Moon Landing Day

55 years ago today...

My paternal grampa told me he felt so lucky with his life.  He said he experienced the first airplane flight (by news, not personally of course) and lived long enough to see humans land on the moon and return safely.  He was very impressed by that.

And that was from someone who experienced WWI, The Great Depression, and WWII...  I was only 19, so I did not properly understand the event at the time.  In my life at the time, scientific advancement was routine and success was assumed.  

Medicine was much advanced.  I suffered appendicitis at 18.  At my grampa's age, I probably would have died.  And I was vaccinated agains several serious diseases.  In college, I was using a computer data center to write code (on punch cards) in Fortran and COBOL.  I could drive the family car, which was relatively solid and safe (station wagons were the SUVs of the time).  Food was refrigerated, safe, and abundant.  We had TV and A/C.

At my age then, grampa had none of those things.  And I suppose grampa was impressed by those things too when I was 19.  But the moon landing seemed to impress him very greatly.  In spite of the negative events of his (somewhat difficult) life, he remained a fairly cheerful and positive person.  He saw the advancements more than the failings of the world.

He was an organic gardener.  "Garden" doesn't quite describe it.  It wasn't a residential garden like we are familiar with today, but neither was it a farm.  It was about 1/2 acre, which he attended to happily when he wasn't building stuff in his large workshop.  I followed in his organic gardening habits and wood-working because of him (though on a much smaller scale.

And I don't want to leave gramma out.  She cooked wonderfully (Pennsylvania Deutch style).  When we visited, I would sit on the porch with her de-stringing beans and de-silking corn, helping in the kitchen too.  When I'm not strir-frying, I'm cooking basically like she did but with a a bit less frying.  "Like", not remotely as well (I still can't make a decent dumpling)...

But I mention her because she was fascinated by "outer space".  When we landed on the moon, she told me that if we could go "out there", then some other intelligent species could come "down here".  And she trusted the advancement of intelligent species.  She said that if a spaceship landed here, she would volunteer to go aboard.

So for both of them (and for general reasons), I wanted to honor this day...

Pearl Harbor Day

 I'm old, but not so old that I was around on Pearl Harbor Day.  But it WAS "recent history" to me as I grew up.  And as I get older, events like that start to become "past history".  But I do not forget.

The war in the Pacific was brutal.  I had an uncle who fought there (Air Force).  Family lore says he dropped a bomb into a Japanese Destroyer's smokestack ship and blew it up.  The land forces had it harder.  

And I know history.  I know the Japanese actually tried to "declare war" officially preceding the attack but failed  because of translation issues.  And actually, the US fired the first shot on a mini-sub.  Weird stuff happens.

It was an utterly evil and brutish war, similar to the Nazis and Soviets at Moscow.  As US General Sherman once said "War is all Hell".

I don't forget Pearl Harbor.  But sometimes out of chaos comes peace.  The Japanese changed their views to the world.  They, former Nazi Germany, and former Facist Italy are now democracies and allies.  History is weird sometimes.  

The world continues...  But memories linger.  War IS "all Hell".

In Issac Asimov's 'Foundation' books, one character says something like "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent".  In real history, someone (Bismark?) said war is "the failure of politics".

So I am remembering today as a "failure of politics" that came from a series of historical developments that lead led to utter horror and butchery.  

Still, I cry today the the loss of life...

Oh Bother!

I was innocently eating dinner last night, and suddenly detected a lump in my mouth.  I won't go into details, but I found a tooth crown that had come loose.  I'm glad my tongue found it before my teeth did! 

I washed it off carefully, then put it in a shotglass of mouthwash to keep it overnight.  My dentist had an opening at 3 pm today, so off I went.  I was admitted promptly at 3 pm (be still my beating heart).   First thing they did was sterilize it of course (mouthwash or not - they were kind about that and admired my intent).  Then they examined the tooth for damage and it looking OK, they tried a test re-fit.

It fit so well, they actually had trouble getting it back off.  So they took it away and drilled off the old epoxy.  The dentist Himself came in and showed it to me.  The gold crown was so old it actually had a hole worn through the top.  Well, I had several crowns 40 years ago, so it lasted pretty well.

And I learned something about crowns.  I always thought gold crowns lasted the longest, but was wrong.  Porcelain lasts longest, followed by silver, followed by gold.  And the gold content is low.  But gold wears at about the same rate as tooth enamel, so the bite stays the same.  Silver is close and can easily be ground down to match the bite. 

Porcelain doesn't wear down.  You would think that would be perfect, but it means that the crown top becomes a high spot over decades and makes your jaw adjust and some annoying stuff like that.  It is mostly for cosmetic reasons.  Well, I seriously doubt anyone other than a dentist will ever see that back molar.

The old crown was replaced, but it is temporary (like a year or 3).  It still has that tiny hole in the top, and that will lead to caries someday.  But "tis enough, will serve"...

But it also meant he looked at my other teeth.  I knew there were 2 other teeth that had sharp tops, which meant damage.  I'd been avoiding it. 

But you have to get such things fixed eventually.  As the dentist said, "you can have them fixed now while I can still put a crown on them, or you can wait until they have to be removed entirely".  So I have an appointment in 2 weeks to start getting those 2 teeth crowned, and then the old (now temporary) one from today replaced over a series of visits. 

I hate dental visits.  Well, no one likes them, but mine are worse than average.  I have a small jaw (apparently genetic) and can't open it as far as most people can.  My cats can open theirs more than I can!  A kitten probably can...  I have the jaw of a 12 year old!  In general, I have great genes - other than my teeth.  I seem to owe that to Dad.  At my age, he had almost no tooth unfilled, uncrowned, and 2 partial bridges.  At least I'm not at that point yet.  Hurray for fluoridation and novocaine (and nitrous oxide on occasion during a root canal).

My jaw is so small, my wisdom teeth never even emerged, and even then my teeth are too crowded.  In my 20s, a dentist said I should have 4 teeth extracted; a left upper and lower; a right upper and lower, make proper room for the rest.  At the time, that seemed horrible!  He said it would be painful afterwards for days.  But now I wish I had had that done.  Nothing like hindsight...

As it turned out, I had to have 2 teeth extracted 4 years ago.  One planned because it had simply fallen apart, and one unplanned because the roots were entangled  in the first.  Fortunately, it didn't bother me.  But the thing that amazed me was that the procedure wasn't the least bit painful (as the old dentist suggested it would be).  It was however utterly boring (no pun intended).  Drilling, spitting, holding my head to resist pulls, etc.  Never hurt in the least during or after!

On the other hand, I have a limited number of teeth, so I would like to keep them as long as possible.  Anything good for 20 years is probably OK.

So I'm going on a journey of dental work, which should last until flu season is over.  Then to a doctor to start getting regular exams and a series of physical and virtual exams that my insurance rep says is covered these days as "preventative medicine".  I plan to get every "virtual" test they will allow, and possible some not covered. 

On sad fact is that I've never been to any one doctor for more than a few years, so my medical history is almost non-existent.  But I went through my age-old medical file today and discovered some valuable information. 

Things like a 1988 letter from Mom (in response to my questions) detailing some family and personal history, some old doctor visit bills - a few of which mentioned some blood test results - etc.  I'll make copies to bring to my new doctor (I chose a geriatric internist over a GP).

But the important thing is that I'm getting back on track for regular medical care after decades of assuming I was immortal.  I've treated my cats and maintained my car better than I have myself.

Time to get myself into the maintenance loop...