RIP Austin1972 1972-2020

[hobot 4,425]

Boomer, really good read about Austin1972, thank you for putting that all together.

And.....

Holy shit! more info than I already knew. Your continued positive attitude helps me a lot.

Welcome back, pull up a chair, there's lots here to keep you entertained for awhile.

[boomer 1,367]

The least I could do for Matt, Hobot. 

A truly good guy going way to soon.

Really tough losing Matt.

I did my best to kept you informed - sorry if I missed some of it.

 I have no choice but keeping my chin up for the family.

No doubt...

[Dorado 921]

Damn Boomer . . . . . I'd still bet on you in an ass kicking contest.

"I will make a point to stop by more frequently. "

 Good, you got a lot of friends here .

[boomer 1,367]

The Linx's flexon lock mode for sailing or doing planks is also designed to give me the support for one legged ass kicking, martial arts and boxing. 

Though my ass kicking days are behind me, if I had to defend someone - the option is available.

[DA-WOODY 1,283]

24 minutes ago, boomer said:

The Linx's flexon lock mode for sailing or doing planks is also designed to give me the support for one legged ass kicking, martial arts and boxing. 

Though my ass kicking days are behind me, if I had to defend someone - the option is available.

weight for the DUCK !!!!

 

[boomer 1,367]

Thanks Woody -  Buddy Hackett was always good.

 

[Innocent Bystander 972]

10 hours ago, boomer said:

Thanks IB - So am I, would be nice to get another 20-25 years, as long as I do my part, hopefully I will.

I heard through the grapevine some time ago - that you went in for some procedure, hope your doing fine as well.

Wishing you both the best!

Former Naval Air Station Adak

Boomer.  For another time and place. I went through some significant cancer treatment. Things were good but identified a recurrence this summer and back in treatment.  As you know, life is what happens when you had other plans. 
 

SWMBO sends her best. Come see us if you get back east.  

 

[Ed Lada 5,108]

Damn, helluva story Boomer, I can't add much to what everyone else said.  I'm glad to hear that you are doing well after all of that.  

When you are on the edge of the abyss, looking down, and you manage to get back to safety, it gives one a new appreciation of life.

[Elegua 1,845]

13 hours ago, boomer said:

Thanks IB - So am I, would be nice to get another 20-25 years, as long as I do my part, hopefully I will.

I heard through the grapevine some time ago - that you went in for some procedure, hope your doing fine as well.

Wishing you both the best!

Former Naval Air Station Adak

You really should share with us more of your photography. 

[boomer 1,367]

3 hours ago, Innocent Bystander said:

Boomer.  For another time and place. I went through some significant cancer treatment. Things were good but identified a recurrence this summer and back in treatment.  As you know, life is what happens when you had other plans. 
 

SWMBO sends her best. Come see us if you get back east.  

 

Thankfully you and your doctors attached it early enough - hopefully it'll not return.

Thanks for the invite to revisit your lovely piece of paradise.

You've been blessed with a good lady who stands strong beside you - may you both continue to be showered with blessings.

[boomer 1,367]

2 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

Damn, helluva story Boomer, I can't add much to what everyone else said.  I'm glad to hear that you are doing well after all of that.  

When you are on the edge of the abyss, looking down, and you manage to get back to safety, it gives one a new appreciation of life.

Thanks Ed! - Indeed it does.

 

[boomer 1,367]

1 hour ago, Elegua said:

You really should share with us more of your photography. 

The Islands of Four Mountains - a chain of islands in the middle of the overall Aleutian Island chain. The chain includes, from west to east, Amukta, Chagulak, Yunaska, Herbert, Carlisle, Chuginadak, Uliaga, and Kagamil islands. This island chain is located between Amukta Pass and the Andreanof Islands to the west, and Samalga Pass and the Fox Islands to the east.

