The Fuzzy Mind

Holy Crap What is Happening to My Life part 11

Fuzzy Mind — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:18:23 +0000

The world is leaving the elder members of our society behind. Technology baffles many and there is no easy way around it. We now have phones that will do everything but change the baby. Items of our everyday life have become more complicated instead of more helpful. Why? The simple answer is that we can. We can make computer chips that can handle many different functions and just because they can, we make them do it.

Why can't Fuzzy buy a work pickup truck that has vinyl seats and rubber mats with a simple AM/FM radio? Why can't I get a TV with a remote control that just turns the set on and off, changes the channels and the volume? There is just too much crap out in the world that instead of making life simpler, it is making it more complicated.

Technology is rushing us headlong towards disaster. Cash registers that calculate the change has caused many of our young people working in the retail sector to lose the ability to add and subtract. Without the machine, they just can't do it. You go into a store, restaurant or any other public place and have to listen to others private phone conversations as they continue their call as they try to order. We are becoming very rude to one another.

There is hope on the horizon. There are companies who are beginning to realize that simplicity is needed in our lives. Fuzzy has found a cell phone for his 89 year old father that he can actually use. No longer does he need to push and hold a button to turn it on, just push the on/off button. It has three large buttons to call the operator, home or 911. It has a voice dial phone directory and simple yes and no buttons to operate it. It makes him safer out in the world and eases Fuzzy's mind.

This is just one example of a company who saw a need for something less complicated and acted to produce a product that is simple and easy to use. On the other hand, this approach can also run amok if taken to extremes. We now have voice activated controls in our cars that are coming off the assembly lines. You can place cell phone calls or order up your favorite music, call a barbershop, pizza delivery and a myriad of other things, all of which diverts the drivers attention from the primary task at hand which is driving the car! We have already had to outlaw the use of hand held phones and texting while driving because some of us think we can do multiple things at the same time. I wonder if that guy texting on his phone as we hurtle down the highway could shave and brush his teeth at the same time?

Fuzzy's answer to all of this is just because we have gadgets that can preform multiple tasks doesn't mean we need to use them. There was a saying that was popular in the engineering circles of the 70's and 80's. We even had placards with it on them. It was a focus point of many design review meetings. We surely need to resurrect it and bring it back to the forefront. What you ask is it? Very simple, KISS " keep it simple stupid".

Holy Crap What is Happening to My Life part 10

Fuzzy Mind — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:01:07 +0000

CNN Special Report ,The Nations Power Grid can be shut down by hackers!!! Let's scare the crap out of the public and give the hackers encouragement to redouble their efforts. Oil has topped $130 a barrel and gasoline hits $4.00 a gallon and we haven't seen the end yet. Food bills are doubling. Milk is at $5.00 a gallon. Meat and poultry are soon to become out of reach for the older members of our society.

Those of us living on fixed incomes, some at or below the poverty level, are once again becoming the forgotten among us. The Economists tell us the bubble will break and things will come back down in price, just wait it out. Many of us are coming to the end of our ropes. It is almost impossible to put gas in the car to make it to our many doctor appointments. Do I buy groceries or gas?

We are upset over all of the jobs and businesses leaving our country. Now there is an advertisement on our TVs extolling the benefits of doing business in Malaysia. I sit here trying to enjoy a morning cup of coffee and here before me in Hi Def and living color is Jeffery Immelt trying to sell me on the idea how wonderful it would be to move my business to an Asian country! Who is Jeffery Immelt? That unamerican is none other than the Chairman and CEO of GE! That's right, General Electric. Kind of makes Fuzzy want to run out to the store and buy a light bulb. Damn. I feel proud having GE appliances in my house.

Fuzzy has great trepidation before reading today's local newspaper. Yesterday we voted on the school budget for the coming year. The new budget has a five million plus dollar increase. I would hope it didn't pass but then we always hear "its for the children". Will my taxes take a jump? Can I and others afford to keep our homes? All I hear on the news is endless blather on which candidate has the most votes for the nomination but they are not telling me that there is a plan somewhere to help put a lid on this runaway world.

We all need to help put on the breaks by controlling our budgets. Stop the extra spending that is fueling this runaway train.

