Family loss is never EZ

While we were enjoying our travels and visit to Moscow, Idaho, I got a message from my Niece, Jeannie Newman. Her sister, Karen, had suffered a massive heart attack and was in the hospital ICU near Blackfoot, Idaho, where Karen resided. She had been revived but was on life support. Having been without oxygen for many minutes, the doctors were reporting that she was essentially brain dead. The family, her siblings and children, were being asked to make a life or death decision for her. 

In the end, they decided to remove the life support and Karen passed at about 10:20pm local Thursday, August 5, 2021. 

Karen and Jeannie were daughters of my eldest sibling, Sarah Leane. Jeannie is the youngest of six. Karen was a middle child, and is the second of her siblings to pass. Her eldest sister, Lauretta, was killed along with her husband Bruce Thain and an infant, Jeremy, the result of a horrible car crash in July of 1975. 

Jeannie and her remaining siblings, Michael Jensen, Jolinda Cox, and Keven Jensen are making plans and arrangements for Karen's final needs. I may, or may not, travel from Phoenix to Idaho to be in attendance. The family will need financial help and it may make more sense for me to send them the money I'd spend on travel.

R.I.P. niece Karen.

First air travel in the time of COVID was almost EZ

We left home Wednesday, August 4, 2021. After driving from home to Pre-Flight Parking near the airport, we rode by shuttle to Sky Harbor where we boarded a Southwest Flight to Spokane, Washington, by way of Las Vegas with a plane change there. In Las Vegas we met up with Glenda's sister, Carolyn, who was flying to Spokane from Boise with a similar plane change in Las Vegas. In Spokane, we got a rental car and the three of us drove to Moscow, Idaho, to visit with Glenda's sister Jannie, who lives there at 919 Orchard Ave. Carolyn lodged on Jannie's couch, but Glenda and I had an AirBnB reservation for the two nights of our visit at Paradise View bed & breakfast, hosted by Mike and Lynn McCollough. Our lodging was on Moscow Mountain, about five miles north of town, and truly beautiful. The lodging was clean, private, and comfortable and offered a stunning view of the Moscow valley below. Lynn provided pleasant conversation over an outstanding light breakfast. Highly recommend. 

Paradise View BnB, 1005 Joyce Rd, Moscow, ID 83843

The three sisters had a very pleasant reunion catching up with each other. Laurie, the fourth sister, was missing as she had just spent a week helping Carolyn pack to move from Idaho to Pennsylvania later this year so as to be able to care for Mark's mother there. Laurie didn't feel up to making the trip north from Twin Falls. 

Much gabbing was done, several meals were enjoyed, and hugs around. A morning journey to the countryside let Jannie share the presence of her horse, Sonny, with us. 

Jannie, Sonny, Carolyn, Glenda, Dan at Sonny's boarding near Moscow, Idaho.

We left Jannie's Friday morning, August 6th to return to Spokane and fly home. All went well, except...as we were exiting IH-90 to take the Spokane airport exit, as I slowed, a truck flew by us in the near lane. As he passed, a rock flipped up from the highway which broke the windshield of the rental car. Oh, well. There goes $600.

The rest of the trip was pretty unremarkable. Of course, due to Covid, we were in face masks all the time in the airport and on the plane – same as during our earlier travel north from Phoenix. Our flight was a 2-hour direct non-stop to Phoenix. Southwest had routed Carolyn to Boise by way of Phoenix, so we were all three on the same flight out of Spokane. At Sky Harbor, Carolyn generously treated us to dinner at Zinc Bistro before we left for home. We were home by 4:30pm, retrieved our dog, Dak, from Chandra Buchanan who kept him for us, and relaxed. Carolyn reported later that she made it home safely, as well.

 

How are you? Fine, thanks. That's the EZ answer.

Today I realized that 'fine' is a very subjective concept.

As Ms. G ages and has had various health challenges, family and friends often ask how she is doing. Often, my response is, "Fine." And most days she is fine, based on the current subjective definition of 'fine' in the objective situation we live in.

