Author: Steve

  What a contradiction.  He champions women’s causes, then goes on to behave badly with women; not criminally, but badly.  What do politicians and public figures do when they get caught behaving badly?  Some of them accept responsibility, apologize, and resign.   Al Franken; funny as a comedy writer.  Surprisingly serious as a senator.  Always intelligent.  A pleasing combination of wit and wisdom.  I wonder if he can get rehabilitated; forgiven for his misbehavior, apology accepted, appreciated for his public service, and returned to public view.    

  I’ve hardly taken any bird pictures lately.   We’ll make today’s subject the Osprey.       And a resting inland gull   Of the ring-billed persuasion.    

  After almost two months, we’ve gotten the motorhome out of storage.   And moved it to St Vrain State Park on a cool rainy day.   Wow did that feel good.  We’re not going to leave Colorado yet; we’ll still be bouncing around follow-up appointments with doctors for weeks yet; but being back in the bus is the closest we’ve been to “home” in quite a while.  It *is* our home on the road.   Baby steps and milestones.  They all add up.  Now that I’m clear of the heart surgery, the kidney stones, and the ureter stent, there is nothing holding me back.  I feel good.  I have energy.  I have stamina.  I’m strong.  No more limits.  This is day one of “I’m back!”  

  I could be the weight I was in college.  I could be the weight I want to be.   Well, I just lost twenty pounds, and it didn’t come out like I expected.  I’m not stylishly thin.  I’m gaunt.  I’ve no muscle definition left.  The skin is just hanging off my arms.  My thighs are about the same diameter as my calves!   A few years ago my weight got as high as 180.  None of my shirts fit any more.  I had to lose some weight or buy all new clothes.  When I got my weight back into the 160s it was all better.  Now that I’m down in the 140s, my shirts don’t fit again.  They all hang like hand-me-downs I haven’t grown into yet.   We don’t expect this weight loss to be a permanent thing.  Weight lost due to surgery tends to come roaring back at some point and will want to overshoot my starting point.  I don’t want that either, and I’m on guard for it already even though that phase has yet to begin.  But it’s funny how twenty pounds lighter doesn’t feel at all like I expected it to.  

  It was our last invasive procedure for both the heart bypass and kidney stone.   We went to the surgery center and the urologist took the stent out.  The stent is a flexible foot-long swizzle stick with pig-tail coils on each end; one in the kidney and one in the bladder.  It’s supposed to be inconspicuous, but my body has been constantly aware of it and trying to reject it for the last month.   The urologist says most people just get the stent out in the office; it’s no big deal.  They just stick a piece of medical equipment in that hole that leads to your bladder, grab the south end of the stent, and pull it back out.  That’s what the last urologist said too, but he didn’t think to strap me down before he started.  The process went much more smoothly this time with me totally unconscious.  The relief from getting the stent out was immediate.   We’re very happy with this urologist.  He is the first one who has shown any interest in continuing past treating the symptoms and determining the cause for my kidney stones.  We’re going to hang around for as long as it takes to finish up the follow-through.