Hot and humid, but maybe starting out cooler. We had some crazy weather yesterday, with a squall moving through, both at the BOL, and in Houston. Houston got more of a trad thunderstorm, while I got crazy, but for a short time.
I slept in, after staying up reading, and then did yardwork. That got interrupted by weather, but I was able to finish afterwards. Closed up, and headed home.
D1 is out of town with her friend. D2 has daily band camp/clinic. I’m trying to generate some momentum with the changes I’m making, and the stuff I’m trying to do. W is working. Somehow it seems busier than the school year.
I’ll figure it out. I always do.
Stack or lack.
nick
Very sorry to hear this, Lynn. You and your parents are in my prayers.
I was estranged from my father for 15 years when he passed.
I’ve recounted the story here about what happened with my wife’s father at the hands of the nurses in the UT Southwestern heart transplant program.
What exactly happened there is still a mystery. I have my own theory.
What does Homer Simpson do to Bart on a regular basis?
Uh huh.
My mother is circling the drain with vascular dementia, but we are estranged too.
Sorry about your situation.
Perhaps your dad is deciding his own destiny without really saying that. My MIL did basically the same thing after being told she had a year to live. She mostly shut down and was gone in less than 3 months.
Not to be crude, callous, or otherwise a jerk, but death is a part of life, a part that no one escapes. Leaving on one’s own terms is a good option.
I wish you the best Mr. Lynn.
@Lynn
Very concerned regarding your Dad. I’ve seen a similar situation, at least the refusal to get in the ambulance. The old gent passed that very night. I suspect something had happened and he knew it was time, but how could anyone else know?
At any rate, my best prayers.
My prayers are with you, Mr. Lynn.
My mother health overall was poor but she was incontentant and hated that; hated that she had to have someone clean her several times a day. She quit eating. I took her to a doctor over her decision. The doctor interviewed her without me, then told me it was her decision. Three months later she was gone at age 90; she weighed less than 50 pounds.
We all die. My mother’s decision was hard to live with but I now understand it. I’ve talked to my son about living just to have a another day, while not really doing anything useful or fun. I do not want to live if I not enjoying most days. I have discussed this with my son and several grandchildren. My life style is important to me. I don’t want to just exist.
Ok, Dad agreed to go to the good hospital in Victoria (there are two). He is incredibly weak. The ambulance left a while ago. Mom is getting ready. It took me five minutes to figure out how to start their car. You have to press the brake.
Mom is in a wheelchair with a withered leg so she cannot climb into my truck.
This is as bad as I had envisioned it.
My aunt was one of those that was adamant she did not want to live as a vegetable. Best laid plans and all that.
he spent 6.5 years in assisted living in a mental fog. Then she spent 4 years in a nursing home, with the last two of those years as vegetable. They would wake her up and scrape yesterday’s food off one end, and stuff today’s food in the other end. Then she laid in bed all day. She did not watch TV, she did not have a radio, she did not read, she did nothing. Two years like that. Ugghhh.
My wife would visit as that did not upset my aunt. If I visited my aunt got really agitated and angry. If it had been up to my aunt, she would have wanted to have died many years prior to her actual passing.
When an elder adult makes a choice that they are done living, that choice must be respected in spite of our feelings. Death of a parent is a natural cycle. It should be respected and the parent’s choice should be respected.
My wife’s mother made her choice, and we respected it although we did not like it.
It will get worse. If your parents need care don’t burden yourself with the task. Hire professional help using your parent’s funds. Don’t (I don’t like the term but have no other) ruin your life taking care of your parents.
I just saw an online Salesforce commercial starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson covering how Salesforce AI can prevent mishaps in hospitals.
Combined with Abbott’s last minute veto of Dan Patrick’s THC ban at midnight, something tells me that 2026 has started in Texas.
A special session on THC is coming.
All right. All right. All right.
@lynn, I’m hoping for a good outcome.
———
88F and part sun today. That’s a bit cooler than 90F at 9am that we have had in the past, with 100F at 10am.
Coffee in the mug, eggs cooked. Taking kid to band practice. Never really thought that phrase would pass my lips.
n
High school or middle?
“Summer Band” at the high schools sneaks up really fast, starting the last week in July in most places.
D2 is starting High School this Fall. My buddy warned me that the band activities start early. She’s got a week of marching band clinic, then some time off, then at some point they’ll start practice again. I’ll be a ‘band dad’. And a ‘theater dad’.
In my high school there was a lot of cross over between the band geeks, theater geeks, and the various vocal clubs, like chorus. I dated a girl in band, but was never a band geek.
n
All right. All right. All right.