A fine day for G means that she woke up feeling good and relatively alert. After arising, she walked safely to the kitchen. Hungry, she ate from the breakfast prepared for her. On a fine day, she can (and will) shower and dress herself and take care of her dental hygiene. She can get her morning medicine from the daily dispenser with only needing help to remember what day of the week it is. She will want to listen to the audio version of her scriptures for at least 30 minutes on a fine day--she can't read them anymore due to failing vision. A fine day may find her spending most of an hour in our community gymnasium working on the stationary bicycle and the exercise machines, after safely walking the 100 yards from our front door to the community center. Later, on a fine day, she may enjoy the lunch prepared for her and then an audio book before a nap. She may call her sisters or one of our kids. On the occasional days that she is better than fine, she may unload the dishwasher or fold a basket of laundry. 

On a fine day, she doesn't ask what city we live in, or what year it is. Or how many children we have or if her father is still alive. She doesn't faint from orthostatic hypotension on a fine day, nor stumble and fall while walking. On a fine day she doesn't sleep for 18 hours, or get lost in our yard. 

Not all of our days count as 'fine.' But most do.

EZ to be exceptional

I note this morning that there is good news and bad news. 

First the good news: American exceptionalism is being proven, clearly, and is on display for the entire world to see.

The bad news? Americans are dramatically proving to be exceptionally stupid.

An EZ Invitation

This is an invitation to all my rugged individualist friends: Hey, good buddy, let’s go hunting out in the wild. Bring the camp gear. Bring the guns. Let’s get some game for the freezer and maybe a trophy for the wall. Let’s have a great, old-fashioned good time!

But we want to be safe and practice the things we’ve learned about being rugged individuals, including weapon safety, proper hydration, careful orienteering, and dressing for the weather. There are other things to consider. As we go into the untamed wildlife habitat to stealthily stalk creatures, keep this in mind: Lyme disease is everywhere in the wild where we would be hunting. It can make you really sick, with skin and nerve problems, or even a fatal heart ailment! You get it from a tick bite, and those little bastards, the size of a poppy seed with a painless bite, are opportunists. But don’t get worked up about it, it’s pretty easy to protect ourselves from Lyme disease.

To be safe, just make sure to slather on a good DEET-based insect repellent while we are on our trip. You can also get hunting gear and clothing that is impregnated with DEET to give a little extra protection.

Yes, using an insect repellent is a pain, and, yes, there are some reported side effects (even a couple of deaths!) from using insect repellents. Some people have medical conditions and can’t use them at all! But if you don’t have those issues, what the heck. In the vast majority of reported cases of adverse reactions, the discomfort or illnesses are mild. Nearly 90% of reported adverse reactions to DEET don’t even require hospitalization. In any case, such negative effects are nearly always much less severe than Lyme disease.

Even with DEET and proper coverage with special cloth, there is still a chance you may get a tick bite resulting in Lyme disease. Sorry. Nothing’s perfect. There is no 100% sure way to prevent the spread of the illness. Careful use of insect repellent won’t guarantee you won’t get sick, but it does greatly reduce your risk and nearly everyone who can safely use DEET agrees the risk-benefit calculation favors careful use of the repellent. Using the repellent and distancing yourself from the brush where you may be exposed to ticks followed by a careful inspection of your skin, when applied together, greatly reduce any risk. After all, we are here for hunting and fun, right? Don’t want a preventable illness to spoil that!

Wait. What’s that you say? You won’t use the repellent? You feel like you are being manipulated by my warning? My warning is some evil political ploy to ‘control’ you and your behavior?

Well, you certainly have your rights. If you don’t want to use insect repellent no one is going to force you to do that. After all, it is your body and your decision to make, and we can all respect that. If you get sick, you will be the one suffering and incurring huge medical bills. And you won’t likely be spreading Lyme disease to your friends, family, and strangers you meet. No. It’s not as if it were a respiratory virus or something where there would be a personal responsibility to protect others from your infection. Nope. Not like that at all.

 

For more information, see:

 

Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines. Lyme Disease Association. https://lymediseaseassociation.org/about-lyme/medical/treatment-guidelines/?gclid=CjwKCAjwgISIBhBfEiwALE19SYtP3TDQwgRa5jbpbnChAJIpgGjreBhFm0B0Pxq81ZuOVMUp7UfFAhoCn8YQAvD_BwE. (2017, February 3).

