I'll just entertain myself

The Berlin Wall had machine guns and people still found ways to get over it.

Picked up the street trash after the walk in the park.
We got a good look at three deer near the lake. First we have seen since sometime last year. Birds flying by often make their noise at me in passing. That's because they recognize that I toss them peanuts. Years back, working maintenance at the apartments' pool, I used to toss the bugs from the skimmer to a sparrow. Other sparrows ate the bugs too, but just the one did not fear getting close. The birds migrated and I forgot about them. One day I came near the pool room and the sparrow landed on the sidewalk in front of me, fluffing feathers and jabbering in bird lingo, letting me know it was back. That was one of the proudest days of my life, dumb as it may sound to say it.

No, it's not dumb. It's wonderful. I've been feeding the birds in my neighbourhood for a few years and I noticed that last year the "flight or fight" response was reduced. I was able to fill their bird feeders and bath without them all flying off. Warms the heart to think they trust me a little.

I'm with Mame. It's pretty cool. Some years we've had a resident chipmunk in the woodpile. I always feel a little chuffed when he'll take them from my hand. We do suet and seed in the winter, but I've never had a bird recognize me. It's not a close interaction. I'm usually just admiring from the windows in the winter.

STREETS OF BAKERSFIELD

My next door neighbor is a tiny Japanese woman, just about my age. She does as much of her own work as she can manage before hiring a contractor. Small jobs that can be done out of doors she often gets me to do. I wish I had a million dollars for every time I have started up her lawnmower. She is today repairing her kitchen faucet for the third time, an all day project. It's an expensive one with a lifetime warranty. They send her the replacement parts for free. She has called me to the fence for advice three times and borrowed some pliers. She has a strict policy of never allowing anybody inside her home, which is why she just asks for advice. I told her I buy $40 faucets and when they start to go bad just replace them. Much simpler than the complex expensive pieces of crap they sell for kitchen faucets. I didn't mention to her that when I installed a new bathtub I used the kind of bibs for faucets people commonly have at the side of the house. Why not? They last practically forever, but if one goes bad it takes maybe ten dollars to replace it. Screw it off, screw on the new one. Case closed.

Actual cane walking is a rarity, at least in these parts. I have seen many persons with canes, but don't recall witnessing a one using them to help with taking steps. I am the one. Cane Man. My super power. Be comfortably propelled to the next block without the pain of bone on bone. My wife has had knee replacement. She gets around very well. I don't want to go that route. I tried knee braces for a time. They mess with the circulation and make the skin develop sores.

HAND ME DOWN MY WALKING CANE

Fell asleep while attempting to make soft-boiled eggs. The resultant overcooked eggs are surprisingly good anyway.

My wife insists on putting non glass in the microwave. I post things like this on her facebook now and then.

Microwaving your food will lower the nutritional value of your food. This also goes for overheating your food by other methods.

The real harm caused by microwaves has to do with cooking your food in plastic. Microwaves break down the plastic in plastic containers or plates and allow it to leach into your food. This can contribute to the accumulation of microplastics in your body.

Always use glass or ceramics when warming or cooking food in the microwave.

Avoid being close to your microwave while it’s in use—keep 15-20 feet of distance. Being too close to the microwave while it’s in use can affect the cornea in your eye. It can begin to cook the sensitive cornea.

I didn't know that about the plastic - thanks for the head's up.

I've preached about plastic to her for years.

The government's war on Medicare constantly reduces what it will pay for. A bit over three years ago in January, my wife had knee replacement surgery. IN December of the same year she had the other one replaced. Her retirement purportedly provides her with insurance, but to me it functions about like those free programs.

Her first surgery was a perfect experience, both in quality of work done and care given by the staff. She was given therapy until she could walk under her own power. About a three day stay, if my recall is correct.

Between surgeries, changes were made in Medicare. Her second surgery went like a scene from an abattoir, practically. As one staff member put it, "We are not a charity."

The formerly solicitous staff barely performed their duties. She was sent home right away. The ramp I built for use when walking is hard was useless because they didn't get her on her feet before releasing her. If I had gotten a heads up I could have found a wheelchair. Because I had no help and couldn't pick her up, she crawled up the six steps and into the house. She was able to help herself onto the bed.

People not on Medicare or who have real insurance probably don't realize how inadequate Medicare is becoming. Every time the government "fixes" the system we lose more benefits.

One of the few politicians calling for single-payer health care is Nina Turner. Guess who her biggest obstacle is to winning the election: Her own party, the Democrats. Because they fight against programs of social uplift harder than they fight against Republican right-wing mayhem. Their siding with the people is mostly rhetoric.

That's a crime.

But a legal crime, because of on the take and brow-beaten politicians. I should have had the presence of mind to tell the people "If you can't do it properly why are you taking on the job?" On the other hand I didn't fully realize.

It's a crime (shame) that people don't have fully covered basic medical health care (elective surgeries such as breast enhancement, for example, excluded). To me health care is as necessary and basic as drinkable water.

At one time, fire departments were privatized. Your insurance company would give you a plaque to put on your house, and if your house caught on fire they would send out of truck to put to out the fire. But if the neighbor's house wasn't insured, nobody would put off the fire. It didn't work out too well.

I remember a few houses being allowed to burn.

How long ago was this? 1912?

Several years ago.
I googled this just now
Oct. 5, 2010, 8:56 AM CDT / Source: msnbc.com
Firefighters in rural Tennessee let a home burn to the ground last week because the homeowner hadn't paid a $75 fee.

Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in the Sept. 29 fire, along with three dogs and a cat.

"They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn't do it," Cranick told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

The fire started when the Cranicks' grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the Cranicks called 911, but the fire department from the nearby city of South Fulton would not respond.

"We wasn't on their list," he said the operators told him.

Cranick, who lives outside the city limits, admits he "forgot" to pay the annual $75 fee. The county does not have a county-wide firefighting service, but South Fulton offers fire coverage to rural residents for a fee.

Cranick says he told the operator he would pay whatever is necessary to have the fire put out.

His offer wasn't accepted, he said.

The fire fee policy dates back 20 or so years.

"Anybody that's not inside the city limits of South Fulton, it's a service we offer. Either they accept it or they don't," said South Fulton Mayor David Crocker.

The fire department's decision to let the home burn was "incredibly irresponsible," said the president of an association representing firefighters.

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"Professional, career firefighters shouldn’t be forced to check a list before running out the door to see which homeowners have paid up," Harold Schaitberger, International Association of Fire Fighters president, said in a statement. "They get in their trucks and go."

Firefighters did eventually show up, but only to fight the fire on the neighboring property, whose owner had paid the fee.

"They put water out on the fence line out here. They never said nothing to me. Never acknowledged. They stood out here and watched it burn," Cranick said.

South Fulton's mayor said that the fire department can't let homeowners pay the fee on the spot, because the only people who would pay would be those whose homes are on fire.

Cranick, who is now living in a trailer on his property, says his insurance policy will help cover some of his lost home.

"Insurance is going to pay for what money I had on the policy, looks like. But like everything else, I didn't have enough."

After the blaze, South Fulton police arrested one of Cranick's sons, Timothy Allen Cranick, on an aggravated assault charge, according to WPSD-TV, an NBC station in Paducah, Ky.

Police told WPSD that the younger Cranick attacked Fire Chief David Wilds at the firehouse because he was upset his father's house was allowed to burn.