Operation Forty Cal

...commences at 0900 Thursday 17 SEP 2020. (Yes, a .40 caliber bullet is about 10 millimetres in diameter.)

Little hiccup, the hospital where I was going to have the operation to remove the 10mm stone, for some reason, apparently was not authorized by my insurance company to use that medical procedure code (and charge for it.) They wanted me to call back in 2 weeks - which, if you are familiar with how long it actually takes to get things accomplished in this country, seemed a tad ambitious. So, I took my business down the road. The place I'm headed to, International Medical Center, looks from the outside more like a palace. (Here's a virtual tour of the place: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=L8BKBzZx2QG) It is obviously newer, cleaner, etc. Dr. Abdou was very helpful, friendly and informative about what would go on. He even pushed to get me added to the Thursday schedule (there was no space on Saturday) and this all on a Tuesday after 7:30 p.m. Doctors keep different hours here apparently. His 'clinic', i.e. office/examination room, was much larger than the one at GNP Hospital at about 9'x12' which included desk, chairs, exam table, sink, cabinets, etc. Got my x-rays, both picture of the stone & pre-op chest picture. The insurance authorization took a bit of time so it was too late to get my labs drawn. Went back today after work to drop off the CD of the CT from GNP and let Dracula get a refill (best needle stick I've gotten in a very long time.) Tomorrow I show up bright and early for the rest of the pre-op festivities and then it will be showtime! Odd thing is that they said I'd be spending one night, maybe two, in the hospital. Aw well, didn't really have any plans for the weekend at any rate. Although I do need a haircut. Stay tuned.

For fun, here's a little something I have been working on for the General...

I was working from a publication (clock-makers don't document everything correctly I've found) but had to model everything in the CAD software I use so the machinist can build it (he's Swiss.) If you are really interested I can provide a 3D PDF file that you can zoom & spin around to view the entire mechanism. Let me know what you think. Next step is to produce the 2D drawings of every piece, that'll keep me busy for a bit.

So, what else ya' got 2020?

 I suppose at my age I should know better than to tempt the Fates. The plague was certainly a biggie, there have been locusts, floods, droughts, wildfires, earthquakes, and who knows what all else aplenty worldwide. I lost my best buddy Siggy two and a half weeks ago. Now I've had this little pain in my left side for about a week now. <insert ominous music here> 

I stopped by the dispensary Thursday after work and announced that I have a kidney stone. The nurse was all set to line me up with a consult but we decided to bring the doctor in on this, as a second opinion, and he concurred. So today I got to spend two trips and most of my day at yet another fine medical institution here in the MK. Yippie!

Got in to see the doctor at 10 this morning, he wanted me to go right to a CT scan. Insurance vetoed that (big surprise, not.) So, plan B, ultrasound - yup positive, something there where the little stars are shooting out. Then back up to the doctor's office on the first floor (not ground) again to look at the reading from that and back down to insurance approval for the CT scan & to the lab for a pee cup so the lab has something to stick their noses into (I guess this makes the insurance companies happy.) By this time it is 1 p.m. and the doctor has left - but he's back at 5 p.m. Good, I can make a grocery trip.

I come back at 5 p.m., find out I have to go back to the radiology to get the CT report. I go back there, ask for it, told it's not ready yet and please have a seat in the waiting room. Since I already have enough chairs in the apartment I declined their kind offer. When I started drifting off I decided that it was time to go shake the palm and they did have it done this time. Back to the doctor's office.

The doctor writes up an order for me to get the operation on Tuesday and I head back down to the approval office to get that since the doctor will be there until 8:30 p.m. Well, that doesn't go as planned. First the system kicked the clerk out before she could complete my paperwork so she started over again. Then wait ten minutes. Come back, it's rejected - she put in the wrong code apparently. Wait ten minutes more. Come back, rejected - she's trying to figure it out. Wait ten minutes. Come back, still not working, she has to talk with the doctor tomorrow to get the procedure correctly entered. They are supposed to call me tomorrow. Still in limbo I guess.

Anyway, by Wednesday I should be the proud papa of a 10 MM stone. Yay! Stay tuned.

Day 2, along the ridge and down from Taif

View from my friend's house

The day dawned very nicely as I sat out on the porch enjoying a cup of coffee or two. So I was able to get some fairly good photos. The weather was in only a temporary respite apparently.

Over across the little valley (if you look very carefully at the two pictures) you can see a herd of goats being headed up the hill. Look about in the center of the picture near the white building.

It got very foggy very fast. This was after we had gone out for breakfast in town. My host wanted to show me the view but the clouds got there first. Even so, I don't like heights so I'm not climbing up there with him. 

There is a lot of granite in this area. If it is of good enough quality the people here are sitting on a gold mine, so to speak. It would also mean industry and jobs for locals if it was to be properly developed. I doubt it will ever happen if it has not so far.

