There and back in a flash

This post is all about a road trip we took showing some of the contrasting landscape we drove through, and it is done so my family and friends in New Zealand, can see just how different the territory is between Western and Eastern Washington.
Friday late afternoon, we left Whidbey Island for the long drive to Moxee which is just the other side of Yakima WA, to compete in a pistol match on Saturday.

We arrived at the range close to 8pm after stopping and enjoying a dinner at Big Red's 50's style diner. We parked our RV and settled in for a quiet night before Saturday's pistol match.

From where we park the RV there is a spectacular view out across the countryside, and the sunsets are more than spectacular.

As day slipped into night, we could see lights from the community in the distance light up, twinkling softly against the shadowed mountains far behind.

Ty timing Mr C

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and we knew we were in for a scorcher of a day. We left Whidbey Island in the upper 60'sF and they were forecasting the upper 80'sF for Moxee. I was less than happy with that news as I do not do well in the heat. You can see the high berms surrounding this bay, and I can tell you, if there is no breeze, you feel that you are being slowly baked in an oven.

Sure enough, it was hot, hot, hot. I found an old, past it's best umbrella in the RV, which gave me some much needed shade, as I wrote down the times for the guys on our squad. When it came time for me to shoot, I made haste and got it over and done with as quickly as possible, so I could get back in my shady spot. Fortunately it was only a five stage match and we were done shooting by about two pm, and back on the road for home. But, we did stop on our way out of town at Dairy Queen for a large Blizzard. Yummy! and just the thing to cool us down.

From where our RV was parked looking back up towards the first bay.

A view out across miles and miles farmland and orchards to the mountains in the far distance. If it were not for irrigation, this vast land would still be a dry, sagebrush covered desert.

With Yakima behind us, we had miles of driving through hot dry sagebrush covered terrain, climbing a couple of very steep passes before dropping over the other side into greener farmlands.

I have always loved this view of miles of rolling farmland, with the spectacular mountains in the distance.

Such a lovely view, and I really prefer green to brown *grin*

I was in awe of the wind turbines my brother took me to see when I was back in New Zealand a few years ago, especially when I stood at the base of one, and now here we have them in Washington, harnessing the power of the wind.

There is a lot of construction going on, on Snoqualmie Pass, in fact, quite often there is a report on the TV that the road will be closed for an hour or so, so the workers can get some blasting done. They are removing thousands of tons of rock to widen the highway to three or perhaps four lanes.

We certainly have beautiful scenery in Washington State and when driving Snoqualmie pass you will be in awe. Of couse if you live here, after a while you are inclined to take it for granted, but I can imagine how visitors would view these majestic mountains.

How can you not be in awe at such beauty?

Back to reality, driving the freeway.

Mr C had a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel, of our non power steering RV, as we went through Bellevue. For a change the traffic was a little lighter, but still no fun to drive with some of the idiots on the road.

What a welcome sight, there is Whidbey Island across Puget sound, and the Mukilteo ferry dock just down the hill. We were lucky that there wasn't more traffic waiting to get to the island. When we left on Friday and drove up this road, the vehicles were backed up in the ferry lane, for miles. There would have been a two hour plus wait for their turn to board the ferry for the crossing.

There she is, the Cathlamet and we will board her in just under an hour.

At last, we are driving the dock to take our place on the ferry.

There are two, actually three decks on this ferry, if you count the passenger deck up above. On the left and right, there are upper and lower decks, with two lanes a piece, then in the center, are three lanes. This is where all the larger vehicles are parked, semi trucks, RV's etc. then smaller vehicles take up the remaining space. It is only about a 20 minute crossing to Clinton, Whidbey Island, then just a 15 minute drive from the ferry dock to our home.

So family and friends, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed going on this mini, ummm! vacation with us. *grin*
Oh! by the way, in the pistol match, I finished 4th out of 8, in my class.

10X versus 30X zoom

My new Kodak camera has the greater 30x zoom compared to 10x my old one has, and it sure does take some getting used to. I find I try to zoom in too close, and have to readjust as I tend to make the photos fuzzy. There is a focus feature which shows up in the viewfinder, which tells me when the picture is ready to take. What a fun time I am having learning to use the camera.

Photo of the day

I am learning to use my new camera, so I will be posting photos I am taking. Please enjoy as I learn.

What hoot!

