The Polls Seem Clear

 I am liking the US political polls as Election Day nears. The boorish president of my neighbouring country is about to be shown the door.

You can make polls say whatever you want them to say and that was the case in 2016 but word on the street is that polling methodology has changed to compensate for all the mistakes that were made last time and the end results will be much closer to the polls this time. I sincerely hope so, I am so done with my self confessed pussy grabbing neighbour!

This is what the polls show:

Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight:

Biden's chance of winning the Presidency: 90% (348 Electoral Votes)

Democrat's chance of winning the Senate: 78%

Democrat's chance of retaining the House: 98%

Canada's 338Canada which so accurately predicted our recent British Columbia's Provincial Election has this to say about the US campaign:

Biden's chance of winning the Presidency: 87.4% (349 Electoral Votes) 

But I also know that the only poll that counts is the one on November 3. The encouraging results shown above will only happen if YOU vote. Hopefully you voted early but if not, if you are going to vote on the 3rd then make a plan! Huge efforts will be made to keep you from voting as Trump only has a chance if he can intimidate you and keep you from voting. We will see Voter Suppression like we have never seen it! They did it in 2016 and have been working to perfect it. Do not allow them to succeed!

Plan on spending all day if need be. Go early so the door won't be slammed in your face. Take your mask, water, a sandwich, a chair and a friend! Stand in line, keep your six foot distancing and wait it out. Be prepared for rain, snow or wind. Just don't let your voice be silenced.

I for one will be up late watching the results come in!

 

 

 

Finally - The Word On My Eyes!

I had an appointment yesterday with the doctor who did the cataract surgery on my left eye. I talked to his office and told them I wanted a sit down meeting and I wanted three things out of it: 1) What is wrong with my eye(s)?, 2) What has to be done to fix it?, and 3) Why hasn't it been done yet?

Yesterday I showed up wearing my mask and was asked at the desk if I had any objection for a training doctor to sit in. No, I did not mind, in fact I welcomed it as I thought it might encourage my normally silent doctor to speak up. They had me read (or try to read) the eye chart with my left eye and then gave me the dilating drops in both eyes to let the doctor examine me with his microscope.

I went into his office and was introduced to the training doctor, a young woman and the exam began.  He finally stepped back from the equipment and asked the training doctor to have a look. He then started to talk to HER about my problems. I interrupted with a couple of semi-intelligent sounding questions and that seemed to break the ice. Making it sound more like an instruction lesson to her he described my problem.

1) Common wisdom in eye surgery is in the case of a patient with glaucoma, if cataracts exist they should be removed to diminish the possibility of future complications. This is what he had done with my left eye but the right eye was nowhere near bad enough to need surgery yet.

2) He had referred me to a glaucoma specialist (She had already done laser surgery to both eyes and I have a follow-up meeting with her on Monday).  He said that in 25 - 50 years researchers are going to look back at how glaucoma is being treated today and call doctors a bunch of cavemen.

So I asked the obvious question: "So am I to understand that my main problem is glaucoma and not cataracts?" He looked at me like I was some kind of an idiot and said, "Yes, that is correct and that is why I have referred you to a glaucoma specialist". I told him this is what I was beginning to suspect but that he had never told me. "Well", he said, "You know now and I am passing you off to the glaucoma specialist. You will not be seeing me again unless the specialist wants me involved". That was it, he is done with me and happily, I am also done with him. I suspect he is a good doctor, he just suffers from a severe lack of communicating skills. I think it was only because the training doctor was there that I found out what I did.

I asked him what I can expect from the new specialist and he said she will examine my eyes to see how effective the surgery she already did is working. She used her laser to open up the "drain holes" in both eyes to reduce the pressure that was present in both eyes. He said if it hadn't reduced the pressure she had the option of inserting a valve in the back of my eye(s) to keep the pressure at the "perfect" 10mm HG (milometers of mercury). My eyes tested at 15 mm HG which Google tells me is still normal. This pressure in my eyes has always been in the acceptable range which is why it took time to discover my glaucoma.

So that is all I know for now. I will learn more from the specialist on Monday. And oh yes, he suggested I get new glasses made. I knew I needed them I was just delaying it until my eyes were somewhat stabilized. I will ask the specialist what she thinks and then get that process started.

EDIT: I told him of my concerns over my drivers license and he told me not to worry, I am well within the limits for driving.

Back To The US Election!

 Well, my local British Columbia Provincial Election is over, the Good Guys won so now we divert our attention back to the elephant in the room, the US Election! Recent polls are holding surprisingly steady and are showing the following projections:

Biden's chance of winning the Presidency is 86%

The Democrats chance of winning The Senate is 73%

The Democrats chance of retaining The House is 96%

This is called the Perfect Trifecta and is the goal but it will not happen if you do not vote! Vote early if possible but if you have to vote on November 3 then plan your day, plan your transportation and plan on spending a long time there, maybe all day. Take a friend, water, a sandwich and maybe a camp chair. Efforts are going to be made to keep you from voting. Polling places may be moved at the last second, roads and transportation may be disrupted, there may be goons put in place to attempt to intimidate you. Don't let them stop you! You have the hard won Right to Vote so don't give it up! Don't let the bastards win!

