Dick Cheney knew the war would be a mess

I wonder how much it cost to buy a vice president. To cause him to go against his own beliefs less than 10 years later. Watch the video and you will know what I'm am talking about.

A pleasant visit with a friend

My friend Rebecca from California came to see me for the third time this past week. She visited me on two occasions last year after having known each other for around five years. Our history is a long story after five years but we have become very good friends.

Anyway, she left California on a flight headed for Atlanta around midnight her time and arrived in West Palm Beach around 9:45 Monday morning. Needless to say we did not do anything on Monday except hang out at my house. I am not used to getting up early so I was also tired that day and she was from the flight. Everyone at my house was tired that day. It was quite the sight, I was tilted back in my chair sleeping, she was on the couch sleeping, my mother was on another chair sleeping, the dog was also sleeping and also my father was in the other room sleeping. Not one of us in the living room intended to take a rest but fell asleep with the television on.

We did have a very nice dinner at home that evening. My mother always prepares the best food but then again I am biased. We had roast pork, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and vegatables. Then we just watched some more television and that some catching up and called it an early night.

On the Saturday prior to her visit I had put the Bovina trach back again since I thought my previous problem was just because of the blood. I was wrong. On Tuesday morning the high pressure alarm on my ventilator went off and we could not get a suction catheter into my trach tube. So we changed the trach back to my Shiley before I got into a critical situation. When we look at the trach that was taken out you could see that mucus had started to harden and was blocking the tube. Something about my secretions and that type of trach don't seem to mix. So I have decided to stick with the Shiley until I can see an ENT. I have an appointment with one since I finally found a doctor to take Medicaid all the way in Miami. The appointment is not until October.

So I tried to go back to sleep for another hour after my little emergency what didn't get much more sleep 7:30 in the morning. After I did my morning routine I woke up Rebecca and and had a bite to eat while she got ready to leave for the mall. We went to the mall and had a light lunch at a Chinese place in the food court. We then helped my nurse (I should say she helped her) find a dress for her upcoming trip. After doing that we looked around for maybe another hour and then headed to the front of the mall to wait for our ride. We waited maybe one half hour for the ride. I was hoping we would be back home by 5:30 maybe 6:00. We get in the van and there are two people needing to be dropped off ahead of us. And after we get in they call him and tell him to pick somebody else up first. After all this we did not get home until 7 p.m. almost. I did not let it get to me even though we have plans to go to dinner.

So after I change my sweaty shirt and have a breathing treatment and charge my ventilator for about half an hour we head out. We went to a restaurant called Brewzii's which serves Italian and American food. They have some of the best service I had seen in some time. Rebecca and my dad were the smart ones and only ordered lasagna. I had a very large plate of grilled maui maui (?) With mashed potatoes. And my mother ordered something they called mile high meatloaf. We didn't think they literally meant a mile high. Everything was excellent.

We had just finished eating when the battery low alarm on my vent went off shortly followed by the battery empty alarm. So while my father stayed behind to take care of the bill the rest of us took off to a spot where we knew there was a plug. With this ventilator you never quite know how long it is going to take to get a complete charge so obviously that half hour before we left the house was not enough. So we stayed there for about half an hour to let the battery charge. Luckily we were having dinner at a place downtown where there is always stuff going on so it wasn't like we were just stuck at the restaurant.

When my father caught up to us he said that when he asked the girl for the bill she told him it was already taken care of. I guess the man having dinner a table or two over had taken care of the bill. The girl waiting on us pointed him out to my dad. So he introduced himself to the man and said thank you.

I believe this happened because you get what you put out. Earlier that week my father had hired someone to install carpet in our spare bedroom. This person gave us an extremely great deal since it was carpet that was mistakenly delivered somewhere and they could not resell it. This person was also someone who was having a hard time of things lately. So my father gave him extra money beyond what he was owed. My point is that kindness was rewarded with kindness.

After dinner we stopped at a little nightclub for about an hour to listen to the band and have a drink. There were hardly any people there but what do you expect on a Tuesday night. The band was okay and played a good variety.

On Wednesday we went to the Palm Beach Zoo. I will never do that in the middle of August again. It was so hot that when I got home I had to change my clothes and they were literally soaked. Not much to say about that visit to the zoo. It took us maybe an hour and a half to walk the whole thing.

Rebecca tried to see about getting a later flight out but was unable to so she left on Thursday afternoon/evening. She had a safe trip home.

Until my next post.