Tuesday

I spent the day at home. I was not in pain, but still didn’t feel like I should be driving anywhere. I took one pain pill about 4pm yesterday then last night, one more before going to bed about 11pm. I took another one about 10am as the irritating pain was coming back. It is now 10 hours later, and still no pain. Still a little high. I can’t imagine how I would feel if I took them every four hours. I actually spent a lot of time at the computer this morning. I’m usually on about 8 and off by 10. Today I didn’t get off until almost noon. Time just seemed to move real slow, and I kept jumping around learning new things. Interesting side effect of those little white pills. My rash is starting to heal—more good news. It also didn’t spread today, the first day five that it hasn’t. More good news. Guess I am healing.

NPR did a good story this morning on the Federal Employees Health Care System. That’s the one I’m in and it gives me many choices each year for the kind of coverage I want. I pay about 25% of the cost, the Federal government pays the other 75%. This is not unusual in the business world of big business. This is also the same choices and payment that members of the Senate and House have. A right wing conservative believes that Federal Employees are having 100% of their health care premiums paid by the taxpayers. The stupid argument is that my entire salary and my entire retirement comes from tax payer money so some is paid by my Department funds of tax payer money, and my share is paid from Department funds of the tax payer money. Today I learned that my Federal BCBS has one of the highest deductibles of the BCBS system. We also have one of the highest premiums of the BCBS system. We also have a less dental and less eye care than most of the BCBS plans. It should be noted that BCBS is the most popular insurance plan in the Federal System So for all those people who think that the health care insurance industry is just fine, look at what the Feds were able to get. The Feds are the largest BCBS business in their system.

My mom passed a year ago today(21st). My dad--16 years ago yesterday (20). My brother and I had a good conversation this evening. We are both saddened that they had to pass, but are so grateful that neither had to really suffer. Both had told us that they were ready to go, and not to do any extraordinary or heroic measures. So when the inevitable questions came from the medical staff, we knew what to say without any guilt. In some ways that makes the passing easier, but it still hits the family hard. We have some very happy memories to recall, and a lot of things that bring a smile to our faces.

Today is the last day of summer. Now we have some stats on our rainfall. For September we got ¾” of rain, our average is 1.5”. For the summer we got 2.84”, while our recorded average is 7.05”. This year was the 3rd driest summer in Flags recorded history. Ouch. Thankfully we haven’t had a major forest fire around Flag this year, but have suffered from the smoke of a couple of big fires south of us. We are being told to expect our first freeze this week.

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Random Facts…

A snail can sleep for three years

In France, it is legal to marry a dead person!

Crazy Stuff In The News …

KAMIAH, Idaho – If you look you can actually find pictures of this bizarre accident online! An Idaho woman who was skewered in the neck by a tree limb while driving with her husband along the Lochsa River is recovering at home.

20-year-old Michelle Childers and her husband, Daniel, were taking a recreational drive on a rural road Sept. 5 when a spruce tree crashed through the passenger side window of the vehicle. Childers says she then felt a “strange” pressure on her neck and shoulder. Her husband told her that the tree limb had impaled her.

The couple drove to the Lochsa Lodge near the Idaho-Montana border to call for help and was flown by helicopter to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont. Childers says the 13-inch tree limb was removed from her neck during a six-hour surgery.

September Month Long Observances

Apple Month…Be Kind to Editors & Writers Month…Children’s Good Manners Month…International People Skills Month…International Strategic Thinking Month…National Honey Month…National Preparedness Month…Pleasure Your Mate Month…Healthy Aging Month…National Hispanic Heritage Month…

Before They Were Famous…

Wilford Brimley was once a rancher, rodeo rider, and blacksmith. He was a bodyguard for Howard Hughes in the 1950's. Brimley also served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the end of the Korean war.

Before Matthew Broderick became famous in War Games and Ferris Bueller, he could be seen in a 1982 commercial for Lanacane itch cream.

Immediately after high school, Adam Brody had a job working at Blockbuster.

Charles Bronson worked in a coal mine before becoming famous.

In college, Garth Brooks received a track scholarship as a javelin thrower.

Week of 21 Sep…
Women’s Ecommerce Week

22 Sep Observances…

265 days so far this year…100 days remain in 2009
Fall Equinox in Northern Hemisphere
American Business Women’s Day
Elephant Appreciation Day
Hobbit Day
Nat’l White Chocolate Day
*Celtic World: Moban—2nd Harvest Day
*French Republic: Raisin (Grape) Day, first day in the Month of Vendémiaire.
*Bulgaria: Independence Day (from The Ottoman Empire) 1908.
*Mali: Independence Day (from France, 1960).
*In Europe and in cities throughout the world, Car Free Day.


BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…

…ARTS…
1290….. Bilbo Baggins (in Shire Reconning)

1901….. Allan "Rocky" Lane Mishawaka Ind, actor (voice of Mr Ed, Red Ryder)
1956….. Debby Boone Hackensack NJ, singer
1960….. Joan Jett Phila, singer
1961….. Scott Baio actor: Happy Days

…ATHLETICS…
1927….. Tom Lasorda baseball manager (LA Dodgers)
1932 ….. Ingemar Johansson boxer: world heavyweight champion [1959]
1939….. Junko Tabei Japan, 1st woman to climb Mount Everest

…POLITICS/Business…
1939….. Mike Sullivan (Gov-Wyoming)

…SCIENCE/Religion…
1791….. Michael Faraday discovered principle of electric motor

1912….. Alfred G Vanderbilt thoroughbred horse owner (Native Dancer)
1922….. Chen Ning Yang China, physicist/disproved parity (Nobel 1957)


Events on this day…

1656….. All female jury hears case of woman who killed her child (acquit her)
1692….. Last person hanged for witchcraft in US

1776….. Nathan Hale executed as a spy by the British

1862….. President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

1949….. USSR detonates its 1st atomic bomb
1961….. President John F. Kennedy signs legislation establishing the Peace Corps as a permanent government agency
1973….. Henry Kissinger, sworn in as America's 1st Jewish Secretary of State
1991….. Calif University makes the Dead Sea Scrolls public

Holy Mackerel…
1823 ….. Joseph Smith, Jr. claims that he is directed by God through the Angel Moroni to the place where the Golden plates are stored.

Word Wise Word Games
The word contronym (also antagonym) is used to refer to words or phrases that, by some freak of language evolution, are their own antonyms. Both contronym and antagonym are neologisms; however, there is no alternative term that is more established in the English language.

Here are 10 definitions. What word is defined?
1. admission of fault in what you think, say, or do; formal defense of what you think, say, or do
2. multiplication (e.g., a three by five matrix), division (e.g., dividing eight by four)
3. fasten, detach
4. usual, special
5. a large amount, a small amount
6. prescribe, prohibit
7. most severe (e.g., murder), least severe (e.g., burn)
8. incline, level
9. remaining, departed from
10. error, care
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Need so help--Here are the words

oversight/ grade / enjoin / dollop / clip /
apology / by / custom / first degree / left /
Scroll down for answers
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Answers:
1. apology - admission of fault in what you think, say, or do; formal defense of what you think, say, or do
2. by - multiplication (e.g., a three by five matrix), division (e.g., dividing eight by four)
3. clip - fasten, detach
4. custom - usual, special
5. dollop - a large amount, a small amount
6. enjoin - prescribe, prohibit
7. first degree - most severe (e.g., murder), least severe (e.g., burn)
8. grade - incline, level
9. left - remaining, departed from
10. oversight - error, care

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