 

First image: Looking west from Uliaga Island.  Cleveland Volcano - one of the Aleutians’ most frequently active volcanoes - is connected to Chuginadak Volcano by a thin strip of land that appears to be barely above sea level in places. Together these mountains make up Chuginadak Island.  On Cleveland's nearby sister island resides Carlisle Volcano.
Second image: Left to Right - Chuginadak, Cleveland, Carlisle and Herbert Volcanos

Third image: A recent image of the Cleveland Volcano which last erupted on  May 17, 2017 

Fourth image: Chuginadak, Cleveland, Carlisle and crater of Herbert Volcanos

 

 

 

 

[DA-WOODY 1,283]

3 minutes ago, boomer said:

The Islands of Four Mountains - a chain of islands in the middle of the overall Aleutian Island chain. The chain includes, from west to east, Amukta, Chagulak, Yunaska, Herbert, Carlisle, Chuginadak, Uliaga, and Kagamil islands. This island chain is located between Amukta Pass and the Andreanof Islands to the west, and Samalga Pass and the Fox Islands to the east.

 

First image: Looking west from Uliaga Island.  Cleveland Volcano - one of the Aleutians’ most frequently active volcanoes - is connected to Chuginadak Volcano by a thin strip of land that appears to be barely above sea level in places. Together these mountains make up Chuginadak Island.  On Cleveland's nearby sister island resides Carlisle Volcano.
Second image: Left to Right - Chuginadak, Cleveland, Carlisle and Herbert Volcanos

Third image: A recent image of the Cleveland Volcano which last erupted on  May 17, 2017 

Fourth image: Chuginadak, Cleveland, Carlisle and crater of Herbert Volcanos

 

 

 

 

I could Knott imagine a Worse (tho Beautiful in PIX) place to live or visit

than a SnowCovered Active Volcano

1st likely No CostCo & "B" unlikely to have much of a selection of Cougars !!!

[Slick470 244]

Nice to see you here again Boomer and I'm sorry that it is under such sad circumstances. Thanks for the posts about Matt.

Also sorry to hear about the leg although I'm not surprised that you making the best of it. The amazing advances in prosthetics help I'm sure. Also sorry to hear about the sale of your beloved Rangers. I hope the new owners love them as much as you did/do.  

[boomer 1,367]

Flying over Kanaga Island in the Andreanof Islands directly west of Adak Island.

First image: Mount Kanaga and Kanaton Ridge & western end of Kanaga Island. Upper left corner is Yakak Peninsula on Adak Island

Second image: Kanaton Ridge and southwestern end of Kanaga Island in distance.

Third image: Mount Kanaga and Kanaton Ridge....In the distance Mt. Reed, Mount Vincennes, Hatchet Top, Bay of Islands, Expedition Harbor, Caribou Peninsula, Three Arm Bay, Yakak Peninsula and Bay of Waterfalls.

Fourth image: Kanaga steam vent, also a crack vent on southeast side of volcano.

Fifth image: Crack vent

Sixth Image: Kanaga, Moffet, Adagdak and Great Sitkin volcanic mountains. Only Kanaga and Great Sitkin are still active volcanoes. 

Seventh Image: Great Sitkin on the proper approach to Adak Island's  7,790' 5/23 runway

Eighth Image: Somewhere over the rainbow

 

 

 

 

[boomer 1,367]

19 minutes ago, DA-WOODY said:

I could Knott imagine a Worse (tho Beautiful in PIX) place to live or visit

than a SnowCovered Active Volcano

1st likely No CostCo & "B" unlikely to have much of a selection of Cougars !!!

The saying goes in the Aleutians - there's a woman behind every tree.

Adak National Forest, Pet Cemetery and Kuluk Bay 

Back in the day during WW II it was decided to plant some trees on Adak.  Most take a pic from the roadside standing on either side of a sign that reads - Adak National Forest.

I always felt the best pic was looking offshore.

 

[SloopJonB 12,608]

Boomer how did you manage to be there on the nice day?

[boomer 1,367]

1 hour ago, Slick470 said:

Nice to see you here again Boomer and I'm sorry that it is under such sad circumstances. Also sorry to hear about the leg although I'm not surprised that you making the best of it. The amazing advances in prosthetics help I'm sure. Also sorry to hear about the sale of your beloved Rangers. I hope the new owners love them as much as you did/do.  

The advances in prosthetics are indeed fairly amazing, which I discovered the night before making my decision, after checking out what was available from my hospital bed on the net. I was a bit distressed to learn from my Physical Therapist as well as my massuer  who's a retired Iraq and Afghanistan Marine veteran, the VA does not provide Vets with these modern prosthetics. Instead they get heavy antiquated prosthetics from 30 years ago technology.

