This beauty is brilliant for two weeks each June. The remainder of the year it’s still an excellent plant.
Hibiscus in bloom in North Texas
June 21, 2023
Leave a Comment » | 
Nature, Plants | Tagged: Flower | 
Permalink
Posted by molson46
Gwen’s first outing since the Accident
June 18, 2023Jun 17,2023: Gwen’s first outing and first meal at a restaurant since the January accident. Andy and I took her to a Ranger game and to eat at Spazzio’s, her favorite Italian restaurant. All in all I think it went very good. This was basically the whole day. I spent the morning preparing Gwen for the day which normally takes 2 hours and then preparing for the game. The game was at 3:05PM. We picked Andy up at 1:30PM in the Blue Mesa parking lot. Once we parked we were picked up and transported to the stadium in a golf cart.
Once in the stadium we quickly found the nearest family restroom for Gwen. With her it’s best to know where all the family restrooms are anywhere you go.
A strange observation. We find that when we have to wait most people coming out of the family restrooms are lone 30ish males.
Our seats are the first row down from the walkway. We still struggled getting Gwen to her seat. After the 3rd inning an usher offered to seat us in the ADA area where Gwen could stay in her wheelchair. Much better. I need to figure out a way to procure those seats.
In the hast to get get to the stadium after we parked I left her pills, hat, transistor radio, and heat pad in the car. Shortly after we moved to the ADA area her hand pain intensified. Therefore I walked back to the car to pick up the pills and heat pad.
After the game, we left after 5 innings, we stopped by Spazzio’s on the way home. Spazzio’s is her favorite Italian restaurant. The staff were elated to see her and all of them gave her big hugs. They even remembered her standard order. Wow! Everything was most excellent as usual.
Leave a Comment » | Family | Tagged: Gwen | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Wicked Problems and Righteous Solutions
June 17, 2023Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Tomas Friedman (2008): started me pondering upon wicked problems and how to solved them. It been 15 years since I read that book. During that interval I’ve identified a host of wicked problems but have not untangled a single problem.
I’ve been thinking about this post for months. Naming on three problems is an impossible task. I started out by just noting down a list of problems which took me about 10 minutes:
- Population
- Russia
- Extremism
- Guns
- Hackers
- Abortion
- Illegal Immigrants
- China
- Terrorists
- Invasive species – plant and animal
- Water or lack there of
- Pandemics
- Climate
- Republicans vs Democrats
- China
- AI
- WWWIII
I knocked out Population because it’s so general most of the problems facing us today are children of population. Besides what can we do about the number of people on the planet. We certainly can’t euthanatize 3/4 of the population! If I had to name the ONE problem it would be population.
So, the problem has to be one we can solve.
I crossed out Hackers because they are a nuisance and at least for now don’t affect most of us.
So, the problem has to be one that affects the general population.
Since I live in the USA the problem should be one that greatly affects the USA. For example, the war in the Ukraine is a terrible event but a long way off for me.
To cut the number to three I did a mini-trade study. The criteria were;
- Solvable
- Affects everyone
- USA specific
Abortion
It was a tough call between Abortion and Illegal Aliens but in the end Abortion won out. First, it’s been a problem since at least Roe vs. Wade back when Gwen and I were just in love 50+ years ago. Secondly, Its a touchstone between the religious right and the liberals. If they can come to agreement on Abortion then then the lions and the lambs can live together.
And just maybe the Democrats and the Republicans can agree on a few tings
Water
There is no new Water on the Planet unless a large comet strikes which makes the problem mute. Water was a surprise winner for me. The American West is in the middle of a 1,000 year drought. Texas ranchers can’t draw water from the Brazos because Dow Checmial father down stream at Freeport needs it all to create chemicals. They win because the TCEQ says so. Millions maybe billions don’t have clean water to drink. Meanwhile the almond crop in California is sucking the Colorado River dry.
Climate Change
Climate Change affects us all not only the USA but everyone in the planet. However we can’t even agree there is a climate change. Republicans deny it because they believe it will hurt business. Democrats profess to believe the climate is changing but when in office they don’t do anything about it.
The end
i’ll think about this and post an update soon. I don’t like the winners. Just doesn’t seem right for some reason.
In the meantime anyone who can solve one of these problems deserves the Nobel Peace Prize
Leave a Comment » | Environment, Opinion | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Social Media Fast Results
April 13, 2023I’m pretty much done with social media fasting. I consider the fast over and I’ve settled into a routine that does not include any social media. During the fast I also quit the TV, Internet news services, the New York Times, and The Economist. There is nothing I can do about the news anyway and watching/reading/listening to it just upsets me. Instead I’m reading the local newspaper for about a half hour every day.
