"Post No. 674"

Got the bill in from Debbie's emergency room visit; $725.00. Simply outrageous. The attending physician looked at her hand, put some antiseptic on it and a piece of gauze and tape, gave her a tetanus shot and sent her home. For all that was done by the attendents in the ambulance, and the hospital doctor, we could have done for next to nothing right here at home save for the shot. For that little trip in the ambulance (for two miles) and the ER visit? Over $1,200. (And people wonder why health insurance is so high.) Very sad.

Finished raking my leaves again. This time it took around 4 hours since I had to neglect them due to my job for the past 5 days. Got the gutters cleaned out as well, plus I bagged up 6 good size bags of the trash-type wood and the like from the brush pile, and brought up yet another load of sticks and limbs. There's something like 13 bags of debris awaiting pick up by the city this time, plus a pile of limbs and sticks. The yard, two hours later, looked like it needed raking again. My front yard trees are about finished falling, but there's still a pretty full tree at the rear of the house. Maybe it'll all finish faling this week and I'll only have to do this one more time. I need to remulch the leaves on mom's again too, plus, I'm sure, her gutters need cleaning out.

Stopped by both local flea markets Saturday as well as three yard sales. Bought nada at the flea markets, although one dealer did have a copy of the "Beatles Songbook Vol.2" l.p. in nice shape. Wanted $5. for it, and I did consider buying it, but finally passed as it'd only been something I'd listened to a single time before stashing it into my collection of such.

Paid $1. for a large Superman figure from the animated series (from "Justice League", I believe). Put batteries in it and it worked just fine. Has flashing heat vision (i.e., the eyes "light up"), when you move the arms down it makes a "crashing" noise, plus a sound like he's flying. Stuck him up on the shelf with some other Superman memorabilia.

One woman at the flea market had a whole basket full of "Transformers" but wanted $1-$2 each on those which would have been too much just to buy and attempt to resell on my eBay auctions (which would have been the only reason they would have interested me). Nice, however, for anyone that collected them.

Sunday I found the above pictured classic flea market find for a mere fifty cents (alright; not that one exactly as my camera's still not hooked up so I had to swipe that pic off a eBay listing, but an identical one like it). A prime early 1970's "Smiley Face" coffee mug, and, even rarer, marked made in the good ol' "U.S.A.". Funny thinking back some nearly forty years ago circa 1970 visiting a now long gone head shoppe located in Bowling Green, KY.. I was looking at some of the pin-backs they had and there was a whole basket full of Smiley face buttons for, oh, maybe 25 or 50 cents each. When I asked the clerk what they were exactly (as that was the first time I'd seen one), he told me that they were "Happy Faces", and that they were going to replace the Peace Symbol! I admit to actually buying and wearing one for a couple of years lo' dem many years ago (LOL!).