After 34 years in the classroom and lab teaching biology, I'm ready to get back to traveling and camping and hiking. It's been too long of a break. I miss the outdoors and you can follow my wanderings on this blog.
I kinda think it does particularly since I didn’t have to erect it, decorate it, nor will I have to take it down. The costs are as follows:
Royal Fir tree $850
Ornaments $1500
Florals, pics, ribbons $800
Consultation $150
Set up $875
Take down $400
Total $4575
AJ showed up around 9 am with Marco and Roberto and got right into it. They were finished by 10:30 am and did a pretty good job of cleaning up after themselves, however, I’ll be cleaning glitter for the next 5 years.
Neither Roberto nor Marco spoke much English but AJ was very patient with them and also was careful to show them how to do a procedure. I assume he is training this crew. I was his only set up today and the rush is nearly over for him.
Pulling out the ornaments, pics and ribbonsMe and AJ with finished productAJ, Roberto and Marco
There’s so much to see it’s hard to focus in on any one thing.
A nod to my hiking and camping days.Duh!
The ribbon on the tree is almost the Agnew tartan.
I didn’t do anything except work on addressing my holiday cards (late this year) and I’m exhausted. AJ wants me to buy some long, low plastic storage cases for the ornaments, pics, and ribbons as well as bubble wrap. Apparently, you layer ornaments, not individually wrap them.
I spent some time breaking down all the cardboard boxes except for the tree box. I’ll look into getting a duffel bag for the tree instead of the box which will let me store it more easily.
Yes, I know people will think I’ve lost my mind spending that amount of money on the tree but the only thing I’ll pay for next year is set up and take down. It brings me joy and that’s reason enough to be exorbitant. I only hope Wade likes it.
I was right, it was a very busy day. I got out of bed by 5:30 and started the coffee and poured my cereal. I didn’t have time to walk today so I went directly into the half grapefruit and second coffee. By the time I showered and shaved, I had a text from AC/DC Pools that a worker was on his way to repair my pool heater.
He showed up just before I needed to leave for the dentist so I left him working on it. I was about half way to the dentist when he texted me the cost ($309) which included the call out and the part + labor. It beats replacing the circuit board or replacing the pool heater. I’m on my third heater since 1995. The real problem comes with the next gas bill. The water heater, the dryer and the pool heater are all gas and when I turned the heater on today, it was 73°F. That’s a far cry from me swimming at 84°F. I may have to go back to work to pay the gas bill.
Roz was my dental hygienist. She’s excellent and is very gentle and constantly pays attention to what she is doing. I’ve had hygienists that aren’t careful and don’t look at what they are doing and they hurt. Roz is a keeper. D. Palenzuela gave me a clean bill of health.
I then stopped in to mail some materials through the UPS store. I asked the clerks about the car wash I saw on the way in and they highly recommended it. It was so popular there was a line half way down the block so I put that on the back burner.
I made it home in time to get a quick nap in before leaving for the iron infusion. Today was the last of the infusions. I can’t say I’m sorry. The nurses are so nice but I prefer not having to go into the cancer center so frequently. My next visit is to see the hematologist/oncologist, Dr. Velez on the 17th.
I got into a discussion with Pat about Christmas trees and she told me she tried for years for a different tree every year but soon gave that up. One that she did was peacocks made from real peacock feathers. I told her I was told as a child that peacock feathers are bad luck to have in a house. She was horrified. I think she’s going home today and clean the birds out of the attic. Is the idea of peacock feathers in a house a Southern thing?
After leaving the cancer center, I made a stop at Walgreens to pick up a prescription. Traffic has certainly picked up since October and you can’t be in a hurry anywhere on the roads of Fort Lauderdale. For some reason, everyone seemed to be driving very slow today – or they were texting and driving.
Tomorrow is AJ and the tree decorating. I’m stoked to see what he does and how he interprets what I want. I do know he selected some red and gold ornaments and since I have some Scottish blood, he’s doing some ribbons and bows with a tartan flair. Too bad it’s probably not the Agnew tartan. I particularly like the motto of the Agnew clan. “By Wisdom, Not By Force.” I think the Agnew colors would look good on a Christmas tree.
Movie night with Chris and Tucker should be quite festive. The tree may look so real I’ll have to admonish Tucker not to mark it as territory.
