08:50 – Saturday the 13th falls on a Saturday this month.
How can this be controversial? It’s basic biology. NHS chief warns women not to wait until 30 to have baby as country faces a fertility timebomb
Fertility in female humans peaks between about ages 18 and 28, after which it plummets. The old ways are based in biology. Women should marry at age 14 or 15 to a man chosen by their parents. Parents back then helped a young person get started in life by setting them up with what they needed to get started right. Arranged marriages were by most accounts more successful than the modern method of letting no-nothing kids choose their own mates. Young women had children early, as nature intended. There’s no reason not to make that the norm today. Getting kids started right nowadays might include helping the young families by providing child care and supporting the young women through college and perhaps grad school. There’s no reason a young woman can’t have it all: a husband, children, education, and a career. But they need to get started young.
12:15 – We’re just back from a small Costco run. I think the total was $251, most of which was in meat and OTC drugs. While we were back in the drinks section picking up some 4-packs of 2-liter Coke, I mentioned to Barbara that she was going through a lot of the half-liter bottled water, so we should replace what she was using. We’d put two 40-packs in our cart when I noticed that our Costco now carries their store-brand bottled water in 6-packs of one-gallon bottles. So Barbara handed one of the 40-packs to a tiny little Asian woman who was having trouble getting one off the stack, and we added two 6-packs of the gallons to our cart. I’d have grabbed more, but the cart was already up to the acceleration and stopping distance of a freight train.
I covet those bottles. Not only are they one-gallon PET bottles, but the mouth looks wider than that of a 2-liter bottle. They will be excellent for home-packing dry staples. I’m just about to print a big sign for Barbara: “DRINK MORE WATER!”
Some women I know left it late and got away with it. Some didn’t.
A 41 year old I know has fair serious health problems of her own, and her first two kids also had problems. She wanted a third kid and was told she had a 1/8 chance of producing a Downs Syndrome baby. She went ahead anyway and got the Downs baby.
Members of my family who have had two health children are feeling a bit guilty…
I’m thinking of setting aside some bottled water. If I buy it at the supermarket will it store in plastic bottles more or less forever?
The members of your family who have two healthy children have nothing to feel guilty for. They have done nothing wrong. Perhaps they should appreciate a bit more how fortunate they and their children are, but they should not feel guilty.
This is coming from a dad who has eaten and showered in facilities provided by Ronald McDonald House. And who is quite grateful that it was just a one time thing.
One minor tweak to what you wrote, RBT: know-nothing, not no-nothing. (Why, yes, I did just finish copy editing the first half of a novel and I’m still in that mindset. Is it obvious?)
Other than that, women can have it all, including partying and playing around and making whatever decisions they want without any consequences and you (and the NHS) chief are racists for suggesting otherwise.
Well, I kinda disagree with our host, who seems to be reverting to a bit of medievalism.
The teen years are better for education than the 30s, and female fertility is fine up to the age of 35. A woman who “wants it all” is likely better off finishing her education and laying the foundation of a career before having children. During the child-rearing phase, working part-time to maintain professional contacts makes a lot of sense, so that she can pick up her career when the kids are old enough. Really, proposing that women marry at 14 or 15 isn’t very sensible.
Arranged marriages; yes, I’ve also heard that they work reasonably well in the societies where that’s the norm. The latter is the point: where that’s the norm. That said, one also has to note that divorce is not generally an acceptable option in those societies, so likely a lot of marriages stay together that really shouldn’t.
The Western system of “marrying for love” has its weaknesses, mainly, people getting married while in lust, before determining their long-term compatibility. I’d rather see that addressed by education, and by a societal trend to marry later, after you’ve had a chance to learn to deal with your hormones. Which is pretty much what we have.
As a last note, in my book there’s really no excuse for having a Down’s syndrome baby. That’s what testing is for. We had children a bit late (mid-30’s) and we were prepared to abort a Down’s syndrome child, if necessary. I’m not saying that such a decision would be easy, but really, it is the better choice. Thankfully, we didn’t have to apply our decision.
