Daily Archives: April 17, 2013

Commentary on the news, Faith and Spirituality, Myth and Story, Politics, US History

The God of War

Leave a comment

Spring                                                                         Planting Moon

Gun control derailed two days after the Boston bombing.  Say again?  So violence wins.  Ares is the god of our time, not Yahweh, although in a fight Yahweh never put away the slingshot.

The god of war has built temples in many places over the long centuries, here is one located in Fairfax, Virginia.  NRA HQ.

It features a headquarters range with the following offerings:

The 15-position NRA Range is open to the public and offers:

  • Shooting Events and Activities!
  • Shooting Distances up to 50 yards!
  • Automatic target retrieval system that allows the shooter to edge and face the target for time intervals programmed by the shooter!
  • Wheelchair Accessible!
  • All pistol calibers and rifle up to .460 Weatherby Magnum!
  • A professional staff of NRA Certified Range Safety Officers!

Where does the propensity for violence leave us?  It leaves us with domestic cooking utensils, producers of pot roasts and swiss steak by my mother for example, as weapons of cruel destruction, ripping body and bone apart rather than building it at the supper table.

It leaves us with the twisted irony of the United States Senate turning away minimalist gun control legislation with the taste of cordite still in the air, with shrapnel still in victim’s bodies.

Wish I could dial up Zeus and tell him to call off his boy.  Tell him to stand down.  Enough.

 

Dogs, Family, Third Phase, Woolly Mammoths

Becoming a doctor instead of a professional sewer

Leave a comment

Spring                                                                          Planting Moon

Granddaughter Ruth, turned 7 last week, asked Grandma, “Why did you become a doctor instead of a professional sewer?”  Grandma has been teaching Ruth to sew.  “Because I’m good at being a doctor, too.”  Lots of great information in that exchange.

Vega just came in from the outside carrying one of the green toy balls.  She brought it all the way inside, deposited it beside the water bucket and continued onto the living room to lie down on the rug.  It’s a dog’s life.

We’ve been talking, here and there, about the third phase at our Woolly meetings.  Maximize life now.  While we have it.  Say yes to life.  Do what only I can do.  A few approaches, still being tried out.  We had two new third phasers join the group in the last couple of months.  There’s one outlier at 64 and another at 60.

 

 

Health

That Shoulder Thing

Leave a comment

Spring                                                                       Planting Moon

A Vikings jersey #4 with Favre written on it hung in the corridor.  There were other jerseys too not any one I recognized.  Kate found me a shoulder doc and this was a sports medicine clinic.  And here I was.  #66.

The shoulder quieted down after three weeks of rest and return to resistance work has not caused it to flare again so this appointment didn’t seem as urgent as when I first made it.  Still, I wanted to know what was going on and what I might do if it got problematic again.

The short answer.  Aging body.  Maybe some nerve impingement from arthritis in the neck.  Maybe some tear in my rotator cuff.  At my age 20-30% have some.  Maybe some asymmetry from the polio long years ago.  After several x-rays there was no sign of arthritis in my shoulder area.  “The bones are healthy, especially for someone your age.”

I have “an open invitation” for an MRI and further imaging to run down with some certainty the rotator cuff and nerve involvement, but there’s nothing that can be done about them now.  So I passed on the imaging for the moment.

A bit of physical therapy, maybe two sessions.

Got what I wanted.  Nothing immediately urgent or long term important going on.  It may never flare again.  If not, all to the good.  If it does, I’ll take Dr. Lervick up on his invitation and see him again.