Heavyweight Champion!

Logan has been waiting for this meet all season. He's had a few disappointing matches, but has done great, and his coaches have been pleased with his progress. Had a scare earlier in the week when he sprained a shoulder, but took good care of it, and was 100% by Thursday. He won his first 2 matches on Thursday to advance to the Championship round Friday. Personal note. The only difference between watching your kids wrestling and watching them at swim meets is there's not the eye burning chlorine stench, and no girls competing. Back to the match. Logan's opponent had been undefeated this season, and outweighed him by 30 lbs.

One thing that's obvious from all of Logan's matches is what a great and magnanimous sportsman he is, and how much he respects his opponents. What's not all that obvious is his faith in his Heavenly Father. After the match he said he "prayed about 35 times". I told him that one good one should have worked just fine. I think back to Niner leading her relay team in prayer on the middle of Hayward field before a race. Anyway, We're way proud of Logan for all the work he's put into this.
PostScript. After the meet last night, he was invited to wrestle for the High School squad today. He just had to pass a hydration test. WAH WAH WAH WAH. Logan flunked his first urine test........................

Navajo Lake Campout & Logan Wrestling

Just learning how to convert and upload videos. Check out the eggs at abt 1:30

Here are Logan's first 2 wrestling matches.

FluBlogging

Been wanting to write this for a long time. Thoughts on the "fearsome pestilence" of 09. No, not referring to the Anointed One.
Just got my "flu jab" from Mary Poppins. Now that the peak of the swine flu epidemic seems to have abated here in Nuevo Mexico, and Deb has risen off her death bed, I was able to finally get my H1N1 shot.
As I wrote 3 weeks ago on Facebook:

For the love of all that is holy, DON'T TOUCH ANYBODY! Don't kiss, don't scratch your nose, don't chew on your pen, don't pick up the glass on the kitchen counter, don't shake hands at church, and if you hear coughing, RUN LIKE HELL in the other direction.............

We were getting slammed in the clinic with flu patients. The flu test is worthless, less accurate than a dart board. Seemed like every chart had "fever & cough" as chief complaint.
Deb caught it at the elementary school where she works. Usually she blames me for bringing bugs home. It has been an annual occupational hazard in my business. Not this year.
Again from Facebook:
Dramatic? Drama is in my bedroom, sedated. I'm sleeping on the den floor. She can't blame me this time. She caught it at school. I dress up like the bubble boy at work. I whisper a silent prayer of thanks when I pick up a chart that says "drug seeker" or "butt abcess" instead of "fever and cough"
I recorded the time course on my Treo.
Oct. 7. My beloved's birthday. A pleasant dinner at THE fancy restaurant in town. Deb felt fine.
Oct 8. Up on call till 2:30. No sleep. Nuvigil rocks. 6PM deb sudden onset fever, malaise
I got a bad feeling.................
Oct. 9 0700. Deb HA, malaise
I did a flu test on Deb. Negative, but she had all the classic influenza SSx
1600 Me worried...malaise, no temp, sleepless. start zanamivir.
2200 zanamivir, 5HC triaz Slept in den
Zanamivir is one of two antivirals used for influenza treatment and prevention. 5HC is a Lortab and triaz is Halcion. Our clinic had stockpiled zanamivir for the docs & providers, so as to keep the business running. Why didn't I treat Deb you ask? Tough decision. First of all, these viruses mutate very quickly and develop resistance. CDC recommendations are that antivirals be reserved for high risk pts or those needing hospitalization. Otherwise healthy people are treated best with chicken soup, ibuprofen, and any OTC cold med that will cause sleepiness. I needed to be at work, run the boys around, take care of Deb, and make sure no one sneezed on mom because she refused to get a flu shot.