The only vets who get these state of the art prosthetics are the Special Forces, Seals or anyone the military has invested a lot in training, whom plan to continue there careers in the service. My Physical Therapist who's a Doctor of Physical Therapy, with his specialty as a Amputee Physical Therapist, was working with the VA last year in Seattle under a grant from the Howard S. Wright foundation to work towards making changes in the VA towards their short limited physical therapy, before they're booted out the door with an antique prosthetic as well as making available for all Veteran amputees, these wonderful modern prosthetics. To understand the costs, my prosthetic cost $67K, and Ottobock Genium X3 waterproof prosthetic, originally developed for active duty personnel cost $125K.

 

The next advances which have already been developed by DARPA and Stanford is a film on the liner that communicates with our nerve endings to control the prosthetic, for a brain controlled prosthetic. These should be available in about 4-5 years.

One of the latest procedures that was developed before my amputation in the past 10 years, that I had done is TMR. Most modern doctors whom are up to date on the technique, have a surgery to reroute amputated nerves, called targeted muscle reinnervation, or TMR, can reduce or prevent phantom or residual limb pain from ever occurring.  

 

 

[Elegua 1,845]

52 minutes ago, boomer said:

The saying goes in the Aleutians - there's a woman behind every tree.

Adak National Forest, Pet Cemetery and Kuluk Bay 

Back in the day during WW II it was decided to plant some trees on Adak.  Most take a pic from the roadside standing on either side of a sign that reads - Adak National Forest.

I always felt the best pic was looking offshore.

 

Wonderful. Some people, like you, have an eye for it.  Most don't / never will. 

[boomer 1,367]

1 hour ago, SloopJonB said:

Boomer how did you manage to be there on the nice day?

When you live there for three and a half years you find more then a few nice non-rain days if you go out regularly - though not many sunny days in the spring, summer and fall - though in the winter after a snowfall there is generally sun out on high pressure days. Those few 5-10% of us who didn't spend our off time drinking - whom went out hiking, climbing, x-country skiing, hunting and fishing every weekend, never let a little bit of rain or overcast stop us from going out.

Pics on a 48 miler round trip: Return trip from Unalga Bight Cabin - Expedition Harbor - Husky Pass upper right in the first pic - Winter of '74/'75.

Second pic: Unalga Bight Cabin

Third image: West end of Mount Vincennes

Fourth image: Taking a chance just before the spring thaw, taking a shortcut over frozen, but beginning to soften Lake Vincennes

Fifth image: East end of Lake Vincennes before getting off the ice

Sixth Image: Gannet Cove entrance, Expedition Harbor and Kanaga Volcano in the distance - out of picture to the left is Bay of Isles

Seventh Image: Gannet Cove

Eighth image:  Lake, Constant, Expedition Harbor, Unalga Bight & Bay of Isles

Ninth image: Base before the ascent of Husky Pass

Tenth image : Ascent of Huskey  Pass with Gannet Cove beyond

Eleventh image: view from Husky Pass with Unalga Bight in the distance

Twelfth Image; Huskey Pass and Mount Reed

 

 

 

 

 

[d'ranger 4,330]

Boomer - amazing photos - thanks for sharing and taking what was a sad and memorable tribute to Austin to an inspiring one for what life has to offer.

[boomer 1,367]

Thanks d-ranger. I forgot to mention when we did the four month shoot for Matt when he was project manager at Launch Digital Media. Afterwards I was surprised that Matt submitted the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building for the 2013 W³ Awards. The W³ Awards honors creative excellence on the web, and recognizes the creative and marketing professionals behind award winning sites, videos and marketing programs.

The W³ is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals of media, interactive, advertising, and marketing firms. IAVA members include executives from organizations such as AvatarLabs, Big Spaceship, Block Media, Conde Nast, Coach, Disney, Estee Lauder, Fry Hammond Barr, Microsoft, MTV Networks, Polo, Ralph Lauren, Sotheby's, Institute of Art, Wired, Yahoo! and a host others.

