I can't believe that it is Friday already. Where has the week gone?

Thanks - to Debra and Jack for telling me about a way to make an ice pack with rubbing alcohol and water. 3 parts water to 1 part alcohol into a 1 gallon plastic cooking bag. It freezes into a nice slush that molds to your back. It can be reused over and over again. I have gone thru a lot of ice in the last couple of weeks. It works great!!!

My back - is improving very slowly. Tuesday I felt good enough to go out and putter in the yard and change a couple of sprinklers. Thursday I was a little sore from all the activity. Monday I have an appointment with the pain management doctor at 8:45 am for a consultation. I'm told they don't give you any treatment until you come back a second time. Hopefully that will be quick. Gotta suck all they can from the insurance company.

Power outage - Thursday we had the power in the neighborhood turned off for most of the day so that Edison could to some repairs. We received a notice in the mail about a week before hand to warn us of the event. I spent most of the afternoon at a book store in the air conditioning. What a surprise huh???

Visit - I managed to visit my good friend Jack at his house Wednesday afternoon. He is rebuilding his patio and was working on a gas line for his bbq while I sat and talked with him. It was a nice afternoon.

Tomorrow - August 1st is my dad's 88th birthday. Happy Birthday dad!!!

Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith

I used to say we are "exploring".

I have to admit, President Obama spoke out of turn in the case of the arrest of the black professor by the Cambridge Police Department. Many a person have found themselves in handcuffs and on their way to jail after talking themselves into it. Many have also tried to blame it on the officer's racism. Does this sound like personal experience??? 148 P.C.???

It would appear that President Obama spoke without knowing all the facts. Now he's trying to save face by inviting the officer and the professor to the White House for a beer. President Obama is right on one account. This is a teachable incident. I hope he learned something from it. I'm disappointed in my President.

Happy Birthday wishes go out to Linda Carter, aka "Wonder Woman", who turned 58 years old today. Linda Jean Cordova Carter was born in Phoenix, Az. She attended , but did not graduate from, Arizona State University. She is currently married to attorney Robert A. Altman and they have two children, James and Jessica.

In 1972, Linda Carter competed for the Miss World title as Miss Arizona and made it to the semi-finals. Linda Carter is probably most famous for her role as "Wonder Woman" which ran for three years from 1975 to 1979.

Happy Birthday wishes go out to one of my favorite comics, Gallagher, who turned 63 years old today. Leo Anthony Gallagher was born at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of Florida with a chemical engineering degree in 1969. He is famous in the marine biology field for inventing the prototype shark proof cage.

In the comedy realm, Gallagher is famous for his "sledge-O-Matic", a large wooden mallet that he destroys various items on the stage, including watermellons. It sprays watermellon all over the audience in the front rows. Karen and I saw him in Las Vegas and knew not to get seats in the front.

Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- An Ohio lawmaker has re-introduced legislation that would include a father's rights in the abortion decision-making process. Under Roe v. Wade, fathers are left out of the equation when a woman considers whether or not to have an abortion that would end the life of their child.

Rep. John Adams, a Republican from Sidney, wants to change that and the legislation he introduced today, House Bill 252, would require the biological father's consent before an abortion can be done.

The bill would apply to any abortion and would require written consent before it can be done.

Adams told the Daily Reporter newspaper that abortion centers would "need to get consent from the biological father" before the abortion can proceed and he called the measure a "father's right bill" to protect the interest of fathers who are given no say in the abortion process.

He also said the bill provides for criminal penalties for women seeking abortions who do not obtain consent properly.

"Providing a false biological father would be a first-degree misdemeanor the first time, which means not more than six months and jail, and a maximum $1,000 fine," Adams said. "And on the second occasion, providing false information would be considered a fifth-degree felony."

Adams told the newspaper that, in cases when the mother does not know the identity of the father, the abortion would be prohibited.

"There needs to be responsibility for actions," Adams said. "As someone who is pro-life, this is also an attempt and a hope to keep the two people who have created that child together, and I suppose if you just go back to the simple beginning, there is merit to chastity, and to young men and women waiting until marriage."

Adams said the bill offers exceptions in cases of rape or incest or when the life of the mother is threatened by the pregnancy.

Seems to me to be an incremental attack on Roe V. Wade. The blogger that posted this on their blog made the point that the bill doesn't make any provision for the father to take financial responsibility for the child after it is born.

My friend Jan thought of me when she received this photo from someone and passed it along to me with the caption, "Every day we have something to be thankful for….today we are thankful that the photographer was not standing on the other side!"

There are nudists of all ages out there. There's room for you too!!!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with two very special friends. Steve Goens I and grew up together. He lived on 18th street and I lived on 19th street in Chino. He now lives in Hisperia. Charm (Birow) Lindblad and I went all through high school together.

Charm, Cheryl Billips, Carla Taylor, Phil Bravo, Steve and I met as a group in the mornings before school and during lunch. We also spent a lot of time together during the summers at the high school auditorium playing ping pong and caroms, and at Charm's house in her pool. Ah the memories!! She lives in Albuquerque, N.M.

The three of us met for lunch yesterday and caught up on our lives and told stories from the past. After sitting in the Soup Plantation for a couple of hours, I drove them around Chino and hit some of the old spots. One of those spots had to be good Ol' Chino High School.




We had a great time together and have plans to get together again in November with our spouses.

Hello Kitty house!!!

I got the results of my M.R.I. this morning. There are big medical words in the report like disc desiccation, bilateral facet hypertrophy, and ligamentum flavum thickening, but I'm told the bottom line is three bulging discs. The bulging discs are putting pressure on the spinal canal which is only approx. 17 mm in diameter. My disc bulges range from 3-5 mm each.