And The Good News

Yesterday was Election Day in British Columbia! The previous Government was tied with 41 New Democrats and 41 "Liberals" (a right wing coalition of Liberals and Conservatives). There were also three Greens who agreed to vote with the New Democrats for consideration of some of their issues. It was an uneasy alliance where the New Democrats lived in fear of one or two of their members getting sick or injured and unable to attend the votes. This uneasy situation came to a head when the Greens refused to back the NDP on a major Labour issue which would have made it easier for workers to form a Union. My friend and Premier John Horgan called an election about six months before he had to in order to get the majority he needed to govern.

John Horgan was extremely popular and polls showed right from the start that the NDP was going to do well and they did. The results last night showed the polls were correct. The evening ended with NDP - 55. Liberal - 29 and Green - 3. It is a comfortable NDP Majority. These results are not final as the 500,000 mail-in ballots will not be counted for two weeks. These mail-in ballots are expected to break in favour of the NDP so our numbers may actually increase.

It was a happy evening for me, one which would have been so much better to have been shared with Norma who had such a great insight into each and every riding. She would have been a very happy woman!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ndp-wins-bc-2020-analysis-horgan-1.5776167

First The Bad News

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I normally run the motorhome generator under load for 90 minutes every month. Most times I add the truck engine to this exercise period every couple of months but only for a half hour or so. I am pretty sure I missed September and was late for October so Yesterday was the day.

The generator took a while to start but ran good. I plugged in my 1500 watt space heater as a load. I started the truck with no problem as it is on a built-in trickle charger. This was at 2 PM so I would shut everything off at 3:30 PM.

Well, I got watching BC Election coverage and I FORGOT! I woke up at 8 AM and suddenly remembered! I rushed out and sure enough, everything was running. 18 hours of unnecessary wear, tear and added hours on the generator plus a little more than half a tank of gas! 

I don't think any serious damage was done except to my wallew but next time I will have to write myself some bid notes and leave them in strategic spots around the house, the last one being on my pillow!

Now I have to borrow a five gallon gas can and refill the tank. That is going to cost me a bit!   

My Day So Far...

 

Today was my semi-annual doctor's appointment. It was at 9:40 am and promptly at 8:00 am one of the highway workers knocked on the door and said if I wanted out in the next few hours, I would have to get my car out right now as they were going to be pouring curbs and dividers. I drove down and parked in a spot they made for me a couple of hundred feet down the road and walked back to have breakfast. 

My appointment was uneventful. My recent lab results were right where we want them so he renewed my prescriptions for six months and offered me a flu shot. I told him I had never had one but if he thought I should, I was willing. He gave me the shot and then made a second attempt to freeze off a non-cancerous but troublesome mole on my side. I wanted it cut out but he preferred the freezing process. Sure, we will try it again.

When I got home they were still working on my curb so I parked where I was before and walked home. I will have to move the car later as it is quite close to the traveled portion of the road and there will be no flagger to keep their eye on it. Have I mentioned that I am tired of all this construction? It has been every day since May of 2019.

Helmut Giesbrecht 1943 - 2020

 I just heard tonight that our old friend and political ally Helmut Giesbrecht, former high school math teacher, Terrace, BC Mayor and Skeena, BC NDP MLA passed away on Friday after a long illness. He was one of the good guys and will be missed!

Here is a typical Helmut story! When Helmut was running for mayor of Terrace, BC I wandered into his campaign / Teachers Union office and asked if there was anything I could do. Knowing I was Jim Fulton's (the NDP Member of Parliament) campaign finance guy he quickly handed me a list of about 100 names and phone numbers (most of them teachers), gave me an office and told me to get busy on the phone and get $100 from each of them! I came close!

Helmut was one of the beneficiaries of Norma's "Skeena Machine"! When Norma wanted someone elected, they got elected!  

Catching Up

Friday Night! Doing nothing, watching "How The Universe Works" explain dark matter and black holes. I should have been an astronomer. I got a robocall from some company wanting to do a political survey but I couldn't be bothered and hung up.

I am tired. I whipper snipped and mowed both lawns and chased a deer around the yard for a while. I should just let the deer in as there are no flowers left for them to dine on. Norma always said they rip the bulbs out of the ground if there are no flowers so I guess I still worry about that.

My periodic houseguest Kelly is around for a few days but is staying at a relatives house for a couple of nights. She has an appointment of some kind on Wednesday so we should plan on dinner out at some point. She provides me with the opportunity to get out of the house once in a while and I really appreciate that. She has been a really good friend! She wants to spend a few hours cleaning out Norma's flower beds. We keep talking about cleaning them out permanently and allowing the lawn to spread out to the fences all around the yard. It would sure be a lot less work. I don't mind doing the lawns but I just have no idea what I am doing around Norma's flower beds. Thank goodness Kelly spent all that time working with her and learned enough to look after them.

It is Brooks' 50th birthday today! I can't believe I have a 50 year old son. He was planning to celebrate it with a scuba diving trip to Egypt but COVID put an end to that. So they are tearing up the living room carpet and laying laminate floor instead. I have to get down there for a visit soon but seem to have a badly timed doctor's appointment (nothing serious) keeping me around.

If this damn COVID thing ever ends I will fly down to Mexico and visit my friends Chris and Juan. I have been putting that off for a long time.

Well, back to my "How The Universe Works" marathon. Now they are explaining how stars are dying at a much faster rate than they are being born and that eventually it will be lights out. Nothing for us to worry about though, it won't be for a few billion years.

NOTE: My Facebook friends were quick to point out that I got the day of the week wrong. It was my pill dispenser that told me it was Friday so I am either a day ahead or six days behind! LOL! Nothing in there that will kill me. Right away at least!