Thursday, I do battle with a new Jeep place to replace the left headlight, oil and filter change, lube job and change the AC filter. Who knows how much that will cost me or even if they can get it done in one day. When I do eventually get home, it’ll be time to make my homemade eggnog.
Friday, Nancy and Michel are coming over for nog and the tree and Saturday is boat parade at Secret Garden. After this week, I would collapse but next week is not much better.
My calendar is undergoing a crisis. First, I had the wrong date for the Christmas tree installation and now my dental appointment has changed from today to tomorrow at 9:30. I also have my last iron infusion at 2 pm. It’ll be a busy day for me tomorrow. I really hate having two events in one day – this was even before chemotherapy. When I was working, I could handle numerous different events during the day but for some reason when I retired, I found I didn’t like doing that anymore. I do like my afternoon naps!
On my walk this morning (1.5 miles) I found a new plant in a neighbor’s yard that is known for unusual plants. It’s Clerodendrum trichotomum or Harlequin Glorybower. It’s a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) and is native to Asia.
Harlequin Glorybower (Clerodendrum trichotomum)
When I first moved in to my house in 1995, a neighbor gave me a cutting of a Clerodendrum, in this case, C. quadriloclare or Bronze-leafed Clerodendrum or Shooting Star.
Bronze-leaf Clerodendum/Shooting Star (Clerodendrum quadriloclare)
You have to be careful with this one because it spreads via underground shoots and can take over a yard. It produces red berries. It’s native to New Guinea and the Philippines.
Just next door to the C. trichotomum was a yard they had planted a white poinsettia.
They adapt well to the South Florida environment and as you can see, photoperiodism is not a problem here. There are also some red poinsettias to the right. I’ve seen some poinsettias large enough that they form a hedge.
Now that I don’t have a dental appointment, I need to bring down the tree decorations from the overhead so I don’t have to get up early Wednesday to do that. All day yesterday I thought it Monday and it seems today I think it’s Wednesday. I’m getting too old to get up on a ladder so I need to find a better storage place than the overhead in the utility room.
My cousin Jimmie gave me the sad news that Susan Waldrop Riley passed away. I knew Susan when she was at Morton High School and she married Tommy Puckett (somewhat of a scandal). Tommy was known as a player but he fell head over heels in love with Susan. Tommy and Susan both went to Ole Miss, Tommy for Pharmacy and Susan for Nursing. I was on a strict budget (soup and crackers was the main meal of the day) and when Tommy and Susan found out, they always offered me rides back to Morton and never asked me for gas money. Not only that but we would stop in on the Natchez Trace for gas and snacks and Tommy always bought them for me. Both were very kind. Later Tommy was died in a car wreck and Susan eventually remarried. As we get older, we’ll see more and more of our friends pass away.
Last night at Secret Garden was very nice. It was Barb’s first time and I think she enjoyed the food. My personal take was it wasn’t as good as in the past but you can’t beat the scenery. The conversation flowed very easily and even though we arrived a little after 6 pm for a 6:30 reservation, Yelena seated us immediately. We lingered until well after 8 pm and didn’t feel rushed at all.
Barb and I go back a long way and we’ve always had the ability to talk to each other over any topic, sensitive or otherwise. We experienced a lot of things together such as a Keith Harring exhibit that didn’t take place, several art shows and she told me last night I had introduced her to the Design District of Miami years ago. She’s always been there for me and I hope she thinks I’ve always been there for her. She’s a great friend.
I seem to have the date wrong for AJ to install the Christmas tree. It’s now Wednesday, the 11th. I’ve learned over the years not to be too sure of myself with my calendar. I think I’m putting the date in correctly but err. This isn’t a peculiarity of old age, just lack of attention to detail. I had to reschedule my Jeep maintenance to Thursday, the day after the tree installation. Just about every time in the past that I vociferously protested someone had the wrong date and time, it was me.
I’m glad I didn’t pull all the decorations down from the overhead in the utility room this morning. Smartly, for me, I moved the tree box into the living room but left everything else in the overhead in case he didn’t show. Sometimes I have a good idea.
Day before yesterday, I showed you a photo of the poinsettia that Chris gave me. The genus Euphorbia is pretty common in the southeastern U.S. When I moved to my current location, I found fire-on-the-mountain blooming in the yard.
