I’ve been working at the hospital since October and I’ve never been so clean in my life. I’ve washed my hands about a thousand times. I have three pairs of pants with NO STAINS -- these are the ones I wear to work. I have spotless tennis shoes, clean shirts, and frequently shampooed hair.
In the past, my relation to the soil of the earth had always been close and highly involved, with a hands-on approach to the compost pile to which we will all return someday. I’m grounded, literally. And to this I attribute my robust immune system -- I know from bugs and microbes.
But we keep things clean at the hospital, and I have gotten on board.
THE NEWS. Senator Barack Obama says he wants to send more troops to Afghanistan. I will have to be convinced about this. The null option, the one that got him the nomination, was to bring the troops home, not shift them from one country to another.
Obama has been criticized for acting like the President. Well, somebody has to. He’s moved into a vacuum. De jure President George Bush is fading, and becoming almost transparent. There’s really nobody running the shop right now at the White House.
GOOD NEWS FROM AFRICA. As bad as it is in Zimbabwe, the beautiful starry skies of Africa still shimmer. David Maritz, of Camano Island, reports a wonderful trip to Zambia, right next to blighted Zimbabwe.
Maritz is a native born African with roots he can never shake off. He flew a small plane from Johannesburg to Botswana, and then over to Zambia. The last leg of his journey was by car over Zambia’s questionable roads. He spent a wonderful interlude at his family's abundant game farm far into the country. I’m glad he went, and I’m glad to report this good news.
HEALTH CARE. Doctors and nurses don’t get along well. Nurses don’t know what doctors do, and doctors have no idea what nurses do. There are two completely separate career tracks in health care. Whose idea was that?
It would be good if some doctors rose up through the ranks, like they do in the military, where at least some of the officer corps has served as enlisted personnel.
It would be good if a young person were to start as a nursing aide, rise to nurse, then to nurse practitioner, and then go on to get an M.D. and be a full-fledged doctor.
As it is, doctors give orders to nurses who don’t understand why, and nurses report observations to doctors which are not understood or appreciated.
It is good that more women are becoming doctors. They have improved the profession. Women doctors are not so high and mighty. In fact, most of the doctors to day are closer to the ground -- not God anymore, but still archangels.
More men have taken up nursing, somewhat over ten percent of the corps at this point. This hormonal balance is welcome, but I expect it will top out at 15 percent male to 85 percent female. Women, overall, make better nurses than men do, although it’s very handy to “have a man around the house.”
THE SIXTEENTH HOUR. Nurses and doctors commonly work double shifts. Do you want to be the patient on someone’s 16th hour? Not me. A good question to ask, should you find yourself in the emergency room is -- “When did you come to work today?”
Oh, and at those big city hospitals like Harborview, where you get residents who do 24-hour shifts -- watch out.
I read in a medical journal where a hospital in Maryland has instituted a nap-time for double-shift and night-shift workers. The journal reported breathlessly that this radical innovation has reduced medical error and improved service. What a great idea.
PODIATRY. How could so many people have foot problems? Nine doctors and foot clinics advertise in the Skagit Valley yellow pages. That means that hundred and hundreds of Skagitonians have serious foot problems -- and need those special skills.
HEMOPHILIA. One in 8,000 males suffers from hemophilia, according to the literature. It is a genetic disorder which prevents the clotting of blood. When hemophiliacs become bruised or injured they might bleed to death because their blood will not clot. The disorder is passed on by the female, but only males are susceptible.
Skagit County has 120,000 people, 60,000 of the male. That means that 6 or 7 men in our area suffer from hemophilia. It can be treated, but not cured.
RUDE GOOD HEALTH. Some people enjoy a rude good health. They ignore all the good rules of healthy living and thrive anyway. Such a one has inspired to me to establish the Rule of 75.
The patient -- but I’ve seen several, so this is a composite -- was 79 years old and built out of pure stubbornness, bullheaded to the max. That’s how he got to be 79 and there wasn’t nobody, no high-class doctor, who was going to tell him otherwise.
Well, we had him in the hospital for a low-grade pneumonia -- it was probably not going to kill him -- but he needed a good dose of antibiotics and bed rest.
He was the worst patient you could imagine, and he fought the whole staff for several days. The problem was that he wanted a smoke. He wanted to go outside, have a smoke and a Martini too.
I had to deal with his great irritation for hours at a time, but in my humble position I was not able to make a somewhat radical suggestion -- let him have a cigarette, for Pete’s sake. It’s his life. And a dry Martini too.
Instead I have privately introduced the Rule of 75 -- if you make it that far, to age 75, than nobody, I mean NOBODY, can tell you what to do.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
I know How to Win a War
“I know how to win a war.” I’ve heard John McCaine say that several times, but that is a wrongful boast. Strictly speaking, you don’t know how to win a war unless you have already done just that.
Like General Dwight Eisenhower, who led Allied forces to victory in World War II in Europe. He knew how to win a war -- but he never said that. When Eisenhower ran for President in 1952, his military record spoke for itself, and he had no need to boast.
And, based on his experience of military victory and its cost, Eisenhower negotiated a truce in Korea between the American led forces and the Chinese and North Korean communists. It was not a total victory. The fighting stopped in 1953. The two armies, after three years of fighting and 33,000 American deaths, fought to a standstill on a border, called the Demilitarized Zone, where soldiers from these two sides still glare at each other.
Eisenhower did know how to win a war, but in the case of Korea his decision, as President and as Commander in Chief, was that a complete victory was not possible.
Let that be a lesson for both candidates.
HARBORVIEW MEDICAL CENTER. I went down to Seattle last week. The water was sparkling on Union Bay. The Space Needle, built for the Worlds Fair in 1962, still looks beautiful. I visited a friend with a panoramic view of Lake Washington. We sat in cozy armchairs looking out the window at the sailboats far away on the lake, far down the hill. And we had coffee and talked about good fortune and hard times, and she was happy to have her view, but other things were taking her life away.
The next morning I took a busman’s holiday to tour Harborview Medical Center, right near downtown Seattle, in the midst of roaring traffic, situated on top of First Hill with dramatic views of Puget Sound and skyscrapers, ferries, and seagulls.
Harborview is the big time -- over 400 beds, a Level I Trauma Center, and a teaching hospital. I work at a small regional hospital with a helicopter pad on the roof, and we send our most difficult cases by chopper down to Harborview where they have fully staffed surgical units around the clock and a burn unit that takes cases from all over the Pacific Northwest.
Harborview is owned by King County, but staffed and managed by the University of Washington Medical School.
My goal was limited -- could I navigate through this nine-story building with several outlying buildings? Could I make contact with nursing staff who might have a moment to speak with me?
I succeeded. People were friendly, they gave me directions, I found the Kidney Research Institute and the hand clinic -- they have a clinic for everything from bunions to broken bones. And people were willing to answer my questions. But then I’m good at this -- I’m good at observing somebody who might have a spare minute. I’m also good at not caring if they brush me off.
My sense, which I trust, is that Harborview is not wasteful or chaotic. Good things happen
there.
I had lunch in the cafeteria. They have the same steam table that we have out here in the country, with the same mashed potatoes and gravy -- an inviolate hospital custom. There must be a tanker truck coming every day out of Idaho, with a spigot that connects to the kitchen at every hospital in the country -- squirts out the mashed potatoes, drops off a vat of brown gravy, and goes on to the next hospital.
Otherwise -- and I’m coming from a smaller place and prepared to be impressed -- the Harborview salad bar wasn’t very good -- not as good as ours up here in the Skagit Valley.
My friend, the one I visited the day before, she used to live in the Skagit Valley and her opinion is that the medical facilities in the big city are superior in every way -- their doctors are the cream of the crop, with better focus and training, and with more experience doing unusual procedures.
I’ve heard that from other people as well. You even hear it on the radio, like “our hospital does bypass heart surgery 450 times a year, so we’re really good at it, and you don’t want to try some general access surgeon who has only done it three times and might be a little rusty.”
Maybe, but I’m not convinced. Harborview is an exciting and stimulating place -- it’s got major sex appeal, right out of a TV show. The atmosphere of research and education is enlightening, and that is something our smaller regional hospital could emulate. I’ve studied this possibility. Medical research is not just for the big prestigious institutions anymore. The online medical journals show an emerging pattern of doctors from every corner of the globe forming collaborative research efforts -- and simply bypassing the bigshots.
That sounds good to me, and I hope they might try this where I work.
--
Like General Dwight Eisenhower, who led Allied forces to victory in World War II in Europe. He knew how to win a war -- but he never said that. When Eisenhower ran for President in 1952, his military record spoke for itself, and he had no need to boast.
And, based on his experience of military victory and its cost, Eisenhower negotiated a truce in Korea between the American led forces and the Chinese and North Korean communists. It was not a total victory. The fighting stopped in 1953. The two armies, after three years of fighting and 33,000 American deaths, fought to a standstill on a border, called the Demilitarized Zone, where soldiers from these two sides still glare at each other.
Eisenhower did know how to win a war, but in the case of Korea his decision, as President and as Commander in Chief, was that a complete victory was not possible.
Let that be a lesson for both candidates.
HARBORVIEW MEDICAL CENTER. I went down to Seattle last week. The water was sparkling on Union Bay. The Space Needle, built for the Worlds Fair in 1962, still looks beautiful. I visited a friend with a panoramic view of Lake Washington. We sat in cozy armchairs looking out the window at the sailboats far away on the lake, far down the hill. And we had coffee and talked about good fortune and hard times, and she was happy to have her view, but other things were taking her life away.
The next morning I took a busman’s holiday to tour Harborview Medical Center, right near downtown Seattle, in the midst of roaring traffic, situated on top of First Hill with dramatic views of Puget Sound and skyscrapers, ferries, and seagulls.
Harborview is the big time -- over 400 beds, a Level I Trauma Center, and a teaching hospital. I work at a small regional hospital with a helicopter pad on the roof, and we send our most difficult cases by chopper down to Harborview where they have fully staffed surgical units around the clock and a burn unit that takes cases from all over the Pacific Northwest.
Harborview is owned by King County, but staffed and managed by the University of Washington Medical School.
My goal was limited -- could I navigate through this nine-story building with several outlying buildings? Could I make contact with nursing staff who might have a moment to speak with me?
I succeeded. People were friendly, they gave me directions, I found the Kidney Research Institute and the hand clinic -- they have a clinic for everything from bunions to broken bones. And people were willing to answer my questions. But then I’m good at this -- I’m good at observing somebody who might have a spare minute. I’m also good at not caring if they brush me off.
My sense, which I trust, is that Harborview is not wasteful or chaotic. Good things happen
there.
I had lunch in the cafeteria. They have the same steam table that we have out here in the country, with the same mashed potatoes and gravy -- an inviolate hospital custom. There must be a tanker truck coming every day out of Idaho, with a spigot that connects to the kitchen at every hospital in the country -- squirts out the mashed potatoes, drops off a vat of brown gravy, and goes on to the next hospital.
Otherwise -- and I’m coming from a smaller place and prepared to be impressed -- the Harborview salad bar wasn’t very good -- not as good as ours up here in the Skagit Valley.
My friend, the one I visited the day before, she used to live in the Skagit Valley and her opinion is that the medical facilities in the big city are superior in every way -- their doctors are the cream of the crop, with better focus and training, and with more experience doing unusual procedures.
I’ve heard that from other people as well. You even hear it on the radio, like “our hospital does bypass heart surgery 450 times a year, so we’re really good at it, and you don’t want to try some general access surgeon who has only done it three times and might be a little rusty.”
Maybe, but I’m not convinced. Harborview is an exciting and stimulating place -- it’s got major sex appeal, right out of a TV show. The atmosphere of research and education is enlightening, and that is something our smaller regional hospital could emulate. I’ve studied this possibility. Medical research is not just for the big prestigious institutions anymore. The online medical journals show an emerging pattern of doctors from every corner of the globe forming collaborative research efforts -- and simply bypassing the bigshots.
That sounds good to me, and I hope they might try this where I work.
--
Friday, July 18, 2008
Real Men Drink Tapwater
The following Frog Hospital fatwas are decreed:
1. Real men drink tap water. Bottled water is for sissies.
2. It is wrong to put croutons in salad. They are crunchy, noisy, and dusty. Croutons are supposed to go in your soup.
3. There is no fruit in salsa. Such abominations as peach or mango salsa are forbidden.
4. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. This is still true but pending reversal.
5. Don't get even, get odd.
SIGN. Sign at the LaConner Produce Market, "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."
OBAMA SEES THE WORLD. "Obama will visit a series of European and Middle Eastern capitals with an enlarged traveling press and has carved out time along the way for separate interviews with each of the three network anchors" --- I hope Obama remembers that nobody over there can vote for him in November.
Otherwise, nothing in politics matters right now. The summer doldrums will continue until mid-August, when the conventions begin. Enjoy the peace and quiet, because the Obama v. McCain contest will go ballistic on Labor Day. It's going to be very intense, very exciting, and a little scary. Get your rest now and be prepared for a titanic struggle.
This fall, Obama will be drawing some of the biggest crowds in American political history. McCain cannot draw that size of audience or speak as well, but he is a steady fighter, and this race is going down to the wire.
The economy is in the tank. It's not just a mental recession, as Phil Gramm said, but there is a psychological component to all the ups and downs of the market. And I agree with Gramm on one thing -- No Whining. This is the time to put your confidence into play -- in yourself and in the people you trust. We are a resourceful country and there is nothing wrong that we can't fix.
AMY WINEHEART. Amy Wineheart is a fabulous talent. The way she delivers a lyric is heart-rending. There are so many celebrities about with all their self-destructive nonsense -- nothing people like Lindsey Lohan. But Amy is a major, major talent. I love her music. She gets a lot of press for her offstage antics -- ignore that. "You know I'm no Good." Listen to it on YouTube.
VICTORY GARDEN. Plant your victory garden. Invest in roses, rhododendrons, and raspberries. Put your money in your own backyard and watch it grow, with interest. Grow your own food. It's easy to do, really. I've done it myself. It's not like farming. Farming is when you grow enough food to make a living at it -- that's very hard. But growing a hundred pounds of potatoes in your own garden -- that's something you can learn how to do.
REBUILDING FISHTOWN. This is a tricky thing to write about, because if we announce the plans and put it on the Internet, that will screw everything up. A lot of people want to know where Fishtown is, and what people do in Fishtown, and how do you get to Fishtown, and what do you do when you get there.
I cannot answer these questions. It's one of those things that you find out when you find out.
Fishtown is not on the map and there is no plan.
1. Real men drink tap water. Bottled water is for sissies.
2. It is wrong to put croutons in salad. They are crunchy, noisy, and dusty. Croutons are supposed to go in your soup.
3. There is no fruit in salsa. Such abominations as peach or mango salsa are forbidden.
4. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. This is still true but pending reversal.
5. Don't get even, get odd.
SIGN. Sign at the LaConner Produce Market, "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."
OBAMA SEES THE WORLD. "Obama will visit a series of European and Middle Eastern capitals with an enlarged traveling press and has carved out time along the way for separate interviews with each of the three network anchors" --- I hope Obama remembers that nobody over there can vote for him in November.
Otherwise, nothing in politics matters right now. The summer doldrums will continue until mid-August, when the conventions begin. Enjoy the peace and quiet, because the Obama v. McCain contest will go ballistic on Labor Day. It's going to be very intense, very exciting, and a little scary. Get your rest now and be prepared for a titanic struggle.