My friend Joyce emailed this to me. Thank you Joyce for the chuckle of the day.

Sent by an over 70 yr old...................!

When I bought my Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter.

I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grand kids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grand kids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world..

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say Iget lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyonein the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearingaid out to use it,and I got a little loud .

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had runinto in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say," Re-calc-u-lating." You would think that she could be nicer. It waslike she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sighand then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made aright turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms andthe dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings..

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those

cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember

to take them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look .

I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do toot a lot."

Us senior citizens don't need anymore gadgets. The tv remote and the garage door remote are about all we can handle.

A camping trip at it's finest

Every year we make the trip from Whidbey Island to eastern WA, to meet with our friends of The Fishin' Club.
We all stay at Coulee Playland resort on Bank's Lake and look forward to enjoying lots of fishing, camaraderie, a potluck dinner and some nice warm weather.















There are a couple of routes you can take to get to Bank's Lake, we prefer the beautiful drive up over the North Cascade highway. This year there was an exceptional snowfall, and still evidence of it to be seen.
















I heard on the news, that the road crews had to clear some 60 feet of snow from some areas of the road in preparation for the opening of the highway. That is a lot of snow removal.
















We arrived at the campground late on Thursday, launched our boat, parked the RV in our campsite and settled in for a few days of fun.
Picture taken of the lakeside campsites as we came back from a fishing trip.
















Our little Sunrader RV. Compared to most other RV's it is small, but we get good gas mileage, and it has all the amenities a person needs, in short, it suits us and our budget.

















Friday evening, Kevin cooked on the B-B-Q oysters he raises, while the rest of us played a game. I was never fond of oysters, but these, which were smothered in a seasoned butter after they were cooked, were tasty.















mmmm,mmmmm good!















Mr C and I love to motor into some of the smaller bays around the lake in search of bass. This one is surrounded by towering walls of rock and you could get a kink in your neck if you scan the heights for any length of time. I am always interested in what manages to grow on the rock face.


















Looking up at the craggy rocks way above our heads. It is amazing how the trees and plants manage to survive in such a bare environment.

















Looking back out of the bay at what is known as Lover's lane. This is where you can get through to go further on up the lake. As we have a small (12 foot) aluminum boat, we don't go too far from the campground, as the weather can change very quickly, the lake becoming extremely choppy, not a good thing to be out in, in a small boat.
















Not worth keeping a fish which is not much larger than the lure, but fun to catch and release.
















Then there was an incident when a crawdad pot was tossed out, by someone who will remain nameless *grin*, the two halves separated and sank to the bottom. Fortunately Mr C was going out in the boat and was able to snag the unsecured half with a boat hook, and return it to shore to be firmly secured to the other half.
















Saturday is the day we all overindulge in a potluck dinner. We usually eat anywhere between four and five pm so those keen fishermen who want to, can go out for a few hours fishing before nightfall, and the rest of us can sit around the campfire, burp, and tell stories. *chuckle*

First my car, NOW my camera

Sheesh! I can't win for losing. Last week my car broke down, then, thankfully at the end of our mini vacation to Banks Lake WA, my camera refused to work. I turn it on and you can hear it making noise but the lens does not come out. I smacked the camera a few times thinking a piece of grit may have found it's way down beside the lens, but no, it still does not want to work. Oh! well, it is probably time to retire my Kodak Easy share anyway. It did take very nice pictures and I liked the features, so I want something similar which will not cost me an arm & leg. Anyone out there have any recommendations. I did go online and came away very confused, as there are many, many cameras and the ones I look at seem to cost a whole lot, I really do not want to spend too much as I still have to buy my airfare to New Zealand, and that is expensive.

I didn't have to make lemonade after all

Well, all the woes with my car turned out OK. A friend of mine drove me to my first job then on the way back we stopped to see what progress had been made by Ben, my mechanic, in fixing the Buick. What a guy! he had it all done and it was ready for me to drive it away. Ben told me that I was fortunate indeed in making it to his garage, as the problem was a burned out camshaft sensor and the car would not start for him in the morning, so he did the repair right where I had parked it.
Mr C is back from Holland and had a grand time, he is now busy getting the RV ready for our annual trip to Bank's Lake (Near Grand Coulee Dam). We were going to leave Friday morning, but as my am client had canceled for tomorrow, we will leave as soon as I have the RV packed. I am so looking forward to getting away for a little R&R. Mr C has our fishing gear ready, I have plenty of good food, a bottle of wine and a book to read, ready to go into the RV tomorrow.
See you when we get back.

