Smokers Unite: Hit Manhattan Where It Hurts

I lunched at Bob's today. As I ate I was eavesdropping on the old men at the table next to me. Of course the topic was the impending smoking ban (...vaguely reminiscent of the Third Reich's policies). One of them pointed out the hypocrisy of banning a product, any product, yet permitting the sale of the banned product. Oh yeah, wouldn't want to pass up all that sales tax money.

So here's how smokers can fight back. Don't buy your cigarettes in Manhattan. Slip over the county line and buy them there---and I mean far enough over the county line that you aren't in one of their sneaky little extended tax districts. Don't let your tax dallars go to a municipality that takes your money but forbids use of the product you purchased.

Also, I am now accepting contributions to the Smoker's Defense Fund. I have a really good civil rights attorney and he grows bored waiting for me to get into trouble again. I don't think he'll be waiting long...

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?

...or How do I love my chimney sweep? Let me count the ways.

So the first appointment I had to get the wood stoves inspected and cleaned netted me two guys, three vacuums, a couple of ladders, and a ton of frustration. The stove on the main level has a stovepipe that rises straight up from the top of the stove through the cathedral ceiling and then out the roof. The pipe sections are maybe four feet long nested one atop another...with no wiggle room. Well duh! Wouldn't want smoke to fill the house, right? Unfortunately there also is no cleanout access.

So it's not the best design from a cleaning and inspecting point of view but it does warm the room quite nicely before it exits the roof and doesn't lend itself to nooks and crannies full of creosote buildup. After two hours of trying this and that, the two guys are no closer to being able to get the pipe to separate from the top of the stove thus enabling inspection of the area between the smoke baffle and the wonderful soapstone finish that radiates heat for hours and hours.

I begin an exchange of email with the builder of my house (who also installed the stoves) and the Sweeps agree to find another body to muscle it apart and call me to set a return date. Builder of home tells me how they put it all together to begin with and from his description it's obvious that no one has ever taken it apart since to give it a thorough cleaning and inspection. I dread what may be waiting for us both inside the pipe and the stove.

I madly research new chimneys and wood stoves. I have visions of badly corroded steel chimney sections and a stove top that's one fire away from collapse. None of which come to pass. This Saturday past the three gentlemen arrived promptly at the designated time. That's twice they've been on time and that is such a rarity in Kansas that I can't believe I haven't savored that fact until now.

They brush the pipe a couple of times in place to remove the worst of any buildup and then proceed to separate the stove and pipe, taking the pipe down and completely out of the house for more bushing and inspecting. They'd tried removing the stove top on the first visit but that did not go well and there was difficulty getting back on tight. They removed the top again and replaced all the anchoring bolts that were stripped or damaged from previous servicings. The pipe is good and the stove is the Hummer of all stoves (Hearthstone brand).

They put it all back together, cemented the pipe back to the collar on the stove and handed me a bill. Now mind you, they've made two trips, ended up with a manpower of three and spend a total of six hours on my two stoves (the basement one was a piece of cake). The originally quoted price was x amount of dollars for the first stove and half that for the second. And that's exactly what the bill was for.

God I love Kansas.

Democrats in Kansas?

Sort of an endangered species in these parts. Well, maybe not. That implies they were there to begin with and are slowly disappearing which is clearly not the case.

The ballot I voted on this past election was really, really sad if you look at it from a balance point of view. In so many local offices, the elephant candidates ran unopposed. There were no donkeys to run against them? Is that a decision where the party at large doesn't want to spend the money to support a candidate for such a small office or is there merely a lack of candidates?

I guess finding the answers to these questions would require getting off my lazy ass (read---trying to find some time in an already over-booked life) and meeting other donkeys to find out what the story is...

Did someone say I'm incoherent?

You bet your ass I am. How can Kansans vote the way they vote? What can they possibly be thinking?

I realize that people have a tendency to surround themselves with people like themselves, but really. What the people surrounding me have said and what actually went down at the polls has me scratching my head. Did the people I spoke with say one thing yet do another? Did the people I spoke with pull a Floridian and not understand how to operate a ballot? Did the people I spoke with not actually go to the polls and vote?

By dint of the small population in Kansas, they had no effect on the country at large, but the havoc they wreaked in Kansas will echo for at least another two years.

I was pleased to see that the apathy generation* turned out well and I hope you know you made all the difference in the world on a national level. Please, keep coming back. Only you can make it better.

*The ones that were "...waiting, waiting on the world to change." That song has always pissed me off. Too bad it's got such a catchy hook.

And since I'm posting...

Lexi, one of the animals I care for when Mommy's gone.

Gallstones it is!

So I'm having my gall bladder removed next week. I'm not scared. Maybe I should be, but I've researched it to death on the internet and the doctor answered all of my questions and gave me all the reasons why I'm not a candidate for other options that might be taken.