– he’s been popping up in the media, and in my youtube shorts. Someone has started moving.
n
@Lynn:
I’m sorry for your situation, and while I hope, for your sake, for the very best outcome, I can’t say what that outcome is.
Now, to make this all about me.
I just did my latest round of estate planning, and I need to write a letter to go with my medical power of attorney. In the last 10 years, I have gone 180 degrees on a lot of fundamental beliefs, and they may align with your father’s. Or not, I may be reading too much into it.
I’ve been doing my own research on health matters, and seeking out knowledgeable doctors to learn from, and I realize there are good, curious people out there doing God’s work. I have a ham friend who has been absent from our weekly lunch for a few weeks, who just got a life-changing pacemaker installed. He went from barely able to walk to mostly-normal activity in an instant.
So it’s not all bad. It’s just that the fear of institutionalized, corporate, hospital-based medicine is not irrational. Once you’re admitted into the hospital, your (or your advocate’s) wishes are secondary to their decisions and procedures, to the point where even the courts can’t restore your sovereignty
And yet there are life saving and life extending procedures that can only be performed in that environment. Pacemakers, heart valves, stents, some cancer surgeries, etc.
I don’t have answers. What I have is much more doubt about the state-of-the-art, motivations, incentives, and rewards for the people who are supposed to be thinking of my welfare first and foremost.
Commander Zero echos my thoughts from last night…
https://www.commanderzero.com/?p=12223
A (literal) blast from the past.
@Lynn: Best wishes for you and your family.
My dad has stones in the gall bladder
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx29w0lrx0o
predictable but probably not able to do much.
So what does she play??? Extra points for “brass”, and “euphonium” for the win!!
Everyone knows American Pie, but have you and D seen Brassed Off? Recommended.
Lynn, more prayers offered up…
Stones are what caused the eventual infection and removal of MrsAtoz’s gallbladder. She was in a lot of pain and was glad to have it removed.
The Vera C. Rubin observatory is up and running, some amazing things are going to be seen:
https://rubinobservatory.org
https://skyviewer.app/explorer
D2 plays trombone… and she’s sunburned thru her sunscreen. Pale kid.
n
”Summer Band” will be brutal.
Texas spends a lot more money on band, football, and drill team than other states. Friends whose kid aspires to be a band director are paying out of state grad tuition for the kid to start at UT Austin this fall in the hope that he will be able to find a high school program to eventually run in this area.
Florida does not spend the money on band. OTOH, my friends sure do like their property tax situation, which is about half my bill in the same size house.
Plus, Florida has homestead exemption portability.
They are moving my father to Houston for a specialist gastro surgeon. He has one or two stones in the small intestine blocking it.
No more drinking “Jack on the Rocks” using real rocks. 🙂
I will let myself out, in shame.
Seriously, here’s hoping the surgery goes well. I have never heard of stones in the intestines.
Hopefully, your high school is not obsessed with Bands of America competitions and p*ssing away time, energy, and booster cash on props and professionally scripted shows.
“The missing part RE: Iran— no rational discussion about costs” by James Hickman
https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/the-missing-part-re-iran-no-rational-discussion-about-costs-153023/
“If the Land of the Free wasn’t already divided heavily along ideological lines, it is even more so after the US military bombings in Iran over the weekend.”
“Even on the political right, which would ordinarily be unified over a US military engagement, there seem to be two distinct camps.”
“On the one hand, there are those who hold the view that America doesn’t need more foreign entanglements.”
“Tucker Carlson summed up this side when he told Ted Cruz in a fiery interview that “we should be very careful about entering into more foreign wars that don’t help us when our country is dying.””
Wow. Well put. Great article.
@Nick
Like much other advice, it’s useless when taken to extremes, but useful as a general rule.
Dad used to do a little hot rodding which involved running his car after hours into the service station where his buddy worked and swapping in the straight pipe. Dangerous, but the local constable was adept at finding the muffler cutouts control. He had tales about a number of close calls, but none closer than the night that the muffler was back on and his buddies wanted to go back out and do a little pranking. He declined, and the next morning found his buddies in the lockup after their “borrowed” car prank went south. They then missed graduation while they did a stint in reform school.
The equally important corollary to the advice is “If the situation changes and you find yourself there, remove yourself with alacrity.” Too many innocent bystanders hung around to rubberneck and caught the low-probability event.
I consulted with a small company some years ago and after dinner in the owner’s home, the two of us walked down the street for ice cream. We walked into the store and found the high school kids who were working were getting verbally harassed by some classmates. Mr. Smith (not his name) immediately told me we were leaving, and did. A block away he explained that he had been in a car accident and incurred a head injury that left him extremely vulnerable to a blow, and simply never took a chance. He was a careful driver, too.