Holy Crap What is Happening to My Life part 9

Fuzzy Mind — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:36:43 +0000

It is not just my life that seems to be running amok. Everyday the news sounds the alarm. The price of a barrel of oil hits another record high, food riots in the third world, food banks unable to feed the low income citizens, supermarket prices are rising faster than incomes.

E-mails are forwarded pointing fingers at various groups, companies and individuals for the the problems plaguing us. Don't buy gas on a certain day, boycott a certain company, conserve and so on and so on. I can feel the frustration of the writer and senders of these e-mails. However, they all are missing the point! The point is that the world's economies are running out of control. Each problem is not just local to one city, region or country, but worldwide.

We can, and most likely will, go on complaining and pointing our fingers at various culprits real or perceived. But we are not ,as a people, doing anything to cope with or control, let alone fix, the problems. We can look back at what we have sewn and are now reaping but we need to act together and do something. I am sad to say we cannot seem to be able to do that. We cannot get enough of us together to put forth a concerted effort to fix or repair our life situation. We have raised a bunch of isolationist children in whom we have ingrained a deep sense of me first, not in my backyard and let the government fix it. I don't have time because I am working too hard to keep a house and car that I never really could afford but bought anyway. I can however wring my hands and cry woe is me and the President is to blame. True, the buck does stop on his desk, but he alone didn't create this, the congress and all of us helped.

Woe to all of us! Fuzzy is having trouble dealing with a civilization that has lost all of its common sense. We have now passed a rule that all the school buses in New York State can no longer sit with idling engines while they are waiting at a school because it costs too much in fuel. WELL who would have thought? Why does common sense have to be legislated? Are we as a people that self-centered and stupid that we do not even realize when we are being wasteful?

A local power company had a news article printed about them because they put forth the idea that we should, in order to save money, conserve. WELL who would have thought. That required a whole article. Economists appear on news channels telling us to shop store brands and use coupons as well as buy in bulk when possible. WELL who would have thought. My family always shopped in that manner but now it is touted as new idea. Fuzzy never thought he was so far ahead of the curve. It is just to easy to be wasteful.

What does Fuzzy think can be done? Basically with the population and mindset we have now, the hard answer is, nothing. We can do nothing because we cannot work and act together. We listen to the rhetoric spewed forth by the political candidates about how they will fix things, bullshit! No one person can fix this alone.

Tell me you are going to make drastic changes in the way the government does business, that pork barrel add ons will no longer be tolerated that support for the country cannot be bought or bartered, and backroom deals are unacceptable. Tell me that you are going to conserve not only in your personal life but in your public life as well. Mandate, and if necessary legislate, conservation because as a people we are too stupid to realize that conservation IS mandatory if we are to survive ourselves. Tell me you are going to work with and cooperate with the rest of the world and stop pissing them off. Tell me how you are going to foster the technology to bring us back from the brink of economic disaster. Tell me you are going to push for more nuclear power plants and that not in my backyard is unacceptable. Tell me you are going to protect our rights as assured us in our constitution. Tell me about how you are going to foster, or better yet demand, cooperation among our political leaders. If you can tell me these things then perhaps you will get my vote. Then you had better live up to your promises!

Fuzzy believes that in the voting booth this fall should be choice entitled NONE OF THE ABOVE. If this gets the most votes then the political parties should be forced into a do over with no nationwide campaining amongst party maembers for the nomination. This is an unlikely senario so Fuzzy, like all of the rest of us, will then vote for the lesser of two evils. But Fuzzy will vote!

I ask that those of you who read this posting forward it on to others. Perhaps, just perhaps, we might wake up and smell the coffee. Conserve in everything, not just gas, but electricity, heat, cooling and groceries. Get tough people, stand up for yourself and in that way you will be standing up for others. Fight for ourselves! Fight wastefulness in our homes, jobs and neighborhoods. There is no THEY, there is only US. They are not doing this to you, you are doing it to yourself and all of the rest of us are helping. As POGO once said "I have met the enemy and they is us".

Photographing Wild Wolves

Fuzzy Mind — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:09:20 +0000

A trip to Yellowstone not in your budget? Don’t have the stamina to trek miles and lug your gear on your back? Yet you still want to photograph wolves in the wild?

That was the dilemma I faced. Many times when images of wolves would cross before my eyes I would dream of, and try to plan, a photo expedition to accomplish getting those same shots. I live here in the northeastern United States and the wolves I saw in documentaries and magazines were very remote. Ah…..the Internet. To my surprise and delight I found there is a wolf preserve in Columbia, New Jersey with Timber, Tundra and Arctic wolves. Its website is www.lakotawolf.com.

