Sat. Jun. 25, 2022 – as I flee before the onslaught, err, the return, err, the kinder..

By on June 25th, 2022 in Random Stuff

Hot and humid again.   Bet it’s cooler by the lake.

It was 96F at 8pm yesterday, and that was when it finally started to cool off.

I spent the day online, and asleep.

Coughing continues to get a little worse, and I felt kinda light headed most of the day.  Took another test, same maker, and was positive within seconds…

so I’m off to the lake for a couple of days.   D1 and D2 arrive home from camp today, and D2 will be headed back out tomorrow, but only if she doesn’t have a wuflu exposure.   So I’m outta here for a couple of days.  Wife tested again and is still negative.

I don’t think I’ll get much if anything done at the lake.  I’m not really feeling up to power tool usage.  Don’t even want to drive really, but I also don’t want to spoil D2’s plans.   So I’ll sleep, read, and putter for a day or two.   Then home in time to pack up for returning for the Fourth.  It’d be cheaper and less hassle to get a hotel room but then I’d be exposing those folks.  Assuming I’m not just sick with a cold.

In any case I’ll get another truck load of stuff up there.

So that’s me, load the truck and be gone before the kids get home.

I’ll be stacking some more up there, so let that be an example for you too.  Stack, stack, stack it up…

n

37 Comments and discussion on "Sat. Jun. 25, 2022 – as I flee before the onslaught, err, the return, err, the kinder.."

  1. Clayton W. says:

    Nick, make sure you have a plan if you take a turn for the worse.  It probably won’t happen, but preppers gotta prep.

  2. Pecancorner says:

    What Clayton said!     Take care of yourself, Nick, and don’t overdo even trying to load or unload the truck.  Rest, and get better.  You’re in my prayers, as well as your family.

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    @claytonW, yeah, that is the concern that kept me from heading out to spare my wife…

    I feel ok today.   Cough is about the same so far.  Brain fog might be a bit better.  Hard to tell before coffee.

    Wow, only 77F but 95%RH.    That usually means dew on the grass.

    I’ve got to get fed, watered, and loaded up.

    n

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Nick, make sure you have a plan if you take a turn for the worse.  It probably won’t happen, but preppers gotta prep.

    You’ve been in touch with your doctor, right?

  5. nick flandrey says:

    Not without a seance or a concierge subscription…

    n

  6. Geoff Powell says:

    This is why I thank $DEITY for the UK NHS.

    OK, maybe service isn’t as quick, and you may end up on a waiting list at some point, but coverage is available, free at point-of-use, to any taxpayer (and not a few non- or never-taxpayers) and you have the option to go private, and pay. Not as much as in the US, I think, (I have no experience of private medicine in UK). 

    I know which I prefer.

    G.

  7. nick flandrey says:

    I’m still 95% sure this is a cold and not sars-covid-19.    No fever.  No loss of taste or smell.  No difficulty breathing.  Normal pulse ox.   Occasional productive coughing.  (once or twice an hour).

    One night of chills, couple days of mild headache and body ache.

    I’ve been doing rest, hydration, airborne.   Upped my D3 and zinc, just in case.

    If not for the strongly positive test, I wouldn’t think twice about declaring this a cold.

    n

    (I do appreciate the concern and best wishes.  Really, truly.  It is a good feeling knowing you all have my back.)

  8. nick flandrey says:

    Not as much as in the US

    don’t draw the wrong conclusion.   I could be seen at the Urgent care in 10 minutes, and there are dozens within a 5 mile radius.   Or I could be seen at an actual hospital, either in the Emergency department or their urgent care.   Or I could call my assigned medical group for an office visit with a doctor, they triage appointments but even just a checkup is usually available same day or within a week, if you don’t care which doc sees you.  I’ve walked in and been seen immediately when I was having real issues.  They are 3 miles from my house, and have multiple other locations, including the CVS a couple of blocks from my house.

    Insurance would pay almost all the cost of any of those options, minus a “don’t do this for no reason” co-payment of about $40.

