The wide open spaces appears to be the place to be what with the "Swine Flu" pandemic on WHO level 5 now. Imagine if you will, being isolated from people yet still connected to the rest of the world by telephone and internet. At least until the extent and nature of this respiratory health situation comes closer into focus, maybe the Canadian cottage would be a good place to ride out the storm.

Unfortunately, that will not be our case. Plans for the coming months have us working in clinics, either like Kathy reviewing charts for insurance companies or myself volunteering at a free clinic. We will be getting a snoot full of exposure, if you know what I mean. In addition, I just came back this weekend from the Michigan State Medical Society House of Delegates meeting in Grand Rapids, plenty of Docs there, attended this last monday and will again in two weeks attend the Meridian Township Planning Commission; I am scheduled for the Ingham County Medical Society Legislative meeting monday May 11th and MTPC meeting that night.

The major issue is the impending wedding of Justin and Sherry in Shanghai May 24th. Kathy and I are both hopeful that sufficient time will have elapsed so control and treatment strategies will be in place and we all can go about our business knowledgeable and adopting appropriate precautions. We leave Saturday May 16th on two different airplanes, one from Detroit Metro to Chicago and the 14+ hour one from Chicago to Shanghai. Vice President Bidden said that he recommended his family not ride public transportation or fly in airplanes although that stance is being modified as we speak because the airline industry already have their shorts in knots. Three feet is the magic number. Three feet between people, although I would sit next to Kathy just as a matter of principle. Who knows: cover your mouth with your forearm when you cough or sneeze; hand wash frequently, especially before touching your mouth, nose and eyes, and be sure to get plenty of sleep. Sleep and the immune health that sleep provides, will get us all through.

Oh by the way. The two pictures? One is from inside our cottage this early April. The second is from the Litomski's (now Devil's Glen formally just plain old Purgatory Harbour) front window. Notice the glass allowing all to see out to the beauty beyond the deck. We are doing something like this for our cottage. We got the idea right here.

Well my chickodees, I am about to boost my immune health for a while or until Kathy gets home from her work day.

The importance of not making headlines

This is a picture of where I was going. The second picture is how I got there.

"Its only a false alarm, everything is fine."

My trip to the West Coast began early Tuesday morning with Kathy delivering me to Detroit Metro Airport in plenty of time. Our aircraft left the gate on time, but turned around on the tarmac as there was a "computer malfunction," something about the engine not working right or something like that. Anyways, we returned and heard: "everyone stay seated, everything is fine." Mechanics enter the cockpit, rebooted the engine module, and voila, we were back on our way, only an hour late which means of course I missed my connection in Denver to San Francisco. I guess I will not arrive at noon as planned. In Denver, I, and my "fellow travelers", a line taken from the McCarthy era Senate trials, are booked on a later flight to SFO, to arrive later, but still in time to have dinner with Nana and Rhythm and tuck them into bed.

Above the Rockies, at 38,000 feet, an alarm goes off. A very loud smoke alarm goes off, somewhere near/around the center toilet. Ah hah, someone must have been smoking in the bathroom. The flight attendant checked it out and she proclaimed on the overhead speaker: "it is only a false alarm, everything is fine." After several other flight attendants went in and out of the bathroom fiddling with something, overhead we hear the co-pilot say in a thick foreign accent, they were cutting the electrical power to the area, and sure enough, the smoke alarm, the loud smoke alarm went silent, reassuringly. Then pilot/co-pilot came and went, each in turn to inspect the problem area. They returned to their lair, and over the intercom "there had been a minor electrical incident, everything is fine." A few minutes later, it was announced, "we are still going to San Francisco, everything is fine." Shortly afterwards, "we checked with our main office and your safety is our most important concern, everything is fine." Another voice "The beverage service is suspended." Still later from the cockpit, "there are two main airports we can choose from, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, everything is fine." Again from the flight deck, in a declarative tone, "We are going to McCaren Airport in Las Vegas, everything is fine." Later "we are descending into Las Vegas. There will be fire apparatus next to the aircraft as we land. This is only a precaution. Your safety is our first priority, everything is fine." Shortly after that announcement, a flight attendant came to our row of seats, I was in the emergency exit, aisle seat, over the starboard wing, he kneeled down and in a stage whisper queried, "do you know how to operate the emergency exit? don't open the emergency window exit until instructed by the cabin crew!" I reached and found the "emergency card" in the back seat pocket in front of me. I read the emergency card, twice more. Bump! we land, braking hard, I lurched against my seat belt. The aircraft stopped in the middle of the runway. Indeed, yellow fire apparatus closed upon our airplane, men in silver suits were out with their hoses, the fire truck rooftop turret nozzle was pointed at me. Minutes later, the fire apparatus and firemen backed off and we powered our way to the terminal jetway. "Everyone stay in their seats." Then the center passenger door opened and three silver suited firefighters entered and began poking around the bathroom. When the firemen were done, "you can leave your seats now, take all your belongings with you." This was to be my exit from this story, not really. I did win $35 at the slot machines in the airport which paid for my sandwich and one beer. The United Airlines ground person eventually worked through, over 4 hours, the 200+ people in line waiting to be rebooked onto what turned out to be a chartered aircraft from "Ted Airlines." And, after some more time, we boarded a modestly appointed aircraft, and winged our way to SFO. I took BART from the SFO Airport to the Downtown Berkeley station, took a cab to University Village and awakened RJ in his bed, kicked him out as I wouldn't be able to get up off the floor after a night's sleep, checked the kids, went to bed, and was awakened later in the early morning by Rhythm, "Grandpa? where is daddy?" "He's asleep on the floor in the living room." And so ended one adventure and began my West Coast sojourn. Everything was fine.