🌱 Time to start some seeds-perennials and flowers need a long runway before they grow large enough to plant. Sunblaster LED lights are the best I’ve found, expensive but extremely long lasting. Attach to a metal shelf unit and Jerry-rig supports to raise seed trays if needed. #gardening

Your medical records are already connected to your trained, licensed health providers if they use an EHR, an electronic health record. Ask them for help to connect or communicate from home. Don’t give your health info away to peddlers, scammers or spybots. #medsky #pharmsky #healthinformatics

Utterly the stupidest idea I have ever seen, in patient ”care”: allowing some tech bro who has never been sick, to set up automated refills of drugs! So who‘s sued for mistakes? I practiced in doc’s offices and long term care-many seniors need lower doses and fewer drugs, not autobot refills! 👹

"Over the last 30 years, I have hospitalized hundreds of children with complications from influenza, RSV, rotavirus and other vaccine-preventable diseases that have now been removed from the CDC schedule. I have never hospitalized a child from a vaccine reaction." abcnews.go.com/Health/pedia...

Meanwhile, among the still sane members of Congress: www.npr.org/2026/01/08/n... #healthcare #affordablecare #medsky #aca

Jay of the day with their eyes on the prize #birds

@tom.medsky.social @cidrap.bsky.social @shematologist.medsky.social #medsky @drjanicekirsch.bsky.social

Folks, please remember, AHIP said they would cover all vaccines that were recommended in Sept ‘25 til the end of 2026! Because MONEY, it costs more to have sick and disabled kids than paying for vaccines! www.ahip.org/news/press-r...

How do we prevent meningitis? Vaccinate! Look at these photos and fight for your right to vaccinate your children!

Copy Editing Matters, from HHS's release on the new childhood vaccine schedule: All the diseases will still be available to anyone who wants them

A couple very unexpected visitors at lunchtime at work today in San Marcos. I believe there may have been a ‘discussion’. The Red-shoulder was walking up the parking lot outside my window. Moments later a Red-tail flew down and R-s flew off. I never see them on the ground at home! 🪶 #raptors SoCal

My spouse and I have been together so long, we measure time in dogs, as in "We bought that table four dogs ago". 🐕🐕‍🦺🐶🐩

@nytimes.com @phileil.bsky.social @inquirer.com @pbsnews.org Tom Nguyen DO is a dedicated pediatrician who runs his own practice. #vaccinesmakeadults @cidrap.bsky.social

Four generations of my family have served our country. Service is in my blood. The President wouldn’t know anything about that.

Should be required when explaining medical numbers to patients! Bravo!

🌱 Reposting this, Master Gardener talk on gardening with climate change, from Portland area Master Gardeners, this coming Tuesday, free via zoom: washingtoncountymastergardeners.org/event/whats-...

🌱 Gift article from NYT: gentle thoughts on adjusting to climate change in your garden (It IS Sunday, after all) including some helpful links, by Margaret Roach. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/r... #gardening #climatechange

It's an old and obvious pattern. An unpopular president - failing on the economy and losing his grip on power at home - decides to launch a war for regime change abroad. The American people don’t want to “run” a foreign country while our leaders fail to improve life in this one.

Snowy Owl days are great days! 🦉 #Birds #Owls

Need a lift? Donate to World Central Kitchen @wck.org because someday when your area has a disaster, they will be there—no forms to fill out, no politicians arguing over the budget, no bills, no matter who you are. Compassion plus dinner! @wck.org #naturaldisasters #emergencyservices

This is so true. The more data we get, the more we're important, unanticipated protection www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/h...

The U.S. is starting to lose ”vaccine memory”. Only those 65 and older remember the horrible old days of entire winters where kids were home sick…the fear of polio ruining lives…diabetes triggered by viruses. #vaccinesmakeadults #medsky #pharmsky

Emergency feel-good content incoming! Mum and bub. Wild budgies at Mount Bryan East a few years ago.