Okay, and finding my way out of the hills when the fog rolled in the rest of the way was quite the challenge. Visibility was approximately 6 feet in front of the vehicle. I went the wrong way a few times and ended back where I started then managed to take the correct turn to get back to the main road. Twisty little passages, all different indeed!

Along the road towards Taif there are even more of these sniper towers, this was one of the best. No mortar construction. Looks like it would be a good 7d2d horde base.

Going through small towns the speed limit was reduced to 120 kph (75 mph) and that is with no barrier to the side and wide open on/off to the buildings. Gotta be sharp crossing the road or even merging with traffic. In the larger towns the speed limit is 100 kph (62 mph) and there may be a small curb (or maybe not). The rest of the way the speed limit is 140-160 kph, depending on traffic.

Looks like some of these buildings are still occupied.

If it's not sheep or goats along the side of the road it is a herd of camels. They seemed to know where they were going even with no herder in sight.

This female decided that I looked as if I might have some food in my truck. I didn't. I think she was disappointed. 

There is a little turn-out near the top of the road from Taif. Can't tell what this represents but lots of people were stopped here. This is just down from the fruit stands in my first post about Taif.

Still cloudy but quite the view down from the mountain. 

There was another stop a little further down with a lot of baboons. I guess some people like to feed them. And the baboons respond by tearing things off your car and stealing things from you if they don't approve of your offerings.

Spoiler Alert! Don't watch the following video if you are squeamish about twisty-turny rides. Also, I know it's not safe to do what I did (kids, don't try this at home) and it is probably borderline illegal. But there it is. https://youtu.be/F0eI36wRQW4 - road down from Taif

Not the greatest of weeks thus far.

Siegfried

My best buddy had to cross the Rainbow Bridge this week. He leaves a huge hole in my heart that now just consists of memories. I was supposed to have been able to get back to see him many months ago. We were going to take some long walks and look at dog videos on the computer. He loved those things. He was always there for me and would give me hugs before bed. My heart is broken. If you have never experienced such a dog then imagine that which is most precious to you in the entire universe and multiply it by ten and you will begin to have some understanding of what it is like to have a dog who loves you. R.I.P. Siggy

In other not-so-great news, there has been one more positive case in our small building. The guy's mother has it and he still came in to work. He got sent to get tested and the next day we all heard the results. Not so good but he's one of the electrical guys so he is at least down the hall from me some (~10 steps). 

And a reliable source has told me that there are three more cases on our compound although we do not have any information on who they are. However, they did close down the Oasis restaurant and the Circle K for deep cleaning - but no one bothered to tell us why. Pure speculation to think that the two might have something in common. Perhaps someone was just cleaning up after the positive/active case from last week. Go figure.

Today is Valerie & my 38th anniversary.

I still have to publish about my trip down from the mountain and my visit to the crater. 

And yet again...

"Are you there 'Rona? It's me, Margaret." (apologies to Judy Blume.) 

Welp, two guys on our compound have tested positive and actually have WuFlu. The grapevine is a mysterious thing. Apparently some people knew last Thursday that these guys had been tested, results not back, and no further precautions were taken. Glad I didn't attend Shawarma Night on Thursday.

Plague news

 On the 5th we were informed that a Saudi who frequents our small building came down with (& tested positive for) the WuFlu. Apparently this guy's grandmother already had the illness and he continues on as if it were just another day in the Magic Kingdom. Just the day before he had spent quite a bit of time in the office across the hall from me and the engineer he was working closely with (looking over work at the engineer's desk) was starting to freak out a bit. Often this Saudi is the one who goes to the market to buy tools & equipment that can be procured locally. Two days before he had brought a bunch of items to the other American engineer in our building. 

Yesterday we were told that the director who is in our building (he's been out all week) was also sick with WuFlu (positive test confirmation.) I had just spoken with him the week before because he was asking me about a procedure I had written up for him.

So, it seems to be getting closer. Is that music from Jaws that I hear?

In any case, I've been informing people that on a regular basis I perform my own self-check. After my daily OMW I stop by a friends apartment to chat and make sure I can still smell the cat box (he's the one that adopted a kitten) and if I do then I'm probably OK. (The doctor on the compound here thought that that was funny so I don't care if no one else does.)

I am on tenterhooks waiting for the next shoe (or sandal) to drop. How's that for mixing metaphors?

But hey, I have a different car for now and it is even new, less than 6000 km. I took the other one back - again - because not only did they not fix the exhaust leak, the a/c was blowing hot air. It had been a couple months ago when the engine overheated and the a/c wasn't working then either. Apparently they just re-charged it and didn't bother to determine where the leak was. They really are incompetent when it comes to actually fixing something (it's not Saudis who are working on these things but if they were anything like the students in Jizan then I'm sure but they probably would have done no better.)

Work is slow, I'm back to modeling up the clock for the General....