    The problem is my doc of several years died.   Then after 10 years with another doc, that doc left the group and went “concierge” (private subscription based model) when obastardcare changed how the US system worked.   That’s when my co-pays and the cost of every visit went up too.  My insurance was too good, and rather than be penalized for providing above standard benefits to their employees, most employers switched to obastardcare compliant plans.

    I have seen a few other docs in the group over the years, but they’ve all either left the group, or left medicine in the last two years too.

    So I don’t have a relationship with a ‘primary care’ doctor anymore, and while I can see “whoever has an open appointment” I don’t want to see just anyone.    Very few docs are taking on new long term primary care patients because of the mess of obastardcare.   I’d like to have a personal and ongoing relationship with a doctor near my own age, but haven’t done the legwork to find a new provider.

    Oh, telemedicine is an option too, albeit at a higher per use charge.  They are good for prescription refills in a hurry though.

    n

  9. SteveF says:

    No loss of taste

    You hang out with us, so some might argue that you have bad taste.

  10. Greg Norton says:

    dumbasses.  Cali abortion laws aren’t even changing.

    They want the option of Florida and Texas being available as escape plans once they’ve completely ruined California.

    The job isn’t done on the West Coast, but they’re getting close.

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ok, headed out.   Stubs for the next 4 days are online, so if my connectivity fails, the door will still be open.

    n

  12. Alan says:

    >> (I do appreciate the concern and best wishes.  Really, truly.  It is a good feeling knowing you all have my back.)
           Ok, headed out.   Stubs for the next 4 days are online, so if my connectivity fails, the door will still be open.

    Safe travels and a speedy recovery.

  13. lynn says:

    Germany Pushes for G-7 Reversal on Fossil Fuels in Climate Blow

    o/~  O Schadenfreude, o schadenfreude… o/~

    Germany is broke.  All the first world countries are broke.  Buying all those renewables is expensive.  And the guys making renewables are broke too.

        https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/were-all-in-trouble-wind-turbine-makers-selling-at-a-loss-and-in-a-self-destructive-loop-bosses-admit/2-1-1197217

    Gonna make it up on the volume.

  14. lynn says:

    The problem is my doc of several years died.   Then after 10 years with another doc, that doc left the group and went “concierge” (private subscription based model) when obastardcare changed how the US system worked.   That’s when my co-pays and the cost of every visit went up too.  My insurance was too good, and rather than be penalized for providing above standard benefits to their employees, most employers switched to obastardcare compliant plans.

    My GP just retired and sold his independent practice to a conglomerate.  Not many independent GPs left out there.  He was not there much last couple of years and I ended up at our only urgent care last year with a big line of people.  I showed up at 2pm and they told me to come back in 24 hours.

  15. ~jim says:

    >>Germany is broke.  All the first world countries are broke. <<

    Let’s look on the bright side. If the US of A decided to tighten her belt we could be energy independent with our oil reserves.

    And don’t let the naysayers fool ya, the Almighty Dollah ain’t goin’ nowhere anytime soon.

    EDIT:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo&t=28

  16. Ray Thompson says:

    Not many independent GPs left out there

    My GP is still in the same office he has been for 30 years. Was independent until about 15 years ago when the four doctor practice was absorbed by Covenant Health. I think the original doctors sold out. A friend (not my GP as I don’t want a friend sticking his finger up my butt) who practiced there retired about 10 years ago.

    The service is still OK. Billing sucks. I have on more than one occasion sent them a check from my bill pay service, the check gets returned and stamped as being sent to the wrong address, the exact address on the billing statement. Then I get another bill marked as past due. I send another check from the bill pay and it is processed with no problems.

    My GP is probably getting close to retirement. I have no idea what I will do at that point. The one doctor that retired was replaced by a Nurse Practitioner, one other doctor has English as their third language, the other doctor, a female (if that makes a difference) is just flat out rude and can be nasty. She also tends to discount symptoms and has a pre-conceived notion of what is wrong before ever seeing the patient in my opinion.

  17. lynn says:

    >>Germany is broke.  All the first world countries are broke. <<

    Let’s look on the bright side. If the US of A decided to tighten her belt we could be energy independent with our oil reserves.

    And don’t let the naysayers fool ya, the Almighty Dollah ain’t goin’ nowhere anytime soon.