The previous posts were:
- https://marvinolson.com/2023/02/16/stimulation-fast/
- https://marvinolson.com/2023/03/02/social-media-fast-results/
- https://marvinolson.com/2023/03/18/social-media-fast-ii/
I can honestly say I only miss Instagram. I followed several friends and interesting authors on Instagram. It was a wonderful app. I could catch up in 5 minutes a day. Plus I love photography and that’s what Instagram was all about. Sadly it’s veered off course. Someday I may check it our again but today is not that day. For now I’m getting my photography fix on Flickr.
Well, that about wraps up my social media fast. The fast is over and I’ve transitioned into a no social media lifesstyle.
Leave a Comment » | Opinion, Personal, Rant | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Austin Diagnosed with Perthes Disease
April 11, 2023Apr 10, 2023: A Very bad day. Austin diagnosed with Perthes Disease.. Why Austin Lord? Why? We are taught there is a reason for everything but I can’t see the rationale. A good boy who lived for sports and he is now sidelined for a long, long time!
Perthes disease is a rare condition in which the ball-shaped head of the thighbone (femoral head) temporarily loses its blood supply. As a result, the head of the thighbone collapses, and the area becomes inflamed and irritated.
As the condition runs its course, the body will absorb the dead bone cells and replace them with new bone cells. The blood supply will eventually return and the femoral head will heal. But the shape of the femoral head will have changed and no longer move smoothly in the hip socket. If left untreated, Perthes disease can cause arthritis later on.
The long-term prognosis for children with Perthes is good in most cases. After 18 to 24 months of treatment, most children return to daily activities without major limitations.
Leave a Comment » | Personal | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Social Media Fast II
March 18, 2023On March 2, Texas Independence Day, I wrote a post detailing my two week hiatus from social media (Facebook, email, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) and promised an update. Click Here to view it
I am still off all the social media apps except email which I found I cannot live without. It’s the main Master Gardener communication transport. I try to limit myself to checking 3 times a day but am not successful very often.
Since then I’ve started weaning off the news because all it does is upset me and there is nothing I can do about it.
I cancelled my Economist subscription and am subscribing to the local Dallas Morning News instead. I can’t do anything about what is happening in the Ukraine or Cambodia for that matter and on a day to day basis it does not affect me very much. However, the local news does affect me.
On top of that I don’t turn on the TV news and if Gwen turns it on I try to ignore it.
I am not any calmer yet but Gwen’s ongoing battle with broken kneecap and PSP has been very stressful lately.
Leave a Comment » | Opinion, Personal | Tagged: calm | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Social Media Fast Results
March 2, 2023Two weeks ago I started a social media fast. Except for email the fast was successful in that I did not use any of the social media apps. See my previous post of click here
Of course I had lots of help from external sources. Gwen broke her kneecap on January 27 and I’m her sole caregiver. This, I have little free time to browse social media apps. Plus:
- Elon is forcing me to use the Twitter app by shutting down third party interfaces. I tried the Twitter app and I don’t like it. In the past
- Living without Tumblr is not hard since I rarely opened it either.
- I only opened Facebook late at night during tv commercials. Thus giving up Facebook was easy.
- Instagram was the hardest for me to give up. I generally opened it every morning to view the latest photos and post photos of my own. I am not sure if I will start using it again.
- Mastadon is a fairly new social media site for me. I had just created an account and started using it when I decided to try the fast. I will probably experiment with it for art least the near term.
Email was a failure for me. I had decided to only check email three times a day but my friends, family, and Master Gardener cohorts would message me and ask why I had not responded to an email. I finally gave and started checking it periodically. Perhaps I should have included messages in my social fast.
What’s next?
- Digital news including the Economist. Instead maybe the Dallas Morning News
- Games on my phone. They serve the same purpose as social media apps for me. If I have a few minutes or just don’t feel like doing anything I play a game. Instead I could just think
Check back in a couple weeks to find out how I’m progressing on this journey.
Leave a Comment » | Productivity, Uncategorized | Tagged: socialmedie calm | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Stimulation Fast
February 16, 2023I’m reading How to Calm You Mind by Chris Bailey. One of his recommendations is to cut out or cut down on our digital lives. After some thought I’ve decided to do so for a couple weeks. Therefore I’m resolved to do the following:
- No Twitter for 2 weeks
- No Instagram for 2 weeks
- No Mastodon for 2 weeks
- No Facebook for 2 weeks
- Check email 3 times a day: 9, Noon, and 5
The trick is to replace these activities with analog activities. Right now that should no be a problem for me as Gwen has a broken kneecap and I am caring for her – which is more than a full time job. Any other extra time I may have I’ll piddle in the Landscape or read a good book
I check in again in two weeks – March 2 – Texas Independence Day
Leave a Comment » | Books, Opinion | Tagged: Books, Productivity | Permalink
Posted by molson46
The Kingston Trio
January 16, 2023“Where have all the flowers gone” by The Kingston Trio was for me a revolution. Yes I know Pete Seeger wrote it but back then I never hear of him. To me The Kingston Trio was a revolution. Growing up in the Northern Midwest I was weaned on Lawerence Welk and the big band music from the top floor of the Hotel Blackhawk. Then The Kingston Trio came along with a couple guitars and lyrics with issues other than “teen anguish” – like “Tom Dooley” and “The MTA”
They were an early folk group I suppose although the they pre-Dated the folk music surge. From Hawaii and California they were also the first wave of alternative music from the west coast.