Day 1, Trip to the mountain home of a Saudi friend

So here was the boring part of the drive south towards Jizan in going up into the mountains to visit a man I had the pleasure of working with one day. (He invited me up to his family's place over Eid and I couldn't say 'no'.) 

https://youtu.be/rMhRVCdOq1g

Then started I started heading up into the hills, way before the real mountain (ugh, mountains!). Notice the Bedouin camps with their goats, sheep, and camels. 

https://youtu.be/iR1hxy8w4hs (Please, no comments on taking movies while driving, etc. Yes, it's illegal, unsafe, etc., but I'm bad-to-the-bone.)

This section shows the mountain climb road,
just a narrow two-lane road. Kancamagus
isn't even a bunny slope compared to this.

His house is just outside Bligrashy about 2 hours south of Taif. Google maps gave me directions but it ended me up on the lane to the left in this pic and wanted me to walk up the remaining distance. I looked in the direction it was pointing and decided there must be a way up there.   There was. I drove around all the twisty-little-passages-all-different and stopped at this one place and decided to call the guy. I kind of described where I was, cars parked on the side, etc. and he came walking out of his gate after hearing me on the phone through the truck! I was just at his door. Let me know if you think you could have found it more easily! Guys don't need to ask for directions! 

This was his father's house, very elaborate if not quite finished. His family had moved to Jeddah when he was young and they came up here in the summer and on holidays. Of course much of his family still lives in the local area. This is quite the scenic area.

Look at that view, just look at it!

That is one huge house.

My host's family's original house that he lived in until he was about 2 years old and his family moved to Jeddah. Absolutely beautiful and sturdy stone work. It looks like the addition to the right was built by someone of a little lesser skill. 

Another section with an outdoors stairway built in. It's really too bad the roofs had collapsed from disuse and neglect since they were so well built. Notice the village guard tower in to the left. these are all over the place up here.

Unfortunately the door was locked from the inside.

Have I mentioned how it rarely rains in Saudi Arabia, especially in the summertime? I had driven by some wadis down by the coast that had water in them and I actually saw a small shallow pond, maybe half an acre in size, by the side of the road. Turns out it had rained a few days in the Jizan province area and there was even some flooding where people had to be rescued. Of course it was the usual 36°C and more so things were drying up. getting up in to the mountains the temperature dropped significantly. It was 21°C when I got up there. Beautiful weather and the sun was even out though it was partly cloudy. We were above cloud level for the most part, the elevation being above 6600 feet. Abdullah told me that it had rained four days straight. Here's a few videos of the rain that night. The temperature dropped to 18°C (61°F), quite the change from Jeddah heat. Weather said it was 100% relative humidity - no kidding.

https://youtu.be/ZEo62NQCigw - It was pouring.

https://youtu.be/c06gBNzN_J0 - Rain with thunder & lightning!

https://youtu.be/3ylXdXotooY - When the rain stopped the thunder and lightning continued.

But before that I was given the grand tour up the hill and we had Arabic coffee, fruit and dates, that two of his sons brought up, in a little park pavilion. 

Cactus fruit is really tasty!

Weaver bird, of some sort, nest.

Very neat door, unfortunately locked from the inside.

I was told that when my host was young there was a 'spring' in those rocks which produced a  little 'waterfall' all the time.

I would not want to be here when there was a lot of rain coming through.

I wasn't ready for a hike, just brought my sandals.

One tough tree.

Tiny nest in among the thorns.

My host really liked using my camera, at least it proves I was here.

If you zoom in you'll see a bunch of ants cleaning up after the rain (except for the big trash which they seem to ignore.)

Supposedly this plant produces a very nice flavor when added to the coals cooking meat.

Abdullah making a point.

Then we visited the flood control dam in the area.

That's one good sized lake there.

The boys went on ahead and we took our time heading down to the bottom of the dam.

Jack and Jenny - when vehicles took over, feeding donkeys became expensive so they are now roaming wild. Don't approach them.

Similar seed pod to the previous flora but this 'tree' is apparently very expensive if you buy it in the city.

Blue flower.

Yellow flower.

Some sort of mint.

I found a beetle.

Some sort of viney weedy thingy.

Tiny white flowers.

Most everything has spikes.

Not surprising there were quite a few birds.

Honest to goodness blackberries!

There is a lizard in this picture.

Omar, the 3rd youngest son, who is studying to become an engineer.

Saad, 2nd youngest, still in high school.

So, when we were having our coffee and fruit, after my host had told me about his five sons and two daughters, I had to ask him how old he was. He told me he was born in 1967. He thought he was older than I am, by a lot. He was very surprised to find that I was more than 10 years older than he is. That seemed (to me) to subtly change the tone a little since elders are treated with more respect over here. We still had a good time. After the coffee we went up the mountain some more and his sons drove up and we went to a spot where, if it weren't so darn cloudy, we could overlook the valley. Had some delicious bread and goat for 'lunch'.

Some of the fauna.

Bigger white flower.

We went from the dam and started to explore another area but it started to pour so we headed back. Along the way we stopped at a mosque so they could do salah. I stayed in the car and watched a westerner harvest & eat some of the cactus fruit growing nearby.

I'll follow up on the 'Day 2' trip back later.