The new Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding website took a three gold awards in Photography, Homepage and Website features at the W³ Awards, which recognizes digital excellence. It finished higher then over 90% of over 4,000 applicants.  I didn't know till after the awards, Matt probably wanted to see how it played out before saying anything. Matt had his crew make it customizable, with the ability to change headers, text and images by the NW Wooden Boatbuilding School. The school likes to change up images made by that existing year's staff and students. So few of our photos are still left on the website seven years later. https://www.nwswb.edu/

Images from that shoot that I made available to both Launch Digital Media and the Northwest to do with what they want.  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tkkaeyrha0zv43m/AADYSL7cAabHT7MCc7rloJoRa

The last image with the portable sawmill, my good buddy Jeff Stillwell is captured shooting. My daughter who was my second shooter for the shoot, couldn't always make all the daily shoots. So I asked Jeff if he would shoot, he replied, ''I never shot boatbuilding." I replied, " Just give me a left diagonal, a rule of thirds and then a right diagonal - you'll do fine." and he did. My long time friend Jeff, who had been having some medical issues, passed away shortly after this shoot.

 

[chester 1,253]

Outstanding all the way round!

[Burning Man 1,727]

@boomer, huge thanks for the updates on Matt.  Excellent tribute!

[mustang__1 344]

I haven't been on here much the last year or so. What a gut punch to open up and see this news. We've lost some good people here from this site, and it's always sad even when we never met them in person. 

[[email protected] 126]

Thank you for sharing that Boomer.  Lots of good peeps in these parts.  Take care, all.

[DA-WOODY 1,283]

On 12/6/2020 at 10:10 AM, boomer said:

Flying over Kanaga Island in the Andreanof Islands directly west of Adak Island.

First image: Mount Kanaga and Kanaton Ridge & western end of Kanaga Island. Upper left corner is Yakak Peninsula on Adak Island

Second image: Kanaton Ridge and southwestern end of Kanaga Island in distance.

Third image: Mount Kanaga and Kanaton Ridge....In the distance Mt. Reed, Mount Vincennes, Hatchet Top, Bay of Islands, Expedition Harbor, Caribou Peninsula, Three Arm Bay, Yakak Peninsula and Bay of Waterfalls.

Fourth image: Kanaga steam vent, also a crack vent on southeast side of volcano.

Fifth image: Crack vent

Sixth Image: Kanaga, Moffet, Adagdak and Great Sitkin volcanic mountains. Only Kanaga and Great Sitkin are still active volcanoes. 

Seventh Image: Great Sitkin on the proper approach to Adak Island's  7,790' 5/23 runway

Eighth Image: Somewhere over the rainbow

 

 

 

 

Here is sum happy news to sugarcoat 2020

Won't matter where you live or if you picked up or tossed plastic

Or smogged yer car

All those islands just pimples on a Real Volcano 

https://www.livescience.com/small-islands-one-big-volcano.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm

[Maxx Baqustae 323]

Thanks for all the updates Boomer and very sorry about Matt. I've been M.I.A. here myself and we chatted on Wastebook but I had my other things on my mind like my own full CT's and bloodwork to deal with. Apparently, I'll live!

It's good to see all the old cronies and cared about Austin - good on ya! 

[boomer 1,367]

21 minutes ago, Maxx Baqustae said:

Thanks for all the updates Boomer and very sorry about Matt. I've been M.I.A. here myself and we chatted on Wastebook but I had my other things on my mind like my own full CT's and bloodwork to deal with. Apparently, I'll live!

It's good to see all the old cronies and cared about Austin - good on ya! 

Good to hear you got through the CT scan and bloodwork with good news.

The least everyone could do for Matt is remember the positive legacy he left with us.

[boomer 1,367]

Woody,  This makes sense physically, and  only a matter of time before it's indisputably proven.  In the northern Pacific Ocean, the planet is building new land. Arcing southwestward from Alaska, the Aleutian Islands are a string of active and dormant volcanoes fed by magma created by the collision of the Pacific Plate with the North American Plate. The next active region in the North Pacific is along the Kuril/Kamchatka Trench. Those whom have lived up there, regularly experience earthquakes, monthly, weekly and sometimes daily. The best seismic detection device in our house of a mild shaker was the China Cabinet with glass shelves, and the length and severity of the shakers measured by the length and crescendo of shaking china and family heirlooms. 

