Weekly Off-Topic Thread #265

[hpmsrm]

WOW!  Here it is.....early Friday and the week is nearly gone.  We are still dry as a bone here and our drought continues to worsen.  There is a chance of precip. in the forecast for Sunday.  But most of us will believe it when we see it.

Not very cold either.  Walked Alfie a couple of times today with just a light weight hoody and my billed cap.  No sun to speak of.  Too cloudy.

Bad news this past day or so.  My oldest son had a CRT scan done and the report was extensive constriction of cardiac arteries from plaque build-up.  His case is similar to what mine was when I was his age.  Normal blood pressure.....normal cholesterol.....but our family history indicates we have the genetic predisposition for heart problems....and that is one of the worst of the risk factors.  He doesn't smoke either. Has no symptoms....yet.  Now he will be going through a stress test and nuclear scan....then his cardiologist will pronounce the diagnoses.  Don't know what will be necessary.  Perhaps can be controlled with medication.  21 years ago I went through triple bypass, open-heart surgery and it was so successful that I'm still here and doing pretty well as far as the heart is concerned.  Of couse there are other problems.....COPD (pulmonary fibrosis) for one....primarily caused by having to work in close quarters with a lot of heavy smokers all of my working life.  I've never smoked in my life but paying the price for other's addictions.

Now we get to worry about the son.  We have three of them and I've warned them all that something like this could happen and that they should be careful and get regular checkups.  But.....what does a dad know.  Right?

OK.....welcome to the new week, y'all.  Think I'll go see if I can find out what a full night's sleep is like.

Phil

[mibrnsurg]

A bummer about your son Phil, but predisposition for heart problems/plaque build up can't easily be avoided when the genes are against you.

Three years ago I went in for a stress test/heart sonogram for my LBBB I had at the time.  My doctor called w/the good results a few days later, the least amount of plaque he's ever seen in a 57 year old.

Chris

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[dhascall]

Good luck with your son's health, Phil. 

Dad's do know alot.  Look at this (sorry it's cutoff):

[hpmsrm]

Count your blessings, Chris.  The heart surgery, although dangerous, was really not very painful or even uncomfortable.  I was up and around in the hospital in about 24 hours.  Abdominal surgery that I had back in 1974 was much, much more painful during the recovery.  After 21 years I would imagine that the surgical techniques used in arterial bypass surgery are much improved today.

[hpmsrm]

Don't think I have already posted this photo.  Alfie and I were out for one of our morning walks back in mid-November and I spotted these gorgeous creatures in the high grass and weeds along the edge of the woods.  Straight north of our house about 1 1/2 blocks.  I was about a block from them and I had my new little Panasonic Lumix pocket camera with me.  I had the lens zoomed all the way out to 348mm to get this shot.   These deer were inside the city limits so they are safe from hunters in this location.  Amazing how they seem to sense that:

    

[RCSMG]

There is a suburb jsut north of Detroit where there are many herds of deer live in a variety of little patches of woods that are remnants of a large unpopulated area.  They don't have to worry about hunters, but automobiles are a whole other story.

[hpmsrm]

Yes....I can imagine.  Deer and busy highways and streets don't mix well and the poor deer come out on the losing end of the deal usually.

Close to where I spotted the deer in the picture above....there is a long cul-de-sac which is all paved and services installed.  But the developer went broke before any homes got built.  Anyway.....a few weeks ago I took Alfie out one evening around 9 PM and I kept hearing what sounded like a bunch of cows mooing.  At first I thought some farmer's fence had broken and a group of them had escaped to wander.  The sounds were coming from north of us.  After I took Alfie inside I got the car out and drove down that street.  And there they all were.  My headlights were making them barely visible in the darkness.  But there were literally dozens.....bucks and does....on both sides of the street in the high grass and weeds.   Wish there had been enough light to get a picture.  But at that late hour it was just too darn black over there.  No street lights or anything.   The "cow" sounds were coming from those deer.   Apparently the rutting season.  A new experience for me.

I see a lot of deer on my farm up in Iowa but always at a distance.  Never THAT close.

[mibrnsurg]

One time when I was driving my tractor trailer from Alberta, Canada to Vancouver BC, I was heading South on the Coquihalla highway from Kamloops to Hope BC. 

Going a long left sweeping curve I saw a small herd of deer on the median, but halfway through the turn I saw a doe standing in the lane next to me about 6" from my truck, her nose pointing towards me, and she was stock still the whole time.

Had a big wheeew after I went by her.

On another run I heard a deer run into the trailer as I was passing, saw the deer in my right mirror just bounce off the trailer and got knocked back onto the shoulder.

Going E on 200 in Montana, I went by a herd of wild sheep, not more than 2' away from the road edge.

Chris

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[americangame]

Derailing from the off topic topic, my daughter was born this morning at 2:2weightier and mommy great doing great.

[Taylarie]

Congratulations. Baby's are such a joy. We're expecting our third grandson in March.

[Dcookie]

Hi..just looking around a bit...

Sorry to hear about your son, hpmsrm. I'm sure it wasn't something you want to hear around the holidays or any day, for that matter, but I hope he'll be fine. Have a good Holiday!

...and to americangame...Congrats on the new baby!!

[Phil-101]

Congratulations, americangame!

[hpmsrm]

Yahoo!  Congrats on the new little one.  Glad to hear baby and mom are doing well.   Let's see.....food....clothes....teeth braces.....college....etc.....oh well...you get the idea.    Been there, done that.  And wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world.

Now it's great grandchildren we're getting.

Another subject:   Bob Rankin had a little item of interest in his Weekly Geekly newsletter today:    "I'd like to have an argument please..." Too bad, because AT&T is rolling out personalized video bills to wireless customers. You get an email with a link to a 3.5 minute animated explanation of your bill, and you can’t argue back.

Read more: http://askbobrankin.com/geekly_update_12_december_2012.html#ixzz2ErTeYAHx

[americangame]

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@hpmsrm wrote:

Yahoo!  Congrats on the new little one.  Glad to hear baby and mom are doing well.   Let's see.....food....clothes....teeth braces.....college....etc.....oh well...you get the idea.    Been there, done that.  And wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world.

Now it's great grandchildren we're getting.

Another subject:   Bob Rankin had a little item of interest in his Weekly Geekly newsletter today:    "I'd like to have an argument please..." Too bad, because AT&T is rolling out personalized video bills to wireless customers. You get an email with a link to a 3.5 minute animated explanation of your bill, and you can’t argue back.

Read more: http://askbobrankin.com/geekly_update_12_december_2012.html#ixzz2ErTeYAHx

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Just because you have a video of the bill doesn't mean you still can't dispute the bill.

[oufanindallas]

Congrats americangame.  My son turned 4 in November. They grow up quick.

Speaking of grown up.  I've never been a big fan of the Rolling Stones, I like a few of their songs but watching the 12,12,12 Concert for Sandy tonight, those dude really need to hang it up.  They all look older than their 70 years.  Keith Richards looks like death warmed over twice.  Mick Jagger has always been skinny, but it's bad when skinny jeans fall off.

Been a really good concert so far.