15 February 2013 Just might get some sleep tonight

Cassi Creek:

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Squaw Valley CA - 8-25-91

Playing in the background. 

          I’m waiting on a call back from the Veterans Affairs office.  Questions to be asked about my Agent Orange claim.  No apparent action since September 2012.  I suspect that the consultant physician I saw in October has not completed necessary paperwork.  I am being treated with a Parkinson’s drug that is gradually bringing about some alleviation of symptoms.  Parkinson’s is a diagnosis by ruling out everything else.  My head MRI was normal/negative, a very welcome result.  That combined with the positive effects of the medication seems to me to be sufficient when considered in concert with my presenting symptoms. 

          When I last attempted to play guitar there was a great deal of lost fine motor control and my left hand was unable to form many of the chords I’ve played since I was 16.  Yesterday, after listening to some Garcia band material, I decided that the guitar needed attention. 

          There was some improvement in ability.  Not enough to satisfy me, but decidedly some improved muscle memory and a slight increase in dexterity.   Of course, no good deed or good result goes unpunished.  Both shoulders protested the positions required to hold and play the instrument.    I doubt that I will see much improvement in that. 

          Since I began this post, I have talked with representatives from both the VA and the TN Veterans office.  Both counsel patience.  I’ve been patient.  I guess I will continue to be patient.  There is nothing to be gained, at this point in time, by losing my temper and offending the people I need to help me. 

          I’ve noticed this morning that the incidence of typos has diminished while I have music playing in the near background.  Further thought tells me that the incidence of being unable to strike and remove my fingers from the “A” and “S” keys before there are 20-30 of the same letter has also diminished.  I can only attribute this to the Dopamine meds prescribed for Parkinson’s.   More accurately, the incidence of poor motor control diminishes while the Dopamine levels are high and recurs as those levels drop.  I take these meds four times/day.  They wear off that quickly at this dosage level.  After the 12 hour overnight drop the symptoms are quite evident.  It takes ca. 30 -40 minutes for the morning meds to hook in.

          Listening to Garcia-Grisman, Jerry Garcia Band, and the 6-25-93 Grateful Dead show over the past days has reminded me of how much I miss Garcia.  Ultimately, the Grateful Dead were the instrument for Gloria and me meeting and becoming the happy couple we are. 

          On other fronts, my medication adjustment is complete and I seem to have survived it.  I am still unhappy with the manner in which this adjustment took place.  Once again, there is no benefit to yelling at anyone involved in the process.  But my regard for my primary care physician is somewhat damaged. 

          The lingering malaise resulting from the med change is still present.  The worst remaining adverse effect is insomnia.  The literature tells me that insomnia may be a problem for months.  I’ve lived with insomnia much of my adult life.  I keep telling myself that,

“If I get home before daylight….”

Shabbat Shalom!

14 February 2013 Don’t be hanging round no catfish, John

Cassi Creek:  I do not care for catfish.  In my experience, most catfish has a flavor characterized by muddy, warm water.  I know that catfish from today’s fish farms is supposedly free of such taste, and can even be flavored before harvesting.  However, the pattern is set and catfish is not something I enjoy. 

          I do enjoy cold-water fish from fresh or ocean waters.  I even enjoy some warm water ocean fish like grouper, and others that have a solid texture.  As with many fly fishers, I don’t want to eat anything that lives in muddy water.  I’d rather not even fish muddy water. 

          I’ve fished farm ponds and impoundments.  I’ve fished impoundment outlets and Ozark gravel rivers.  But once the water gets to cloudy to see my feet, I’m ready to pack up and look for clearer water.

          Getting cold-water fish was not a problem last night.  Gloria and I went out to eat in Johnson City.  She had a gift card from Red Lobster so we chose to eat there.   Yesterday was her birthday.  We combined that celebration with today’s and had a very pleasant meal.  The weather held, making the trip in and back much easier than had the forecast snow arrived.  The service was efficient and friendly, unlike our last visit there.  Other than several crying children, we had no problems with our meal. 

          Today, the sun is shining and I’m a bit better rested.  Last night was a fifty mile round trip for dinner.  There are three establishments within q 20 mile round trip that have weekly all-you-can-eat fish specials.  We avoid those because the fish advertised is always catfish, breaded and fried.  For most of the local population, that is the only fish they want to eat.  Old cultures change slowly. 