How do I make lemonade out of these lemons?

Just when a person thinks all is going well, a wrench is thrown in the works. Mike is in Holland shooting in a pistol match, and just before he left I asked which of his two vehicles I could use if my car failed, he said the blue van. I really though my car was OK until it broke down yesterday. My mechanic drove me home and as soon as I had put my groceries away, I went out to bring the blue van up to the house. DANG! it would not start, it was deader than a Dodo. I called the office and canceled work for today, and I can ill afford to lose any wages as I am trying to save for a visit to my homeland, New Zealand later this year. I am afraid the repairs to the car is going to take a large bite out of my savings, I may not be able to afford the trip at all, and that is very upsetting.
Well, that is enough crying, whining for now, just had to get it off my chest, and I really can't see how to make lemonade out of this mess. Perhaps buy a lotto, nuh! "if wishes were horses......."

We are going to be in charge.

Mr C is leaving to shoot in the European Steel challenge tomorrow. He will be away in Holland for almost a week, and as I cannot afford two trips in one year (going to New Zealand in November) I get to stay home and take care of the place. Of course I will have plenty of help from the rabbits in keeping the grass mowed, and someone to talk to *grin* I told Mr C that I would make sure all the partying and cleanup would be done before he returns *chuckle*

Go vote for my honey

Quote: from Mr. Completely

I got an email from the good folks at Lucky Gunner.com telling me that I had been nominated for a Gunnie Award for the best gun blog in the Entertainment category.

Please go HERE and read the whole story, and cast your vote.

A busy time planned for this year

Yes I have been tardy in my blogging, really no excuse except to say I haven't had much to say. Our shooting season has started in earnest. The last two weekends we have been away competing in matches, and this weekend is the Washington State Steel Challenge Championships in Ephrata.
I sure hope the weather is better than we have here, these cool overcast dreary days, are starting to wear thin. The only good thing about the cooler weather, is that my cool weather vegetable are lovin' it.
I have been planning my trip back to New Zealand later this year, but air fare is outrageous right now, so I am ummm! hoping that the price of gas will go down ( I am not holding my breath on that happening any time soon) therefore airfares will drop. It is interesting how the airlines advertise their airfares. You take a look and see an airfare around $1200 and say that's reasonable, but then, you look at the taxes and fees they tag on and it comes to a total of around $1600. Dang!
I miss my family, especially my daughter who has Huntington's disease and lives in a beautiful facility just for people with this disease. They have a family room which is offered to me for my stay, so I am able to stay right there in Amaryllis House with my daughter and see her every day. I also take time to stay with my two brothers on Drambuie, my oldest brother's boat, which is about half an hours drive from Amaryllis house, and do a little partying.
This year Mr C is going to Holland to shoot in the European Steel challenge as he and I have done the past two years, but I cannot afford to do both trips in one year, so I will stay home and take care of things while he is away Sighhh!
I am looking forward to all our adventures this year, as I truly believe that you really must try to do all you can to enjoy life to the fullest while you can. There will come a time in our lives, earlier for some, when we will be unable to enjoy even simple pleasures, because of health or other issues, so enjoy laughter and fun, and share your love with others while you can.

Happy Mother's day

This is a favorite picture of my Mother.

It will be four years come September since you left us, we miss you very much.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOTHERS

A little humor to brighten your day

JANE SEABROOK is an illustrator and designer who lives in Auckland , New Zealand . In recent years, her artwork has focused on paintings of wildlife for the Fury Logic series of books. She shares her life with her husband, two teenage children, and a growing menagerie of assorted animals.

Oh! my gosh, did you see those hats?

Yes I know the Brits are rather fond of hats, but goodness, there is a limit. I cant' believe that some of the hats worn at the Royal wedding were reported as the best. Even though I have
British/Irish/Scottish blood flowing through my veins, I would not bee seen dead wearing some of those creations. Can you imagine little 5 foot nothing me, wearing something the size of a beach umbrella, and looking decidedly less attractive, or a hat defying gravity perched over my brow, probably anchored in my hair by a dozen bobby pins. Jeez!
How about the one worn by Princess Beatrice, some sort of bow thingie creation worn on her forehead, it will be the buss of the town for weeks, as will be many of the others.

