Category: Everything Fred

18 March 2025

I didn’t post yesterday. Things got too busy. More on that later.

Chicago will have to give up its title for Windy City. I think Fort Lauderdale can take that crown these days. We’ve had about two weeks of constant windy weather. There’s almost always a dead palm frond to pick up from around the pool.

The palms around the pool are Cabada palms and they shed their fronds unlike some palm trees that keep them on until they rot away. I like the self-shedding types since I don’t have to pay anyone to saw them off.

I’m beginning to get organized for my trip to Mississippi. I hate packing and tend to put it off until the last minute and thus overpack. The biggest pain is getting the medications ready for a week away from home. Regardless, this will be my first trip in quite a while.

I waited to post yesterday until I completed my cardiology appointment with a new cardiologist. My other one retired. Can’t say I blame him. The new one is Ethan Siev at Hollywood Memorial. It’s a very busy office with numerous physicians in that one office on the 6th floor but I was taken back early and Nurse Nancy took my information.

I’ve learned to print out all of that stuff even though it’s online. They ask you anyway. I think I like the new guy and will continue with him. I have two doctors associated with Hollywood Memorial, the cardiologist and the endocrinologist. Everyone else is Holy Cross.

Dr. Siev wants me to have another echocardiogram (it’s time) and gave me the option of doing it with Holy Cross where the others were done or have it done in office with him. I’ve opted to go with him. He can read Holy Cross reports but cannot see the images.

He also scheduled my next appointment 6 months from now and also scheduled me for a CT scan to determine my coronary calcium score. The only time it’s been done was in 2016 and it was high. He wants to see how much it has increased.

It was around 4:30 when I got back home and I started a home made beef stew (cooler weather on the way here). I got a phone call from Judith that Chris was in the emergency room at Hollywood Memorial and needed his phone charger. That makes two times I was there yesterday.

The entrance to the valet at the emergency room is misleading and, of course, I entered the wrong way. The valets were not in a hurry so it took time to give him the key fob and get the ticket. Then, the check-in for visitors took a lot of time. Finally, I got sent back to see Chris – and he wasn’t there.

Christina, his nurse, came in and told me that had trouble getting a vein for an IV and she was headed there to do it. She told me he would be back after a CAT scan – within 10 minutes. I hooked up his phone to the charger. True to her word, Chris came back in shortly. I visited a while and then headed back home – after another long wait with the valet.

I was wiped out so I ate some warm beef stew and went to bed. I dropped off to sleep immediately.

I’ll check on Judith and Chris later today but I also have another doctor’s appointment with the oncologist at 1:15 this afternoon. I slept late this morning and may even nap before the appointment.

Stay tuned!

16 March 2025

Considering I live only 4 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, I don’t get there very often. In most cases, I would be at a beachside restaurant and sometimes walk across A1A to put my feet in the sand, but that’s pretty much it. I think I did that two times this year.

That’s quite a change when I first moved here in 1985. I started with an invitation to Shark World down in the Keys which eventually became the Keys Marine Lab. From that event, I started taking students down to the lab for field trips where we would go both into Florida Bay and the Atlantic as well as snorkel in the canals leading to the Ocean.

I’m actually scuba dive certified back from the time I took students from Itawamba Junior College down to DeFuniak Springs to become scuba certified. I’ve only scuba dived once in the Florida Bay side with a student of mine looking for lobster. Almost anything you want to see you can see by snorkeling and tanks are a waste of time.

I suspect my lack of putting my feet in the Atlantic is like someone living in Orlando and not getting to Disney World or Epcot very often. Back in my younger days I would go to (then named) John U. Lloyd beach and sunbathe and then cool off in the Ocean. Then there’s Haulover Beach just south of Aventura which is the nude beach. No tan lines there. I would spend hours soaking up the rays and cooling in the Ocean.

The sun caught up with me and I’ve quit sunbathing. Instead of going into the Ocean, I jump in the pool. Besides, if I go to the Ocean, I would pay outrageous parking fees. I could get a resident pass but that’s more trouble than it’s worth for the few times I go to A1A and eat at restaurants.

Still the Ocean calls. I spent time in the Coast Guard in both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. I used to walk out onto the bow of the ship at night and look up to see the stars. The Milky Way was pretty obvious when you are in the middle of the Gulf.

