Notes From Teh Road

• We have taken a road trip and are in Ardmore at Motel 6. It was recently remodelled but already looks beaten. It gets rode hard and put up wet I am sure. We got here before 6 PM and were lucky to get a smoking room. They gave me a discount on it though. I am rarely asked if I want smoking verses non- it is most often presumed I will be cancer and gingivitis free.
• We saw a lot of cows in stock tanks just soaking in the water and not moving a muscle. That sight and the sound of cicadas always mean hot to me.
• We saw the aftermath of a horrible wreck driving through Decatur. Rex Hoskins was on the scene and it made me think everything was under control.
• Nope- no sarcasm there.
• Jorges in Paradise is always good. Zac ate enchiladas from the grown up menu.
• We are eating caramel Bugels, drinking Gatorade and watching animal docs on Discovery Channel.
• Life is good.
• My neighbor back in Texas has been out of pocket for days. When I knocked on her door her dog did not bark and her plants are dying so I presume she is not there (or not there and dead, unless her canine companion died at the same time).
• The Motel 6  pool is full of people. We followed the old motto of, Just say no to hepatitis and came back inside. Zac can swim tomorrow- in a lake where all he has to contend with are flesh eating bacteria, poisonous snakes and that one odd, out of place alligator you always read about.
• Hepatitis up there came out as hepatits first.
• Ha!
• It doesn't matter the time of day; it is usually bumper to bumper on 35 heading north during weekends these days.
• Zac is listening to his own type of music on over ear headphones on the bed across from me. He grew up. How did that happen?!
• It is 07/23/2016 at 1855 hours.
• We had breakfast 07/24/2016 at Prairie Kitchen in Ardmore as is typically our wont. They could make their coffee a little stronger but otherwise- the food and service are always in equal measure very good. There are almost always people we have seen there on previous visits. It has been open since 1984.
• There was a gentleman there with a big scar and deficit to his left cheek. He would use his left hand to osetensibly absentmindedly twirl his mustache on that side but he was just trying to conceal the scar. This was so true when had to turn away from one person he was speaking to look at another exposing the side with the scar even more- he would just open his left hand and place it over his cheek covering the whole left side of his face.
• Chickasaw Recreation area was our next stop. The spring fed swimming holes were so cold we could not hardly stand it. As a matter of fact, with ground temps away from the water at 96 degrees and rising, when we got under the shade and near a falls area where the water was contacting a lot of air; it must have dropped the temp. 15 degrees. It was positively refreshing.
• We saw no crayfish and aside from a couple of minnows we saw no vertebrate life forms in the water.
• I saw a guy covered in Mexican prison tattoos.
• It would have interesting to have been a fly on the wall and see how Native Americans used the land that comprises Chickasaw Recreation Area and interacted with each other back in the day.
• There were a lot of mixed race people there.
• The thought occurred to me of bringing a sample back from the spring source and one from further downstream and having the lab at our county health department test them.
• Zac wants to go back with his diving mask to be able to determine how deep the water is at the swimming hole we mainly used.
• Good idea.
• For some reason this song and video kept coming into my mind when I was lost in my thoughts.
• Goodnight world wherever you are. 
• I love you in spite of yourself.

Saturday's Soliloquy

US Navy uniforms are blue because... ocean?

• The movie Elysium doesn't get much love but so far- so good.
• This morning I saw an ex girlfriend.  She was walking ahead of me and turned a corner as I rounded one behind her. I don't think she saw me. 
• Two ships passing in the night  morning.
• A friendly aquaintance had to go to rehab and has been gone for 2 or 3 weeks. I hope for the best but fear the worst as she probably doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to drive on and face down her demons nor does she have a very good support system.
• When somebody says, It is isn't about the money- it is the principle of the issue! I know they are either straight up lying or deluded about the way the world works. 
• It is always about the money.
• PS: I know the USN's blueberry uniforms are (or will be soon) a thing of the past. That doesn't stop the thought with that pic from being funny.
• I am leaving Zac at home for short periods of time and having him go into stores by himself to get things for us- although I do not have to do either. Some things you just do because you should. Even if you cannot exactly elucidate why- some things are important.
• This morning (08/07/2016) I saw a bumper sticker for Triple Cross Cowboy Church which made me (and most anybody else) at first glance think of something that is one degree worse than a double cross. 
• Yes, I know what they meant. I am a vile reprobate- not a total heathen.
• Odd fact about me: Except for KZEW The Zoo and Q102 Texas Best Rock! window stickers I have never put a sticker on one of my vehicles.
• Another: I have a small stack of original Q102 window stickers. They are at least 30 years old and cool. You can be cool too- if you have a hundred bucks.

