Taking the Words Right Out of My Mouth Department:
Someone on Bluesky:
This entire “presidency” is like being tied to a chair and watching a toddler play with a loaded pistol.
Another poster, writing about the Oval Office ambush of Zelensky:
It’s nice how they’ve replicated the middle school dynamic of the insecure bully and his sniveling sidekick picking on someone surrounded by a circle of scared little boys who also try to talk shit so the bully doesn’t come after them … or, as the right calls it, “masculinity.”
And this:
That dipshit asking Zelensky if he owned a suit is the perfect amalgamation of every ignorant boat parade asswipe who slept through history class and open carries in a Dunkin’ Donuts.
My AFIB is definitely back. I’d like to blame Trump for that, but probably can’t.
The cardiologist called me in one day into a planned five-day tracking period with a heart monitor, it was throwing off so many alerts. The cardioversion procedure he performed on me 14 months ago restored a normal heartbeat, but I always knew there was a shelf life on that. Next step: a cardiac ablation, a more invasive procedure to “destroy a small area of heart tissue” responsible for arrhythmias (I kinda regret Googling that now). Tomorrow, another visit to the cardiologist’s office for a thorough EKG, then a short wait while they get me on the schedule at Banner Hospital.
Apart from the imagination acting up, I feel fine. Then again, I’ve been taking it easy, not wanting to put undue stress on such a vital organ. If the ablation works, I vow to walk more. Without the dogs, that is, because they stop to sniff so often I don’t get much exercise with them. More updates to come.
At least the house has a new roof. The shingling crew worked for three days, throwing in extra maintenance and repairs at no cost, and we’re good to go. Here are the front and back views … please forgive my amateurish shadow in the first photo and the junk piled up under the patio overhang in the second (hey, it’s Polly’s stuff, not ours):
We learned there’s water damage to the outer ends of the slats over the breezeway between the garage and house (the area near the middle of the top photo). The 33 houses in our neighborhood were built in the mid-1980s and came with breezeways and similar roof treatments. Over the years some homeowners enclosed and fully roofed their breezeways; of those who still have them, some have had the slats removed. I talked with one neighbor who described similar water damage to his slats, and I expect it’s a common weakness in all these houses. It’s fixable, and we’ll get it taken care of. We could probably make an insurance claim, but are reluctant to do so because of what it might do to our rates. Save that for more serious damage, should misfortune come our way.
- Donald Trump, Feb 28, 2025: “Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia … you ever hear of that deal? That was a phony. That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff, it was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn’t end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting.”
Holy cow, Paul Tucson’s low on the wood rot as problem list isn’t it? Around here (Astoria, OR) all cut lumber ends are primed and painted/stained to seal before installation; raw cut ends are sponges. Maybe you’d like a clean lined little tower over the breeze-way, build a winder staircase up say nine feet to a four sided lookout with a copper pyramid roof from Bisbee). Your neighborhood ooks to be a good place for clear views.
Love the blog and appreciate the time you dedicate. Don’t sweat the kid, my Italian friend (5th of 5 in birth order) often said “family is over the top, OTT.”
Anyway,
Robert, Arch (Ret)
Part of my low stress regimen is ignoring all news. Yet from pesky screen crawls I learn that trump is following through on his deal with his boss and financier Putin to cut off Ukraine aid. And that Deutschland and other euros have stepped up aid and arms supply to Ukraine in response. So in this case the unintended consequence of the traitor trump kneecapping the US democratic ally is a good result that should have been done long ago. We are just lucky trump and the stooges around him are so profoundly and stunningly stupid, unable to anticipate the results of their corrupt and foolish actions.
I’m still experiencing heart palpitations off and on for a week, almost gone now, I hope. I had palpitations in 2017 for a day or so and hit the ER in worry. But my heart was fine. It is usually caused by stress, caffeine, dehydration, and maybe by the BP calcium channel blocker amplodipine I’ve taken for years. And the advent of Trumpite treason was definitely one cause of the stress, just like now. And maybe by cannabis. Yikes. That hurts. No hope without dope.
It’s my fault for tapering off and then quitting the medication since my new wrist BP machine shows my BP to be usually normal.
Apparently none of us eldsters are ever supposed to get off BP meds because I’m unable to find out if transitioning off calcium channel blockers can cause palpitations.
But no matter, I’m an idiotic DIY guy so I used my usual shotgun approach of trying everything at once: quit coffee and tea, started taking increased magnesium, D?, D³, and zinc, started drinking coconut water.
I also tried lots of the folk remedies from YouTube and the web, some of which sort of work, like breathing exercises and massage. Something is working because the flutters have mostly faded away.
I’m guessing my cardiovascular system is adjusting to a normal amount of calcium now available and the flutters will fade further as my heart gets used to being no longer weakened and starved for calcium- that’s the mechanism that lowers the pressure.
In the long tapering off period I noticed my muscles becoming stronger and less sore after use. I’ve lifted weights twice since I got off amplodipine and on some lifting routines I was able to do 5 or more extra repetitions lifting 5 more pounds. My post exercise muscle soreness is much reduced and goes away sooner.
So I’m pretty flaky from missing my delicious coffee and tea but I’ll get better. One of the many ‘side effects’ of the amplodipine drug is heart palpitations So it’s odd they hit me when I’m getting off the shit. Anyhow, feeling strong now, eye of the tiger.
Good luck with your procedure, sounds pretty routine, minor surgery almost. Minor surgery can be defined as surgery performed on someone else.
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