 

Schwartz AM, Hinckley AF, Mead PS, Hook SA, Kugeler KJ. Surveillance for Lyme Disease — United States, 2008–2015. MMWR Surveill Summ 2017;66(No. SS-22):1–12. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6622a1

 

Can One Die of Lyme Disease? New Health Advisor. https://www.newhealthadvisor.org/Can-You-Die-from-Lyme-Disease.html. (2019, September 1). 

De-escalation made EZ.

This is my earlier write-up of an event that happened on July 16, 2018: 

Naked people give nudists a bad name! At about 9 this evening we heard loud screaming coming from out front. With my Monday night bowl of cantaloupe pieces in hand I went out front to investigate. Just outside the front door Mrs Brown ran up to me from her house and babbled something about a naked young man on her front porch. Why was he on her front porch? Because he’d been pounding on her back door and she wouldn’t let him in. A few more neighbors gathered as the naked young man walked toward us in the glow of the street light. He was loud and abusive and was waving his arms and shaking...various parts...he was told to back away but didn’t. He approached me talking loud nonsense but I did not retreat. After I was assured 9-1-1 had been called I engaged him in small talk to keep him busy until the police 👮 could arrive. He told me his name was Elliott and he was 19. I asked about medication and he said no. I asked about self medication and he said well yes, obviously. For 45 minutes we engaged him briefly between demonstrations of physical prowess that could have passed for modern interpretive dance or simulated sex with asphalt. Or both. Now that I think of it, wouldn’t that make a grand name for a punk band? Finally an officer arrived and cuffed Elliott. It took a second officer on scene to convince him to cooperate and get into a cruiser. At that point he told the officers that he had been receiving treatment at a hospital about a mile away. As the cars pulled away my eldest son FINALLY showed up with the popcorn. I hope Elliott gets good and effective treatment—he needs it. Points scored: after the fact I told the wife, “See, there was nothing sexy about that nudity.”  She agreed.

Coincidence? That would be too EZ.

 Vacationing near Lake Havasu in Arizona, we started our morning, as per our routine, with morning prayer. In that prayer, I asked that, if it be God’s will, that he use as as tools in his hands to provide service in some way to his children here on Earth. 

Around 10am we drove out to take care of a quick errand with a plan to leave the hotel at around 11am to drive to our next stop, a La Quinta Hotel near McCarren Airport in Las Vegas. The errand took us to a part of Lake Havasu City that we would not have gone to simply in our drive out of the city. Coming back to the hotel, we spotted a gas station with an attractive price of less than $3.00 a gallon posted, so we chose to stop and fill our car for the drive.

At the pump on the other side of the island was a couple close to our age filling a pickup truck and a beautiful blue and white ski-boat. In a pause, I complimented him on his boat and how well cared-for both the boat and the truck looked. This led to a conversation. He noted I was a veteran (from my Arizona affinity license plates). I noted he was a retired fire-fighter from stickers displayed on his pickup truck. We chatted and compared notes on a few items of mutual interest. He introduced himself as Richard Reichle. When his wife joined us he introduced her as Nancy. They were from Dana Point, California.

In the conversation, it came out that they were preparing to drive Nancy to McCarren Airport so she could fly home through John Wayne/Orange County airport. As a nurse, she had to be back to work in a day or so. Richard planned to stay a bit longer to do some boating so would be returning from Las Vegas to Lake Havasu. Hmmm, I said, “That’s where we are going today—our hotel is next door to the airport.” We exchanged information, including snapping photos of drivers licenses and sharing mobile numbers.

And so it came that Nancy rode with us from Lake Havasu City to McCarren Airport. She was lovely company, and picked up the tab for lunch at a Carl’s Jr in Needles, California. Richard was saved the round trip drive to Las Vegas with the attendant cost and time involved. The kicker: Both Richard and Nancy claimed to be prayerful people, Christians, and we have no cause to doubt them. They told us that they had, that morning, prayed for God to bless Nancy’s trip to the Las Vegas airport and to make it as simple and stress-free as possible. 

You may recall we prayed that we could be of service. Richard and Nancy prayed for some help. We were placed together and discovered a painless and cost-free way for us to be an answer to their prayer. 

Events such as this, you may call a strange coincidence. I call it a faith-building experience. We bid Nancy goodbye at the curb in McCarren Aiport. Our hotel was two minutes away.