I contacted Dan Bacon of the preserve and scheduled a half day photo shoot. He told me that the best time to come would be late fall or winter since the wolves’ coats would be fully grown in then. Just like your pet dog, the wolf sheds its old coat during the summer and grows a new, full coat to protect it from the snow and cold of winter. So I scheduled the shoot for mid November, but in August that seemed like a long way off. There are weekend tours at the preserve and for a modest sum, I could get a sneak peek and have a way to formulate my plan for the shoot. So I went.

I believe I should learn as much about the animal I am going to photograph as I can. If I am photographing someone’s pet I spend at least an hour just getting acquainted before I pick up the camera. I was looking forward to getting to know and understand the wolves living at the preserve. We gathered at the office/gift shop and boarded a bus with Dan as our guide. I noted he had brought a large box on the bus. This was going to be a primary piece of equipment.

The preserve is divided into four wooded areas, the corners of each meet at the center. Each area is enclosed by a high chain link fence. A path leads from the parking area up to the junction of the enclosures. Now to the importance of the box.

Dan pulled out a handful of dog treats which he started throwing up in the air so they would come clattering down through the trees. The sound of the treats falling through the trees, along with some whoops and howls from Dan, brought the wolves down to the viewing area.

As they went searching for the treats, Dan explained many things about their behavior that would give me some idea what to expect when I came to photograph them and brought my assistant. They were beautiful animals even though they were scruffy looking during shedding.

The day of the shoot was finally upon us. We left early since I had scheduled a morning shoot and the preserve is almost two hours away. Dan was awaiting us with his box of dog treats and off to the enclosure we went in his van. As soon as we arrived, Dan began his ritual of tossing the treats and calling. It only takes a few minutes for the pack to arrive at the viewing area.

They scampered around, finding the treats, and came up to the fence to get a better look at us. Wolves are curious and they want to see and smell who you are. This wolf came within three feet of me.

When you book a photo shoot Dan opens up ports in the fence that are three feet long by two feet high. You can go right up to the port to shoot, but are warned that these are truly wild wolves and DO NOT try to touch them as they will look at your hand as food and you will lose it in an instant. Wolves have the strength of an alligator in their jaws and eat bone as if it were a cookie.

The wolf is long legged with a thin body. Its chest is not flat as is our pet dogs. The chest of the wolf is shaped like the prow of a boat. This aids in chasing prey through tall grass, weeds, and brush. They are built for speed.

The wolf also has very long toes on each foot. They developed these over the generations to give them a fast takeoff from a standing start. The long toes also allow for greater grip during the chase and aid in making quick turns. Note the length of the toes on these Arctic Wolves.

The Arctic Wolf is almost pure white. This gives them natural camouflage in the snow. You can note how the toes splay as they climb over rocky terrain. You can see one is standing on a pile of rocks in the background. This is common to all predatory animals and birds. They want to be at the highest point to observe their surroundings. It is an inbred predator trait that not only aids in spotting prey, but is also a defensive posture.

The Tundra Wolf looks very similar to the Timber Wolf except for the face. To me, their face is similar to a Collie, but with a more pointed muzzle. All wolves’ eyes are the feature of the animal that first grabs my attention. The Tundra Wolves of the Lakota Pack include a few pure black wolves.

I did this shoot with film and my assistant was busy loading cameras and changing lenses. He also kept an eye out for wolves’ natural behavior. It was during a lull that he spotted a Timber Wolf doing something so natural I had to take the shot. I have looked all over for another like it and I do believe I am the only one to publish this image. I have entitled it The Satisfied Wolf. I use it as my company logo and if you look at his facial expression, I do believe he is satisfied.

All wolves are social creatures. They live in packs and have a pack culture. There is a dominant leader known as the Alpha. There are both male and female Alphas in the pack and they are always a breeding pair. You cannot take a wolf from one pack and place it into another. It would be viewed as an intruder and would be attacked and killed by the others.

However, pups are another thing. You can take a wolf pup from any group and introduce it into another and it will immediately be adopted. I know this also happens in our Whitetail Deer population. An orphaned fawn will be adopted by another doe.