Maybe I should be scared. I've never had surgery. In spite of all the abuse I've heaped on my body over the years, there's never been anythng wrong enough to have to cut the flesh. I think the biggest worry is anesthesia, but I don't think there's too many drugs out there that'll kill me given my history of substance abuse. In fact they may need to really dope me up!

• 
  Gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy) is done while the patient is under general anesthesia, unconscious and pain-free. It is most commonly performed through 4 small incisions, using a small video camera called a laparoscope.
• 
  In laparoscopic surgery, the abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide to provide more space for the surgeon to work. The laparoscope is inserted through small incisions. The vessels and duct going to the gallbladder (cystic duct and artery) are identified, clipped, and cut. The gallbladder is removed and the incisions are closed.
• 
  In complicated cases, an open cholecystectomy may be performed. A larger incision is made just below the ribs on the right side of the abdomen. As with laparoscopic surgery, the vessels and ducts going to the gallbladder are identified, clipped, and cut. The gallbladder is removed. The incisions are closed.
• 
  Laparoscopic surgery often has a lower rate of complications, a shorter hospital stay, and better cosmetic results than the open procedure.

Maybe I should be scared. The doctor has a good track record. Maybe too good. If he answered my question honestly, and I have no reason to think he did not, he's only had one complication to his credit and that was the second worst thing that could go wrong and the outcome was still good. Does that mean he's that good or does that mean he's overdue for a loss?

Maybe I'll wake up the morning of the procedure terrified (provided I get to sleep the night before). Maybe I should try to get into that research study in Oregon where the doctor is removing the gallbladder endoscopically. I called and called on Friday. The line was busy-busy-busy-no answer, busy-busy-busy-no answer, busy-busy-busy-no answer, busy-busy-busy-no answer, busy-busy-busy-no answer. I just don't know. But I guess I'm going to find out...

The Rose that would not die

This is the 2004 Habitat for Humanity rose. I thought I lost it during the late freeze we had, but it came back just as beautiful as ever.

Spring-ish Plantings

So this is how I spent my Sunday. I bought the plants almost two weeks ago and have been too sick to get them in the ground. Today I at least got the color pots done.

Just what we needed...

...another sexual orientation to confuse the mix...autosexual.

For some bizarre reason...

...I decided to poke around the Help section of Blogger. I, who prides herself on her grammar and punctuation skills, am apparently a repeat offender in the category of criminal overuse of the ellipsis:

I can also spot an overuse of the ellipsis at 50 paces. There are two reasons to use an ellipsis (and neither one is because you don't want to write a transition): Use an ellipsis to indicate words omitted from a direct quote or to trail off intriguingly. If neither of these are your intention, try a period. Dot. Full stop. Terminal punctuation can be your friend.)

Jennifer
Garrett

So I consider my self suitably chastised. I will go forth and sin no more...maybe.

Laptop good

I just love sitting on my deck with the laptop and the dogs. I hardly ever spend any time on my desktop anymore. It's just become one great big network storage drive.

Now that all the bitter cold weather is past, Kansas is starting to green up. I'm looking forward to seeing what plants recover and mourning the ones that don't. I think most of the roses are toast...

Testing Picasa

Just testing the blog this button in picasa. My new coverlet. Silk. Direct from China. Like the silk, but not too sure how I feel about China anymore...

Who, what, where?

You can ignore this post, the blog it refers to is no more.

Me, new blog, here.

Not much there right now, but gimme time. I'll get a nice fire going and you'll warm up right quick.

$hit I just gotta read...

Well shit. I was trying to add a list of blogs I frequent to one of the pre-placed fields in my profile, like interests or whatever. Well, they don't really have a 'whatever' category but you get my drift, don't you? Not happening. I guess I don't spend enough time here to know that all entering data in profile fields gets you is links to other profiles that reference the same exact text. Go figure. So here's my list of shit I gotta read, if not on a daily at least a weekly basis. Dig in folks as of 6-23-2005: (link check 3-3-09)

Will Burnham gone by the wayside
Heather Armstrong aka dooce she's become a money-maker
Anonymous Lawyer gone by the wayside (pretty much...site still there but no new posts)
Lewesrat ???
Gunnella Thorgeirs - Xanth.is ???
Exploding Dog still going strong
Passion Knit by Plaza Jen moved here >>> PlazaJen’s Blog
Ann Fisher - Journal gone by the wayside
Ann Fisher - Illustrated Journal (way cool concept!) gone by the wayside
Women, Fire & Dangerous Things gone by the wayside

There's others, I'll add them to this list in time.

Why I Signed Up for Blogger

So I could post comments to the people I read who don't allow anonymous postings. Nothing more complicated than that. It's not like I don't already have diarrhea of the keyboard elsewhere...A Life on the Konza Prairie