Good morning!!!!

[toppop52]

300UGUY- I hope that you are now off the steroids (Prednisone?) and are recovering/recovered. Powerful medications = powerful side effects.

I am no Dr or epidemiologist, but the way this flu is killing all age groups on a national scale it seems that the virus has mutated and the existing batch of vaccines are no longer as effective.

I do believe that some day some pandemic event will wipe out a lot of people.

I agree, I don’t think this is the one, but then we never do!
I take 5 mg prednisone daily, don’t like it but I can’t function without something to mitigate arthritis. I took NSAIDS for years, landed me in the Emergency room at 2 am in 2005 with CHF. AT THE TIME I WAS DOING 30-40 minutes and 10 miles daily on exercise bike or the real thing. So sometimes it’s the lessor if the evils.

 

[jbrumberg]

Randy- It must be a real shocker to go from a regular, healthy daily exercise regimen to an ER with CHF . I did not have such a healthy pattern, but the 911 event still came as a surprise. Prednisone is one of the best anti-inflammatory medications known. It also has an extremely high side effect profile. Unfortunately I got most, but it saved my life and I am a pretty/"semi":embarrassed: "active" 65 y.o. :wink: I can not take any NSAIDS safely. I first started on IV steroids and am extremely happy to now be completely Prednisone free. It took 17 years. The Docs told me that I would be on Prednisone forever; they were wrong. . It is my belief that 5 MG is a "safe" maintenance dose. According to one of the now-no-longer-needed specialists, our body produces ~10 mg of a similar chemical.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I am no Dr or epidemiologist, but the way this flu is killing all age groups on a national scale it seems that the virus has mutated and the existing batch of vaccines are no longer as effective.

I heard a doctor being interviewed on the radio the other day that gave a half dozen reasons why the flu was so bad this year. One of them is that several strains are active, and one of them is particularly virulent. Each year the gummint makes their best guess as to what strains will be present, and this year they didn't guess very well. The doc also said that there are enhancers that can make the shot more effective, and the CDC has not put the research in needed to make them as good as they can be.

I share your concern about a pandemic. I'll even up the ante with a conspiracy theory employing biowarfare research in a far off Asian country, the end result of which will hit the West very hard but leave their own populations relatively unscathed. I have no proof or even rumors to go on, but it seems natural that such efforts would be underway given all of the other WMDs they have developed.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning all! Working on 2nd cup of coffee. Wifey just made 'grand slam breakfast' .... Mmmmm bacon! Well, finally got some precip.. Thanks CWB Wyo for sending the snow down.. Got about 4", but coating of ice underneath. This is the first precip for the past 98 days. Now if we can get rid of the wind-- forecast 50-70 mph this afternoon. Already shut down I-40 because of ice, blizzard conditions. Current temp this morning was 23*, going up to 40. Should melt off what's left after getting blown away! Looked at the drive.. Pretty clear except for a few drifts. We were gonna run errands / shopping but no way with the ice under the snow. I'm sure she made breakfast to make me stay inside(LOL).

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 43F @ 9:00AM. Cloudy with light rain developing this afternoon. High 49F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Looks like we'll pick up another 0.37" overnight.

Hope the rest of your flights go smoothly, David, and you have good weather for your East Coast visit.

Spent most of yesterday reading for the fun of it, been a long time since I did that. Did manage to tinker a bit on the old motorcycle as well, and found I need a pair of shims for the front swingarm (it's an Earls fork design). I think I have some stainless steel bar stock of an unknown pedigree in the scrap bin, and will see what I can do in the lathe to knock out a pair today. Also finished connecting the alternator/ignition trigger connectors, and am pretty happy so far with that installation. Some of the wires were much too long, but there's not much I can do about it unless I want to order replacement spade type connectors and shorten them, so for now they'll just get zip tied into tight bundles and secured up under the fuel tank.

Also need to figure out what's going on with the rain gauge, as we're due for another soaking tonight.

Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

 

[jbrumberg]

RNG- A "little" paranoia could be considered an adaptive response :wink:, but seriously I share your concerns about biowarfare. There are caches of biowarfare agents around the world.

We humans may already under attack by aliens according some "blather" that I was "hearing" half asleep in my easy chair one night that I did not make it to bed.:embarrassed:

I do enjoy a "good" conspiracy theory , I heard some really good ones at the secure psychiatric hospital where I worked:wink:.

The NWS issued a Winter Hazard Alert (freezing rain/mixed precipitation) for this area starting tonight through tomorrow AM around commute time. We are so happy not to have to go to work nowadays. Wifey had a daily 86 mile round trip commute during her working years. I was considered an "essential staff person" I could never take a snow day. I got "taken to task" for coming in late; once by a superior who had called out.

 

[txdon]

Don can you recommend a suitable spice ?

You are own you own for cat, dog and fox spices?

Caution on Chicken broth, even the low sodium has a lot of sodium - check the label. A good substitute is poultry seasoning which consist of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, pepper and nutmeg in a salt free vegetable broth. (like the one below)

Our salt free flavorful broth come's from one of Dr. Greger's recipe:
1 medium onion
1 carrot
2 celery ribs
3 cloves garlic
2 dried mushrooms or a teaspoon of porcini powder
1/2 cup parsley
black pepper
2 Tbs miso
7 cups of water
Boil till done or Instant Pot it and then blend it in a mixer.

To get it really flavorful add this
SAVORY SPICE BLEND
2 Tbs nutritional yeast
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs basil
2 tbs thyme
2 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs dry mustard powder
2 tbs paprika
1/2 tbs numeric
1/2 tbs celery seed

 

[txdon]

I thought I read that that the entrance gates to the National Parks would not be staffed during this shutdown, so there's no entrance fee and nobody needs a Senior Federal Park Pass.:thumbsup:


Government shutdown: Alcatraz, Yosemite remain open

I'm going to have to wait now for sure, so I can USE my pass.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I'm going to have to wait now for sure, so I can USE my pass.

Absolutely! Right now there's nothing to keep the riff raff away from the hoi poi!:laughing:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I thought I read that that the entrance gates to the National Parks would not be staffed during this shutdown, so there's no entrance fee and nobody needs a Senior Federal Park Pass.


Government shutdown: Alcatraz, Yosemite remain open

Last shutdown they closed the parks