The Lucky Few

I am lucky enough not to have to fly much these days.

Airport security being what it is, that is a blessing.

don't even go there....my husband is a TSO.

If he is finished with my toothpaste, can I have it back now, please?

My friend's husband was very ill and on a lot of medications....pills. One of his problems, as the result of a stroke, was that he had difficulty swallowing and so, instead of water or another liquid, used applesauce to get his pills down. Of course an over-zealous TSA person confiscated them.

The Israelis refused to allow the shoe bomber to board their plane having detected something off. They seem to have a pretty good training program in place to detect who may or may not be a threat. It would seem to me at least, that it would be a good idea to look into OUR training program.

It was Crest, Minty Fresh.  That's right I was going to brush my way into the cockpit. I was packing dental floss too.  No mouthwash. That would have tipped them off. Now I eat a couple of Oreos before I walk through and then flash a big smile, they don't even bother to check for toothpaste.

A tall, lean, elderly woman in a mint green suit looked to be finding the La Guardia security serpentine a real struggle particularly after surrendering her cane and to the conveyor and, at the same time, being discouraged from using anything else for support: "No hands there."
At the far end, she was prevented (by not one but two forearms) from reclaiming the thing while some kind of a confused TSA buzz conference took place.
The Beauty in front of me stopped, looked, listened and said: "This is silly" and handed the lady her cane.
I guess that, waiting for some kind of authoritative decision, they found hers acceptable and gave way.
"Way to go Deppidy."

MOOSELOOP:
Re. yesterday: Sorry. Guess I'm confused but then who promised me photos of white night blooming bush and some seeds.
This getting old isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Have a wonderful trip. It sounds like fun.

I get the full TSA treatment everytime I fly because I don't take off my jewelry. I took it off once, all except one small earring, and the bells went off anyway so now they can have their way with me.
But come on, old lady going to visit her grandchildren.
Really.

My son has a 13 inch metal rod running down his spine, courtesy of the operation he had for scoliosis. He carries a letter from the surgeon as he would trigger some of the airport alarms. Typically, airport security would check him separately instead of having him go through the system

Moose! Have a wonderful wonderful trip!
xx

I have no photo I.D. This pretty much makes me a non-person but having been something of an invalid for the past 3 years it usually isn't a problem. However, my daughter was getting ready to have her first baby in Gunnison CO and I was not about to miss that.

My drivers license had expired and the grace time was up so I figured just getting a state ID should do the trick. I spent a month making trips to the DMV (40 mi) being told each time I needed something else. All this, while they had myexpired license up on their computers....(in the end, the major glitch had been not changing my name with SS when I got married...IRS happily accepted hyphenated names & $). Soooooo....without really discussing it with anyone since you got the really abbreviated version.......I headed off for the first of my three planes to Gunnison with my Birth Cert, Marriage Cert, Baptism Cert., wedding photo, High School Diploma and the almost completed DMV paperwork.

Well, the young man I got at T.F.Green in PRovidence just about fainted, but he called a supervisor over and damn! the guy was great and let me go through no problem. He laughed and said "Better get a BJs card." I did not get together with old friends at 2 of my layovers however.

Two weeks later I am returning home from Grand Junction to Phoenix to Philly to Providence, and t his time the TSA agent is not young and helpless nor older and cuddly but scary and Marinelike. Like a guard at Buckingham Palace his facial expression is unmovable. Just looking at the papers while I prattle on trying to explain. Finally I remember--I lift my arm and I am still wearing the hospital bracelet from my little adventure with High Altitude Pulmonary Edema .
"Look!" I say "I am even labelled!" With that, I get a grin and wave through.

MOOSE Have a great trip. Love road trips!

Thanks for all the good wishes....We leave 8/25.....had a party with Atlanta AXO's last night across town, over an hour to get there in Dunwoody....in the rain. Nice to see all the folks and meet some new ones.

They just relocated here from Chicago, Evanston, and are still talking about our lack of winter (no snow to speak of ), our tangled street patterns, and the friendliness of the people. I was glad to explain the streets were paved along old horse trails to the various ferry boats across the Chattahoochee River, or to the mills, or to the many little trading posts, therefore , Atlanta was never "planned" like a town that has all streets running north and south, and avenues running east and west, but rather grew up like Topsy.

