Storms, shopping and refunds, medical news

While I sat in my office yesterday a thunderstorm roared through. It dropped dime sized hail then moved up to ping pong ball sized hail. I am guessing it put down more than two inches of rain in the half hour is lasted. It was good to see some rain. Meanwhile, back at the farm, Mama was enjoying 85®F with clear skies and light winds. The storms never made if that far west. I am not overly sorry that we missed the storms but we really do need the rain.

As I was heading to work this morning I heard about the storms just north of Decatur – only twenty miles away in Denton. Parts of the city of Denton got over six inches of rain and softball sized hail. I feel sorry for those who endured that damage and even more sorry for the cattle and horses in the field when that began to fall. I am truly thankful we did not get that.

Mama went shopping yesterday. I was aware she was going to get some of the sale items at Bowie Building Center because we had talked about that. I was aware she was going to get five little chicks she had ordered through the feed store. I was not aware of all the extra stuff she was looking for – potting soil, mulch, fertilizer, etc.

It ended up being about twice as expensive as I had anticipated so when I questioned her about it she discovered she had been seriously overcharged at both stores. She made the calls to the stores and when I got home we went to both stores to collect our refunds – over $50 worth of refunds. We turned around and spent it on started feed for the chicks and a small dinner at Golden Chick. I suppose I came out okay since we went home with thirty dollars in her pocket.

Once home I ran electric cords from the farmhouse to the chicken coop so the chicks would have a heat lamp overnight. The temperature was forecast to fall into the forties and those little ones produce no body heat of their own so they must be kept very warm until they get some feathers on them. I only hope they could get enough warmth last night because when I left the apartment this morning the temp was 37®F. I am sure Mama will give me an update on their condition as soon as she gets out there.

I went through my requisite biometric screening yesterday. ConocoPhillips requires us to participate in the annual screening if we are using the High Deductible insurance plan. My numbers were better than last year – especially blood pressure and girth. They measure the “waist” at the belly button so many of the guys were pretty upset by the numbers they recorded. One particular individual who boasts about wearing jeans with a thirty four inch waist had a measured waist of 59 ½ inches. He was one of the more vocal complainers.

My biggest point of contention is that the medical industry now recommends that your “bad” cholesterol be below 130. I remember only a few years ago when the number was 180. I have a suspicion the number is more a pharmaceutical driven initiative that a true medical directive; especially since I have been reading reports of low cholesterol numbers are causing a rise in testosterone levels in the mid-forties crowd which leads to more risky behavior and a high incidence of reckless deaths.

I think for now, I will avoid the cholesterol lowering meds but I’ll continue to watch.