Newspapers, magazines and other journals: make it easy to subscribe, and create a clear, understandable way to pay for it....or you deserve to die. There, I said it! Went ten rounds with local paper (still not resolved) and no idea of my status. They don't seem to know either. 😶

Wishing you all a fruitful & happy 2026 from the Gorge! (US Government photo from the now defunct Gorge air quality monitoring site) We've had a warm winter so far, and a few wildflowers are already blooming in some sheltered spots. Photos soon.

Read the first paragraph of the post….this doc can turn a phrase! Then call your Senators and US Rep and demand that we clean up the ACIP!

To see guidance, buried at bottom of CDC page, find it here: www.cdc.gov/covid/hcp/va....

Somebirdy is feeling sassy today! 🧡 That’s a lot of iridescence for a cloudy day! And those feets 🥰 A very appropriate perch - a Bird of Paradise leaf! #birds Allen’s hummingbird #backyardbirds

That RFK Jr would lie to Congress is not surprising. What is outrageous is that Congress is not holding RFK Jr accountable for lying to them. The U.S. Constitution depends on each branch of government holding the others accountable to protect our rights & freedoms. #DrPanForCongress #AmericanValues

A tally of the damage www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/o...

🌱 Clackamas County (Portland area) Master Gardener’s website, still more webinars, events. Winter’s a great time to learn, reflect and plan. clackamascountymastergardeners.org #gardening #mastergardeners

🌱 More free webinars, recordings…Portland area, Washington County. Here’s one on native plants, and another one is online with lists of resources. washingtoncountymastergardeners.org/wp-content/u... #gardening #mastergardeners

🌱 Free (recorded and live) webinars from master gardening groups, Portland area…Multnomah County: www.youtube.com/channel/UCJn... #gardening #mastergardeners

Congratulations to us on this public health failure 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️ This disease should be eradicated from the globe: -no animal reservoir -safe and effective vaccine The only reasons for persistence is conflict and anti-vaccine misinformation. So sad…😢

#BirdOfTheDay #BirdButts

Thinking about how hard it is for people in the U.S. to budget & accurately predict healthcare costs as I stare down this bill for my 2.5 y/o son's birth. Yes, 2.5 years later.

I commuted, worked rotating shifts and took 24 hour call in my career. Filling the crockpot before bedtime was one way to eat better. Meal prep (washing/cutting veggies, making batches of rice/carbs, stocking fruit, lean meat, spices) is another. And WFH can easily accommodate cooking AT home!

Some people may not realize that Tamiflu isn’t the only option. Other flu treatments are available in the United States. These alternatives sometimes fly under the radar. www.cnn.com/2025/12/26/h...

In 2021, @counterhate.com reported “Just twelve anti-vaxxers [including RFK Jr.] are responsible for almost two-thirds of anti‑vaccine content circulating on social media platforms” attacking #publichealth and endangering lives. #COVID19 #1MdeadAmericans counterhate.com/research/the...

🌱 PNW gardening

🌱 1/2 Spring garden plans: leeks! These are Bandits (from Johnny’s), overwinter well, dug yesterday. Wonderful rich yet delicate taste, use like onions, but milder. Great in soups, gratins, bouillibase, egg dishes, divine in stuffing. Grow in foot deep beds. Grown carefully, no dirt inside.

🌱 If you don’t want to grow veggies, grow bees! Monarda is bee-loved by native bees, honeybees and hummers. We need all the pollinators we can attract, to pollinate food crops.

🌱 Another seed catalog! Johnny’s has great seeds, service and resources in catalog and online, too. Especially love their Bandit leeks,, Skyphos lettuce and snapdragons (which winter over on pots, with unheated sheltervin Portland Area).

Another year almost over and I still haven’t made any progress on my book project. Sigh. #birds

🪴🌱🌿What are you all planning to grow in '26? Starting plants to set out later? Seeds? New stuff, or skipping old stuff?

The sentence Jeremy Faust MD is recommending for new vaccine hesitancy: open.substack.com/pub/insideme... @jeremyfaust.bsky.social @insidemedicine.skystack.xyz

An excellent experience this year was the birding cruise out of Bellingham where I got to see puffins for the first time. In this case, they were tufted puffins - seen at Smith Island in the Salish Sea. Such a fantastic day shared with my son, daughter-in-law, and good friend, Mary.