Keeping on top of the "Pandemic"

I mentioned on the First that my female Brittany, Josie had a Hysterectomy on Wednesday. She is doing very well, in fact much better than I would have thought. Of course, being a dog, she doesn't have to deal with the physiological damage of losing her ability to have children. This was the first time that I had ever left her in a Vets office, and I think she thought the worse was going to happen. I had never abandoned her before. She was torn between sulking and glad that I had rescued her. When we got home the first thing she did was to roll on the lawn.

Now lest you begin to believe that I am getting a little stir crazy sitting here all by myself, I am not. My problem is that this whole current episode is causing a "flashback" to my cop days when you develop a "gallows" type of humor to deal with the foolishness of the general population. Unfortunately its the "News" outlets that cause me the most problem.

 Now it appears after much pressure from the "Journalists",  we have decided that we need to wear a mask when we go out. Since I am too far from Portland  to be active in "Antifa",  masks are really hard to come by here. However having been a Boy Scout for a whole two weeks, ( Our "leader" decided we were too violent, and quit coming to the meetings.) I can make do. I am just having trouble figuring out which one is the best bet for me.

This is my portable one that folds up to a nice pocket size since the nearest human to me is 3 miles. I can probably get away with not wearing one till I am around humans.  I am sure this one will be a big hit for at least four or five of my friends.

This is the one that I favor, especially when going to the bank, or if we get our own Antifa branch here at Burns Junction.

April Fools Day, and everybody seem to be living up to the day.

Actually I had forgotten what day it was until one of my unsuccessful "lady friends" mentioned it to me. I had texted two of the ladies that I had met through various "dating sites", when I was still doing that, to make sure that they were OK. We had decided that we fit better as friends than lovers, but still liked each other enough that we still keep in touch. The excuse that both used was that I lived too remotely to be more than friends. At least that is what they told me, heck it could be true. One mentioned that I lived just east of Hell! Looks pretty good now don't it? Just joking, I love each of them for their own selves. Nice ladies! Both are doing fine, although one of them has resorted to doing spring cleaning, out of boredom and the "stay at home order". I have managed to avoid that so far. Like me, I am sure that most of you are reconnecting with old friends just to make sure that they are all right. I know I have had my share of emails and calls to see if I am still here.

I did have to go to Idaho yesterday to take the dogs to the vet. It seem that Josie, my little female Brittany's progesterone got out of whack after her last heat cycle, and required a hysterectomy. She had her operation today and I will get to pick her up tomorrow. She is doing fine so far.

I actually had enough food to last me for at least 6 months, other than butter, flour and sugar. I could have managed but with a few less luxuries, but since I was there I might as well get the few things that would help me maintain my winter profile. ( think  Alfred Hitchcock ) With a couple of hours to drive each way, and all the sights of "civilization" to inspire me, my thoughts began to stray to our predicament. Like Will Rogers, one has to only read the paper or keep your eyes open to find enough material for a comedy routine.  Besides some of you were wondering why I have been so quiet lately. The real answer is that the weather is too bad to do anything other than binge watch Myth Busters.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about this "pandemic" is the sudden urge to buy all the toilet paper in Costco and all the other stores in the "civilized world". Being out here in "East Hell", I buy a lot of stuff on Amazon. Now if they ever close that one, I will be in deep do do. I also buy my dog food from them. Saves me from paying 6 % Idaho sales tax, and it is convenient as all get out. I am on an "auto delivery" system that they have.

I had been having problems with Josie itching, and I decided it was the type of Dog Food that I had been using. I have always used Purina Dog food, but I think they have changed it.However the Purina Venison and Turkey solved the itch problem. When I checked Amazon all the Purina brands were "unavailable", and they informed me that they were not going to be able to send my next bag of it. This occurred at the same time that all the toilet paper disappeared off the shelves as well. I'm not saying that there is any correlation, but it looks suspicious to me.

On my way to Idaho, the roads were almost deserted except for the trucks. I saw very few cars. I brought along 7 gas cans to take advantage of the oil glut, so that I would at least be able to fly some this year. I have paid as much as 4.10 a gallon for 91 0ctane no ethanol in past years. It was about $3.00 this time.

I had a little time before my appointment, so I went to Costco to see what they had. They were only letting so many people in the store at one time, so I had to stand in line for a bit, but it wasn't all that long. Costco has caught up with most of the panic buying so they did have toilet paper. I passed it up once, ( I still have half a bag in the cool room ) but later decided that I should get it just in case there is another run (pun) on it. The only thing that I looked for that they didn't have was Bacon, regular Pepsi, and Honey Nut Cheerio's. My return trip back home was uneventful. The only thing playing on the radio was the "Daily briefing on the Corona Virus", thus leaving me lots of time to reflect on the vagaries of the human mind, and how we cope with times of troubles.