In this photo you will note the Alpha Male is looking at the subordinate with his ears up. The subordinate has his ears turned sideways and back. Also he is not looking at the Alpha. That could be perceived as a threat by the Alpha.

Here you see an ultimate sign of respect. The subordinate wolf has rolled on his back exposing his soft underbelly and his vital organs to the Alpha. He is also licking the Alpha’s muzzle. He is showing both respect and trust of the Alpha.

The wolves of the Lakota Pack await the attention of your lens and your eye. Maybe some dog treats also!

Whiz There He Goes Again

Fuzzy Mind — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:39:56 +0000

I gave my grandson a tricycle last Christmas and ever since the house has become a road race track. He whizzes around the house grinning and laughing like a mad man. Wait, got to move because here he comes again. Thank goodness I bought a bell for it. A less than agile grandfather could be sporting some crushed toes.

I also purchased a ride- on tractor last summer for his birthday. This is what he takes around the block. He can pedal that tractor so fast that Mom darn near has to run to keep up. The saving thing is that he has regular stops to make along the way to look at flowers and pick one for mom, the corner where he waits to be escorted across the street and the pine tree to look for pine cones. Fuzzy has learned all of these as I follow him on my scooter.

He does puzzles with mom or dad watching, because he no longer needs or wants help. He particularly likes the map puzzles and when he does the one of the United States he can tell you every state name and capital. He has one of Europe and Asia. How many kids can show you where Uzbekistan is let alone pronounce it?

Every night when possible he spends time with dad listening to and playing along on a drum and tambourine to music. Not the kiddie stuff like, "Mary had a little lamb", but the 1812 Overture. He often sings in dah ta dah way some classical piece which is readily recognizable.

He goes to and enjoys Soccertots, art classes, Gymboree and playgrounds. He knows to watch out for the little people and not push or shove, although the three year old mind sometimes snaps. Frustration, at some little one who is taking too long to go down the slide, does take over but is readily handled by mom or dad. He is after all only three. Right now his favorite phrase is,"I don't want to" which on occasion comes out in a screeching voice that can rattle windows two blocks away. He is beginning to understand that just because he says, " I don't want to" it doesn't mean much, because more often than not he is going to. Ahh, the three year old thing again.

I hear the bell ringing, it is getting closer. Whiz, there goes the mad speed demon again and the race has once again resumed.

Visit With a Three Year Old

Fuzzy Mind — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:20:21 +0000

The very first thing you need to understand is that you will now be trying to ride a whirlwind. There will be moments of utter calm and tranquility followed by screaming, screeching , crying mayhem when nothing is right in their world. They can entertain you better than anything. They will capture your attention and your heart and then frustrate you beyond belief.

Fuzzy is now 65, so it has been a while since his son and daughter were that age and I have forgotten what this period of life can be like. This basically is now all new to me. However I am thankfully a fast learner. You have to be because they don't wait for you to catch up. Every second can and often is something new.

This particular three year old is my grandson and he lives in Texas. In the past when Fuzzy has visited with him I had to miss out on a lot of the action, my legs would not allow me to keep up. We would go to a zoo and Fuzzy would have to find a bench to sit on while Mom and Dad took Grandson from animal to animal. By the way his favorite is and always has been the giraffe. Even as an infant in a stroller he would just sit and stare at them either in a book, video or in person. Walks around the block were out of the question. It felt like my favorite phrase was "Grandpa will be right here when you get back.".

Well, no more! I decided it was no longer acceptable for Fuzzy to miss out on the fast paced life of a three year old grandson. I had, as all of us, seen the ads for electric scooters. Fuzzy decided it was time to look into acquiring one. A quick search of the Internet showed that you can buy a used one. They seem like they are traded like cars. So Fuzzy bought one. A three wheeled model that can easily be disassembled for transport in a car trunk.

Fuzzy is now having a blast following the Grandson around the block, he on his tractor and me on my scooter. I can keep up at the zoo and other parks. No longer do I uttter " Grandpa will be right here when you get back." Life is fun.