We do get mild winters, and sometimes it freezes, but snow of even an inch can shut down the school buses, and likewise, most of the city. We just don't have snow plows, or snow removal equipment, or drivers with snow tires, so the least bit of snow is a hazard, therefore, most of us stay home til it melts.

Friendly is bc everyone here was once from somewhere else, and they remember what it was like to be new, and they want to make you feel welcome. (It is hard, but not impossible, to find a native Atlantan.)

No airport stories.....My last flight was 2006 to Greece via from ATl to NY, then over, and our little group went thru all the screenings smoothly, even the re-entry back into the States with our booty from far away. We like to drive, ride, see the land at truck level, so don't need to fly. As said, we are going to Seattle ....on land.... enjoying the towns, the sights, the parks,and historic markers....I try to read them all.

A friend ,now retired, was a pilot for a major airline when a few years ago a TSA screener took his nail clippers and was not going to return them because they could be used to threaten the crew. After explaining that he was the pilot(he was in uniform) and asking  "what am I going to do threaten myself ?"did he get the ok to go on board with the clippers

Yeah, the Israelis, nothing good to say about that airport. Treated like a criminal on arrival and departure this past Friday. Luggage gone through so thoroughly that there are no secrets left in my life. No provocation whatsoever on my part, travelling in a group, and I am held up for 1 hour while ALL of my bags are searched, wanded, and whatever at the CHECKED bag station PRIOR to getting the boarding pass. Oh yeah, my computer went on a trip without me, who knows what bugs have been planted. THEN the personal screening. This freaked out travelling companions who are on medications for anxiety. All told, not worth going to the country for to be treated like shit.

What did the Israelis find? Nothing.

Mseseloop~I enjoy reading  your impressions of the City I came to in 1958. Most days I offer thanks for a place of moderate cimates, relative freedom and peace and gentle people.

While I yearn for the good old days of tossing the rental car keys in a drop box and having the gate agent knock on the plane door and have it actually reopened to let me on, I know those days are gone forever...over a long time ago. So I will participate in any program that speeds up the process, retina scans, background checks, and the like. My life is my life. My secrets are locked in my head & some agency checking me out is the least of my concerns. I carry as little as possible with me so it's easy either way just a matter of time and like "Up in the Air" pretty much have it down to a science or at least an art form getting through security. I learned years ago there is always another flight and a future friend at the airport lounge.

Sadly,some people have a rude experience at airports. Most folks do not. Imagine yourself covering that distance in that time,any other way. Kinda makes it less of a problem,doesn't it?

Well apparently if you are a redhead flying to or from Ireland you get profiled.  Every single flight I have had into, within, and out of Ireland and Scotland I have been pulled aside for the "random" pat down and personal luggage screening.  I don't mind, I understand it is part of the process keeping us safe, so I just allow for an extra hour or so on top of the suggest travel times for my racial profiling to take place.  Haven't had to deal with it in a while since I haven't been across the pond in far too long.
 
On a whim I was looking for job openings in the Kona area the other night, figuring if I found something I liked I'd just stay in Hawaii and not go home.  They were hiring for TSA agents at the airport.  I was really tempted to apply, it is by far one of my favorite airports and one of my favorite places...what's not to love?  Oh yeah, airline pax.  For as much as passengers like to complain about TSA, airports, airlines, and airline employees...we pax cause as many if not more problems for ourselves than those previous mentioned entities.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

A friend visiting from NYC was disappointed that famous Vidalia onions weren't in (their very brief) season when he was here; I promised to take some when I visited the next month to see his play open.
 
They come wrapped in mesh, which I left on, adding gift-wrap and ribbons.  I put them in my carry-on bag, disingenuously thinking the TSA person couldn't possibly question.  My bag skimmed through the x-ray (or whatever it is) thing, by whi9ch time I was at its end, ready to collect handbag, book, carry-on.
 
A voice rang out as the machine stopped and people stared.  "Sorry, ma'am, we need you back here." I dutifully returned as he said, "What are the round things in your bag?"
 
"Vidalia onions," I explained, "and they're wrapped because they're a gift."
 
To the accompaniment of his and everyone else's laughter, I said, "I'd rather not unwrap them; they're hard to wrap nicely...." 
 
he: "THey're shaped like bombs... I have to see them." So, apparently, did his superiors, several of whom had gathered.  He opened the bag, pulled out the package, and asked, "You still claiming these are ONIONS?"
 