I’ve seen both the Atlantic and Pacific but have never been in the Pacific. Too cold! I did stick a toe in one time. The best part of both regions of the Ocean are close to shore where you find more life forms. In the middle of the Atlantic, life forms are pretty rare.

To commemorate how close I live to the Ocean, I’ll jump in the pool and pretend it’s a saltwater pool and explore for marine life.

Stay tuned!

15 March 2025

Happy Birthday to my friend Jim who is 8 months older than I. I try not to let him forget it – his age, that is.

I was planning on kicking back today but forgot John was brining over BOGO from Honey Baked Ham and Nothing Bundt Cakes. He also brought over some Bun candy and some gooey brownies. Add that to my chocolate chip cookies and I have enough chocolate stash to last hurricane season starting in June. However, I doubt it will last that long.

We spent the day catching up and trying to get my new tv to work with Directv Stream app with no luck. We probably spent an hour on that.

We got into a discussion about how you used to have to change tubes in old tv sets. He came around during the age of transistors and didn’t realize old radio were tubes as well until the advent of transistors. I’m dating myself.

I’ve regaled you with the story of my brother building a home made crystal radio and having fun at my expense. I think I’ve also mentioned the tube transmitter we had in the Coast Guard aboard the CGC Reliance. It took forever to tune. You knew you were close when a window into a huge tube glowed cherry red.

When we asked for an upgrade to a transistor transmitter, the Eighth Coast Guard District laughed and said we had more up time with our transmitter than any ship in the fleet. It was far more reliable than transistor transmitters.

When our transmitter came on line, it could really put out the watts of power. We were stationed in Corpus Christi and they could hear us in Florida, the west coast of the U.S. and one time, due to atmospheric bounce, in the Indian Ocean.

High school physics in 1966 taught me a little about electronics. We studied Ohms law, series and parallel circuits. I think I remember the physics teacher passing around a tube one day and that was it. Somewhere in my high school years, transistor radios made it big because of their small size and ability to receive AM and FM.

There are a lot of things where old is better. Morse Code is an example. You can send and receive code messages much better with clearer atmospherics than any other form of communication. It’s still the most reliable form of long distance communication.

My big accomplishment today was trimming my finger nails and toe nails. I’ll add to that by taking a shower tonight and call it a day and head to bed and read a little.

Stay tuned!

14 March 2025

It’s official! Fort Lauderdale gets the most rainfall of any place in the U.S. based on cities of 100,000 population or more. According to the New York Times, we get 68.77 inches per year. As a matter of fact, Florida gets the most inches of rainfall of any state with 4 cities in the top 10.

Normally, one would think of Portland or Seattle, particularly with a coastal rainforest in the area. Based on days of measurable precipitation, Syracuse, NY is tops with 172 days with precipitation and Seattle is only number 5 and Portland is number 9.

I suspect Fort Lauderdale’s rainfall is skewed by that one major flood we had on April 12, 2023 with 25.91 inches in a 24 hour period. It certainly caused me flood damage.

I overdid it again today. I haven’t raked leaves in a while and I ended up with three large piles that needed to go into the yard waste bin. I had to take three breaks for the leaves and another break for sweeping the pavement.

After that, I could sit down for the pool filter cleaning but then it was back up hosing down the patio and watering plants and then spraying for weeds.

It’s getting to the point that I’m tired of doing all this. I could get a pool service but I would still be skimming leaves off the pool, checking chemicals in between service, and cleaning out the pump basket and skimmer. I could also get someone to do weekly yard service but I would still need to pick up the occasional palm frond, clear the patio of leaves, etc.

I’m at the point that an independent living facility is looking better and better. To be honest, I’m just tired of handling the every day joys of being a home owner. I would say it’s laziness on my part but it really isn’t. I just don’t have the energy for it any more and I don’t particularly like doing the chores any more.

At 76, life is winding down and I don’t think I want to spend the remainder or my years doing mundane things. Of course, the housing market in South Florida is not very strong right now. I see houses in the neighborhood for sale and they’ve been for sale for quite a length of time. I would need to clear a pretty good sum on the sale of the house to give me the opportunity to go into independent living.

