ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Cold Water Splash

Updated on March 25, 2016
Thomas Vetto, MD profile image

This recounts a ‘make and mend’day and shows one of the families homes,always worth seeing.

The view from my sister and brother-in-law's house. Their patio looks down about eight hundred feet  from the South side of Marquam Hill.
The view from my sister and brother-in-law's house. Their patio looks down about eight hundred feet from the South side of Marquam Hill. | Source

Writing without a Script

I had not intended to blog today; my dear wife kept me up very late last night watching a Discovery reality show about the trials and tribulations of a large family homesteading in Alaska. Up until four, plans of early breakfast and much work completed were cast aside in favor of getting out of bed and drinking coffee until the cobwebs dispersed.


The first thing I did upon arising, after brief morning ablutions, was to wander into the kitchen thinking of some nebulous repast. A large sinkful of dirty dishes overflowing onto surrounding verges changed the course of my morning; I grew up doing dishes and my college job of member of the janitorial squad at a large downtown Portland department store had me comfortable with the use of broom and management of garbage. Within fifteen minutes I had loaded the dishwasher, got that load running, swept the floor of the kitchen and family room and set up our dual garbage cans with new bags and courageous purpose. It was time to attend to the morning coffee.

My favorite brew had for years been Folgers, very strong, percolated, black. In medical school I had taken an old Sunbeam percolator with me to my digs, where I usually drank three to five percolators-worth of Navy coffee per day. When I finally developed premature atrial contractions after a year of four to five hours of sleep a night, I took a look at my habit and discovered I was drinking about twenty large cups of coffee a day. A year-long drug holiday brought my heart back into allignment but I have been careful about over-indulgence since.

I have a Hamilton Beach twelve cup percolator now. I don't care for the drip coffee makers which are almost all you can get now, though I do have a Mr. Coffee. The magical ratio of coffee to water in a percolator brew has been lost, though upon asking, Mom said four tablespoons to six cups would work well. I tried that this morning after kitchen cleanup and was rewarded with a pretty good result. Is it MS that dulls the sensation I looked for in the the first sip of the day or twenty years of Camels?

Within the last eight months there have been two deaths in my immediate family. My Uncle Joe, a Josephite priest who had worked much of his life in Louisiana, died in his mid-eighties in the Spring of 2011 and was buried in Baltimore. My aunt Eleanor died in Baltimore and was buried a few weeks ago. She was ninety four. I was able to get to Father Joe's funeral.

These are not sad times. Each of my Mother's sibs was quite old and had led long, productive and happy lives. I can't mourn someone who has approached the century mark with most mental parts present and with large, loving extended families present. I can only hope for a similar end myself.

I am now using Canadian Crutches, the name given to those having out-struts projecting perpendicularly to givee the hands secure grips. Though a little ungainly, they do support me well..

I obtained an electric scooter, with which I accompany my wife on her daily runs. There is much desert in the surround and the little beast does servicible duty along the trails. A full charge is said to supply power for a twenty mile go and our trips in the desert are not more than two. It is arguable that clawing through the Great Unpaved Outdoors takes more power than anticipated but es macht nichts as far as I'm concerned. I charge it fully after each run. The scooter has no flags, emblems or other detritis on or about it and except for the baseball cap I wear I avoid all the old/crippled man stereotypes as much as possible and go on scooting thru the desert. I try to carry a camera when we go out. I have one on my phone, which I habitually carry, but the Cannon digital piece I have gives a better result and can be easily added to my store of pics on my laptop. So you all can see them...

I was thinking a little more about Camp Foods: smallish, calorie-packed, very tasty (which for me means not too sweet, meaty, a little greasy or fatty) and packaged in such a way that no trash is left. The best package is fully burnable, easily and immediately usable as tinder. Only a light, non-odorous ash left after the meal. One thing comes to mind. Hard Salami.

My Grandfather always lept a six to eight inch link of hard salami in his fridge. aromatic, sharply spiced, he had it with bread, cheese, crackers. My earliest memories are full of its' presence on trips to Grandpop's and Grandmom's house in Spokane. All I can say is thank God they didn't eat Genoa summer sausage, which I always have disliked as tepid, soft, very greasy and bland. Give me hard salami, sliced fresh, wax-paper wrapping going straight into the fire. The only down side in my present condition is that a repast of Gallo salami, hard bread and cheese is in no way paleolithic and it is hard to justify. I think, though, that if part of a sclerotic's outdoor adventure it might be considered 'found food.'

While I'm on the subject I would alco consider M&M's peanut or almond chocolate candies. Again, in terms of a backpack, found food...many years ago, on a walk around the Southwest side of Mt Hood in Oregon, I discovered while resting at the waterfall serving as the very headwaters of the Sandy River (two miles up from Rushing Water Creek) that a squirrel had gotten into my backpack and eaten through and into a square plastic box carrying my M&M peanut candy.The takehome esson being keep your treats, or hands, as clear and uncovered as possible. And assume the squirrels will always be more persistant and smarter than you.

Please remember that MS is not a primary cause of death but may be attended by many secondary causes and that we control these, whether we know it or not. MS is not a mandatory death sentence and should be looked at as a chance to enter a new life and to relish it.

I


Source

A Cry in the Darkness

This is the best I can do, since I can't get my summary published. An early blog of a recently-diagnosed Sclorotic

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)