I, blushing by then: "Yes, sir."
 
He: "We'll just see."  He cut away my careful wrapping, then the onions' mesh, revealing -- yes -- onions.  Laughter surrounded me as one of his superiors helped me return them to my bag.  "I'll have a story for the dinner table tonight,"

Korthal~sorry for the delay on the moonflower photo~had the opportunity to take a quick road trip this weekend so we "got the hell out of Dodge"...I did post the picture this morning...let me know if you don't see it in my profile :) The blooms are fairly new so they aren't blooming to their full potential yet, but pretty still ...I'll be happy to drop some seeds in the mail to you this fall if you are interested.

Yasemin~what a nightmare?! I believe I would have been insisting your travel companions share that anti-anxiety medication with me, had I been in your shoes!
Nachista~I have to agree that the airport in HI is very nice and easy...ranks at the top of list!

Yasmin....how truly awful.

Sadly, travel has turned I to a nightmare instead of the excitement it once was.

GRAYGOOSE I got confused and thought MOOSELOOP had the flowers.
Thanks for posting the photos of your beautiful flower.

Miss Georgia ~ Bombs shaped like onions?  That's funny.  Somebody has been watching too many Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons.  Unless, they thought you might be carrying several of the Village petards that we so often haphazardly toss about here.

I think, since we need to have security nowadays in airports, I think we might as well have a good (not fun, but good), thorough, system that is followed routinely, as they do in Israel - everybody knows the rules, there are no prima donnas on either side of the pat down, and just do it, follow the damn rules, and get through and get on the plane.  It's a fact of life, this TSA business, and it would be easier to deal with if we make it as no nonsense professional a sysem as we can.  Like the Israelis do.  It's like an innoculation; it's uncomfortable, but necessary, so better to get it over with properly and quickly than otherwise.

Ahem, Miss Blue, do you recognize any of these gentlemen?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gspzb_k1FAE

I had to zoom in on the red object up above. At first I though it was a suppository of some sort.  But now I know it is the dreaded Swiss Army knife.  The weapon of mass destruction that has been used by the Swiss Army for generations to maintain their neutrality. You don't want to mess with anyone packing one of these babies.

I need somebody to whinge to - you villagers are usually reliably smpathetic. What a day! Drive self up to hospital for MRI scan. Usual arrive on time and wait for over an hour. The appointment letter said to bring a dressing gown, so I packed my beautiful kimono. 'They' insisted on one of those undignified hospital gowns. Check X3 my name. DOB, address and that I have no metal bits in my body. At last they get me strapped down on the scanner trolley, head restraint and all that stuff. They shove a set of headphones on me with vile musac, explaining that the machine makes loud strange noises ...... as they swiitch on the machine and I trundle into this confined tunnel, I remember I forgot to mention that I'm claustrophobic. Not allowed to move while in scanner - that's hard to do for half an hour in a scary place. If I ask for a sedative, they will not allow me to drive home. So I toughed it out, but emerged a trembling wreck. The procdure takes half an hour .. the radiographer even made me a cup of tea with sugar, which is 'against the rules', so I will forgive him making a complete mess of trying to find a vein to get a canula into my arm. Even his student nurse was trying not to laugh. Somehow drove home, stopping by to see a friend with a 4 day old baby. Aaaaaawwwww! And I'm soooo tired! I checked with my Consultant's secretary and I think  have no more hospital appointments 'till 29th August. O yeah, I fell over on the garden path the other night and banged my head and have a multi-coloured bruise on my knee. Woe is me! So, my dear people, I know that many of you have worrying health problems. I think it is timely that I will be moving to live close to family soon. I shall miss my garden so much - but it's too much and I'm worried about daft stuff like settling my Coco cat in a new house. And, and, and. I'm feeling super-sorry for myself this evening. Sorry to dump on you, but what are friends for?
 

HAZEL:
We're here for you and you are in my prayers every night.
I know the move is going to be difficult but once you're settled in you'll feel more calm and so will Coco cat.
I wish you'd take some photos of your garden and prayer tree. Put them on a disc or zip drive. You would be able to look at them and enjoy and remember how wonderful they were for you. Maybe your son could do that for you if you don't take pictures.

