When I first moved to Colorado in ’94, I got up one morning with some irritation around my chest and back. It got worse, and turned into some very painful scabs.
I finally went to the doc to find out that I had….shingles.
My doc wouldn’t even touch me. He circled me and all he said was “that’s a bear.” He got me in right away to a dermatologist buddy of his, who confirmed the diagnosis, but was really more interested in the moles I carry.
Anyway, something called Zovirax is what I was given. Shingles are a virus from the herpes zoster family, and have to run their course. Usually, all docs can do is alleviate symptoms.
Moving along, the wife went to her r/a doc in Ft Worth this morning, and after the routine exam, the wife showed the doc her ear, covered with small pimples.
The doc took one look, gasped, and said “shingles!”..(.remember in Ben Hur when they went to the bottom level of the dungeon in search of Ben Hur’s mom and sister, and the guard dragged the door open with difficulty, using a torch he took a peek inside, and backed out with a look of horror saying “lepers!”)
So, the wife now has another prescription to add to her plethora of medications; most of which don’t work. The local pharmacy loves the both of us.
In other unimportant ranch news, the kitchen sink has been noticeably draining slower and slower, to the point that one could not empty a large glass of water without having to wait for the water to drain.
Off to town I went, thinking ‘enough’. I bought a large jug of Drano gel, and poured half of it into the sink; half of that amount on each side of the double sink.
We do not have a garbage disposal (septic tank remember?), so the drain pipes from each side join into a single pipe that drops into the trap, then into the system.
I waited about a half hour, and flushed both sides with large amounts of hot water, to no visible help.
Then came my quest for the plunger. Where the hell is it?
Being that there is no “place” for it (it used to sit outside on the patio, why it was moved, I’ll never know) so it could be anywhere. I found it in the wife’s bathroom behind the toilet.
I clogged the left drain with a wet cloth, held it while I used the plunger on the right side. It didn’t take long before it pushed out the clog, and I flushed the system well.
My work is done. The said thing is, no one here will ever know.
The wife’s doc wants her to get a shingles vaccine; and a flu shot. The doc emphasized “because you have auto immune deficiency”.
Well, OK. My turn.
The whole idea behind vaccines is for the body’s natural ability to heal itself, build up antibodies to fight off said viruses for which folks take the vaccines. Right?
A vaccine is a weakened version of a virus, so one’s own antibodies build up an immunity to a particular virus.
Some folks die from vaccines…it happens. Usually older folks, I’ll allow that, but it does happen as their bodies cannot build up the necessary antibodies to fight infection; even a mild infection from a vaccine.
My point is this: if the wife already has auto immune deficiency, then why force her to take vaccines?
I mean, if her body cannot produce the necessary antibodies from getting (in this case) shingles, then why make her go through the ordeal of dealing with the disease already, then possibly again when it clears up.
In theory, anyone who has had chicken pox, can get shingles, as the virus lies dormant within one’s body for many years. Why it emerges, I do not know. i have not heard of anyone getting chicken pox twice, nor shingles twice.
I do not piss my money away to big pharma for needless vaccines.
A change in our weather here today, as a front blows through dropping temps into the high twenties. A bit cool for here, yet I welcome it.
I was over at Irish’s place earlier, and he is dealing with single digit temps up there in NH.
I had to turn on the a/c as there is no wind, and the humidity shot up, which makes it very sticky in the house. When the north wind hits this afternoon, the doors will open up, and I’ll be looking for my flannel shirt…such is life in central Texas.
I have been watching the bees around here as of late.
They always seem to take the hummingbird nectar. I see them frequently dipping from the feeder by the kitchen.
This is bad…I started thinking. There must be a nest/hive somewhere close. Possibly in the attic?
How to kill them all?
I remembered a concoction I have used for ants: sugar water with boric acid. The ants take the stuff to the bed, to feed the others. Eventually, the whole bunch are affected by the boric acid which, as I understand it, makes them insatiably thirsty.
So I thought, why not sour the mild for the bees? OK, I’m not sure if it is actually a bee; perhaps a small wasp, but I have seen many of them gathered on the eaves here, a couple of times, to which I sprayed with eagerness, watching them drop to the ground.
But, there are more.
I began experimenting with the hummingbird feeder by pouring a mix of boric acid and sugar on the feeder platform, blocking the holes forcing the bees to eat that stuff; they didn’t.
So, I emptied the feeder, and replaced the nectar with sugary water mixed with boric acid.
Taking it a step further, I used some leftover sugar water which also had Karo syrup in it, and added some honey.
I poured a little of that in a jar lid, and put in on the feeder platform.
I don’t stand in front of the kitchen window for hours on end watching the bee activity, but I have seen them perch on the edge of the lid, drinking up the spiked honey water. Hopefully, they will take that back to the hive and kill them all.
Now we wait.
The wife returns tomorrow, after suffering through a visit with SIL, who remains a legend in her own mind.