Yes Dave, they know, I know. Kind of a figure of speech. They feel the way you or I would feel if we kept our jobs and friends who were equally deserving didn’t.
My sister and I argue about this a lot. I say women should start their families in their late teens to late twenties, my sister completely disagrees. When she had her last child she was closer to 39 than to 38.
Many women I know didn’t have tests for Downs and other abnormalities because they would have continued the pregnancy anyway. Basically I think they were religiously motivated. I’d say I’d agree with you though.
Yes. Keep it out of direct sunlight and don’t store it where it may freeze. Eventually, it may taste a bit flat, but that’s easy enough to fix just by pouring it from one container to another to aerate it. It’ll be as safe to drink 100 years from now as it is now.
ARRGH. Typo.
@Brad
I’m not suggesting that women put off education until their 30’s. I’m suggesting that they marry and have their babies early and continue their educations normally, while being subsidized by both sets of parents.
I’m not sure where you’re getting your data on fertility by age, but every study I’ve ever seen concluded that ages from about 18 to 28 are the most fertile time in a woman’s life. From age 14 to 18, they’re actually less fertile, and after 28 fertility really starts to decrease (on average, obviously.) Yes, some women have no trouble conceiving at 35, but the percentage who do have trouble at 35 is probably at least an order of magnitude higher than for ages 18 to 28. And at 40 it’s probably two orders of magnitude higher than at ages 18 to 28. Maternal ages higher than 28 or 30 are also associated with more and more severe complications, both to the health of the mother and to the health of the baby. (Interestingly, recent evidence suggests that the age of the father also plays a role, although it’s relatively minor compared to the age of the mother. Apparently, old sperm correlates to increased birth defects, which makes sense since it’s not just the ova that are being irradiated over the decades.)
One of the guys who works for me has an arranged marriage. He was born in India and has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama (roll tide!). He and his family live here in the Land of Sugar. After he got his PhD about 22 years ago, he was told by his mother (India) and older brother (doctor in England) that he had to get married. He rejected the first two young ladies they found but the third time was the last chance XXXXX charm. His wife has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan and bosses him around like a dock worker. They have a 16 year old daughter who calls him “dude”.
Happens to every writer. That’s why copy editors get paid.
However, in case your sense of self worth has taken a huge hit from this typo, I’ll repeat that the prepping chapter I looked at had one outright typo that I spotted. That chapter was cleaner than anything I’ve ever proofread, fiction or non.
Thanks for that.
I hope to have more chapters available for preview shortly. The problem is, I keep thinking of stuff to add.
Getting kids started right nowadays might include helping the young families by providing child care and supporting the young women through college and perhaps grad school.
Providing child care will be problematic in the second generation – the parents will be in their 40s and in prime earning and career development years.
Fertility data – honestly, only a casual google-search. The charts I saw showed fertility plummeting starting around 30, but at 35 it looks like it’s just passing through the point where it started in the mid-teens. Again, only from a casual google search.
Interestingly, several sources omit the fertility rates for women in their teens. Probably a political/religious point, but it seems rather a counterproductive.
There are two biological differences between a young woman of 14 and an approaching-middle-age woman of 35. First, all the young woman has to do is wait and her fertility will increase naturally. The 35-y-o, by contrast, is pretty well on her last legs. The other difference is birth defects, which start high but drop off very rapidly to essentially nothing by late teens, where a woman in her late 30s probably ought to think twice about children simply on that basis.
And of course there are other biological and other differences, energy level being a big one. I’ve known several women who had babies in their 40s or even late 30s, and all were pretty well wiped by the experience. Most of these were first babies, with a couple of seconds. Contrast with 20-year-olds, who notice the pregnancy but hardly seem slowed down by it until the last month or so.
On the other hand, in our current American culture an older woman is likely to be financially better off and better able to deal with both time off from work and the million expenses that come up. On the other other hand, current American culture is pretty well anti-optimal for a nurturing and effective environment for raising children, so I’m not giving that much weight.