The Cancer Survivors Support Group, part 2

Fuzzy Mind — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:35:05 +0000

It is a rainy, cold, gloomy Sunday here and there have been a number of things running through Fuzzy's mind about what I have been through in the past and how it has affected me and my outlook on life. I have an outlook on life that not many can appreciate or understand. Only those who have stopped at death's door but did not knock would fully understand. One of the most important things in my life, other than family, is enjoying every moment, just for that moment. Whats past is gone and some of it I am truly sorry for but have no control over it. What is coming is not here yet and I can only anticipate what new things it will bring to my life. This moment is here and now. I am enjoying my ability to sit at this keyboard and expound on my personal philosophy.

Fuzzy is not looking for converts to his way of looking at the world. You each have your own unique perspective on that and should enjoy and take pleasure from it. I hope none of my readers ever have to go through a major illness. However, should you find yourself in that situation understand that most of those around you will not truly understand what you are going through.

It is alright to go off by yourself and have a good cry. It eases the frustration of the time. Every now and then we all find a time in our lives where a good cry is necessary. Don't fight it, let it come and get it out. When it is over, rejoin the world to get on with your fight. Friends will try to tell you everything is going to be alright and not to cry but they do not understand the feeling of sadness that can sometimes overwhelm us during difficult times.

If you lose something that was a part of you either physically or emotionally it is alright to mourn that loss. Mourn it and go on with what you have. I have lost my ability to hike and for awhile it was something that kept me feeling sorry for myself. I laid on my couch with my TV remote for a year and was sad because I felt my nature photography was finished. Then I began to notice the life going on around me, the tree coming into bud, the plants pushing their way back into the world and I started photographing it. I didn't need to hike into the back country, I just needed to see the world around me.

When I found out I had cancer I did not fall apart as that would have done absolutely no good. I needed to show strength to my Mom and Dad so that they would not fret too much. They prayed for me and wanted to be kept abreast of my progress but they never ever judged my actions. I have many acquaintances and they all wanted to tell stories of their relatives and their bouts with the disease and how they had positive outcomes. This only served to piss me off inside. I didn't care what happened to them. I was only interested in what was going on with me. Some thought I was selfish and that they were only trying to help. Well, cancer or major surgery can and will make you selfish and that is perfectly OK. I just had to explain that all I wanted from them was their ear and if they found it hard to listen to me then leave me alone. I have a couple of real friends and if you have one, then feel blessed. They are there to help me and mostly listen to me. Life would be difficult indeed without them.

I had an acquaintance that never listened to what I said. I told him the last surgery restored the blood flow to my feet and that we had once again saved them. His reply was did I ever think about or consider prosthetics and how people were doing wonderful things with them. Next he wanted to know if I had pain management available and how much it helped him. I never told him I was in pain and he just assumed it. I no longer am in contact with him . If you have people in your life like him Fuzzy suggests you lose them as they will only frustrate you and will not add anything to your life and your battle to heal.

I believe each one of us is different and what works for one may not for another. I hope you can find the way for you cope and to fight to get well no matter what your battle. I wish you peace in the realization that no one truly can understand what you are going through but you. If it means screaming at the top of your lungs, crying or pounding a pillow for you to rally your inner forces to overcome the situation then by all means do it and if those around you do not understand just tell that you needed to do it to feel and get better.

I want to express my appreciation for all who listened and never judged or offered opinions as I went about life this past year. I can never tell you how much your listening to me means.

The Cancer Survivors Support Group, part 1

Fuzzy Mind — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:04:14 +0000

Fuzzy decided to join a cancer survivor support group. I joined not because I need support but I felt that since writing this blog about my Prostate Cancer I might be able to help someone else get through their treatment. I also obtained a great deal of experience helping JR through his chemo.

The group meets at a local restaurant. We have dinner and a talk session and sometimes there is a guest speaker.

Fuzzy felt it would give him a chance to socialize and help others. Fuzzy at one point in his life was deeply involved in the Boy Scouts of America. I was a Cub Scout den leader and went on to start a Boy Scout Troop as well as take volunteer positions at the local Council level. It was a very busy and rewarding time in my life and now I felt it was time to get involved in life again so after surviving my bout with Prostate Cancer I found a group where I might fit in.

Fuzzy needs to back up in his life story to provide some background. Fuzzy spent many years working for a very large corporation. This corporation during the 70's and 80's would subscribe to any new wave idea and self help or personal betterment that happened to be the rave at the time. We went from lunches in a cafeteria festooned with balloons and dixieland bands with lots of posters telling us that each of us was special and that we were a family to mandatory meetings to listen to some guru drone on and on about the same subjects. So I have seen them come and go, just as soon as a new idea hit the Time's Best seller list. We had one group thought during these talks. " Shouldn't I be someplace else doing something more important?". After a number of years the corporation realized the only people this baloney was helping were the people they were paying big bucks to for these programs and then it stopped.