Anyhoo, I decided the answer to everything was to bake the New York Times recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I made the dough yesterday and you are to let it rest in the fridge for 24-48 hours. I figure a chocolate chip cookies cures a myriad of ills.

Stay tuned!

13 March 2025

The Devil Wears Prada. At least that was the movie last night. It had been a while since Chris or I had seen the movie so it was a good choice. It’s a 2006 film with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier and Simon Baker. Streep plays Miranda Priestly, the boss from hell and Hathaway plays the clueless assistant Andrea Sachs.

I normally don’t like Streep. I think she over does it sometimes, particularly with her accents but in this one, she has no accent and nails the role of a bitch boss. Stanley Tucci is outstanding as Nigel, an employee of Streep. Adrian Grenier plays the role of Hathaway’s boyfriend who feels neglected because all Hathaway’s time is taken up with pleasing Streep. It’s a great movie with laughs, tears, revenge, and a happy ending, although you never know in the end if Hathaway and Grenier get back together.

Tucker was a perfect gentleman and Chris and I managed to empty another bottle of wine. Chris swears Tucker was not hung over from the numerous treats last night. No comment on how we were.

It’s another almost perfect day in the neighborhood except for the barking dog behind my house. I don’t understand people who have a dog and leave it outside where it barks for hours to get back inside.

I seem to have a problem with barking dogs. The house behind me and east of me used to leave their dog out all night and it would whimper and bark. I called the cops on them on night and that helped for a little while and then they went back to leaving the dog outside again. One morning, I knocked on the door and handed the person who answered a sheet on how to prevent your dog from barking. Of course, they denied it was their dog but I assured them it was. They still let their dog out but it’s during the day.

Another neighbor’s dogs bark at night when their owners are away. As soon as the owners return, the dogs quit.

I trained Rocky to bark at anything that came to the door or walked in front of the house. I also trained Rocky that when I said “enough” he quit barking. It’s a simple thing but so many dog owners don’t treat their pets very well.

When I took Rocky to obedience school (passed with flying colors) the instructor told us we were not training our dogs, the instructor was training the owners. We were taught, using treats, to teach our dogs hand signals first and foremost. Only later were we to introduce verbal commands. Rocky was always pretty good at both. Consistency is the key with pets. If you are consistent with what you are doing or asking, they adapt pretty quickly.

Last night for dinner, I made my mother’s recipe (or some facsimile of it) for new potatoes. Dad would harvest new potatoes (very small ones) that you could rub the skin off. Mother would boil them in two changes of water and then mash them, add milk and flour to thicken. I loved the taste. Mine weren’t as good as hers but they weren’t bad and provided me a memory.

My 9 am get-out-of-bed time has me a little behind. It’s a good thing I don’t have anything to do today except load the dishwasher and make the bed. That means once that’s done, I eat my fruit combo and then crawl back into bed to read and nap.

Stay tuned!

12 March 2025

Another crisp morning at 55°F, not that I would know. I stayed in bed until 9 am. I used to be such a morning person but I guess 8 am classes at the college had something to do with that. Now that I’m retired, I’ve become a night person.

I ran several errands yesterday. I had to go to three separate pharmacies to get my prescriptions and then grocery shop. The reason for three is one prescription is at Publix and there is a very significant price break at their pharmacy. The other two were at two separate Walgreens. One was at the one on Davie and Federal Highway. The other was my old Walgreens that had been closed for months due to a fire. It’s now open. However, I have no idea why my prescription was sent back there. It’s a good thing I’m on an antidepressant.

I need to clean the house today for Tucker. Movie night is upon us. I stocked up on wine since Chris and I pretty much put the hurt on a bottle a movie night. It’s Chris’ turn to select the movie tonight.

By the way, I reread a previous blog about the sitting/kneeling structure and realized I used the name Chris. I tend not to use last names when I post and this was not the Chris of movie night but another friend Chris. You can’t have too many friends named Chris.

No walk, yoga or swimming today since cleaning house tends to give me enough of a workout. The time saving device known as a vacuum cleaner gets harder and harder to maneuver around the floor, particularly when I vacuum under beds and furniture. I’ve taken to wearing a back brace for house cleaning.

