Next Phase

From Facebook page Carol Roullard Art,  @CarolRoullardArt

 

 Microcrystals made with chemicals (mostly household) and photographed through a microscope is her technique.

 

 





So we are all set for Ellie's first star gazing on Friday. via the telescope my daughter found online for 1/6th the price. We have a heck of a line up, and we will see how long Ellie lasts, but she will be wearing a red LED headlamp like Poppy, and she is so smart, that as long as we keep explaining and pointing out the meteors between planet and star sightings, she should maintain her attention. To the west of my daughter's house is just open range with low ridges about 2 m...iles away, so we should not be bothered by glare from the Strip.

Here is the lineup:
Object, Time overhead,Time Set, Location at 7:35,
Sun, noon, 7:35pm, West (for reference)
Moon, noon, 7:09 pm, West - depending on Sunlight, may not be able to see
Venus, 7pm,9:35pm, SW 36 degrees above horizon
Jupiter 6:12pm, 11:25pm, SW 73 degrees above horizon
Saturn 9:34pm, 2:30am, SW 73 degrees above horizon
Ursa Major (big dipper), after dark ,NNW - look at double star in middle of handle
Polaris(north star), after dark NNW
Bootes,, after dark West, brighest star is Arcturus
Perseid Meteor Shower, 7/23-8/20, peak is 8/11 so should be a lot of shooting stars

 My little girl will rule the world the way these other dumb kids are going. She already only plays with 4 year olds because her vocabulary is better than theirs and 2 year olds bore her, because they can't talk.

Heard the Motown song "My Girl" when I was in the CT scanner today. Definitely going to be singing that to her. ❤❤❤

Not that I can sing, but she won't care.

 I was dreaming about having a ham radio, like I had on Search and Rescue, and have Ellie repeat my call sign over the air. I know she could do it..so smart for an almost 3 year old.

Have some symptoms that in the aggregate look bad. I was almost sent to ER this morning, but since I have an appointment in an hour to the specialist who deals in these issues. Better to be loaded for bear with symptoms and observations, instead of running off screaming into the woods.

Turns out I just need a water pill, as bony tumor moved and is lying on the vein so waste from lymph is trapped in lower leg. Only lower left leg impacted.

Well that water pill was prescribed by my urologist was not the cure and the cause he gave me sounded like BS since he ignored most of the symptoms and only relied on the CT I have him and not the list of symptoms. Even just using the CT would not have resulted in his explanation. I thought I would be talking to someone who knew. But again like the last time I saw him he opens with " you have a bladder tumor." Yeah no shit. Been coming here for 9 months, and he still has no idea who I am.

Last straw. He is fired.

 Went to my IM today, who I have seen maybe 5x since October, but most of them in last 3 weeks.

She listened for 45 mins and asked questions about my symptoms and said I have cellulitis in my left foot and calf. I just saw her on Friday and didnt have it then. She gave me antibiotics, referral for ultrasound to check for clots, will wait for PET CT results, before she prescribes lymphedema therapy. Follow up with her next week. Asked for a referral to another urologist.

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https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/ten-things-that-are-more-selfish-stupid-and-privileged-than-voting-green-party-864b55f4d667

 I didn't post this in support of Greenies, but for the comments about the Dems. I'm not even sure who I can support, although if the Johnson/Weld ticket was flipped, they would have done better. Weld had a much better TV presence.

Red light cameras are coming to the Vegas Valley. Normally I'd groan, but this could help reduce our weekly carnage between cars and cyclists/pedestrians. Just hope there is no exception for cars making right turns.

4 of the 5 accidents I have been in on a bike were all due to right turning cars. Other was someone who ran a stop sign, only to have a pedestrian step out on my side of the street. I cut in front of her to avoid T boning and she stepped on the gas and broke my b...ack wheel and threw me off. Fortunately I just rolled, as I always do. Then she took off.

Pedestrian got her plate, called cops, and cop came. She said she felt threatened and got off, but her ins co replaced the back wheel. That was in Passaic, NJ in 1974 on the first day of a solo bikepacking trip from LI to Phillie.

It was the last time I rode without a helmet.