Seriously, here’s hoping the surgery goes well. I have never heard of stones in the intestines.
I got it wrong as usual. The stones are in the common bile duct above and below the gall bladder. They have to be removed first before the gall bladder can be addressed.
The ER doc was kind and just spent 30 minutes with us, drawing pictures on the wallboard. He used “your gall bladder is angry” terminogy. I was ready to burst out laughing.
I’ve lost all respect for TC. He may be right twice a day like an analog clock, but he’s not worth paying attention too.
There is no scenario where Iran having nuclear weapons results in anything good. Doing nothing is a choice. The alternative that the foreign policy geniuses of the Democrat Party chose, giving pallets of U.S. dollars to the mullahs, is hard to interpret as anything but stone cold stupidity practiced by a group of anti-American idiots intent on toppling the U.S. from the apex of the world pyramid.
The result is that after decades of small impediments–remember when the Israelis hacked the centrifuge controls?–we struck a decisive blow that may have been too late. The question now: Is there 400kg of 60% U-235 in the wind?
My LG fridge died last night. 5 years old.
My appliance repair guy (let me know if you want his name) dropped by and diagnosed a dead compressor, told me he’s surprised we got 5 years on it, let me know it can be fixed under warranty (but not by him). When it comes time to replace it, get a GE. Never an LG fridge. or LG dishwasher. Other LG stuff is ok.
I use him often enough he didn’t charge me for this housecall. He likes being appreciated.
“Airstrikes”
https://areaocho.com/airstrikes/
“There are also those on both sides who are making the claim that Iran is peaceful, not pursuing nukes, and the US shouldn’t be doing Israel’s bidding. Let’s talk about that. First, on Iran being peaceful. I was in the military for many of these incidents, and was actually there for some of them:”
Iran has pulled a lot of crap on us since 1979.
Lynn, very glad to hear your father is getting good care. Still “storming heaven” on his behalf.
Nick, trombone is almost as good as euphonium. I have a couple of ‘bones that I dust off occasionally…
Look out for an album called “The many faces of God” by Michael Buchanan. Some of the most beautiful trombone playing I have ever heard.
Nick, since you were not a band geek, consider, for prepping purposes, that trombones are by an order of magnitude, the most easily damaged members of the brass family. The tolerances between inner and outer slides are so small that even a tiny knock will put the instrument “hors service”. A real case of one is none, two is one.
BTW, you should be watching Wes Lee music repairs on YT if you don’t already. A fine craftsman, and lots of good information about band instruments.
What we knew as “GE” went under a long time ago. What is left licenses the name to Chinese manufacturers.
GE refrigerators are Haier. Some high end models are made here but the rest are Hecho en China.
The Stark was an Iraqi hit.
Your father doesnt have a GP out there he could have called last week?
Best wishes Lynn, I was on smilar ordeal, travelling back and forth 300 miles 1 week a month.
Hope the best of the outcomes come to yor family
Re: GE and Haier.
I had a Haier Q series quiet window a/c that I liked, so I bought the GE unit the next year, after GE acquired Haier.
Spec-wise it looked on paper identical to the H unit, and it was visually identical, but was nowhere near as quiet. A real disappointment.
The Midea U series units are as quiet, but are currently being recalled for mold issues. Or they will send you a drain plug retrofit kit, which is what I will do.
Trump’s NRC firing raises alarms at pro-nuclear and watchdog groups alike
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/trumps-nrc-firing-Hanson-raises-alarms/751281/
“Commissioner Christopher Hanson’s sudden dismissal could make NRC less efficient — and less trusted — just as its workload explodes, advocates say.”
The NRC has not approved a new nuclear reactor in the USA in over 40 years. They are a moribound organization that cannot get thibgs done. It is time to get the dead wood out of there.
GE did not acquire Haier.
https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-agrees-sell-appliances-business-haier-54b
The most famous writer under the “Bob Cringely” pseudonum, Mark Stevens, worked for the NRC back in the Three Mile Island era.
New pronoun alert!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCYrW1-BMy0
Your father doesnt have a GP out there he could have called last week?
Sigh. Yes he has a GP in Port Lavaca. Yes he could have seen him at any time last week.
But the Professor knew that he had a virus. So why go to a Doc when he had diagnosed himself already ?
And every time Mom started to call me over the weekend, dad made her hang up.
The real problem is that I do the same thing.
Two Days After Release from Jail Pro-Hamas Activist Mahmoud Khalil Is Leading a Protest Outside Columbia University Calling for a ‘Global Intifada’
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/06/one-day-after-release-jail-pro-hamas-activist/
You know, this guy is just asking for a beating with a police nightstick.