Fire-on-the mountain (Euphorbia cyathophora)
All Euphorbias I know have a milky, latex sap when you break off a stem or leaf. There’s even a song called “Fire-on-the-Mountain” written by George McCorkle of the Marshall Tucker Band but I don’t think the lyrics refer to the plant but to an actual fire on a mountain.
There’s also snow-on-the-mountain and I’ve seen it in the southeast but this photo is from Mineral Wells, Texas.
Of course, the showy parts of the poinsettia, fire-on-the-mountain and snow-on-the-mountain are not flower petals but bracts. The flowers are located in the center of the bracts.
You can just make out the red bracts of fire-on-the-mountain. The flower has no petals, just pistil or stamens. The flower in the middle is a male flower with stamens and you can see a female flower just to the right with only ovary and lobes (typically 3) to the stigma.
On a different topic but related to a past post, I remembered two more poop stories. Mother really believed in spring cleaning and that including me and Archie. We would come down for breakfast and the dreaded bottle of castor oil was on the breakfast table. It got so bad, she had to chase me down to force the spoon down my throat. Finally, she resorted to sneak attacks and put it in orange juice. It turned me off orange juice for quite a few years.
The other story was her belief in laxatives. She took them regularly and I seemed to develop sympathetic bowel movements with her. I was a freshman at Ole Miss when all of a sudden I had this urge to defecate, defecate, defecate. After voiding, I got on the phone and called Mom and asked if she had taken a laxative today and she said yes. I know men can have sympathetic labor pains but I think I’m the first to have sympathetic bowel movements due to laxatives.
After meeting Chris, Ivan and Gigi while taking out the bins for pickup, later that afternoon I got a call from Chris asking if I would be home. She dropped off a beautiful poinsettia. What’s interesting is I was just in Publix on Thursday and thought about purchasing one.
I put it on the patio table because I’ll see it more frequently than if I put it on the front porch. Also, it’s under the awning on the patio and the sunlight is perfect for it. Poinsettias are photoperiodic which means they have to have exactly the right amount of daylight and dark periods to “bloom.” Nurseries that raise them in greenhouses can have their entire crop become a failure if someone flips a light switch at the wrong time, resetting the internal clock.
The plant is native to Mexico and Central America and was introduced into the U.S. by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico in 1820. I think you can figure out on your own from whence the name of the plant is derived.
After the holidays, I’ll try to find an appropriate place in the yard to plant it. There are several houses in the neighborhood that have them planted and they will bloom down here in South Florida.
This morning’s walk was great. I managed 1.4 miles and ran into Gigi whose was dressed to the nines for an open house. She had been to Art Basel yesterday and was wearing tennis shoes for comfort while walking Milo. You can put some miles on your tootsies at Art Basel and she had sore feet. She’ll change her shoes for the open house.
I also met Mary walking her dog and we both commented on the weather at the same time. This time of year is the perfect temperature with sunny days, cool nights and mornings and the smell of salt on the air from the Ocean. It’s perfect weather for sitting on the patio for a grapefruit half and the second cup of coffee.
Next week is hectic. Sunday, A.J. comes to set up the tree. Monday is a dental appointment and Vietnam Vets are coming by for a pickup, Tuesday is an iron infusion, Wednesday is taking my Jeep in for service (no, not to the previous dealership) Friday Nancy and Michel are coming over, and Saturday is boat parade at Secret Garden with Jim, Holley, Tom, and Kurt. Sunday, I collapse in bed.
Tonight is Secret Garden with Barbara. It’s a great time of year to sit outside along the intercostal.
I tried everything to stay awake last night but finally succumbed at 8:30 pm. Of course, I was awake at 1:30 am. I decided not to try the sleeping pill again and just tough it out and I did finally doze off and get almost 8 hours of sleep. My energy level is back to what it was two days ago.
One thing that kept running through my mind was I needed to put out the garbage and yard waste bins this morning. I would have done it at 1:30 am but I didn’t want to wake my neighbor Mary Kay by rolling them past her windows. Anyway, I got out of bed at 6:30 am and took the bins out. You never know when they will be buy to pick them up.