I use Scrubbing Bubbles for the shower, basin and toilet. I have a scrubber sponge I keep in the utility room for that and have to get on my hands and knees for the tub and toilet. I used to keep that sponge in the shower because it was handy and the shower curtain hid it.

When Archie came to visit one year, I failed to take it out and I realized he might have been using it to wash with. I didn’t tell him he was using a sponge that I cleaned the toilet with. Since he doesn’t read my blogs, I’m safe. I chalk it up to payback for shooting me with a BB gun in Boyle, Mississippi. I have a long memory. I love my brother except when I hate him.

I fly out to Mississippi on the 23rd. I haven’t flown in a very long time and I know things have probably changed. I know some companies have changed carry on rules but Delta allowed me one checked bag and one carry on so maybe I will not be affected.

I figure if I start sorting pills for the trip today, I should be ready by the 23rd. Stay tuned!

11 March 2025

We’re back in “winter” weather, such as it is in South Florida with a morning temperature of 58°F and a predicted low tonight of 57°F. Spring was short lived. The high winds blew enough leaves into the pool that I emptied the pump basket and cleaned out the skimmer. Gusts are down to 26 mph this morning but I’ll be cleaning more leaves from the pool for the next few days.

Years ago, when I was teaching, I tried to give my students a preview of things to come since the advent of DNA testing, genome mapping of the human chromosomes, and RNA advances. In today’s New York Times was an article that gave credence to my lectures. Since the advances I mentioned above, the Holy Grail of medicine is to correct genetic defects. Today’s article will alter the way we will view medicine forever.

Like my friend Maureen asked, “For us science amateurs… what does this mean?  – M”. Let’s say someone has sickle cell anemia. It’s due to an autosomal (not the sex chromosomes) recessive gene (you must get one recessive gene from your mother and one recessive gene from your father to exhibit sickle cell). The mutation of the gene that causes sickle cell is a point mutation where one base pair on a DNA molecule is wrong. This new therapy leads to the possibility to change the one base pair out for the correct base pair, thus eliminating sickle cell. This is a game changer in science and medicine. Instead of taking a sledge hammer to change mutations, it’s like using micro laser surgery to correct problems. This is just the opening act and will lead to major corrections of multiple base pair mutations. Literally, the sky is the limit.

I don’t often wax so poetically about science “advancements” but this is the real deal and will change how medicine is practiced forever.

The rest of this week is clear after I pick up prescriptions and go grocery shopping. Next week is full of doctors’ appointments, a trip to John Knox Village, and a friend’s birthday celebration. I also need to pack for my upcoming trip.

As is becoming usual, I stayed up too late last night and got up too late this morning. I admit to lying in bed for an hour before getting up. It’s kinda nice!

Stay tuned!

10 March 2025

Ugh! Still feeling the after effects of the dryer vent fiasco and adding to that with daylight savings time effects. Before I retired, it took me a very long time to get used to the time change. Since I retired, I adapt a little better but I still have trouble adjusting. There are so many pros and cons for sticking with one or the other time. The change one way or the other would affect both health and economics of the country. My personal opinion is to go back to standard time throughout the U.S.

Today was lunch with Joel, Keith, Greg and Michael at Rosies. It’s always good to see Greg and Michael (I see Joel and Keith more regularly). Greg taught business and economics on my campus and he retired close to the time I did. He and Michael are great conversationlists and Greg and Keith have a lot in common with a dual Canadian/American citizenship. There were two orders of the famous BLT at Rosies, and I sent a photo to Wade to make him jealous.

Really folks, this is the best BLT on the planet. I think they had to kill three hogs to get the amount of bacon they go through in a single day. Pair that with sweet potato fries and you have two meals.

They have a special sauce that sets it off and you can have an avocado slice with it if you like. This is a handful to eat and almost everyone takes half home for later.

Michael is an artist and Greg, in addition to being a retired business/economics professor is a professional photographer. Both are very well traveled and that’s another thing they have in common with Keith who used to be a travel agent. Now we are all retired old men always willing to get together to catch up with each other over some good food.

We managed to miss the rain at lunch at Rosies. It is quite windy today with gusts up to 31 mph but Rosies natural vegetation provided a wind break.