Oct. 10 0900 Easy fatique Deb HA, malaise in bed
1100 Logan cough, feels OK
I think he's lying. Starting center in football, final game of the season later that week.
1500. zanamivir
2130 Deb up dizzy Me tired mild HA Logan cough.
Oct 11 0700 Poor sleep extra triaz 5HC
0900 Logan cough malaise
1100 Brian & I church
1600 Boys fighting Brian feigning ill? No, Brian never got sick. Go figure
2000 Deb sl better?
Oct 12 0700 Slept OK Logan worse fever
1300 Deb up still weak cough but cheery That won't last
Oct 13 0800 Logan cough claims feels better Still lyin'
Oct 14 2000 Deb tired cheerful wet cough Keep in mind she's been in bed 24/7, & I'm still sleeping on the Den floor
Oct 15 1600 Logan FB feels OK still cough. They won their game, he was weak but still played. Coaches cut him some slack. He played well. Later admitted he was lying & felt miserable.
Oct 16 1600 Deb cough
Oct 17 0900 Deb better Still cough
Oct 18 1100 Deb at church
Oct 19 1300 Deb at work Weak came home to sleep
Oct 20 1230 Deb at work cough fatigue malaise no fever
Oct 21 1200 Deb off work in bed fatigue malaise no fever I rumage thru the closets and find a vintage 12/08 package of ZMAX (single dose z-pack) My partners and patients know that I am very strict about discouraging the use of antibiotics for viral illness. And I always warn my flu patients not to overdue it, or risk "relapse" But 2 weeks is 14 days, after all!

Oct 22 1200 Deb in bed cough fatigue
Oct 23 1300 Deb still cough in bed I have bad HA fatigue malaise restart zanamivir
Oct 24 Deb still weak cough. Me fatigue HA better continue zanamivir
Would have expected some response to the azithromycin. She's now got a little pink in her lung butter. I rumage a little deeper and find some way old (couple of years) Augmentin samples.

Oct 25 0700 I sleep well no HA
1000 Deb cough weak but up
1700 Bro. Rhein Priesthood blessing
SO, from here on out things are improving. Priesthood power and Augmentin. Deb still coughs, but she's been to work. Now wearing gloves. Still needs a little 5HC & chlortrimeton for sleep.

Interesting little tidbit about how I finally got my H1N1 today.
Our Occupational Medicine clinic does annual flu shots for a lot of the big local companies, and we offer flu shots to the community through our Urgent Care Clinic. Mary Poppins, a delightful British Nurse, does a splendid job of ordering, scheduling, drawing up syringes, and administering thousands of doses every year. We order from our suppliers a year in advance to be sure we can deliver.
Or thought we could deliver. All that Hopey-Changy stuff changed all that.
Come the time we usually receive our vaccine, our suppliers tell us that we won't get what we ordered. A few thousand doses were, what's the term, appropriated? requisitioned? hijacked? "FOR THE SCHOOLS"
Huh? So, forget about our patients, customers and clients. No Sorry. No Nothing. But think about it. I don't take my kids to school for their health care. Nor do I take them there so they won't starve, won't freeze, and won't turn into antisocial loser brats. Parenthetical thought. HHS sec Sebelius declined to order school closings stating that if schools closed, KIDS WOULD STARVE! I'm speechless. Words fail.
Every one in town that has flu shots burns thru them in a few weeks. Our family gets the seasonal flu shot early, about a month ago. About a week ago, we got a shipment of about 100 H1N1 nasal doses, so I snag a couple for the boys. Deb & I are too old for flumist. We burn thru most of those, and after a week, have a few left. Calls are made, barters arranged. The hospital has a few H1N1 shots hidden, but needs some flumist. DEAL!.
Like some third world backwater, I've got some potatoes. Trade you for some boots, or maybe a tire if its got some tread left. Is this what we've become? Why would a lab or pharma with the ability to make vaccines subject themselves (employees, officers, & shareholders) to the abuse of the bureaucrats to make a vaccine if they can't make a profit, and would be subjected to endless lawsuit abuse? Thomas Jefferson wrote "Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread." - And so it has come to pass.
BTW, that's Deb's XR from Tuesday. For you laymen, note the fuzzy patches blurring the right hemidiaphragm (left lower corner of the film)

Highland Mary

The Highland Mary Lakes hike is an annual traditon
for our Scouts and geezers of the Ward.
Located due south of Silverton, CO it's a georgeous alpine tundra
scattered with small lakes.
Logan was a veteran of the trek, and powered up the trail like a
Mountain goat.
This was Brian's first major backpacking trek, and let's
just say "we took our time."

Our chance to try out some home made ultralight stoves.
Everybody but Logan and I caught fish, but we happily
accepted donations.
Brian loved the fishing, but ate nothing but peanut butter
on soft tacos.

