Hey, everyone. Just catching up on the comments from the last post, which are infuriating. Or rather, infuriating and sobering, and I’m speaking about Little Bird’s Medicaid issues and Sherri’s husband’s cancer care. Strength and courage to both of you. It so happens I just saw a social-media post by a friend and former colleague who works for Easter Seals in Indiana. It details the loss of services and benefits for a young woman with Down syndrome, one who lives in a group home and can’t take care of herself outside it. Down syndrome. I ask you.
All so that the Bezoses and Musks of the world can get a tax cut. Also, so we can wage a stupid, world-destabilizing war and build a ballroom. Well-done, America.
Sherri, best to you and your husband on this — and here I will deploy a term I despise — cancer journey. Everything is a journey these days. Your weight-loss journey. Your menopause journey. Unless it’s a season, which is also popping on those indices that track language. I hear it a lot from terminally online people making excuses for why they’ve decided to turn a blind eye to Tubby’s atrocities: It’s just that I have other things on my mind in this season. Ah, I see.
But all the good luck to Sherri and her husband. Immunotherapy is truly amazing. It’s why Jimmy Carter lived well past his announcement that he was receiving hospice care. My sister has a friend who’s lived so long (and well) on the immunotherapy drug Keytruda that she’s known as a Keytruda long-hauler.
OK, then.
Yesterday we went shooting.
I shot just OK, which I blame on the weather. I prefer to hit the sporting-clay range on warm winter days — around 40 degrees — when the walk between stations doesn’t feel punishing, and the sun, should it arrive, ditto. In my defense, I slept badly both Thursday and Friday nights and the humidity hit me hard. I was sweating so much my glasses wouldn’t stay up on my nose, which made my aim rather haphazard. Alan, on the other hand, worked out the rust on the first few stops and was hitting most targets cleanly by the end. Every time we do this I fantasize about getting a Browning over/under like Alan’s and practicing enough to get good, or at least better, at it. Then I consider the associated expense, and the cleaning, and the number of times I’d actually get out to a range, and think, nah. But it’s fun once in a while.
Also, I’ve watched enough cop shows and Tarantino movies that I kinda fantasize about one of those pump-action Mossbergs, decidedly not a sporting-clays gun.
Today we’re headed to a pool party, so I should probably pack a bag. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain.
And let’s hope for a good week ahead, with lots more GOP missteps as the midterms approach.
Jeff Gill said on September 13, 2026 at 4:44 pm
Or Chuck Connors and his Winchester Model 1892 lever-action carbine. You watch those episodes of “The Rifleman” as a kid, and that one sticks with you.
https://www.metv.com/stories/chuck-connors-said-the-rifle-in-the-rifleman-was-important-to-the-series
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Deborah said on September 13, 2026 at 4:49 pm
Today there was the tiniest hint of fall in the air in Chicago. Now it’s raining, not a lot yet but there’s more a’coming. It looks like we’re out of the 90s for sure and maybe even the upper 80s, I don’t want to jinx it though.
It’s frustrating how much harder it is to bounce back from health issues and procedures at my age. My colonoscopy has hampered my walking, I try to walk 10,000 steps a day, which for me is 4.5+ miles, but since Friday I’ve only been able to walk at the most 2 miles a day so far. That’s the only thing I do for exercise so I need to get back to normal soon. I like to think of myself as fit and trim for my age but how much longer can I claim that? And if I’m honest with myself I’m not that fit, especially upper body. I’ve got some weights, I need to start using them.
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David C said on September 13, 2026 at 5:01 pm
I’m having surgery early next year (nope, no waiting in our glorious health care system, but at least I’ll be on Medicare by then), to have a stapedectomy to replace one of the bones in my middle ear. It should restore my hearing to normal old man levels. I was given a choice between conscious sedation or a local. I chose sedation, but considering your experience, Deborah, I may choose the local. The thought of someone digging around in my ear while I was fully awake creeped me out, but maybe waking up in the middle of someone digging around in my ear will change my mind.
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Julie Robinson said on September 13, 2026 at 6:58 pm
Omigoodness, I’m just checking in and learned all this horrific news. Sherri, that is a daunting diagnosis, but it does sound like you and his doctors are on top of things. I know what you mean about it taking all your time; I joke that I know my way around this new town by doctors’ offices.