While putting the last one on the curb, I ran into Chris, Ivan, Gigi, Tucker and Milo. I was freezing to death because the sun had just come up and I was in shorts but I stopped to talk with them for a minute or two before rushing back inside. The heat is getting a work out in my house.
By the time I was ready for my morning walk (1.3 miles) the sun had warmed things considerably and I thoroughly enjoyed the walk. On the way, I spotted a white bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai).
It’s kind of the more dowdy version of the bird of paradise.
Bird of Paradise – most common genus is Paradisaea. There are 17 genera and 45 species according to Wikipedia.
My friend Rob Nathans used the white bird as his muse for many of his paintings and lithographs.
I think Rob liked them over the bird of paradise because the white bird is a little tatty and torn and looks like it has been through a lot – like Rob had.
Biologically, yesterday was weird. I pooped five times. Normally, I usually have two bowel movements a day but I set a record and they were all very healthy sized pellets. It’s strange I go from diarrhea to constipation to five bowel movements in one day. Poop seems to rule my life.
I don’t know if Mother put me in a potty training dress or not but it seems my life is fated to revolve around feces. She checked Archie and me for worms every year by having us drink two bottles of citric acid mixture. Trust me, that’s a lot for a young kid. We pooped for days. Filling up those little round cardboard stool samples wasn’t a problem.
On the rare days I was constipated, she would give me enemas. Mother was a big believer in colonics. I was not a fan.
I think Rocky thought I was a little bit nuts chastising him if he pooped in the house but praising him for pooping on walks and then picking up his poop and carrying it home. Actually, when you think about it, it is kind of crazy.
I’ve been hospitalized twice in my life (if you don’t count St. Joseph’s Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi in 1948) and both times were due to dehydration from diarrhea. So maybe you can see why I wax eloquently about solid poop five times a day.
I didn’t sleep well last night. Around 1:30 am I took a Temazapan to get to sleep. The only problem with that is I felt hung over all morning long. I didn’t walk and I didn’t do yoga. Basically, I was a slug. I crawled back into bed around 9:30 and napped until a little after 10. Just to be safe, I set an alarm for 12:30 pm in order to make it to the 2 pm iron infusion.
Pat was my nurse again and we traded Thanksgiving stories. Wade’s bird turned out delicious. Pat’s was burned to a crisp. It’s not like she doesn’t know how to cook a turkey but her oven readout wasn’t working. She used a meat thermometer but by the time she first stuck it in the bird, it was too late. She thinks that something went wrong with the oven temperature when the readouts stopped working.
The iron infusion was over quickly. Only one more to go (next week) and I’m done until I see Dr. Velez again on the 17th.
I needed to pick up some booze and groceries on the way home. It’s not like it sounds. I usually make homemade eggnog for Christmas holidays and New Years. I needed a dozen eggs, confectioners sugar, 2 quarts heavy cream. The recipe calls for raw eggs and it’s not a cooked eggnog. What it does call for is 6 cups of bourbon or rum. I use Jack Daniels. Six cups is enough to kill any bacteria on the planet. You start with egg yokes and then add two cups bourbon, 1 pound confectioners sugar, the cream and let that sit covered for an hour. You then add the other 4 cups and fold in the egg whites. Trust me, it’s potent but absolutely delicious. I haven’t killed anyone with it yet and I pretty much make it every year. You then grate nutmeg over the top of your glass of nog.
I stopped at 5 Guys for a burger and fries and a root beer. The one I go to has gone downhill. The fries were lukewarm and the burger was just blah. Either that or I haven’t recovered my taste for beef.
Sunday, AJ is supposed to show up at put up the tree and dress it. I can’t wait to see what he does. I, of course, saw what he purchased to go on the tree but you never can tell what the final product will look like. Pics will be posted on Sunday.
Tonight was movie night with Chris and Tucker. We watched Babette’s Feast, a 1980’s art film about a French chef who escaped the French Revolution to a place off of Jutland. She wins the French lottery of 10,000 francs and makes a feast for two spinster sisters to honor their father. It’s slow moving and the objective of the movie is not apparent until the closing scene.
I remember sitting through this movie years ago and then going out to eat with a friend where we tried to do the movie justice at a restaurant. It’s not everyone’s taste but I like the film.