Yep, that happens to every writer, too, fiction or non. I can only bring forth the R&D maxim: there comes a time when you have to shoot the engineers and just ship the damn product.
Maybe the situation is not quite so dire for you and your book. Maybe all you need to do is make sure that there is a publishable copy of the book, snapshotted every week or when convenient. At some point Barbara gets you arrested for cattle rustling or dealing art without a license or something, and uploads the book while you’re getting that straightened out. By the time you get yourself unarrested, there’ll be some sales already and you can move on to the next project.
(And I hope everyone notices that I manfully resisted the temptation to put in an “arrested development” pun.)
I’ve already decided to split the book into volume 1 (Day One through Day 365) and volume 2 (long term). Actually, I’d thought about splitting into three volumes: Through Day 30, Day 365, and Long Term. I decided against that for many reasons, not least that 30 days isn’t long enough, not by a long shot. I’ll probably end up with two or three long-term volumes eventually, because there’s just so much to cover. Hell, even on Volume One I may end up doing annual updates.
No, not in the broad sense, but its a good goal for a first volume. Most problems in the US, whether natural disasters, political turmoil, or personal issues like losing a job, are resolved within 30 days. Having water, food, batteries, and medicine to carry the family through 30 days is a good first goal. And it’s much more achievable to the typical Joe than the broader goal of “Have everything needed for 12 people to survive a year with no outside assistance. Spend $500 per month on supplies and ten hours per week developing skills. Be ready to fight to the death against invaders.” A lot of “serious” preppers push the latter, and I have no doubt they scare more people away from making any preparations at all, than they persuade people to their line of thinking.
A “first 30 days” book could be more tightly focused, hence out quicker. A well-written prepping book by someone who isn’t a blatant fool (that’s not damning you with faint praise, it’s a description of most prepping authors) would likely do more good than a “first year” book out a year from now. And, ref previous comment, it would effectively shoot the engineer on that stage and move on to the next.
Good points. I’ll think more about this.
In Germany for a couple of weeks as one of my former exchange students is getting married. Happens next weekend in Berlin. Currently in Haltern where they lost 16 students and two teachers in the German Wings suicide.
Memo to self: Don’t fly American Airlines if it can be avoided. From crappy planes (over entertainment system where everyone has to watch the same thing using electronic beam monitos), to paint that is peeling severely on the speed flaps, to generally mediocre service. Flying US Airways back (yeh, I know they are part of American Airlines). I have flow US Airways before on this journey and it will be interesting to see what has changed.
I organized and start people off with time goals. First 72 hours-this is the official.gov recommendation (CERT,fema) Then 2 weeks-regional disaster like a hurricane(help comes in, or you can decide to leave.) Then 1 month-911, hurricane recovery, family member taken ill or surprise surgery. Then 6 months-loss of job, typical time to get another, long term or serious illness, national disaster. Then 1 year-economic collapse, major national disaster, depression, war, etc.
After that, we’re in rebuilding society, or ongoing war.
Each stage has different preps, skills, and level of commitment. My feeling anyway….
Nick
16:00 About the hottest part of the day. Better check the pool.
Current conditions at
Bakersfield, Meadows Field Airport (KBFL)
Lat: 35.43361°NLon: 119.05667°WElev: 509ft.
Fair
102°F 39°C
Humidity 19%
Wind Speed NW 10 MPH
Barometer 29.64 in (1002.7 mb)
Dewpoint 52°F (11°C)
Visibility 10.00 mi
Heat Index 100°F (38°C)
Last update 13 Jun 3:54 pm PDT
I’m still reading and commenting by phone. Sorry for the awkward text.
Have a couple of notes from this trip, but will have to share later.
Nick
I wonder, what does Barbara think about the ideal upbringing her parents failed to provide her?
You got me thinking of two people I worked with who had arranged marriages. The guy, from India, was quite happy and said his family (in particular, his sister) had been very careful to choose someone who was an excellent match. The woman, Chinese ancestry but born and raised in Texas and American in all respects, seemed to have little but contempt for her older and conservative husband who was born in “the old country”.