Little Bird, I’m so, so sorry for the fight that is to come. I guess our country’s new motto is make America mean again. My sister would have needed Medicaid had she not died, since she had a paltry pension and her Medicare disability took over two years to be granted. Unfortunately she’d be gone for eight months by then.
When I had my breast biopsy I was not given adequate numbing, kinda not believed when I told them, and then made to feel like I was taking up their precious time waiting for the new stuff to take effect. I mean, I wasn’t exactly having a good time hanging out on that table upside down with a hole cut out for my boob to stick through!
So I haven’t decided whether to submit my shoulder to the medical/industrial complex yet. It’s better every day, but I’m not sleeping well.
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Deborah said on September 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Julie, if you’re a side sleeper that’s the pits. I had a messed up shoulder for a while, I don’t even know what made it messed up. I went to physical therapy and that helped a lot, especially when at the end of each session they hooked me up to a fancy, powerful tens machine, that was the best feeling, so soothing.
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Gretchen said on September 13, 2026 at 11:43 pm
David C.: My daughter had one of the bones in her middle ear replaced a couple of years ago. I don’t know what kind of anaesthesia she got, but I think it was ok. She did complain that the sound was tinny and robotic the first few days and wondered if it was going to stay like that. It didn’t – it got better after a few days. So don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t sound good at first. She was able to toss her hearing aid! She lost hearing in that ear after a twin pregnancy – not sure if that was cause and effect or just coincidence.
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Gretchen said on September 13, 2026 at 11:47 pm
I was in the public library in my relatively affluent suburb, and they had a prominent display of resources to contact if your SNAP benefits got cut. Food banks and social services and such. I’ve never seen that before.
There was a debate for US Senate yesterday. The Republican, Marshall, claimed the cuts were to prevent fraud. He was roundly booed. In Central Kansas. The Democrat said 18,000 Kansas kids had their SNAP benefits pulled, was he trying to claim that those were all fraudsters? It was a very unfriendly crowd for the Republicans.
The Republican running for governor claimed that the Dem is in favor of kids getting transition surgery without parental permission. He didn’t quite go so far as to say they’re doing it during school lunch, but he’s dumb enough to believe that.
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Jeff Gill said on September 14, 2026 at 7:45 am
Adam Hamilton also got off some good lines getting the crowd into a call-and-response deal with the characters from “The Wizard of Oz” and what people in Washington need to deal with the giant head shouting “I am the great and powerful Ozzzzz….”
I’ve met him, can’t say I know him well, but he’s a mainstream mainline Protestant minister of what I’d like to call the best sort. Hoping he’s got the ruby slippers to take this all the way to the Senate.
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basset said on September 14, 2026 at 7:50 am
Nancy, we’ll have to get you and Alan to the rifle range next time you’re down here. And I have just the gun for you – a 1943 army rifle made by the Smith-Corona typewriter company.
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Icarus said on September 14, 2026 at 9:22 am
In the 90s i had an FOIC card and would go shooting with a former co-worker. I couldn’t hit the targets for shit but for some reason, I could hit the moving clay pigeons better than anyone in our group.
Have no idea why.
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Brandon said on September 14, 2026 at 1:57 pm
There was a debate for US Senate yesterday. The Republican, Marshall, claimed the cuts were to prevent fraud. He was roundly booed. In Central Kansas.
Some other reasons why he might have been booed.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/gop-senator-had-his-patients-arrested
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, whose record as a doctor is under new scrutiny after a New York Times investigation found that he sued more than 700 patients over medical debt, with 81 ultimately arrested after missing court dates.
Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-omIlVnNuHo&list=PLdXT8ySfDKu0&index=1
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Dexter Friend said on September 14, 2026 at 3:31 pm
I wish the best to Sherri’s husband and Little Bird. I have been absent here as I have been blocked. For eons I got a warning about suspicious url s here then this software blocked the site. For 6 months from 11:00 AM to noon I have been a contributor/guest on Craig Crawford’s TrailMix@cc.com YouTube show, There are usually 3 or 4 women and 2 or 3 men…political wonks there going over politics, cooking, literature, kids’ problems…but mainly polls and politics , Senate and House predictions. You will remember Crawford for his former work at The Orlando Sentinel, CNN, and a long stint on MSNBC. The show originates from his house in Washington DC, where he lives with husband David. Crawford proclaims he works for Truth & Social Security deposits. You can appear on camera, speak showing an avatar, or just comment to join the live fray. If you want to check it out, just search YouTube for “Craig Crawford”. The replay starts immediately at noon. You’ll see me chiming in at times under “Dexter Night Watchman”.
