Bud Baker
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Posts posted by Bud Baker
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Linda,
I've always had contrast with my scans. I have no idea why they didn't use it on you before or why they would now, but I don't think there's ever anything wrong with demanding an explanation on why they want to do a procedure on you. It's your body.
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Good morning, everyone!
It's cloudy here, and 56 degrees with a stiff south wind. It's supposed to get up to 73 degrees this afternoon.
I took my truck to work, since I have to leave in a couple of hours for a house sale closing. Rose's steroids kept her up most of the night. I guess this is going to be a weekly thing while she's getting chemo.
Have a great day, all!
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Happy birthday, Val!
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Good morning, everyone! Sorry you're having computer problems, Judy.
It was 44 degrees with light south winds when I hopped on my bike and rode to work this morning. It's supposed to get up to 70 this afternoon. In fact, it's supposed to get up to or above 70 degrees every day this week. Now THAT'S the kind of Texas winter weather I've been wanting to see.
It's going to be a very busy week here. Rose has chemo today. We're closing on the sale of our house in Arlington tomorrow. And my followup appointment with the oncologist is Wednesday.
Have a great Monday, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It's 36 degrees with mist here this morning, but supposed to turn into a beautiful day with sunny skies and a high of 65 degrees this afternoon.
Lily, in answer to your questions in yesterday's Air, my favorite winter fishing spot is the Brazos River, on the upper end of Lake Whitney. The river is beautiful there, surrounded with high bluffs which make the water always fairly smooth, even in the constant winds we seem to have in the winter here. It's about 40 miles from my house.
I catch more white bass there than anything else, although the jigs and minnows I use also catch crappie, stripers, and catfish. I lost count of how many white bass I caught yesterday, but it was likely between 20 and 30. I caught 5 keeping size crappie, and several little ones.
I kept the crappie, and released everything else. Crappie are better for eating than white bass, and now that my freezer is looking well stocked again, I can be picky about what I keep, and just release most of what I catch. The jigs I used yesterday were still lead jigs. I'm planning on making lead free ones out of a bismuth-tin alloy.
Today, I'm planning on just tinkering around the house this morning, then going for an afternoon bike ride. Have a great day, all!
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I'm here. Where's Katie?
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Good morning, everyone!
It's 46 degrees here with light rain. It's supposed to clear off and get up to 54 degrees this afternoon. I'm planning on hitching up the boat and going fishing in a couple of hours.
I have some new jigs to try out. I finished making some last night. They're the lead version. I broke out the old setup, coleman stove and lead pot, and poured a few the evening before last. I wanted a few for comparison with the new alloy, plus some practice tying them.
I dutifully wore a respirator, and worked with the garage door open. Rose walked out into the garage, took one look at me standing over the lead pot with a respirator on, and said, "the neighbors are going to call the police and tell them you're cooking dope, dear!" A sign of the times, I guess...
I tied a few last night. It took me two hours just to tie 5 jigs. I better not quit my day job just yet.
Have a great Saturday, all!
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Good morning, Judy! Good morning, everyone! TGIF!
It's 50 degrees with light rain here, and supposed to stay that way all day. I managed to ride home yesterday before the roads got wet, but settled for driving to work today.
Rose felt better yesterday, and went to work. She said she yawned more than usual, but didn't feel bad. Not much else going on here.
Have a great Friday, all!
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That's great news, big congrats!
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Sounds good, Don. I hope it keeps working for you.
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Condolences for the loss of your friend. She sounds like a remarkable women.
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That sounds very encouraging, Barbara. I'll look forward to reading that Bill has made it home. Judy and Ginny are right; be sure to take care of the caregiver, too.
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 48 degrees here when I got up this morning. Forecasters are calling for a high of only 53, with very heavy clouds and a 30 percent chance of rain, increasing to 50 percent this evening.
The weather radar was clear when I checked this morning, so I hopped on my bike and rode to work. Whether or not I'm still dry when I get back home this afternoon remains to be seen.
Rose started her weekly Taxol on Monday, and by yesterday, wasn't feeling well. You don't think she'd mind if I called her to come pick me up in a downpour, do you?
Enjoy your lunch, Judy! Have a great day, all!
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The Airs were posted just six minutes apart, so I think y'all were just typing at the same time.
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They say there are three sure signs of old age. One is loss of memory, and I forget what the other two are.
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Good morning, everyone!
Our south wind showed up during the night, and it had already warmed from a low of 35 degrees to 38 degrees by the time I got on my bike and headed to work. It's supposed to get up to 63 this afternoon.
Judy, I hope your eye drops work well for you. We need your smiling face around here to brighten up our day.
Lily, I did the same as your husband, pouring lead jigs and spinnerbaits many times without thinking twice about it. At least I was usually in the garage, where it was well ventilated, but I never wore a respirator.