Two of the others were on Long Island and two in Vegas. This doesn't count the other crashes where I misjudged a turn, hit debris or potholes, wasn't looking where I was going,, or hit my pedal on the road and flew over the handlebars. The latter is the only time I got hurt beyond road rash and I broke my collarbone. Didnt realize it and carried my bike home, replaced the wheel and went back on my ride.

Found out it had been broken years later when pointed out on an Xray.

Before and After 2014-2018 Same weight

Four years ago pretty well packed with muscle and took shirts in XL.
When we were in AZ, my friend's father said he had some... extra shirts and asked what size I was. I said XL, not having bought a new shirt since the winter. Since October, I have intentionally dropped 45 lbs. When he gave me the shirts, they were like Mu-Mus. I weighed the same as 4 years ago, but had gotten skinny and didn't realize it.

Now it's time to morph the right back into the left. Just need a couple side effects to heal in next 2 weeks

Here is the last time I am posting the Blog link. Any of the ones you have will still take you there. This is the short version and takes you to the top.
ht...tps://johnscancertrip.blogspot.com/

If an old link takes you to a specific entry and you want the latest, click the arrow to the left of "John's Cancer Trip"
To get to the first blog entry, use this link, or the arrow in the upper left corner at the top.
https://johnscancertrip.blogspot.com/.../in-beginning...

My friends and relatives, I was reviewing the privacy policy and settings in Facebook and thought there was a way for me to block my posts from being shared. There is not. I prefer to choose who sees my posts and have included them and you in my friend's list. Please do not share my posts outside this circle.
Thank you.

Clouds above the California wildfires. This is at 30k feet. That's the sunset on the horizon.

PET CT Scan results suck, oncologist starting me on Keytruda on Tuesday. Have to read up to see if I believe it will work. Have other therapies up my sleeve.
Oncologist and I use Civil War analogies. He is Grant, supplying me, Sherman, with men. I am kicking cancer as Confederate General Joseph Wheeler's meager army was pushed to the sea. Sherman engaged in total war and devastated everything in his path and fed his army with everything they found in the towns and farms along the way. Only way to win.

Oncologist had me signed up to start Keytruda on Tuesday. I don't think I am ready. Too many side effects that I had from its cousin Tecentriq (which did nothing) and I am still trying to heal up from side effects of radiation, bone marrow stimulant, lymphedema, and for once no pain and I can sleep for first time in months. I sent an email to his admin telling them I wouldn't start yet. This also gives me a couple weeks to look more deeply at better therapies that do not have such side effects.
Taking stock of the weaknesses in my weaponry and bringing in the Yankee Parrott guns that killed my great great great uncle Darby Punyard at Ft Sumter from a mile away.

( For my Poniard cousins, Anthony spelled it Ponard, Darby we don't know, but his lieutenant spelled it Punyard and Ponyard. Odd because Anthony was university educated, so we don't know why he spelled it differently. The Aussie cousins spelled it Puniard.)

Last night's star gazing was a huge success. We didn't get to see everything on our list, but did get to see Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, thanks to Brandon Bechtol. I spent several hours of daylight aligning and adjusting the many settings of the telescope, changing batteries, attempting to install the motor drive to discover we were missing a part, singing along with my granddaughter and eating dinner. Twilight lasted much longer than expected, so we missed Venus. The haze fro...m the California fires meant we had to shoot up instead of more horizontally.

Once it got dark, I spotted Jupiter and that was our main target for the night. The spotting scope has two red LEDs that you line up with the object. Easier said than done and at one point, I did get Jupiter to show up in the main eyepiece, but when I went to focus, lost it. Fortunately, Brandon and his wife Ashley showed up, their evening plans cancelled. Brandon is an aerospace engineer who designed the Bigelow capsule on ISS.

I explained the situation and he took the reins as I was beat and frustrated. After some time to familiarize himself with the adjusting knobs, he got a good line on Jupiter and was able to bring it into focus. We all got a good look at it and 2 of it's moons. As it got later, we were able to see 3. Several times someone would bump the telescope and he would have to find it again, but at least Ellie got a look.

Saturn was right behind it, but so faint that he couldn't pick it up in the spotting scope. Then Mars came out from behind the house and Brandon picked it up quickly and everyone got a good look and could see its orange tint. It was much bigger in the view than Jupiter due to its proximity to earth. By then my little astronomer was asleep on the couch.