 I get email circulars from Costco regularly and I noticed the other day that they had a Bidet for sale at a quite reasonable price. Of course as a 75 year old man from the hills of W.Va, who had for many years used outhouses with sears and Roebuck catalogs along with the occasional corn cob for the tough jobs, I always considered that I was tough enough to wipe my own ass, without having to resort to "no sissy french contraption". Of course with the shortage of Toilet paper, I began to seriously reconsider my earlier thoughts on the matter. I even suggested to a friend of mine who "day trades" that he should consider buying some Bidet stock, just in case something serious should again raise its stinky head.

The more I thought about it the more reasonable it sounded. Heck it was only about $299.00. I had expected one of those thingy's to cost a lot more than that. So of course living way out in the boonies I hit "You Tube" to see what they were all about. Of course for 299.00, it wasn't the top of the line, there was one, not on sale, that appeared to be the "deluxe" butt washer, so I had to check and compare features.  The only problem that I could see to it was that the wash part took two minutes, and the blow dry cycle took five more, but then again what do I have to do, I'm retired. The only thing that really worried me was that I might like it too much.

 I currently have 26 videos covering bidet's, now on opening You Tube. Of course no one is watching to see where I go on the internet, is there?

So having actually bought an Amazon forest clearing brick of toilet paper,  (remember it wasn't that long ago some TV network was complaining about Costco being solely responsible for the loss of trees in the Amazon.) I really no longer needed a butt washer. With just me here and the occasional visit from Connie, I was good for at least a year or two. So now the Bidet had again gone from a good investment to a luxury. I was a bit saddened by my foolish purchase, but then it hit me. I could buy the top of the line Bidet and then sell my toilet paper on Ebay and have enough left over for a nubile cleaning lady to make a house call, or a vacation, failing that.

So keep your sense of humor and hang in there This too shall pass. Be careful while you are at it!

Finally some better weather.

I published this same post yesterday and for what ever reason the pictures were not showing up. I sent it to myself and the pictures were visible on my cell phone. So hopefully it is better.

Its actually been a really mild winter. One could almost believe that there is something to what they are now accurately calling Climate Change. After all the only thing that stays the same is that every thing is constantly changing. In my case its "an ill wind that blows nobody any good". I am getting to the age where I don't really care for the snow and wind blowing my "skirt up" all the time. However I am still ready for some nice warmer weather. I was even able to roll my plane out and shoot a bunch of landings again after much to long being on the ground.

Its branding time again. The calves and little boys are getting pretty big. Time for one to receive their ID, and little boys to "ride the range" again.

Its time for a little lunch, and you thought you were tough!

Yep, one critters misfortune is lunch for young Buckaroo's.
The fire in the barrel used to heat the Branding irons, will do
to cook these little tidbits.

I have a friend that has decided to sell her house and move back to her birth State of Alabama. I wanted to spend a bit of time with her and show her Leslie Gulch, which she had never seen.

As we started down into the Canyon we came up on a Male Chuckar who was doing his best to convince this little chick that he was the best male Chuckar on the whole mountain. From all the dust and running it appears that she wasn't buying his line, and they disappeared up the mountain with him still in hot pursuit.

The scenery is of course pretty spectacular, and yesterday was no exception. Carole had her new I Phone heating up from all the pictures she was snapping. I have been there many times and shared the pictures with you before, so I didn't take many pictures.

I was especially looking for wildlife to show her and on the way down only saw the frustrated Male Chuckar. Carole stopped me to get a better picture of a certain formation, and I took the time to look at something other than rocks. Not 40 yards off the road was this guy. They are colored so much like the dried weeds, that I had to do a double take. At first I thought he was the only one and as I began to look a bit closer, it turned out that there was a total of seven right in plain sight. I would have missed them if we had not stopped.

This boy is the biggest ( 3/4 curl) that I have seen so far.

Pack Rats!

Bushy Tailed Woodrat.

Winter in the Desert is generally pretty quiet. If you are retired as I am, life is much easier. I just read, do my exercises, catch up on TV and throw wood on the fire, and three days a week I get the mail- 6 miles up the road.

Right now in the world there is a Biblical proportion swarm of Locust eating everything in sight, so my problem with a Pack Rat is pretty small potatoes.

Pack Rats here come in three sizes, from Chipmunk size to LARGE rodent. Bigger than a lot of Squirrels. The bigger they are, it appears - the smarter. They have been known to cause such anger and desperation that people have been driven to take up firearms and actually try to kill them through the walls, by taking "sound shots". They also seem to have to chew a lot to keep their teeth to a manageable size. They also only come out at night when you are trying to sleep.

When we moved here, the place had been vacant most of the time and the Pack Rats were every where. Some of these things weigh more than a pound so the running foot steps through the ceilings can drive you a bit buggy and wild eyed. In Klamath it took Ferrets to get them to move out of the house. Here I am a bit luckier and the walls are solid. I long ago bought an industrial strength "Sonic" sound machine guaranteed to drive Mice and Spiders crazy and installed it in the attic, where it has done a yomans job. Nothing can stand it for more than a few hours. Of course there is the back porch which has suitable habitat for them. So I watch the Dogs, if they are interested in smelling around back there, its time to bait the trap.

