2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Family
115 Crossfield Ridge Ct
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27127
There will be no formal services.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to
Alleghany County Public Library
115 Atwood Street
Sparta, NC 28675.
Robert’s obituary can be found here:
http://www.hayworth-miller.com/obituaries/Robert-Bruce-Thompson?obId=2906724#/obituaryInfo
nick
12:40pm. Bob passed away last night at the rehab center around 9pm. I had spent the afternoon with him. He was talking fairly clearly but coughing up a lot of junk from his lungs. I was at home when the rehab center called me last night. The nurse had just been in to check on him to settle him for the night. She went back in a few minutes later and he had stopped breathing. EMS got tried for everything but he was just too weak. His heart just could not take the strain of all the fluid. He had been battling that lung issue for about six weeks and it was not getting any better. The rehab facility was taking good care of him especially the respiratory folks. Frances and Al were at the rehab center when I arrived. Once the funeral home came to take him we left for their house. Al drove up about 1:15am this morning. I am doing a few things here then heading back down to WS. There will be no funeral service. My friends are mostly in Winston. His are all over the world. I will be seeing friends at Frances and Al’s on Tuesday afternoon. I will not be back up here until later this week.
Hayworth Miller Funeral Home in Winston-Salem will post his obituary sometime later today or tomorrow.
Nick, I pass the baton to you.
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EDITED
My sincere and heartfelt condolences to you Barbara and to your friends and family. Bob’s death is a shocking loss.
Our continued best wishes to OFD and his family, and anyone else in our extended circle…
nick
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
“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
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
As Barbara said previously that she wouldn’t be updating today, I’ll open with this post.
Her last update had Bob sitting up in a chair, and sounded like forward progress, which is good news. It’s also becoming very clear that this was a near thing, and Bob is not clear yet. It will be a longer recovery than any of us hoped for. Hang in there Bob, and Barbara, lots of folks are here rooting for you.
In other really good news, we’ve heard from OFD AKA Dave Hardy. He has had some setbacks with his recovery but is continuing his time on this earth 🙂 We were really starting to get worried that something very serious had happened. Hang in there Dave, and drop in once in a while. I’ll extend the same offer to Mrs OFD and Dave, if there is anything we can do, don’t hesitate to ask. There is a large pool of talent and resources here.
Speaking of which, Bob has built a nice community here, and it’s clear that it might be a while until things are back to normal for him. In the mean time, I’ll try to keep the fires burning, or at least keep the coals banked… clearly I’m not him, but I can open a thread, and post some links. If you are in the habit of checking here, please continue to do so. If there is something you’d like to talk about please comment.
Any of you stealth preppers who are used to passing your story through Bob, please consider relaying through me. Those of you actually living the life always have valuable contributions, especially wrt the most mundane aspects. Anyone can do gear reviews or pontificate on the best bushcraft skills to have, but who has practical experience dealing with the <i>ahem</i> ‘output’ of a dozen human beings in a grid down exercise? My email is my last name at aol dot com. I don’t check it often, so there might be a delay if you don’t point me to it in a comment.
That all said, it was mid-40s this am when I let the dog out, and cool with a mostly clear sky as I sent the family off to start their day. Beautiful pink and orange in the sky. Take a moment to notice the world around you, and the beauty in everyday life. You won’t regret it.
nick
Message from Barbara,
I returned home this morning and sent Al back home to
Winston.
Bob was in surgery for about 6 hours. They did install the Impella repaired the valve, and did several artery bypasses. I was allowed in ICU very briefly to see him at 4pm. Frances and I left the hospital for her house and to grab some dinner.
Dr. Lee called around 5:40 to say they needed to take him back to the OR to clear some blood clots. He was there until about 9pm. Last night things were very critical but thankfully did not get a call in the night. We were back at the hospital at 8:30. The nurse said he had turned the corner early this morning and was doing better but is still critical. They may try to take him off the breathing tube later today. The pump is working.
=================== end of Barbara’s message ================
It’s the start of what looks like another beautiful fall day here in Houston, and I fervently hope a great day in Winston, with Robert beginning his recovery from a successful surgery…
Still in our thoughts and prayers…
nick
Update — I guess I cross posted with Barbara, please see her post.
