A Beautiful Day in Delaware

This is two of an absolutely beautiful day in Delaware. The air is crisp, the humidity is low and the breeze is gentle. Most of all the temperature is perfect at 70 degrees. It just doesn't get much better than this.

The impatients that line our walkway come up from the seeds spread by the previous year's impatient plants. Nature chooses the color. The red salvia in the back also came up by themselves, from seeds of previous years. I love impatients because they always stay neat and last the whole season until the first frost. When the first frost hits, they're gone. They look like the Wicked Witch of the West after she melted. But until that day of demise, they are glorious and we are enjoying them.

The question is now, why am I sitting at this computer when I could be outside enjoying this wonderful day. I'm gone!

Watermelon Man

Today did not seem like Sunday. It's been very quiet. Bill and I just got back from visiting our friend Bob and Jim. Their friend Kenny is visiting them from Ohio. Kenny is out of work and will probably be moving in with Bob and Jim to look for work down here in lower slower....er Sussex County, Delaware. He says he won't accept anything less than $18.00 an hour. Lots of luck Kenny, I don't even think they pay chicken pluckers $18.00 an hour.

I worked at the hotel yesterday. We had almost a full house even though showers were forecast for the weekend. Our business has picked up since the economy picked up giving consumers confidence that they could spend a few extra discretionary dollars to visit our Nantucket style east coast resort in Lewes, Delaware. We have also offered a 20% discount on the rooms rates if the guests stay two or more nights. That helped also. It was good to see Mom and Dad and the kids stop by the front desk for towels and beach chairs on their way out to the beach. It reminded me of when times were good last year and the year before when we were booked almost every weekend during the summer. It seemed like it would last forever but the recent economy downturn really took a toll on the hospitality industry as well as other businesses like the restaurants. One restaurant, La Rosa Negra, even when out of business. I know of several other restaurants that are up for sale but no takers so far. I'm back on a two night a week schedule at least until the end of the season in the middle of September, then it's back to one night a week of the Overlook Hotel.

Bill and I were going to try a new restaurant for our weekly breakfast experience away from the home front. We haven't been too pleased with the quality of food of Zorba's, the restaurant that we have been going to every weekend for some time. I suggested the new Ocean Point Grill in Lewes. As we were parking our car at about 8 am this morning we saw another car with three huge adults (they looked like hippos) with three little kids under five years old (baby hippos) and one of the adults was carrying a basket with baby. Oh no. We wouldn't be going into this restaurant. There is little that I hate more than having a meal in a restaurant next to table full of squirmy kids and especially one with a basket. That baby does not want to be in the restaurant and you can be sure that baby will let you know by its piercing cries shortly after its Moses like basket is placed on the restaurant table. If we're really lucky, the little darling will need its diaper changed. That's what happened the last time I sat at a table next to an extended family (Mom, Pop, the grandparents and an in-law or two) and they plopped a basket full of baby on their table. The all to familiar sweet sickening smell of baby poop wafted over the room and then one of the adults said "Oh, look. Megan did a do do." How cute. So, Bill and I headed for Zorba's again. At least we were comfortable but the food was still mediocre. As we were leaving we spied another family bringing a baby basket into the restaurant. We got out just in time. Go home people! Leave us alone! Didn't you see that rainbow emblem on the door as you waddled in?

On the way back from Bob and Jim's, Bill saw a produce stand in Harbeson full of watermelon. It's right across from the Allen chicken processing plant (bad mems for me of all those chickens met their Final Destination at that plant.) We stopped and got a couple of watermelons. Bill will go through those watermelons this week. I get the rinds to put in my growing compost pile out in back of my shed. We're into recycling kitchen waste in this house.

It's now time for my daily walk back in Oyster Rocks. I enjoy the quality time that my evening walk provides for me. The only problem is that if I wait too the bugs come out and bombard me. At least the mosquitoes have taken a hiatus. Haven't seen or felt them around here for a few weeks now. Thank God for small blessings. I like taking my walks solo.

The week ahead looks good. I'm working tomorrow night at the hotel. There is an Event (hotel talk for a large group of people descending on the hotel.) A cocktail party for 50 plus is scheduled for the fortunate invited few. I'm not invited but I can clean up. Then I don't go to work again until Saturday during the day. Labor Day weekend. Should be fun. I'll take the extra time this week to get caught up on my 50th class reunion invitations and booklet that I'm preparing for the reunion. I baked my favorite lemon bundt cake early this morning while the temperatures were still cool. It's not as humid as it has been for the past two weeks. Maybe I can get some yard trimming in also. The week ahead is looking good as we enter into the end of the season down here in God's Country, Sussex County, Delaware. It's all good.