“Women should marry at age 14 or 15…”
“There’s no reason a young woman can’t have it all: a husband, children, education, and a career. But they need to get started young.”
You have pretty good points there, but let me ask you this: have you spent an appreciable length of time, I mean years, dealing with teenage Murkan grrls??? I dunno about Euro, Asian or Afrikan, but I have some experience with Murkans. They are A: dumb as posts, B: focused totally and exclusively on themselves, C: usually spoiled rotten, and D: VERY susceptible to whatever dross and flotsam and jetsam falls on them, from their idiot friends, commie teachers, the media and the net. Of course there are exceptions, no doubt you know one or two. But in general, I’d say they’re FAR from ready to marry and have children at 14-16. In American culture a hundred or more years ago it was different.
@ofd, you nailed this. Wealth and abundance have extended mental adolescence significantly. Carnegie and Twain started at 14, but a modern 14yo is so far from that. With exceptions, I’d guess that even at 24, most are not ready. And current economic data says the earlier you start, the less success you’ll have.
So maybe post collapse, when the reset button has been pressed, but not before.
Nick
It’s my understanding that the cultures with arranged marriage also have dowry to convince the new husband to take their economically burdensome female off their hands. And others sold or traded their daughters like castle to their own advantage. Nasty business if you believe women are full people.
Nick
RBT wrote
“Interestingly, recent evidence suggests that the age of the father also plays a role”
They say that the haemophilia that afflicted the royal families of Europe started with a mutation formed in “the august testicles of The Prince Edward”, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, Queen Victoria’s father, who was about 50 when Victoria was concieved.
Ray wrote:
“In Germany for a couple of weeks as one of my former exchange students is getting married. Happens next weekend in Berlin.”
If you use the subway or hit any of the parks keep an eye open for Chuck. I’ll bet he’s there checking out the German wimminz “tiny titties”… 🙂
Bought a new GE 100W equivalent 16W actual LED light bulb at Sam’s Club tonight for $17 to put in the garage. Wow, this is the bulb that I have been looking for! Instant on, very bright and omnidirectional. The previous 100W equivalent LED bulb was way too directional.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/16-watt-led-1-pk-a-line/prod15750029.ip
BTW, here is how the bulb actually looks. It is kinda funky with 8 ribs along the bulb:
http://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-13909-Energy-Smart-1600-Lumen/dp/B00NOSDYE4
Now all I need is a 50 / 100 /150 W equivalent LED omnidirectional bulb for a reasonable price.
They are A: dumb as posts,
We were lucky. Our daughter is whip smart, as in her SAT scores in the 7th grade were Ivy League admission level. (She took the SAT in 7th as part of the Duke University TIP program for gifted kids.) She’s much more nerd than girly girl.
How come Barbara’s drinking bottled water? Does the tap water round there taste funny?
Well, I know I’m pretty late to the prepping party but I’ve decided to get started on stuff I use anyway and rotate it. Then learn more and start putting more and more stuff away. I just bought a boatload of fruit juice, UHT milk and soft drink. Should any of that not be stored directly on a concrete garage floor?
I’ll rinse and fill fruit juice bottles with water for washing and such, but not for drinking unless things get desperate. For the first time in my life I’ll buy bottled water and stash it.
In the prepping book have/will you discuss where to get water for washing clothes, sheets and the like? Figures to be hard to do if the power’s off for any length of time. I remember my paternal grandmother had a “copper” for washing clothes as late as the mid Sixties. Can’t remember how she got the water for it hot enough…
Actually, Winston-Salem municipal water is about as close to distilled as you’ll find coming out of a tap. It’s extremely soft. I think Barbara probably likes the flavor of bottled water because it has added dissolved solids. I don’t mind, since I want to keep a lot of it on hand anyway.
@Miles_Teg
No, you should never store food or water directly on a concrete floor. Either install shelves or just build pallets in-place by using short lengths of 2×4’s as spacers between the floor and 1xwhatever boards.