This fall, Obama will be drawing some of the biggest crowds in American political history. McCain cannot draw that size of audience or speak as well, but he is a steady fighter, and this race is going down to the wire.
The economy is in the tank. It's not just a mental recession, as Phil Gramm said, but there is a psychological component to all the ups and downs of the market. And I agree with Gramm on one thing -- No Whining. This is the time to put your confidence into play -- in yourself and in the people you trust. We are a resourceful country and there is nothing wrong that we can't fix.
AMY WINEHEART. Amy Wineheart is a fabulous talent. The way she delivers a lyric is heart-rending. There are so many celebrities about with all their self-destructive nonsense -- nothing people like Lindsey Lohan. But Amy is a major, major talent. I love her music. She gets a lot of press for her offstage antics -- ignore that. "You know I'm no Good." Listen to it on YouTube.
VICTORY GARDEN. Plant your victory garden. Invest in roses, rhododendrons, and raspberries. Put your money in your own backyard and watch it grow, with interest. Grow your own food. It's easy to do, really. I've done it myself. It's not like farming. Farming is when you grow enough food to make a living at it -- that's very hard. But growing a hundred pounds of potatoes in your own garden -- that's something you can learn how to do.
REBUILDING FISHTOWN. This is a tricky thing to write about, because if we announce the plans and put it on the Internet, that will screw everything up. A lot of people want to know where Fishtown is, and what people do in Fishtown, and how do you get to Fishtown, and what do you do when you get there.
I cannot answer these questions. It's one of those things that you find out when you find out.
Fishtown is not on the map and there is no plan.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Bitter Winds in Bulawayo
We be barefootin' in the Skagit Valley now. When it finally gets to be summer here it's really wonderful. Rasberries are ripe. Plums and blackberries will be coming soon. The cold, wet spring slowed all the crops down, but they have recovered nicely. The tourist business is way down on account of high gas prices. Visitors are either not coming to LaConner, or if they do come, they just enjoy the view and buy an ice cream cone and go home without spending money in the gift shops.
Still, Nell Thorn's, the best restaurant in town, is doing a good business -- they get a lot of local business, for one thing. You would give up a lot of other luxuries before you pass up a meal and a drink at Nell Thorn's.
LaConner Mayor Ramon Hayes reports that a high number of houses are on the market in the LaConner area. He said he tracks it on the Internet. A few years ago there was an average of 30 homes for sale, now it is 80. Several LaConner retail businesses are also for sale, but who's buying?
So it's time to bring out the old saying of Louie Nelson, one of our famous oldtimers. He said, "If you live in the Skagit Valley, you're rich."
Ain't that the truth. Life is good here in the abundance of nature. Income tends to be optional.
BITTER WINDS IN BULAWAYO. Time and again, when I was in Zimbabwe ten years ago, I wanted the facts, but I couldn't get any. Africa is the world's largest fact-free zone. Visitors might ask "What time does the bus get here?" And the natives smile and say, "Well it will come today at some time, God willing." But isn't there a schedule?
Yes, there is a printed schedule somewhere, but you really have to let go of your need for information while traveling in Africa.
And then, are they telling me the truth, or what they think I want to hear? Or they might get bored giving the same answer, so they make up a new answer. This can be very creative and highly amusing: "I had a dream last night, and there were two leopards with beaming dark eyes staring at me from deep in the bush. They bounded out into the path, and one of them seized my leg. But then the leopards turned into friendly dogs, and I began to pet them. The next day I realized that the leopards represented the Leopard Bus Company, and so it is highly doubtful that the bus will be punctual today."
Okay, I have to work with this. They do have leopards in Zimbabwe. They are rarely seen, but ever present. And the saying is, "You don't see the leopard, but the leopard sees you." And also, one of the major private bus companies paints a leopard logo on their bus to symbolize speed and power.
But the man who told me that story was probably just making it all up. Or I might be making it all up. Maybe it was my dream.
So how can you tell what is really going on in Zimbabwe right now? I got an email from an American friend, a nurse, who has lived in Zimbabwe for many years. Her message was of common daily activities with no hint of danger or troubles or hardship. So, perhaps, the troubles have not touched her community. Or perhaps she is constant danger, but she doesn't want to talk about it. Or maybe she is afraid that someone from the government is intercepting her emails and she had better be very careful about what she writes.
I can't tell. How can I know for sure?
So I can only say one thing with certainty. It is cold in Zimbabwe right now, and bitter winds are blowing in Bulawayo, the southern capital. July is the Southern Winter. Bulawayo sits on a semi-tropical plateau, at an elevation of over 4,000 feet. And every year at this time, they get six weeks of winter with overcast skies and raw winds. It's flu season, down to 50 degrees and lower at night. A frost can be expected. No one has any heat. Most people just bundle up in every available sweater or jacket.
More prosperous people will use a working fireplace indoors, or else an electric space heater. But the average folks just stamp their feet and hope the cold weather won't last long.
Harare is equally chilly. The deciduous trees are bare of leaves. But the people of Zimbabwe have visions of hell fire and Robert Mugabe consigned to the flames. And this dream will keep them warm at night.
MEETING, NOT MEETING. ARMED, NOT ARMED. The MDC denies that they are negotiation with Robert Mugabe's people, but they are talking to each other, trying to find a way out. I discovered the first rumors of MDC militants seeking to arm themselves and take to the bush. This may be just talk -- but I have not heard this talk before.
They are meeting and not meeting. They are armed and not armed. Anything can happen, but the doom is not sealed.
Still, Nell Thorn's, the best restaurant in town, is doing a good business -- they get a lot of local business, for one thing. You would give up a lot of other luxuries before you pass up a meal and a drink at Nell Thorn's.
LaConner Mayor Ramon Hayes reports that a high number of houses are on the market in the LaConner area. He said he tracks it on the Internet. A few years ago there was an average of 30 homes for sale, now it is 80. Several LaConner retail businesses are also for sale, but who's buying?
So it's time to bring out the old saying of Louie Nelson, one of our famous oldtimers. He said, "If you live in the Skagit Valley, you're rich."
Ain't that the truth. Life is good here in the abundance of nature. Income tends to be optional.
BITTER WINDS IN BULAWAYO. Time and again, when I was in Zimbabwe ten years ago, I wanted the facts, but I couldn't get any. Africa is the world's largest fact-free zone. Visitors might ask "What time does the bus get here?" And the natives smile and say, "Well it will come today at some time, God willing." But isn't there a schedule?
Yes, there is a printed schedule somewhere, but you really have to let go of your need for information while traveling in Africa.
And then, are they telling me the truth, or what they think I want to hear? Or they might get bored giving the same answer, so they make up a new answer. This can be very creative and highly amusing: "I had a dream last night, and there were two leopards with beaming dark eyes staring at me from deep in the bush. They bounded out into the path, and one of them seized my leg. But then the leopards turned into friendly dogs, and I began to pet them. The next day I realized that the leopards represented the Leopard Bus Company, and so it is highly doubtful that the bus will be punctual today."
Okay, I have to work with this. They do have leopards in Zimbabwe. They are rarely seen, but ever present. And the saying is, "You don't see the leopard, but the leopard sees you." And also, one of the major private bus companies paints a leopard logo on their bus to symbolize speed and power.
But the man who told me that story was probably just making it all up. Or I might be making it all up. Maybe it was my dream.
So how can you tell what is really going on in Zimbabwe right now? I got an email from an American friend, a nurse, who has lived in Zimbabwe for many years. Her message was of common daily activities with no hint of danger or troubles or hardship. So, perhaps, the troubles have not touched her community. Or perhaps she is constant danger, but she doesn't want to talk about it. Or maybe she is afraid that someone from the government is intercepting her emails and she had better be very careful about what she writes.
I can't tell. How can I know for sure?
So I can only say one thing with certainty. It is cold in Zimbabwe right now, and bitter winds are blowing in Bulawayo, the southern capital. July is the Southern Winter. Bulawayo sits on a semi-tropical plateau, at an elevation of over 4,000 feet. And every year at this time, they get six weeks of winter with overcast skies and raw winds. It's flu season, down to 50 degrees and lower at night. A frost can be expected. No one has any heat. Most people just bundle up in every available sweater or jacket.
More prosperous people will use a working fireplace indoors, or else an electric space heater. But the average folks just stamp their feet and hope the cold weather won't last long.
Harare is equally chilly. The deciduous trees are bare of leaves. But the people of Zimbabwe have visions of hell fire and Robert Mugabe consigned to the flames. And this dream will keep them warm at night.
MEETING, NOT MEETING. ARMED, NOT ARMED. The MDC denies that they are negotiation with Robert Mugabe's people, but they are talking to each other, trying to find a way out. I discovered the first rumors of MDC militants seeking to arm themselves and take to the bush. This may be just talk -- but I have not heard this talk before.
They are meeting and not meeting. They are armed and not armed. Anything can happen, but the doom is not sealed.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Madonna and Michelle
Michelle Pfeiffer at 50 ( you can find 100 photos on Google) is so much better looking than Madonna at 49.
I will explain.
Of course, I never liked Madonna, not since she came out at the same time as Cyndi Lauper in the early 1980s. I liked Cyndi Lauper much better.
But Madonna is back in the news because she has been linked to A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, who plays for the New York Yankees.
I began to despise Alex Rodriguez when he deserted the Seattle Mariners and went to Texas -- Texas! -- to play for big bucks for the Texas Rangers. And then A-Rod went to the Yankees for even more money.
Only I put this weight on A-Rod -- He will never play in the World Series -- because I don't like him.
Anyway, A-Rod gets linked with Madonna and the tabloids are going nuts. They are meant for each other as far as I'm concerned. Two brass-plated marriage wreckers in the same bed. They'll make a fortune for the divorce lawyers. Geraldo is salivating.
So, this morning at coffee, Stuart was saying that Madonna is pretty hot for 49. Jimmy said yeah, because she works out. But I said phooey, you can buy a figure like that if you have enough money, and she's much too skinny for an Italian woman.
But I've said that before, and they thought I prefer women on the plump side. I said no, fat, thin or in between, it's all good. You start out with who you are and you make it better. It's about posture and attitude and how you carry yourself. That's good looking. Well, they began to see my point.
Madonna at 49 is trying -- trying! -- to look like she's 25. Wrong.
Then I remembered Michelle Pfeiffer. Beautiful, lovely Michelle, beautiful at 50, not trying to look 25, not trying to look like someone she used to be. But looking like who she is, only more so --- and you should be able to afford her hairdresser and jewelry which can be a big help no matter who you are.
Michelle Pfeiffer is better looking than Madonna. It's a matter of aesthetic judgment, which is not entirely subjective.
MBECKI WARNS ABOUT CIVIL WAR IN ZIMBABWE. President Thabo Mbecki of South Africa went to the G-8 summit meeting of world leaders and warned them about the dangers of civil war in Zimbabwe. World leaders have been pressing for tough economic sanctions against the Mugabe regime. Concerned people all over the world have wondered about Mbecki's "go easy" approach to Mugabe. They say it's appeasement, but that is a term with no context in Africa.
We should take heed of Mbecki's warning. Daily reports from Zimbabwe describe dozens of murders and tortures by rampaging thugs. Yet a civil war would have ten times that level of brutality. As bad as it is, Zimbabwe can get far, far worse.
And the African context, not the European context, is the one that counts. It is a memory of horrible civil wars in neighboring Angola and Mozambique -- wars that raged for decades and reduced the human population to savagery and beggary.
Besides that, there is no message from the Zimbabwe opposition, neither stated or implied, that suggests any armed resistance, and we ought to respect that. We might choose to take up arms under such provocation, but the people of Zimbabwe have not made that choice.
What we can do is pay attention and pray.
BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER. Obama is floundering and flipping right now, unsure of himself. This is to be expected. He's only 46 and he rose up much higher and faster than he expected to. He is faced with an overwhelming responsibility.
Sure, he wanted to be President, but now it seems that he will be President. In private moments, he is shaking in his boots. In public moments he is making false gestures. I say, give him a chance to gather himself up.
Besides that, it's summer. The real fight with John McCaine begins in September. That's the time of Judgment.
I will explain.
Of course, I never liked Madonna, not since she came out at the same time as Cyndi Lauper in the early 1980s. I liked Cyndi Lauper much better.
But Madonna is back in the news because she has been linked to A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, who plays for the New York Yankees.
I began to despise Alex Rodriguez when he deserted the Seattle Mariners and went to Texas -- Texas! -- to play for big bucks for the Texas Rangers. And then A-Rod went to the Yankees for even more money.
Only I put this weight on A-Rod -- He will never play in the World Series -- because I don't like him.
Anyway, A-Rod gets linked with Madonna and the tabloids are going nuts. They are meant for each other as far as I'm concerned. Two brass-plated marriage wreckers in the same bed. They'll make a fortune for the divorce lawyers. Geraldo is salivating.
So, this morning at coffee, Stuart was saying that Madonna is pretty hot for 49. Jimmy said yeah, because she works out. But I said phooey, you can buy a figure like that if you have enough money, and she's much too skinny for an Italian woman.
But I've said that before, and they thought I prefer women on the plump side. I said no, fat, thin or in between, it's all good. You start out with who you are and you make it better. It's about posture and attitude and how you carry yourself. That's good looking. Well, they began to see my point.
Madonna at 49 is trying -- trying! -- to look like she's 25. Wrong.
Then I remembered Michelle Pfeiffer. Beautiful, lovely Michelle, beautiful at 50, not trying to look 25, not trying to look like someone she used to be. But looking like who she is, only more so --- and you should be able to afford her hairdresser and jewelry which can be a big help no matter who you are.
Michelle Pfeiffer is better looking than Madonna. It's a matter of aesthetic judgment, which is not entirely subjective.
MBECKI WARNS ABOUT CIVIL WAR IN ZIMBABWE. President Thabo Mbecki of South Africa went to the G-8 summit meeting of world leaders and warned them about the dangers of civil war in Zimbabwe. World leaders have been pressing for tough economic sanctions against the Mugabe regime. Concerned people all over the world have wondered about Mbecki's "go easy" approach to Mugabe. They say it's appeasement, but that is a term with no context in Africa.
We should take heed of Mbecki's warning. Daily reports from Zimbabwe describe dozens of murders and tortures by rampaging thugs. Yet a civil war would have ten times that level of brutality. As bad as it is, Zimbabwe can get far, far worse.
And the African context, not the European context, is the one that counts. It is a memory of horrible civil wars in neighboring Angola and Mozambique -- wars that raged for decades and reduced the human population to savagery and beggary.
Besides that, there is no message from the Zimbabwe opposition, neither stated or implied, that suggests any armed resistance, and we ought to respect that. We might choose to take up arms under such provocation, but the people of Zimbabwe have not made that choice.
What we can do is pay attention and pray.
BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER. Obama is floundering and flipping right now, unsure of himself. This is to be expected. He's only 46 and he rose up much higher and faster than he expected to. He is faced with an overwhelming responsibility.
Sure, he wanted to be President, but now it seems that he will be President. In private moments, he is shaking in his boots. In public moments he is making false gestures. I say, give him a chance to gather himself up.
Besides that, it's summer. The real fight with John McCaine begins in September. That's the time of Judgment.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Things are not what they seem
In Africa, things are not what they seem. There was a widely published photo that I used in the last issue of Frog Hospital -- of an injured Zimbabwean baby. The baby's legs were broken by Mugabe's ZANU thugs -- so it was said, but it might not be true. It might be that the baby was having its club feet repaired -- nothing more than that.
