You May Have Guessed

As some of you may have guessed from my absence from the computer and short replies when I have been here I haven't been too well lately. Nothing like what Kirst or Amy go through. Most of my life I have been alone. Looking at it as solitude rather than loneliness has been one of my coping mechanisms. Last week a friend with all the best of intentions expressed concern over my always being alone. I explained that I regarded it as solitude rather than loneliness but the subject remained the same. I'm sure each of us has coping mechanisms. Kirst and Amy for pain Odette for the economics of raising her boys etc. That night however I found things had turned to loneliness and I haven't been able to change it back. The loneliness led to depression and basically for the past several days with the exception of taking the dog out for his business I have not got out of bed. I haven't read, can't sit through a TV show or DVD. I tried watching Macgyver but ended up having to renew the loan from the library. I got through a total of two episodes.

A friend took me out of town today as he knows I need to try to get out as therapy. He was going to a music store. I didn't have an attack but my watch monitors my heart rate and it didn't drop below 140. I didn't take my bp cuff with me so I don't know what that went to and that was on my medication. Much as I hate to do it with the current flu panic going on I am going to have to make a DR's appt asap.

I did try to do something about the loneliness. I took out an Internet dating ad. So far five days no response and the few ladies I sent messages to ( being careful to be polite ) I did not get replies. This is kind of snowballing the loneliness thing. I hope I can back to not considering myself lonely but the last few days I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

Let's face it I'm no catch. I am 55 years old, I'm retired, I'm no Ladies man in looks or charisma or whatever it is that appeals to the ladies. I no longer drive and live in a very small town where everything and everywhere one would like to go for a date is at least 75 miles away. I can't see myself going to get a license again until at least next summer. Even if I do I have no where to park a vehicle and would have to come up with the funds to buy one. Insure it etc. Even taking the test is a major problem as it can't be taken in this town and I would need not only a car but someone to drive to the test site with me. Mind you if after driving everything from motorcycles to locomotives if I can't pass a simple driving test I don't deserve to have a license.

So ladies any advice? Or should I just tough it out till my way of looking at things manages to change back ( if it can ). btw I haven't been on any kind of a date for close to 4 years now.

Been a bit

Sorry I haven't posted anything in several days. My allergies are driving me up a wall and on top of that I was rubbing my eyes so much I broke the arm off my glasses. Fortunately they were covered by warranty. It wasn't just me both drug stores in town ran out of eye drops. For some reason they weren't working very well either.

So I've been watching the series Heroes and reruns of MacGyver. My brother and I used to complain that most of his gadgets wouldn't work because something was missing and we would point out what was missing. Then TV Guide did a story on the series and mentioned that things were deliberately left out so kids wouldn't be able to do the stunts he did. Of course those who knew George and I generally all stated that we were "scary smart" after the article ran. As Einstein said " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so is a lot"

Hope all of you are doing well.

Allergic to Arboral Sex

Pollen is striking me down again. Oddly flowers even ragweed don't bother me. Trees and grass however do. Some pollinate in spring some fall. So right now the trees have my eyes watering bad enough even a double dose of anti-histamines let me watch TV ( you don't have to be terribly alert for that ) but not read due to the combination of dopiness and teary eyed. Also I am now going to confess that movies, books and poetry have all at times brought me to tears.

On My Last Post and Some Good News

First the answer to where the saying "There is more than one way to skin a cat" comes from. In the old British Navy flogging was a common punishment. Part of the penalty was it was to be done in front of the entire ships company. In the event of bad weather it could not be done above deck. In those cases it was done in the only under deck area large area the men's mess where the crew slept and ate.

The term for swinging the whip which was a cat o nine tails is skinning. The overhead motion used above deck could not be used because the ceilings were low. Thus the term more then one way to skin a cat.

As for the good news. I got out of town for a few hours yesterday with a friend. No panic attacks some minor anxiety and really tired when I got home. Napped 4 hours watched 3 of TV then went to bed. ( Sleeping 12 so I guess even with no panic something is still effected ). The Friend thinks it would be no problem to do something similar every couple of weeks. This is a part of my recovery that I have not been able to implement much in the past and the first with zero feelings of panic or anxiety. Even when my Dad Visited and we went out I had an attack when we got separated for a while. Not so yesterday.

Cold Enough to Freeze the Balls Off a Brass Monkey

It's cold out today. Winter jacket cold. The expression Cold Enough to Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey has been heard a few times today. My usual comeback is no that happens at minus 40. Which gets me some weird looks. The reason is there really such a thing as brass monkey that can have it's balls froze off. Only for most it is lost in the sands of time.