This is one of my songs on my “Peace” playlist which I listen to when the world gets me down (more on that in the next post)
To be fair another wind of change was blowing though our community at that time. My older brother, Jim, was into a different genre with artists like Bo Diddley and James Brown.
On the Pop stations yet another style was gaining popularity – pop music with songs like “A thousand stars in the sky” by Linda Scott and “Sherry Baby” by The Four Seasons. We called it “Pretty Rock” with a look of disgust.
This was al Pre-Bob-Dylan who totally, totally overturned the apple cart. He appeared at the perfect time in the sixties along with rioting in the streets, Vietnam protests, equal opportunity, cancer warnings on cigarettes, the pill, the Kennedy’s and Martin Luther King assassinations, and the list goes on and on
Leave a Comment » | Memories, Opinion, Rant | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Our 2022
January 5, 2023Seems like 2022 just started and now we are in 2023. All in all 2022 was a good year for us. Gwen’s PSP is progressing slowly. There were things she could do last January she can’t do now but the specialist tells us her progression is much slower than normal for people with PSP.
On a happier note we were able to travel some this year after several years hunkered down at home because of the COVID pandemic. However, we had to postpone our major trip of the year which was a Baltic Cruise on Viking because we contracted COVID just before the trip was scheduled. We have rescheduled it for this year and looking forward to the cruise.
We had no major medical problems other than Gwen’s PSP of which there is no cure. I did contract an infection in my leg which caused the leg to swell up below the knee quite noticeably. I’ve no idea how the leg became infected. It’s the leg I burned severely when I was four and has been a problem off and on my whole life.
That’s about it for the highlights. A summary of our year ordered by date is below:
- 02/02: Purchased a Mac Air M1 to replace my 10 year old laptop – My this baby can fly
- 02/09: Started the implant process on 2 teeth. Pulled the teeth and did a bone graft
- 02/17-20: San Diego with the Neustadt’s. We stayed at a house right on Mission Beach. The highlights were the beach, Sea World, and an evening picnic on the beach watching the sunset
- 03/29: Lowered our bed because Gwen cannot climb in and get our of the bed without my help
- 04/19-22: Las Vegas holiday just Gwen and myself. We saw Mystere, a show good for children, which we liked very much. Our most memorable meal was at Carmine’s in Caesar’s forum shops
- 05/16: Replaced two motors in the attic that opened and closed vents
- 06/10: Canceled our Viking Baltic cruise because we both had COVID
- 07/07-10: Erin Olson’s wedding in Troy Ohio. Sara and Paxson traveled with us. A good time was had by all. The highlight besides visiting with family and the wedding was the day we spent at the Air Force Museum
- 07/13: Posts for the implants installed in my mouth – not fun
- 08/12: Married to Gwen 50 years – seems like yesterday
- 08/17-22: Steamboat Springs holiday
- 08/25: I have hearing aids now
- 09/08: Queen Elizabeth passed away – the longest reigning English monarch
- 09/21-26: Sedona and Scottsdale holiday
- 09/28: The doctor says I have two broken toes, an infection in my leg, and massive swelling in my foot and leg – way too much to be caused by the broken toes. Turns out the infection caused the swelling. After the antibiotics cured the infection the leg and foot returned to normal. The process took three weeks.
- 10/14: Replaced the HP Ink Jet printer with an Epson Tank printer. The HP still worked but I was tired of spending $100 for new ink cartridges
- 11/08: Replaced Gwen’s iPad – the old one would not hold a charge anymore and the home button worked intermittently
- 12/10: Bought a new backpack after all these years with the old one. This backpack is a Tom Bihn that cost way too much $$$ but it is so cool.
Now, time to forget the past and forge into 2023 with both eyes wide open. Themes for this year are fighting Gwen’s PSP and travel.
Motto for the year: “Live everyday like this is your last day and learn like you will live forever”
Leave a Comment » | Family, Memories | Permalink
Posted by molson46
Number 6's Blog 