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x
x
Based on Barbara’s last post, I’m guessing both she and Bob will be busy this am, so I’ll get things started.
From her last update on Sunday:
“Things with Bob are one step forward to two steps back. Last night things were looking rather grim with the doctors deciding it was too much of a risk to him surviving the bypass to try to do it.
I talked with him this morning. The plan as of now, which could change at any time, is to put in the cath pump tomorrow and do a procedure on Tuesday. Not sure if it will be bypass or stint. ”
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Whatever the situation is today, our continued hopes and prayers are with you, for what good they do (and they certainly can’t hurt.)
nick
Today started a bit on the cool side, high 40s, low 50s and you could see your breath.
Nice clear sky.
===========================
As this is “the end of the week” I expect our host is currently under the knife, or will be soon. Barbara and Bob, please accept what spiritual support we can offer, and give us an update when you are able.
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Perhaps more later.
n
Today dawned cool and dreary, low 50s and overcast, after a night of misty drizzle. I scratched my dog’s ears and belly, which always makes me feel better.
I hope everything is proceeding normally for our host, Barbara, and OFD. Once again, our prayers and best wishes to you.
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On another note entirely, I’m pretty sure hell has another inmate today, as Florida State Prison has one less.
“Double-murderer is cursed by victim’s relative who waves ‘bye, bye’ as he is executed after a last meal”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5064311/Florida-set-execute-man-convicted-2-killings.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5061727/Florida-execute-man-convicted-2-decades-old-murders.html
I have a personal connection to this crime and this murdering scumbag and his accomplices. For 26 years the ripples from his crime have affected loved ones, who I hope can get some peace now.
I don’t understand the DM’s love affair with last meals, and I can only hope that everything they gave this scumbag was off in some way- burned, undercooked, salty, cold, whatever. No way should he get anything that he asked for. He already got 26 years more life than his victims, and the one thing their families want the most can’t be given to THEM.
nick
Let’s start today with our continued hopes and prayers for RBT and OFD… to make a speedy recovery and to know you have people rooting for you.
==============================
FEMA’s brief from PR and the USVI shows continued improvement. In PR, more people are covered by cell service, clean water, sewage systems, and hospitals. One hospital that was running on gennie has closed.
The constant movement of hospitals on and off grid says that the story is more complex than the PPT briefing suggests.
Also, St Thomas is still only ~34% under grid power, St Croix less than 11% and trending DOWN, and St John at 30%. Note the amount of time that has passed. Most of us don’t live on what are essentially remote islands under 2nd or 3rd world conditions, but are you prepared to be THAT LONG without power, hospital, and water? There are still 3 shelters operating in the USVI with 66 occupants. PR of course has more, but the number and occupants are steadily declining.
It’s interesting to me that Houston and parts south have completely vanished from any disaster reporting. Funny how quickly that happens. In areas with heavy flooding, you can still clearly see the damage, but recovery is well underway.
PR and USVI have also fallen to the wayside in news coverage. Perhaps the rest of the nation is as tired of hearing about the lazy wastrels whining as the Gulf Coast and Florida are…
Speaking of Florida, when I was there last week there was little sign of the hurricane. A few trees down was about it. I drove from Tampa Int’l Airport to the Sarasota area. Pretty far up the coast, and out of the bad storm… did have one relative down there who lost some window screens on her “Florida room.” And that’s about it…
Here in Houston, we’ve had a cool front move in and should be cooler for a couple of days. I’ll take the reprieve and do some work in the attic, garage, and driveway, which work depends on if we get the forecast rain or not.
Which brings up another thing I’ve been meaning to mention. I find it very convenient to have a bunch of projects to work on in rotation. I’ve found that I can’t just ‘bust ass’ on one thing anymore, but I can move from indoor to outdoor, hard lifting to sitting down, doing bits and pieces. This is a completely different style of working for me and has taken some getting used to. The main difference is how long everything takes (measured by calendar.) It helps tremendously to gather all the stuff you need, and have it handy for the smaller segments of effort you can direct at it. I can get a surprising amount of stuff done this way. If you’ve stagnated or let a bunch of stuff pile up, you might find this ‘little bit at a time’ ‘chipping away at it’ approach useful to get moving again.
Speaking of moving, I better get a couple of tasks started….
nick