[Rhodes22-list] Warts and All!

[Brad Haslett]

Robert,

Somewhere along the way I missed the reference to warts, but, since we're
there-

About fifteen years ago I had a layover in Appleton, Wisconsin and it was
snowing like crazy when we landed.  I woke-up about 11am and was going out
to grab a sandwich but saw that we were in a blizzard. There was a doctors
office directly across the street and I thought this might be an opportunity
to get 'just one more' treatment for a wart I had growing under my
thumbnail.  It was a father and son practice, the son didn't bother to come
in that day, and there were no patients.  Doc must have been in his late
70's.  I explained that I'd been fighting this thing for over a year and
didn't care if he froze the whole end of my thumb off, just make it go
away.  He did damn near that but I never had another problem with that
issue.  We spent the better part of the afternoon solving the worlds
dilemmas and as odd as the association may be, I always think of 'Ole Doc
Wisconsin' when the discussion of warts comes around.

More recently, I had a small mole that appeared but just never found the
time to suffer the inconvenience of making an appointment. I saw one of
those do-it-yourself nitrogen freeze wart removal kits at the drugstore and
thought, why not?  I know they're not supposed to be used for moles but I
did it anyway over the course of three days and learned a new trade. I would
hang a shingle in the front yard, "Will Remove Warts For Beer" but I'm sure
there's something in the neighborhood association bylaws against that.

Getting back to health insurance, we have to solve the problem of the two
tails of the bell curve and then flatten out the center with lower costs.
I'm convinced we're going to get some kind of national health care
coverage.  Whether we do it smartly or quickly is another matter.

The country is tacking to port and I'm more inclined to hike-out for ballast
rather than fight for the helm.  The wind will shift direction soon enough.

Brad