HAZEL..what a brave girl to go by yourself. Your procedure sounds similiar to one I have had twice called a Petscan and it is Just Awful. Your Coco cat will be happy wherever you are....but worrying is inescapable. You are facing a huge life change. I am 3 years into mine and I still have freakouts but the benefits will outweigh the misery of change. In the meantime, worry away and count on us to listen to you whinge! xo

Wine? at this hour? where are we, France? Itlee? (I know it's five-o-clock smewhere!) Lift a glass to our Hazel! And Haze, maybe you should investigate those table-top miniature Japanese gardens....

Park .. I think the problem stems, not from a willingness to follow the rules, but that the rules keep changing and are often at the whim of a person with a wand.

I do agree that we should all be subject to the same rules, no exemptions.

Korthal and Graygoose - So glad you got together on those flowers and seeds!
I was clueless, but did remember some dialogue about flowers a few weeks ago.

Hazel -- Awwww, poor baby! I can feel your pain. I have fallen and recovered, bruised, but undaunted, as you are....Have had the claustrophobic CAT scan, and survived holding my breath until the machine says, "You may breathe normally now," and have moved many times in this life! You will have photos to remember your cottage and lovely garden....The cat will adjust as soon as you do...The son will be closer and there if you need a shoulder or ride....and you will be ok.

....Part of such drastic changes go along with Hemingway's maxim: "All are broken, afterward, most are stronger in the broken places.." or something like that! We know we must bend to avoid being broken, so you will do fine at that....I can tell you are a survivor and will triumph in the end....!

Eye Villagers will now give you a group hug and all cheer for you! Wishing you scones and tea and flowers where ever you go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGbnua2kSa8

George Hall - See, I wasn't kidding about most of us being from some where else....I grew up in Florida, came to Atlanta in'66 for Emory grad school, and have stayed. I only know one person who actually was born in Atlanta, and she now lives here in the hills near me....It is a fine town in spite of its warts, and that must be why so many of us stayed....! (Do, you agree that the roads are like mangled spaghetti on a map?! Compare our city area map to Miami! There, you have square blocks that make sense, but here....you have choices....If the traffic is blocked in one place, check out the many branching alternate routes!)

[When I first moved here, I was made Membership Chrmn. of my sorority, so I learned the streets, zip codes, and different ways to get from here to there to try to arrange carpooling for the ladies, according to where they lived in the metro area. It was a baptism by asphalt, and I have benefited from knowing several way to get anywhere around town.]

I very possibly could have been the first citizen to go through the pre-check scan at ATL.  I told this once before here when it was off topic, so now that it is on topic, y'all will have no excuse whatsoever not to read it. If you did read it the first time around, you can skip this one and move along to something more interesting. I was booked on a midmorning flight out, so I arrived somewhere near 8 AM to check in. There was a third line waiting at security, beside the usual frequent and non frequent flyer lines.  It was appropriately labeled "Pre-check" and was empty.  As I approached several VIPs in dark suits were lining up, some with clipboards, some not.  The agent scanned my ticket and pointed me in their direction. I was issued verbal instructions to put my phone in my briefcase, my briefcase on the belt and to walk on through the metal detector.  I did, as hundreds of awe struck travelers looked on.  It took 45 seconds (less time than it has taken to write this) from start to finish and I was on my way. Several frequent flyers approached me as I walked through the terminal and asked me how I rated this treatment. I gave them my most insouciant look and said, "I'm special." Now, it seems the pre-check line at ATL is as busy as the other two, sometimes busier.
 That said, Miss Andy and Miss Park4, with all due respect, I disagree. We should all not be treated the same.  I should continue to be treated special.  Everyone else should be treated the same.

Ohare field(ORD), or ATL,or even JFK, (airport name, if you didn't know)and probably Heathrow,too, handle more passengers in a day,and maybe even just several hours, that BenGurion (Israel's airport)does in a year. That does factor into the almost mechanical (think the candy scene from I Love Lucy)way we are treated. That isn't an excuse to be treated rudely, or have decisions made by people that shouldn't, but, as some here have said, we all should be exposed to a modicum of integrity,and civility. That said, the seats are too small, the leg room isn't for adults, charging for the restroom,and for baggage,and giving you a teeny bag of saaaaalllllty snacks,and selling the antidote, and then trying to skimp on maintnance,pilot rotation,tower personell,retirement of previous employees pensions, (need I go on?) all the while enjoying the audacity to complain about us complaining about sitting on the tarmac for 4 hours,lost baggage,rude inspections.....I have an RV. Need I say more? My washroom, MY bedding, My kitchen,and My DOG!....ahh  rant over   put your tray tables up,and seatbacks, and try to ignore that screaming child that keeps kicking the back of your seat. And please stop macking that scrunched up face at the garlic/curry farm owner (must be)in the seat next to you that won the arm wrestling for the arm rest.....

