Union Cemetery, Georgetown, Delaware

Memorial statue at Union Cemetery, Georgetown, DE

Last week Bill and I visited a new cemetery.  I had six Find a Grave photo requests to fill.  All the graves were located at the Union Cemetery in Georgetown, Delaware.  I had never been to this cemetery before.  This cemetery has now become one of my favorite cemeteries because of it's peacefulness.

Ironically it is located almost in the center of Georgetown, which is the county seat of Sussex County.  To the far side is a Waste Management terminal. At times during our visit, several of the Waste Management trash truck were pulling in and dumping their loads for the day.  I happen to take this video early yesterday morning, when the only sounds were of a lone bird chirping somewhere in the trees surround the cemetery and only one blast from a nearby train.

We couldn't find any of the graves that had photo requests.  Although the day was sunny, the temperatures were still down in the low 40's.  With the occasional wind whipping through the cemetery, it got a little uncomfortable touring through the cemetery.  However, this is a grand old cemetery with many graves (over 1,000) so I will definitely be back when the weather takes a turn for the better.

Some may think I'm weird for getting pleasure out of touring cemeteries fulfilling Find a Grave photo requests.  I understand that.  Some may think I don't have much of a life when I could instead be spending my time chasing after the current social scene of keeping the local restaurants in business.  But folks, this is what I enjoy doing (and Bill too). 

Rare Photo!

Bill and Ron with Heidie at neighbors' house a few minutes ago

Hey folks!  A rare photo was just taken a few minutes ago.  Our neighbors called and asked Bill if he could help them move their couch.  I wasn't ask but I went over anyway.  I'm nosy.  I wanted to see my neighbor's new couch.

After Bill was done helping the husband move the couch (I of course was keeping the Misses entertained), Bill joined us in her living room.  Her little Yorkie was yapping, wanting to be picked up.  I picked her up and placed her in Bill's reluctant arms (which doesn't matter to Heidi the Yorkie, she LOVES Bill).  Now that I had Bill immobilized I asked Barbara (our neighbor) to snap a picture of us with her Android phone.  Here it is!

Bill doesn't like to have his picture taken.  We have very few pictures of us together.  I think the last ones were the photos my blogger friend Mark H. took this past summer when he and his spouse (Fred) visited us.  I warned Bill that we are going to have our picture taken together when we get do our Civil Union Thing (Delaware still isn't at the "married" stage yet for same sex couples, we take what we can get to protect our legal rights at least here in the state where we live).

I told Bill that I'm going to give him a Big Wet One when the ceremony is over and I'll try and get that picture published in the local paper.  He can't sleep at night now even considering the possibility that he's finally going to be outed BIGTIME!

Get ready Bill, this is just a preview.

Yes, I noticed that the picture is blurred.  Actually, that's not a bad thing at our age.  We're sort of like the old movie stars who soap up the camera lens to blur out their winkles.

President Hugs Gabby Giffords

Whatever your political persuasion few could help not to be touched by this scene last night at President Obama's State of the Union message event.

Does PSA Screening Save Lives?

Reader's Digest article from February 2012 issue

Yesterday I got into an exchange of nasty e-mails with my former classmate Jean.  Jean is the official Class Busybody who keeps all us remaining members of the Downingtown High School Class of 1959 informed of the doings, whereabouts, and who is still alive and who has died in our class.  She sends out an occasional e-mail to all surviving members of the class called "DHS Newsy."

I guess she is doing us all a service by keeping us all informed of our former classmates.  I'll admit, I am nosy and in my capacity of preparing the class reunion booklets I like to be informed to.

She sends me an e-mail last week, a few days after the death of yet another classmate asking me "How are you doing Ron?"  Of course I tell her of my Prostate Drama and my decision not to follow through with a biopsy.  You know me, Full Disclosure Ron (much to the chagrin of some of my friends and Bill).

She immediately sends me an e-mail telling me to "get your ass to your doctor and get that biopsy!"  Of course I took umbrage to her tone.  You have to know her, she is a total "I'm in charge and YOU LISTEN TO ME!"  She has done a lot of good for our class in bringing us together for reunions, which would probably never have happened without her IN CHARGE attitude.  But hey, whether I decided to get a prostate biopsy or not is NONE OF HER BUSINESS!

