Poet Horton

The VA and my health

Back and forth to the VA is becoming a steady diet of frustration when it comes to getting them to actually get to the “cutting“. First off, the breathing thing with my nose has gotten pretty annoying trying to convince the doctors that everything they have had me try from the sleep machine crap,(several attempts there), to nose sprays and every type of pill one can imagine, just isn’t having any beneficial effect on me. As a matter of fact, some of it has even made my breathing difficulties worse! Now the main problem is with the discs in my back. I’ve undergone radio frequency lesioning, lidocaine injections, steroid injections, spinal epidurals, inversion therapy and a half dozen other treatments, none of which has had any lasting effect. They tell me it’s due to the severe narrowing of the spinal canal and combined with the spinal stenosis is the swelling and other crap that is affecting several discs along my spine, but the worst of them is my lower back which becomes extremely painful at times and radiates down into my hips making it almost impossible to move, least of all attempt to do anything that requires my standing up or concentrating or anything else for that matter. The pain medications they have me on actually do help me cope with it most the time. Not that they totally eradicate the pain, but they do alleviate much of the suffering and after awhile they allow me to get up and get some things accomplished, with the aid of the back brace, which was a Godsend of all things. without the back brace, I doubt I would have been able to get anything done around here at all. So now my latest, “shot doc”,wants me to go back up to Baltimore to see another neurologist to see about possibly removing one of the problem discs or maybe fusion or something. You wouldn’t believe how many wasted trips to Baltimore I’ve made since this fiasco began on fixing my back. But I guess I’ll just have to keep pushing for something to be done on the surgical level seeing as how I’ve exhausted nearly every other venue they can think of. They did, after all, actually cure me of a, “one time death sentence”, of a viral blood disease! Yes, they did do that! For which I will be forever grateful. I’m putting my faith in the VA, they’ve done pretty well by me so far. I just hope they don’t drop the ball before I get to serve!

Silent no more…

Osama Bin Laden…Saddam Hussein…Barack Hussein Obama…? Just what it it that ties these three men together in the anals of History? Is it simply that they all share names that are Islamic in nature? Is it mere coincidence that all three had, on more then one occasion, refused to wear an American Flag Lapel Pin? Is it mere speculation alone that alludes to the three having all turned their backs during the playing of the National Anthem?

Thruout History mankind has turned to the “Prophets” and the “Healers”, and “Shamans” and all other names given to those who’d claim to be able to forsee the future of man. In all nations, in all cultures some form of this practice exists. Even in today’s religions the foretelling of the return of christianity’s “Son of God”, Jesus Christ himself, is preceded by that of the “False Prophet” the very one they say will bring down the worlds civilizations and destroy mankind itself. And according to the myths and prophecies of nearly all known beliefs around the globe, our time is looking more and more like the time-line the doomsayers have been awaiting. They say that He who will bring these things to pass will be handsome and charismatic while playing to crowds of followers, promising change while never really explaining the reality of what awaits.

Sound familiar? Think about today’s reality before you cast a vote for change for change’s sake this coming election. That’s all I ask. You have to live with your decision…maybe!

Saving America?

Politics seem to be the big talk of the town these days,what with the gas prices and the loss of jobs affecting the economy as it is. Now this Obama fellow is acting like some kind of rock star making all these stops in foreign nations as if he’s already the leader of the free world. Problem with Obama is that his entire rhetoric is based on change without substance. After educating myself on his record and performance,it shows he’s all talk and little action. He voted against the building of new refineries despite the fact that we are in desperate need of them, and he voted against any new drilling for oil on our own lands as well. Instead he pushes for higher taxes on electricity and inventing new power sources. Now if you look at this realistically, we’ve been searching for alternative fuels for years now, and the invention of more economical sources of transportation as well. But the democratic party has blocked all attempts at the reduction of dependence on foreign oil by refusing to allow our own oil exploration to evolve.

