Steve and Judy's Travels!

Sometimes we get more of them at the feeder than we need.

But they can sure provide an explosion of color when they get all puffed up!

Watching a wildlife video on the iPad.

…the face of this forest creature?

It’s a little dirty.

A nine-banded armadillo.

Day three post-surgery.

Shoulder surgery is tough.  It’s a painful recovery.  Having made it through the first two days though, Judy is noticeably better today.  Better enough to get out of the recliner and be restless a little.  Better enough to go out for a walk around the neighborhood.

We’re led to believe that sleep, ice, and painkillers are the best medicines at this point.  Whatever sleep Judy is not getting at night, she’s making up for as she naps herself through the day.  We’ve got various gel-packs of ice to alternate on her shoulder.  Sleep, ice, and painkillers.  Narcotics are out because Judy doesn’t do well with them, so her painkiller of choice is Advil.  Five more days to the follow-up with the doctor next Thursday.  The bandages should come off and the stitches should come out.  He’ll tell us then when we can start physical therapy.

I’m for it!

Who wouldn’t like that; healthcare for all?  What?  The employees who like their employer provided healthcare and don’t want to give it up?  Oh.  Who else?  The taxpayers who will be asked to pay more to support healthcare for all?  Anyone else?  Oh, all the people who work in the health insurance industry that don’t want to get put out of work?  And the doctors who don’t like the Medicare level of payment for services versus the private pay?  And the hospitals whose entire cost structure is built on getting more from private pay than from Medicare?  Okay, so there are a few issues.

There are so many reasons for not going to single payer, or healthcare for all, but isn’t it unconscionable to maintain that some people in our country can get medical insurance and others can’t; to continue to deny an entire segment of our population affordable access to healthcare?  We have to take the opposite approach.  We throw out all the objections; all the reasons why we can’t do universal healthcare and start with the commitment that we *can*.  We are not the only country that has faced this issue; we’re just the only developed nation that hasn’t found its own solution.