I finally did it – subscribed to High Church Coyote (Episcopal Humor).
Glad I did, too. And you are the beneficiaries. Yeah, yer welcome.
Finally Did It
Our Two Wheeled Friends
It’s been a tough couple of months for our two-wheeled friends. Cyclists, I mean. Earlier this year, Anne’s Mechanicsburg PA high-school classmate was riding his motorcycle home from work and was struck head-on by a car. He survived, but it will be a long painful reconstruction and recovery for his shattered body. He may or may not walk again.
Not long ago, our two good friends in Minneapolis were riding their tandem bike near a group of runners. One of the runners swerved into their path causing them to crash. Jo suffered a concussion, 3 broken ribs, and now has a collarbone repaired with titanium rebar. And she was the lucky one.
Last but not least, my 2nd-year Hershey roommate – a lifelong cycling enthusiast – was killed while riding his bike near Lancaster PA on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon. He leaves behind a grieving widow and many pediatric patients. As a registered organ donor, he helped others even beyond the grave – see the editorial, here.
RIP, RVK MD.
Since I’m guessing more of you drive a car than ride a bike, I’ll say only this: Whether you’re driving on a road or running on a path, watch out for our two-wheeled friends. Because your doing so can make all the difference between life and disaster. Look twice, turn once.
Denny Sykes Anspach MD (1934 – 2020)
A 2018 profile from the Sacramento Bee is here. Photos below are also mostly from 2018. Missed by many. Beloved by all. Rest in peace.
Denny Sykes Anspach MD (1934 – 2020).
Though he is gone, The California State Railroad Museum he founded lives on. If you visit, look for the bronze bust just recently added.
Story from 9/21/2020 Bee is here.
Tale of Two Brothers Walking
This Tale of Two Brothers Walking, titled “The Van Gundy Brothers Walk, Talk, and Bond in the NBA Bubble,” is appealing to me on so many levels. First, there’s the “walk” angle: I find it hilarious and fitting that they get up early each day in Orlando to walk the cart paths of a golf course before there are actual golfers out to spoil the solitude. For a guy like me who’s an early riser, and one who loves walking and hates golf, it doesn’t get much more poignant than that.
Next, there’s the “fraternal” angle in which far-flung brothers re-connect under the highly unusual circumstance of pandemic NBA-bubble life. Of course I more-closely identify with Jeff, the younger of the two. And it’s not only because he’s bald and bespectacled. It’s also because – as an NBA commentator – he’s by far the bigger smart-ass of the two. Maybe Stan was a better coach, but I say you just don’t find that much snark in such a pretty package as you get with Jeff. OK, maybe I’m biased. So sue me.
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Of course any story of the NBA playoffs at this point in 2020 has to include a shout-out to the surprising Denver Nuggets, who kick off their Western Conference Final series against the LA Lakers tomorrow night. Though that’s got nothing to do with “A Tale of Two Brothers Walking,” you can still watch the game on TNT. And that means – sorry, Jeff! – we get Stan doing the color.
Watch out LeBron: Go Jamal & Joker!
Rarely Do I Gush
Rarely do I gush over some book or article I just read. You know me, eternal skeptic, fountain of snark, only willing to give up sarcasm for the 40 days of Lent. But then along comes this article from the current New Yorker, titled “Why a Negative Test Doesn’t Guarantee You Don’t Have the Coronavirus.” And all of a sudden, I’m as giddy as a cheerleader. Oh, no, wait – maybe that was yesterday’s post? – but I digress.
Lord knows, I haven’t ordered a diagnostic lab test in almost 35 years. And rarely do I keep up with the latest from the NEJM. But this resident at Mass General has written a fine piece that captures quite nicely the statistical basis of all medical tests, along with the vagaries of test interpretation, in an article that’s highly accessible for the general reader. I highly recommend it if you have questions about Coronavirus tests – or indeed, about any lab results.
Read it in good health.
Now, take two aspirin and call me in the morning…
Riveting
First off, nobody outside Denver cares about last night’s very late edition of Monday Night Football pitting the Broncos vs. the Titans. Well, nobody outside the states of Tennessee and Colorado, I guess. As proof, I submit the following: The game ended at 1:30AM EDT. And the final score? 16-14, bad guys. I rest my case. Still, it was riveting NFL action for a sports-starved populace salivating for any sort of action not involving BLM protests, Western forest fires, or the upcoming election (yawn).
Alright, it wasn’t actually “riveting” in any known sense of that word. In fact, the biggest draw I can think of after enduring this snooze-fest was the over/under on how long until Titans kicker Stephen Gostkowski’s inevitable release from the team after he missed 3 field goals and an extra point… right up until he kicked the game winner in the waning seconds. See what I mean? Riveting…. NOT!
However, there was this pretty funny piece in SBNation from former DP sports reporter Nicki Jhabvala about an unusual twist to the telecast. Nicki’s tweet is here. SBNation’s piece, titled “What the hell is going on with this MNF graphic of John Elway?” is here. Selected excerpts are below. If possible, try to keep your excitement under control.
While introducing the Broncos, we were greeted with Jon Swoleway, John Elway’s buff doppelganger from a different dimension. There is absolutely no room for interpretation here. This looks nothing like Elway. I like that sometime during the process, the first cut of this was submitted and someone was like “This doesn’t look like Elway,” but it was too late to turn it around. So I imagine they slapped the No.7 button on him, in an effort to try and help things. Still not convinced this would evoke Elway, they slapped a sign next to him that says “JOHN ELWAY,” with an arrow. It’s like the drawings my daughter brings home from school so I can identify which of the potato people she’s drawn is me.