I have noticed that I had a visitor and I was at a bit of a disadvantage because it got cold enough at night to freeze the water in trap containers. Pack Rats can jump quite well, so hard water was a problem. I have a couple of live traps that I use in the winter, and for Josie's entertainment, but Mice can set them off, so I prefer to not use them. I also had one in the hangar but I did manage to catch it after two tries. Pack Rats like Apples, so they work out well for the "GangPlank" trap. However the one on the back porch wasn't falling in the water but was eating the bait. I set up a game camera to find out what my opponent was. It soon became obvious that this guy was just too big for my setup. I tried changing the tub around since he accessed the tub from the wall, but he didn't trust the plank, and just reached out and held onto the wire to eat his apple.

Before changing the bait wire the third time he had snookered me, I decided to use a Rat trap to see if I could catch him with that. I found the trap sprung, but no Rat. I was just about to make a wire that set on the bottom of the tub, under water so that he had to use the plank instead of the wire, when I found him dead on the floor under a board. Apparently concussion will kill you as well. What ever, Dead is dead, and I will take it.

https://vimeo.com/393085213

password-  owyheeflyer

Back to my reading!

Update

We have had most of a week and things are leveling out quite well. Connie wears her "Life Vest" and it does quite well. She, being used to wearing a bra, doesn't have any problems with all the hard wear and is able to sleep well and comfortably with it on. Her heart seems to have settled down and about the only time that the vest threatens to shock her back to life is if one of the sensors gets out of place. She has not retained any water at all, and is now sleeping very well indeed.

She is feeling well, and her attitude is basically the same. She has no pain and is not short of breath. That is amazing to both of us. We are able to walk the length of the runway  and back, ( 1.69 miles) with no problem. Her cat, Chilli, has decided that he will go along with us, which is a hoot. He does quite well also. We only have to wait for him once in a while.

 I had Physical Therapy yesterday in Nampa ( Shoulders are giving me trouble)  and Connie went along with me, and we had a very nice day of it.

The Sunrise yesterday morning

Various views of the Steen's.

As you can see the view and sky is gloriously clear.

Feb 7th 2020

After a rather tumultuous weekend I took Connie to St Alphonse hospital in Boise, on Monday. She had slept little over the weekend and was seriously having trouble breathing. It took very little contact with the staff till she was admitted. Unfortunately I have had a lot of hospital visits over the years and I have been super impressed every time I go into one of the Hospitals in Boise. This was no exception. The reason for her difficulty was fluid in her chest cavity. Why it was there in the first place was of course the mystery. I won't go through all of it, but I just got her home last night.

The biggest problem was that they couldn't find a reason for such a sudden onset of Congestive Heart Failure. The problem is that the heart "ejection" rate had dropped to 15%. None of the normal reasons for this to happen were present in her life style. The only thing that was posited was her "normal" to her, fast heart beat. It is about 102 resting. She has always had a low blood pressure. They say that you have so many beats of your heart before it quits. So far this is the only reason that they can find for what has occurred with her heart. She has no symptoms other than shortness of breath.

In any case she was eventually fitted with a "life vest" that is in essence a defibrillator that she will wear all the time, for the next three months, until she either gets better or she has a "Heart event". If she does, they will then fit her with a pace maker.

We left the Hospital at 3 PM beating most of the worst of traffic, made a side trip to a Burger King for a Milkshake. ( While she really was impressed with the staff and Hospital, she is not a fan of their food! ) The to Norco Medical to pick up oxygen bottles and a oxygen condenser, then to Costco for her new meds. She had four prescriptions to get 3 of them were $7.00 the other one was $600.00. A call to the physician resulted in a medication that cost $9.00. The original was two generic drugs that were combined and new. They have been advertising it on TV its called Impresco, or something like that. What a scam. We eventually got home at 8 PM.

It is now 0730 and she slept well, ( hated the hosp bed) and things are on the right track. Time will tell. Thank all of you for your concern.

Feb 2020

One of my friends in western Oregon has been wondering if I was still alive, so I guess its time I checked in. Of course winter is my quiet time. I generally do a lot of reading, with a bit of Coyote hunting, but they have been quite scarce due to the drop in the Rabbit populations. I have only seen three so far, and they didn't survive that sighting, so they may be even more scarce this next year.

One very unwelcome event that is still unfolding is that Connie has developed a rather serious case of Congestive Heart failure, just in the last two or three weeks. We are still in the beginnings of finding out what the problem was, and she has only seen a Heart Dr once, and nothing has been done yet other than one test. She is going to Bend for her care, so if I want to go with her it is a four hour drive for me. Unfortunately I am all too familiar with the disease  since that was what killed Karen. She has been here with me for the last three days and she is having a hell of a time. Hopefully they will get something done in this next week that will go to giving her some relief. Sleep and getting enough air is the problem.

Here are some sunrise pictures for you.