Seems like a 10 mile hike. Not quite.

Perfect weather, beautiful country.

Gollum's Staircase

Remembering Gordon

Whenever someone mentions Uncle Gordon, the first image that pops into my mind is a campsite on the shore of Redfish Lake. Not Gordon's image specifically, but just the feeling of his presence there. He was there, at that camping trip, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth (1968?). I remember Gordon, Jody, Doug & Jeri. I don't exactly remember Michael, Lori, or Brenda. Sorry guys. Sleeping in a hot cramped army surplus tent. There was the usual fun on the lake. I think we may have had a boat there. Gordon and his family were with us for a few days R&R, just before he deployed to Vietnam. I remember Gordon & Jody, my mom & dad spent a lot of time together sitting, talking. Eh, and lots of beer. I do remember that. Us kids, my brothers Lynn & Dean, and certainly Gordon's kids, were having a blast. We sensed the stress. We knew about Vietnam. In the months that followed we were more interested in the news of the war, limited tho it was. We heard a few stories of Gordon's harrowing adventures, and we sent him fruitcakes baked in coffee cans. Later found out that fruitcake was used as a less than lethal cannon projectile.
My dad, Ray, was the second of Belle & Tracy's kids. Yvonne, the oldest, always impressed me as being the intellectual of the family. I thought of my dad as the geek. He seemed too serious to me. Maybe all dads look that way to their tweenage kids. Vern seemed too serious also, but could have a wickedly sharp sense of humor. Gordon, the baby of the family, seemed to have all those qualities rolled into one, perfectly balanced, bear-sized package. His sense of comedic timing was great. He started with what sounded like a serious story, and then the punchline comes out of nowhere. I recall a story he told at my dad's funeral about dad taking him deer hunting. Wish I'd heard it years before, so I could have seen dad's reaction.
I have other memories of Gordon. As a child in Salt Lake dad, Gordon & Vern helping with each others landscaping projects, or the famous patio parties in Trace's back yard. Playing with Doug & Jeri, Patty & Robert (whose real name I did not know until years later. He went by a nickname which shall remain unspoken ;-). Who could forget the family reunions? The infamous Matanuska river rafting trip. Island Park, and most recently Aspen Grove.
We've all grown up and moved far from our spawning grounds. I regret that we've not been in touch with each other as much. We've lost track of each other's families and adventures, it takes a funeral to get us back together. But we can always try. Taked to Lynn a couple of days ago in Kuwait. Isn't technology amazing! Said he always thought of Gordon as his favorite Uncle. We all feel that way. We hope we can be favorite uncles.
I know Gordon was a man of great faith in his Heavenly Father, and the infinite atonement of His Son. He was a strong and wonderful patriarch in his home. He still is. The blessings of his life will echo thru his family for generations.

Had a great time at Uncle Dean's Cabin in Star Valley, WY. Here the Beckonator rides a wild Logan as Marley watches . Not as much whooping & hollering as when Niner saw a bull moose in the front yard at 6AM.
Logan & Beckham do the Bloat & Float on Palisades Res.
Logan and Brian both got up on waterskis for the first time! Here Beckham practices the first step in waterskiing, getting the skis in the water.
The family at Strawberry creek Res.

Summer Camp! Blue Mountain, UT

Time for Summer Camp again. Dad's the Scoutmaster, but they had fun anyway. Blue Mountain Bigfoot Scout camp is a primitive camp north of Blanding, UT. No Mess halls. No swimming pools. No fancy pants cabin camping for us, of Troop 333, Farmington, NM. Larry thought he was going to pop an aneurysm prepping for this, but it came off without a hitch. (aside from being DANG cold for a summer camp. Global warming, ya' know) Nice little lake to swim in, but when the water's 60deg and the air only 65, the waterfront was not rockin' like last year.

Brian's turn as head cook. We ate like Kings. Primitive, messy, wipe your chin on your sleeve type Kings, but Kings nonetheless.











Logan is Senior Patrol Leader. Did a great job. Learning that leadership is often a little lonely. We had 8 Scouts, 2 full week leaders and 3 that rotated in and out.











The 4 older scouts did some high adventure. Here's Logan earning the climbing Merit Badge. Went up the wall like a spider.













Our official Troop Portrait. Pose? This is like herding Chipmunks.

J & M