It must have really stormed last night. I knew there was a lot of lightning but didn’t realize the amount of wind. There were four large fronds from the Bismarck palm in the yard when I got up this morning. Those things are massive and each one probably ways 30-40 lbs and are about 9 feet long.
After my morning walk, instead of shedding my hiking boots, hat and sunglasses, I headed out to the front yard and began sawing the fronds up into pieces to fit the yard waste bin. Amazingly, I was able to get all four fronds (and fragments of others) in the bin. Too bad yard waste day is on Friday because I still have a lot of stuff to stuff in the bin, but it’s too full.
I seemed to be on a roll so I cleaned the pool and then needed to rake and sweep the side yard by the generator. I must be getting old. I had to stop several times and rest. I hadn’t raked the side yard for a couple of weeks (vacation, remember) and it was heavily covered in mango leaves. Once I raked it I then swept the pathway and it cleaned up nicely.
Mangoes are a pain. The blooms fall off and litter the ground (Rocky was allergic to the pollen). What blooms stay on the tree make mangoes but they begin to shed and you are constantly hearing a thump when they fall against the awning or roof of the house and you are constantly picking them up and putting them in the yard waste bin to keep the iguanas and rats from eating them. Then there are two major leaf drops during the year. However, they are the best tasting mangoes I’ve ever had and a little fruit and leaf drop and bloom drop is worth the mess for the taste of those mangoes.
It was hot work and it took me a couple of hours and I was pretty much done in. About the time I was finishing up I got a text message from the contractor and he said they were on their way to the house. They started on the outside paneling on the west side of the house (leaf drop, fruit drop and I was glad I cleaned that up). Tomorrow they intend to take out the drywall in the vestibule in the inside, front of the house. Sometime today, I’ll start moving some small items out of the way and let them handle the bigger items. They need to strip the wall paper, remove the dry wall up to 2 feet from the flood, disinfect, re-drywall, put a skim coat on, and paint.
I had to contact my insurance agent yesterday about policy changes in my flood insurance policy. They sent me a list of six changes to the policy and my agent assured me that (1) Wright Flood was not canceling my policy and (2) they were re-defining what was meant by the grade of my house. The step down from the living room to the vestibule will probably not be covered now and probably not the washer/dryer in the utility room because they are below the rest of the grade of the house. I fully anticipate the price to increase this coming year.
On top of it all, tomorrow is the first day of hurricane season.
On a better note, the port is bothering me less and less every day and I hope to finally have it so it doesn’t bother me at all once it has totally healed. Think positive!
I have a load of books on my iPad and have audiobooks on my iPhone, and jigsaw puzzles on the iPad so I should be ready for my 6 hour session on June 5th. I’m anxious but would like to get that first session over with.
I’ve decided to purchase some ready made sandwiches prior to each infusion to have something to eat. The infusion center provides cookies, crackers and water but I may want something more substantial.
Can’t wait to get the construction in the house done and the first chemo out of the way.
Taking down the outside paneling and getting ready to put the replacements up.
It’s really funny what sticks with you as a kid. I was talking with my cousin Jimmie on our Sunday phone call and we got started about the tree house we built in two sycamores (American plane tree) that grew close together that grew on the edge of their property and overhang my grandmother’s property. That led us into a discussion about the difference in the European or London plane tree. They are different species.
The American plane is Platanusoccidentalis. The London or European plane is Platanus orientalis. In London and Paris, particularly along the Champs-Élysée and the Jardin de Tuileries, they “top” the trees which means they produce numerous branches and provide a large amount of shade.
From there, we reminisced about our Aunt Eddie (I never knew how to spell her name: Eddie, Eddy, Eddy.). Actually, her name was Edna Lee Prince née Agnew. Aunt Eddie was deaf but could read lips really well. When she spoke, she had a halting, breathy, quiet voice. Jimmie and I would go see her when we were kids and she always had little things for us. She would peel and slice apples for us and a big treat was peppermint sticks.
If I remember correctly (iffy at best) there was a very large oak tree in her front yard and it had the remnants of a tree house in it. Perhaps that was what gave Jimmie and me the idea of the tree house in the sycamore. I also remember playing marbles in the dirt around that tree.
We both thought about the peppermint sticks Aunt Eddie used to always have on hand and Jimmie remembered they were called King Leo peppermint sticks and I remembered they were larger in diameter (to me) than normal candy canes. They also were “soft” in the sense they were not real hard and would almost melt in your mouth. I remember them in a tin. She would take the top off the tin and have us select one each.
Low and behold, King Leo peppermint sticks are still a thing. Apparently, they’ve been around since 1901.
Now that I think about it, I think she gave me my first candied apple. You know the type, a red delicious apple on a stick with a hard, red candied coating over the apple, guaranteed to take out a few dental fillings.
Her house had a front porch that ran the width of the house and she always had rocking chairs on the porch. I remember sitting in one of the rockers and watching the traffic go by on U.S. 80 that ran through town. At the time, highway 80 was the only coast to coast highway in the U.S. and it got a lot of traffic on its two lanes.
Later, she and Uncle Oliver Prince moved to Brandon and I remember mother and me stopping by to see her. To the best of my knowledge, when I saw her later in life she was bedridden. That seems to be a trait of the Agnews. Aunt Eddie, our Grandmother we called OtherMamma, and my own Mother. Sadly, Uncle Oliver fell into alcoholism (another trait of the Agnews – Hollie, my Mother) and he died a lonely old man. As it turned out, my parents had moved to Brandon and lived next door to Oliver. Mother would go over and visit before he died.
So here’s to Edna Lee Agnew Prince (1904-1957) who took time to entertain little kids and provide them treats.
Michel and I met with the Holy Cross Medical Group – Oncology team today. We saw, one at a time, