the house has no heat (‘cuz no gas) so I’m gonna LOVE sitting around there waiting.

nick

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Mon, Jan 8, 2018 Nick posting

Good morning. As Barbara said she was headed to Winston today, to hopefully move Bob to a Rehab facility, I’ll open the day’s thread.

Let’s further hope for enough improvement to allow removing one or both tubes. No one likes tubes….

Our best wishes Barbara and Bob, and our group thanks to good friends for helping out.

nick

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Sunday January 7, 2018

It was 5 degrees, sunny, and calm when I took Colin out at 8:15.

Frances and Al checked on Bob yesterday.The nurses said he had a good day. I need to be in Winston Monday morning. The weather forecast for here is calling for a chance of something frozen to fall tonight or in the morning. Al is coming up to stay with Colin when I head to Winston to visit Bob and stay over with Frances. Hopefully we will get Bob moved to rehab sometime tomorrow.

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Saturday January 6, 2018

It was 3 degrees, sunny, and calm when I took Colin out at 8am.

If everything works out Bob will move to the rehab facility on Monday. He still has the trach and feeding tubes. We were given choices as to where he could go from the hospital. I chose a place in Winston because Frances and Al can help with keeping tabs on him for me. I have past experiences with these facilities from both Bob’s mom and my dad. You do have to be vigilant even with ones that have a good reputation.

He was better yesterday though still coughing a lot of gunk in his lungs. He very much wants to get out of the hospital and is ready to go to rehab. I hate we have to wait until Monday to move him. Al is going by to see him today for me.

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Friday January 5, 2018

It was 5 degrees, sunny with 15 to 20 mph winds and gusts to 40 when I took Colin out at 7:30.

Bob may be going to a rehab facility today or tomorrow.

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Thursday January 4, 2018

It was 13 degrees with 30 mph winds and blowing snow when I took Colin out at 8am.
I was down to see Bob yesterday afternoon. The other chest tube is out but he still has the trach tube. Otherwise, things are the same.

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Wed, Jan 3, 2018!!! Nick posting

It was 17 degrees, cloudy, and calm when I took Colin out at 8:15.
Still home. Just running late this morning. Nothing new to report.
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Good morning all, I’m assuming Barbara is on her way down to see Bob, and hope we’ll get an update later.

 

In the mean time, it is BITTERLY cold by Houston standards, at 24F with a ‘feels like’ of 19F.  That’s well below freezing.  Fortunately it isn’t windy this morning.

 

I’ve still got my citrus trees covered in black plastic with a 60w incandescent light bulb under the cover to heat the tree.  I expect I’ll lose some leaves or a small branch or two where they contact the plastic and get too cold.  I brought the potted grapefruit inside last night.  Grid down, I’m not sure what I’d do to keep them warm, but I could certainly keep them covered.  I suppose I could put a small backpack stove, sterno can, or single mantle lantern under the tarp.  It would be worth the effort to keep mature, producing citrus trees.

 

I’m gonna order one of the propane fired, on demand water heaters someone here linked.  I haven’t decided if I want one with a pump or not.  I think it’s probably much more efficient in fuel, and certainly in time and personal energy to use one to heat water grid down than my boiling ring and big pot.  In the mean time, it can be used for camping, for heating cleaning water, or for warm water in the spring at our swim meets.  At <$200 they aren’t that much more than a ring and big pot anyway.

 

I put the exclamation points in the post title because I can’t really believe the year.  It seems incredible to me to be living in this year.  I grew up with shows like “Space:1999” which had Moonbase Alpha and alien contact in the unimaginably far future of 1999 and here we are, far past that.

I blame the proto-SJWs and the progressive movement for sidetracking space exploration, and denying me a moonbase.  Bastards have stolen the future, ideologically, financially (by borrowing for social programs), and spiritually (with their toxic version of feminism, and destruction of the Individualist American Male- known in SciFi as “the competent man”.)

Well, they’ve stolen the future would could have been living in, and left us this one.   Still better than lots of futures that could   have been headed our way…

 

And with that,

 

nick

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