I haven't had the best past couple of weeks what with my cold, the gray dreary weather and the short days (lack of daylight does that to me).  So I shot her back an e-mail telling her basically to get her facts in order before she starts barking me orders.  She is one of these people who thinks she's an expert in everything.  I guess I was a little mean in pointing out to her that in this case she was NOT THE EXPERT and perhaps she should do a little reading up on PSA scores, and the dangers of getting prostate biopsies and treatment thereof before she starts her Big Mama Thing.  I told her that someone needed to tell her this.  Of course she DID NOT LIKE THIS.  She sent me a scathing e-mail back.  One of those "WELL, I NEVAH!"  Deal with it woman, deal with it.

Now wouldn't you know it, Bill comes across this article in Reader's Digest today.  I've taken it out of the magazine and scanned it into my computer.  I think you can read it.

The article says: 


"...only one in four men with a PSA between four and ten actually has prostate cancer- the rest are false positives.  And because the disease grows slowly in most cases, very few occurrences of prostate cancer are life-threatening.  In fact, less than three percent of all men will die of the disease.  Worse, the treatment for prostate cancer can cause serious side effect such as impotence and incontinence. "


The article goes on to say

"Healthy men don't need to be screened.  In October, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of health-care experts that sad vises many medical associations, concluded that the over diagnosis and over treatment that result from PSA screening outweigh the benefits.  The panel cited a 2009 European study of 182,000 men that concluded that more than 1,400 men would have to be regularly screened-and set on a path toward possible biopsies, surgeries, and anxiety as a result - to prevent a single prostate cancer death.  A similar 2009 study that followed nearly 77,000 American men for seven to ten eras found no evident that screening saves lives."

Of course every man has to make his own decision whether or not to get a PSA screening and to follow-through on biopsies and/or treatment.  I made my personal decision based on how I felt about my personal situation.  I do not and would not impose my decision on anyone else no do I want them imposing their decision on me.  So when someone tells me to "get your ass to my doctor and get a biopsy" I get mad.

Sorry lady, but you asked for it. You blast me, I blast you right back.  Something some of my friends know I am wont to do when talked to in a dismissive tone.  It's called The Tipton Temper.  It rarely makes an appearance but when it does...watch out.

Trip to the Dentist - Sticker Shock!

This morning I received a reality check why I should keep my part-time job. I visited my dentist.

My bill for filling two cavities, replacing and old filling and fixing three small chips on my bottom teeth:

$868.00

Couple that bill with my bill of $121.00 for getting my teeth cleaned last week  and you have a grand total of $989.00. That is almost one thousand dollars!  That my friends is a lot of coupons.

Please don't misunderstand me, I have an excellent dentist.  For an old man (that would be me), my dentist has provided me with a pretty set of Pearlies.  And I also understand that this is what dental work goes for these days but...man oh man.  I'm still suffering from sticker shock.

Just yesterday I was talking to my long time friend who is the same age as me and is also retired about our mutual monthly living expenses.  My Social Security and three small pension checks just about keep me (and Bill) on par with our  monthly living expenses.  If it wasn't for my part-time job I would be digging into principal for those Extra Unplanned For Expenses which, as you know happen with regularity.  Even though we don't plan for these expenses in our monthly budget, they happen.

I would love to have all the money I've spent in dental expenses in my lifetime.  It would be thousands and thousands of dollars.  However, one thing I am thankful for (and I really am) is that I am in a position to afford going to an excellent dentist, even though he is VERY EXPENSIVE. (I hope he doesn't read this blog).

When I was a kid I used to fear going to the dentist because of the pain.  The dentist my Mother used to send me to never gave me any painkillers.  All that drilling was done sans novacaine.  Now there is no physical pain, not even the needle hurts now.  But man oh man, the bill sure does hurt.

Ready to Fly High Again

Photo taken from our local Funland Tourist Trap this summer 

One of the really positive things about keeping and posting a blog is that I always (so far anyway) received positive and helpful comments from some of my blogger friends and followers.  I want you all to know that I appreciate all of your comments and suggestions.

