Thursday, January 6, 2022

There and Back Again¹

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Annapolis
(Source)
As I write this it's the 5th of January in the Year of Our Lord Two-thousand and Twenty-two. Yup, that's right Anno Domini, ain't nothing common about this era.

But I digress.

A fortnight ago The Missus Herself and Your Humble Scribe embarked upon yet another trip to Maryland for Christmas (this was the third). Cuppla things before we head down the road -
  1. I had a toothache, old Number 6 was in the process of giving up the ghost
  2. The weather was absolutely horrid.
The toothache had not progressed to "Omigod just fire trucking shoot me, okay" but it showed promise of doing just that. So you're probably asking yourself, "Why the Hell did you make the trip Sarge?"

Well ...

The pain was under control with antibiotics and over the counter pain medication, it was, one might say, tolerable. Besides which, two grandkids were expecting us. (Not to mention their parents.) So I viewed it as an obligation. Also, there was zero chance of getting in to see an endodontist before the holiday.

"Oh don't worry Sarge, people are always canceling appointments before a holiday." I was assured.

That's when I realized, only an idiot would cancel an appointment which promised to relieve pain, especially before a holiday. So I was faced with two options -
  1. Stay home and suffer, just me and my better half and our lovely cat or
  2. Hit the road, throwing caution to the winds, and spend Christmas with The Nuke and her family in a place I simply adore².
No doubt Anya would rather we stay home, but ...

Option #2 was really the only option. After all, it's not like we were going on vacation to some Third World country where dentistry consists of some dude with a pair of pliers and a couple of assistants to hold you down. No, I checked, they have endodontists in Maryland, quite a few actually.

So off we went.

Now as to the weather. It was a drizzling kind of rain, coming down fast enough to make the windshield wipers work their rubbery butts off trying to keep the view clear. Not to mention the rolling fog banks, also known as 18-wheelers. I swear, the amount of moisture being thrown into the air was more than that falling from the sky. So I tried very hard to keep my distance from those.

Fortunately by the time we'd rolled a few miles into Connecticut the sun burst forth and began to dry the roads. But that presented Your Humble Scribe with another problem.

Glare ...

From the sun ...

For as one drives in a generally southerly direction in the winter, guess where the sun is, the entire bloody day?

Why to the south of course!

I couldn't decide which was worse, the never ending drizzle and the rolling fog banks or the sun beating into my eyes most of the trip. (Spoiler alert, the drizzle was worse, car has sun visors which did the trick for the most part, even if it felt like driving a tank using only the vision blocks.)

I had made the decision to go up to the Tappan Zee, which Waze agreed with, Waze also decided that the Merritt Parkway would be the way to go. I was reluctant at first, until I remembered that that route has lots of trees, which would help keep the glare down. But it presented another set of problems ...

Namely the other drivers on the road. I swear that western Connecticut was holding an Idiot Conference somewhere and they had sent them all out to drive on the Merritt Parkway. Then I remembered, the first time we'd gone down that road was at the beginning of WuFlu Pandemic when most folks were staying at home.

Not now.

But eventually we made it past Connecticut and into New Jersey via the Tappan Zee Bridge (I do not recognize it's official name).

As we got closer to Maryland I was wondering what traffic through the Baltimore area would be like, as we were damned close to rush hour. Never found out, Waze said "Let's go down the 301 on the Eastern Shore!"

Though that area is mostly farmland and annoyingly flat, it's also rather sparsely populated, so I said, "Why not, let's do this!" (The only sign of habitation I saw during the hour or so it took to traverse the Eastern Shore was a single farmhouse decorated for Christmas, perhaps a mile off the highway, it was lovely but it was also lonely. I swear there ain't much out that way. Bear in mind the sun was down by this time, say around 1645.)

Which is how we got to go over that bridge in the opening photo, at night, two lanes of traffic heading into Annapolis and four lanes heading away from that fair town. I had no idea that the westbound portion of the bridge could be used for eastbound traffic. Note that double yellow line. Last time I was down there it was three lanes west, three lanes east. Not at rush hour apparently.

But eventually we arrived at Chez Tuttle et Nuke and a happy reunion with the kids and grandkids. Had a nice meal, got to bed early and ...

OMIGOD THAT FIRE TRUCKING HURTS!

