srj641

I know we are at war, gas prices are astronomical and groceries are forcing us to eat genuine food, but it is high time someone addresses a real crises in America……aisle law. There needs to be a law that designates a single day, say Tuesday, for folks with common sense and decorum about them, to grocery shop.

If you shop Costco, Sam’s Cub, Wal-Mart or your home town grocery store, you know what I am talking about. Aisle rage easily eclipses road rage on the scale measuring serious societal problems. If you suffer from one of these short comings while shopping, please seek an intervention.

Folks like to visit, but a gaggle of old folks, gathered in front of the beer cooler talking about gout and arthritis is aggravating. Visiting is not okay if you are blocking access to a needed item by a serious shopper.

When you first choose your cart, it is not the time to stop and rummage through your purse, dial up Uncle Freddy on the cell phone or administer corrective advice to your untrained rug rats. Cart selection is serious business, avoid the cart with a front wheel spinning like a ballerina on crack or locked up tighter than a prom queen’s knees. Conversely, when your groceries are loaded into your chariot, please find one of the hundred or so cart corrals to return the cart to. It is the height of laziness to leave an empty cart 10 feet from a corral.

Another issue is your “service dog”, the dirty little rat sized critter you have drug out of the litter box, who must have his blanket adjusted in the cart before proceeding. “Service Dog’…..I hardly think so.

Speaking of kids, aisles are not race tracks, and your fat little junior is breaking down the cart hanging on the front munching Cocoa Puffs out of a just opened bag. He is why cart wheels spin and lock up.

Folks you are not the only one shopping. Leaving your cart in the middle of an aisle while you select a container of cottage cheese at the other end of the store is bad. It takes time to get the cottage cheese from the back of the display while avoiding a carton of melted ice cream that some moron decided he didn’t need and deposited in the cottage cheese display.

Inordinate patience is required when standing behind bacon and watermelon shoppers. The first will carefully examine 70 or so packages of bacon, making judgements about leanness and the second believes he can thump 50 watermelons and locate a sweet one. Scanning and thumping takes time……

Tattered, discolored lingerie, clearly visible under your sagging, filthy flannel pajamas is not appetizing. Please make an attempt to locate your cleanest, dirty shirt to cover up your prison ink and sleep wear.

A word to my handicapped and ample friends who rely on one of the little blue scooters to peruse the goods. You are not the only one shopping. You still must look as you turn corners and stopping sideways in an aisle is frowned upon by your more mobile neighbors. Pick a side and stay in if you can and watch where you drive. Kind of like driving a car. You are entitled to privilege, but don’t abuse it.

Finally, if you are a sample bandit, gliding between samples of cheese and the latest bottled water, take your sample and move on. These little offerings do not represent an all you can eat buffet. Sending your progeny for additional bites is also in bad taste while you hide in the potato chip aisle.

A grocery store is a great place to discern the character of folks. Even untrained observers can form accurate opinions about the nature of folks by watching them in this environment. Think about it…

SR

Yesterday I authored a post expressing my utter frustration with insurance, Medicare and a recalcitrant provider system, so we went to work on the phones for a couple of hours. We started with my very patient Doctor’s office, all of whom have to be in counseling over the handling of the governments so called “bridge” program. This program is designed for old people like me to gain access to the GLP-1 medicines to manage weight. You must meet a couple of requirements related to health to qualify, conditions that most of us are familiar with. There was some urgency as when I became involved in this quest, the prescription for Zepbound I was taking at my own expense was cancelled. Competent physicians and insurers frown on multiple Rx’s for a given med. If enough time lapses between doses of these meds……you start over with micro doses……the physiology is the domain of medical specialists, not me. Thus the urgency

The issue was simple. I could not find exactly where my new Rx was in the food chain. It was the tweed ring on steroids, everybody pointing at someone else as the cause in the delay. Sharon and I began working the phones, asking pointed but reasonable questions, always polite and deferential. I know when I am being blown off and, well, Sharon is a walking polygraph. Answers were like assembling a picture puzzle with pieces from different boxes.