And yet it is so easy to find credible accounts of torture in Zimbabwe, and I have seen many very gruesome photos. I picked the baby's photo because its cry was so poignant. So we know two things from this -- that life is very bad in Zimbabwe right now and that things are not what they seem.
Anything you think you know for certain might not be so.
THE HIGHER POWERS SANCTION ZIMBABWE. The world leaders, at the G-8 Summit, are considering economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. President George Bush is urging this proposal. Bush has wielded an effective policy toward Africa -- and I cite no less an authority than Senator Barack Obama.
I heard, with my own ears, at Obama's speech in Austin, Texas, on the day before the March primary, that George Bush had a good policy toward Africa.
Things are not what they seem. George Bush has been a very bad President, but he has been effective in African affairs.
It is good to remember that the United States was not a colonial power in Africa, and that African leaders have a much higher mistrust of European powers.
Nevertheless, African leaders are rejecting this interference by the G-8 powers --- "Stop interfering in our continent. Only give us the kind of help that we ask for."
It is the legacy of colonial rule and the history of slavery. Always remember, never forgive and never forget, that is the mantra, and I support that.
But shouldn't we reserve our anger for current abuses? Shouldn't we ask who is being harmed now?
BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER. If Senator Barack Obama is no more than a mainstream Democrat with a bit of charisma, many people will be happy with just that. All signs point to a summer strategy of Obama saying, "I'm just like you."
He is addressing an unstated concern, "Yeah, but you don't look like the rest of us."
Indeed not. In fact, a rarely discussed by easily noticed fact is his hair. Barack Obama, if elected, will be the first President of the United States with hair that is not like mine.
Never mind skin color, I mean his hair. It is not straight and lanky and brown, like mine. It is black and short and tightly-coiled.
My hair blows in the wind. But Obama's hair is stiff and sculptural. Ask any barber. African-Americans shop in the same grocery stores, live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same churches and schools as the rest of us -- but they don't go to a white barber.
I'm not talking about the ladies' hair, which is on a wholly different level. I'm talking that black men go to black barbers because their hair is different. It is a natural difference.
A black man's hair is soft and woolly, or it might be springy and bristly, it all depends. The thing is that you can't touch it just to find out, unless you're about four years old. If you were a four-year old white child, and you had never met any black people, then when you did meet one for this first time, you could say, "Hey mister, how come your hair is like that? Can I touch it?"
But you're all grown up now, and you don't get to ask questions like that. Barack Obama knows that. That's why he's going around the country this summer, making very bland mainstream statements about politics. That's his outward agenda. But his real purpose is to let every one know that he's just like the rest of us, except for the hair.
FROG HOSPITAL READER SURVEY. The results of the reader survey were gratifying. Respondents endorsed the current mixed of topics. They said there was no need to focus on a single topic, but that my writing represented a coherent point of view which they found interesting. Thank you for the reinforcement. I will carry on.
And yet it is so easy to find credible accounts of torture in Zimbabwe, and I have seen many very gruesome photos. I picked the baby's photo because its cry was so poignant. So we know two things from this -- that life is very bad in Zimbabwe right now and that things are not what they seem.
Anything you think you know for certain might not be so.
THE HIGHER POWERS SANCTION ZIMBABWE. The world leaders, at the G-8 Summit, are considering economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. President George Bush is urging this proposal. Bush has wielded an effective policy toward Africa -- and I cite no less an authority than Senator Barack Obama.
I heard, with my own ears, at Obama's speech in Austin, Texas, on the day before the March primary, that George Bush had a good policy toward Africa.
Things are not what they seem. George Bush has been a very bad President, but he has been effective in African affairs.
It is good to remember that the United States was not a colonial power in Africa, and that African leaders have a much higher mistrust of European powers.
Nevertheless, African leaders are rejecting this interference by the G-8 powers --- "Stop interfering in our continent. Only give us the kind of help that we ask for."
It is the legacy of colonial rule and the history of slavery. Always remember, never forgive and never forget, that is the mantra, and I support that.
But shouldn't we reserve our anger for current abuses? Shouldn't we ask who is being harmed now?
BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER. If Senator Barack Obama is no more than a mainstream Democrat with a bit of charisma, many people will be happy with just that. All signs point to a summer strategy of Obama saying, "I'm just like you."
He is addressing an unstated concern, "Yeah, but you don't look like the rest of us."
Indeed not. In fact, a rarely discussed by easily noticed fact is his hair. Barack Obama, if elected, will be the first President of the United States with hair that is not like mine.
Never mind skin color, I mean his hair. It is not straight and lanky and brown, like mine. It is black and short and tightly-coiled.
My hair blows in the wind. But Obama's hair is stiff and sculptural. Ask any barber. African-Americans shop in the same grocery stores, live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same churches and schools as the rest of us -- but they don't go to a white barber.
I'm not talking about the ladies' hair, which is on a wholly different level. I'm talking that black men go to black barbers because their hair is different. It is a natural difference.
A black man's hair is soft and woolly, or it might be springy and bristly, it all depends. The thing is that you can't touch it just to find out, unless you're about four years old. If you were a four-year old white child, and you had never met any black people, then when you did meet one for this first time, you could say, "Hey mister, how come your hair is like that? Can I touch it?"
But you're all grown up now, and you don't get to ask questions like that. Barack Obama knows that. That's why he's going around the country this summer, making very bland mainstream statements about politics. That's his outward agenda. But his real purpose is to let every one know that he's just like the rest of us, except for the hair.
FROG HOSPITAL READER SURVEY. The results of the reader survey were gratifying. Respondents endorsed the current mixed of topics. They said there was no need to focus on a single topic, but that my writing represented a coherent point of view which they found interesting. Thank you for the reinforcement. I will carry on.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Broken Babies
Atrocities and hyper inflation continue in Zimbabwe. The legs of this baby were broken because the father is an MDC official. See the photo broken baby
Neighboring Botswana, an intelligent, democratic country, is amassing troops and armor on its border with Zimbabwe -- to deflect an expected flood of refugees.
There is talk of military intervention by neighboring countries. Idi Amin, the terrible killer of Uganda, was finally overthrown by an army invading from Tanzania in 1979. Amin settled prosperously and anonymously in Saudi Arabia after he was deposed.
One hopes that similar arrangements can be made for Robert Mugabe.
And yet, who are we to watch and worry? It is an African problem, so let them solve it. That is what African leaders say -- but that is not what the people on the street say.
The common people do not display the racial fears of their leadership. The common people welcome friendship, investment, and support from any decent party.
But the African leadership is threatened -- by their own incompetence and corruption, which is on display on the world stage. And they excuse themselves by saying that others are just as bad.
But I would say -- No, Africa does not belong to you alone, it belongs to the world, because we hear the cries of your broken babies.
And when you are wrong, it does not matter if someone else is worse.
AMERICA IS FOR SALE ON CRAIGSLIST. Craigslist.com gives a global view of property prices. From Copenhagen to Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo -- every major city on earth has a presence on Craigslist -- with jobs wanted, and personals, just like here in our country.
What I have found especially interesting are the property for sale listings. You can cruise the world and find out what a condo costs in Paris or Singapore.
What also struck me is how many American properties are listed on foreign sites. The weaker dollar and the housing bust make American homes and businesses a bargain right now.
Smart investors from Europe, Asia, and Latin America are checking out the deals in the USA.
Our country is in a recession and facing a host of problems, but foreign investment in American property shows that some people have confidence that we can turn this around. So this is good news.
Or it might not be good news. In Zimbabwe, so-called "vulture funds" are buying property right now -- houses, game farms, resorts -- sold by desperate people at fire-sale prices for pennies on the dollar. It's a long shot bet -- that the Zimbabwe economy will ever recover -- but some sharp-witted profit-seekers are willing to take the chance.
THE SUMMER OLYMPICS will be in Peking this year. The Olympics Games, since their re-establishment in 1896, have never been held in Africa. Capetown in South Africa made an unsuccessful bid to host the games of 2008, but this beautiful city was turned down -- because it was "too far away" -- from who?
The Olympic Games have been held just once in Latin America -- in 1968 in Mexico City. Latin America is also "too far away."
What does this say about the so-called international, multi-cultural spirit of the Games? It's all about the money.
HEALTH CARE. People make mistakes, in every manner of human endeavor -- the administration of medicine, for instance. The nurses learn the Five Rights -- you must give the Right Medicine to the Right Patient in the Right Dose at the Right Time, and by the Right Route.
The Route means if its by mouth, or by an injection or by other means.
If you don't get all the Five Rights, the patient might be harmed. Take this hospital where I work, with over a 100 beds, not counting the ER and the birthing center. And many patients are taking five or more different kinds of medication.
That is a very complicated procedure -- subject to intense and constant scrutiny. The order goes from the doctor to the nurse, to the pharmacy, back to the nurse, and then to the patient, and it all gets documented and signed off and counted, and there are all manner of checks and double checks.
It's a good thing I'm not in charge of that.
DATING DOCTORS. I dated a doctor a few years ago. It didn't last long. She was researching a disease that she had herself, and I thought that was a very bad idea. I'm not a scientist, I said to her, but where is your objectivity? And she thought it was none of my business, and I said yeah, I guess we don't have much to talk about. That was it.
I was right, by the way.
OSTEOPOROSIS is the weakening of the bones in old age. It mainly effects women, because of their different hormones, so I am not likely to have this problem. But every hospital in the country has a constant stream of hip fractures -- women of 80 years who fall down -- just an easy fall, but their bones got so brittle that it broke at the hip.
The surgeons can pin the bones back together, but it heals very slowly on an elderly person, and often the patient will never walk again.
Osteoporosis is a growing problem -- in a way it's a good problem -- because so many women survive so many other diseases nowadays -- and then live long enough to get brittle bones.
Vitamin D and calcium tablets are supposed to help prevent this problem. Zoledronic Acid is a new drug being tested now. I've read about it in the medical journals. Then I looked up the price on the Internet pharmacy -- about $800 for a 4 milligram vial. That's enough for one injection, and one injection should get your bones all right for a year. Plus whatever the doctor charges you for telling you to take it, plus the nurse who gives you the injection. If you have the money or the insurance.
FROG HOSPITAL ANALYSIS. I am thinking to write exclusively about health care, in order to give this newsletter an identity and more coherence.
I know I want to trim the wide-ranging subject matter and reach a sharper focus.
The other topics of which I have an ability and an interest are: Africa and national politics.
I have also written knowledgeably about agriculture, gardening, and some cultural matters.
I would appreciate your opinion about this -- tell me what you think.
--
Neighboring Botswana, an intelligent, democratic country, is amassing troops and armor on its border with Zimbabwe -- to deflect an expected flood of refugees.
There is talk of military intervention by neighboring countries. Idi Amin, the terrible killer of Uganda, was finally overthrown by an army invading from Tanzania in 1979. Amin settled prosperously and anonymously in Saudi Arabia after he was deposed.
One hopes that similar arrangements can be made for Robert Mugabe.
And yet, who are we to watch and worry? It is an African problem, so let them solve it. That is what African leaders say -- but that is not what the people on the street say.
The common people do not display the racial fears of their leadership. The common people welcome friendship, investment, and support from any decent party.
But the African leadership is threatened -- by their own incompetence and corruption, which is on display on the world stage. And they excuse themselves by saying that others are just as bad.
But I would say -- No, Africa does not belong to you alone, it belongs to the world, because we hear the cries of your broken babies.
And when you are wrong, it does not matter if someone else is worse.
AMERICA IS FOR SALE ON CRAIGSLIST. Craigslist.com gives a global view of property prices. From Copenhagen to Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo -- every major city on earth has a presence on Craigslist -- with jobs wanted, and personals, just like here in our country.
What I have found especially interesting are the property for sale listings. You can cruise the world and find out what a condo costs in Paris or Singapore.
What also struck me is how many American properties are listed on foreign sites. The weaker dollar and the housing bust make American homes and businesses a bargain right now.
Smart investors from Europe, Asia, and Latin America are checking out the deals in the USA.
Our country is in a recession and facing a host of problems, but foreign investment in American property shows that some people have confidence that we can turn this around. So this is good news.
Or it might not be good news. In Zimbabwe, so-called "vulture funds" are buying property right now -- houses, game farms, resorts -- sold by desperate people at fire-sale prices for pennies on the dollar. It's a long shot bet -- that the Zimbabwe economy will ever recover -- but some sharp-witted profit-seekers are willing to take the chance.
THE SUMMER OLYMPICS will be in Peking this year. The Olympics Games, since their re-establishment in 1896, have never been held in Africa. Capetown in South Africa made an unsuccessful bid to host the games of 2008, but this beautiful city was turned down -- because it was "too far away" -- from who?
The Olympic Games have been held just once in Latin America -- in 1968 in Mexico City. Latin America is also "too far away."
What does this say about the so-called international, multi-cultural spirit of the Games? It's all about the money.
HEALTH CARE. People make mistakes, in every manner of human endeavor -- the administration of medicine, for instance. The nurses learn the Five Rights -- you must give the Right Medicine to the Right Patient in the Right Dose at the Right Time, and by the Right Route.
The Route means if its by mouth, or by an injection or by other means.
If you don't get all the Five Rights, the patient might be harmed. Take this hospital where I work, with over a 100 beds, not counting the ER and the birthing center. And many patients are taking five or more different kinds of medication.
That is a very complicated procedure -- subject to intense and constant scrutiny. The order goes from the doctor to the nurse, to the pharmacy, back to the nurse, and then to the patient, and it all gets documented and signed off and counted, and there are all manner of checks and double checks.
It's a good thing I'm not in charge of that.
DATING DOCTORS. I dated a doctor a few years ago. It didn't last long. She was researching a disease that she had herself, and I thought that was a very bad idea. I'm not a scientist, I said to her, but where is your objectivity? And she thought it was none of my business, and I said yeah, I guess we don't have much to talk about. That was it.
I was right, by the way.
OSTEOPOROSIS is the weakening of the bones in old age. It mainly effects women, because of their different hormones, so I am not likely to have this problem. But every hospital in the country has a constant stream of hip fractures -- women of 80 years who fall down -- just an easy fall, but their bones got so brittle that it broke at the hip.
The surgeons can pin the bones back together, but it heals very slowly on an elderly person, and often the patient will never walk again.
Osteoporosis is a growing problem -- in a way it's a good problem -- because so many women survive so many other diseases nowadays -- and then live long enough to get brittle bones.
Vitamin D and calcium tablets are supposed to help prevent this problem. Zoledronic Acid is a new drug being tested now. I've read about it in the medical journals. Then I looked up the price on the Internet pharmacy -- about $800 for a 4 milligram vial. That's enough for one injection, and one injection should get your bones all right for a year. Plus whatever the doctor charges you for telling you to take it, plus the nurse who gives you the injection. If you have the money or the insurance.
FROG HOSPITAL ANALYSIS. I am thinking to write exclusively about health care, in order to give this newsletter an identity and more coherence.
I know I want to trim the wide-ranging subject matter and reach a sharper focus.
The other topics of which I have an ability and an interest are: Africa and national politics.
I have also written knowledgeably about agriculture, gardening, and some cultural matters.
I would appreciate your opinion about this -- tell me what you think.
--
Thursday, July 03, 2008
HEALTH CARE -- BUT FIRST THE NEWS:
I have a variation on Donald Rumsfeld. This is what I've been telling myself at those times when I think I ought to have a better, higher paying job:
"You don't make money with the job you want, you make money with the job you have."
It's the summer doldrums as far as the election goes. I wish both candidates could agree to a simultaneous two weeks vacation. It would do them and us a world of good.
