March Flowers, and Other Visions....

The Warm, even Hot, weather will continue through tomorrow, before showers and storms arrive by Friday and the early weekend and temps cool off....even then the temperatures will remain above normal{about 50 degrees at this time} for the remainder of the month of March.  Even looking out into the first week of April it appears the worst of the days might have rain and highs in the upper 50s....even with the average by that time raising to the middle 50s..

With the carotid artery surgery continuing on a slow pace, I got out as much as possible in the sunshine yesterday, a short walk, and most of the day spent on the back steps on here in the Air Conditioning and on the computer....which I increasingly despise.  But TV sucks, I do have a book on disk, "The Tehran Initiative" to finish.  The second in the Twelfth Imam book series by Joel Rosenberg.  I will try to get most of that out of the way today...radio seems to be the same songs from my youth played over and over, and even the mystery shows from the old/golden days of radio which I have access to, are just not my cup of tea these days...frankly I am bored as Hell.

The old Airedale, Reagan, is sadly entering her last days on this earth...it's  just a matter of time, she no longer enjoys even her biscuits, and sleeps in a restless manner, 13 years 9 months she would be early next month, making her by far, the longest any of our many Airedales have lived...but her time is about up and I doubt, after nearly 40 years of having at least one or more around, we will raise another.  Don't let anybody tell you that growing old is great...even at a healthy 63, before last week's surgery, it sucks for man and beast.

The warm, extreme warm of this March has brought out the flowers, way early, but with no freezes in the forecast, it appears they will stick around....the grass sure has decided to grow.  Patricia, bad knee and all mowed the back yard for the second time already, and got the main yard done for the first time....but by this weekend, I should be ready to resume my roll of doing that....I will also make plans on umpiring beginning next week.  Frankly if it was tonight or tomorrow, I would back off....I cancelled games yesterday, a scrimmage for tomorrow, and a double header for Saturday, but metal clamps or not, I plan on being back at the diamond Monday afternoon as Paulding host Lima Shawnee in those schools season opener.  It may take a couple of games to venture behind the plate, but I can no longer stand to sit around and wait to heal.

I did order a full Hockey Style Helmet for working behind the plate, I made an order to the Flemings outlet in Columbus on Monday, and to my surprise, it arrived less than 24 hours later via UPS.  The fit was good, the protection as good as it gets{nothing is 100%}, and it will likely be the last plate mask I will ever need. 

People might ask, "If you get hit in the throat with those metal stitches by a thrown or batted ball, couldn't that be real serious"?  Duh!  If I get hit in the throat by a batted or hard thrown ball, WITHOUT the stitches, it's gonna be real serious...all you can do is tighten up your mask, your chest protector, and do the best you can....or you can give up living, crawl into a freaking corner, curl up, and die.  Pretty easy choice for me...reaching 63, and having the latest health issues laid out, it's not hard to figure out..."Sooner or later, you're gonna check out anyway, so you better damn figure out how to enjoy life as it is, and if something happens, let it be living a full life, and not sitting around being scared shitless that something will happen".

So, next week I'm umpiring, and this weekend, I'm driving.....and within the next month, I'm going back to lifting weights....three weeks out from stopping most exercise activity, I feel like I'm wasting away, and I sure don't like it.  Getting older, it's easy to quit and when you do, you lose what you've worked out for quickly....it's also a Hell of a lot harder to gain it back and get back in the rhythm...but that doesn't mean I won't try.

 The one thing that pisses me off about Obama Care and the rest of the "Nanny State"....the nation is obsessed with living longer, and if doesn't matter if that means being drugged up, and having Cadillac Heath Plans designed to keep you relying on the Government Bureanrats.  Sure it's nice to be able to go to the doc or the ER if needed, and know the costs won't bankrupt you...but let's face it, 40 years ago, that wasn't a problem, you paid as you went, and most could afford it...now, nobody can!  It's not the doctors, or the clinics, or hospitals, it's the stinking Government, bureaucrats, politicians, and lawyers, willing and ready to sue or screw anybody at the drop of a hat....the republic is in the crapper, thanks to Government regulations and interference in our daily lives, and most people are just too stupid or gullible to see it.  I thank God that I am 63....as much as I love my kids and grandson, I sure the Hell wouldn't want to be their ages, and face what we are facing as a dying nation/Republic.

Well enough of that off the track rant for today....back later>>>>

Photo-The Backyard Flowers are in full bloom, perhaps as much as a month early....a CD Book I need to finish, and checking out the new Umpire/Hockey Helmet, fitted for greater protection, are on the agenda for today....