Justin Other Tuesday...

A Day at Kaiser…

It started off okay…I mean, I had a choice of appointments starting with 8:40 in the AM (I chose 9:40 c’uz I don’t like to get up too early)…I hadn’t seen my PC (primary care, they call’em now) for sum time ’n I guess it wuz about time…The weighed me (can’t believe how friggin’ heavy I am)…took my word for how tall I am (use’ta be 6’ but pretty sure that ain't the case any more…stuck a thermometer in my ear(in the olden daze, you had it under your tongue)…then they checked my pulse to make sure I wuz alive (I guess)…’n did the blood pressure thing…’n they always ask what medications you’re taking as if they didn’t have it right in front of them on the computer (try leaving one out sumtime ’n see how quick they ask about it )...then they asked me why I wanted to see the doctor…(I refrained from saying that it wuz Tuesday 'n I didn't have anything else to do 'cuz I didn't want to hurt any feelings, people being so sensitive today)…

Anywaze, when he came in, he pushed ’n prodded ’n did the stethoscope thing which alwaze reminds me of old movie doctors, then he looked at his computer which old movie doctors cudn't do, ’n asked me what medications I wuz taking…I repeated what I’d told the nurse ’n he asked me if I wuz taking any vitamins…then he took my blood pressure again ’n called a technician in (Missy, she said her name wuz) to run an ekg on me after which he scheduled me for a blood test, a chest exray and a treadmill test which is done while being given another ekg by two technicians, Melissa 'n Sabrina who were young enuff 'n pretty enuff that if an old guys blood pressure wudn't go up it'd mean sumthin wuz seriously wrong with him...anyway, it wuz a loooong day!

And then, via e-mail, I got the results….the good news is that there is nuthin’ wrong with me that can’t be corrected through diet ’n exercise; the bad news is that there’s nuthin’ wrong with me that can’t be corrected through diet ’n exercise….or so I’m told…I don’t believe it howsumever, you just can’t fix old age with vitamin pills ’n treadmills….back in those halcyon daze of smoking ’n drinking ’n such, people use’ta joke that ‘death cures cancer’….it also is a permanent fix for old age or at least I think that’s what it sez sumwhere in Obamacare!!!!

On the Life's a beach 'til you fall off the darn surfboard category.....

I’m here to tell ya that it’s been a very looooong week…’n I c’n sympathize with that F.B.I. guy that swore that every damn day in Boston this past week felt like a month….can’t even begin to imagine what goes on in the minds of wacko’s who feel called upon to murder innocent people in the name of what they call their God!  I feel sorry for their parents, their family ’n those that once upon a time called them ‘friend’….

Gotta wonder about it all howsumever, since America has long been a beacon of hope for the downtrodden of the world…we welcome durn near ever’body ’n no matter what religion or even if they claim to believe in nuthin’ at all, we not only all kind’a squeeze t’gether to make room for ‘em, we cheer ‘em when they do well ’n sympathize with’em when they fail…

Y’know, that once’t upon a time baseball great, George Herman “Babe’ Ruth was (’n still is) celebrated as a “Home Run King” but at the same time, he was also known as the Strikeout King as well…Success ’n failure are just opposite sides of the same damn coin... 

What is so rare as a day in June...'specially when it comes in April....

Me 'n L'il Willie 'n Mr. Dogger went for our reg'lar 'roundabout this mornin…well, we started but at the top of hill, looking down at The Corner (just a little salute to Old South Shore) 

We saw a multitude of turistas, prob'ly 50 or 60 or more…at least we guess they were turistas but we don't really know 'cuz we tacked 'n took a different route…not that I personally mind crowds 'slong as they're not large crowds 'n then my claustrophobia kicks in 'n I long for solitude…

Anyway, it's a beautiful Spring day here in Ol Fair Oaks (feels kind'a like June in Ky) so I tho't I'd do a little yard work (key word: little)…I have a tendency to walk around the yard snipping here, picking up there, 'n in general getting next to nuthin' done so t'day, I said to m'self, "Just stick with the little patch of front yard 'til it's done."  

Surprising how tiring raking can become in such a short time but being a professional piddler means that I c'n take as long as I want since I ain't paying me by the hour anyway…(if I wuz, I sure wudn't hire me)…

Following my standard practice of periods of work interspersed by rest periods until they begin to balance each other timewise, I managed to rake up all but the most ingrained stuff 'n pick up most of what I've raked…the rest'll have to wait until tomorrow…at least, that's my plan 'n as my sainted Momma use'ta say, quoting a one-time teacher, "Everybody needs a plan, Fritzi!"

Justin Other one of those daze after.....

Wicky Stickets 'n stuff 'n such….

It rained all night long, I think, the nite before Easter altho' I'm told I sumhow slept thru the thundr 'n lightening....anyway, 'bout 3 o'clock I got up 'n went outside 'n watched for awhile 'n all I saw was a quiet, steady downpour, one 'a those soaking kind'a rains that bring on those April flowers...

We got thru Easter dinner that lasted a couple two or three hours 'n ever'body seemed to have a good time 'n then early t'bed 'n early t'rise 'n da boyz eager to make the rounds...

A pleasant sunny day in the park with a handful of clouds…reminds me a little bit of east of the Mississippi which is neither here nor there on this day after the day that the world according to Google shall henceforth (never tho't I'd get a chance to use that in a sentence) be known as Cesar Chavez Day rather than the more mundane Christian holiday commonly called Easter which purports to celebrate the risen Christ...

Now, I've only been in this p'ticklar world a mere 75 years which means that I never had the chance to meet 'n greet with Jesus of Nazareth but once't upon a time I did have the pleasure of a meet 'n greet with Cesar Chavez…in a dusty, flyspeck of a town called Livingston, California…Cesar Chavez, as I recall, wuz a rather slight man, short of stature, polite 'n soft-spoken but with an air of palpable determination about him that I imagine he shared with other true believers like Mother Teresa 'n Gandhi 'n, yes, Jesus of Nazareth...

Livingston wuz 'n still is, I s'poze, a quiet little town with two major employers…Foster Farms specializing in chicken 'n Gallo Wines…if you lived in Livingston 'n didn't work for one or the other, chances are you didn't really work…I happened t'go thru Livingston one warm day when the UFW, spearheaded by Mr. Chavez, happened to meet head-on in a vineyard with a group of union-busters led by one Bobby Gallo…the results were sumwhat painful to view no matter whose side you happened to cheer for but that's a whole 'nother story…

"The fight is never about grapes or lettuce; it is always about people."  Cesar Chavez