Yes, old Number 6 decided that now, right now, was the time to explode into raging agony. Which it did. The Nuke was on the phone for a while trying to find an endodontist who did emergency 24-hour service. Though the internet advertised a number of those, not a single one answered their phone in the middle of the night, all she could get was their answering service which said "we'll call you back, rub some dirt on it ..."

Not really. But as I was pretty tired from the drive I did manage to fall asleep, to be awakened by The Nuke saying I had an appointment at 0930 and it would cost me $2100 up front as it was an "out of network" dentist. (Apparently an "out of his mind" dentist as well. When I told my regular dentist of that price, he may have indeed used the word "bullshit" to describe that price.)

As I realized that I was no longer in pain (and having yet to take my meds) I told her, "No, cancel that. I'm fine."

So she did. Though the pain came back a little bit on Christmas Eve it was tolerable and actually pretty much gone for good by Christmas Day. (And yes, the tribe informed me that if I said, "It's a Christmas miracle" one more time then I would be in pain once more, just not from a dying tooth.)

Anyhoo, as I had an endodontist appointment three days after Christmas here in Little Rhody, I did think about rescheduling it for later. Now if we had done this year what we did last year, we would have been stuck down there in the snowstorm they had on Monday. Maybe. (Last year we left on the 3rd of January.)

So we opted to head out on the Monday after Christmas (this is the back again part) in order to get that tooth fixed. Well, ain't no fixing it -

(Source)
Yup, deader 'n a doornail.

But my endodontist (great guy, had been an Air Force dentist at one point in his life, we did spend some time playing the "so where were you stationed" game, we had never crossed paths) fixed me up, it was rather painless except when he bayoneted, er, gave me an injection in the roof of my mouth. Don't really recommend that unless it's absolutely necessary, which he assured me it was.

Earlier this week my regular dentist gave me a temporary crown. (What? I can't be king permanently? Oh, different sort of crown, alright, I'll shut up now.) Now I await the arrival of the permanent crown. (So I do get to ... never mind.)

Anyhoo ...

In other news ...

The book is finished. I decided not to continue the story of the Brits and the Poles in this book but tell their story in a future installment. I mean the book is already over 800 pages (yes, single spaced ...) adding more might have been a major project.

The British and Polish bits were very necessary to the telling of the story of the Falaise Pocket but as the main effort of the story was to follow the Americans through the Hürtgenwald, the Ardennes, and the chase to the Rhine and beyond, the Brits and Poles had served their purpose. They also fought against the German tankers who would figure prominently in the battles in the Harz Mountains near the end of the story.

To give them the justice they deserve would have probably added another 200 to 300 pages, which would delay the book further. So later, hopefully soon.

But the main effort has come to a close. Now I need to find a publisher, I'm not keen on self-publishing, I mean to make this writing gig a third career. We shall see.

So until next time.

(Beans are you ever going to publish "World Class"? Inquiring (and lazy) minds want to know ...)




¹ With apologies to Bilbo Baggins, via J.R.R. Tolkien.
² It's true, I love Maryland. Go figure!

34 comments:

  1. Sympathies about the tooth issues, Sarge. Hope it doesn't turn into teeth issues. I'm now the proud owner of two implants where teeth were fractured enough they couldn't be saved, so out they came. One was after the endodontist had already subjected me to the pain of a root canal, he then informed me the tooth was fracked through the root and needed to be extracted. At least the extraction were done under propofol and pretty painless.
    As far as a publisher goes, I think Amazon does some of that, but not sure of any details.

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    1. Amazon provides a service for self-publishing, not sure if I want to go that route.

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    2. This blogger I used to follow (Nick Russel, http://gypsyjournal.net/) writes books, a blog and what not. He does his publishing through Amazon.

      His December newsletter had this towards the end:

      "I got a notice in early December that I had accumulated over $1,000,000 in earned royalties from my books since I started putting them on Amazon back in May of 2011. That’s quite an achievement for any author, especially an independent author like myself with no agent or publisher."

      Seems Amazon as a publisher can work.

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    3. Now that intrigues me. Heck, a million bucks always gets my attention!

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    4. (Don McCollor)..gets the attention of the IRS too..

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    5. Heck, nowadays $600 gets their attention.

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  2. I hate to break this to you, but the "Idiot Conference" of which you speak is not in Connecticut, but is instead in Florida, where we have been again "blessed" by the snowbirds. Especially from the Big Craphole! And they intend to remain here, destroying our state, until some time this spring.

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    1. No, no, no, the Conference was in Connecticut in preparation for the NIC (National Idiots Convention) in Florida, where it's been held since the automobile was invented. 😉

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    2. The conference of which you write... I believe it is held to select drivers to move to Portland, Seattle, and Denver

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    3. I've seen the winners of that conference in Denver. OMG!

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  3. Sarge, this story is exactly why driving is one of my least favorite things - not from the experience itself, but from the idiots around me (a strong second is that moment when you realize you are driving directly into the sun, and will continue to do so until either the sun reaches a zenith or goes down behind the horizon). One wonders if horse drawn carriage days were equally populated by idiots whose sole recommendation for being on the road is a plastic card with a computer strip.

    Sympathies on the tooth and the brief "not in the corral" dentist. I have had this happen as well: my dentist of the past 12 years informed us - about a year late - that he was no longer in network. The extra amount for the visit is not too much, but there really is no sense in paying extra, so now I get to go through the pain (pun intended) of finding an "in-corral" dentist.

    Congratulations on completing the book! Leaving the Brits and Poles to a separate novel sounds like a solid choice (and, we get to read effectively a whole new saga!). And good luck on the publisher search. The only thing I have read that gives me hope is that publisher's are actually looking for good works that will sell and make them money. You already have an audience (even if, on the whole, we are a poor and ill behaved one), so perhaps that will count for something.

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    1. I actually enjoy driving, it's just that those moments of "WTF is that guy doing?" which take some of the fun out of it!

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  4. It’s nice to have options like the 301.
    Over here the only way to avoid Portland, OR is to go hours out of the way.
    Occasionally, traffic there isn’t bad.
    The mountains add some excitement, too, but I will take al of that to avoid urban traffic.
    Now, if only there was a way to evade the big rigs and motor homes

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    1. That's one benefit of the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, no trucks, no commercial vehicles, no motorhomes. Many of the bridges going over this parkway have very low clearances, one could ignore the signs banning the aforementioned vehicles, but they'd be stopped by the first bridge ripping the tops off their vehicles!

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    2. I have a secret juvat route to get into town. Takes about 5 minutes longer, but virtually nobody uses it. The primary way into town is overpopulated with people either driving 45 in a 70 or 80. Drives me crazy as there's only one passing zone in the 8 mile stretch between Rancho Juvat and town. And that "Texas Thing" of pulling on to the shoulder to let someone pass seems to be dead and gone. Therefore, the extra 5 minutes is worth it in saved heartbeats.

      Glad you fixed your first sentence. I didn't like 21 well enough to relive it. ;-)

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    3. It's always good to have an alternate route which other folks don't use.

      The trip south is always a pain because of NYC. Everything runs through it unless you want to go way out of the way. Going the Tappan Zee route adds a good 20 miles. Thing is, it IS a good 20 miles, as opposed to the Cross Bronx "Expressway." Ain't nothing express about it.

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  5. Primus, glad you survived the idiots in Connecticutt. One of the many things that Mrs. Andrew and I did when we were travelling was take into consideration the angle of the dangle of the glowing orb of pain. Which meant a lot of night travel or late afternoon travel if heading south or east. Since I have found sunglasse, it's not nearly as bad, but since I have found sunglasses we haven't travelled distances.

    Secundus, bad tooth sucks. Glad you got the jab and a temp crown. Be careful, as my experience with temp crowns is they fall off way too easily.

    Tertius, hit a road block with 'World Class' as it ranted about much that Tuna talked about, just not as elegantly. And I usually write after midnight, and you've already posted on the 5th and 6th, so, well, IT'S YOUR FAULT! There, I said it. :) Actually was going to write about something else for yesterday and/or today and do WC later so it's not two faces of an identical rant subject, plus that way I could edit so that the idiot in the first paragraph or so is less identifiable as to an actual person.

    So I'll be checking, if you don't post this evening I'll have something ready, whether it was the thing kicking around or WC. We'll see.

    Oh, yeah, fourthly, glad the book edit is done. Again, check with OldNFO or Borepatch or Bayeau Renaissance Man as those three are obviously writers and have done both self-publish and publishing house-publish and may be able to get you contacts in the biz.