My chiropractor will send the info to the insurance company and ask for more treatment from them plus a referral to a pain management doctor. The pain doctor will probably give me an anti-inflammatory shot like cortisone to help relieve the inflammation and lesson the pain.

So, at least I know what the problem is and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The ice and ibuprofen and treatments are starting to make a difference, so it's just a matter of time.

I found this info on the Internet;

Stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal due to the encroachment of disc material or bony growths that squeeze and irritate the spinal cord and/or extending nerve roots. This can lead to pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness in the legs, feet or buttocks. Spinal stenosis is commonly a contributing cause for sciatic symptoms.

The other side is heard from!!

Found a website with a bunch of old photos on it. It's called www.suicideblonde.tumblr.com if you're interested in looking it up. Or you can enjoy a few of them here.

Since you asked, yes my back is still bothering me. I hope to hear about the results of my MRI this week.

In the meantime, I went to a local Barnes and Noble today to get myself out of the house for awhile. I limped my way into the store and ordered my usual venti mocha frappacinno and went looking for a book or two to read. I ended up with Plato's "Republic". (a little light reading!!) I started out on a stiff dinning room type chair and then was able to move over to a more comfy chair. Plato's Republic is a tough read.

While sitting there, I was able to see portions of the store. I saw two young guys and one young girl, teens of about 16-17, in the sex books section. They were at the stage of their life where they opened up books and showed each other pictures and laughed. Made me wonder if any of them had any experience with sex. My guess would be not much, if any.

One man sitting in a comfy chair down from me was taking a short nap. The lady next to me was reading some kind of computer book.

I made a quick trip to the men's room and found it quite crowded. The men's room had one urinal and two stalls. One was a handicapped stall. I found one man at the urinal and one in the regular stall. There was a third mad waiting for an opening as he wouldn't go in the handicapped stall. It's always been my opinion that the handicapped stalls were provided for the ease of use by handicapped folks, (or to satisfy the law) but not restricted to the handicapped. If there are no handicapped around, it's open to one and all. So I walked past the waiting man and made use of the handicapped stall.

After a couple of hours with Plato, I headed home. I limped out to the car and made the 20 minute drive home. Interestingly, when I got out of the car and walked to the mail box, my leg didn't hurt much at all. Sometimes it hurts a lot, and other times it feels fine. Perhaps there is something in there floating around causing intermittent pain. Have to wait and see I guess.

Despite this photo of President Obama's birth certificate, there are still those who want to believe that he is not eligible to be president because he wasn't born in the U.S.

Talk about grasping at straws!!!

Walter Leland Cronkite Jr.
11/4/16 - 7/17/09

Still dealing with a sore back. Friday morning I was treated by my chiropractor and in the afternoon had an MRI scan. MRI, which stands for magnetic resonance imaging, uses magnetic and radio waves instead of X-rays to view the inner workings of your body.

If you've never had an MRI, they place you on this bed and restrict your head and arms. The idea is lie as still as possible while the scan is taking place.

Then push you head first into a tunnel. It can be quite frightening if you are claustrophobic. They give you ear plugs because it is so noisy inside the tube. My MRI took about 30 minutes.

Someone reads the MRI and writes a report. That report will direct my future medical procedures. So, hopefully by the middle of next week we will have some concrete idea of what is causing all the inflammation in my back and take some steps to get it fixed. I can hardly wait!!!

In the meantime, another weekend of being a couch potato with lots of ice and aspirin. They better hurry up and fix me so I can cut my lawn!!!

Belated Happy Birthday wishes need to go out to model and actress Debbe Dunning who turned 43 years old on July 11th. Debbe Dunning was born in Burbank, Ca. and graduated from John Burroughs High School. While in high school, Debbe was a cheerleader and homecoming queen. "

Debbe started her modeling career winning the title of "Miss Burbank 1984." She made numerous commercials for Miller Beer, Foot Locker, Taco Bell, and Ford Motors.

Debbe is probably best known, especially around my house, as "Heidi the Tool Time Girl" on the television series "Home Improvement." She was on "Home Improvement" from 1993 to 1999. Debbe was the reigning champion of the "American Gladiators Celebrity Challenge" for two years running.

Debbe is married to Steve Timmons, who played volleyball in the Olympics for three consecutive years, and has two children, a daughter Spencer who is 13, and a son Stony who is 8. She is currently the spokesperson for "smartTOUCH."

Early Retirement???

NYPOST.COM

July 10, 2009

3:28 am

Baby got Barack!

The leader of the free world and his French counterpart were caught sneaking a peek at a the pink-satin-draped booty of a 17-year-old junior G-8 delegate just moments before the summit's official group photo was snapped in Italy yesterday.

That's my president!!!

Happy Birthday wishes go out to singer, author, and actress, Cheryl Ladd, who turns 58 years old today. Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor was born in Huron, South Dakota. Cheryl is married to record producer Bryan Russell. She has a daughter, Jordan, from her first marriage to actor Alan Ladd and a stepdaughter, Lindsey Russell.

A WOMAN is suing an Egyptian hotel claiming her daughter got pregnant - from using the swimming pool.

Magdalena Kwiatkowska's 13-year-old returned to Poland from their holiday expecting a baby.

Magdalena believes the teenager conceived from stray sperm after taking a dip in the hotel's mixed pool. She is now seeking compensation from the hotel.

A travel industry source said: "The mother is adamant that her daughter didn't meet any boys while she was there. "She is determined to go ahead with the case."

Tourist authorities in Warsaw, Poland, have confirmed they received the bizarre complaint.