Obama's Father's Day speech was excellent. His speech on patriotism was also well done. His endorsement of faith-based social action groups surprised many.
McCaine is viable. He is behind but he is not losing ground.
BACK TO HEALTH CARE. I met a nurse last week in the medical library at the hospital where I work. She said she was going back to school to become a Nurse Practitioner. I told her I was very glad she was doing that, because --
America needs about a 100,000 more nurse practitioners and a 100,000 primary care physicians.
While Obama and McCaine debate who is going to pay for health care, the underlying problem remains --- a top heavy health care system with million dollar MRI's stacked up like so many SUVs in the parking lot. Sure, you don't have to wait for an MRI scan, you just need a $1,000 in your pocket, or an insurance company that will pay for it.
It's like if movie tickets cost $50, you would never have to wait in line either.
But the real need is at the level of basic care. If Congress passes a bill for universal health care, we will quickly discover that we lack the manpower to deliver on that promise -- because we lack the resources on the ground.
Got to MD Salaries on the Internet for a look at physician salaries around the country and in various specialties. Cardiologists and Anesthesiologists make the most money, often well over $300,000 per annum.
But Primary Care doctors and Pediatricians are at the low end, averaging around $125,000. That's still a pretty good living, but who can blame the docs for going for the high-paying specialties.
So, we need more Family Doctors and somehow we have to encourage and reward those who choose that profession.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart is not waiting for Congress to act. They have plans to open more than a thousand medical retail clinics in their stores. The clinics will be located right next to the pharmacy. They will be staffed by Nurse Practitioners who can diagnose common ailments and write prescriptions. You don't need a doctor for the common cold, a diaper rash, or an ear infection.
The Nurse Practitioner can quickly judge if the problem is more serious, but most often she can deal with it herself.
A visit to these clinics will cost less than $60. No appointment necessary. It's quick and convenient, and half what it would cost at a doctor's office.
Of course, it doesn't solve the whole problem. Like what if you don't have the $60.
But it's a step in the right direction.
Frog Hospital does not favor government or market-based solutions. We are only interested in what works.
So, on this Fourth of July, let's salute our American heroes -- the Nurse Practitioners.
"You don't make money with the job you want, you make money with the job you have."
It's the summer doldrums as far as the election goes. I wish both candidates could agree to a simultaneous two weeks vacation. It would do them and us a world of good.
Obama's Father's Day speech was excellent. His speech on patriotism was also well done. His endorsement of faith-based social action groups surprised many.
McCaine is viable. He is behind but he is not losing ground.
BACK TO HEALTH CARE. I met a nurse last week in the medical library at the hospital where I work. She said she was going back to school to become a Nurse Practitioner. I told her I was very glad she was doing that, because --
America needs about a 100,000 more nurse practitioners and a 100,000 primary care physicians.
While Obama and McCaine debate who is going to pay for health care, the underlying problem remains --- a top heavy health care system with million dollar MRI's stacked up like so many SUVs in the parking lot. Sure, you don't have to wait for an MRI scan, you just need a $1,000 in your pocket, or an insurance company that will pay for it.
It's like if movie tickets cost $50, you would never have to wait in line either.
But the real need is at the level of basic care. If Congress passes a bill for universal health care, we will quickly discover that we lack the manpower to deliver on that promise -- because we lack the resources on the ground.
Got to MD Salaries on the Internet for a look at physician salaries around the country and in various specialties. Cardiologists and Anesthesiologists make the most money, often well over $300,000 per annum.
But Primary Care doctors and Pediatricians are at the low end, averaging around $125,000. That's still a pretty good living, but who can blame the docs for going for the high-paying specialties.
So, we need more Family Doctors and somehow we have to encourage and reward those who choose that profession.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart is not waiting for Congress to act. They have plans to open more than a thousand medical retail clinics in their stores. The clinics will be located right next to the pharmacy. They will be staffed by Nurse Practitioners who can diagnose common ailments and write prescriptions. You don't need a doctor for the common cold, a diaper rash, or an ear infection.
The Nurse Practitioner can quickly judge if the problem is more serious, but most often she can deal with it herself.
A visit to these clinics will cost less than $60. No appointment necessary. It's quick and convenient, and half what it would cost at a doctor's office.
Of course, it doesn't solve the whole problem. Like what if you don't have the $60.
But it's a step in the right direction.
Frog Hospital does not favor government or market-based solutions. We are only interested in what works.
So, on this Fourth of July, let's salute our American heroes -- the Nurse Practitioners.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Mugabe's Insane Hatred
Robert Mugabe is like Jeremiah Wright on steroids -- there is a parallel at least in that both men are angry about conditions that no longer exist, fighting battles that have already been won, and hating enemies that died years ago.
When Barack Obama speaks about change, I believe he means about the difference between himself and his former Pastor. Wright's anger was appropriate at the time. It was the angry determination of the African-American community that overturned the regime of segregation in this country. But that anger is misplaced now, and Obama has moved past it.
In Africa, Robert Mugabe lives only in a dream world of old Rhodesia. His heart burns with hatred of the British colonial masters of those days. Back then a white man was always addressed as "boss" and a black man was always called "boy." Those rules were strictly enforced in old Rhodesia, and Robert Mugabe hated that regime, and fought it, and destroyed it. Old Rhodesia is gone, except within the foul heart of Robert Mugabe.
This is 2008, white people, in Europe and North America, have rejected those old ways. There are still a few virulent racists among the exiled Rhodesian community -- but they are not gaining any converts.
In fact, the best thing that could happen to the desperate countries of Africa would be an influx of professional, middle-class Europeans and Americans -- also Asians. People with education, people with a modest amount of capital, people with no overt racist intentions, people who would willingly adapt to the language and customs of the African people, people who are very different than their parents or grandparents -- but people who could bring their own skills and abilities to a continent that desperately needs them.
I'm not talking about do gooders and social engineers. I'm talking about plain old economic opportunists who would come to Africa and take their chances -- not especially to do any one a big favor, but to do an even better thing -- make an honest living and build a home for themselves. Africa needs these kind of people.
Yet it is these very people who are most feared by the racist leadership of most African countries -- a hatred expressed most virulently by Robert Mugabe, but shared by the more moderate leaders of other African countries.
LACONNER TEARS. Former LaConner Mayor Wayne Everton had this to say in a recent email to Frog Hospital
I think I discovered many years ago that the La Conner merchants aren't really interested in doing those things that would improve business. I think they'd rather bitch than be creative. I see what Anacortes does, I even see what Sedro Wooley does and I don't see what La Conner does except spend $20,000 putting brochures in racks with several hundred other communities.
Twenty years ago people came to La Conner whether we wanted them or not. It was "quaint" and "cute" and "warm. Now other towns have learned to be "quaint" and "cute" and "warm" but we, for some reason, think competition doesn't exist.
It's interesting, and ironic, that when we had a volunteer Chamber of Commerce business was good. Now that we have a highly paid professional Chamber business has fallen off. I wonder if there's a connection.
--- So that's what Wayne Everton thinks, and he has a good point
Meanwhile, Anna Ferdinand is a rising star at LaConner's weekly newspaper. Her story about Georgia Johnson's school lunch innovations was most excellent. It's too bad the LaConner weekly doesn't have a website -- because Anna's reporting needs to go around the world.
Speaking of art, one of LaConner's best artists, Joel Brock, had quite a show last week --- in Edison, not in LaConner. In fact, Brock is no longer a LaConner artist -- he moved to Edison some years ago. Why did he leave LaConner?
Why is Edison the most creative hotspot north of Seattle, while LaConner is becoming the capital of Old Fogeys eating ice cream? Sic transit gloria. Or, as Ernest Hemingway said, "It's a Moveable Feast" and it sure has moved out of LaConner.
When Barack Obama speaks about change, I believe he means about the difference between himself and his former Pastor. Wright's anger was appropriate at the time. It was the angry determination of the African-American community that overturned the regime of segregation in this country. But that anger is misplaced now, and Obama has moved past it.
In Africa, Robert Mugabe lives only in a dream world of old Rhodesia. His heart burns with hatred of the British colonial masters of those days. Back then a white man was always addressed as "boss" and a black man was always called "boy." Those rules were strictly enforced in old Rhodesia, and Robert Mugabe hated that regime, and fought it, and destroyed it. Old Rhodesia is gone, except within the foul heart of Robert Mugabe.
This is 2008, white people, in Europe and North America, have rejected those old ways. There are still a few virulent racists among the exiled Rhodesian community -- but they are not gaining any converts.
In fact, the best thing that could happen to the desperate countries of Africa would be an influx of professional, middle-class Europeans and Americans -- also Asians. People with education, people with a modest amount of capital, people with no overt racist intentions, people who would willingly adapt to the language and customs of the African people, people who are very different than their parents or grandparents -- but people who could bring their own skills and abilities to a continent that desperately needs them.
I'm not talking about do gooders and social engineers. I'm talking about plain old economic opportunists who would come to Africa and take their chances -- not especially to do any one a big favor, but to do an even better thing -- make an honest living and build a home for themselves. Africa needs these kind of people.
Yet it is these very people who are most feared by the racist leadership of most African countries -- a hatred expressed most virulently by Robert Mugabe, but shared by the more moderate leaders of other African countries.
LACONNER TEARS. Former LaConner Mayor Wayne Everton had this to say in a recent email to Frog Hospital
I think I discovered many years ago that the La Conner merchants aren't really interested in doing those things that would improve business. I think they'd rather bitch than be creative. I see what Anacortes does, I even see what Sedro Wooley does and I don't see what La Conner does except spend $20,000 putting brochures in racks with several hundred other communities.
Twenty years ago people came to La Conner whether we wanted them or not. It was "quaint" and "cute" and "warm. Now other towns have learned to be "quaint" and "cute" and "warm" but we, for some reason, think competition doesn't exist.
It's interesting, and ironic, that when we had a volunteer Chamber of Commerce business was good. Now that we have a highly paid professional Chamber business has fallen off. I wonder if there's a connection.
--- So that's what Wayne Everton thinks, and he has a good point
Meanwhile, Anna Ferdinand is a rising star at LaConner's weekly newspaper. Her story about Georgia Johnson's school lunch innovations was most excellent. It's too bad the LaConner weekly doesn't have a website -- because Anna's reporting needs to go around the world.
Speaking of art, one of LaConner's best artists, Joel Brock, had quite a show last week --- in Edison, not in LaConner. In fact, Brock is no longer a LaConner artist -- he moved to Edison some years ago. Why did he leave LaConner?
Why is Edison the most creative hotspot north of Seattle, while LaConner is becoming the capital of Old Fogeys eating ice cream? Sic transit gloria. Or, as Ernest Hemingway said, "It's a Moveable Feast" and it sure has moved out of LaConner.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
African Tears
Robert Mugabe is at war with his own people. Bishop Tutu called him a Frankenstein. Morgan Tsvangirai is in asylum at the Dutch Embassy in Harare the capital of Zimbabwe. The Security Council at the United Nation is discussing the matter -- but what can they do? African leaders utter condemnations -- but Mugabe owes them nothing.
All eyes turn to Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, the leader of the most powerful government in Africa. Mbeki is the one man who can do something about this, but he will not.
A part of Mbeki supports the deep racial hatred of Robert Mugabe, who blames the old British colonials for every recent harm.
David Maritz,a resident of Camano Island, but with strong family roots in Zimbabwe, wrote this:
"It will change when the useless Thabo Mbeki is out of power and stops keeping Mugabe in power."
Maritz also said, "The ultimate strength of a democracy is a vibrant middle class. It is the buffer that keeps the upper class from turning the lower classes into powerless starving masses as Mugabe has done. Mugabe can buy most of the masses with a bag of mealie meal and beat up the rest."
But it is the very middle class professionals -- doctors, businessmen, teachers, nurses -- who have fled the country.
It is also very possible that the crisis will destabalize South Africa. Already millions of Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa and there have been mass riots and killings by angry South Africans who are unwilling to share their resources.
It is a wonder that Mbeki does nothing when his own country might suffer so drastically.
But Mugabe, at age 84, did say that only God can remove him from office. Africans are strong believers in the power of prayer and many have beseeched the Almighty for this very thing.
All eyes turn to Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, the leader of the most powerful government in Africa. Mbeki is the one man who can do something about this, but he will not.
A part of Mbeki supports the deep racial hatred of Robert Mugabe, who blames the old British colonials for every recent harm.
David Maritz,a resident of Camano Island, but with strong family roots in Zimbabwe, wrote this:
"It will change when the useless Thabo Mbeki is out of power and stops keeping Mugabe in power."
Maritz also said, "The ultimate strength of a democracy is a vibrant middle class. It is the buffer that keeps the upper class from turning the lower classes into powerless starving masses as Mugabe has done. Mugabe can buy most of the masses with a bag of mealie meal and beat up the rest."
But it is the very middle class professionals -- doctors, businessmen, teachers, nurses -- who have fled the country.
It is also very possible that the crisis will destabalize South Africa. Already millions of Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa and there have been mass riots and killings by angry South Africans who are unwilling to share their resources.
It is a wonder that Mbeki does nothing when his own country might suffer so drastically.
But Mugabe, at age 84, did say that only God can remove him from office. Africans are strong believers in the power of prayer and many have beseeched the Almighty for this very thing.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Cruelty in Zimbabwe
Gangs of violent thugs are rampaging in the cities and villages of Zimbabwe, in a frenzy of looting, burning, raping, and killing. All known or suspected opponents of Robert Mugabe's regime are in peril for their lives. It has come down to this awful place. There is no future and no hope. This site, the Zimbabwe Situation, summarizes all the terrible news.
The people of Zimbabwe, despite the direst provocation, show no sign of rising up in arms against the despot. Neighboring countries, especially South Africa, lack the determination to intervene. No one knows what will happen next -- if the destruction and violence will finally destroy every good thing in this once wonderful country. It's madness.
Why has Zimbabwe gone over the brink into insanity? Why does it happen there and not here? Are we lucky to be in America? Are we God's special friends? Are we doing something right? Because we have problems, but life is much better here than in Africa.
I attended the Zimbabwe Independence Day party in Seattle in April. This is an annual event and many immigrants from Zimbabwe come to have a good time and to celebrate their culture. This year, I saw many new faces -- new immigrants from Zimbabwe who were young, talented, and energetic. They had escaped a savage dictator. They were working and sending American dollars back to their hungry families. A slim hope of salvation rests in this exiled community, not just in Seattle, but in most big cities in the English-speaking world -- immigrants who are safe, for the time being, who will never return, or who hope against hope to return some day.
But how will Zimbabwe survive this calamity?
A CAR DEALER LAMENTS. If he makes half as much this year, he still won't be poor -- that's what I thought. But it was still an outstanding spectacle -- a car dealer, a well known man in this area, who said that his business is terrible. He's got a fleet of trucks and SUVs that he can't give away.
Car salesmen are the soul of the American economy -- they are the ultimate source of our national exuberance. They are the truest of true believers -- and the most cynical.
It doesn't make me happy to see them brought low.
GIVING AWAY HER SUV. A friend of mine had been driving an 8-year-old GMC Yukon -- it was a good vehicle, but a gas pig. So she replaced it with a Subaru Outback because of its good mileage.
Anyhow, she couldn't sell the old Yukon for peanuts, but decided to give it to one of her relatives. "I can always use it when I need to haul a big load," she said.
I was making fun of the philosopher's group in the last issue -- they do not actually get drunk at the LaConner Tavern, but there is a real group of men who meet on weekday mornings at the Next Chapter in LaConner and listen to taped lectures before discussing the works of Plato, Thomas Aquinas, and other great thinkers. It is a discussion that has been going on for more than a thousand years, and I have joined in.
