Don't know why there's no sun out in the sky.....

......stormy weather! Yes, we have had quite the weather today, a tornado came through the vicinity and did a bit of damage to trees, houses and a local High School. Fortunately, my house is safe, no damage to my locality. But the tornado sirens sent me racing to the basement, not once, but twice. It's still raining as I write this and it's a bit dark outside, but at least it's cool and pleasant and not too cold and not too hot. This is only the second time since moving here that bad weather has sent me rushing to the basement. There was quite a bad storm in May that caused the sirens to go off and send me downstairs and that one ended up causing quite a bit of severe flooding to the area. Tonight's storm wasn't as bad as far as that is concerned, but I think that it is safe to say that it was at least an F1 tornado, what I generally call a "tree twister" as opposed to a "house smasher", the more severe variety of tornado. The funnel cloud has blown itself out now and we're all safe and sound here in my hometown. Just so you all know.....

Lately, my right elbow has been bothering me. The pain seems to be located at the bottom of the triceps muscle close to the joint capsule. No idea what is wrong, but it's nothing that I can afford to address medically. I still owe a fair amount of money on my recent shoulder rehab, so I can't really afford to rack up more expenses on another round of PT. It's a shame that our country makes patients pay so much of their own medical bills, but conservatives think that is the best answer to our health care woes: make patients have some financial skin in the game. The trouble is that if people think that they're going to have to face a huge sticker shock for health care, they are less likely to seek it out until they are too sick or an injury has festered for so long that, by the time they seek treatment, they are so far gone that it's very expensive to treat, so an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's cheaper to treat something in its early stages than to wait until it's expensive to treat, but unfortunately, the "free market, no government" types out there are determined to make the market determine the prices of health care. They think that it's perfectly acceptable for patients to pay through the nose for health care and for providers to profit handsomely from people's misfortunes. Unfortunately, it seems quite likely that our system will remain in place permanently. Single payer/a national health plan is but a distant dream that will likely never happen. So I am stuck with a painful elbow that I can't afford to get treated. I guess I'd better find some good natural remedies that are cheaper than seeing a specialist.