Yep, I’ll cover the stuff you mention. You don’t actually need hot or even warm water to do laundry. Cold works fine. Get yourself two or three plastic bins and an unused toilet plunger. Fill all the bins half full of water with laundry detergent added to the first bin. Put the clothes in the first bin and use the toilet plunger to agitate them for 30 seconds. Allow them to soak for a few minutes and then agitate again. After several iterations, pull them from the wash bin, allow them to drain, squeeze them out, and transfer them to the second bin. Repeat the agitation cycle a few times with soaking in between, pull them out and squeeze out the excess rinse water, and transfer them to the third bin. After going through the wash bin and two rinse bins they’ll be pretty clean. Squeeze out excess rinse water and hang them to dry.
ref http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2015/06/13/another-draw-muhammad-contest-is-coming-down-the-pike/
OFD, I’m thinking of attending if it happens and the timing isn’t too inconvenient.
I have an idea for an extremely offensive “Mohammad”. I draw like a brain-damaged three-year-old with a broken wrist. -sigh-
Are you really going to go to that much trouble to do laundry if things are that bad?
Maybe you need one of these.
http://www.amazon.com/GetPreparedStuff-Best-Clothes-Wringer-Hand/dp/B002QSXK60
No if it’s that bad I’ll just be wearing t-shirts and shorts, or sweats. Beat ’em on the rocks by the river.
@dkreck, might want to Google some pics of washing in the Ganges river to see what that might be like.
There are several different plans online for converting 5 gallon buckets, including one that uses a plunger as agitator.
There is also a late night info-mercial fur a money saving counter top washer that looks cheap and fragile but could be used as a design example if you are handy.
Many folks just buy a washtub and a wash board.
A mop bucket wringer works to remove water.
Washing used to be a tedious all day affair, that was often outsourced to a pro (the local washer woman, or the lady who” took in washing”).
On of the reasons for so many outbuildings was all the hot, noisome tasks, the summer kitchen, the wash house, the butcher area, etc.
Nick
There is a group of folks who collect and restore old engine driven washers and other early work savers. Google”hit and miss engine” should get some good hits.
s
BTW, see the guy who shot up the Dallas cop shop last night? The collapse is starting, if anyone thought otherwise. Cops now seen as legitimate and achievable targets.
What do you think will be the response of the forces of law and order, and do you think that will help or exacerbate the problem?
Nick
Depends on what you mean by “forces of law and order”. By “law”, do you mean actual rule of law, preferably associated with something approximating justice, or do you mean “you have to pass it to see what’s in it” “the law is what I say it is” law? And by order do you mean the police state lockdown that many seem to prefer, or something else?
For myself, I’d rather see the citizenry go after the bureaucrats. Sure, the police do much of the interaction with the serfs in a police state, but the bureaucrats (and politicians) are the actual problem. Softer targets, too.
BTW, see the guy who shot up the Dallas cop shop last night? The collapse is starting, if anyone thought otherwise. Cops now seen as legitimate and achievable targets.
What do you think will be the response of the forces of law and order, and do you think that will help or exacerbate
the problem?
Nick
Note also how it ended. Just like in the sandbox. Sniper immobilized vehicle with shot to engine block, then executed the driver. Can’t happen here? When stressed we fall back on our training. If your cops have been trained in war, that is what you get. We have trained a lot of soldiers as ersatz cops in the recent conflicts, and we’ve hired a lot of them as actual cops when they got back, and then equipped them like soldiers. Kind of blurs the lines, no?
Sorry for the partial double, phone issues.
I’m pretty sure they will react by doubling down on use of force, passing more restrictive laws, further separating cops from not cops, and getting more draconian.
I’m also pretty sure that will only make things worse for them.
Based on history.
Nick
So, when the SHTF will we all be crazy busy? We might not be, in which case doing washing might relieve the boredom.