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In case you were wondering, Gostkowski is still with the (1-0) Titans. And the (0-1) Broncos still suck. Ah well. Life goes on. That’s something at least. Right?
Being A Nerd
Being a nerd, I like the following t-shirt well enough…
…but what I’d really like?
It’s to have the following substituted in for the formula in the middle
so I can wear it on my hikes:
I mean, is that so hard, Waterton Canyon hikers?
If you wanna “Keep Left,” go across the pond!
Or at least go across the South Platte.
<End-of-rant>
Happy Monday, y’all!
Dogs Life Part 2
Thanks to all good friends far and near from whose posts these are stolen. So without further ado: Here’s a dogs life part 2. Woof!
“Oh, and here’s Jovie ready to toss slobber.“
Photo credit: Mick Bennett.
Dogs Life
It’s Friday, so that must mean it’s time for… a pop quiz! Or maybe a “pup” quiz? Truth to tell, I did terrible on this “Dogs Life” quiz from Merriam Webster: I only got three right. Maybe you can do better? Take the quiz, here. In any event, it’s a great excuse for a puppy picture. And given the “ruff” state of affairs in the world these days, perhaps a puppy picture is one thing we can all use more of, quiz or no quiz.
Grounded
This is the kind of story the KGB doesn’t want you to see. After all, it has nothing to do with the upcoming U.S. elections. In fact, it’s from the U.K., not from the U.S. Be that as it may, it’s a heart-warming little tale about an 80-year-old hiker who spent 4 days unscheduled in the wilderness and lived to tell about it. Now he’s grounded. Go figure. Full story is here. Full reprint is below. Yer welcome. Now, KGB, go home – and stay there – ’cause yer grounded too!
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Early on Tuesday, Phil Harvey and his wife gathered a group of mountain rescuers and camera crews at the Tan Hill Inn pub in northeast England to make a public plea for help finding Phil’s 80-year-old father, who had gone missing while hiking in the nearby Yorkshire Dales. But the event quickly turned into a tearful reunion when the missing man himself, Harry Harvey, showed up at a news conference about his disappearance. Harvey said he had no idea that a search party had spent four days looking for him.
“If I’d have known, I wouldn’t have come back — not here,” he said, jokingly, at the news conference, which was broadcast by the inn on Facebook Live, adding that he would have found another way to get home so he could have avoided all the attention. “I could do without all of this,”
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Rescuers credited Harvey’s years of mountain hiking experience and good equipment for seeing him safely through the four days. “This morning, we did not expect to have this result. We really thought we were looking for an unfortunate end to this matter,” a member of the Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team told ITV.
Harvey was separated from his walking partner Saturday afternoon after getting caught in a hailstorm with a “howling gale of wind,” he said, while hiking in the national park, which is 860 square miles of countryside with lush valleys, a limestone cave and historic castles. But armed with a bag packed with gear, and given his extensive training and experience, Harvey said he “was never worried.” As the darkness settled in, Harvey turned to his “Plan B,” he said. The spot where he had gotten separated from his partner was desolate, so he looked for a new, safe place to set up camp.
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He’d end up solo camping for three nights and four days — an overall nice experience, he said after his rescue, though he did fall in a stream and scrape his forehead. “I had three really good, wild camping nights where I was on my own and had all the kit I needed,” Harvey said in the news conference. His only issue was a shortage of food. “I’ve got a hell of an appetite,” he said, smiling. “And when I get hungry I’ve got to get something to eat or I cannot go anywhere.”
Meanwhile, mountain rescuers, police, the Royal Air Force, and locals had been searching for Harvey since Sunday. The group included 60 trained search-and-rescue volunteers and seven search-and-rescue dog handlers, ITV reported. Harvey said he saw helicopters and a few people walking in the distance, but didn’t realize they were part of a search team looking for him. He said he blew his emergency whistle, but the people apparently didn’t hear it.
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On Tuesday morning, Harvey spotted a woman in the park and waved for help. Annette Pyrah, a wildlife photographer, said she was out taking photographs of birds, but instead, “I found Harry,” she told the BBC. “I had passed Tan Hill with a very heavy heart because I knew he hadn’t been found and I thought after three days he’s not going to be found. It was quite upsetting to see the police and sniffer dogs,” she said.
But when she saw the man waving, she got out of her car and asked if he was Harry Harvey and if he had been missing for three days. “He said yes, and I started crying,” Pyrah said. Pyrah then called for help and a team of mountain rescuers arrived and patched up Harvey’s forehead. The team then brought Harvey to the Tan Hill Inn, where his son and daughter-in-law were waiting. As Harvey exited the car, the three embraced in the rain, before heading inside.
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Given Harvey’s age, the number of days he had been missing and the weather, members of the search-and-rescue team were not optimistic that they’d find Harvey alive and well. “It was a pleasure when we found him,” one rescuer told ITV.
Despite finding his father relatively unscathed and healthy, Harvey’s son Phil said that the past few days had been “torture. We know he is experienced, but not three nights. That’s taking it a little bit to the extreme,” he said at the news conference. But Phil and his wife couldn’t help but find the humor in the fact that Harvey had a pleasant time during those four days off the grid. “He’s had a blast and we’ve had a nightmare,” Harvey’s daughter-in-law said.
“He’s grounded,” Phil said of his dad. “You’re not going anywhere now.”