Single Payer Health Care System

Up until a few days ago, I was a strong advocate of single payer U.S. health care. However, an experience with the Veterans Administration health care system last Tuesday caused me to lose some if not all of my confidence in a single payer system.

Since 2001 I’ve been using the VA health care system. I didn’t have a choice when I lost my job at the hotel where I worked in Lionville, PA. Luckily for me I had signed up for the VA health care system in 1998 just in case I would ever need it. Lucky because in 2001 the Bush administration discontinued the eligibility of non service connected (meaning we didn’t have a service connected disability) veterans like me from using the VA health care system which I was promised when I joined the Army in 1960. This act alone (making veterans like me ineligible to use the VA system) was the main factor in causing me to change my political registration from Republican Party did not care for me or my well being unless I was connected to the power structure. Since I neither was employed, rich or have political connections, I was on my own according to the Republican Party. My first doubts about the Republican Party began during the 1992 Republican Party convention in Houston Texas after the hateful homophobic speeches of Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson. That was my first clue that I, as a gay man, was not welcomed in the Republican Party unless I turned straight. But that is another story for a future blog posting.

The VA health care system was a lifesaver for me. During the time I was unemployed I had one medical emergency and two operations. The VA took excellent care of me. In fact, they took better care of me than my private health care ever did. The one major operation I had with my private health care system almost killed me. I contracted a staph infection and it took me six months and three operations to finally get rid of it. I barely survived. The whole ordeal was a nightmare which I will never forget. I never received an apology from any of my private medical care providers for what happened to me, including the doctor I went to who insisted it was "all in my head" when I complained of horrendous headaches. It was only when my surgery scar burst from the build up of pus that I was delivered to the contagion ward of the hospital in an ambulance. Then the medical establishment realized that something was dreadfully wrong.

I liked the VA health care system because they seem to really care about me. I wasn’t just a number to increase the doctor’s volume of patients. The VA had a different attitude. Since they’re not operating for profit, they took more time with me. My doctor (or nurse practitioner) actually sat down with me and made eye contact with me and discussed my health. I had annual labs to monitor my health. Except for the fact that since I moved the main VA facility was now 90 miles away (as opposed to ten minutes away when I lived in Pennsylvania), I was very happy with the VA system. No, I couldn’t choose my doctor but I always had the best doctors available for me when I went to the VA for care.

Alas, it seems that has changed now. Last year the VA opened an outpatient facility in Georgetown. No longer would vets like me have to travel 90 miles one way to Wilmington, DE just to take labs or to visit our doctor. Now we could travel to the outpatient clinic in nearby Georgetown. It all looked good on paper. However, what looks good on paper and what is reality are two different things.

I have visited the VA Outpatient Clinic in Georgetown about a half a dozen times. Every time I have visited them I have a different doctor. This wasn’t good. There was no continuity. The last time I visited I had a doctor and I expressed my concern about the turnover. He assured me he would stay there because he said he liked treating “old vets” like me. I think that was a compliment. So imagine my disappointment this past Tuesday when I visited the VA Outpatient Clinic for my labs. A lot of red flags went up.

First, there was no sign in sheet. There were no instructions as to what to do. I see the obese woman behind the glass partition (what’s with the glass partition? Afraid someone is going to rob them?) I asked her “where is the sign-in sheet?” She looked up at me with a dull look and said “Hepa.” I said “Hepa?” She repeated “Hepa.” I said “Oh, it’s a privacy thing?” She said “Yeah.” Okay. Then I tell her I have an appointment for my labs. She now asks my name (why didn’t she do that sooner?)

I take my seat. A short time later a woman in a white medical jacket comes out and proceeds to rip a new one for one of the veterans. I don’t know what he did but she said to him “Sir! You will have to wait your turn! There are 30 other patients before you and you will have to wait your turn! Do you understand?” Oh that was nice. Not what you would call professional or respectful. Even if the vet was inquiring about when his turn was I don’t think that was an appropriate way to answer his question. The woman turns on her heel and stomps in the back to continue doing whatever it was she was doing before this hapless vet dared to ask his question. An uncomfortable tension settled over the rest of us vets in the waiting room. What next?