We determined that Mercy Medical relies on an in-house “prior authorization group” to obtain prior approval. The system has your records and they can do the research, submit the forms and make life easier. This is a secret place. The word is mum and they will not tell you what is going on with a given request, however you can plant the seeds of discontent. We also managed to get to the right person in Mercy administration which immediately prompted their dive into the problem on our behalf. Next is our insurer. They could not have been nicer or more efficient but knew virtually nothing except that Medicare had to approve this med and then they would cover it. Next was Medicare where you need a law degree, medical degree and the tenacity of a bulldog with a toothache. We finally learned my request had been received and was in queue……

The conclusion to this novel. We must have stepped on the right toes as suddenly my pharmacy received the documentation necessary to fill the script under the bridge program. I will have the med Monday.

The saga isn’t over. Out of concern for a gap in using this medicine, I thoughtlessly ordered the med from one of the recommended online providers, sent my money and, on the same day, tried to cancel the order because the bridge came through. Their adds say you can cancel anytime but they don’t want to refund my payment for a 3 month supply. Believe me, they will or I will turn their lives into a living hell online. I DO NOT recommend you go this route and I did so against the sound advice of both my physician and pharmacist. PM me and I will explain why, beyond the obvious.

Thanks for indulging me and maybe this treatise will help you. I abhor incompetence and was subjected to it in this process. In summary, the problem lies with Medicare, not my provider, not our insurer and not Mercy systems. all of this occurred yesterday, a day’s work.

The squeaky wheel gets the oil!

Steve

Explorers have long looked to the horizon in anticipation of what lies ahead. It is a wise man who keeps his eyes on the horizon as not only beautiful things lurk beyond it, but evil and stupidity also lurk just beyond.

Under the Biden administration, a grant was granted to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a subsidiary of the National Institutes of Health which funded an item titled “Integrating firearm secure storage counseling into dental practice: opportunities for dental practice-based research.” This program was published in the May 2025 Journal of the American Dental Association. This nonsense was the brainchild of former Attorney General Murthy’s stewardship, in short another angle in the attack on gun ownership. Dentists, it was suggested, should inquire about the safe storage of firearms in the home, thus providing an opportunity to lecture them about gun safety.

Holy smokes, somehow oral hygiene, to these small minded people, is related to gun safety. To a gullible electorate, firearms were being treated like some dread pathogen and needed to be eradicated. They have actually conducted studies concluding that gun violence is more prevalent in poorer neighborhoods who lack access to dental care. No kidding. These studies and conclusions were conducted on your and my dime, absurdity at its best. These folks actually believed that dentistry had the potential to be at the forefront of reducing gun violence. These are the same rocket scientists that believe it is a good thing to teach your 1st graders about the benefits of sex change, so they may be prepared for the confusion that may occur later in their childhood.

Why do I talk about this? The Democratic Party, where liberals cohabitate and produce more liberals, have not gone away. They are wounded by the realities of conservatism under the current administration and are currently hiding under rocks and in shallow holes until the tempest passes. They are in fact, lurking just beyond the horizon. The real problem is that such idiocy as this sucker punch with Dental professionals, is the tip of the iceberg. They will stop at absolutely nothing, as evidenced by the political successes of suited up clowns like Mamdani and the bright blue haired freak that walks the halls of Congress. These folks, remember, allegedly garnered a majority of the vote somewhere in America.

The current administration is burning time and elections will again be the talk of the times. You want to be lectured by your dentists about gun safety and the need for male athletes to shoot up with various hormones and kick your daughter ass in a track meet? Easy, get up, put your blinders on and leave these decisions to the idiots who will soon be digging out of their holes and attempt to convince you that cavities and gingivitis can be stopped cold by storing your firearms safely. That is the new horizon.

We enjoy a wonderful nation, governed by a flawed but somehow effective process. What a great place to live…..but it requires maintenance. Never drop your guard. Be ready for your dentist to back you into the chair while he or she explains how your handgun, if not locked in a safe where it is useless when a thug is standing at the foot of your bed, drooling over your wife, is going to result in the necessity for a root canal.

I kid you not…..

SR

Last night, actually this morning at 2AM, we were awakened by an explosion. I kid you not, I hopped up to see which house in the neighborhood was leveled by what had to be a horrible natural gas explosion. I was wrong.

Somebody, one street removed, and surely liquored up, thought the middle of the night would be a great time to set his fireworks off. This explosion, rivaling the blast of incoming mortar rounds in Vietnam, was followed by 3 more similar bangs. I will check this morning, but would not be surprised to find the street in front of their house cratered. He (she) surely has access to dynamite from a construction site. Such was the blast(s). I am no stranger to blasts, and this was a dandy series.