My closest buddy Roland Sikorski and I rebuilt a WW II  14' X14' two man officers cabin the summer of '73. The floor and joists were rotten, and a spring bubbled out from under the cabin. We raised the cabin with jacks, removed the flooring and joists. Then dug out an exit to drain the little pond under the cabin, just to keep the flow going. Then we installed creosoted pile cutoff in the corners to support, a new creosoted wood foundation. With the cabin in the air around us, sitting on a 2" x 12" plank we had placed on the new creosoted foundation timbers spanning the mud of the drained spring - we had just cracked beers at the end of the day - when a mild earthquake started shaking and bouncing the cabin on the cribbing we'd placed in the four corners. Ski and I with our beers poised to our lips, looked at one another as the shaker finally subsided - then both of us laughed, and took a swallow of beer. Then the shaking started again, as our beers were once again poised at our lips. Once again the shaking ended, as we laughed again and took another swig. Two more shakers followed as we finished our beer. Then we inspected our corner cribbing, and drove down the hill to our other Quonset hut cabin, which was serviceable, but required much more firewood and coal to heat. The next day installed a non-treated joist system and floor....then lowered the cabin back onto the floor and nailed it down with galvanized nails. The following weekend, we also repaired the roof and installed new roll roofing.  the following weekend initially put a 55 gal drum wood heater, but replaced it with a three foot diameter mooring buoy, that we converted into a wood heater.

Alaskan USGS seismologists and volcanologists have speculated the presence of a string of super volcano calderas for quite some time. There are actually 20 super volcano calderas throughout the Aleutians, with the most likely super volcanic eruption centered in the Islands of Four Mountains, since it has been the most active. Nice to see  NOAA getting involved. Hopefully this will lead to more funding from federal sources in the future.

Over the past 32 years Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) has speculated the same since AVO was formed. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is a joint program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAFGI), and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS).   

AVO has developed a far-reaching volcano-monitoring program in Alaska that includes earthquake detection, satellite, geodetic, and regional infrasound data, as well as geologic studies of past eruptive behavior.

Obviously, access to these remote volcanoes on the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Island chain is logistically challenging.  When I was up there from 1973-1976  the USGS installed about 125 seismic detection sensors throughout the Aleutian chain. The USGS later added 91 more seismic detection sensors.  As a result of deferred maintenance, many of  these seismic monitoring systems became inoperable. Finally about six-seven years ago AVO addressed getting all these seismic monitoring systems operational again. By 2015, 176 of these stations were operational. AVO  at that time, had hopes to complete repairs to these remaining stations.  In 2015, the monitoring systems at Fourpeaked volcanoes were inoperable and AVO wanted those operational soon, which they were just before the last eruption by Cleveland Volcano. AFAIK the 216 seismic detection sensors are mostly operational now.

With active volcanos Great Sitkin Volcano & Kanaga Volcano on either side of Adak, Adak which has three dormant volcanoes, of Mount Moffet, Mount Adagdak and Horseshoe Cove, Adak is centered over another active volcano. 

Image below of the stack of the cabin I rebuilt with Ski, taken the winter of '74/'75. In the winter we had to hike in on snowshoes or x-country skis. In this image; Hiking up to the cabin just as a whiteout rolls upon us. I said, "Piece of cake guys, dig down about six feet or so till we find the shovel handles"....told them the liquor cabinet was freshly stocked, they were on it, like white on rice or more precisely like Oprah digging into Cheesecake. Thomas Flicek on the left and 'Tag' Robert Mcdermott on the right. 

The second image: The spring of '75 we decided to build a larger a frame cabin, once again built from salvaged a WW II warehouse structure's loading dock.  Tag holding our reward for two days work pictured, with Tom standing on the view side of the floor system - obviously with the low cloud cover, there was no view that day. 

The third image shows the view to the left of this image, looking eastward up the Aleutian Chain, the winter of '73/'74.  Stuart Larsen giving his best super-skier rendition.

The fourth image displays what the running water at our cabin looked like, just before Ski in enveloped by a whiteout.

A very informative link > Alaska Volcano Observatory

 

 

[boomer 1,367]

Just got a note from Matt's girlfriend Jennifer.

