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After battling a failed respiratory system for four months in the hospital, my 23-year-old son, Justin, died last night.  Last week, he was driving the hospital bean-counters and back-office people crazy by having way too much fun in the hospital.  He was playing video games, watching sports and crime shows on tv, and ordering Uber Eats.  Then Saturday afternoon, he went code blue with rapid changes in oxygen level, heart rate and blood pressure.   With modern medicine, drugs and technology, hospital staff stabilized his numbers, but Justin became quite uncomfortable and agitated.  His last words were, "Will it ever end?"   Allie flew home on Sunday night, and her presence in the hospital room on Monday brought a final, brief smile to Justin's lips.  He passed later that night.   I'm proud of my son for his lifetime willingness to fight for a life that was in many ways fuller than most able-bodied people.  In return, he made our lives richer and fuller.   After a time
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Almost that time of year again

 Yes, Thanksgiving is coming up, and Christmas is never far behind, but I'm talking about hunting season, which starts this Saturday.  More than half a million deer hunters are expected to head to the Wisconsin woods this year. The Department of Natural Resources estimates that the ten day gun season contributes $1 billion to our state economy.  

Bow season has already started, but I generally continue my hikes until gun season.  I have to admit that a recent incident in Kettle Moraine State Forest gave me pause.  A horse was shot with an arrow--while a person was riding it.  The rider wasn't injured, but the horse had to be put down.

This week, I went to Gibraltar Rock twice at pre-dawn.  Hiking in the dark is almost a guaranteed way to find solitude.  By the time that I reached the top, the sun was just coming up.


Normally, we head to Kentucky for Thanksgiving for a big family gathering.  In this year of the pandemic, it will just be the three of us at home.  Instead of having a big turkey, we are going to have a duck with lots of sides.  I doubt that that anything will go to waste.


I've read that some states are experiencing grocery store shortages.  Not here yet.  We do seem to be running out of staffed hospital beds. The problem is that they are running out of healthy staff, not beds.  We have heard that at least one area hospital isn't routinely testing its staff anymore.  Only staff with symptoms gets tested. 

I've got to take Justin to the doctor for a flu shot this week, and then he has outpatient surgery scheduled for the following week. Julia has to take him for a drive-thru Covid test before the surgery can happen.  Allie is getting lots of interviews in California, but nothing has clicked into a job yet. 

Comments

greg said…
I remember deer hunting season in Michigan as a wild free-for-all with lots of traffic, dead cows, dead "hunters", and packed bars.

Here in Texas it seems to be more a season of drug-out-of-the-weeds-once-a-year-to-carry-all-our-extra-hunting-toys disabled and broken trailers strewn along the highways.
November 16, 2020 at 5:33 PM
Bill said…
Looks like Callie is licking her chops for some of that duck.
November 16, 2020 at 6:32 PM
John said…
Callie loves poultry....and beef and chicken and fish. We usually save a couple of bites of whatever we're eating for both dogs.
November 17, 2020 at 10:58 AM
John said…
Wisconsin and Michigan have a lot in common. Hopefully, we won't have packed bars this year (our hospitals are already packed), but I wouldn't bet against it.
November 17, 2020 at 11:00 AM
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