    The problem with the Dollar are the liabilities.   Social Security and Medicare are expending a cool trillion dollars a year each and climbing rapidly with the last of the baby boomers now hitting 60 in the next 12 months.  

    Slow Joe does not realize that the feddies pull in over a trillion dollar per year from oil and natural gas income.  His cutting new drilling leases to zero in the first 12 months of his tyranny has cut into that income severely.  He thinks that he can start and stop those leases at his pleasure.  To me, that is the sure sign of a tyrant.

  18. Greg Norton says:

    My GP is probably getting close to retirement. I have no idea what I will do at that point. The one doctor that retired was replaced by a Nurse Practitioner, one other doctor has English as their third language, the other doctor, a female (if that makes a difference) is just flat out rude and can be nasty. She also tends to discount symptoms and has a pre-conceived notion of what is wrong before ever seeing the patient in my opinion.

    PAs and NPs are increasingly common as primary care providers, but the student loans usually involved create a certain degree of indentured servitude which will be gone if blanket loan forgiveness happens.

    They’re the group you want to worry about “shrugging” in an Ayn Rand sense of the word.

    If the opportunity comes up, I’ll have to get my cousin’s story about shrugging. She runs a sailboat charter in the Bahamas, but I gather that she did something medical until recently.

    Rude? Nasty? Preconceived notions? What? You’ve been to see my wife’s former associate in Vantucky?

  19. Pecancorner says:

    I believe I’ve mentioned that our Dr is an FNP.  He’s older … past retirement age himself …. but his knowledge is probably equal to that of a GP from my youth. We originally started going to him because he is not pill-happy or test-happy.   

    But there are young NPs in his office that are not as good.  They might be after they get 10 years of experience under their belts. 

    We have a friend who is an NP. She worked for the Army for a long time, teaches now, and wants to go into private practice.  We need the Texas Legislature to pass a law allowing NPs to work unsupervised.  Since their powers of prescription are limited, they really should not be at the mercy of having to find an MD to work for. It would open up a lot of lower-cost healthcare if they could set up on their own.  

  20. Ray Thompson says:

    You’ve been to see my wife’s former associate in Vantucky?

    Maybe. I once got a doctor in the USAF when I went to sick call who was questionable. She had lost her medical license in the state of Texas, no longer allowed to practice. Since a military installation is federal property, she was allowed to work for the USAF. She bragged about it to me. When she looked up my symptoms in a large book to decide on the proper medication, I said thanks and walked out. Asked for another doctor.

    When I fractured my spine while doing a “bubba watch this event” I was taken by ambulance to New Braunfels hospital. After being stabilized there, I got an ambulance ride all the way to Wilford Hall on Lackland. Then stuffed in a room with seven other patients. Eight people in a room designed for four. Three or four of the others with some really serious injuries. One had just suffered the loss of his leg in a motorcycle accident. This was on a Saturday.

    I hated that place. It was noisy, visitors at odd hours. When I was given more extensive X-Rays I was required to twist myself into some really odd positions, some excruciatingly painful. One time I rolled over in bed and damaged some muscle. I could not move and lay there for three hours before help arrived. Not good.

    Then there was the matter of the urinal as I was not allowed to leave the bed. Made out of the finest bell grade metal. Every time I tried to urinate it sounded like a loud alarm clock. No privacy in the place and visitors would look over while the “bell” was ringing. Visitors would ask what was the alarm. Generally resulted in immediate bladder seizure.

    Food arrived and it was cold and generally not very tasty. I was allowed to make an order for the meal, but what arrived was never what I ordered.

    Come Monday morning I finally see a doctor. He told me I had to stay in the hospital for a week as I was single and living in the barracks. I needed someone to get food and help me dress. I told the doctor my friends would help me. He did not like that option. I finally told him I wanted out of the place and to release me. He would do so if I would wear a head, neck and torso brace. I agreed. I made my way to the bathroom and had a joyous released of body waste. Then I went to the shower and probably stayed in there for 40 minutes.

    One of my friends came and got me and took me back to Randolph, head and neck brace fastened to the torso. My friends would bring me food from the mess hall for a couple of days until I started going there on my own. I even went back to work.

