The kid who grew up to become a plumber was always told his ambitions where all pipedreams.

Good morning. It's Wednesday, March 4, 2020, and, I'm thankful to be able to get up and go. What say you? The house we live in was built in the early 1970s. It's undergone improvements over time especially all the work that was done recovering from Hurricane Ike, (Approximately $90,000.) However, much of the infrastructure remains the same. A lot of the stuff is original. This means when we have a problem it can be interesting to see where it will lead. We had some work done in our downstairs bath and shower. The plumber who came had a number of potential ways to remedy the issue. Because of the age and how our stuff was installed, none of those ways would work. He ended up having to come up with an adapted solution. And, he did. It worked. We were pleased. That is until a pipe in the kitchen began to leak after he left. He had told me he did not like turning the water off and on in houses that had an aging infrastructure. We have a lot of galvanized pipe. Pressuring up and down can create new issues. We won the prize. It did! We were able to get him to return last Saturday morning and we had to take out some ceiling sheetrock and he again had to come up with an adapted solution because of the way our pipes were installed. Kudos to Dennis the plumber. He worked very hard. He did. I know. I watched him. That's another feature in how our home was originally constructed, nothing, and I mean nothing, is easy to get to or to repair. And, thank the Lord we were able to pay for it. I mean that sincerely. (Just so you know, using a reputable plumber who has their Master Plumbers License is not inexpensive.)

I did get a note back from my primary care doctor saying there were some serious issues detected in my in-home sleep study. Here is all he said, "Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea". Sounds ominous. Right? I looked it up. That interpretation is used when your breathing stops and restarts 30 or more times in an hour. I go tomorrow to hear what the pulmonologist has to say. I was hoping they found nothing and to be honest I did feel a little let down when I saw his cryptic email. But, to quote everyone, when it comes down to it, and it eventually does, it is what it is, and, I will have to adapt to whatever treatment regimen they end up recommending. I have lost 7 pounds but I seem to be stuck on that number. Weight loss is high on every list of recommended responses to this malady. The wife mentioned something the doctor had told her to do, but, she said she didn't think she would. I then told her that maybe that means I can just skip the CPAP machine. Her tone immediately changed, "I can tell you one thing, that will not happen. Period!" But, we don't know anything until we know. I suppose you knew that already. I'm sure I will keep y'all posted under the life events tab. It's a joke. Don't be looking for a tab. Maybe they mixed up my findings with that of the other guy. See? There is always a glimmer in there somewhere.

I started to use the image that depicted eleven different serious problems that could be caused by sleep apnea. Why didn't I? It was just too depressing. I did notice something yesterday morning. I always look at the headlines on Drudge each day. I noticed something. There were no headlines devoted to the Corona Virus. That was surprising since the previous four days the bold type was screaming out the various hype concerning this health threat. I know the death count here in our country is now 9. By comparison, here is the statement from the Center for Disease Control on this year's flu statistics, "CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 32 million flu illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 18,000 deaths from flu." I don't think we should be flippant about the potential of the Corona Virus health threat. At the same time, we do need to have perspective. Some have said all of that is well and good until you are the one suffering from it. That typically is true with any illness of this type. I think we are seeing all around us the negative and hurtful impacts from the fever of panic brought on by the news coverage of the potential from the spreading of this worldwide infectious disease. I always remind myself of that film I saw back in the early 1980s. It was a fire safety film concerning high rise buildings. From newsreels, we saw people continuing to jump from a high rise building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, long after the fire was contained and put out. Even with firefighters on the street using megaphones begging them not to jump, they still jumped anyway. The expert told us what we were seeing was the result of irrationality brought on in those overloaded with fear and panic. I do hope we all will use good common sense but be aware, as I pointed out before, why it is in the interest of some to see our nation become emotionally unstable due to this threat. Just me, you know, the guy who might be stopping and starting breathing more than 30 times per hour. You might want to factor that in as well. God's got this, in fact, He's got it all! Amen. .....More later.