Star One Smart Blog's

Memorial Day: It's not about a day off. It's a day to remember the Vets who gave their lives. For all of us. Thank You to all of our Veterans, including, from my extended family, Neal Mitchell, lost early this year in Baghdad. Just back on duty from his leave, and life was over in a flash. 20 years young...

A lot of lucky souls took off for the long weekend. We met up with 10 or so family members in Bryson City, North Carolina, in a nice little group of cabins...with the Oconaluftee River running right in front; just downstream from a dam that still generates some power. Just a little power, but still...

Great Smokey Mountains National Park
Of course, I thought I was 16 again, and managed to partially tear half the muscles in my calf, on a hike. On Friday afternoon...hmmmmph. Sorta shot down a few planned activities...

I've never had a torn achilles tendon, or a ripped muscle, so this was a surprise...one tiny jump, up a river bank, and I thought I'd been snakebit, or as one family member remarked (Ray's a WWII Navy Vet, USS Tennessee and others, with a remarkeable cache of stories of Saipan and the Pacific Theater..."Marines hated the Japs, and who could blame them?") "you tripped a wire, pungi-style".

A couple things I learned, though. Neither Bryson City nor Cherokee, NC has an immediate care facilite open on Saturdays. After hobbling around on a stick for half a day, I was told I had to get it checked out. Ordered to, you see. Ray's wife is a retired RN, and spoke about 'excessive swelling' and 'circulation issues in diabetics', etc. I wanted to 'tough it out' Wayne-style, but was overruled...I didn't have a chance on this one.

Cherokee was packed with tourists, the Casino next door to the (closed) Immediate Care was jammed. A hospital was nearby. I decided to splurge on my Insurance and check out the hospital in Cherokee...now this is interesting: the Cherokee Reservation hospital didn't want to see me. Unless one is Cherokee, the hospital is aloof to non-emergency [non-Cherokee] visitors. It would have cost me $200 extra, a 'race-tax', to even have a consultation.

Would've been easier to go to Cuba, I suppose...

So, back to Bryson City, Swain County Hospital. SCH was quiet, clean, friendly, and very professional and modern. I left with reassurances that I would live.

I did spot one out-of-the-ordinary item...there's a pre-triage room where the 'money information' is collected (along with various vital signs). There's a calander hanging from the wall, one of the 'gimmee' goodies businesses hand out to clients. This calandar was in poor form. The thing was from "Crisp Funeral Home"...I had to ask the young lady, 'tell me, do they specialize in cremations? Just wondering....' Elbow from the wife.

So, while everyone else was running the Nantahala in a raft (which I usually guided), I was rotting in my cabin, calmed down on pain meds. I've a reputation for excessive activity, a 'human pinball', but with a leg out I'm useless.

I did play with my camera, and that little Bushnell Maksutov-Cassegrain NorthStar telescope, for which I have a camera adaptor.

The thing is difficult to work with, I've got to play with it some to get a feel for it...here's the top of a convenient telephone pole with a streetlight for illumination. Nice image, but a long exposure.
This shot of the moon came out a little better than the last one.


Can't wait to try this thing out in a field somewhere. Not for boat use: long exposures, high magnification, must have a tripod and solid ground.

We'll see what shows up...now to hobble out to pasture off to bed...