DELIRIUM. People should understand, in my own defense, that I spend my working hours in the company of delirious people at the local hospital. "Daft" I call them, or "addled" -- there are lots of words for this, but delirium and dementia are medical terms that are well-defined.
The problem is that people with serious medical problems, such as a broken hip, or a urinary tract infection, can be so seriously impacted by the illness that they temporarily lose their marbles -- to use another common phrase. This delirium is a symptom of the underlying illness -- and my job is to stay with the patient and help them work through it.
This babbling of nonsense and fluttering of hands can be very difficult for loved ones to view. Imagine your parents or your spouse -- solid and sensible people -- only know they are howling at the moon from their hospital bed. So I counsel these people as well.
It can be a very hard job. And it's not really about skills so much as it's about attitude.
I have a very strong belief in my own sensibility and consciousness. I use that strength to project a return to reality upon the patient. I don't always succeed, but I never give up.
But, in order to keep myself in good shape for this job, I need to spend my off hours with clear-headed, healthy people -- like those morning philosophers I just told you about.
The people of Zimbabwe, despite the direst provocation, show no sign of rising up in arms against the despot. Neighboring countries, especially South Africa, lack the determination to intervene. No one knows what will happen next -- if the destruction and violence will finally destroy every good thing in this once wonderful country. It's madness.
Why has Zimbabwe gone over the brink into insanity? Why does it happen there and not here? Are we lucky to be in America? Are we God's special friends? Are we doing something right? Because we have problems, but life is much better here than in Africa.
I attended the Zimbabwe Independence Day party in Seattle in April. This is an annual event and many immigrants from Zimbabwe come to have a good time and to celebrate their culture. This year, I saw many new faces -- new immigrants from Zimbabwe who were young, talented, and energetic. They had escaped a savage dictator. They were working and sending American dollars back to their hungry families. A slim hope of salvation rests in this exiled community, not just in Seattle, but in most big cities in the English-speaking world -- immigrants who are safe, for the time being, who will never return, or who hope against hope to return some day.
But how will Zimbabwe survive this calamity?
A CAR DEALER LAMENTS. If he makes half as much this year, he still won't be poor -- that's what I thought. But it was still an outstanding spectacle -- a car dealer, a well known man in this area, who said that his business is terrible. He's got a fleet of trucks and SUVs that he can't give away.
Car salesmen are the soul of the American economy -- they are the ultimate source of our national exuberance. They are the truest of true believers -- and the most cynical.
It doesn't make me happy to see them brought low.
GIVING AWAY HER SUV. A friend of mine had been driving an 8-year-old GMC Yukon -- it was a good vehicle, but a gas pig. So she replaced it with a Subaru Outback because of its good mileage.
Anyhow, she couldn't sell the old Yukon for peanuts, but decided to give it to one of her relatives. "I can always use it when I need to haul a big load," she said.
I was making fun of the philosopher's group in the last issue -- they do not actually get drunk at the LaConner Tavern, but there is a real group of men who meet on weekday mornings at the Next Chapter in LaConner and listen to taped lectures before discussing the works of Plato, Thomas Aquinas, and other great thinkers. It is a discussion that has been going on for more than a thousand years, and I have joined in.
DELIRIUM. People should understand, in my own defense, that I spend my working hours in the company of delirious people at the local hospital. "Daft" I call them, or "addled" -- there are lots of words for this, but delirium and dementia are medical terms that are well-defined.
The problem is that people with serious medical problems, such as a broken hip, or a urinary tract infection, can be so seriously impacted by the illness that they temporarily lose their marbles -- to use another common phrase. This delirium is a symptom of the underlying illness -- and my job is to stay with the patient and help them work through it.
This babbling of nonsense and fluttering of hands can be very difficult for loved ones to view. Imagine your parents or your spouse -- solid and sensible people -- only know they are howling at the moon from their hospital bed. So I counsel these people as well.
It can be a very hard job. And it's not really about skills so much as it's about attitude.
I have a very strong belief in my own sensibility and consciousness. I use that strength to project a return to reality upon the patient. I don't always succeed, but I never give up.
But, in order to keep myself in good shape for this job, I need to spend my off hours with clear-headed, healthy people -- like those morning philosophers I just told you about.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Uncertainty as Considered by various philosophers
Sunshine and receding floodwaters in Iowa caused a small dip this week in the price of corn at Chicago's commodity markets, but those same markets await a more accurate estimate of flood damage to crops. Right now, corn is hovering between $7 and $8 per bushel -- a price higher than anyone imagined. You just have to remember that for every buyer there is a seller, and if you're a consumer of corn -- and you are -- you're going to pay more. But if you're selling corn, it's a happy day.
Think of the Iowa farmers who did not get their fields flooded -- they're doing all right. As for the speculators at the commodity exchanges -- they are necessary creatures. Most of them have never seen a cornfield. They inhabit the dark canyons of LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago, screaming frantically at each other day after day, feeding off every rumor of crop failure, government coup in far away countries, or drought in Australia.
We don't know -- we have fear of uncertainty. What is the cost of not knowing what the cost will be? The price of corn, wheat, all foods, oil -- sure, the price is going up, but how high? How can you plan? How much will it cost to fly to Denver at Christmas to see your family? You don't know, and no one can tell you.
In the best of times, prices rise steadily because of our increased productivity and the extra value added. But everything is catterwonkus now. And the weather isn't cooperating either.
So with everything so screwed up, this is an excellent time to consider the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, an important German philosopher of the 19th century. I don't often think of Schopenhauer or Kant or Kierkegaard, but there were several fellows stumbling out of the LaConner Tavern late last night, in their cups, and arguing intensely about the primacy of Will.
"You Hegelian buffoon," George roared at Handsome Jim, who smiled back, knowingly, and smugly.
"Yes, I am a Hegelian," Handsome Jim finally said, "and I can reduce his entire philosophy to one word -- Becoming."
"But the key figure was not Hegel -- his work lacks certainty. There is no ground left to stand on. It was left to Schopenhauer...." George said.
John, the Designated Diviner, intervened at this point and attempted to summarize: "As you know, Schopenhauer was born in the eastern Prussian city of Danzig in 1788, and as he grew up and found his calling to philosophy, he became an ardent follower of Immanuel Kant -- not merely to broadcast Kant's ideas, but to develop them further.
"Schopenhauer believed the function of art to be a meditation on the unity of human nature, and an attempt to demonstrate to the audience a certain existential angst. A wide range of authors, from Thomas Hardy to Woody Allen, have been influenced by this system of aesthetics, and in the 20th century this area of Schopenhauer's work garnered more attention and praise than any other."
"Oh, horse puckey," George said, and he began weaving down the street, stepping one foot into the gutter and one foot on the sidewalk, chanting "Either, Or, Either, Or, Either, Or."
Think of the Iowa farmers who did not get their fields flooded -- they're doing all right. As for the speculators at the commodity exchanges -- they are necessary creatures. Most of them have never seen a cornfield. They inhabit the dark canyons of LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago, screaming frantically at each other day after day, feeding off every rumor of crop failure, government coup in far away countries, or drought in Australia.
We don't know -- we have fear of uncertainty. What is the cost of not knowing what the cost will be? The price of corn, wheat, all foods, oil -- sure, the price is going up, but how high? How can you plan? How much will it cost to fly to Denver at Christmas to see your family? You don't know, and no one can tell you.
In the best of times, prices rise steadily because of our increased productivity and the extra value added. But everything is catterwonkus now. And the weather isn't cooperating either.
So with everything so screwed up, this is an excellent time to consider the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, an important German philosopher of the 19th century. I don't often think of Schopenhauer or Kant or Kierkegaard, but there were several fellows stumbling out of the LaConner Tavern late last night, in their cups, and arguing intensely about the primacy of Will.
"You Hegelian buffoon," George roared at Handsome Jim, who smiled back, knowingly, and smugly.
"Yes, I am a Hegelian," Handsome Jim finally said, "and I can reduce his entire philosophy to one word -- Becoming."
"But the key figure was not Hegel -- his work lacks certainty. There is no ground left to stand on. It was left to Schopenhauer...." George said.
John, the Designated Diviner, intervened at this point and attempted to summarize: "As you know, Schopenhauer was born in the eastern Prussian city of Danzig in 1788, and as he grew up and found his calling to philosophy, he became an ardent follower of Immanuel Kant -- not merely to broadcast Kant's ideas, but to develop them further.
"Schopenhauer believed the function of art to be a meditation on the unity of human nature, and an attempt to demonstrate to the audience a certain existential angst. A wide range of authors, from Thomas Hardy to Woody Allen, have been influenced by this system of aesthetics, and in the 20th century this area of Schopenhauer's work garnered more attention and praise than any other."
"Oh, horse puckey," George said, and he began weaving down the street, stepping one foot into the gutter and one foot on the sidewalk, chanting "Either, Or, Either, Or, Either, Or."
Friday, June 20, 2008
June-uary in the Skagit Valley
They're calling it June-uary in the Skagit Valley because it's been so cold and so wet. The slugs and snails are eating everything. Anybody who planted a garden has to re-plant their beans and cucumbers and any tender-seeded vegetable.
Onions and peas are doing all right, though, but just growing slowly.
The farmers are looking at a disaster. Strawberries are rotting in the field. Some potato fields haven't even been planted. Everything else is either late or soggy.
Farmer Dave once said, "I can add anything but heat." How true, all the fertilizer in the world won't make up for a lack of warm, sunny days.
The farmers seem remarkably calm in the face of financial ruin except that farmers, more than anybody, know that weather can be fickle and the best plans of mankind are puny. All this talk about global warming is very welcome -- it seems that urban people are beginning to realize what their country cousins never forgot -- our lives depend on the weather.
Out on Fir Island, where I live, at the mouth of the Skagit River, I have spent a lot of time walking up and down the slough in the back of the house. The slough has wheat fields on either side, and I can tread a narrow path between the emerging wheat and the cattails that tumble into the water. The wheat is 8 inches tall now -- it keeps growing in this cold, wet weather, but slowly, and any fertilizer or herbicide might get washed off and be useless.
The slough is bursting with wildlife -- schools of minnows darting about, probably sticklebacks, but I'll bet the salmon fry get in there too. The little fish feed the stalking herons -- some pretty big bull frogs too.
What do the ducks eat? I could ask Meynard Axelson, he lives one mile down the road and he keeps more than 30 varieties of ducks and other waterfowl in a half-acre sized pen with a net roof. Meynard is known far and wide as the go-to guy if you have a duck problem.
I did ask Meynard about the nest of duck eggs I stumbled across. It was in a side ditch near the slough, with eleven eggs, and the mama duck burst out of the tall grass and flew away as I approached. Meynard advised me to avoid going near the nest until the eggs were hatched.
He said the mama duck usually tucks feathersand grass over the eggs when she goes off to feed to keep them hidden, but if the mama duck leaves suddenly, she leaves her eggs exposed to the crows and hawks. He also said some possum or raccoon might follow my foot trail and discover the eggs.
So I will walk another way for the next couple of weeks. Otherwise I can still watch the red winged blackbirds and the sparrows and this beautiful yellow bird I saw yesterday -- but I don't know what it is.
There's a beaver, one or two, that lives in the slough somewhere. I saw it swimming around last month. Around here, the beavers dig burrows in the bank. I discovered one burrow, but it seems not be used anymore because there are no fresh tracks.
Meanwhile, and everywhere, people are complaining and talking of gloom and doom. All you readers have no doubt joined in these gripe sessions. It seems that most people don't trust the oil companies, to put it mildly. But there is a development of great importance which has not been reported in the media, but you will read it here, in Frog Hospital.
The news is that we have definitely embarked on a course of energy independence. The media reports how the Republicans favor nuclear power and off-shore drilling while the Democrats favor conservation, wind power and other alternatives. This is a vital debate. But the underlying and unreported premise to this debate is that ALL NEW SOURCES OF ENERGY WILL COME FROM WITHIN OUR OWN COUNTRY. This is great news and this is something we can do, because nation building begins at home.
Every conceivable source of energy comes with a toxic cost -- there is no free ride, there is no 100% clean, pollution-free supply. And every solution to our energy crisis will create further problems which will, in turn, require further solutions.
That means stay flexible in your thinking. Don't be discouraged and NO WHINING -- because I'm getting tired of hearing gripe sessions day after day. After a while, you gotta stop talking and get your rear end in gear.
Onions and peas are doing all right, though, but just growing slowly.
The farmers are looking at a disaster. Strawberries are rotting in the field. Some potato fields haven't even been planted. Everything else is either late or soggy.
Farmer Dave once said, "I can add anything but heat." How true, all the fertilizer in the world won't make up for a lack of warm, sunny days.
The farmers seem remarkably calm in the face of financial ruin except that farmers, more than anybody, know that weather can be fickle and the best plans of mankind are puny. All this talk about global warming is very welcome -- it seems that urban people are beginning to realize what their country cousins never forgot -- our lives depend on the weather.
Out on Fir Island, where I live, at the mouth of the Skagit River, I have spent a lot of time walking up and down the slough in the back of the house. The slough has wheat fields on either side, and I can tread a narrow path between the emerging wheat and the cattails that tumble into the water. The wheat is 8 inches tall now -- it keeps growing in this cold, wet weather, but slowly, and any fertilizer or herbicide might get washed off and be useless.
The slough is bursting with wildlife -- schools of minnows darting about, probably sticklebacks, but I'll bet the salmon fry get in there too. The little fish feed the stalking herons -- some pretty big bull frogs too.
What do the ducks eat? I could ask Meynard Axelson, he lives one mile down the road and he keeps more than 30 varieties of ducks and other waterfowl in a half-acre sized pen with a net roof. Meynard is known far and wide as the go-to guy if you have a duck problem.
I did ask Meynard about the nest of duck eggs I stumbled across. It was in a side ditch near the slough, with eleven eggs, and the mama duck burst out of the tall grass and flew away as I approached. Meynard advised me to avoid going near the nest until the eggs were hatched.
He said the mama duck usually tucks feathersand grass over the eggs when she goes off to feed to keep them hidden, but if the mama duck leaves suddenly, she leaves her eggs exposed to the crows and hawks. He also said some possum or raccoon might follow my foot trail and discover the eggs.
So I will walk another way for the next couple of weeks. Otherwise I can still watch the red winged blackbirds and the sparrows and this beautiful yellow bird I saw yesterday -- but I don't know what it is.
There's a beaver, one or two, that lives in the slough somewhere. I saw it swimming around last month. Around here, the beavers dig burrows in the bank. I discovered one burrow, but it seems not be used anymore because there are no fresh tracks.
Meanwhile, and everywhere, people are complaining and talking of gloom and doom. All you readers have no doubt joined in these gripe sessions. It seems that most people don't trust the oil companies, to put it mildly. But there is a development of great importance which has not been reported in the media, but you will read it here, in Frog Hospital.
The news is that we have definitely embarked on a course of energy independence. The media reports how the Republicans favor nuclear power and off-shore drilling while the Democrats favor conservation, wind power and other alternatives. This is a vital debate. But the underlying and unreported premise to this debate is that ALL NEW SOURCES OF ENERGY WILL COME FROM WITHIN OUR OWN COUNTRY. This is great news and this is something we can do, because nation building begins at home.
Every conceivable source of energy comes with a toxic cost -- there is no free ride, there is no 100% clean, pollution-free supply. And every solution to our energy crisis will create further problems which will, in turn, require further solutions.