Then I was called into the back to get my blood drawn for my labs. It was all very organized, including the needle at the ready. My brother had told me a few weeks earlier that whenever a medical person inserts a needle into your arm you should see them break open a new needle and throw that needle away. I didn’t see that and I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t question it either. I should have. I was intimidated by the white jacket woman who was administering a needle to the veteran sitting next to me. Yes, they were taking our blood simultaneously. Yes, we were on a production line.

After three vials of blood were taken from me I returned out front and inquired as to when my next appointment would be. The usual procedure was to schedule an appointment the next week to go over the results of the labs or blood test. I was told that they would contact me “if there was a problem.” Otherwise, if I wanted a copy of my labs I could call them next week. So there you go. No longer did I have a doctor, or even a nurse practitioner to discuss my medical condition with me. I wasn’t asked if this is what I wanted. The decision was made for me.

Another incident which also caused me great concern was that they had no record of my partner Bill. He had not heard from them in over a year about getting his labs. He went with me and inquired at the front desk. He was told “You’re not in the system.” Not in the system? He’s been in the system since the early 90’s. They made an appointment for him and also a follow up appointment to review his labs. Why didn’t they make a follow up appointment for me?

As I was leaving I overheard another vet questioning the person at the front desk as to why he had not received his heart medicine. The woman at the front desk didn’t seem to care. The old veteran was pleading with her that he needed his medicine. She finally advised him to see the woman around the other side of the front desk. Hopefully that woman took care of his problem.

All these events on this past Tuesday morning in the span of about a half an hour left my confidence in the VA health care system very shaken. It has even affected my sleep. That’s when I know something is serious because I rarely have problems sleeping. I can sit in front of a TV or read a page or two of a book and I’m off in Wonderland in only a few minutes. Not now, I’m waking up during the night worried about my health care.

This morning I decided to do something about it. I called the VA in Wilmington and explained my concern to the operator. She immediately connected me to a woman who is the patient’s advocate for veterans. She wasn’t in so I left a message. Much to my surprise, she called me back in about 20 minutes. I told her of my experience at the Georgetown outpatient clinic and explained my concerns. She told me that the Georgetown clinic was having a great deal of difficulty keeping a doctor. She said part of the problem was probably the computer system which was frustrating to use for the doctors and nurse practitioners. She seemed genuinely concerned about my loss of confidence. She offered to reconnect with a primary health care provider at the Wilmington location. She acknowledged that it would be a long trip for me but I told her that didn’t concern me as much as I needed a primary health care provider. The trip by the local American Legion Post 28 van takes up half of my day. That is a small price to pay for the peace of mind to have a permanent, consistent health care provider with whom I can discuss my medical condition.

The lesson I am taking from my experience this past week was even though I ran into difficulty with the single provider system that I’m using through the VA, I was able to resolve the problem immediately through the VA’s patient advocate and thus stay with the system that has provided me the best health care I have ever received in my life. I have regained my confidence and peace of mind and now I can sleep again at night.

Senator Kennedy

I've been busier than a flea on a pack of hound dogs today! Phew. I've not nothing but run around all day.

First up I had to get out the invitations of my 50th high school class reunion. This was the second time I've prepared the invites and I think this will be my swan song. It is a LOT OF WORK and I wonder just how much of it is appreciated. We have a class of just over 100 students, of whom about 90 are left. There is a hard core of former classmates who almost always go to the reunion. The rest of the classmates ignore the invitations which leads me to wonder, is it even worth sending the invitations to them. I think all of my friends tell me they always ignore their class reunions. They treat the invitations with disdain and derision which is probably what some on of my classmates do also. Oh well, I'm not going to get myself worked up over that now. We do have forty or so classmates who do appreciate the time and effort (and expense) that those of us on the reunion committee put forth. I know I appreciate their effort that's why I'm always wanted to help. However, it does puzzle me why some people don't want to have anything to do with their former classmates. I didn't have all that great of a time in high school either but I consider that time of my life all a part of my Life's Journey. I always look forward to reconnecting with my former classmates. But then, that's just me. I can't speak for my fellow former classmates.

I think this is all I'm going to write at this time. It is late afternoon and I do want to get my daily walk in before dinner tonight and then to bed. I work the day shift at the hotel tomorrow and I have to be in by 7 am to set up breakfast. I can see another Busy Bee day tomorrow.