I did some computer work this afternoon and some house cleaning. It kept me busy and I didn’t get a nap in. I’ll probably sleep pretty well after two glasses of wine. I shared some of the chocolates from See’s that Wade brought me with Chris. These are really the very best chocolates I’ve eaten. Wade always brings me a two pound box when he visits.
The weather is what we refer to as Chamber of Commerce weather. It’s a great mix of cool temps in the morning and only in the low 80’s during the day. I managed a 1.4 mile walk along Riverland today and – wait for it – did yoga today! I think I may be getting back to normal – as normal as it gets for me.
Tomorrow is another iron infusion (one more to go after this one) and then just checkups with the oncologist and the surgeon.
Saturday, Barbara and I are headed to Secret Garden for dinner. It should be perfect weather sitting outside along the intercostal.
We were up by 6 am and I had Wade at the United terminal by 6:55. He wanted some extra time to get through TSA and based on the traffic, there were plenty of people flying back home after Thanksgiving and he’ll need the time with TSA.
I came back home and started some wash. I was needing some coffee, Raisin Bran, grapefruit and more coffee. I’ll plan on a nap this afternoon.
We watched a movie last night, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, based on Tchaikovsky’s original. It’s noted for having males for most of the female parts and its homoeroticism. I was a little skeptical but it turned out to be a really well done movie. It was the longest running ballet on London’s West End. I headed to bed immediately after the movie and I think Wade turned in soon after.
I knew I needed to balance my checking account for November. When I looked, I had not balanced the September, October nor November. It was a little tricky putting in items that I had not entered into checking and then looking at the credit card charges. All came out OK but I won’t know for 100% until the December statement.
In my defense, the statements come out one or two days at the first of the month. In August, I was in the hospital with dehydration (3 days). I have no idea what happened in September and October other than I blanked out. November was more up to date.
My meeting with Dr. Dunhill went well other than filling out forms that I had previously filled out online. He’s pleased with my progress and made no changes. Upon the recommendation of my endocrinologist, I asked for an appointment with a urologist. Dr. Dunhill said that was prudent but asked that I do another PSA test in a month to have two sets of data to present to the urologist.
Later, Holy Cross confirmed an appointment in March. That’s pretty good considering the last urologist I tried to schedule was 6 months out.
On the way home I stopped by Whole Foods and did some grocery shopping. I finished with the laundry and even managed to trim some palm trees and wild lime for bulk trash pickup tomorrow. My only question is what is for dinner?
Flanigans was packed last night with a 30 minute wait. When we got seated, we had an excellent waitress and the food was good as usual. You rarely get a bad meal at this place.
Wade watched the San Francisco 49ers play the Buffalo Bills and was heartbroken at the loss for his team. I think it’s funny that he talks at the television all during the game.
This morning we headed to Whole Foods to see about a standing rib roast for Christmas. I’ve already gotten confirmation with Joel, Keith, Tom, and Kurt. Barbara is a definite maybe. Wade and I decided the rib roast would be appropriate for Christmas and with the drippings, Wade will attempt a Yorkshire Pudding. Looks like we are going to do merry olde England for Christmas.
I have to wait until December 4th to order and you do it online. You can choose the date of pickup and also the number of ribs. We talked to the head butcher who was very helpful. He said for 7 people 4 ribs would be plenty. You get 2 servings per rib.
My endocrinologist, Dr. Jellinger, was very pleased with my blood work. He thinks my increase in energy is due to a higher ejection fraction for my heart, the iron infusions, and the Jardiance he prescribed. I’ll see him in 4 months. He’s asked me to participate in a Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) service that will tie in to a national data base. He thinks remote monitoring is the future of medicine. I’m already enrolled in a similar plan with the VA.
Tomorrow is a wellness check with Dr. Dunhill. Jellinger wants Dunhill to recommend a urologist because my PSA was elevated. It’s still within the normal range but the increase is concerning. I see Dunhill after I drop Wade off at the airport.
I decided to give Wade his Christmas gift early and I purchased a ticket to the Nutcracker by the San Francisco Ballet. He sees it every year and I thought I could save him the ticket cost. I suspect the San Francisco Ballet puts on one of the best.
I’m not sure what we’ll do for the rest of the day but I may do some more yard work. It was 54°F this morning and the weather is beautiful, sunny, and cool. No better time to do yard work.