         

13 February 2013 “Lacking in some direction”

Cassi Creek:         I did not watch the State of the Union address last night.  Quite honestly, the posturing and rude behavior has become very tiresome and quite depressing.  It merely emphasizes the deepening divide between our elected leaders and us. 

          Obama laid out an ambitious agenda, much of which I can support or at least live with.  However, very little of it will ever reach the floor of either the House or the Senate.  The demonstration of indifference and rudeness that characterized the GOP’s presence like poorly behaved children was sufficient warning that the obstructionism of the last four years will continue unabated.

          I pointedly refuse to watch the “opposition’s” responses.  Neither Rubio nor Paul had anything to say that I want to hear.

          Obama is required to make this report to Congress annually.  The “opposition” has no such obligation or duty.  This practice, over the recent past, has become just a political commercial for the GOP.  It is time for the media to inform them that they must pay for political advertisements like any other corporation. 

          I am exceedingly tired of this non-functional government characterized by the GOP trying to reverse the results of any election they lose by any means possible.  Time to write some more letters and stir up discontent with the GOP wherever possible

12 February 2013 If there is justice in the world

Cassi Creek:  The invitation to the State of the union address tonight, extended to Ted Nugent by a Congressman from Texas, may well be another attempt to denigrate the Obama Presidency.  Every SOTU given by Obama has been disrupted in some fashion by members of the GOP/teavangelists. 

          Perhaps this is a pre-planned attempt to do more of the same using a non-member of Congress.  Nugent has made several statements that could be considered a direct threat to the POTUS.  I would hope that the Secret Service disallows his entry into the Capitol building.  Should he be allowed to enter, it is anyone’s best guess as to whether or not he becomes abusive and disruptive. 

Film at 2300.

11 February 2013 Equal risk, unequal rights

Cassi Creek:  Last night’s winds have diminished.  No apparent damage at our location. 

          This morning I read an article that infuriated me.  It concerns the treatment of same sex couples serving in the armed forces who are not afforded survivor rights and benefits when one of the couple is killed in action.   This is not a military/DOD decision; but a direct result of the “Defense of Marriage Act” passed by Congress. 

          As with any other same-sex couples, military personnel deserve the rights and privileges of any other legally married couple.  It is particularly heinous to deny these rights and benefits to people who have lost their lives in service to this nation. 

          The DOMA is a horrendous example of religion-driven bigotry that should be declared unconstitutional and removed from the U.S. legal codes. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/defense-of-marriage-act-adds-to-gay-military-widows-grief/2013/02/10/a687ebfa-722b-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_story.html

A law that adds to gay military widows’ grief

By Tracy Johnson, Published: February 10

Tracy Johnson is a staff sergeant in the North Carolina National Guard. The views expressed here are her own.

10 February 2013 When the wind is in the trees

“   And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
    When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
    When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
    A highwayman comes riding—
                      Riding—riding—
    A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

                                                 XI

    Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
    He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
    He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
    But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
                      Bess, the landlord's daughter,
    Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.”

Cassi Creek:  The wind has been blowing steadily since around noon.  About 1700 it climbed to a sustained 15-20 at flagpole height – measured by behavior of trees and the flag.  So far, as of 2200, we’ve clocked several 10+ gusts at ten feet above the back deck, the best anemometer site we have. 

          The sustained winds are forecast to climb to 40 MPH and gust to 60 MPH. There will be wind damage in the area How much is uncertain. 

          It’s been a brutal winter so far for many of us. 

          When I took Loki out at 2100 the wind was so loud as to impede conversation.  There was, and is, a constant bass roar interlaced with shrieks and screams of the wind in the utility wires.  Random crashes and thumps, things going bump in th night are part of the unseen challenge that comes from living with these winds.   Noyes poem came quickly to mind.  There is most definitely “wind in the trees!”  Stands to be a broken night spent listening for changes.  

 From the sound of things, I’m guessing that the gap above us is under a standing wave. 

10 February 2013 Here it comes again

Cassi Creek:  We are once again under a high wind warning. 

          “... High Wind Warning remains in effect until 4 am EST Monday... 

* event... south and southeast winds of 25 to 40 mph with gusts 
up to 60 mph will be possible at times across some of the 
higher elevations and foothills. 

* Timing... winds will increase this afternoon... and the strong 
winds will continue tonight before diminishing late. 

* Impacts... trees and power lines may be downed... and driving 
may become difficult in cross winds. “

          Surrounded by trees on all sides, with the ground well saturated from recent rains and snows, wind becomes a real concern. 

          Otherwise, things continue whether or not we wish them to.