@miles, just think how many robots you have in your house. Laundry–sort and load machine, 5 minutes. Dishes–load and start machine, 5 minutes. Hot water heater, no minutes. Oven, microwave–load, set timer, walk away. Milk bread meat, open fridge, eat. Prepared food, heat and eat. Toilet, sit, shit, flush.
Think of the time involved if any of those are missing. Then consider lack or scarcity of artificial light shortening your work day. Add garden or animal husbandry, or simply shopping and standing in line like in Argentine or Venezuela.
Many people have a vague idea that after the collapse they will finally get time to read, or work a hobby because they won’t have the distractions of modern life. Based on history, we will be working from dawn to dusk, and still falling behind.
Nick
Well Nick I wasn’t really being serious. Few US waterways are like the Ganges. The local river would be more than okay. It is about 1,5 mile from my house and may go dry for the first time in sixty years. That used to be a common thing in summer but then they built Lake Isabella on the Kern River about 60 miles from here. By law they have to restrict the outflow to the inflow when it reaches 30K acre-feet. Fortunately I and many of my neighbors have these 25K gal ponds in our yards.
During short term events, like when w we had hurricane ike, there is some idleness. We had only mild physical damage, but we’re without power for 14 days and water for 3. We spent time cleaning up, spent time gathering ( gas for geni ) checking on or other properties, getting water. Every thing takes longer, preparing food, cleaning, getting around.
We were not concerned about food or long term survival, so that eliminated lots of work. After a few days, the rest of the city was back up, so security was not a big issue. Still, no geni at night for noise. Not much light after dark. Our daylight hours were still pretty full.
In a real disaster, we’d have been lots busier.
Nick
@dkreck, I know 🙂 but it wouldn’t take too long for rivers to become unusable. A few dead animals or people, sewage treatment plants fail and overflow, petroleum or other chemicals wash or are released into the river, and all sorts of nasty diseases start back up.
I wouldn’t count on any open body of water being usable. I know I’m a broken record on that, but it’s important.
Nick
That includes the”cement pond” unless you have and use a cover.
“OFD, I’m thinking of attending if it happens and the timing isn’t too inconvenient.”
Rochester, NH is down by the border between Maine and Maffachufetts, near the coast; I’m gonna predict that this guy will either get cold feet or told by Somebody to cease and desist; NH, like MA and the other Northeast states is run by the usual Dem/libturd cabals and they’ll shut this down. What may fly in Texas or Wyoming won’t up this way, not yet, anyway. And I dig this comment by him:
“He says he recognizes there are risks inherent in hosting such an event, but adds that he plans on having plenty of security on hand.”
What does he mean by that? “Plenty of security” to me, in the face of potential multiple shooter or suicide bomber attacks means several squads of experienced operators appropriately armed and positioned. Between Mr. SteveF and me that’s about half a squad. And I’m an old man; my position would be as sniper or counter-sniper, not charging around down there on the ground, fuck that.
“BTW, see the guy who shot up the Dallas cop shop last night? The collapse is starting, if anyone thought otherwise. Cops now seen as legitimate and achievable targets.”
Amateur/s. Do we only have the one DOA suspect or weren’t there several more involved? Do we even have the full intel on this? Could it be a false flag op? Cui bono?
I certainly would not park an armored vehicle outside the main cop shop and start firing; WTF? What was the objective there? Something real fishy with this caper.
“@dkreck, might want to Google some pics of washing in the Ganges river to see what that might be like.”
Yeah. It often involves ignoring or dodging various clumps of human and animal excrement and human and animal cadavers in various states of decomposition. Hopefully our North Murkan rivers are not quite at that stage yet…
During short term events, like when we had hurricane ike, there is some idleness. We had only mild physical damage, but we’re without power for 14 days and water for 3. We spent time cleaning up, spent time gathering ( gas for geni ) checking on or other properties, getting water. Every thing takes longer, preparing food, cleaning, getting around.
We never were without at the house after Ike, our water supplier, a MUD (municipal utility district) has diesel geneators for the fresh water and sewage pumps. We did not have electricity for 2.5 days.