In the days of wooden sailing ships and pirates cannon fired iron balls propelled by gunpowder. Beside the cannons the balls were stacked for easy access. What they were stacked in was much like the triangle snooker balls are racked up in today. That triangle was made of brass and the balls were stacked in it. As anyone who has ever used a thermostat knows different metals expand and contract at different rates with temperature change. Brass faster than Iron cannonballs. At minus 40 the monkey would shrink to the point where the balls would be pushed out and the crew would have to chase them all over a rolling deck to try fruitlessly to stack them back again.

So there you have it an expression you hear every cold day in Canada but almost no one knows the meaning of. Like another common expression there is more than one way to skin a cat. It was used in an English class I was in once and someone comment ted it was cruel to animals. I of course piped up it had nothing to with pussy cats and had to explain where the expression came from. Anyone interested in knowing that one?

A Book to Come

I have been planning on adding to the info on camping and being ready for emergencies.

The problem is the sheer amount of information I have in my head never mind in reference material. So after trying to figure out what to write next for the past several days I have decided not to blog it through. I am going to write a book on the subject. The first chapter like most survival manuals will be survival psychology. Or how to change you attitude to stay not only alive but healthy. My brother George went on a 2 Week survival course as a cadet. The first day you were given one day's standard Army issue ration pack. You were to stretch it out and use what you were knew or were taught to last the two weeks. At the end of the two weeks he returned home Rations still sealed and ten pounds heavier. ( no one else gained weight, the Cadet we had sent the year before had gained 5. We got a letter addressed to the unit training officer ( me ) saying not to send anymore as our unit training was more advanced than what they were teaching. ( Some of the instructors had vomited at what George was eating with relish ).

So I am going to name the first title something they used to yell at us when things got rough ( The Sgt's doing the training, when I was on Lieutenant Qualifying ) It's a case of mind over matter. We don't mind you don't matter.

In the meantime here is a fair emergency link for short term preparedness www.GetPrepared.ca it is a govt of Canada site so unless your fluent in French click on English when you get there.

As the Book get done I will try to remember to mention where I am. You can wait till I am finished and I will email you one for the Asking or if you like I can send you the chapters as they are finished ( you can still get the whole book when done ). I firmly believe this kind of information should be free and as distributed as possible. Just let me know. I will probably still be writing in the same style I always do. Being able to smile at the darkest hour just may help keep you going too.

I Always Wanted to be Batman IF I Grew Up pt 1

As promised this is the first of a series of articles on emergency preparedness.

Right at the start I should point out that one of the most important things you will need to do is pick and choose from the skills options and “kits” I suggest. Survival in Canada’s far north (which believe it or not qualifies as a dessert due to getting less than 10 inches of rainfall a year) is far different from a hot dessert though knowing how to survive in one does give skills in the other.

I have a variety of emergency kits. Each aimed at a minimum of 72 hours (which here is the estimate it will take to get emergency teams up to full capacity) in reality I aim mine for at least a week with as much attention to renewing things as possible. For example while I have enough drinking water to last two days normally I have what I need to treat water to make it drinkable to last well over a month.

The kits are nice. You customize them for the number in your family where you likely are and what is likely to happen. I won’t start with them however. What I will start with is skills. Having skills to for example to make water drinkable is more useful then having a couple days of drinkable water. Also having the greatest First Aid kit in the world is of no use if you don’t have the training to use it. Also along with that is having the stomach to use it. I have been in situations where paramedics were vomiting and I had to start the First Aid while they got themselves under control. These were not everyday events but in each case where someone had attempted suicide by throwing themselves in front of a train. Don’t think I didn’t get sick myself. I did but later. Usually the following day.

So where does one start.

Deciding what skills and where and how to get them is a good place. Any good First Aid course is a must. Updating it as often as you have a chance is a good thing and if you can get one which includes what is called casualty simulation is a real bonus. Cas sim is where they make the wounds look real with special effects that rival Hollywood. So far I have only known the military and the fire department to have this kind of training as a common thing. As fire departments spend a lot of time on standby don’t be afraid to ask if it would be possible to have them teach you. Usually they are more than willing and also have a mindset that is ready for any kind of emergency. Also remember many skills transfer to areas you would not expect any skills to transfer too. For example I never expected being able to call in air strikes to have any use outside combat. Till my first forest fire. Only then instead of calling in a strike on an enemy you got to where the fire was worst and had the water bombers bomb you. It is like standing in a shower on full for maybe 30 or 45 seconds then being surrounded by steam. After that your troops put out any small fires which spring up. You are using picks shovels and backpack fire extinguishing water pumps. Not something everyone will have available.