    After a week in that torture device I went to the clinic on Randolph and had it removed. I was still somewhat limited in mobility but managed.

    I was told that due to the injury I had crushed three vertebrae in my spine. I was 3/4 of an inch shorter. The two options were to leave the back alone and the vertebrae would fuse or have surgery to insert rods and screws. I opted to skip the surgery as there was significant risks due to the location of the fractures.

    Did I mention I really hated WIlford Hall? Not quite as bad as the VA hospital in North Houston back in the 70’s. A place no one should be using.

  21. Greg Norton says:

    We need the Texas Legislature to pass a law allowing NPs to work unsupervised.  Since their powers of prescription are limited, they really should not be at the mercy of having to find an MD to work for. It would open up a lot of lower-cost healthcare if they could set up on their own.  

    That would never get past the Texas Medical Association. We have firsthand experience with that mess.

    The TMA’s offices downtown are practically on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol.

    To be fair, nurses have their own state law weirdness protected by the Texas Nursing Association, starting with the provision that allows them to conduct personal relationships with patients and even collect life insurance payouts. That combined with the estate law cutouts also lets them do it without family knowledge if they’re clever.

    (We have first hand experience with that too, but, in 16,000 comments, I’ve never written up the story because it is too complex and bizarre.)

    Its all a club in Austin. Which party is in charge really doesn’t matter.

  22. drwilliams says:

    In Class Action Settlement, Education Department Cancels More Than $6 Billion in Student Loans

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2022/06/25/student-loan-cancellation-n2609268?utm_campaign=rightrailsticky1

    Another phony settlement that costs the taxpayers billions.

    GOP needs to get off their fat backsides and sponsor a bill that says that when your student loan gets cancelled and you are relieved of your obligation to repay, you also get relieved of your degree. Oh, yeah, and the institution owes Uncle Sam, aka us taxpayers.

  23. RickH says:

    @greg : (We have first hand experience with that too, but, in 16,000 comments, I’ve never written up the story because it is too complex and bizarre.)

    I seem to recall you telling that story. 

    As for me and SWMBO, we regularly go to a Nurse Practitioner (NP) at the local medical clinic here. Been going there for 7+ years, since we moved here. No issues with his work with us. 

    YMMV, of course. We are lucky to have competency here.

  24. Greg Norton says:

    To be fair, nurses have their own state law weirdness protected by the Texas Nursing Association, starting with the provision that allows them to conduct personal relationships with patients and even collect life insurance payouts. That combined with the estate law cutouts also lets them do it without family knowledge if they’re clever.

    BTW, that provision floats in and out of state law. It was the case in 2005, when my father in law died and a nurse anesthetist at UT Southwestern pocketed the bulk of his two life insurance policies, but, looking quickly, it appears that the Nursing Practice Act was revised in 2009.

  25. drwilliams says:

    Feminist Writer Finally Says the Quiet Part Out Loud Regarding Abortion

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/06/25/feminist-writer-abortion-is-killing-and-thats-ok-n2609310

    torturing the language:

    “As long as people are performing pregnancy on this earth, they must be free to change their minds about seeing it through.”

    “When we withdraw from gestating, we stop the life of the product of our gestational labor.”

    “It is a hard pill to swallow for a misogynist society, sentimentally attached to its ideology of patriarchal motherhood, but the truth is that gestators should get to decide which bodies to give form to.”

    European Leaders and Media in Meltdown Over Roe v. Wade Decision

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/06/european-leaders-and-media-in-meltdown-over-roe-v-wade-decision/

    Bunch of lying poofters.

    The legal excesses of the PLT’s made this illusory U.S. “right” (found in a penumbra under Funk and Wagnalls porch at the dark of the moon) as practiced  without restriction up until birth a guaranteed murder charge in most of the rest of the world.

    If the PLT’s are so proud of their excesses, there shouldn’t be a problem getting the Gosnell documentary broadcast on primetime. And if the Euro’s want to be shocked for real, let their government-controlled television broadcast the damn thing, too.