Ann, don't let your fingers freeze to the keyboard! Have a great day, all!
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"jaminkw"]Bud, sounds complicated but fascinating. Guess I've been married to a guy that is a fisherman and something of a metalurgist for too long lol. He's worked in the foundry industry for more than forty years servicing equipment used for melting metals.
Judy,
Wow, I didn't know that. The company I work for has a foundry in Dallas, but I try to stay as far away from it as possible.......LOL. I've been in machine shops almost 40 years, but it's always been about machining metal, not melting or molding it. Back in my tournament fishing days, I did very well on my homemade spinnerbait that I poured lead in a mold to make, and I also poured jigs and worm weights, but that's about the extent of my melted metal experience. Back in those days, everyone wanted my spinnerbaits, but hand made lures didn't bring the price then that they do now; everyone wanted me to make them cheap.
Fishermen like their lures in standard weights (1/16 oz, 1/8 oz, etc; the ones they're used to using), so if I use a less dense metal than lead, I'll need to modify the molds to bring the lures back to the standard weights.
Lead free baits, besides being less toxic to the environment, and indeed, the manufacturer, also seems like a nice little niche for someone hand crafting baits. We'll see...
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My followup appointment is next Wednesday, the 20th. Unless there's something so bad that they call me to make more appointments, I probably won't know anything until then. I feel fine and am going to consider myself cancer free until someone tells me different.
Judy, zinc has a melting point that's higher than I wanted, and isn't nearly as dense as lead. I'll be using molds intended for lead, so I need something that's close to being as heavy as lead, and with a not-too-high melting point.
It looks like I'll end up using a combination of bismuth and tin. They're both very non-toxic (two thirds of all bismuth manufactured is actually used in medical drugs). And bismuth is the closest in density to lead of any of the metals that have a low melting point (lead density = 11.35, bismuth density = 9.78, zinc density = 7.14). But, pure bismuth is so brittle that it will shatter if you drop it. Mixing it with tin helps that a lot, but adds new problems. Tin is so light that adding too much of it would lighten the bismuth too much, plus tin and bismuth combined have a very low melting point, just about too low. The best way to paint molded lures is with powder coat paint, but you need to cure it with heat, between 250 to 350 degrees. And that will melt a bismuth and tin alloy.
So you can see it gets complicated quick and I ended up researching a bunch. I could tell you the secret formula that I eventually came up with ...........................but then I'd have to kill you.
Or maybe you can run the store while I make the lures...
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Melanie,
It all sounds promising. As others have said, it's painful, but very doable. They weren't able to do the epidural on me, and IV morphine made me feel bad, but once they switched me to hydrocodone the day after surgery, I did fine.
Linda's right, the chest tubes are painful, but they'll be gone after a few days, and you'll be on your way to recovery. Good luck, and let us know when they set the surgery date.
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Good morning, Judy! Good morning, everyone!
It is 28 degrees here this morning, on its way to a high of 57, with sunny skies. That's more like our usual winter Texas weather.
I would have probably been debating about riding to work today, except that I won't be going to work today. It's scan day, and the VA makes it an all day sucker.
The Dallas VA Medical Center is over an hour away. When I get there, I'll first have blood taken. Then, because they do an abdominal as well as chest CT scan with contrast, I'll have to down a bunch of that nasty chalky stuff before my scan. What fun...
Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 23 degrees this morning, so the bike stayed in the garage. It supposed to start warming up this week, so I hope to be able to do some commuting on the bike again.
Judy, I was researching bismuth and tin alloys. My retirement business may end up being selling handmade jigs and other lures, and I think I'd like to make them lead-free, considering how toxic lead is. Do we have any metallurgists here?
Have a great day, all!
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Good evening, everyone!
I was in mad man research mode this morning and didn't get around to stopping by. It was 12 degrees this morning, but warmed up quite a bit under sunny skies to get into the 40's this afternoon.
By late morning, I was getting a severe case of cabin fever, so I hitched up the boat and headed out fishing. There was ice covering lots of the shallow water, and the surface temperature out in the channel was just 39 degrees. But, the fish bit some anyway, and I brought home dinner.
Great to hear from you Will, but sorry your wife is having such a tough time. I hope everyone had a great Sunday!
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I'm so sorry, Mariola. Condolences to you and your family.
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Good morning, Judy! Good morning, everyone!
It's 10 degrees here this morning, but the wind has finally quit. It's supposed to get up to 38 degrees this afternoon.
It's a bit cold out for riding or fishing, so I'm thinking I'm going to go check out the tackle show in Arlington, today. I haven't been in years; it should keep me entertained for a little while.
Have a great Saturday, all!
The elephant is back in the room
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Best wishes for great scans, Geri!