Posted inHome life

Photos of our yard and property, to remind me why we don’t want to move

We bought our rural south Salem house, which was built in 1973, from a couple in their mid-60s who said they were selling because the house on five acres was too much for them to maintain anymore. Well, 35 years later, Laurel and I now are in our mid-70s, taking care of the same house (extensively updated by us) and an additional five acres, for a total of ten, since we were able to buy an undeveloped neighboring lot quite a few years ago. Someday, probably, we'll have to move. In case I ever wonder why it took us so…
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Posted inSports

Oregon State and Oregon both in NCAA baseball super regionals. Exciting!

It's a tradition for me. Since for many years I've been unable to watch the Pac-12 Networks due to their never-ending and hugely irritating pissing match with DirecTV, the only time I get to see the Oregon State baseball team play is if they either make it to the Pac-12 tournament championship game (didn't happen in 2024) or are selected to play in the NCAA tournament (which did happen in 2024). So I was able to get to know the OSU baseball team this past weekend when they hosted the Corvallis regional. Three wins in four days -- Sunday's game…
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Posted inEntertainment

Five recent streaming shows that I liked a lot

These days, on broadcast television I mainly watch news and political programs. For entertainment, it's almost entirely streaming shows that appeal to me. Here's five recent offerings that I liked a lot, or at least enough close enough to a lot that I was eager to watch all of the episodes in the series. They're ranked in the order of my liking, with (1) being my favorite. (1) The Veil - HuluAmazingly, this was my first real introduction to Elisabeth Moss, who does a terrific job playing an intelligence agent tasked with finding out whether an Islamic woman in a…
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Posted inHealth

Be sure to take Plenvu rather than Gavilyte for your colonoscopy prep

I've had four or five colonoscopies, can't remember exactly. Started when I was fifty, then, because unlucky me always has benign polyps, I'm scheduled for another colonoscopy 4-5 years later, while my more fortunate wife gets away with a 10 year repeat (she can even have the test for colon cancer that doesn't require a colonoscopy). Tomorrow I'm having another one. So today was the preparation day: no solid food, with the colon cleansing prep starting at 4 pm, with a repeat at 11 pm, a couple of hours from now.  I'm looking forward to the colonoscopy itself tomorrow morning,…
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Posted inHealth Salem

The Psilocybin Center is open in Salem for psychedelic transformation

Thanks to a story in the Statesman Journal, I learned that Salem's first psilocybin service center has opened on State Street. It's aptly named The Psilocybin Center.  Husband and wife Sammy Kahuk and Dina Odeh have opened Salem’s first psilocybin service center, and a second location is being licensed. The Psilocybin Center at 2585 State St. offers personalized “psychedelic mushrooms” sessions to anyone over the age of 21 for behavioral or physical health conditions or for spiritual or recreational purposes. It took me a while to find the web site for The Psilocybin Center, but once I did, I was…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Elon Musk has become an annoying genius

There's no doubt that Elon Musk is a brilliant guy, arguably a genius, who deserves a lot of credit for his accomplishments with Tesla, Space X, and other business pursuits. I've been a happy Starlink customer (a Space X offering) since it's early beta days, and it's enabled us to trade our crappy 7 Mbps copper phone line DSL for a snappy 250 Mbps satellite broadband here in rural south Salem, Oregon. But Elon Musk has gone from being fascinating to annoying. Not to everybody, because a big cause of my annoyance with Musk is what he's done with Twitter…
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Posted inGrowing older Health

After five months, I finally get medical treatment for my severe sciatica

If you've ever had severe sciatica pain, you'll find this blog post a heck of a lot more interesting than if you haven't. Usually that nerve pain is produced by problems with the spine, either degenerative or following an injury.  I wrote about my current bout with sciatica back on March 23 in "If you're wondering about my absence, the answer is sciatica." An excerpt: It can be an extremely annoying pain. My worse moments have been in the middle in the night when I need to use the bathroom, or when I get up after sleeping. A few times…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Stormy Daniels, porn star, is more moral than Donald Trump, ex-president

We live in strange times. Sure, all times are strange in their own way, but 2024 in the United States is shaping up to be among the strangest years, politically speaking, in my more than a half century of following political issues closely. No cameras are allowed in the courtroom, so we have to rely on sketch artists Yesterday and today the news was full of how Stormy Daniels, porn star/adult film actress, testified for the prosecution at the criminal trial of Donald Trump, ex-president. That in itself is damn strange.  For it's the first time an ex-president has had…
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Posted inHealth

A son’s love and hospice supported a Salem woman during her last days

There's a lot of negativity floating around these days. I fall prey to it. I also contribute to it. So to be able to share a 100% positive story of how an old friend and hospice workers made a Salem woman's last days before she died as comfortable as possible -- that's a pleasure. Jim Ramsey is the friend. I've known him since the early 1970s. When he was part of Ramsey Real Estate, Jim was the realtor who found a house for my wife and me in 1977, enabling us to move from Portland to Salem when I got…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

I’ll accept the praise of my writing, even though it’s a bit over-the-top

I have to be honest. As much as I aspire to humility, in truth I really enjoy being praised. That was evident to me today when I read a comment on my Church of the Churchless blog by a regular reader of my posts, who calls himself Appreciative Reader. An apt name, since in the comment he praised my writing on the blog in a fashion that would have embarrassed me if I wasn't so much in agreement with this Noel Coward quote. I've shared the comment below. It means a lot to me, so I wanted to make it…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Ukraine aid bill passes in House. Bad news for Russia.

