My attitude towards the VA is changing.

My Father-In-Law is a (Korean War) Navy Vet, and frankly did not do much after his discharge.
But after years of not-so-healthy living, and a year living on the streets,
he managed to get classified as disabled, which helped get him into decent housing.

He was seen on a fairly regular basis at the PDX VA, and his health and dental problems were being managed.
But then, a couple of weeks they told him he needed triple-bypass heart surgery !
They called him to come in on that Friday, and he had the operation the following Thursday.

Currently, many of us may have bad feelings about the quality
and timelines of the health care handed out to Vets.
But at least for this man in his circumstances, the VA staff deserve a public commendation.

On each of the times I visited him, the staff throughout were very
courteous and extremely helpful to me as a visitor, and the medical staff
were exceptionally open, welcoming, and informative.

I spent a lot of time in waiting rooms, their canteen, stores, elevators and parking lots,
and I am very impressed by how good were the moods of people
working and receiving care in this huge medical complex.
The entire ICU and Recovery Rooms were in good conditions and
the staff and patients were in appropriate good humor.

My FIL is now doing well, and his outlook for a long life is so much better than before.

Maybe this VA is exceptional, but I hope not.
... every hospital, whether VA or not, should have such a helpful and healthy environment.

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You're going to have to wait for March like everyone else. Believe me, I don't like it any more than you do. I'm not known for my patience.

I think the problem with the VA is they are just plain too small for the tidal wave of vets drowning them. Like industry of the Vietnam era in negotiations with the unions, promising big future benefits for smaller raises now, but never funded those promises. Congress made promises to vets, but never funded keeping them. The US created so many vets in the Vietnam era, who are now old and needy, the VA can't handle it. The doctors and specialists are so booked, if they miss a day, hell, miss a couple hours, for any reason, it becomes a rescheduling nightmare.

Sounds like they need to farm some of that shit out to the private sector...

Somebody's still got to pay for it, though.

What's making you happy today?
 

I'd been planning to buy another half dozen bags of gravel from the home center and spread them on thin spots on the gravel driveway. When it's wet, those spots get muddy and I track the mud into the house.
I never got around to it.

Last week, some friends down the street ordered too much gravel to redo their french drain, and they had a ton left over. Actually maybe it was more than a ton. So I made countless trips the block and a half with my wheelbarrow.

I saved him the trouble of getting rid of a pile of gravel, and I got a free refreshed driveway out of the deal. And a bunch of exercise.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...87b92892f6.jpg

Lot of work but a good score, saved money getting healthier.
That mud sucks. The last house I lived in, the stone in the driveway would sink and the dirt/clay that came to the top was as fine, and as slippery when wet, as possible. Each spring we'd have about 25 tons of modified stone delivered in one of those tractor trailer dump trucks. But the trailer body was so high when it was up he could only spread about half the drive way. The other half was wheelbarrow and shovel work, only to have to do it over a year later.

I got home from work first then my buddy got home an hour and a half later, so I would do most of it. One time I saw him slow down, see the stone had been delivered, and kept driving... son of a bitch. Thirty odd years later, I reminded him occasionally. :lol:

.

Sic, you are a legend.
Well done!

I'll pass your compliments on to my surgeon later today. ;-)

Syc- That is unbelievable man, great job.

Glatt- great job. That's now a no snowblower zone, but you're a shovel man. :)

My parents are coming up today for three days (two nights).
I go to meet them from the train in Leeds, ARR 15.38.

Already been to their B&B, which is a wonderful place, more like a miniature boutique hotel. Dropped off a personalised bottle of wine - I bought the wine and the self-adhesive label separately, saved about £12, helium balloons, a box of biscuits (half price as a promotion) and another engraved love-lock for Wharfedale Bridge, to go next to the one for Mum and me I put on last year.

I'm not saying these materialistic things make me happy. I'm happy they're coming up.
But yes, I am also happy that Mum will feel special and loved even though I've done it all on a budget.

Yep. And you need a certain technique with the snow shovel where you use the rear of the snow shovel as a fulcrum so the front blade of the shovel is about an inch above the stones when you scoop up the snow.

Gravel is a pain when raking leaves and when shoveling snow, but my lawnmower can blow the leaves off the gravel, and the shovel technique in the snow can get enough snow off that the rest will melt.

I dream of getting the driveway paved, but there's the significant cost. I find myself asking things like "Go on vacation, or pave the driveway?" "Save some money for college, or pave the driveway?" "Buy that used car from the old lady next door, or pave the driveway?" The driveway never wins. Plus, to pave a driveway right, you need to dig down a couple of feet and lay down a nice bed of compacted sand or crushed rock, and then go over it with blacktop. Digging down a foot or two would almost certainly kill the maple tree right next to the driveway now by severing 30% of its roots.

WOW ! 70 lbs in 2 months ???

Were some body parts amputated or just haircuts of a lot of body hair ? :D

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that's a pretty cool chart, Syc.

Do you have a smart scale, or have you been doing a daily weigh in and recording the results in a phone app?