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August 24, 2017

NEPHROLITHIASIS & ECLIPSE

... yea, i was figurin' that'd get your attention ... as for the latter, here's the other shot i took of the most fascinating celestial event ...

... by very carefully choosing our route, we drove from louisville to the outskirts of joy, kentucky, without encountering any real traffic other'n a few slowdowns for construction ... (for those who went to hopkinsville, a few miles away, one of the "absolute centers" of the path, i imagine it was a much different story) ... the centerline of the path of the moon's shadow was the telephone pole in the distance (+/- five feet for g.p.s. "still waiting for the military to free up the last few zeros" inaccuracy) ... a group of boy scouts, merit-badge-earning cardboard camera obscuras in hand, had occupied the spot, and, although there was plenty of space, the lack of parking brought us to the next pull-off about a hundred yards to the north ... close enough ...

... most fascinating was that just as the totality phase began the zillions and zillions of cicadas nesting in the trees all began clicking an chirping at the exact same time ... then the horses in the field did a little dance for about a half-minute or so ... the horses settled down, the bugs quieted only as totality began to end, while viewing the wondrous event we stood transfixed ...

... the ride back to louisville was pain for me ... yup, if you haven't already figured it, "nephrolithiasis" is "kidney stone" ... !!! ... things went from downhill to the dark place below the swamp for me ... at sammy's house (bless you, my dear cousin) i ended throwing all caution to the winds and taking three of the "one-every-eight-hours" oxi pills ...

... back in columbus, i'd thought things were—well, for want of a better way to but it, "progressing" okay ... i even felt good enough to go out for the evening ... then this morning was a repeat of what everyone calls the "other'n giving birth to a child, the worst pain" (two things ... i imagine there're worst pains, and, well, i'm never having children) ... jon (bless you, my dear nephew) took me back to the v.a. urgent care place ... a bit of waiting this time, but i wasn't in any mood to wait until saturday for shorter lines ... everyone was wonderful to me ...

... going in, possibly for the first time in my life, at least to this degree, i couldn't function ... when i finally got into the treatment area and all their questions had been answered, a very nice man said, "well, you might be one of those people for whom oxicodone doesn't work that well" ... three at once and not much happened, yea, i agreed with him ...

... "i'm going to give you a shot ... some people it works like a charm ... if it does, we'll go from there" ...

... "what if it doesn't" ... (what can i say, i'm me) ...

... "if it doesn't we'll ship you off to a hospital bed" ...

... i would've sworn i'd never feel this way, but when he said that i was happy ...

... shot worked ...

... way-way-way worked ...

... jon was with me the whole time (liz, you and he could open a service) ... now i've got a bunch of pills to take and a neat "jon schedule" to remind me when and how many ... !!! ...

... hopefully, tonight i'll sleep ...

... postscript:  here's jon getting his camera ready for the eclipse ...

... and here's our eclipse selfie ...

... and: jen, jon's friend, took me to columbus' little-known waterfall ... sun was too bright to capture the water, so i just enjoyed the shade ...

... last night jon took me to my first major league soccer game ...

... this afternoon people i've never met, as well as one i've known his entire life, took wonderful care of me ...

... what a beautiful day ...