Hazel that is a lousy day indeed, you need someone to fuss over you a bit and see to the important stuff so you can rest and recover. 

Miss Hazel ~ Another one for you
from all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXIfP-EJx2M

TSA folks can strip me naked, and grope n' fondle all they want ... as long as its Girls doin' it ... even ugly Girls ... long as its not Boys ....... Just isn't Kosher, thats all .......
 
Miss Y'all Friday at the close of the day, and I apologize ... I was on the road and late getting back into Town ... and when I finally got to the Computer ... the Page had not changed, again ... and I was conflicted as to which day any Message would show up ... so I opted to pass the moment, until next time ....... But be assured, none of you was missing from my Prayers and considerations ....... 
 
I am wondering id Mr. Peterman is going to make another one of those Whiz-Bang Format changes, that we all seem to love, or whether the Hall Monitor is simply asleep at the switch ....... Anybody have any ideas ???

IF

Thanks for the song, Moose. And thanks other people for your kindness.
The day turned around - the people who will be renting my place came to look this evening and they are so excited, young and fit. Extatic about my well established trees and shrubs and my somewhat swampy garden pond. AND delighted by my prayer tree that they will cherish and add new names too. They thought it a great idea, so prayers from Wales for you will continue to blow on the breezes. I feel so happy about that and happy that the new people will love my garden.

I was relieved to find this:
 
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/Screening_for_Passengers_75_and_Older.shtm
 
Trying to help my 90 year father on and off with his shoes at home is bad enough but I was NOT looking forward to trying to do it in the security line at the airport with no where for him to sit down.

Hazel.........you have so often cheered the rest of us that I'm glad we can finally try and lift your spirits.  Altho', it sounds like by the end of the day you were getting some better things going on in your life.  How nice to know that your prayer tree will flourish and "grow."

The pat-down in Karachi wasn't pleasant, but then again it wasn't totally unexpected, either.  However, the John Wayne Airport (SNA) experience is still inexplicable.   Four of us arrived at the airport together.  Four of us arrive at the TSA station together.....three went thru with no problems...however, number 4 (that would be me) was sent thru' the screener multiple times, my things were gone thru' and I was taken aside and asked if I would allow a pat-down.  They never could figure out why I kept setting things off--I must have an "alarming" personality--Oddly, I was wearing the same clothes that I'd worn a few days earlier going to California.  The only thing different was the underwear--different color, but same kind.  Same jewelry, same shirt, same slacks, same sandals.  

Haze- Hey girl, have a cup of tea and a bushel of love from Nashville
with a spponful of Billy Holiday to remind you-
"...when the lord up above you
Send’s someone to love you
The blues are something you loose
You’re so busy doing
The things that you’re doing
That love ain’t got no time
For brewin’ the blues."
Peace Peaches, tommy t

Alas, How I love thee, Tommy T!

What was today's topic?
I was thinking of Leonard Cohen.
It's just the way it changes like the shoreline and the sea.
 

MISS Hazel, You don't have to believe me but I was about to link to this one before I settled on the other one.  Damm but I was close, so close.                                                                                                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdr04EwDd2o

paolos~ my dear - that will do nicely.

Hazel, why not try container gardening? You can plant almost anything you like and have the convenience of the containers which can be placed on a porch or various other places around the home.So sorry that you had to go through all that, I just took a 72 yr old friend to the hospital at 4:30am for a total knee replacement. He stressed me out so much with his worry and frantic energy. I understand what you had to go through. Hope you are all settled in now and feeling better!! Your little kitty will settle in I am sure once it knows it is safe and with you.

George, I'm with you.