  26. drwilliams says:

    So if Dems think that Brandon is doing just fine at 79 in the most powerful position in the world, with support from the twin towers of California liberalism Pelosi (82) and Feinstein (89), they shouln’t have any problem dropping mandatory retirement at 65 to ease the pilot shortage.

    And to calm any reservations by the American public, all the Dems–including Mayor Pete Bootyjuice–should be assigned pilots 79 and up. In Brandon’s case, I’m sure that he would be happy to take the wheel and do his share, having been a pilot in addition to his many other exploits (What, you didn’t hear about the time he landed the Space Shuttle on the Potomac? Just ask him.)

  27. Greg Norton says:

    Maybe. I once got a doctor in the USAF when I went to sick call who was questionable. She had lost her medical license in the state of Texas, no longer allowed to practice. Since a military installation is federal property, she was allowed to work for the USAF. She bragged about it to me. When she looked up my symptoms in a large book to decide on the proper medication, I said thanks and walked out. Asked for another doctor.

    My wife’s former associate in WA State still has her Texas license. I just checked.

    At the VA, the rules are a little tougher, but not by much. The doctor simply needs a state license from any of the 50 states, regardless of where they practice.

    Getting a Texas license is difficult, but, once a doctor has it, they need to do something really bad to lose that paper.

  28. lpdbw says:

    How would one go about finding an attorney specializing in malpractice suits?

    Of course, I mean one who wins cases and might take a contingency fee.

    I have a “novel” legal theory I’d like to try out.  It fits with the Texas malpractice definition, as I read it, but then IANAL.  Bummer that pain and suffering is limited to $50k but actual damages are quite high.

  29. drwilliams says:

    @lpdbw

    Begin by looking at publicity on past litigation such as:

    https://www.expertinstitute.com/resources/insights/jury-awards-19-7-million-in-dallas-medical-malpractice-case/

    and

    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/martin-walker-earns-texas-largest-medical-malpractice-verdict-in-2018-300880871.html

    Which includes this line:

    “The editors of Texas Lawyer included the verdict in the magazine’s listing of Top Verdicts and Settlements, 10th Edition, based on research gathered by VerdictSearch.”

  30. SteveF says:

    I’m not sure that “novel legal theory” and “paid on a contingency basis” go together.

  31. ~jim says:

    >> torturing the language<<

    My ears! My ears! If I were a masochist I would thank you drTorquemada.

  32. Greg Norton says:

    How would one go about finding an attorney specializing in malpractice suits?

    Of course, I mean one who wins cases and might take a contingency fee.

    Malpractice on contingency is a tough sell. A case based on a novel theory would be tougher.

    In addition to the caps, Texas law protects a doctor’s house, cars, and IRAs/401(k) plans. If you’re going after a GP my wife’s age or younger, chances are that’s about all they will have.

     I have a few names in Florida who you could try, but no one in Texas.

    In the situation with my father in law’s nurse, our lawyer was an estate law specialist in Dallas who was in way over his head, but I think he wanted to sleep with my sister in law so he took the case when it moved from simple probate to Federal Court.

    Harvard. They always want to get the strange on in private. Unlike his fiance (cough) my sister in law will never be in the society pages of the Dallas Morning News.

  33. Greg Norton says:

    In the situation with my father in law’s nurse, our lawyer was an estate law specialist in Dallas who was in way over his head, but I think he wanted to sleep with my sister in law so he took the case when it moved from simple probate to Federal Court.

    I would suggest opposing council in that case, but a quick look at his website doesn’t show malpractice as one of the office’s specialty areas.

    He was a real bottom feeder in Dallas who got lucky with our situation. Rich daddy, SMU Law IIRC, but Junior liked his weed.

    Still, if you want the name, we can work out how I can communicate it to you.

    Just don’t use my name with him. I think he’s still trying to figure out a way to have me arrested. Again, long story.

  34. Nick Flandrey says:

    Beautiful up here at the lake.   Water is a balmy 95F near the surface.  

    I took it easy this afternoon, just working on the sprinklers.  I got the pump running and started looking for spurting water.   Then started fixing those.   

    Feel fine.  Haven’t coughed, and only sneezed just now.  Not having a fire and shortwave tonight, continuing with my extra sleeping.

    I’ll see you all on the morrow.

    n

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