McCain, on the other hand, has spoken realistically about our problems, not promising to make miracles happen and telling the American people the truth about what we face in the future and offering real solutions and the sacrifices we may have to make in order to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. Obama is a charismatic man, but has no plan for anything. Not the economy, the oil crisis, not for bringing jobs back or reducing taxes. Obama has nothing new to offer in the arena of change. His entire platform is based on change for the sake of change! He has no substance and no experience, and to top it off, the Muslim nations would love to see Barack Hussein Obama elected president of America, if for no other reason then to claim a victory over America from the inside. McCain knows what it will take to put America back in the driver’s seat of world economics as well as restoring the respect of our military worldwide. Freedom is not free my friends, as a two time, two service veteran, I can see only one choice in keeping America the land of the free and the home of the brave. Vote for McCain, because you love your country!

Computer viruses

Logged on to the Internet this morning and all I could get was some marketing add to buy virus protection! No matter what I tried to do all that would come up is screen after screen insisting I’ve got thousands of infected files that need to be addressed but when I tried to address the problems all that would happen is a constant badgering to buy what I already purchased for virus protection. It wouldn’t accept my password or e-mail account for verification yet my pay pal account was hit for the cost anyway. And I still can’t access anything on my computer without this constant shutdown and interruption from the “ANTIVIRUS XP 2008″ program. Event he support pages have been nothing but a major problem to try and access or deal with , repeatedly sending me back to the beginning to purchase more security instead of activating what has already been purchased. I’m beginning to believe that it is little more then a piss-poor marketing ploy to drain accounts of whatever funds they can without ever getting to the service itself. I may just have to trash this hard drive altogether and go out and buy another clean hard rive with virus and infection protection already built in. I’m now a confirmed big fan of not downloading anything from the net at this point. Even while I’m typing this the page proclaiming I need virus protection from this company keeps popping up. And no matter what I do to resolve it, including the eradication of all related programs from my computer, it seems solidly rooted to keep itself from being removed. It’s times like these a man can really come to hate the advancement of Internet technology. I’m about to throw in the towel at this point!

Back in…Back out…

Got back from the VA a little while ago and am feeling a bit tired out from the ride. I had some injections done in my hip and spinal cord, but they sort of nicked the spinal cord and it started leaking fluid so they decided that it needs to heal up before they can attempt the tap again in about a week or so. I’m telling you one thing is for sure, this back problem has been a bane to me for many years and it actually looks like they may be finding me some serious relief from the spinal stenosis that is closing off the already minute spinal tunnel that accomodates the spinal cord itself. Guess I’m just running out of room for expansion along the back bone. I’m looking forward to any relief at this point.

Politics

It appears that the Presidential Race is going to be between McCain and Obama. The latter a man that although he denies he’s Muslim, still has strong ties to the Muslim community as well as a long term relationship with a kook pastor and he bears a Muslim name. Strange enough in these times of war against radical Muslims and their supporters that we’d consider the prospect of being lead by someone who bears the names of those who hate us most, I mean really, think about it… ” Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama !”  Just seems to be a bit ironic to me at the very least. Then you have McCain, a battle hardened Veteran who has served this nation faithfully and at great personal sacrifice without a second thought. Always putting the country first. I’m not saying that this Obama fellow isn’t a fine man in his own right, but let’s face it, he’s little to no experience and up until recently no-one had ever even heard of him. McCain we know, we’ve known him to be what he claims to be and to do what he says he’ll do.

Personally I can see the clarity of the decision once all the facts have been weighed. I can only hope that the rest of America weighs the true facts, and faces the reality of what life is today and tomorrow. Not wish for change on dreams of the past or change simply for changes sake. Forget about the party, focus on the man himself and the choice will be clear. Vote your conscience, you have to live with yourself.