Our office did not have water or electricity for 1.5 weeks so we went in after arranging a time with the building super (that was an extreme pain) and decamped all the computers to my home. We were going to set up shop at Port Lavaca (110 miles away) but the power turned on at our house while we were packing. Luckily, I had 100 ft ethernet cables and we ran these all over the house, a 3600 ft2 five bedroom two story that we lived in at the time. Two of my employees took their computers and worked from their homes.
So, prepping for a business is very different from prepping on a personal basis. Need alternate space, internet supplier, long ethernet cables or wireless, power and water for starters.
I would estimate that your efficiency in getting stuff done during an outage to be 1/3rd at best. Maybe more like 10% of your normal effectiveness.
Motors (electric, gasoline, diesel, etc) are force multipliers and allow the weakest of us to drastically improve our effectiveness. I note that our “betters” have decided to take our motors away from us in the long run to make us more like serfs.
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/06/08/g7-nations-pledge-decarbonization-2100/
Our “betters” among the globalist elites would like to see several mass die-offs, and have sole control over technologies, fuel, water, food, medicine and weapons, which will be doled out to the armies of minions who serve them and the rest of us will be living in what would be a pretty good approximation of some combination of Mad Max and the Bracken trilogy. Those of us approaching late middle age or old age will have a tough time keeping up with just the minimum daily requirements to keep a household running. Hell, I run outta steam even now, just doing the usual stuff with an old house, after just a few hours. Of course I need to get in much better shape and have started working on that accordingly.
It was a pretty nice day here for weather today, and Mrs. OFD is now off to Nashville for a week, followed by a week in El Paso once again. We did eleven hours yesterday driving down to MA and picking up the car for Princess, while visiting son, DIL and grandkids for the last time before they head out to the East Bay plantations. We have our doubts concerning the wisdom of this move, however. The beaucoups piastres he’ll be bringing in while mama-san stays home with the kidz is gonna be tougher than they think to cover the Kalifornia expenses; they’re gonna be paying more than twice for their house rental what we’re paying for our mortgage, for starters. In a state that is in very bad shape on so many levels now.
And meanwhile I have a to-do list just for this week ahead; gonna be a busy one.
I run outta steam even now, just doing the usual stuff with an old house, after just a few hours. Of course I need to get in much better shape and have started working on that accordingly.
I have gotten so lazy that the wife suggested that I go see an endocrinologist and get my thyroid checked out. I asked her if she wanted to kill me. She said no, why? I answered that I take Metaprolol for blood pressure and heart rhythm management. Metaprolol works by suppressing your heart beta receptors to adrenaline. I’m betting that cranking up my thyroid would crank more adrenaline in my system. Not good.
I told her if she wants to kill me then just throw a pillow over my face some night and hold it down for a while. The diagnosis would be “Known heart condition, he died in his sleep.”
Right. “Died in his sleep with tooth impressions on the inside of his lips. Never seen such a clear-cut case of natural causes.”
It’s completely natural to die of suffocation. Like the guy who was shot but died of natural causes since it’s completely natural to die after being shot 6 times……
I’m not sure I’d be giving suggestions…..
Nick
My wife probably doesn’t wanna kill me, having lost one husband already, but Princess could do it very easily; just show up early or on time for us and I’d have a combination stroke and haht attack immediately.
I take a BP med every day, too, and the BP has now stayed at good levels for a year; only drawback is having to pee more often, sometimes once in the middle of the night, but I do it half-asleep anyway and fall right back out.
Wife is on thyroid meds, which if she doesn’t take them for a couple of weeks, she’ll croak. She has a cousin who’s a judge in upstate NY who, if he misses a day, he’s gone.
I see Colt has now filed Chapter 11 but intends to remain in business. They thought they’d tied up the entire mil-spec market and wouldn’t have to bother with civvies, but that hasn’t panned out so well recently.
The diagnosis would be “Known heart condition, he died in his sleep.”
On my aunt’s death certificate the cause of death was listed as “Failed to thrive.”. Yep, nothing like the obvious.