Friday's Dispatch

• This morning (today is 06/17/2016) I read an article about a woman who tested positive for meth- while in a hospital to deliver her baby. The crux of the story was that the test was erroneous although the take home should be how terribly you will be treated by society if members of it feel you have a moral failing in your fiber. She was treated like a monster by nurses.
• A nurse if no other person, doesn't get to choose how she treats or really even how she- views other people.
• PS- the prevalence of false positives for drugs (especially meth) in drug tests is one of the worst kept secrets in the medical and law enforcement fields.
• At a clinic where I worked 3 back to back patients had identical vital signs. After I took note of that, I repeated the second and third persons to make my sure my equipment (and me) were not stuck on stupid. That time, all the numbers came back in line with the first signs collected but had the slight variations one would expect and as the first sets were already signed off on- I left them. The odds are wildy against 3 people having the exact same numbers from respirations to temp to pulse to blood pressure- but it happened. A terrible supervisor came to me with a raised eyebrow and said, Soooo Kevin. All 3 of your last 3 patients had the exact same vital signs!? I have never seen that happen before. That is odd- don't you think? She was hinting that I was lying and falsifying my charting.
• Yeaaaah, I have been a nurse for 20 years. Believe me- if I was going to lie about something; it probably wouldn't be about something that would take maybe 120 seconds to do properly, that everybody can see me do (or not do) and everybody from a clerk to the patient themselves will expect to see me do.
• Today, an office buddy gave me chicken tamales for lunch. She bought them from a guy in a laundromat. They were delicious.
• Ugh. My stomach hurts and feels kind of bubbly- wonder what is up with that?!

Unnecessary Perforation

Another person I know personally who survived a gunshot:



D.A. Was crossing a fence with a holstered pistol on his right hip, when he swung his leg over the gun discharged. The bullet went in the back of his upper leg travelled downward, exited above and behind the knee and reentered his calf travelling downward and exiting above his ankle.

Wednesday's Digressions

• The Mexican guys working on the drain above the pool have figured out I understand their cursing and ragging on each other and have toned it down a bit and are also grinning at me sheepishly as they whisper to each other to cool it.
• Raisin' Canes chicken is on the way to be eaten poolside. Aside from a nursing buddy's leftovers- I have never eaten their chicken.
• Verdict: it is OK. I do not get what the fuss is all about.
• In line at the vehicle registration office this morning (today is 06/10/2016) I chatted with a retired Air Force officer who flew B52s during the Vietnam war. Interestingly, his gunner lives in Springtown. He was on leave when Linebacker started and then when he returned and was going to have to fly a mission for it- his aircraft got pulled for maintenance issues.
• While getting my vehicle inspected this morning I perused Parker county Today magazine which had a, "People of Parker County to Meet Before You Die" article. Surprisingly, I only knew 2 of the featured people (and they are family to each other-which is why I knew them both).
• Birdwell's is always busy- good for them.
• I want something good to eat but don't know what I need to satisfy the craving- BBQ might work but seafood or Mexican also sound good but either one would have to be real good to cure the craving.
• First world problems...
• Recently I helped a neighbor lady with some chores. A snoopy other neighbor snitched on me to my GF within hours.
• We have a Harbor Freight tool store in Weatherford now. Yaaaaay!
• The other day I saw an ex girlfriend doing a menial job. The last I knew she did a medical field job which required training and paid pretty well. Even if it is only part time I had to wonder why she was doing that other job and hope she is OK.
• I know of at least 4 pool halls that were in Decatur back in the day.

Monday's Missives

• Yesterday (today is 07/07/2016) I bumped into an old co worker.  She was one of those people who after 4-5 failed and abusive marriages discovered God and self help books- both of which are great- until you start beating people down with them. While I cannot say she was hated at the old job- she defininitely got on peoples nerves and she was set up to fail a few times. I felt sorry for her and used my influence to get people to back off. Yesterday, I remembered why she was so disliked. She makes an attempt at maintaining eye contact which turns into a stare down. She moves in close in an attempt to close the emotional distance but intrudes severely in your personal space. She asks you all about yourself to try and make you feel like you are the most important thing in the world at that moment but it makes you feel like you are being interrogated and you sense everything you say will come back to haunt you...
• It was a whippin'.
• Another connected thought: after not seeing her for many years and not even thinking of her for several years she crossed my mind recently. I thought about our interactions and how people treated her. I wondered where she was and what she was doing etc. It even crossed my mind how odd it was that I had not bumped into her through the years as when we were co workers while we were off duty we crossed paths frequently. For example, I rememember seeing her in multiple restaraunts and stores and bumping into her in Wal Mart parking lot- two times. It made me wonder, Is she even still alive? (she is quite a bit older than me). Although the subject changed, just last week during break room talk at lunch I almost used her to illustrate a point I was making; and then yesterday I bump into her. What am I supposed to do with those situations? Is that a God-thing that I am supposed to react to?
• Last night I started Evil Dead 2 which I am nearly sure I have never seen before. Well, to be more correct- I have definitely never seen the whole thing before.
• In another life I had multiple friends whom I could turn to when lonely. Some were older, some were younger, some were male and some female but there were several of us who knew we could turn to each other when needed. We could call or text and say, I don't want to be alone. Do you want to go ________? I don't have that anymore and I am not sure exactly why.
• Cringe compilation- Dating On Demand

Raising Zachary= The Early Years

Zachary saw a hairdresser he recognized from where he got his hair cut and her gorgeous 6 year old daughter in a restaurant today. He turned to me and said, I'm going to go say something to them. When he came back I said, What did you say to them? I asked them to sit with us, but they are going back to the shop.

Did I mention he's not quite 4 yet?