On the positive side, it has never been easier to book, to save, to amass rewards, to navigate around with the latest book and movie in our device and find restaurants hotels...anything. We have it made in the shade. I've had my shit- lost stolen destroyed and I went out and replaced it best I could and wait until the AMX bill comes to bellow. Life is about dealing with stuff. Most of our tales at cocktail parties are the misadventures not the smooth sailing. I would like to kick some terrorist ass but then those miserable bastards are not gonna ruin my good time. So Me and the family jewels will get x-rayed and maybe one day it will give me some super powers. My spider sense is tingling. It must be happy hour. Wearing my J Peterman Picasso shirt today and sitting at Sam's, a local haunt with a marvelous sunset view & the turkey Rueben is groovy.

O yes, I remember now. Topic. I have memories of 1960 travel from East Africa. I was only a kid, but I'm sure I saw I saw folding money passing hands.

Bribery in certain cultures not only acceptable but expected. My Jewish partner's Dad paid off a smuggler to buy a seal for their luggage from a Nazi on the take. It was a scary ride from Vienna to Holland but it worked. It would be worth a few ducats to pass goal.

It's duvet time in Wales. Thanks so much for your kind cuddles today. Nos da!

Hazel:  I had a something that I wanted to send to you a couple of months ago, but given how confused our little post office fellow got the last time I mailed to Wales, and now that you're moving, I will wait till you're settled in the new place, and then we can call it a kind of housewarming gift.  I'll get Bri to do his famous plastic wrap on the contents...that boy loves Saran wrap, as you well know....I asked Britta what she thought, cat to cat, about relocating Cocoacat, and Brit said CC will be just fine, so long as you're happy and relaxed and - very important - that you don't forget CCat's food dish, or forget to let her sleep with you every night as usual.  So says my Britta who knows about things like this....  xx

I had a dream of Africa... ;)

Not I, you - Hazel.  I couldn't have a dream of much anywhere exciting, unless you consider Tomah Wisconsin to be a hot spot. ;)

Tomah has the TeePee steak house.  Great place to grab a table

Paolos ~ But of course!

We slept in the car at the truck stop by the highway just outside Tomah.  Our car had issues;a guy named Wayne said he'd go and get the part we needed, be back in a jiffy said he, and it wasn't until the next day at noon that Wayne showed up, with that part.  He stopped off for a few he said, which we figured, since he had our money and we only had his word, but his rationale was that he couldn't work on the car till morning anyhow, so a few pops that night wouldn't hurt.  It hurt those 5 of us in the car, we had cramped parts that we didn't even know we had.  I'm just happy Wayne came back, one more night (it was a Sunday, nothing open) in the Tomah truck stop - oh, it wouldn't have been good at all.

"Is that a Homer Simpson Pez in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"...............
 
HAZE.................I am making you a burrito.........PARK...............you is on a roll..............
 
YASEMIN....................and if you check out the Israeli plane safety record, I'd say it was well worth the inconvenience...................................

A person half as tough and determined as Hazel, Chef Deb, Andy, Park- bench and many of the rest of you, would still be twice as tough as me.
I actually demanded out of a contrast MRI that was delayed to fourteen fasting hours and at the one hour point in a forty minute procedure, said: "Get me out of this goddam thing now!"

Tomah, WI., the Paris of the midwest.

At the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, my
carry-on was searched 3 times, I was patted down by a female security guard and
my large checked bag was shrink-wrapped and sealed after its contents were
thoroughly searched. I was strongly advised not to tamper with the seal, and to
hand the sealed bag to the service rep at the check-in counter.

When the taxi dropped us off at the air terminal entrance,
there were armed guards who made the the taxi driver and his vehicle had
proper  ID; were we allowed only a few
minutes to exit and grab our belongings before the driver was waved away.

Carol, perhaps you did not pass the sniff test. Even walking
through a recently fertilized lawn will set those "chemical sniffers" off.

Hazel, hope things go well for you.