One note on Senator Ted Kennedy's passing today......he will be sorely missed. He was a tireless advocate for those of us who are not plugged into the power base of this country. I realize there are those out there, many self professed "Good Christians" who harbor a deep seated hatred towards Senator Kennnedy because of the events of Chappaquiddick forty years ago. Yes, Senator Kennedy probably made a mistake and was instrumental in causing an innocent person's death. He had an accident. He didn't report it right away. We all make mistakes. What surprises me is the unrelenting hatred of those who profess themselves "Good Christians" who are unwilling or unable to forgive. I'll tell you what I can't forgive. I can't forgive a president who lead us into a war of choice who caused almost 5,000 unnecessary American deaths and countless thousands of Iraqi deaths. I cannot forgive a president who lead an administration who squandered our precious moral authority in the world by permitting the most heinous forms of torture on our supposed enemies. I cannot forgive those in the Republican party who aid and abet the lies that is making health care so difficult to pass. That's who I cannot forgive.

When I first started this blog I made a conscious effort not to make it a platform for my political views. At times it has been very hard for me to suppress posting my views on this blog. But today I am making an exception. I say to my "Good Christian" friends who harbor hate in their heart towards their bogeymen (Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid, Clinton) and say "don't be hating." We're all in this together. Two of Senator Kennedy's brothers were murdered. If our current hate climate continues, I don't even want to think of what could happen in this country. Here is my suggestion, lay down your hate mongering and let's work together to make this a better country. Is that so hard? Leave the hate behind. That's what Jesus would do.

DHS 50th Class Reunion

Fifty years ago this year I graduated from high school in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. One thing I want to say right up front, "That was a fast fifty years!"

I am on the reunion committee and I've been asked by our organizer, Carole Davis Turner, to put all the reunion information on a blog. So here it is for all of our fellow classmates for whom we have an e-mail address. I will also be sending out invitations by snail mail with a questionnaire to be returned to Cookie Seibert Pannebaker.

The 50th class reunion will be held at the Whitford Country Club on October 17, 2009. The price per person (which includes the reunion booklet) is $55.00. There are also other activities scheduled for that weekend which Carole want me to make known to everyone. Please read the information below and if you have any questions please send me an e-mail to: ronstales@aol.com.

Hope to see you all at the reunion!

Please answer all the questions below and return all sheets with your deposit (and your e-mail address) to Cookie (Seibert) Pannebaker by October 1st, 2009.

120 Webster Avenue, Downingtown, PA 19335
Phone: 610-269-0464
e-mail: cook610@verizon.net



Please choose one of the following menu options by circling your choice:







Chicken Dijonnaise
Sautéed Breast of Chicken with White Wine and Dijon Mustard Sauce, Baked Potato, Seasonal Vegetables

Or

Prime Rib of Beef
12 oz. Roasted Angus Rib with Natural Jus and Creamy Horseradish Cream Sauce, Baked Potato, Seasonal Vegetables




Inquiring minds want to know



Would you like to participate in the Homecoming Parade on Thursday night, October 15th? If so, you get to ride in the Homecoming Float (dress in Fifties style clothes.)

On Friday night, October 16th you get to sit on the 50 yard line at the Homecoming Football Game. You will receive complimentary tickets (we’re senior citizens now.)

Circle YES or NO


Carole Davis Turner has also wants you to know that these two activities are also available the reunion weekend. Please indicate by circling which activities you are interested in attending. Details will be supplied later.

a.) Golfing at the Whitford Country Club
b.) Breakfast at the Happy Days Diner in Thorndale, PA


(Mrs. Yost’s Sixth Grade Operetta – back row left to right - Ron Tipton, Bud Bruton, Denny Meyers, Larry Meredith front row left to right: Bud Bruton, Duer Smedley, Bill Brookover, Stuart Meisel – 1953)

If you prefer, please answer the following questions to be included in our 50th Class Reunion Booklet (available for $12.00 if not attending the reunion)

1. If you have children and/or grandchildren, please list their names and ages.

2. What was your main occupation (excluding raising your family) for the past 50 years?

3. What is your favorite hobby (excluding spending time with your grandchildren)?

4. What are the places you have lived (not visited) since you graduated from DHS?

5. If you could change one decision you made since graduation, what would it be?

6. If you still work, what kind of job do you do and how long to you plan to do it?

7. Name three items still on your Bucket List.

a.
b.
c.

