SAID THE CAT: Weather Report: Giant Leaf Blower Downs Tree Branch

Just as the wind increase outside drew my attention by hurling most of the maple leaves across Ridge Road, down came a small to middling size branch off the tree. It stabbed the edge of the parking pullout where an hour earlier John backed out to go to work, saving his car's front end from a dent or a smashed headlight.

A recent walk around the property showed me I was in trouble from a persistent headache, chills that kicked in a week ago with coughing joining the mix by Sunday evening. Not just asthma this time, but something else surely was going on I thought by Wednesday. An appointment was added to Thursday's agenda. I began Thursday with the two-week followup at the Ophthalmologist, and my Primary visit ended the day.

At the eye guy exam I learned that the small piece of old lens he left behind in my eye while removing its cataracts is diminishing in size as my body slowly absorbs it. Keep on with two kinds of drops now only once a day. Answer to my question "How come I see double through this new lens?" "You need a new glasses prescription." "How come I see double with no glasses?" ...same answer. I describe how letter "a" looks like one sitting slightly askew on top of another "a". Ponderously, with deliberation, he changes the sentence, "New glasses will clear that up." In three more weeks my lens speck has to be observed again. Please, body, absorb this thing so I can put this man into a back file somewhere near the misogynists and studied boors.

You know I'm going to talk about the Primary visit next. That started with the front check-in desk and a bright-eyed woman whom I just could tell by looking was going to take care of things. My things. I'm willing to cut some slack for harried people behind front desks, but, boy, you can tell when someone is connecting with people standing in front of them. And so professional besides! She even found a mistake their billing had made in September and righted it. It has to do with our old friends the supplemental insurance and the Medicare who don't talk to each other. They only talk to offices and mail paper statements to everybody including insureds who examine the pages at their home desk trying to figure out what just happened. Standing there, I said, "Just think, we could have had universal health care and you wouldn't have had to do that." She smiled. I smiled back, "And I wouldn't have to tell the checkout clerk at every single medical office visit to bill Medicare first."

Weighed, BP'd, temperature taken, I sat coughing in the exam room. When Dr. Parke arrived I was ready to jump up into his arms and say, "Hold Me!" I didn't, but he is a warm human being and so competent I felt like the Ace Mechanic from Mercedes Benz just arrived from Germany to fix my stalled car on the Turnpike.

So, the upshot is I have little to no air activity in upper lungs indicating a possible bronchial pneumonia accounting for the chills and aches. Parke's conservative with meds, but this time he's treating aggressively and I return to see him tomorrow. Today, there's a ripple of progress, but we're not there yet.

Neither is the USA system of health care.

I had to ask Wendy what this box is that materialized this week.

This is a soap box. Wendy is going to make goat soap.

I'm off my soap box.

Painting on a canvas in my tiny space is so daunting that my resolve melted and I'll take it up when I go house sit for a friend. Yes, it's that canvas I started messing with awhile back. When it's finished it is supposed to be my version of The Last Supper, and it's for Lent at church. I can't get Leonardo da Vinci's out of my mind either. Patience.