Older Folks and Vaping Back Porch - Part 2

[clnire]

Beautiful story Roto. That man was a treasure to cherish. You are a treasure to have shared with him so he could share with you. He enhanced your life.

 

[MikeE3]

David Ock said about helicopters: "Hah, they don't fly, they beat the air into submission!

I know, right!! I figured if I was going to work with them and order parts for them, it would be to my advantage to have a general idea of how they work. One night I sat down and started googling. I was fascinated!! I'm always asking the mechanics questions, and they gladly oblige. It really does help my do my job better. One night one of them asked my why I just didn't go get my A & P License. Uh....NO....I don't have the upper body strength to wrench.

My daughter husband got us on North Island base and 'snuck' behind the controls of a SH-60 Seahawk simulator. After giving me a 10 minute crash course on collective, anti-torque pedals, cyclic, throttle, horizon line, etc. etc. He 'took' off and then handed control off to me. I think it took 3 1/2 seconds before red lights and warning buzzers started going off and thank God it was a simulator because we was gonna crash. Yikes! He was so good, he recovered and 'flew' us under the Golden Gate Bridge. And WOW! was I impressed with these simulators was a marvel of technology.

My Dad graduated from Ohio State with a degree in engineering, and later got a Master's in welding engineering from Brooklyn Polytech. He used to use an abacus to do the family finances, and for many years he carried a clip-on slide rule in his shirt pocket. Way back when, he taught his curious oldest son how to use both of them, but I've used neither one for 40+ years.

I've still got a couple of slide rules around and can do rudimentary multiplication and division. But I've long forgotten how to work all the other functions. I was a math major in College from '64-'69 and the slide rule was a fundamental piece of equipment we carried and used daily.

I feel like telling a story. Read or skip over as you wish.

Back many years ago, I used to work as a home health aide. I traveled from home to home helping elderly with their daily activities. These were mostly older folks who had just had some type of surgery and were recovering and needed a little help bathing and dressing.

During that time, I was assigned to an older man that I will never forget for as long as I live. When I first met Mr. Bernard, he was 109 years old. I acquired him as a patient because he had fallen and badly bruised a hip, so he was having a little difficulty taking a bath and getting dressed. I was warned ahead of time that he could be cantankerous and quite a handful. I figured at that age, he was entitled.

That little man turned out to be my favorite patient. Oh, he was cantankerous, but he truly enjoyed a good argument, and his mind was as sharp as a tack. I didn't take me long to figure out that he absolutely loved it when I would fuss with him. His typical greeting for me when I arrived was, "Oh, it's YOU again. What you want?" All of this in a heavy Cajun accent because English was not his first language. Our typical routine was for me to take his vital signs, and then I would get him in the bathroom to shave and take a bath. I'll never forget the first time I gave him a bath. We would usually try to get the patient to do as much as possible for themselves. I had washrag in hand and when I got to his bottom, I said, "Do you need me to wash there, or can you do it yourself?" His answer to me, "Oh, that? That died 20 years ago. There's no danger. You can wash it." I couldn't help but laugh.

I took care of that man for roughly two years. During that time we had a lot of conversations about a lot of things and having lived over 100 years, he had a lot of stories to tell, and I learned a lot of history. I never left from his house without a laugh or a smile on my face. The old man was indeed a character, and he claimed that he lived such a long life by always working hard. Only God knows, but he was 113 when he finally passed away.

I guess what brought this on today was the fact that I passed in front of where he used to live. The house has been torn down, and nothing but an empty lot remains, but I could still see it all in my mind as if it were yesterday. I felt that touch of nostalgia that the house was gone, but I still was able to bring forth a deep eternal smile for knowing Mr. Edward Bernard, the old Cajun Farmer with the gruff exterior and the twinkle in his eyes.

Now that was a wonderful tale to tell. I'll bet you could 'feel' the memories too not just mentally remember them. Awesome!

