Saturday, September 22, 2012

Slightly off my normal subjects.



Location, at Home, CA

Maybe I should have been a book reviewer. I certainly have read enough books lately to qualify.

I am particularly stuck on authors who write a series of books based on the same character. To that end, I keep lists of authors and which of their books I have on hand to read vs those the author has written but I have not gotten my hands on yet.

Authors high on my list right now are C. J. Box and his Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett series. Also, I really like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Jack is one of those guys who finds trouble where ever he goes.

I have been reading a lot of James Lee Burke’s books after recommendations by our friend Cindy. One of his latest, Tin Roof Blowdown was a little hard to take as it was an inside look at New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Rita. The scenes he paints leave a bad taste in your mouth as an American especially about the breakdown in our government response during this crisis.

I read a lot of books based on terror attacks or possible attacks against the United States. Some of the books by Stephan Coonts, Tom Clancy, books by Alex Berenson and Vince Flynn who fight back against our enemies are some of my favorites.

One of my all time favorite writers is W. E. B. Griffin who writes several series based on different military services. His series The Corp about the Marines after WWII until the present are classics as is his series called Brotherhood of War about the Army from WWII until now or the series Men at War about the OSS the fore runner to the CIA. The Honor Bound Series is about America’s efforts to stop the Nazi’s from taking over Argentina during WWII. He also wrote a series called Badge of Honor about the Philadelphia Police Department. He continues to write about two books a year with the help of his son.

I do read non-fiction also. Especially books about WWII or related. After reading some of the classic WWII books I wondered how the German civilian population survived after WWII. To this end I read a book called German Boy written by a survivor of the war who resided near Berlin. It truly was a story of survival. I followed this by reading Post War by Tony Judt which chronicled the rebuilding of Europe after the war until the establishment of the European Union. Reading it gave me an insight into the problems with the Euro Union today.

I have read and am reading British sailing ship stories from the late 1800’s. Books by C.S Forrester and his Hornblower series, Patrick O’Brian’s series, and Dudley Pope’s Ramage series which I have just started to read.

I love John Sandford and his Prey Series or Stuart Woods many books. Recently I read all three books by Stieg Larsson of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Good Stuff!

I love Naval stories. Especially about submarines, Navy Seals, or the Navy in general. I guess that’s why I served my military service in the Navy.

This really is only a small sum of the total books I read or of my interest in different topics.

I find my books wherever I can. I keep a list by author and mark off those I have on hand vs those I have read. I find books at the local library or a local used book store which does buy back some of me used books, and on-line at Paperbackswap.com.

I have always loved to read. It opens whole vistas to a world to which anyone can enter with just your mind. If I don’t have a shelf full of unread books, I start to panic. Fortunately, that rarely happens.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Felling good after surgery.


Location, at Home, CA

The surgery went well. I was only in the operating room about 45 minutes. I told the surgeon he must have set a speed record and he just laughed.
 
I was taken to my room about 5 pm and spent the night in the hospital. I had no pain so did not take any pain killers. I came home late Tuesday afternoon. There is only soreness now at the four incision sites. I am using the excuse to get a few naps in each day however. I see the doctor in a few weeks. By then I should be good to go.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Upcoming surgery.


Location, at Home, CA

I read the last post about “still getting beans from the garden” and laughed as we are still getting beans from the garden. I bet we picked 150 lbs of beans from that short two row plot. They are pole beans but still, that is a lot. Every time I pick I think they may only be a few more but it goes on. I need to pick again today.

I have been having a few problems which I finally concluded was gall stones. I had an attack in December, one in February and one about 2 weeks ago. I went to see my doctor and he ordered an ultra sound for me. Yeayup! It showed a one centimeter stone sitting down on my bile duct which is causing the problem.

On Tuesday I saw the surgeon and started the process for surgery. I have a pre-op meeting tomorrow and surgery is scheduled for Monday afternoon. I most likely will remain in the hospital overnight because of the lateness of the surgery and be released Tuesday morning.

I want this done an over with before our 50th anniversary in October. I want to be able to eat and drink without discomfort on the cruise.

I will keep everyone posted after the operation.