That means stay flexible in your thinking. Don't be discouraged and NO WHINING -- because I'm getting tired of hearing gripe sessions day after day. After a while, you gotta stop talking and get your rear end in gear.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Suffering is Good
Suffering is good, because it’s the truth. I learned that working at the hospital. When the old man in the bed says, “It hurts,” or “I want to die,” he isn’t playing a game, or trying to be my friend, or wanting to impress me -- it’s just the truth and nothing else and we say the truth is good and beautiful. So there it is.
I work at Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon, Washington. My daughter, Eva, was born in that hospital in 1979. Dr. Logan was the obstetrician. Eva came out all pretty. The nurse washed her and combed her hair -- she was born with nice, black curly hair -- and ever since then I’ve thought that Skagit Valley Hospital was a pretty good place.
Dr. Logan is still catching babies at the Birth Center. I saw him awhile ago near the cafeteria. I reminded him about my daughter’s birth and thanked him
Three reasons why people void going to the hospital:
1. Death
2. Pain
3. Confinement
Death, the biggest fear, is also the easiest to define. The heart stops beating, breathing stops, and the brain becomes unconscious. It is clear and certain, completely and utterly, dead gone, most assuredly not alive, kicked the bucket, bought the ranch, pushing up daisies. Death is most certain and most equal -- it happens to everybody. It’s what happens after death that is so debatable. Those who believe in the soul might discover that they don’t have one, or vice versa. But the main choices seem to be reincarnation, heaven, hell, the astral plane or oblivion.
I am afraid to die, although the adventure of it is somewhat appealing. I lack religious certainty. I have strong spiritual thoughts and feelings, just not the kind of certainty you can take to the bank. My code of conduct is derived from established models. I have a conscience -- when I break those rules, I feel guilty.
Otherwise, I have no special approach to this looming reality, but I am afraid to die. It is so damned irreversible -- that dying room you enter and never leave. So many years of outdoor living, camping, and working outside as a landscaper is because of my innate claustrophobia. Specifically, I am afraid of dying in a room, and I hope, when the time comes, that they can put me in the patio in the back yard, so that the last thing I see is the sky, and the last thing I feel is breeze on my face. That sounds good.
So it has been instructive to spend time with older patients who are facing their last days. The same thing will happen to me some day, so it’s good to learn.
What surprises me is how little fear the old ones have. It may be their next to last day, but they don’t waste time whining about it. It’s probable because they are more certain than I am that the day is coming. They are more accepting of it, ready for the adventure of it. They do say that old age isn’t for sissies. You have this body that just isn’t working anymore. Everything keeps breaking. The doctors fix one thing, but them something else breaks. The meaning becomes clear -- it’s over. And they face it without terror, with or without religion.
It’s often harder on the loved ones gathered around.
Anyway, I have my own death figure out. It will be in the parking lot of the 7-11 convenience store, maybe the one over in Mount Vernon. I’ll be getting out of the car and walking into to get some coffee or something, and I’ll be hit by a blinding stroke and drop like a stone onto the pavement, stone dead, so dead my head bounces when I hit, and the people will rush around and look at the old man lying there.
I like the mundane quality of this departure.
I remember when the doctors put my father on a salt-free diet because of his high blood-pressure. That was in 1974 and it pretty much killed him. They didn’t know how much my father loved to eat. Mom used to make him spare ribs and sauerkraut, and it would almost bring tears to his eye, he loved it so much.
But they took the salt away from him, and then he died. They said it was heart failure, ha! He died from loss of appetite. He told me, one of his last words, “If it tastes good, I can’t eat it.” They shouldn’t have taken the salt away from my father. Why not let somebody die as they lived? Truth be told, he wasn’t going to last long anyways. Heck, they should have given him a martini and let him go out with a smile one his face.
Fear of pain and confinement are the two more reasons to avoid the hospital -- I will address those questions next.
I work at Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon, Washington. My daughter, Eva, was born in that hospital in 1979. Dr. Logan was the obstetrician. Eva came out all pretty. The nurse washed her and combed her hair -- she was born with nice, black curly hair -- and ever since then I’ve thought that Skagit Valley Hospital was a pretty good place.
Dr. Logan is still catching babies at the Birth Center. I saw him awhile ago near the cafeteria. I reminded him about my daughter’s birth and thanked him
Three reasons why people void going to the hospital:
1. Death
2. Pain
3. Confinement
Death, the biggest fear, is also the easiest to define. The heart stops beating, breathing stops, and the brain becomes unconscious. It is clear and certain, completely and utterly, dead gone, most assuredly not alive, kicked the bucket, bought the ranch, pushing up daisies. Death is most certain and most equal -- it happens to everybody. It’s what happens after death that is so debatable. Those who believe in the soul might discover that they don’t have one, or vice versa. But the main choices seem to be reincarnation, heaven, hell, the astral plane or oblivion.
I am afraid to die, although the adventure of it is somewhat appealing. I lack religious certainty. I have strong spiritual thoughts and feelings, just not the kind of certainty you can take to the bank. My code of conduct is derived from established models. I have a conscience -- when I break those rules, I feel guilty.
Otherwise, I have no special approach to this looming reality, but I am afraid to die. It is so damned irreversible -- that dying room you enter and never leave. So many years of outdoor living, camping, and working outside as a landscaper is because of my innate claustrophobia. Specifically, I am afraid of dying in a room, and I hope, when the time comes, that they can put me in the patio in the back yard, so that the last thing I see is the sky, and the last thing I feel is breeze on my face. That sounds good.
So it has been instructive to spend time with older patients who are facing their last days. The same thing will happen to me some day, so it’s good to learn.
What surprises me is how little fear the old ones have. It may be their next to last day, but they don’t waste time whining about it. It’s probable because they are more certain than I am that the day is coming. They are more accepting of it, ready for the adventure of it. They do say that old age isn’t for sissies. You have this body that just isn’t working anymore. Everything keeps breaking. The doctors fix one thing, but them something else breaks. The meaning becomes clear -- it’s over. And they face it without terror, with or without religion.
It’s often harder on the loved ones gathered around.
Anyway, I have my own death figure out. It will be in the parking lot of the 7-11 convenience store, maybe the one over in Mount Vernon. I’ll be getting out of the car and walking into to get some coffee or something, and I’ll be hit by a blinding stroke and drop like a stone onto the pavement, stone dead, so dead my head bounces when I hit, and the people will rush around and look at the old man lying there.
I like the mundane quality of this departure.
I remember when the doctors put my father on a salt-free diet because of his high blood-pressure. That was in 1974 and it pretty much killed him. They didn’t know how much my father loved to eat. Mom used to make him spare ribs and sauerkraut, and it would almost bring tears to his eye, he loved it so much.
But they took the salt away from him, and then he died. They said it was heart failure, ha! He died from loss of appetite. He told me, one of his last words, “If it tastes good, I can’t eat it.” They shouldn’t have taken the salt away from my father. Why not let somebody die as they lived? Truth be told, he wasn’t going to last long anyways. Heck, they should have given him a martini and let him go out with a smile one his face.
Fear of pain and confinement are the two more reasons to avoid the hospital -- I will address those questions next.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Touching People
I wrote this for students in a nursing class -- you might find it interesting because it gives you a look on the other side.
Nurses touch patients. There is a right way to do this and it can be learned.
I begin with my experiences as a patient, in hospitals, clinics, and doctors' offices, going back to childhood. When the nurse or doctor touched me, putting their hands somewhere on my body, it always felt good.
It's kind of difficult to describe how it felt -- sort of warm and cool at the same time, and both comforting and firm.
If a doctor or nurse touched me and it didn't feel good, I would get out of there really fast, but this has never happened.
The nursing student might recall experiences of being touched by health care people. Did it always feel good? Try to remember how it felt.
New nursing students are not used to touching people in the way that doctors and nurses do, especially the men. It's a little scary and it feels awkward and embarrassing, but think of it simply as a skill, something you can learn, something that you will get better at with practice and experience.
Consider the body. In our culture, for the most part, the safe areas are the arms, shoulders, neck, head, and the feet below the knees.
I like to make a "get acquainted" touch when I first meet a patient at the hospital, usually by putting my hand on their arm for a second. This gives the patient a chance to get used to me. It gives them a chance to object -- with words, rarely, but more often with a kind of flinching that can be quite subtle. It's hardly ever happened to me, but if that does happen, I back off a few feet, and give the patient some space, and begin to talk instead.
If I have the time, but often enough I'm dealing with a necessity and must act fairly quickly. I still go through an approach procedure, even if it's very compressed in time. "Hello, I'm Fred, I'm the Nursing Assistant and I'm going to help you move into a more comfortable position so that you can eat your dinner." Then I come closer, but a hand on their shoulder or arm, pause for a moment to see that it's okay, and then go ahead and prop them up or help them move to a chair.
I sometimes deal with cranky, irritable, delusional, and violent people. I get hit, scratched, and bitten. One time an older patient, a stroke victim, threatened to throw a hot cup of coffee in my face -- that was a little scary, but usually it's not scary, just very unpleasant. I really don't like it when patients act like this. It hurts my feelings, and it feels just as bad if I see one of the other nurses get treated this way -- but it's been a part of nursing for a long time. Very sick people are simply not responsible for their behavior -- they are sometimes very frightened and in pain -- who could blame them?
Nurses never respond to a disruptive patient with an attitude of "getting even." If you can't literally "take it on the chin" with a smile, then you should not be in nursing. Which is to say that the patient can touch you in a bad way, but you must always touch them in a good way.
This has never been a problem for me, but I always monitor my emotional balance. I strive to be sympathetic and yet professionally detached. Some patients are more fun to be with than others. It's all right to like someone, but within a fairly narrow margin. You still owe the very best of care to those patients who are not exactly your cup of tea.
Consider Mr. Jorgenson in Room Three. He is getting to be a pretty unhappy fellow. He keeps yelling, "Where's my shoes? This is a prison. I'm leaving."
But he can't leave. He's too sick, and if he tries to get out of bed, he's going to fall down and hurt himself. His desire to leave the hospital is rational, so the nurse can agree with that, but we cannot, ever, let a patient hurt themselves or someone else. So, a dialog begins with Mr. Jorgenson, and it might go on for hours. "Mr. Jorgenson, I understand how you feel. Of course you want to go home, but you're too sick to get out of bed. You really need to be in the hospital right now. We're going to get you better and get you out of her as soon as we can…"
Back to touching. The private part of the body is everything between the shoulders and the knees. We do not go here without the patient's permission. Even if the patient is asleep, unconscious, or delusional, we always announce verbally our intentions. "I need to check your brief, Mr. Jorgenson. It might be time for a change." The patient then has the opportunity to refuse permission.
Touching in this area is intimate. I think that "intimate" is the right word. It's not sex, it's not love, it's not even friendship -- it's health care, it's what we have to do when we have to do it, and we're good at it. And you will be good at it too, with practice and more experience.
I continuously verbalize as I'm working. "Yes, it looks wet. I'm going to change your brief and clean you up a bit....This cloth might feel a little cool...I'm going to turn you over on your side for just a bit..." --all said in that calm, matter-of-fact tone of voice which the nurses are so good at using. You will get good at it too.
This is not the time for "visiting" or being friendly or sociable, and, please, no jokes. Curiosity of a professional nature is good because that's how we learn. We work with human bodies, which are very interesting. They come in all sizes and shapes. And every part has a name -- and we only use the professional names. You will learn them and use them.
When you're learning to do this work on the private parts of the body, watch your own thoughts and feelings -- if you're too nervous, if you have inappropriate or unprofessional thoughts and feelings that persist and do not go away -- then, seriously, maybe you shouldn't be in nursing. You'll be doing yourself, the patients, and the whole world a big favor, if you are completely honest with yourself. No blame, just look for some other kind of work.
But you'll probably do just fine.
Then, when the procedure is finished, the brief is changed, and the covers are back on, we can go back to being sociable and talk about the baseball game or any other thing.
Generally, an older patient, or one who has been sick for a long time, is very used to being handled. This is where the beginner gets experience and where the nursing staff will assign you. If you are a little nervous or tentative, the older patients either won't notice or won't mind.
Just take a deep breath, pause for a moment, and do it.
Nurses touch patients. There is a right way to do this and it can be learned.
I begin with my experiences as a patient, in hospitals, clinics, and doctors' offices, going back to childhood. When the nurse or doctor touched me, putting their hands somewhere on my body, it always felt good.
It's kind of difficult to describe how it felt -- sort of warm and cool at the same time, and both comforting and firm.
If a doctor or nurse touched me and it didn't feel good, I would get out of there really fast, but this has never happened.
The nursing student might recall experiences of being touched by health care people. Did it always feel good? Try to remember how it felt.
New nursing students are not used to touching people in the way that doctors and nurses do, especially the men. It's a little scary and it feels awkward and embarrassing, but think of it simply as a skill, something you can learn, something that you will get better at with practice and experience.
Consider the body. In our culture, for the most part, the safe areas are the arms, shoulders, neck, head, and the feet below the knees.
I like to make a "get acquainted" touch when I first meet a patient at the hospital, usually by putting my hand on their arm for a second. This gives the patient a chance to get used to me. It gives them a chance to object -- with words, rarely, but more often with a kind of flinching that can be quite subtle. It's hardly ever happened to me, but if that does happen, I back off a few feet, and give the patient some space, and begin to talk instead.
If I have the time, but often enough I'm dealing with a necessity and must act fairly quickly. I still go through an approach procedure, even if it's very compressed in time. "Hello, I'm Fred, I'm the Nursing Assistant and I'm going to help you move into a more comfortable position so that you can eat your dinner." Then I come closer, but a hand on their shoulder or arm, pause for a moment to see that it's okay, and then go ahead and prop them up or help them move to a chair.
I sometimes deal with cranky, irritable, delusional, and violent people. I get hit, scratched, and bitten. One time an older patient, a stroke victim, threatened to throw a hot cup of coffee in my face -- that was a little scary, but usually it's not scary, just very unpleasant. I really don't like it when patients act like this. It hurts my feelings, and it feels just as bad if I see one of the other nurses get treated this way -- but it's been a part of nursing for a long time. Very sick people are simply not responsible for their behavior -- they are sometimes very frightened and in pain -- who could blame them?
Nurses never respond to a disruptive patient with an attitude of "getting even." If you can't literally "take it on the chin" with a smile, then you should not be in nursing. Which is to say that the patient can touch you in a bad way, but you must always touch them in a good way.
This has never been a problem for me, but I always monitor my emotional balance. I strive to be sympathetic and yet professionally detached. Some patients are more fun to be with than others. It's all right to like someone, but within a fairly narrow margin. You still owe the very best of care to those patients who are not exactly your cup of tea.
Consider Mr. Jorgenson in Room Three. He is getting to be a pretty unhappy fellow. He keeps yelling, "Where's my shoes? This is a prison. I'm leaving."
But he can't leave. He's too sick, and if he tries to get out of bed, he's going to fall down and hurt himself. His desire to leave the hospital is rational, so the nurse can agree with that, but we cannot, ever, let a patient hurt themselves or someone else. So, a dialog begins with Mr. Jorgenson, and it might go on for hours. "Mr. Jorgenson, I understand how you feel. Of course you want to go home, but you're too sick to get out of bed. You really need to be in the hospital right now. We're going to get you better and get you out of her as soon as we can…"
Back to touching. The private part of the body is everything between the shoulders and the knees. We do not go here without the patient's permission. Even if the patient is asleep, unconscious, or delusional, we always announce verbally our intentions. "I need to check your brief, Mr. Jorgenson. It might be time for a change." The patient then has the opportunity to refuse permission.