Old Friends and Enemies Alike

I do believe I need to give a shout out to all those who’ve lived life on the road and have come to think those days are now behind them. We made it thru the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s thinking it would never end. Plowed right thru the 90’s, most of us, raising what was our last chance of a family. Well, now it’s the 21st century and so far life sucks and we’ve begun to stagnate. Let’s face it, we’re nomads! Wanderers, gypsies of a unrecognized social standing nearly forgotten. Why I bet most of ya’lls kids don’t know of your hell-raisin’ days or that their sweet soccer mom was once a titty dancer and a damned good one too!

The way I figure it, is that in a few more years our youngest will be in college and we can sell this house and land, what there is of it, and pick up where we left off some 20 years back or so. Now I’m sure a lot of you old scooter folk are no longer with that mate of yours from some 30 years back or so. Some of ya may have hung in there despite it all, like me and the ol’ lady have. I sure would like to know what your lives are like now and just what you intend to do with the rest of what ya got left. As for me and Lori, we plan on going out pretty much the same way we come in, kickin’ and screamin’!

If any old friends, acquaintences, dancers, daydreamers and old riding buddies or even those who’ve disliked my ass or even drooled over my ol’ lady would like to drop a line, why just start right here and leave me a comment. Maybe we can all hookup somewhere down the line and see for ourselves that the brotherhood of bikers, and the gals that loved us, still got it after all!  Shiny up ya’ll.

Old friends

We got a surprise visit from an old friend today. This fella I used to call my “protege”, due to the fact he actually paid attention when he was growing up and I was around. Always wanted to see how things were done, willing to get right in there and learn about whatever was available. He wound up pretty much following in my footsteps so to speak. became a bike mechanic, built his own Harley and rode the old girl all over, wore her like a second skin, believes, to this very day, in our biker lifestyle. Old school scooter tramp lifestyle, not like the yuppie wannabes or the posers or the weekend warrior types. real people, and good for his word. Anyway, he even looks like me, down to the balding factor, although he is a bit younger than myself, he did go bald faster than I did anyway. Love the guy, he’s like an uncle to my girls and a brother to my ol’ lady. We sat and gabbed a bit and while he was there another blast from the past called on his cell phone and when he handed me the phone the ol’ gal recognized my voice immediately. I really have to get back to good health so I can get back on the road and in the game again. Not that I’m totally out of the loop or anything, but it’d be nice to get back to the level of fear and respect I once so thoroughly enjoyed. besides, I’ve not yet reached the point where I’d not be considered sexually attractive by some of these younger split-tails that seem to continue to be thrilled by bad-boy types on motorcycles. After all, I’m married, not dead! Come to think of it, I’d really like to hear from some of the folk me and the ol’ lady used to know back in the day when we traveled the country and worked the titty bars. If for no other reason then to know they’re still kickin’ and see where life has taken them to this point. Hell, I’m sure there are a few that think us from time to time and wonder the same thing.

Celebration

Won’t be long now before they start shooting off the fireworks all over town. The ol’ Lady and I have decided to take the kids and one of the younger one’s friends out to the fairgrounds to watch the display tonight. We used to all get together with some friends every year and go out. But the one died and the other since has remarried and their kids are gone off to parts unknown. But we still carry Lisa with us every year anyway. I’ve often been so inclined as to wear her around my neck and take her for a ride on the sled from time to time. But tonight is the 4th of July and it was one of her joys to sit and watch the fireworks, as it is our own.

Putting her back in the game

Decided that I’ve been idle long enough and therefore brought the bike out from the depths of the garage and have begun to bring her back to life. All I need to do now is replace the throwout bearing on the clutch and that shouldn’t take me more then a couple of hours at best. The worst part of the job is going back down to the Harley Davidson dealer slash bike Shop where the mechanics are  young enough to be my grandkids and all only know what they’ve been taught in one of those technical schools and don’t know crap about anything built before the ’80’s. I won’t even comment about looking for parts for the Pan for crissakes. The rat bike freaks them out as it is! Well, it does give them a thrill to aid an oldtimer like myself I guess. Even if they do have a tendency to irritate me from time to time.