This should the link to today’s show…I come in late….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO5ycVcEwBU
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jcburns said on September 14, 2026 at 3:47 pm
Dexter, “this software blocked the site”…?
Just want to make sure you know: none of the software that’s running Nancy’s site would block you.
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nancy said on September 14, 2026 at 4:32 pm
Thank you for explaining that, JC. I don’t know what’s happening, but I’ve been hearing from people for a few months now that they’re being warned the site isn’t safe.
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Bob (not Greene) said on September 14, 2026 at 4:50 pm
My browser labels this site as “not secure.” Could it be because it lacks an https:// extension?
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David C said on September 14, 2026 at 5:16 pm
Looking for an alternative for Google, I tried Brave. It tells me this can’t be found. It works fine on Firefox, so nuts to Brave.
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Dave said on September 14, 2026 at 5:28 pm
It works for me on Brave, comes right up. I have had the not secure screen come up and I found that if I type in http://www.nancynall.com, rather than nancynall.com, the site comes up. I believe that happened using Chrome, I use Safari for most things.
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Little Bird said on September 14, 2026 at 6:43 pm
I spoke with my case coordinator this morning (a program within my state’s Medicaid system). She told me that the things I already have started to get rolling are exactly what I need to do. I have an appointment with a doctor this week (was set up over a month ago) and I intend to get a letter stating that I am in fact incapable of working. She told me to send her a photo of that letter and she will fax it in and make sure that it is in place for when I need to re-enroll.
But if I have to submit a new letter every six months…. I’m going to probably start screaming and won’t be able to stop. This whole situation is absurd. The stress from this is not helpful.
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Little Bird said on September 14, 2026 at 6:44 pm
I must have mistyped my email address…. I’m in moderation.
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Jakash said on September 14, 2026 at 6:56 pm
This “security” issue has gone on for a long time. J.C. has explained a number of times that it’s largely because nn.c. doesn’t have an https:// address. He’s also made it clear that it doesn’t *need* one, since we’re not dealing in sensitive financial info or the like around here.
I use Firefox with some kind of Norton security extension. Lots of times, I’ll be prevented from going straight to the site and told than nn.c. is “Not secure” and “Your connection is not private. Attackers might be trying to steal your information from nancynall.com (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards).”
Then, for whatever reasons, lots of times it does go straight through. When it’s held up, I’ll just google or Bing “nancy nall blog” and I think it always goes straight through when I use that route.
Of course, I’m frequently told by Norton how much of my personal information is readily available to evildoers (so that I’ll spend more money on Norton), but all that’s available here is the unpublished email address that the proprietress and J.C. have access to and this fake name. My email address is already known far and wide, needless to say, and I sometimes get phishing emails from myself via a spoofed address!
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Jeff Gill said on September 15, 2026 at 7:57 am
I have a stern chat with myself when I send me a phishing email, but it doesn’t seem to do much good.
Nancy has not yet, to date, messaged me asking for gift cards to be purchased for her on an emergency basis, the back to be scraped off and the numbers sent to her immediately. Unlike many clergy of my acquaintance… scammers love churches & parish communities. Plenty of trusting old people who barely are up to speed with how email works, but still are mobile enough to get to the big box or CVS to buy a handful of gift cards. [grrrrrrrrrr]
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jcburns said on September 15, 2026 at 8:28 am
I’m not delighted with Norton’s way of doing business, to say the least. Calling this site possibly “not secure” is complete garbage.
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Deborah said on September 15, 2026 at 10:09 am
It always says Not Secure for me, I’ve always ignored it.
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basset said on September 15, 2026 at 11:15 am
I get “site not found” here with Firefox on a MacBook… fine with Safari and on my phone.
Back to Chuck Connors for a minute… he is one of only thirteen men ever to play both major league baseball (Cubs and Dodgers) and basketball (Celtics).
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Deborah said on September 15, 2026 at 1:18 pm
If any of you are as puzzled as I’ve been this last week about the out of control AI scenario, a friend sent me this article today, which I found quite helpful. It’s rational and written in a way that doesn’t get bogged down in tech language https://www.levernews.com/the-ai-doomsday-distraction/
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