OMG is it really, where are my sun glasses? I am blinded. I do believe the sun is showing it's face.

Spring seems to be coming and going here in the Pacific Northwest. We have had snow, hail, copious amounts of rain, and as yet, not a whole lot of sun.
I had planned to spend Saturday out in the garden, but the rain drumming on our roof in the wee early hours of the morning put a stop to that idea, although we did get a short break in the afternoon. I took advantage of the break to run out to the veggie garden to sow some parsnip seeds, cover them with some row cover fabric to prevent them washing away, and get back indoors before the next downpour.
Perhaps the sun may shine a little today, so I can pull some of the weeds which are taking over my flower beds.
Yesterday we were in Puyallup at a shooting match, and enjoyed the sun on our faces for practically the whole day. Oh! what a treat to feel the warmth instead of the usual shivering and shaking as we wait for our turn to compete. I shot fairly well, and I know it is partly to do with being relaxed, due to being warm instead of having fingers and a body stiff from being cold. I will know better when I see our scores, which should be in a day or so.

Inner Peace:

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

Then you probably are,

THE FAMILY DOG !

Spring has arrived

A little humor to brighten your day

A tour bus driver drives with a bus full of seniors down a highway, when a little old lady taps him on his shoulder. She offers him a handful of almonds, which he gratefully munches up.

After approx.15 minutes, she taps him on his shoulder again and she hands him another handful of almonds. She repeats this gesture about eight times.

At the ninth time he asks the little old lady why they don't eat the almonds themselves, whereupon she replies that it is not possible because of their old teeth, they are not able to chew them. "Why do you buy them then?" he asks puzzled. Whereupon the old lady Answers, "We just love the chocolate around them."

Me too

JANE SEABROOK is an illustrator and designer who lives in Auckland , New Zealand . In recent years, her artwork has focused on paintings of wildlife for the Fury Logic series of books. She shares her life with her husband, two teenage children, and a growing menagerie of assorted animals.

At last, I have a shooting sister

Not to say anything bad about going to a shoot and having your partner/spouse as a shooting buddy, but from a woman's perspective, it is nice to have a female friend along.
Jeanette's husband has been shooting for many years and now that she has retired, Jeanette has the time to enjoy the sport along side her sweetheart.
Yesterday Sunday, Mr C and I were up very early ( I woke up at 4am, groan, and could not get back to sleep) so we could catch the ferry at 6:35 am to take us across to the mainland for the drive to Puyallup . The ferry ride is usually about a 20 minute ride across to Mukilteo but the dock there was closed over the weekend for repairs, so we docked instead at Kingston, a 50 minute ferry ride.

This was just the second time Jeanette has competed in a match, and I must say she did very well indeed. All the practice she has put in certainly shows, as she is a very accurate shooter and will gain speed as time goes by. I know she was nervous, but we all are when we first start out, and still are at times.

The stages at this particular match were a challenge indeed. Some called for concentration and accuracy instead of all out speed. This stage had three small steel white plates in front of a large black one, and on the other side, three small red ones in front of a large white one, and waaay back, in the center, a very small white plate, called the penalty plate.. You can just see it above Jeanette's shoulder. Here is where the concentration and accuracy played a part.
The object was to not hit any of the white plates, if you did, you could take a shot at the penalty plate, and if you struck it, the penalty for hitting one of the white ones, was canceled out.
On one string, I missed one of the red plates, muttered "oh crap" sent up a nano second prayer for accuracy, gritted my teeth and sent a round down range at the small penalty plate. Whoo hoo! I hit it, whew! it would have cost me a 5 second penalty if I missed.
Jeanette also had to take a shot at the penalty plate, and she also manage to save herself from a five second penalty by striking it.
All in all we had a great day, even though it turned out to be an unusually long match due to many shooters showing up, some shooting more than one gun, then after the match, seven of us went to the Hanger restaurant for dinner, and of course sat around talking. Mr C and I left Puyallup at 7:20 pm and instead of taking the chance of a long wait for the ferry, decided to drive back to the island via deception pass.
We arrived home at 11:25pm I was in bed by 11;36pm and thought I would get a peaceful nights rest. Jeez! my mind would not shut down, so today I feel like a zombie, thank goodness I have just one two hour shift at work.