The Point Is

Not much going on this Saturday. Bill and I had our usual weekly breakfast at Zorba's in Rehoboth Beach. We arrived way too early (just after 7 am.) We go to Zorba's because it is gay friendly (although it is not a gay restaurant) and comfortable, if worn, seating. Our waitress is always very friendly. Bill especially enjoys teasing her. It is his weekly ritual. However, the food is not too good. In fact, it's pretty awful. Cheap, but awful. This morning we both had an egg omelet. It was like eating shelf liner, tasteless. I always get scrapple which I love (a Chester County, PA thing.) The home fries were good and the rye toast was especially good since the cook buttered the toast while it was still hot instead of cold like he usually does. So we're thinking of changing restaurants next week. Yesterday I ate at the new Ocean Point Grill at the Five Points shopping center in Lewes. Ironically, Zorba's used to Ocean Point Grill too. But the owners relocated to Long Neck. The name "Ocean Point Grill" stayed the same at the Rehoboth location even though it was under different owners. Then the owners of the original Ocean Point Grill opened another restaurant at the aforementioned Five Points location in Lewes. I realize I have a lot of "Points" here and I'm probably boring you, the reader to tears with my narrative here. The point is (another "point") we're thinking of changing restaurants. And that's saying something because we're both old geezers (Bill's 80 and I'm 67) and you know how us old folk hate change. So next week we're going to have breakfast at the Ocean Point Grill at the Five Points location in Lewes. Oh how I would like a good egg omelet.

Later we visited our friend who is suffering from the early stages of dementia. He had another emergency today. He lost his water (not baby, but to his double wide.) He had to call in the plumber at weekend rates. We visited him and his cat, Stormy (his cat and I are pictured on this blog.) The plumber fixed the problem (a perforated pipe) and now our friend is up and running again. He and his partner are planning a two week vacation out west to the redwoods of California and he is dreading it. Not for the trip itself but for all the aggravation one has to go through to travel by plane these days. Taking your shoes off at the airport, random strip searches (which happened to my cousin Jack not too long ago) and lost luggage not to even mention the dollar cost. Our friend is 72 years old, just getting on the cusp of "I don't need any more aggravation in my life." I would like to take a trip but I don't think I will just because of all the stress involved. Never say never but I doubt if I'll be taking any more long trips in my lifetime. I'm just as comfortable in my home here on the Delmarva peninsula. As I've said many times before, I'm very happy here. Why push it?

A Salad a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

A few years ago I ran into an old classmate of mine from high school. We were both in the vegetable section of Wegmans supermarket. He was shopping for salad ingredients for his new health diet to combat heart disease. While I've never been one for salads I thought I would give it a try too. When I grew up Mom didn't make salads for our dinner table. We usually had overcooked green string beans or corn on the cob. That was about it. The only salads I had were when I dined out and that was a hit or miss experience. Once in a great while I got a salad I liked. Not very often though.

So I took my friend's advice and got some salad ingredients for myself. Well, I have to say I am now hooked. I liked my salads the best. I have basically two types of salads. Either a Caesar Salad of Romaine lettuce, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and a Caesar Vinaigrette salad dressing. I can't take the heavy fat laden salad dressings. I sprinkle Caesar croutons on top of the salad. My other favorite salad is "Ron's Salad." This salad consists of torn Romaine lettuce leaves, cucumber, sliced white or red onion, and those little round red tomatoes (not cherry or plum but the "other" ones) that are so expensive (but so worth it.) I sprinkle a little salad seasoning on it and Italian croutons. I use a sun dried red tomato Italian vinaigrette dressing on this salad. These salads hit the spot with me. I know they're right because my stomach welcomes them. With other salads, especially ones made with iceberg lettuce, I feel like I ate nothing but salad dressing.

I used to buy prepackaged Romaine salads but I now find it more economical to but one of those three packs of Romaine lettuce and prepare my own greens. I occasionally like to buy the Spring Mix and have it with a Raspberry Walnut vinaigrette. I don't like salad dressings with the heavy calories. I feel it takes away from the taste of the fresh greens and tomatoes. Salad dressing should be accompany, not dominate a salad.

I have been remiss in my blog postings. I try to make a daily blog posting but there is just so much going on in this retiree's life, sometimes I just don't have the time. One thing I always have time for though is a good salad and I make a damn good salad!