The wife of a Patrol colleague, many years ago, operated a fireworks stand on the Missouri line up north. He was modest about the profitability, but I suspected she did very well. On every corner, it seems, around Springfield, there is a tent, mostly bigger than ever, where fireworks are sold. In 2024, not an Anniversary year, America spent about 2.7 billion on fireworks. Listen up, 2.3 billion was spent by the consumer (tents) leaving a paltry .4 billion expended in commercial displays! Wonder which state is the fireworks leader? Look no further than home, where in 2025 Missourians spent 13.84 per person on fireworks. About 30% of these expenditures were online.The average back yard display set the shooter back between 200 and 500 dollars. Missourians, one hell of a patriotic folk, is just ahead of Nebraska and Kansas in sales. We have lots of rural ground and are flyover patriotic reflecting our love for this country.

Uh oh. The down side. In 2025 there was an estimated 13,029 fireworks caused visits to an ER (nationwide). Folks under 30 made up 63% of those injuries. I’m guessing they are more likely to to say “hold my beer and watch this”. Breaking this down, predictably, 29% of these injuries were to the hands and fingers and 19% to the head, face and ears. Eyes made up about 16%.

But wait, there is more. Americans while lighting them up, consumed over 150 million hotdogs, this in spite of 85% of folks grilling hamburgers and steaks! Wow, have times changed. Americans spent 8.9 billion on food on the 4th with about another 3.7 billion spent on alcohol. Finally, 56% of these expenditures were from Wal-Mart.

On a personal note, I worked many, many 4th Holidays while on the road and they all seemed to generate a tragedy, namely death and destruction. For me, it was the worst holiday period in a calendar year.

America is 250 years old. Enjoy this special 4th Of July, celebrate wisely, keep the Pepto Bismal close and stay out of the ER’s.

America has it going! Charge on……

SR

I was languishing around the pool yesterday, a great place to avoid Sharon and her siren cry “honey, I need your help a minute”. At my advanced age, I still fall for the “minute” part. “There ain’t no such thing” my Ozark buddies would say. The pool is a first for me and I likely wouldn’t have one if Miss Sharon were less compelling……and she was right all along. My thought processes gravitated to the many things that were first acquisitions for me. A look back …..

My first shotgun was a Remington 1100, 12 ga with a 26” improved cylinder barrel, bought at the Ft. Leonard Wood PX (post exchange). My first rifle, from the same store was a 94 Winchester .30-30. I managed to dispatch a truck load of game with these “weapons of war” as the liberals would say. My first knife was a Schrade Old Timer, a dandy, but tough to keep sharp. My first rod and reel was a Garcia Conolon rod sporting a Mitchell 300 reel. My first “bass lure” was a bag of Creme Worms, purple in color, accompanied by a bag of 1/4 oz slip weights. It was deadly on the Chattahooche river that ran close by. My first dog was a fawn Boxer, whose full name was “Count Beano of Somerset”. I liked Beano, but had yet to develop my love for dogs.

My first chain saw was a Homelite 150 with a 16” bar. It was weak but light, a perfect saw for a novice sawyer. My very first hammer was a Estwing and I still have it, although the rubber handle is now hard as rock. My first power tool was Craftsman 1/4” drill, weak as a kitten. My first car, owned for a couple of months, was a red Simca, made in France and an abomination. It was followed by a red ‘67 GTO, still in my dreams to this day. My first owned home was a 12X60 mobile home with a Coleman furnace, mostly frozen plumbing and cooled by a window A/C that managed to cool the front room only. My first tractor was a high wheeled, Massey 65, gas, wide front. I am lucky to be alive as I mowed a hilly piece of ground with the damned thing, designed for perfectly flat row cropping. My first garden tiller was an Ariens front tine. It would beat you to death, but worked fine and was bullet proof. My first TV was a Zenith black and white, with a cable that ran from a pole mounted antenna. My first radio was a Sanyo transistor at the age of 13.

Each acquisition, back in the day, required a capital layout that strained a very limited budget. Credit cards didn’t exist as it was cash on the barrel head. I began gainful employment as a carry out boy, then EM in the service and state trooper. In the day, such employment left little room for extravagance. Since the beginning, I have owned an embarrassing array of cars, guns, tools, sporting equipment and fine knives. You might say blessed in a different way than Elon Musk, America’s first trillionaire businessman. You wouldn’t know it though…… it has been a good run….if not shamelessly materialistic. We all have a story…..think about your firsts….

Have a good week…

SR