Again where to start. This is the first suggestion. Books. First Aid manuals, what ever the local boy scout manual is for it will be full of things needed for wherever you are. Local books on survival. If you can get copies of your local Armed Forces manuals on survival these are rarely classified. Also similar skills. Knot tying for example. Books on local edible and poisonous plants.

Until this information is second nature to you when you are not looking it over they should be in the appropriate emergency pack. Mine are all in backpacks ( the kits ) the books are together in a section on my bookcases and there is room for them at the top of the packs. Acts of nature sometimes give warning sometimes do not.

However the first and most important tool for dealing with emergencies is appropriate skill sets. Learning these is step two, deciding what they are and how to go about learning is your first step.

Some Serious Articles to Come

I hopes to post the first of some serious article today. My reason for not doing so is not a terrible good one. I rarely get the opposite of the illness which has one running to the toilet several times a day and hoping it is only gas. In fact I can't recall more than 5 times I have ever had that in my life. Despite the fact I am still on a very high fruit diet at the moment I am mentally and physically plugged up. I'm assuming the physically has got high enough to explain the mentally. My eyes are even brown. Mind you they were brown before this. It is a few days now and I have done everything short of taking an actual laxative. This because I have not been completely plugged and have been able to make some use of the toilet. I feel as if some critter resembling the one in Alien is making it's way through me. Hopefully it will pop out in the toilet not like in the movie.

However back to the coming serious posts. With the recent flooding in Odettes area we were talking and I was mentioning how both my Govt. ( Canada ) and my former Church ( Mormon, which I have nothing bad to say about I just don't think I was very good at living up to church standards and choose to leave as a result) encourage an emergency 72 hour emergency pack. I mentioned to Odette I did have one but over time and as a result of training have in fact several of them to be grabbed depending on the type of emergency happening. One even doesn't involve evacuation but is a very full first aid kit for rendering aid if I am fine but those around me are not.

I intend to post about such things. What to pack and not to pack. Refer you to sites from official sources with advice on how to fill these packs. ( rarely bigger than a backpack ) Fi prompted me to add consideration for the pets. And most importantly how to make sure you know how to use them.

There is some on this in my older posts but I intend to elaborate a fair bit. Also point out some basic skills it is not a bad idea to have and how to get them. So choke-um-hole aside soon as I get feeling better I will get started.

Idiot articles come of the top of my head. Serious ones I do up and check before posting so they won't come in a flood as I feel more like moving ( no pun intended ). I also like to leave a post up 24 hours at least, so if I end up putting up a couple at once it will mention it in the text.

Thanks

An Award

Tracey saw fit to give me this award. Because of sheer craziness. I suspect she means this attitude.



I like to take the adage when life gives you lemons make lemonade a step further. When life gives you lemons turn them into offensive weapons. ( Which sometimes means waiting till they have gone bad enough the people you throw them at can't possibly use them to make lemonade without risking their health )

No Particular Thing to Say

Today as the Christmas song says " The Weather Outside is Frightful" unfortunately not having a significant other the next line " But inside it's so delightful " doesn't hold true.

Also the weather sometimes effects me in the form of a migraine which I have slightly plus slept in such a way I've kinked my neck that I think this will be a do nothing day. Often against my best intentions I get lots done on such days. I have a habit of doing many things at once. What folks now call multi-tasking after the way a computer does it and the Army calls concurrent activity after the way a commander has to have his command carrying out a variety of things at once. The latter would normally refer to group multi tasking such as if Amy and Steve wanted to take the family to eat out. Steve could be feeding the chickens while Amy is getting the children ready and perhaps the kids could even be doing something.

Being uncomfortable may mean being unable to sit through a TV show so I may get up do dishes, organize something make some meals to freeze. Just not sit and get stiff. Only one kind of stiff is fun and now a pill can cause that. I gave my brother a box of them as his birthday present this year. He liked them better than his non gag gift.

I think kinking my neck is a bigger problem then the weather related headache. I hope I can relax it so the other will go as well. It isn't pouring rain or anything just drizzle.

Now for a joke. A dog is taking his young puppy out to teach it how to be a proper dog. They come across a female in heat and the father has sex with her. Then they find a bag of garbage and he tears it apart and finds some leftovers they eat. Finally they come to fire hydrant and after sniffing it he pees on it. When they get home the daddy dog asks any questions. The puppy says Dad I can see why you had sex and ate the garbage but why did you pee on the fire hydrant. The Daddy dog says "Son, that's a dog's motto. If you can't eat it or have sex with it piss on it."