There have been reports of tornados in Central Florida and we are predicted rain from 4-6 pm today in South Florida. If you think I concentrate too much on weather, just realize I’ve been through 4 hurricanes in Florida, two while at sea on the CGC Reliance, out of Corpus Christi, Texas, and numerous tornados in Mississippi. As a kid, there were many times Archie and I huddled in a basement with our parents until the danger passed. Let’s just say I have a strong appreciation for how dangerous Mother Nature can be.

One year, I was a counselor at Scout Camp Kickapoo near Clinton, Mississippi. I was teaching a Nature merit badge and was under a dinning tarp. Along came what I much later understood to be a microburst of wind which pretty much flattened all the tents in the area. It was a massive downdraft of air. It was gone as quickly as it arrived. I spent the rest of the period having the scouts in my class setting up all the tents in the Scoutcraft area that had been flattened. Fortunately, no one in the camp was injured.

Tomorrow I need to grocery shop and pick up prescriptions at two different locations. At this rate, I won’t be too long getting to the $2000 deductible that went into effect this year.

Stay tuned!

9 March 2025

Oof! Brunch at the Dune was a waste of time and money. At least we got a good view of the ocean. The entrance to the restaurant was a good hike from the valet. You had to valet and you had to provide a phone number for a text. Once the valet took your fob, you had to figure out the direction to the restaurant.

Once you made it down the runway, you entered to bar area.

I had requested an outside table. We got a great view of the Atlantic.

There were plenty of people in the restaurant and on the beach. Sadly, the food was just meh. The $21 Bloody Mary was pretty good but I’d pass on any of their meals. The hostess told John that the restaurant would close March 31. With their bad food, no wonder.

I am so sore from yesterday cleaning the dryer vent. I cleaned it quickly but when I went to put the vent hose back on, I couldn’t get it to stay even with an “O” clamp. It took me an hour of kneeling down and trial and error – mostly error – to get it reattached. Not only are my hips and knees sore today but so are my feet. I can hardly walk on them because I spent most of the time on the balls of my feet.

Add to that and it took me from 10 am until 5 am to finish washing and drying and folding the clothes. Part of the reason is a normal wash in my machine is 58 minutes. Add time if it finds an unbalanced load. Add more time as you try to readjust the load, and even more time after you take half of the wash out and let the cycle run, put that in the dryer and wash the other half. Mechanics and machinery are conspiring against me.

On a good note, Chris came over to deliver something to me after I got home from brunch. We both had commiserated about how hard it is to get up and down when doing tasks in the yard. In particular, I have trouble getting up when I clean out the skimmer in the pool. He said he had the answer – a bench that works both as a bench and a kneeling platform. I fully intended to buy one but forgot. He brought me a brand new one – and it included a pair of work gloves!

To use the kneeling part, just flip it over. It’s genius. What a great gift!

Tomorrow is lunch at Rosies. Stay tuned!

8 March 2025

Is it me or is March racing to the end? February, the shortest month, seemed long. March has 31 days and it’s like it’s almost over. Regardless, it’s another beautiful day. I should feel guilty for all those animal species up north called snow birds but I can’t. It’s just too nice down here.

Yesterday, I finished all my chores in about two hours. I didn’t realize it took so much time to clean the pool filter, hose down the deck, check the pool chemicals, water plants, and spray for weeds. I wasn’t trying to break a speed record but I thought I was quicker. Another sign of old age.

On today’s walk, a neighbor had two interesting plants. The first was Clusia.

I’ve blogged about this before but this is the first photo I have of the fruit before it opens into a dry capsule. It’s called autograph tree because you can etch your names in the leaves and they stay on the plant for an exceedingly long time. It’s native to Florida.

In the same yard, I found a sapodilla.

When in this stage, the fruit when picked exudes latex from the stem known as chicle, used in the manufacture of chewing gum. The ripened fruit is sweet and malty.

Today is wash day. I plan to take my time with it and relax in between washer/dryer events. I’m also supposed to clean the dryer vent this morning so that will take a little time.

Tomorrow, I’m going to brunch with John at Dune. It’s on the beach so we should have a great ocean view. John doesn’t usually go in for these fancy places but I think he’s turned over a new leaf.

Monday, I meet a former colleague from South Campus, his partner, and Keith for lunch at Rosies. After that, the week calms down a little.

Stay tuned!