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    1. At a certain age, traveling at night is no longer an option. The vision deteriorates, especially the night vision.

      Appointment for the permanent crown is within this fortnight.

      Mea cupla, maxima mea culpa. Let's just say, tomorrow is all yours, I got nothing ...

      As to your last, see what Rob mentioned above.

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  6. I'm looking forward to (re)reading the book. Without meaning to sound like I'm trying to work my way into Dante's report on that ditch of excrement, I really enjoy the way you glue words together; I only wish that a lot of the more "well-known" authors could do as well.
    BTW: that roof-of-the-mouth "bayonet" is totally unnecessary - as long as the dentist/endontist has a large enough net capable of catching the patient on their way back down from the ceiling (and is willing to forgo [yes! I was surprised too, but I checked that spelling] payment as the patient leaves - usually with a heartfelt "The check'll be in the mail as soon as I get home🧐").

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    1. The bayonet to the palate worked well, I felt nothing after the tip of the needle came out of the side of my head. To the endo's credit (and everlasting glory) the first two injections did not even pinch, guy was a wiz with the needle.

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    2. (Don McCollor)..Now if you want a real dental visit, in the old days the drill was run slow by cables and pulleys from a motor. With the sound and vibration like a Moto tool working setting your whole head vibrating. Back then, a toothache was something to carefully evaluate before making an appointment (In his defense, the local dentist did dental work on himself. Now there was a real man)...

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    3. I remember those days, it explains my somewhat irrational fear of dentists.

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    4. OAFS. Not all at irrational. Don described it very well with except that the description of the cables and pulleys didn't include the words terrifying and nightmareish.

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    5. Well, it was the technology of the time I guess. But yeah, now that I think about it, not irrational at all.

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  7. Glad the tooth saga is being resolved.
    For publishing advice, Brigid Johnson over at http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/ has certainly been successful, and may be willing to share some tips. I mean, surely an accomplished aviatrix must feel some gratitude towards maintainers, right?
    John Blackshoe

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    1. With all that Brigid has been through lately, I hesitate to pester her. But I will, perhaps, send her an email and try not to sound too pathetic. She is an awfully nice lady and one Hell of an author. (I have an autographed copy of one of her books, which I cherish.)

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  8. Talk to Dot or Peter Grant or OldNFO about self-publishing.. They seem to be doing OK. The MadGenius group blog has a lot of information and insight about the process and pitfalls too.

    Good luck, and the sooner you book hits the street the sooner you get our money :-)

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  9. The other author to check out would be Larry Correia. He, and someone else who's name I can't think of, are doing a bunch of podcasts about the entire writing biz and the couple I have listened to were very interesting. And Larry certainly fits my definition of successful as well as having the reputation of being helpful to aspiring authors who are willing to work at it.
    Just my suggestion.

    Glad the pain subsided in time for the holidays and that the tooth is happily in transition.

    And I will start putting away the pennies, nickles and dimes to be able to help support your third career! Always looking for a good book to read!!!

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  10. Sarge, your toof story had me grinning with empathy. As the proud owner of not so great teeth AND a pathological fear of dentists (I swear my childhood dentist was Doc Holliday) I learned about something called "dentek" it's emergency temp filling in a little plastic container. Amazing stuff when it comes to burying a nerve RIGHTGAWDDAMN NOW please! Keep one in my glovebox and between that and a little anbasol, I've gotten through a few holidays and weekends when the other option was to suffer. Hope it never happens to ya again but be prepared if it does.

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    1. Wouldn't have worked in this case, the nerve was already infected.

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  11. Walking on the Mall just getting to the WWII memorial long ago when the stabbing pain of a dead tooth woke in my jaw. OOOOWWWWW! Emergency root canal. Handled by my parent's dentist who came in on a Saturday to pack and trim. twice. He didn't like the xray of the first attempt so he did it again.
    Other's may have commented. I have not read them yet.
    If you send me a copy of the book I'll walk it next door where 2 published authors live. My sister has an agent and as I understand it, the key to publishing is an agent. You may have heard of her. She writes using her full family name, which is mine too. She just added a name to an otherwise perfectly good name.....:)

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    1. Is the Bistromath email address still good for you? Expect a pdf once I have a good email.

      Damn my lack of good manners ...

      Thank you kind Sir!

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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