Touching in this area is intimate. I think that "intimate" is the right word. It's not sex, it's not love, it's not even friendship -- it's health care, it's what we have to do when we have to do it, and we're good at it. And you will be good at it too, with practice and more experience.
I continuously verbalize as I'm working. "Yes, it looks wet. I'm going to change your brief and clean you up a bit....This cloth might feel a little cool...I'm going to turn you over on your side for just a bit..." --all said in that calm, matter-of-fact tone of voice which the nurses are so good at using. You will get good at it too.
This is not the time for "visiting" or being friendly or sociable, and, please, no jokes. Curiosity of a professional nature is good because that's how we learn. We work with human bodies, which are very interesting. They come in all sizes and shapes. And every part has a name -- and we only use the professional names. You will learn them and use them.
When you're learning to do this work on the private parts of the body, watch your own thoughts and feelings -- if you're too nervous, if you have inappropriate or unprofessional thoughts and feelings that persist and do not go away -- then, seriously, maybe you shouldn't be in nursing. You'll be doing yourself, the patients, and the whole world a big favor, if you are completely honest with yourself. No blame, just look for some other kind of work.
But you'll probably do just fine.
Then, when the procedure is finished, the brief is changed, and the covers are back on, we can go back to being sociable and talk about the baseball game or any other thing.
Generally, an older patient, or one who has been sick for a long time, is very used to being handled. This is where the beginner gets experience and where the nursing staff will assign you. If you are a little nervous or tentative, the older patients either won't notice or won't mind.
Just take a deep breath, pause for a moment, and do it.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
It's Not a Matter of Belief
"I'm not a global warming believer. I'm not a global warming denier. I'm a global warming agnostic who believes instinctively that it can't be very good to pump lots of CO2 into the atmosphere but is equally convinced that those who presume to know exactly where that leads are talking through their hats.
Predictions of catastrophe depend on models. Models depend on assumptions about complex planetary systems -- from ocean currents to cloud formation -- that no one fully understands. Which is why the models are inherently flawed and forever changing. The doomsday scenarios posit a cascade of events, each with a certain probability. The multiple improbability of their simultaneous occurrence renders all such predictions entirely speculative."
-- Charles Krauthammer
This is the best summary quote on the global warming issue that I have seen. I am just quibbling about words, but global warming is not a matter of belief or denial. It's a matter of science and the proper response is to be skeptical -- or to be agnostic, as Krauthammer put it.
I also support his instinctive response, when he said, "it can't be very good to pump large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere."
Here, again, Krauthammer used the right word, "instinctively." He might have said that he trusted his own intuition, or that it was common sense, or an assertion.
But it's not a fact, not yet. Mounting evidence suggests that it is a fact, and we ought to do something about it.
But at no time, now or in the future, will it ever be a matter of belief.
Predictions of catastrophe depend on models. Models depend on assumptions about complex planetary systems -- from ocean currents to cloud formation -- that no one fully understands. Which is why the models are inherently flawed and forever changing. The doomsday scenarios posit a cascade of events, each with a certain probability. The multiple improbability of their simultaneous occurrence renders all such predictions entirely speculative."
-- Charles Krauthammer
This is the best summary quote on the global warming issue that I have seen. I am just quibbling about words, but global warming is not a matter of belief or denial. It's a matter of science and the proper response is to be skeptical -- or to be agnostic, as Krauthammer put it.
I also support his instinctive response, when he said, "it can't be very good to pump large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere."
Here, again, Krauthammer used the right word, "instinctively." He might have said that he trusted his own intuition, or that it was common sense, or an assertion.
But it's not a fact, not yet. Mounting evidence suggests that it is a fact, and we ought to do something about it.
But at no time, now or in the future, will it ever be a matter of belief.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Traveling
DENVER, COLORADO -- This trip is not an adventure. I came to Denver to visit my family. My younger sister, Katy, was married to Bruce Walters this Saturday in a simple backyard ceremony with both families attending. Friends came over later for a reception. The weather was perfect -- nice and sunny, but not too hot. My sister has three grandchildren and I enjoyed playing with them. Bruce comes from Iowa and his folks drove out for the occasion -- his Mom and Dad, in their late eighties, his two sisters and their husbands. Not being a first marriage for either Katy or Bruce, their children, his two and her two, were a part of the ceremony.
Lots of farm talk. Earl Walters, the Dad, ran a farm in Iowa for many years, after he finished his service in World War II, but he said he was glad to be out of it now. They are selling the old home and moving into a retirement place. Bruce will inherit his Dad's pickup truck -- but he has to go back to Iowa to get it.
Iowa farming is all about corn and soy beans. The Walters kids grew up on the farm and put in long hours helping their folks, but they have not pursued that profession. They asked me about farms in the Skagit Valley and I told them how different it was there -- being smaller farms and much more diversified into vegetable and berries.
Bruce's brother-in-law manages a hydraulic hose factory in Iowa. He reported that the factory is working around the clock seven days a week, because new farm implements need a lot of hydraulic hoses, and the high commodity prices, for both corn and soy beans, have enabled Midwestern farmers to buy new equipment.
But Bruce's sister works in another factory, right near the hydraulic place, only this business manufactures windows and other housing fixtures. Needless to say, the window factory is laying people off because of the housing slump.
So it's a mixed picture in Iowa -- some good and some bad. But the old folks are downsizing and moving into the retirement home and time passes on.
POLITICS. I used to know what I thought about the "great issues of the day" but lately I have been shedding opinions like so many old feathers. I have decided that this is good thing and I will just strip it all the way down and take a fresh look at things.
I still like Obama and feel that he has been right about the invasion of Iraq. Otherwise, I don't expect miracles from him. The kids may get excited about a young black man overtaking the White House. Enthusiasm is good. And our role as elders is to resist the enthusiasm of young people, so that it can be formed into something good.
I am not alarmed by the outspoken comments of various preachers. I heard Rev. Hagee -- McCain's man -- condemn the Gay Pride Parade in New Orleans and he said the wrath of God brought on Hurricane Katrina. Hagee is welcome to his own interpretation. Likewise, whoever mounts the pulpit at Obama's Trinity church in Chicago may speak as plainly and as bluntly as they wish -- it will not ruffle my feathers.
Denunciations are ridiculous. Both candidates have been associated with perfect fools, at one time or another. So what. How would you like to be responsible for the sayings and doings of everybody you have ever worked with or been friends with? It's an impossible standard.
Apologies are worse. McCain and Obama can't get a moment's peace. Sooner or later, one of them will say something stupid -- Obama prefers the term "bone-headed." When a candidate says something stupid, he should be issued a Take Back, like a friendly game of checkers.
And we need to stop whining. Gas is over $4 per gallon and you think the world is coming to an end, the way some people talk. Get over it. I predict that gas will level off around $5 per gallon and remain at that price for some years. Don't complain, adjust. It's time for America to become resourceful. Use your brain -- figure out a better way.
I will fly back to Seattle on Wednesday and return to my job at the hospital on Thursday. Getting away like this will make me feel glad to get back to work.
Lots of farm talk. Earl Walters, the Dad, ran a farm in Iowa for many years, after he finished his service in World War II, but he said he was glad to be out of it now. They are selling the old home and moving into a retirement place. Bruce will inherit his Dad's pickup truck -- but he has to go back to Iowa to get it.
Iowa farming is all about corn and soy beans. The Walters kids grew up on the farm and put in long hours helping their folks, but they have not pursued that profession. They asked me about farms in the Skagit Valley and I told them how different it was there -- being smaller farms and much more diversified into vegetable and berries.
Bruce's brother-in-law manages a hydraulic hose factory in Iowa. He reported that the factory is working around the clock seven days a week, because new farm implements need a lot of hydraulic hoses, and the high commodity prices, for both corn and soy beans, have enabled Midwestern farmers to buy new equipment.
But Bruce's sister works in another factory, right near the hydraulic place, only this business manufactures windows and other housing fixtures. Needless to say, the window factory is laying people off because of the housing slump.
So it's a mixed picture in Iowa -- some good and some bad. But the old folks are downsizing and moving into the retirement home and time passes on.
POLITICS. I used to know what I thought about the "great issues of the day" but lately I have been shedding opinions like so many old feathers. I have decided that this is good thing and I will just strip it all the way down and take a fresh look at things.
I still like Obama and feel that he has been right about the invasion of Iraq. Otherwise, I don't expect miracles from him. The kids may get excited about a young black man overtaking the White House. Enthusiasm is good. And our role as elders is to resist the enthusiasm of young people, so that it can be formed into something good.
I am not alarmed by the outspoken comments of various preachers. I heard Rev. Hagee -- McCain's man -- condemn the Gay Pride Parade in New Orleans and he said the wrath of God brought on Hurricane Katrina. Hagee is welcome to his own interpretation. Likewise, whoever mounts the pulpit at Obama's Trinity church in Chicago may speak as plainly and as bluntly as they wish -- it will not ruffle my feathers.
Denunciations are ridiculous. Both candidates have been associated with perfect fools, at one time or another. So what. How would you like to be responsible for the sayings and doings of everybody you have ever worked with or been friends with? It's an impossible standard.
Apologies are worse. McCain and Obama can't get a moment's peace. Sooner or later, one of them will say something stupid -- Obama prefers the term "bone-headed." When a candidate says something stupid, he should be issued a Take Back, like a friendly game of checkers.
And we need to stop whining. Gas is over $4 per gallon and you think the world is coming to an end, the way some people talk. Get over it. I predict that gas will level off around $5 per gallon and remain at that price for some years. Don't complain, adjust. It's time for America to become resourceful. Use your brain -- figure out a better way.
I will fly back to Seattle on Wednesday and return to my job at the hospital on Thursday. Getting away like this will make me feel glad to get back to work.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Kevin Paul's Heart
"It's not a rare disease if you have it."
That's a saying I made up for Kevin Paul, the famed Swinomish singer and sculptor.
Kevin has an unusual form of cardiomyopathy, and his wife, Patricia, shared this information with me for Frog Hospital.
It helps to know Greek and Latin, because that is how they make these words.
Cardio = heart
myo = muscle
pathy = in a bad way
So cardiomyopathy means that Kevin's heart muscle is in a bad way.
The particular condition Kevin has is called Isolated Left Ventricular NonCompaction.
Each term can be explained:
Isolated -- because it effects only a portion of his heart.
Left Ventricular -- because it occurs in the Left Ventrical, which is the main pumping chamber in our four-chambered hearts.
NonCompaction -- because a portion of Kevin's heart muscle is spongy and not firmed up like it should be. This is the source of the problem and it is genetic.
NonCompaction of the heart muscle means that the original sponge-like character of the heart muscle, when Kevin was in his mother's womb, stayed that way. The sponge-like character is supposed to compact and become more firm as the baby grows and gets ready to be born.
This NonCompaction is rare. Fewer than one in 100,000 people have it, meaning that Kevin is probably the only person in the Skagit Valley with this condition.
It is suspected that cardiologists under-diagnose this condition -- that it is more widespread than one in 100,000m but, because it is rare, cardiologists might not recognize it.
But Kevin got "lucky." The doctors correctly identified his problem. They found that his heart was pumping at less than 50 percent of its capacity. He takes medication now, which has improved his circumstances, but the underlying NonCompaction cannot be reversed.
I saw him just a few days ago. I drove by his house and he was sitting out in the front yard in a lawn chair. He gave me a big wave and a smile -- a sign of better spirits. At least he knows what he has and how he can deal with it.
Kevin sings for everybody in LaConner and tells jokes all day long. That's why so many people love him and pray for his better health.
Because it's genetic, Kevin and Pat had their daughter, Kathy, checked out with an echocardiogram and found that she's perfectly healthy. But Pat said, "there's a long history of people dying young from heart problems on Kevin's father's side of the family."
Strawberries. Mike Riley of Conway is the first grower in the Skagit Valley to have strawberries for sale. He's first by a mile. He had several flats on display at the Rexville Store and they sold out in two hours. "I wish I had a hundred flats -- I could sell them all," he said.
The bigger growers will have their berries for sale in a week or so -- things are very late this year, and we need sunshine right now to put some sweetness into the berries.
Grow your own. The newspaper reported a dramatic increase in the sale of vegetable seeds for home gardening. Yes-- if you want your food to be local, you can't get more local than your own back yard. It's not hard to grow a hundred pounds of potatoes, or 25 pounds of onions, or a bushel of green beans -- I've done it.
Stay home this summer -- grow a garden. Tell your kids if they don't help they won't eat.
We're all Partners. Last week I met a young female person carrying an infant and she introduced the male person with her as her "partner." I answered, "Well, I guess we're all partners," and they both smiled.
What is "partner" supposed to mean? I know husband, lover, and boyfriend because they are words rich with association and meaning. But a partner can be anything, and anything is the same as nothing.
Frog Hospital takes a stand against such meaningless terms as "partner." The treasure of life is meaning. Our language and culture depend on a common or shared meaning. These meanings evolve over time in a collective process.
Okay, so here's a test question: What do poets and lawyers have in common? ....... Give up? ...... It's words. All laws are made of words. All poems are made of words. Words are the writer's tools, be it a law or a poem. So when I dispute the usage of "partner" it's because it matters. Not that my own view will prevail, but it still matters.
That's a saying I made up for Kevin Paul, the famed Swinomish singer and sculptor.
Kevin has an unusual form of cardiomyopathy, and his wife, Patricia, shared this information with me for Frog Hospital.
It helps to know Greek and Latin, because that is how they make these words.
Cardio = heart
myo = muscle
pathy = in a bad way
So cardiomyopathy means that Kevin's heart muscle is in a bad way.
The particular condition Kevin has is called Isolated Left Ventricular NonCompaction.
Each term can be explained:
Isolated -- because it effects only a portion of his heart.
Left Ventricular -- because it occurs in the Left Ventrical, which is the main pumping chamber in our four-chambered hearts.
NonCompaction -- because a portion of Kevin's heart muscle is spongy and not firmed up like it should be. This is the source of the problem and it is genetic.
NonCompaction of the heart muscle means that the original sponge-like character of the heart muscle, when Kevin was in his mother's womb, stayed that way. The sponge-like character is supposed to compact and become more firm as the baby grows and gets ready to be born.
This NonCompaction is rare. Fewer than one in 100,000 people have it, meaning that Kevin is probably the only person in the Skagit Valley with this condition.
It is suspected that cardiologists under-diagnose this condition -- that it is more widespread than one in 100,000m but, because it is rare, cardiologists might not recognize it.
But Kevin got "lucky." The doctors correctly identified his problem. They found that his heart was pumping at less than 50 percent of its capacity. He takes medication now, which has improved his circumstances, but the underlying NonCompaction cannot be reversed.
I saw him just a few days ago. I drove by his house and he was sitting out in the front yard in a lawn chair. He gave me a big wave and a smile -- a sign of better spirits. At least he knows what he has and how he can deal with it.
Kevin sings for everybody in LaConner and tells jokes all day long. That's why so many people love him and pray for his better health.
Because it's genetic, Kevin and Pat had their daughter, Kathy, checked out with an echocardiogram and found that she's perfectly healthy. But Pat said, "there's a long history of people dying young from heart problems on Kevin's father's side of the family."
Strawberries. Mike Riley of Conway is the first grower in the Skagit Valley to have strawberries for sale. He's first by a mile. He had several flats on display at the Rexville Store and they sold out in two hours. "I wish I had a hundred flats -- I could sell them all," he said.