A sight for sore eyes

From our house, we look across at the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsular WA. This morning they were spectacular in their beauty.

We never grow tired of seeing the mountains, covered in snow, or gilded in lovely sunset colors.

Thursday humor

The teacher said; “Take a pencil and paper, and write an essay with the title ‘If I Were a Millionaire.’” Everyone but Joe, who leaned back with arms folded, began to write feverishly.

“What’s the matter,” the teacher asked. “Why don’t you begin?”

“I’m waiting for my secretary,” Joe replied.

Awwww you are so cute

Sometimes I simply don't have a whole lot to blog about, especially during the winter months when I am not venturing far from home. I have decided, for your entertainment, to post pictures from the extensive collection of photos I have taken during the past years.

Here is the cheeky little semi-tame black bunny, who decided to rest on top of a potted fern. Of course I shooed it off, and moved the pot away from the other pots, so the rabbit did not have something to jump up on to enable it to climb onto the potted fern. This little rabbit is very friendly and will come hopping up to me as soon as I open the front door. Naturally I nearly always have a treat for "black Bunny" Mr C and I are of the opinion, that years ago, some kids in the neighborhood had domestic pet rabbits, and when they no longer wanted to care for them, or had too many babies to look after, they released the rabbits into the wild, and they have bred with the local cottontails. Now we have golden, brown, gray, and a couple of black rabbits of cottontail and domestic heritage, happily living in the neighborhood.

Pray for the people of Japan.

Fast and furious

I checked the weather radar off and on all morning, watching the approaching storm trying to gauge when it will hit this part of the island. I had a very good reason for doing so, as I had a client to visit at 3pm. and did not want to be caught on the roads in the snow storm. At 1pm, I called the office and had them call my client to see if it would be all right with her to come and take care of things at 1:30pm, it was so off I drove.
I worked at breakneck speed all the time glancing out the window at the gathering clouds. By 3:30pm I had done everything I had planned on, like meals being prepared and left in the refrigerator to be easily re-heated, and wood brought upstairs to feed their wood stove.
At 3:35 the first of the hail started to fall and by 3:45 I was on the road driving through wind whipped hail on my way home. I was very happy to turn into our driveway, pull up under the carport and go inside the nice warm house. Around 5pm it started to snow, and it came down very fast. The wind was driving the snow sideways and about 1 1/2 inches accumulated in just about half an hour.
If the forecast is right on, then we are to have plenty of snow this evening, then freezing temperatures Thursday and Friday. I don't have to work tomorrow but do on Friday, but if the roads are slick, I intend of staying off them.

We are being dumped on

11:49 Update: look what we have now. I elected to stay home and not drive on the slippery roads. There have been accidents reported, and I don't intend to add to the count.

8:46 am It started out with a very heavy rain, then turned to snow, changed to hail and now it is a mix, all blown by a very stiff wind.
I have to be at work at 10 am, so I am hoping this has blown over by then, as the roads could be a little slick.

A NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

I was sent this via an email, and thought it very worthwhile posting. How many of us women know what to expect?
I recommend that you ladies read this for your own benefit and you men so that you can advise your wife or girl friend.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD READ THIS . . .
A NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this event that I have ever heard.


FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read.

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack .. You know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies.

Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.

'I had a heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable.
You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).

This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening -- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we?

I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!

I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else ...
But, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics ... I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts..

She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.

'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stints.
'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.'

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act).
It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up ... which doesn't happen.

My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before.
It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on the road.

Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.

Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics..
He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP.
Your Dr. will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure).
MI's are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in thebody, which
dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there.


Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive..

Wednesday humor

One day an old German Shepherd starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost.. Wandering about, he notices a panther heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old German Shepherd thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!"

Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the panther is about to leap, the old German Shepherd exclaims loudly,

"Boy, that was one delicious panther! I wonder, if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the young panther halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.

"Whew!," says the panther, "That was close! That old German Shepherd nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a squirrel who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the panther. So, off he goes.

The squirrel soon catches up with the panther, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the panther.

The young panther is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, squirrel, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that
conniving canine!"

Now, the old German Shepherd sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?," but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old German Shepherd says...

"Where's that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!"

Moral of this story...

Don't mess with the old dogs... Age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery!
BS and brilliance only come with age and experience.

You know you have had enough of winter when.......