 

[MattB101]

I have Rhuematoid Arthritis in every large joint in my body. I have some other arthritiss in my lower back & neck from a fall about 30 years ago. I take Celebrex 2x a day & it works on both. You might ask your Dr about it. I love my Celebrex. It's great, especially on the pain that just hurts for no apparent reason. just sitting & hurting. I take other things for the RA but Celebrex is part of the cocktail. I only take steroids when the other things aren't quite doing the job. I was on them for maybe 10 years everyday. I was able to get off of them when I started on Rituxan. But when I couldn't get Rituxan I'd end up getting dose packs of steroids & found I have a really strong behavioral reaction to them that just gets worse as time goes on. Injections work better, longer, & I don't turn into a monster as badly. I get a huge steriod push in the IV when I get infusions so I have to just stay away from people for 4-5 days till I can control my behavior. I go thru the thinking I need something to eat 24/7, too. Having something I can nibble keeps me from eating 7 full meals a day as long as I don't let myself have 3-4 bags of popcorn a day. GI issues hate me when I do that. vaping has helped greatly with that, too, I can just vape thru the urge.

My knees are just plain shot and really do need replaced, at least in the opinion of two doctors I've seen, two others say not needed just shots and such, two of the doctor that disagree work in the same damn office, you'd think they could get their act together at least. Anyway, due all the confusion I am going to wait until we move to Deerfield Beach and find another ortho guy. Not going to tell him what the other docs said at all and let him work me up without prejudice then see what he he says. Can't get them fixed now anyways or I would never get moved.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[MattB101]

Way back when I was just a newbie to these affiliated threads, there was a survey asking respondents to name their "top 10 TV shows". After I named "The Rachel Maddow Show" as my top choice, Uncle Willie stated that my opinion was not welcome. I made it clear at that time that I really did not care what his opinion was of my opinion and that I would make room for my opinion even if none existed previously.

I just thought it might be of interest to some that Uncle Willie's resentment of me didn't come out of the blue, but is long-standing. If not of interest, please just disregard. I will continue to appreciate all of my fellow thread participants, including those with whom I have disagreements, no matter what.

Not worried about it. Just staying away from politics and religion as much as possible and other than that don't see a problem with anyone.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[MattB101]

And by the way,

Good morning to all of my wonderful back porch friends. I have an especially busy day planned protecting Freedom and giving the "stink eye" to junior Sailors. I hope everyone else has great plans for the last Monday of the week.

Stink em up son. I did.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[MattB101]

I've been using LED's since 2010 and I have switched out all the light bulbs in all of my homes to LED's. Huge* energy savings and I have LEDs installed right now that are still just as bright as the day I bought them ~4 years ago.


*noticeable

I haven't even finished with all the bulbs in this house, just the ones we use most of the time, track lights in the living room, bedside lamps and the outdoor floods. Our light bill has dropped a minimum of 50 bucks a month. Like I said in an earlier post the payback time is really short.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[MikeE3]

Last year, I replaced all the windows in my house with those expensive, double-pane, energy-efficient kind.
Today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them.
He complained that the work had been completed a year ago. and I still hadn't, paid for them. OMG!
Hellloooo,............ Just because I'm old doesn't mean that I'm automatically stupid.
So, I told him just what his fast-talking sales guy told me last year -- that these windows would pay for themselves in a year.
Helllooooo? It's been a year, so they're paid for, I told him.
There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally hung up.
He never called back. I bet he felt like an idiot.

 

[Iffy]

I hope everyone else has great plans for the last Monday of the week.

Hey, I'm still tryin' to recover from da first one!

 

[Iffy]

So, I told him just what his fast-talking sales guy told me last year -- that these windows would pay for themselves in a year.
Helllooooo? It's been a year, so they're paid for, I told him.

 

[MattB101]

Good Morning Everyone.

Thought I would add in my two cents for LED bulbs. If you are still using incandescent - changing them out = savings - the difference in the savings with changing out CFL's and LED's is minimal - change them as they expire... I changed out some CFL's (internal can / flood lights) only because LED's offer a greater light (big time noticeable difference) than CFL's do.- I used the CFL flood lights since they still had life left in them for other applications that the brightness of the light was not as important. I was an early adopter of LED's when I was doing my first renovations back in 2002, but the cost have not come down enough for me to go full blown into changing out everything. Do the math...

Semi, I found a bigger savings with LED over CFL, not near as significant as LED over incandescent but still remarkable. The thing I think that makes the biggest vs florescent is their performance in cold and the amount of light provided. LED are nearly instant on while the CFL floods outside take forever when it's even mildly cold outside. My floods are on motion sensors and someone could come up the driveway, break in the cars, steal everything loose and be gone before the CFL floods even got warmed up. Not the LED on instantly even when it was 8 degrees outside.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[MattB101]

In my case, one of the two CFL floodlight bulbs in the side door light had already burned out, and the one fluorescent bulb at the front door light had already burned out. That leaves me with a CFL floodlight bulb that still has some life left. I guess I should go put it back in the side door fixture until it fails. I'm agonna do that.

