Wikipedia defines a cold as

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, known as an upper respiratory virus or commonly called the cold, is a contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by rhinoviruses (picornaviruses) or coronaviruses. It is the most common infectious disease in humans; there is no known cure, but it is rarely fatal.

In other words, it is a huge nuisance. And, I’ve got one. I woke up in the early morning hours last Saturday and realized I was coming down with a cold. As the day progressed it got worse. Yesterday (Sunday) was pretty miserable. Today it moved down into my chest and, thankfully, I’ve still got some of the magic elixir that everyone else in the world can buy, except us Americans. That’s right … it’s the stuff that contains enough codeine to suppress the cough:

Codeine (INN) or methylmorphine is an opiate used for its analgesic, antitussive (cough suppressant), and antidiarrheal properties, and is useful for numbing back pain, and is frequently purchased under this pretence. It is by far the most widely used opiate in the world and probably the most commonly used drug overall according to numerous reports over the years by organizations such as the World Health Organization and its League of Nations predecessor agency and others. It is one of the most effective orally-administered opioid analgesics and has a wide safety margin.

It is amazingly effective. I’m quite happy to have it on hand as otherwise it has to be prescribed by a doctor. Just another symptom of our crazy medical practices which seem to be driven by big pharma and not by what makes sense for the patient.

It’s very interesting to me that all the folks hard-over opposed to universal health care are those that already have company-sponsored insurance. They seem to not be interested in people like Nina and me who have no access to affordable health insurance.

It’s been a bit over a month since the last time we have been to see dad at the nursing home in Soda Springs due to the Big Trip East. We drove over to Soda Springs this afternoon and did a few things at the house for mother and then visited with dad at the nursing home. Some random thoughts:

1. The sprinkler people did a very good job putting in the sprinkler system for mother. We had B&B Sprinkler in Pocatello do the job and I’d recommend them to anyone. They did the job last Wednesday, were there when they said they’d be there and were finished by about 1 p.m.
2. Dad definitely isn’t acclimating to the nursing home. As we left he told me he wants me to take him to the house so he can measure the doors and verify that a scooter will work so he can go home. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.
3. His hearing is definitely a problem. Most of the time he can’t hear what’s happening and what he does hear is often wrong.
4. His memory is getting much less reliable. Events that he used to be able to recall clearly are now quite mixed up in both names and places.
5. He enjoys playing in his drawer, however. The items there are still interesting to him. However, the DVD’s he enjoys watching seldom make it back into their cases and three of them are cracked and not playable. We’ll be seeing about buying replacements.

Meanwhile, our granddaughter Kendra has been here for several days. So far she’s dealing rather well with the very different lifestyle here at our house. Things move much more slowly and much more quietly here!

I’ve come down with a cold. I’m definitely looking forward to a day when colds are a thing of the past.

1. We got home from the Big Trip East around noon on Saturday, July 4th. After unloading the motor home we were both too tired to do anything else. Our Independence Day Celebration consisted of Nina making some of her (delicious) potato salad, her (famous) bbq beans, and grilling some chicken outside on the grill. I think I heard some of the city’s fireworks just before I went to sleep.
2. Sunday was a pretty busy Church day with lots of catch-up for being gone for three weeks. Otherwise it was very uneventful. Two nights in a row in our own bed was very nice.
3. My cousin Cheryl along with husband Sean and their four kids arrived from Boise on Monday mid-day and stayed until Thursday morning. We had a great time with them here. The boys are a lot of fun and the baby Cerise was delightful. We convinced them to stay a day longer than they planned and we’re looking forward to their coming again or us going over to Boise to visit with them.
4. Before coming, Cheryl sent me a text message saying her son Kendal wanted to bring a game “Settlers of Catan” over so we could play it. Of course he could bring it! We finally got enough time to play the game Tuesday evening. It’s a board game originally from Germany and it was a lot of fun. So much so that when we were in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, we bought the game. Now we just need people to play it with.
5. Our granddaughter Kendra (Trevor’s daughter) spent a week or so with our daughter Heather in North Salt Lake. We picked her up on Wednesday and she’ll be here with us through the weekend. It’s been a long time since Kendra’s been here with us and she sure has grown up. She loves music, loves to read, LOVES to text. We’ve really enjoyed having her here. We’re rather boring people, so it’s good that she’s willing to put up with us. Upon her return she’s got a very busy schedule with Girls Camp, Theater Camp, and Band Camp and then school starts again. She’ll be a Sophomore this year. She’s getting pretty dang grown up! Trevor would be very proud of her. At her request I’ve set her up with a blog.
6. I think our grass was long enough that we could have bailed it and sold it for feed. We’ve certainly had plenty of rain (although none of our tomato plants survived) with June setting a record for the amount of rainfall and the number of days with rain. Paradoxically, in May the long-range forecast was for less than normal rainfall, hotter than normal weather. That hasn’t happened, yet. Today was another day when the air conditioning was not needed.
7. Mother finally no longer has to move sprinklers. On Wednesday an automatic sprinkler system was installed. She is ecstatic and threatens to do the Happy Dance. Nina says she has to wait to do that until we’re there and Nina can film it.
8. Dad, on the other hand, is desperate for me to bring him to Pocatello so he can get a scooter and be able to get out of the nursing home. He thinks that plus a ramp will let him go home. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. Some people never acclimate to a nursing home and he’s definitely in the non-acclimating class.
9. Mother’s only surviving sibling, Aunt Marjorie, has been having some pretty serious health problems lately. Surgery would normally be required, but her health is so frail the doctors are afraid she’d die on the operating table. So instead, she gets to die a much slower and much more painful death. Not sure I understand how all that works.
10. The slide-out on our motor home broke today. It is extended and now will neither retract nor extend. I’m thankful it waited until we got home to break! The list of things needing fixing in the motor home is rather lengthy anyway. We’ve got several more short trips planned so I need to get busy getting the motor home ready to go.
11. And I made it to ten. Just not on Tuesday. Oh well.