The bigger growers will have their berries for sale in a week or so -- things are very late this year, and we need sunshine right now to put some sweetness into the berries.
Grow your own. The newspaper reported a dramatic increase in the sale of vegetable seeds for home gardening. Yes-- if you want your food to be local, you can't get more local than your own back yard. It's not hard to grow a hundred pounds of potatoes, or 25 pounds of onions, or a bushel of green beans -- I've done it.
Stay home this summer -- grow a garden. Tell your kids if they don't help they won't eat.
We're all Partners. Last week I met a young female person carrying an infant and she introduced the male person with her as her "partner." I answered, "Well, I guess we're all partners," and they both smiled.
What is "partner" supposed to mean? I know husband, lover, and boyfriend because they are words rich with association and meaning. But a partner can be anything, and anything is the same as nothing.
Frog Hospital takes a stand against such meaningless terms as "partner." The treasure of life is meaning. Our language and culture depend on a common or shared meaning. These meanings evolve over time in a collective process.
Okay, so here's a test question: What do poets and lawyers have in common? ....... Give up? ...... It's words. All laws are made of words. All poems are made of words. Words are the writer's tools, be it a law or a poem. So when I dispute the usage of "partner" it's because it matters. Not that my own view will prevail, but it still matters.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
San Angelo
SAN ANGELO, TEXAS. The women of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints sect may have their children returned to them, thanks to a ruling of the appeals court. They are accused of child abuse. I can't judge the merits of that charge, but I think those ladies should all be arrested for bad hair dos.
Hillary is OK. Why can't a candidate act like a human being once in a while? I heard what Hillary said as she recalled the assassination of Robert Kennedy forty years ago next month. It's an emotional memory for her and millions of Americans who remember that terrible day. With Teddy Kennedy facing a possibly fatal illness, the emotions are even stronger. Hillary's comment carried absolutely no implication of anything. She has nothing to apologize for. She has nothing to explain. The Obama campaign was wrong to find meaning that wasn't there. The media has blown this up to ridiculous proportions.
And that's why I'm glad that old John McCain is in the race this year, because one of these days the press is going to push him too far and he is going to blow his legendary top at them. "Okay, you guys, Ill tell you what I think of you -- you blankey, blankety, blank," and granma cover your ears because he's going to let them have it, and I'll be cheering him on.
The Desert and the Tundra. "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra, and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world's energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we'll be fine. Don't worry about us. That's not leadership."
Barak Obama said that last week in Oregon. A lot of people will applaud this sentiment but I don't. We don't owe the rest of the world an explanation. I don't care for the world-dominating bluster of some Super Patriots, but I won't replace that with the kind of false, guilty humility that Obama expresses here. That's not leadership.
A strong initiative toward energy independence is very important -- but skip the apologies.
Bush goes to the Desert. Meanwhile, President George Bush, in a real desert, in a real act of humility, went with his hat in hand to beg a favor from King of Saudi Arabia, "We need more oil, Your Highness, please, for old time's sake." And the king turned him down, but did give him a set of gold cuff links as a remembrance.
My opinion is that we are over-extended in the Middle East and that President Bush wrote a check he can't cash.
Nation building begins at home.
Dictators in Latin America. Dr. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier was the ruthless dictator of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. Rafael Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza controlled Nicaragua from 1967 until 1979. Other members of the Somoza family had ruled the country since 1936.
Duvallier, Trijillo, and Somoza -- this was the norm in Latin America during those years. There was no democracy, but only control by the great families, and great wealth amid great poverty.
Fulgencio Batista was the dictator and father of all Cuba from 1933 until New Year's Eve in 1958, when Fidel Castro ran him out of the country. Everyone in America cheered. Then he seized the sugar plantations from the wealthy elite and they went into exile in Florida to plot their revenge. Then he imported missiles from Russia and went from being an independent freedom fighter to becoming a communist stooge -- Kruschev's puppet. He became our enemy.
Now Fidel Castro is barely alive. The Cubans have no missiles, the Russians send no money. The older Cuban exiles in Florida no longer dominate their society. The younger Cuban-Americans will not carry on their parents hatred. Cuba will come back to us soon, but we won't be going down there for prostitution and gambling -- we'll be going down there because they have some of the best doctors in the Western Hemisphere.
Jim Smith. Jim Smith writes a column for the LaConner Weekly News. His writing reminds me of Molly Ivins, the late, great Texas columnist. Jim turns out a consistently warm and memory-strewn prose. Everybody* in LaConner likes Jim Smith -- the way you like a meat loaf sandwich.
*LaConnerites are very contrarian and you can't say "everybody" about anything around here.
Hillary is OK. Why can't a candidate act like a human being once in a while? I heard what Hillary said as she recalled the assassination of Robert Kennedy forty years ago next month. It's an emotional memory for her and millions of Americans who remember that terrible day. With Teddy Kennedy facing a possibly fatal illness, the emotions are even stronger. Hillary's comment carried absolutely no implication of anything. She has nothing to apologize for. She has nothing to explain. The Obama campaign was wrong to find meaning that wasn't there. The media has blown this up to ridiculous proportions.
And that's why I'm glad that old John McCain is in the race this year, because one of these days the press is going to push him too far and he is going to blow his legendary top at them. "Okay, you guys, Ill tell you what I think of you -- you blankey, blankety, blank," and granma cover your ears because he's going to let them have it, and I'll be cheering him on.
The Desert and the Tundra. "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra, and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world's energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we'll be fine. Don't worry about us. That's not leadership."
Barak Obama said that last week in Oregon. A lot of people will applaud this sentiment but I don't. We don't owe the rest of the world an explanation. I don't care for the world-dominating bluster of some Super Patriots, but I won't replace that with the kind of false, guilty humility that Obama expresses here. That's not leadership.
A strong initiative toward energy independence is very important -- but skip the apologies.
Bush goes to the Desert. Meanwhile, President George Bush, in a real desert, in a real act of humility, went with his hat in hand to beg a favor from King of Saudi Arabia, "We need more oil, Your Highness, please, for old time's sake." And the king turned him down, but did give him a set of gold cuff links as a remembrance.
My opinion is that we are over-extended in the Middle East and that President Bush wrote a check he can't cash.
Nation building begins at home.
Dictators in Latin America. Dr. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier was the ruthless dictator of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. Rafael Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza controlled Nicaragua from 1967 until 1979. Other members of the Somoza family had ruled the country since 1936.
Duvallier, Trijillo, and Somoza -- this was the norm in Latin America during those years. There was no democracy, but only control by the great families, and great wealth amid great poverty.
Fulgencio Batista was the dictator and father of all Cuba from 1933 until New Year's Eve in 1958, when Fidel Castro ran him out of the country. Everyone in America cheered. Then he seized the sugar plantations from the wealthy elite and they went into exile in Florida to plot their revenge. Then he imported missiles from Russia and went from being an independent freedom fighter to becoming a communist stooge -- Kruschev's puppet. He became our enemy.
Now Fidel Castro is barely alive. The Cubans have no missiles, the Russians send no money. The older Cuban exiles in Florida no longer dominate their society. The younger Cuban-Americans will not carry on their parents hatred. Cuba will come back to us soon, but we won't be going down there for prostitution and gambling -- we'll be going down there because they have some of the best doctors in the Western Hemisphere.
Jim Smith. Jim Smith writes a column for the LaConner Weekly News. His writing reminds me of Molly Ivins, the late, great Texas columnist. Jim turns out a consistently warm and memory-strewn prose. Everybody* in LaConner likes Jim Smith -- the way you like a meat loaf sandwich.
*LaConnerites are very contrarian and you can't say "everybody" about anything around here.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Groups
Groups. Political reporting is dominated by demographics. The media doesn't need to know what you think -- they only need to know what group you belong to, like "white working class" and "latte drinkers" and "young voters." Your age, gender, race, income, and education determine your political views. There's no need to think, just follow the herd you have been assigned to.
Serious. The farmers were at the coffee shop this morning. They can't get into the fields because of the incessant rain. The discussion was about rising fuel costs -- but the tone was different. It's not so much an abstract matter anymore where the guys are making points in a competitive free-for-all. It's getting closer to "what are we actually going to do about this?" I saw the first $4 per gallon gas prices up in Bellingham yesterday -- this concentrates the mind wonderfully.
It's about time America got resourceful. Nation building begins at home. Can do. Yankee know how. Don't wait for instructions from headquarters. Get started now.
Mashed Potatos. This week at Water Cress Medical Center, the cafeteria is featuring it's famous mashed potatos and brown gravy with Salisbury steak. Doesn't that bring back memories of times when you were too sick to move and they brought the food in on a tray? Potatos, shipped by the truckload, directly from barges on the Snake River, and before that picked from the vast potato fields of Idaho -- direct to your hospital bed, as it has been for generations. And absolutely no lumps. Water Cress Medical Center mashed potatos are smooth going down the gullet.
Seriously. Seriously, the food is getting better at Water Cress -- fresher and not so overcooked. And sometimes they serve local potatos. Yes, our famous Skagit Valley red potatos, grown right here, and now served at the hospital for your dining pleasure. I am very pleased with this. As I said to one of the nurses, if the cooks got paid as well as the surgeons, we'd really have some good chow.
Appetite is a sign of well being. When you get sick and come to the hospital, you don't want to eat -- no delightful treat will tempt you. Even the smell of food becomes abhorrent. If you can get down a little jello or broth, that's good enough. But, when you start to get better, you get hungry again. That's when you need some really tasty food -- to catch that upswing and boost it with solid nourishment.
In the End. But it's not so easy to make nice food here. Let's consider the importance of elimination. Nursing and medical staff are incredibly interested in how much you pee, because if it's not working down there, you got a big problem, and that's a real medical fact. Where else can you get a round of applause for making water? So, how much you eat is not so much of a concern here.
Anyway, when you start asking for a pizza, you're getting better and you'll be home soon.
Waiting. Keith Bodell, in LaConner, had chest pains and called the ambulance on 911. Keith wasn't sure what the pain was, so he figured it was better to call. The ambulance came and they put him on the stretcher and wheeled him out the door. It's standard procedure -- if you call the ambulance, you have to take the stretcher, which is a bit of drama for the neighborhood.
But so what. Kevin gets to the ER at Water Cress and the doctors check him out. They run tests. He's fine, it might have been heartburn.
"Chest pains" are the magic words at the ER. You go right to the head of the line for that. No waiting. Top priority. Quicker treatment can make a huge difference in case of heart attack or stroke.
So it's like a good luck/bad luck thing. If you come to the ER with something serious and they tell you to wait, that's good. I mean, waiting is no fun, but why would you want to get to the head of the line? Like, "I'm dying, so I get to go first."
But, if you wait an hour or so, that means they think you're not too bad --- So be happy about that.
LaConner Weekly News. This week's issue has a great photo on page 4 of a teenage girl with a dazzling smile. Now, they just need some advertiser to step up to the plate and buy a color ad, so they can print photos like this in color. That's how it works. Color is beautiful but it isn't free.
Here's how to get color advertising in the local paper -- it's kind of round about but it might work. First, convince the people in Shelter Bay that they need to construct their own strip mall where the golf course is now -- including a small grocery store and gas station and a few other local necessities. This would save them a trip across the bridge. The commercial rents from a strip mall (with tasteful architecture, of course) would alleviate the increased lease payments that Shelter Bay residents currently face.
AND, if there was a small grocery store in Shelter Bay, it would be in competition with with the Pioneer Market in LaConner, AND both grocery stores would need to ADVERTISE in the local paper in order to get customers, and THEREFORE the LaConner Weekly News could that increased revenue to print pretty photos in color.
So, let's get started on this right now, and remember, nation building begins at home.
Serious. The farmers were at the coffee shop this morning. They can't get into the fields because of the incessant rain. The discussion was about rising fuel costs -- but the tone was different. It's not so much an abstract matter anymore where the guys are making points in a competitive free-for-all. It's getting closer to "what are we actually going to do about this?" I saw the first $4 per gallon gas prices up in Bellingham yesterday -- this concentrates the mind wonderfully.
It's about time America got resourceful. Nation building begins at home. Can do. Yankee know how. Don't wait for instructions from headquarters. Get started now.
Mashed Potatos. This week at Water Cress Medical Center, the cafeteria is featuring it's famous mashed potatos and brown gravy with Salisbury steak. Doesn't that bring back memories of times when you were too sick to move and they brought the food in on a tray? Potatos, shipped by the truckload, directly from barges on the Snake River, and before that picked from the vast potato fields of Idaho -- direct to your hospital bed, as it has been for generations. And absolutely no lumps. Water Cress Medical Center mashed potatos are smooth going down the gullet.
Seriously. Seriously, the food is getting better at Water Cress -- fresher and not so overcooked. And sometimes they serve local potatos. Yes, our famous Skagit Valley red potatos, grown right here, and now served at the hospital for your dining pleasure. I am very pleased with this. As I said to one of the nurses, if the cooks got paid as well as the surgeons, we'd really have some good chow.
Appetite is a sign of well being. When you get sick and come to the hospital, you don't want to eat -- no delightful treat will tempt you. Even the smell of food becomes abhorrent. If you can get down a little jello or broth, that's good enough. But, when you start to get better, you get hungry again. That's when you need some really tasty food -- to catch that upswing and boost it with solid nourishment.
In the End. But it's not so easy to make nice food here. Let's consider the importance of elimination. Nursing and medical staff are incredibly interested in how much you pee, because if it's not working down there, you got a big problem, and that's a real medical fact. Where else can you get a round of applause for making water? So, how much you eat is not so much of a concern here.
Anyway, when you start asking for a pizza, you're getting better and you'll be home soon.
Waiting. Keith Bodell, in LaConner, had chest pains and called the ambulance on 911. Keith wasn't sure what the pain was, so he figured it was better to call. The ambulance came and they put him on the stretcher and wheeled him out the door. It's standard procedure -- if you call the ambulance, you have to take the stretcher, which is a bit of drama for the neighborhood.
But so what. Kevin gets to the ER at Water Cress and the doctors check him out. They run tests. He's fine, it might have been heartburn.
"Chest pains" are the magic words at the ER. You go right to the head of the line for that. No waiting. Top priority. Quicker treatment can make a huge difference in case of heart attack or stroke.
So it's like a good luck/bad luck thing. If you come to the ER with something serious and they tell you to wait, that's good. I mean, waiting is no fun, but why would you want to get to the head of the line? Like, "I'm dying, so I get to go first."
But, if you wait an hour or so, that means they think you're not too bad --- So be happy about that.
LaConner Weekly News. This week's issue has a great photo on page 4 of a teenage girl with a dazzling smile. Now, they just need some advertiser to step up to the plate and buy a color ad, so they can print photos like this in color. That's how it works. Color is beautiful but it isn't free.
Here's how to get color advertising in the local paper -- it's kind of round about but it might work. First, convince the people in Shelter Bay that they need to construct their own strip mall where the golf course is now -- including a small grocery store and gas station and a few other local necessities. This would save them a trip across the bridge. The commercial rents from a strip mall (with tasteful architecture, of course) would alleviate the increased lease payments that Shelter Bay residents currently face.
AND, if there was a small grocery store in Shelter Bay, it would be in competition with with the Pioneer Market in LaConner, AND both grocery stores would need to ADVERTISE in the local paper in order to get customers, and THEREFORE the LaConner Weekly News could that increased revenue to print pretty photos in color.
So, let's get started on this right now, and remember, nation building begins at home.
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