Hi this is Jiffy Baker, Matt's significant other. I really loved what you wrote. It sounds so much like him. I know you were asking what happened to him and it is not known. After he was at University of Michigan he didn't follow through with what he needed to do and his eczema came back with a vengeance. He was back home in Sandwich getting ready to sell his house. The last time I spoke with him was Sunday, November 8th. He wasn't feeling well. He did have symptoms similar to covid and I had asked him to go get help if it got worse. Then he didn't respond to my calls on Monday or Tuesday, so I had the police do a well check. That is when they found him. His sister and mother opted to have him cremated the next morning, so we do not know what happened. There was no testing of covid or anything. I would love to hear more about your talks with Matt if you are willing.

 

[Pertinacious Tom 1,930]

Not following doctors' instructions and refusing to go see doctors was recently called "doing the man thing" and I have to admit I've been guilty more than once of being a "man" in that way.

The person who called it that is a friend who just lost her 20 year old son that way.

 

[boomer 1,367]

I talked with Jiffy yesterday afternoon for an hour and half video chat. Matt's German Shorthaired Pointer Bella lives with Jiffy and was laying beside or putting her head back on Jiffy's lap or against her chest during the chat - so they've bonded well. Bella is 16 years old now.

Matt still had medical insurance. Upon further inquiry as to how much Matt was following the instructions from his doctor; Matt was applying a steroid cream once a day instead of twice a day per instructions. A unique type of vitamin supplement that apparently wasn't widely available near his  Michigan cottage, nor by his house and farm in Sandwich, Illinois. I asked if they'd tried to find it online, and apparently they had and it wasn't available or in stock - whether this was due to the pandemic or not, I don't know. I should have wrote it down, when she said what it was, but I didn't - so I could have researched it a bit more. 

One thing that I didn't ask Jiffy - is if Matt stopped drinking during this recovery, since one with such a skin condition is recommended to stop drinking alcohol for 28 days till the condition clears. I don't know if this is a relevant question to ask or not - however I do know Matt liked his spirits and occasionally binged. When I talked with him after he got out of the hospital, I asked him it he was drinking - he didn't answer. So I asked him again, and he replied, he was working on it.

Matt was struggling with breathing when Jiffy last talked to him on the phone, which leads me to believe his cardiopulmonary wasn't getting enough oxygen. This could be due to the skin condition or Covid-19. In the end his heart gave out, yet no Covid-19 test done.  Doctors call the progression from eczema, or atopic dermatitis, to breathing problems the atopic march -  because a substance secreted by damaged skin circulates through the body and triggers asthmatic symptoms To many unanswered questions here - so would be hard for me to speculate on anything.

 

[Bowgirl 134]

This is that Schrödinger's moment when I am simultaneously saddened at the too-soon passing of Matt, and joyous at the return of Boomer and so many others from "the gang" in this thread.

Helluvan adventure, Boomer - glad you came out on the up-side.   

Thanks for the updates - yours and Matt's.  Stay safe.

[Jiffy B 21]

On 11/14/2020 at 11:41 AM, hobot said:

Damn, another member of the family gone. I really would have enjoyed meeting him also.

I always thought he lived in one of the greatest named towns in America, Sandwich Illinois 

Damn.

RIP Austin.

He used to joke that there was another town nearby called Plano and if he bought the town between them he would name it Bologna, so then it would be Plano, Bologna, Sandwich!

[Jiffy B 21]

On 11/14/2020 at 11:49 AM, DA-WOODY said:

FUCK FUCK FUCK

I was lucky to have spent a couple hours with him at Fidd's in DAGO while he was out on buisness working on the underpinning of the interwebz.

Great Human Being in every aspect.

Hiz life adventures spanned things I could only imagine much shared in this cat-litter box

SA and the World is a Lesser place without him

FUCK 2020 !!!!

RIP BROTHER !!!!!!!!!!

 

Fidd"s?

[Jiffy B 21]

On 11/15/2020 at 9:22 AM, hobot said:

Thanks for sharing the pictures.  He loved that farm.

[Jiffy B 21]

On 11/16/2020 at 2:59 PM, DA-WOODY said:

as sent to me2016

Happy Contented Cattle in a Perfectly Maintained Home !!!

He was proud of how well his cattle were cared for.  Those are some very happy cattle.  Thanks for the pics

[Greever 111]

54 minutes ago, Jiffy B said:

Fidd"s?

Fiddlers Green. A Sailors bar in San Diego.

Good to see you here!