Back to the support group. I do not want to cast dispersions on anyone's belief or program that they find helps them. I do have a problem when some new age guru ( now there is a real 60's expression ) tries to foist his miracle ideas on vulnerable audiences. Last evening it was the SECRET that the guest speaker was holding forth.

What you might ask is the Secret? It is a newly repackaged and reworded presentation of the Power of Positive Thinking. This is not a new idea but with the new packaging it is sold as a new and improved idea. So now it is presented as, if you think bad or negative thoughts then bad or negative things will occur in your life. If you think about good health and money and all the wonderful things life could bring then it will be yours. Again back to the 60's and the good vibe bad vibe idea. Fuzzy did interject that positive thoughts were useless without a positive attitude to go along with them, in fact the positive attitude is the important idea people should be working on. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet would not be billionaires today if they didn't have the attitude that they could do it.

Fuzzy listened to the speaker discuss the recent death of a member. This person was out running on a busy road and was hit by a truck and killed. The speaker said that there must have been something negative going on in her life at the time. Basically that if she was thinking about flowers and butterflies and was whistling a happy tune she would still be with us! It was an accident! You can't control fate or accidents. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. When a member of the audience was told not to think of the word cancer and to lose it from their vocabulary and they would feel and get better Fuzzy knew he had heard enough.

At this point I couldn't listen anymore and left before I took over and went off on a rant about how much bull was being fed to a group of vulnerable people. I made my excuses and quietly left during an intermission in the program.

I had been to several previous meetings of the survivors group and those were very helpful to some of the attendees who were going through treatment at the time. I clearly remember one woman, a wife, mom and homemaker. She was there with her daughters and was feeling badly about her family having to support her as she dealt with this difficult disease. She had always been the caregiver and now was having to let others care for her. Damn it, it just wasn't the way it was supposed to be. We listened to her and could see through her tears just how frustrating her situation was. She wasn't concerned for herself but for everything she felt she was putting her family through. By the end of the evening with the great help of her daughters and the group she seemed to let go and be willing to accept the fruits of her labor of raising two wonderful children and to accept their help without any regrets. The daughters were more than willing to do whatever she needed to get through this period in her life.

It was an evening of listening and suggesting, telling of personal experiences but no judgement. Never did this woman hear the words, you shouldn't feel this way. All she heard were positive things that she took home with her. Fuzzy hopes she is making it through her treatment. Fuzzy knows just how difficult it can be when you are fighting for your life and how important those who love you are. I believe everyone who was there left that night feeling a little better. I know I did.

Holy Crap, What is Happening to My Life, part 8

Fuzzy Mind — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:08:57 +0000

Sorry to have been gone so long, but Fuzzy has been healing slowly. The weather we have been having with weekly snow or ice storms hasn't helped spur me to write either, but today is bright and sunny so it has moved me to get away from the drivel on the television and get back to my keyboard.

What I see on the television news channels, newspapers, magazines and the Internet has me astounded. Nothing is ever anyone's fault and somebody has to do something to save us. Crap. Whatever happened to self reliance, self control, and common sense?

Did someone at the bank hold a gun on the borrowers and force them to sign a sub-prime mortgage? Weren't they smart enough to take the paperwork home and read it over? If it was to confusing to them then that should have been a red flag. The old time snake oil salesman would roll into town and talk the citizens out of their money by baffling them with his bullshit. Basically this is the same set up the lenders used on sub prime loans.

Of course now we have a mess in the real estate and housing markets. The only half- humorous point is now the snake oil salesmen are getting stuck with a lot of repossessed houses which they can't unload in today's market. I guess it is true, that what goes around comes around. Do I feel sorry for the people who are losing their homes? Not really. Well maybe one or two who lost their jobs and had to default through no fault of their own.

So what to do? Well, we can all get together and stand and wring our hands and weep and wail until our government comes and bails us out. Guess what? It is working! Now we the people have got to figure a way to help those of us who were not astute enough, or just too stupid, to handle our own finances and plan our future.

