FIXING BETTY'S BROKEN BACK

**If you do not have a good mental picture of a lumbar vertebra, go first to the following site which illustrates the back bone involved and shows where a typical compression fracture occurs. Betty has three vertebrae broken like this. One is an older injury, but the other two are recent, and are the ones causing her such pain.

http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/nsg/images/pic_scf.jpg

**While we were in Alaska, Betty fell on a kitchen floor, landing hard on her bottom. Very soon it was clear she had caused some damage. A chiropractor woujld not treat her, and a urgency clinic doctor sent her straight to the hospital for x-rays, but was not willing to become her doctor since we were not local residents (and Medicare was our primary coverage!).
**After returning home in early June, we fought for weeks to get appointments, to see a doctor who would provide treatment beyond prescribing potent pain killers, and to obtain corrective treatment. An MRI was required, and finally we actually saw a neuro-surgeon who (1) actually examined her, and (2) will surgically treat her broken back bones (after the holiday weekend and a week of personal vacation!).
**The following site at OHSU illustrates the procedure: Let the animated clip load, then select the narrated version for an example of how he proposes to place a cement cast inside each broken vertebra.

http://www.ohsu.edu/health/page.cfm?id=10149

**IF the surgery, now scheduled for July 13th, comes about as planned, it will be 60 days between the injury and the surgical treatment. Sadly that is the reality of modern American medical care these days.
**We ask you to remember Betty and her doctors in your prayers.

CHERRIES AT LAST

Most years we have fought the birds and squirrels by day and the possums and racoons by night hoping for a crop of cherries. Sometimes the weather interferes with a good set of fruit. This year the crop came in fine. In fact, the whole state is having a bumper yield, and here is our own proof. These are some of our Bings.

The blessing for me is that all five of my grand-daughters have been able to come to help pick the fruit. The first wave - the twins and their mom (and the little imp in the second picture) - cleaned out the first fruits and my photo-op but got a lot of cherries for family to enjoy. When the Kennewick kids came, there was still a lot of good pickin' left and they gathered plenty too to eat and share with others.

After a goood wash and a sorting out some of the cherries cracked by an inopportune rain, there were still a lot of beautiful red fruit to enjoy by eye and by munchin'.

THE LAST TREE IN BLOOM: WHITE DOGWOOD

This year, because almost everything was two to three weeks late and while we were away for three weeks, we missed seeing most of our flowering trees in bloom. The majority of dogwood and all the crabapples basically flowered and spent themselves while we were gone, so I have no photos of this year's display except for the Last Tree in Bloom.

This one tree, however, is always the last to blossom. It is a pure white dogwood (cornus alba)which began life as a 4" sprout I received as a bonus in the mail from a tree company back when I was doing bonsai. I potted it, but somewhere in the process it was allowed to revert to normal size and ended up planted in the yard next to the tool shed. It is always a joy to see in full display.

More than in most years, the density of individual flowers this season is especially solid on every branch. No space reveals the green of the leaves below the solid clusters. This is true throughout the tree this year. The individual flowers are a deep, pure, velvety white, making the whole tree most outstanding in full sunlight. It's the last tree to present its stunning display each year, and makes a stunning climax to the annual show. When I learn to do starts from this jewel, I'll be glad to share with some of you.

REQUIUM FOR JUNEAU

The enormous boat pictured, one of the Princess Line fleet, carries, I am told, over 4,000 passengers on each cruise. In this photo it was just arriving in the "harbor" off of the Juneau waterfront, and I'm sure all the tourists were eager to come ashore.
What is particularly sad is that this vessel was the fifth of five to arrive in Juneau on June 3rd this year, and that these visitors were going to have to fight the crowds from the other four tour ships on the narrow streets and sidewalks of oldtown Juneau.
What's worse is that residents of Alaska's capitol city can no longer can enjoy their own city during the summer months. As a former resident, I am appalled both at the transformation tourism has caused the formerly quaint and historic downtown and how little of the funds spent by the visitors remains in town as compensation for the loss. I grieve for Juneau over what I see has happened to a nice little town over the last decade.

ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS

As we prepare to head "home" I thought I should update this blog with a few favorite memories. Clearly time with family tops all other activities and "Eli" time was our priority (See http://www.wyattjourney.com/ ) but outings like the glacier tour were highlights. Dana and I walked atop Herbert Glacier just above what shows here from Lynn Canal some ten miles west.

On another outing - whale watching - we had opportunity to see local places like the Point Retreat Lighthouse and this one: Sentinel Lighthouse, the oldest in Southeast Alaska

Nearby we passed a historic, annual haulout of Steller Sea Lions. These huge marine mammals - up to 1400 pounds - gather here for weeks to fatten up prior to the breeding adults moving toward outside waters for that gala season. Immature animals remain behind and just dream, I guess. The remarkable thing at this haulout is the deep gutteral rumble that penetrates the area.

Did you ever bug your teachers for a chance to hold class outside for a change? That is not too uncommon up here as all of the outdoors is a big classroom. Here you see the combined third grades in activities at Lena Beach some 15 miles north of the regular classroom. The combined list of all the critters and beach items these kids showed me would easily fill a pile of scientific data notebooks, but the kids seem to take it all in easily and are full of the details of whether these oddities are safe, edible, useful, or hazardous in various ways. How would you use a huge hairy worm on a muddy beach at low tide?

How odd it is to feel like leaving home to "Go home". Well, That's Juneau!!