SA will never forget Matt.......

[DA-WOODY 1,283]

1 hour ago, Jiffy B said:

Fidd"s?

Fiddler's Green in DAGO

A Sailors Bar of Ill repute !

[mustang__1 344]

On 12/10/2020 at 1:51 PM, boomer said:

I talked with Jiffy yesterday afternoon for an hour and half video chat. Matt's German Shorthaired Pointer Bella lives with Jiffy and was laying beside or putting her head back on Jiffy's lap or against her chest during the chat - so they've bonded well. Bella is 16 years old now.

Matt still had medical insurance. Upon further inquiry as to how much Matt was following the instructions from his doctor; Matt was applying a steroid cream once a day instead of twice a day per instructions. A unique type of vitamin supplement that apparently wasn't widely available near his  Michigan cottage, nor by his house and farm in Sandwich, Illinois. I asked if they'd tried to find it online, and apparently they had and it wasn't available or in stock - whether this was due to the pandemic or not, I don't know. I should have wrote it down, when she said what it was, but I didn't - so I could have researched it a bit more. 

One thing that I didn't ask Jiffy - is if Matt stopped drinking during this recovery, since one with such a skin condition is recommended to stop drinking alcohol for 28 days till the condition clears. I don't know if this is a relevant question to ask or not - however I do know Matt liked his spirits and occasionally binged. When I talked with him after he got out of the hospital, I asked him it he was drinking - he didn't answer. So I asked him again, and he replied, he was working on it.

Matt was struggling with breathing when Jiffy last talked to him on the phone, which leads me to believe his cardiopulmonary wasn't getting enough oxygen. This could be due to the skin condition or Covid-19. In the end his heart gave out, yet no Covid-19 test done.  Doctors call the progression from eczema, or atopic dermatitis, to breathing problems the atopic march -  because a substance secreted by damaged skin circulates through the body and triggers asthmatic symptoms To many unanswered questions here - so would be hard for me to speculate on anything.

 

A little troubling to think that eczema could be a factor in this, or perhaps his was worse than mine. For a lot of years i used to get the topical steroid prescription but found it tended to make things worse. Unfortunately, the best thing for my hands seems to have been quitting (due to geography) dinghy sailing. Left Hook and some other people here can vouch for how bad it used to be for me - my hands would practically fully molt the first month of college sailing, but I haven't really had anything that bad since I graduated. That said.... I will also stay away from the alcohol till, I suppose, I'm vaccinated. Whenever that happens to be. 

[Jiffy B 21]

On 12/28/2020 at 11:20 PM, DA-WOODY said:

Fiddler's Green in DAGO

A Sailors Bar of Ill repute !

Austin1972 would definitely have enjoyed that.  He loved checking out different bars and meeting people.

[DA-WOODY 1,283]

On 12/28/2020 at 7:01 PM, Jiffy B said:

Fidd"s?

 

On 12/28/2020 at 8:20 PM, DA-WOODY said:

Fiddler's Green in DAGO

A Sailors Bar of Ill repute !

 

13 hours ago, Jiffy B said:

Austin1972 would definitely have enjoyed that.  He loved checking out different bars and meeting people.

I was most fortunate to spend a couple hours and drinks with him @ Fidd's solving the problems of the world

he offered another round that I did not accept.

throughout the posts of years there are references to "Where's my drink" that he would always respond to

 

Below cherished PM's w/o anything you would need to be killed after knowing

Of note he never came to Opening Day, having found someone that was all he could hope for

the above Whey before that

 

 

DA-WOODY 957

Started conversation: September 15, 2016

bla bla bla

1 question......... Did the X get my Drinks in the split ??? What a Bitch if she did

You will find there are Plenty More all around

Come out for Opening Hat Day and I'll buy you a drink (and have one too)

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austin1972 626

Replied: September 15, 2016

No, your drink was spared Dennis. It's been invested and has doubled in value.

 

 

[2slow 170]

Tragic. Austin was a thoughtful gentleman.  His posts would come to mind over the years when I was thinking about; bacon, cows, cooking, beautiful farmland, lovely early 20th century farm houses, barnfind cars....

what a loss. Fair winds. 

[[email protected] 126]

Damn, my condolences to all yall that lost such a good dude.  RIP Austin.