Edit: OK, for whatever reason, the old CFL floodlight was unwilling to be re-screwed into the dual-bulb fixture at my side door. I'll use it instead as an indoor fixture when an indoor fixture burns out.

Bells, Have you noticed how much cooler the LEDs run. Leave one on all day and can still touch it with your fingers.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[classwife]

pssssst...Mike...post count

 

[Rotowoman]

Beautiful story Roto. That man was a treasure to cherish. You are a treasure to have shared with him so he could share with you. He enhanced your life.

He truly DID enhance my life. I loved that old man so much, I would often go after working hours to visit with him, and on occasion, I used to take him to visit one of his cousins so they could talk in French.

 

[Iffy]

pssssst...Mike...post count

Well, guess dat answers dat!

 

[Rotowoman]

My daughter husband got us on North Island base and 'snuck' behind the controls of a SH-60 Seahawk simulator. After giving me a 10 minute crash course on collective, anti-torque pedals, cyclic, throttle, horizon line, etc. etc. He 'took' off and then handed control off to me. I think it took 3 1/2 seconds before red lights and warning buzzers started going off and thank God it was a simulator because we was gonna crash. Yikes! He was so good, he recovered and 'flew' us under the Golden Gate Bridge. And WOW! was I impressed with these simulators was a marvel of technology.

I was around helicopter six years before I ever flew in one. I wanted to go flying SO bad!! Finally one afternoon, one of the 407 pilots asked me if I wanted to go for a flight. I was almost like a little kid in school. I wanted to jump up and down. Of COURSE, I wanted to go fly. The first thing he asked me was if I was scared. I just laughed and told him I didn't have enough sense to be scared.

I got to sit up front with the pilot and fly out into the Gulf. I was like country girl come to town. My neck was swiveling all over the place to see everything, and I LOVED it!!

 

[Semiretired]

Rotowoman - I only got one thing to say about riding in whirly birds - Noisy, Noisy, Noisy...

 

[Semiretired]

Last year, I replaced all the windows in my house with those expensive, double-pane, energy-efficient kind.
Today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them.
He complained that the work had been completed a year ago. and I still hadn't, paid for them. OMG!
Hellloooo,............ Just because I'm old doesn't mean that I'm automatically stupid.
So, I told him just what his fast-talking sales guy told me last year -- that these windows would pay for themselves in a year.
Helllooooo? It's been a year, so they're paid for, I told him.
There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally hung up.
He never called back. I bet he felt like an idiot.

Hey, Mike can I get that guys number - I like the price point...

 

[MattB101]

thank you!!! duhhhh didn't think to google it lol

Hate to say this but, Google is your friend even if you do hate the parent company. Which I don't by the way. I do feel they are a little (lot) nosy but, I really think that they produce a top notch product. I like the Android operating system, if you've ever used one that was not overlaid with somebody else's improvements such as Samsung's Touch Wiz it really is nice. The search engine is second to none, don't think so just don't use it, after about a week of Yahoo or Bing, you'll be back. Blah, Blah, Blah, etc. I just like em and haven't screwed me over yet bit I do keep an eye on them.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[MattB101]

David Ock said about helicopters: "Hah, they don't fly, they beat the air into submission!

I know, right!! I figured if I was going to work with them and order parts for them, it would be to my advantage to have a general idea of how they work. One night I sat down and started googling. I was fascinated!! I'm always asking the mechanics questions, and they gladly oblige. It really does help my do my job better. One night one of them asked my why I just didn't go get my A & P License. Uh....NO....I don't have the upper body strength to wrench.

An H-56 pilot once told me that there is no such thing as a complete helicopter, what they really are is 64,000 parts flying in loose formation. This was right after I told him it was leaking hydraulic fluid back here. His reply was if it ain't leaking it ain't flying.

Sent while sitting on my busted ..... Stay off the ice if you can't skate. I can't and didn't.

 

[Rotowoman]

Rotowoman - I only got one thing to say about riding in whirly birds - Noisy, Noisy, Noisy...

That's what headsets and earplugs are for.