Memories

Spent some time this morning going through a box of "Bud's Historic Stuff".  I had been looking for letters that David sent me back in 1983 when he spent the summer working in Germany.

I found and reread them, as well as a lot of other stuff I'd forgotten that I had saved.  Quite a nostalgia trip!

• David - if I don't share that box with you before I head into the great beyond, remember to ask Mardi for it.
• Mardi - before you give it to David you should probably remove the trove of emails that we shared back when we were dating and falling in love (that was back when Roger observed that I was reliving the teenage years that I had missed).  Too spicy for the lad!

I imagine that a lot of you may have done a similar tour back through time during the past three months. 

I hope your memories were as meaningful and rewarding to you as mine were to me.

Just to indicate how stupidly sentimental I am, I even kept a poem from Al Knapp, called "The Team".  As Ron King would say, "sheesh!".

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Spent some time on the lawnmower again today.  This time I was wise enough to wear my parka!

David's farm is 22 acres.  I'm guessing from the greenhouse back to where I'm standing there is about 10 acres of grass that I need to cut.  A bit of a challenge!

As you can see from the path I carved on the way out, it is still pretty wet in spots.

So, I had to pick my path carefully.

We have a few hazards on the course (other than the tractor ruts) including this ditch which crosses the property.

Trillium Hill Golf is probably the only course in the world that has an ice rink as a hazard!

And a pond (which doesn't look too good right now, but has a very nice bass population).

Can't wait to get the Tuesday guys out for a "round" (golf or beer - whatever!)
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Roy Mandy sent along the following item:

The paragraphs below were written by a nurse who works with ventilators:

Here you go folks... for those people who don't understand what it means to be on a ventilator but are still pushing to go back to work.... 

For starters, it's NOT an oxygen mask put over the mouth while the patient is comfortably lying down and reading magazines. Ventilation for COVID-19 is a painful intubation that goes down a person’s throat and stays there until you get better or die. 

It is done under anesthesia for 2 to 3 weeks without moving, often upside down, with a tube inserted from the mouth up to the trachea and allows you to breathe to the rhythm of the lung machine. 

The patient can't talk or eat, or do anything naturally - the machine keeps you alive. 

The discomfort and pain they feel from this means medical experts have to administer sedatives and painkillers to ensure tube tolerance for as long as the machine is needed. It's like being in an artificial coma. 

After 20 days from this treatment, a young patient loses 40% muscle mass, and gets mouth or vocal cords trauma, as well as possible pulmonary or heart complications. 
It is for this reason that old or already weak people can't withstand the treatment and die. Many of us are in this boat ... so stay safe unless you want to take the chance of ending up here. This is NOT the flu.

Add a tube into your stomach, either through your nose or skin for liquid food, a sticky bag around your butt to collect the diarrhea, a foley to collect urine, an IV for fluids and meds, an A-line to monitor your BP that is completely dependent upon finely calculated med doses, teams of nurses, CRNA’s and MA’s to reposition your limbs every two hours and lying on a mat that circulates ice cold fluid to help bring down your 104 degree temp. 

Anyone want to try all that out? 

Then stay home!  Stay safe and well!

Amen brother or sister!

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Dig out your "mom" memories for tomorrow.  Stay well.