Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

      If you are anything like me, you're sick to death of hearing all about the politics in this country. I turn on the news hoping to hear about something else going on in the world, but the vast majority of what is covered is political. There doesn't appear to be any real news anymore, it's all political opinion. Depending on which side of the isle you're on, you're either ecstatic and dancing in the streets or you're outraged and ready to throw the bums out. I've never lived through a time of such unrest in this country. I lived through the Cuban missile crisis, the  hippie movement, the Vietnam War, the gas rationing of the seventies, multiple presidential elections, the Ebola virus, the N1 whatever it was virus, Y2K and in the past year, the Corona virus and a toilet paper shortage. There have been many disasters to endure, but by far the one that scares me the most is what is happening in this country now, where the people are so divided that we can...

 Jan and I were over in Juneau a few weeks ago. I had to go in to the doctor for a physical. There really wasn't much physical stuff involved, aside from taking my blood pressure a few times, having me stick out my tongue,and pressing on my overblown gut. Fortunately I didn't have gas or it would have been a more interesting experience. There are times when it really doesn't make sense to jostle, prod, poke or otherwise disturb the patient. Although I'm sure that most general practitioners have seen it all, for the sake of the patient, it's good to be sensitive to what they have to say. I well remember a friend who was in the naval hospital for some kind of operation or test, I can't recall which. In any event, it seems that he was given a drug that made it difficult for him to communicate with the doctors and nurses. As I recall, he was given a barium enema by a burly nurse whose bedside manner was a bit brusque. He was supposed to be getting some x-rays ...