Hmmm. My mistake, looks like I had it backwards, but I was thinking early 2020s timeframe for my two purchases, so I’m not sure what was going on.
The difference in sound is real though.
And I do like bacon, I know that for sure.
Hopefully, your high school is not obsessed with Bands of America competitions
– our school has 83% of students with household income below the poverty line. They didn’t have uniforms for the track team, and only barely managed to get them T shirts. IDK what a full band looks like, but I’d be surprised if we field a full complement. Sports and the arts aren’t big at our school, except soccer, and IDK if the school even has an official team.
@denis – I have two vintage ‘bones that she didn’t want to touch. Middle school gave her one with a ?valve? so you don’t need long arms to hit the lower notes, and she wanted one like that. The vintage ones are straight… high school will give her a decent instrument, but for summer they gave her an old beater with a hole in it. So lo and behold, she cleaned one of the vintage ones last night and started using it today. She still wants the $3200 yamaha her band director recommended, but unless I get crazy lucky, she’s not getting that.
I love watching Wes Lee. His metal shaping is CRAZY good, and the way he can keep a vintage finish is nothing short of miraculous. Plus, he is still learning new stuff and sharing it which is also awesome.
When I first started watching him I couldn’t understand how the economics made sense. NOW I know, having looked at the cost of new…
n
“You know, this guy is just asking for a beating with a police nightstick.”
Auction it off.
Or just sell single shots for $100 apiece.
‘Gravely Alarmed’ UN Secretary General Slams Trump Taking Out Nuke Sites As ‘Dangerous Escalation’
Tell him the UN is moving to Iran next Tuesday, and he’s required to serve out his term.
Hakeem Jeffries Was Too Busy to Answer WH Call, Now Stomps His Feet and Demands Immediate Iran Briefing
Wonder if he was pitching or catching?
It seems like every pop band in the 80s had a brass section, but the kid doesn’t love 80s music. I’ve been trying to get her to listen to some ska, but she’s a rule follower, and the school is teaching BAND music.
Don Drummond-Tommy McCook & The Skatalites Don Drummond – The Man with the Big Trombone
n
And now we are headed for San Antonio Methodist when they find transport. They found a gastro endoscopy surgeon there.
The most valuable piece of real estate in Tampa Bay is arguably the building where the transplant harvest surgeons have offices near Tampa General.
The roof of the building is always a much sought-after ticket for parades into Downtown, especially Graspawillie -er- the Gasparailla pirate invasion.
As for the overall concept of transplantation, I have mixed feelings. I think it depends on the recipient.
While I believe the nurses at the UT Southwestern ultimately put my father-in-law into a premature grave so one could collect his life insurance, it was a case of Kharma catching up.
My wife’s father p*ssed away his second chance, and only the Perot family millions got him into that program in the first place.
My father-in-law had an encyclopedic knowledge of the AT&T billing system. Mostly he used it to extort bl*w jobs from his Asian female quota hire co-workers, but the management at Perot Systems saw the value in keeping him alive even if it was for just another three years.
I have pictures no one should ever see of their spouse’s paternal unit. And, no, my father-in-law was so envious of my innate abilities with Unix and C that my Death Star job was not something he arranged.
“Mattel’s going to make AI-powered toys, kids’ rights advocates are worried”
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2025/06/mattels-going-to-make-ai-powered-toys-kids-rights-advocates-are-worried
The first Terminator is going to be a Barbie or a Ken. As least we can easily pull their heads off.
Madness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjvlkErrw_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOJLjnb6C5c
and providing half of the soundtrack for Emma Thompson’s first film appearance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9FeJPwiVNc
Sadly, the Miramax DVD has ruined the movie.
Thompson only trusted Richard Curtis and Mel Smith enough to appear topless, but her wearing the NHS nurse uniform for most of the flick really does more for me.
“The Greatest Showman” was the big influence for band directors when my son was in high school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUkRoIMyqFo
“Unwritten” will probably feature prominently this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnbyBawSfXY
Don’t bother with the rest of the film unless you really want to see the blonde girl nekkid.
Glenn Powell, the male lead, moves up the Hollywood food chain with Edgar Wright’s “The Running Man” this Fall.
Nick, I feel for you! Brass instruments are like cars, there is no upper price limit.
I will say, there is a real benefit to learning on a good instrument, rather than on a cheaper “student” model. The more expensive instruments are generally easier to play, and have better response and intonation, all of which are tricky enough already for a tyro.