Now Fuzzy is not against lending a helping hand to those who truly need it but, no matter how cold you may think I am, I do not believe in helping, because you were too dumb to take the responsibility of your own life when you were perfectly capable of it. I do not want to help if all I am doing is propping you up when you could be helping yourself. Sometimes self help can be painful, but from these things we learn and grow.

If you have a family that is suffering because of your poor planning then by all means Fuzzy wants to help your children because all of this was beyond their control and it happened to them. But Fuzzy is very concerned about what you are teaching them. I see children lacking self control with the " I want it now" attitude. I don't believe many children are learning patience and respect for themselves or others. No matter how deep a hole you have dug yourself into during these monetary crises, you must teach your children so they do not repeat your mistakes. Our only hope for the future is that our children learn not from our accomplishments, but from our mistakes.

Holy Crap, What is Happening to My Life, SURGERY! part 7

Fuzzy Mind — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:56:27 +0000

Well once again Fuzzy's health headed for the crapper. In late 2002 and early 2003 Fuzzy's leg became extremely painful and my feet hurt like hell. A check of my circulation showed very little blood flow in my legs and feet. Further testing showed the Y connection formed by the Aorta and the Femoral arteries of the legs was plugged with goo. So Fuzzy entered Nyack Hospital and had a Bi-fem Bypass preformed by my team of Vascular Surgeons.

They used plastic tubing impregnated with pig cologne so my body would not reject it to re-plumb Fuzzy's circulatory system. First they installed a tube from my right shoulder down to the Femoral artery in my right leg. This bypassed the Y connection going to the right leg. They then connected a tube from my right leg to my left Femoral and completed the bypass of the Y.

During the first month the left Femoral collapsed and I lost most blood flow to the left foot. This was extremely painful and I ended up calling JR several times at about 2AM. I knew there was nothing he could do but sit and talk but that seemed to help in the middle of the night.

So the Vascular Team took me back to Nyack and put in another plastic bypass from the top of the left Femoral to just above my knee. This caused Fuzzy to have to go to Helen Hayes Hospital for rehabilitation of the knee.

Fuzzy was left with Ischemic Neuropathy of the left foot, This just means very screwed up nerves in my left foot. This causes the foot to feel tight as if it is so swollen that the skin is near the breaking point. This is a 24 hour 7 days a week feeling. Fuzzy has sort of gotten used to living with it.

This brings us up to February of 2008. Let the games commence again.

Here is a drawing for those of you who would like to follow along.

The bottom and toes of Fuzzy's left foot turned beet red and the toes would swell up to fill a EEE width shoe. A flow test showed no measurable flow of blood in the left foot and only marginal flow in the right, The technician immediately called Dr. Mike S. who then wanted me put on the phone. Mike's first words to me were,"I want you at Nyack Hospital TOMORROW." I said," tomorrow?", and he replied that time was not on my side. So with my feet being rather important to me and losing one or both of them is out of the question, I called JR and off we went to medical land for another adventure.

Mike was going to do a thrombectomy of the bypass going from my right leg to the left. This original plan would have required about an hour and I might have been able to go home. I need to back up a little. After the last round of surgery I told Mike the next time I was going to get in a knife fight with him I was bringing a gun. He told me to bring whatever I wanted as he was going to have a guy knock me out! Well damned if he didn't. Dr. Bob showed up, introduced himself, and with his magic cocktail mix sent me to la la land. Next I wake up to find that the job took over 4 hours and I was to be guest of Nyack Hospital for awhile.

Going back to the drawing, Mike found the line coming down from my right shoulder was blocked and he couldn't open it. So after cleaning out the clots and plaque in the right left bypass and the bypass in my left leg, he opened the left leg of the Y and placed a stent in it to hold it open. This would now be the blood supply for my legs and feet.

All of this is accomplished through incisions in the groin. This leaves you with an incision in the fold of where your leg meets your body.

Report: SUCCESS! Fuzzy's left foot is returning to normal color and both feet are now warm and a pulse can be felt in both feet.

Fuzzy wants to thank everyone on Mike's team who were involved, Bob for knocking me out, Nyack Hospital and their Nurses and especially JR who once again brought Fuzzy through. My feet thank you one and all.

I am planning on putting them to good use by getting out and visiting my Grandson and all of my friends in the Adirondack Park. My butt can't wait to get back into my canoe with my camera in hand.