The past three weeks haven't been my best.  I think a lot of it has to do with the cold I developed three weeks ago that I am just now getting over.  It didn't help that just as I was in the middle of the worst of my cold I was called into work to work almost full-time to fill in for my co-worker who had a miscarriage.

Also it didn't help that the weather has generally been gray, rainy and dreary.  Today was no exception.  It sure would be nice to see the sun again.  I see on my iPhone weather app that the sun will make an appearance tomorrow.  At least we didn't get the four inches of snow (which is still on the ground!)  my friend Larry got where he lives in upstate Delaware.  Delaware isn't a big state so "upstate" is only about 90 miles as the crow flies from Casa Tipton-Kelly.

Tomorrow morning I have a dental appointment (two cavities - at my age?  I don't have that many teeth left!)  After the appointment Bill and I will take a ride to the Union Cemetery in Georgetown.  I have FOUR Find a Grave requests to fulfill.  One of my very favorite activities, roaming around graveyards (don't ask).  Bill likes to check out the old headstones too.

Bill and fellow Find a Grave.com member Pat Sellers at Bill's family cemetery in Toccoa Georgia last spring during our Trip South last April 2011

Tonight I'm looking forward to the Republican debate in Florida.  Mitt ("Mittens") Romney is going to "get tough" (this should be fun) with Newt.  Talk about a Steel Cage Match.  Mitt will be lucky if Newt doesn't hand him his head on a platter like he did Jon King at the CNN debate in South Carolina last Friday night.

Even though it was overcast and cloudy today with spritzes of rain, Bill was outside working on digging up wire grass from our expansive backyard.  We may have another rough month to go but I do see spring on the horizon.  It is less than three months until Bill and I make our annual Trip Down South.

Ah yes, always have something to look forward to and don't let the gray, cold, windy days of Winter get you down.

Last year's tulips, they're coming back this year!

My Character Flaw

Actually I have many character flaws but here is one that has dogged me my whole life.  It is very simple:

I CARE TOO MUCH FOR MY FRIENDS

Last night I woke up at about 2 a.m.  I couldn't get back to sleep.  I was upset.  What was I upset about?  I know I'll be mocked about this by some of my "friends" but here it is: 

I was upset about the blog that I wrote about just before I went to bed.  The blog was about my vow not to offer advice to friends anymore because they rarely if ever take it.  I vented in my blog posting which I probably shouldn't of done because I probably hurt the feelings of some of my friends (one in particular, and he knows who he is) and gave ammunition to other "friends" to further mock me for my naiveté.  

Many years ago a good friend told me "Ron, you're a nice guy.  You're intelligent, good-looking and have a good heart but you're terminally naive."  At first I didn't understand what he was saying.  I told Bill (my spouse) what my friend said.  Bill agreed with him.  I told other friends including my Mother.  They all agreed with him.  

Since that revelation about this facet of my personality I've tried to look at my life through that prism.  Sometimes I've been successful, most times not.  I keep falling into the trap of trying to help friends and people.  Usually the result is that I'm either taken for granted or not respected because I'm considered a fool.  There are some who are reading this blog right now (who I know personally) who are all too eager to point out again how naive I am even to be writing about this subject.  They take delight in telling me again how foolish and immature I am.  Those "friends" I have tried to distance myself from.  Sometimes I've been successful, sometimes not.  Usually when someone asks for help, I help.  I've been advised to say "No" sometimes.  I did that recently to a friend (former now) and I've never heard from them again,  so much for that "friend."  Again, proof of my naiveté.

I eventually did get back to sleep last night.  It wasn't a good sleep.  I wish I could be hard and callous but it is not in my character.  In the past I've been taken advantage of because of my naiveté.  Bill likes to call me "gullible."  He thinks it is an attractive trait that I have.  Maybe something good did come of my naiveté.  If I was your typical, opportunistic, selfish, grasping person I would probably be alone now in my life.  Instead I live with a person who loves me and I love him.  

So let me get through this hurdle and I'll probably return to my old gullible ways.  I'll just have to learn not to take things so personally.  I want to go back to my good night's of sleep.

The Fool on the Hill?