My dear parents very kindly, and generously, allowed me a professional-grade euphonium when I was around 12 or 13 after maybe three years on a “student” model, and I was actually playing it professionally by the time I was at university. I still have it, and would never part with it, so it was truly a lifetime investment. In the case of the euphonium, the student model was necessary, because nine-year-old Denis was too small to manage the adult instrument, but that is less of an issue with trombones.
Having the b-flat to f valve on a trombone does help with avoiding the extended-arm slide positions, and gives a bit more flexibility overall, but it is by no means essential. Look at Nils Landgren to see what one can play with a simple slide trombone. http://www.nilslandgren.com/
Hard to go wrong with a Yamaha, but they don’t give them away… older Kings and Conns are fine American instruments.
Have a look at the Supertenor from Wessex Tubas. It is very reasonably priced, and they have special offers with substantial discounts a few times a year, and they attend trade shows and conventions in the US. Well worth signing up to their mailing list and YT channel. https://europe.wessex-tubas.com/products/supertenor-trombone-premier-pbf555
The Wessex instruments are manufactured in China, but with British design and quality control. Johnathan Hodges, the owner, is a tubist, so he knows his brass. I believe he is married to a Chinese lady, so he has an inside track to getting good work from the factory. He also has a reputation for innovation and for standing behind his instruments.
Glad you also enjoy watching Wes Lee. The man is a treasure!
How are the dems going to handle this? Maybe a district judge can rule against it.
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/06/23/breaking-trump-announces-iran-israel-ceasefire-n4941104
Guess who voted against:
SCOTUS Rules 6-3 That Trump Can Deport to Third-Party Countries
Now we CAN air drop crimmigrants into Iran. Many African countries are in need of long pork, too.
It seems like every pop band in the 80s had a brass section, but the kid doesn’t love 80s music. I’ve been trying to get her to listen to some ska, but she’s a rule follower, and the school is teaching BAND music.
The Eagles on tour with the 11 ? minute version of Hotel California with the three man brass section. Tejano music !
And yet there are life saving and life extending procedures that can only be performed in that environment. Pacemakers, heart valves, stents, some cancer surgeries, etc.
I don’t have answers. What I have is much more doubt about the state-of-the-art, motivations, incentives, and rewards for the people who are supposed to be thinking of my welfare first and foremost.
Hospitals are first and forrmost businesses. They must make a profit in order to survive.
In fact, there is a rule of thumb that if 65% do not pay their bill then they will not survive long term. This is why Texas forces each county to designate an ER and subsidize it.
Really? Even the non-profit ones? (I know the answer)
“Mattel’s going to make AI-powered toys, kids’ rights advocates are worried”
Chuckie?
Really? Even the non-profit ones? (I know the answer)
It don’t matter what you are, if your outgo is more than your ingo, your business won’t be going for long.
It will get worse. If your parents need care don’t burden yourself with the task. Hire professional help using your parent’s funds. Don’t (I don’t like the term but have no other) ruin your life taking care of your parents.
Mom and I are back at their house. We are going the 150 miles to San Antone in the early morning. My nephew who lives in Bee is staying with Dad tonight.
I will spend this week ferrying Mom around. After all, she carried me for nine months in the Texas heat. While Dad was working at the Shell Refinery, Mom was in Freeport where the humidity commonly equals the temperature. I was born in Dow Community Hospital while Dad and the refinery manager were playing golf.
My spelling and grammar are getting real bad. Especially on this minature keyboad.
@lynn, all things considered, we’ll give you a pass today.
And hoping for only good news…
11:11
n
Ran around dodging storm cells all afternoon. Made steaks for dinner. Tried a pan fry method from a youtube chef for the second time. It was a hit with W and D2, so now everyone had given it a thumbs up. Nice alternative for days when it might be raining outside and I don’t want to grill.
Cooked some more of the $10/pound prime NY Strip steaks. Yum. IDK if any will make it to the deep freeze. De-glazed the pan with red wine, added butter and sliced onions, sauteed for a nice condiment.
The technique uses the “hot pan” method for getting non-stick from a stainless steel pan. Get the pan hot until water dances. Add fat, reduce heat, add food. Food will either not stick because it is riding on the steam from the hot pan and the moisture in the food, or stick completely until it caramelizes and naturally releases from the pan. A quick de-glaze to cook a side or a sauce, and then rinse pan clean when finished.
I’ve done scrambled eggs, and steak. It’s a good tool to have in the box as stainless steel doesn’t offgas or wear out. As a bonus, people burn stuff and don’t know how to clean the pans, so really nice pans are often available crazy cheap at yard sales or thrift stores.
And of course, stainless steel pans are great for reductions, sauces and sauteing. Some stuff won’t really come out right in a non-stick pan.
n