Spring, I'm curious about your son's metal rod in his spine...if you don't mind me asking, (please feel free to ignore me if this is an imposing question) how is your son getting along with that surgery? I have scoliosis myself, an S curve, and I passed up that surgery twenty years ago but I struggle terribly now. Eventually, I won't be able to avoid it anymore. There are good days and bad, but in every day there is some level of pain. I've never known anyone personally to have had the surgery and I wonder what I really have to look forward to. As for now, I have regular MRI's and get epidural shots from my neck to my tailbone. It's a real kick in the ass.
Hazel, I do feel for you...I hate that you had that kind of day with out someone there to make sure you got home ok. I'm sure you have a lot of anxiety about moving, but think of it as an adventure...like moving off to college, only better. Being closer to family will help you stay mobile and you'll have help in doing things outside of the home. Even in a smaller home, you will find a way to garden somehow :) Maybe african violets, or orchids, or try something like this~
http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-fairy-garden.html

www.windowfarms.org/stories

paolos...you really ought to be a stand-up comedian!  You are so quick and funny!  (And I hate to hear what you'll say about that!)

Spring, same happened to me when I had Herrington rods in (they are out now, thank God!).  I didn't have a doctor's note, though and although this was the 1080's I did set off a few alarms and have to get "wanded!"

Mooseloop, you must be an ATL native.  Seems we all go through there at some point in our lives!

See!  George H. is there, too!

Georgia, I think you would win this contest hands down.  (Love Vidalias, too!  So sweet!)

Graygoose and korthal, sorry but I had to snoop on the photos!  Just beautiful!

paolos strikes again (love the TSA UTUBE)!

Hazel, you know that we love you and that we are here for you...even to share in misery!  All for one and one for all.  I hate that you had such a miserable time.  Of course, the bad part for me would have been the needle (a needle-phobe), but then that's over much more quickly than an MRI.  Just imagine we are all there holding your hand.  Besides, you can always window garden, container-garden, and Coco will find new and exciting adventures in a new place.  Here's to you...may you live long and prosper!

Mooseloop has it right...that's what friends are for, Miss Hazel!

Road Yacht, after too many years of travel, I'm with you!  Now if I could just get the family to agree that an RV is the way to go, we'd all live well and have no problems whatsoever.  That said I'd park the RV at my destination in the parking lot of the nicest hotel or condo I could find!  RVs are great for the road and a few overnights, but after that I want my civilization on a room-service platter!

paolos, you are on a roll today.  Miss Hazel, we all love you (like Judy Collins so beautifully sang the Lennon-McCartney song).  paolos, thanks for sharing.  This one's a keeper!

Graygoose, are those epidurals anything like facet joint injections?  If so, you have my complete and total sympathy!!!!  I understand the surgery is much improved over when I had it (mine was for a broken back, but it is the same surgery...just with a bit of a fusion where they removed the burst vertebrae).  Spring, you're closer to it than I, time-wise.  What's your take?

Coming to this discussion a day late (and more than a dollar, and much much more than a few marbles short), I see everything I said above has already been said.  Regardless, Miss Hazel, I think you are a class act and will do what you think you should.  You will prevail, regardless of your choice, and you will be content with it.  That just seems to be the way you are...an all around lovely woman; the kind of person we all aspire to be!

Wordy me!

As for airport stories, pre-9/11 even, in a small airport call Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, WA a guard watched me go into a concession and buy a sealed bottle of water.  When I got to the check out, I was alone, yet he made me open the bottle and drink from it, In case there was a flammable fluid in there."

No problem, although I thought him a bit of an idiot, I forgave him because he lived downwind of Hanford Nuclear Site.  After I had walked through the x-ray with no problems, he made me come back and take off my shoes, "in case I had a fuse in there" (you know, to go with the flammable fluid I had just purchased).

No problem.  Took them off, ran them through the belt, went through again with no trouble...and was sent back again (this time for my laptop---seems putting it through in the belt in a case was wrong).  So I took it out, put it in the little container they give you for those, put my shoes in another, put the bottle in another, and ran them through again.  Walked through again and...

Yep.  Had to go back and take my jewelry off (might have a timer to go to the fuse to go to the flammable fluid I had just purchased while he was watching).  By this point a line had formed and I was being given the eye like I was a mad bomber or a suicide looking for the spot marked "X."  I knew better than to make a joke, but I just had to ask him if he would be satisfied if I stripped buck-naked, put everything in bins, and climbed on the belt myself and went through.  The entire crowd burst into laughter and, red-faced, he finally let me through.

Give a little person a little power and you will get another Hitler.  If no-one protests they only grow....

BTW, Pooka reports will now be in my notebook for those interested.  I don't want to bore everyone with daily updates of my dog's health!