I'm happy for Ukraine. This embattled nation, which has been bravely fighting the unprovoked Russian invasion since February 24, 2022, has been waiting for more American aid for months due to dithering by House Republicans.  But today Ukraine had something to celebrate: $60 billion in aid. It took Democrats to get the aid bill across the House finishing line, first by supplying votes needed to have the bill move out of the Rules Committee, then by supplying votes needed to have the bill approved by the full House. The vote breakdown is a mark of shame for the 112 House…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Iran’s attack on Israel shows urgent need for military aid to Ukraine

It's time. Way past time, actually. For the good-for-almost-nothing House Republicans to show that they're not completely useless by finally getting off their GOP butts and passing the Senate bill that has much needed aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan this coming week. A lot of damage already has been done. Ukraine is running out of artillery shells, ammunition, air defense missiles, and other essential military gear needed to fend off the Russian invasion of their country. All because of Republicans. The GOP used to be the party that stood up to Russia and wanted the United States to defend…
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Posted inSports

I enjoyed women’s Final Four more than the men’s

It was a slogan for a cigarette brand, Virginia Slims, way back in 1968, but it still seems an appropriate way to describe the state of women's basketball in 2024: You've come a long way, baby. (OK, calling a woman "baby" may not be appropriate to some. However, that's part of how far women have come, both off and on a basketball court.) Yesterday I watched the women's NCAA championship game between Iowa and South Carolina. It was the most watched basketball game, men or women, college or pro, since 2019. For good reason. South Carolina was undefeated. Iowa had…
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Posted inHome life Scootering

Why I didn’t buy a Can-Am Spyder after my test drive

At the age of 75, I figured my motorcycle and scooter days were beyond me. After owning a little Honda 55 in high school, which I took to college, I got my motorcycle endorsement in my 40s, owned one for a year or so, then limited myself to cars until I bought a Suzuki Burgman 650 scooter in 2009. I liked it a lot. Rode it for about three years. I might still be, except I succumbed to my wife's dislike of the maxi-scooter, since every time I rode it, she was convinced I was going to die riding it.…
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Posted inEntertainment Health

Woman in wheelchair brought tears as I watched So You Think You Can Dance

There's a lot of crap on television. There's also beautiful, unforgettable, highly emotional moments. That's why I watch. A single moment of that sort makes up for all the crap. My wife and I have watched every episode of every season of So You Think You Can Dance. The show took a hiatus during the covid years. It reappeared recently. So far this season has had a lot of memorable auditions, as the three judges select contestants for a Top Ten competition, if I recall the number correctly. (It's varied somewhat over different seasons.) The audition that has stuck in…
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Posted inGrowing older Health

If you’re wondering about my absence, the answer is: sciatica

There's lots of painful medical conditions. In my 75 years, I'm only become intimately acquainted with one of them: sciatica.  If you're unfamiliar with the term, I'm glad for you. Because sciatica pain, which for me is in my right leg, hip, and buttock areas, can range from mild to excruciating. I'm familiar with the whole range.  Injury or pressure on the sciatic nerve creates the pain of sciatica. So sciatica is a symptom of an underlying medical problem. However, that can be tough to figure out. Thus I tend to view sciatica as the problem, though I realize to…
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Posted inEntertainment

Masters of the Air — a moving series about the bravery of WWII aviators

Having just finished watching Apple TV's nine-part series, Masters of the Air, I can heartily recommend it to anyone who would enjoy a deeply moving portrayal of the American aviators who flew B-17 Flying Fortress bombers into Europe from bases in England during World War II. It's based on a book with the same name about the 100th Bomb Group. At the conclusion of the final episode, some of the main characters are shown along with photos of the real-life aviators, plus a description of where life took them after the war ended.  I found that highly emotional. Partly because…
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Posted inGrowing older Health

Health care workers, it’s the system that bothers me, not you

Way back when (to be more specific, the 1970s and 1980s), I was, in order of my career moves, a research associate in the Oregon Medical School Department of Family Practice, a manager with the State Health Planning and Development Agency, and the executive director of Oregon Health Decisions, a pioneering community-based bioethics effort. As I like to say, I must have done a terrific job, because now our state's health care system is running perfectly smoothly with no problems. Of course, that's a blatant falsehood. Oregon, along with the rest of the United States, has a disjointed health care…
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Posted inStarlink

Starlink Gen 3 pipe adapter is horrible. Here’s how mine got fixed.

I became a Starlink beta tester in January 2021. While this Space X satellite internet system was buggy in the beginning, it's gotten increasingly reliable. And the download/upload speeds are better also. At least, they are here in western Oregon. However, the pipe adapter that Starlink is selling to attach the Gen 3 (third generation) dish to a variety of mounts -- I'm using the Ridgeline Mount for my Gen 3 dish -- is, to put it bluntly, a piece of crap. It's hard to believe that Starlink let this poorly designed piece of equipment that replaces the fold-out legs…
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Posted inStarlink

I like my Starlink Gen 3 dish (even though it fell off the pipe adapter)

Here's a report on my installation of the Starlink Gen 3 dish, which I bought so our Gen 1 dish could serve as a backup. First, some background. This is how I started off a post about needing to have a blacksmith make me a pipe to fit in the poorly designed pipe adapter for the Gen 3 dish. I called the post, "A blacksmith made this for me to fit in screwy Starlink Gen 3 pipe adapter." I've been a happy Starlink customer since January 2021, when I reported on the installation of the first generation round dish that…
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