November 13

 Welcome to the middle of November--or almost. Though the temperatures are cooler they are still well above normal. The gardens are pretty much gone for the season. The only plants still going are the mums, the mints, and two struggling sage. I have started building my list of seeds and transplants for next year.

For some dramatic "before and after" photos of the shrinking Greenland glaciers take a look at this site.

And now there are four--Republican candidates vying for the party nomination. Tim Scott is suspending his campaign. Funny thing: I saw the story and knew there were four but could only come up with three immediately. I forgot about the very forgettable Vivek. Oh, I also keep forgetting De Santis' name. I just refer to him as the Idiot From Florida.

First stray thought for today: isn't it interesting that the U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman was sacked because she criticized the police response to the pro-Palestinian rally. I found her notion that people living in tents were exercising a "lifestyle CHOICE" a more offensive statement. 

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism has a long article on the state of U.S. medicine. I think a good description is: moribund. About 15 years ago the medical clinic run by the U.S. Steel retirement program closed and Mom lost her GP. We were also very dissatisfied with the health insurance company that continued separate from the clinic when the cost of one of Mom's prescriptions increased by 4X and terminated it. However, the search for a new GP has been pretty disappointing. Most wouldn't take Medicare only patients. Others weren't taking any new patients. One doctor she got an appointment with went was Indian and went back to India before we got a second appointment. The next was not very interested in providing care as he was trying to find a doctor to take his practice because he wanted to retire. For over ten years we relied on her endocrinologist until she got a case of shingles and found he doesn't handle any general medicine. He did recommend another GP but that one seemed more interested in ordering tests and interacting with her computer than her patient. We haven't gone back. So we are in the group who are relying on "urgent" care clinics of which our town is plentifully supplied.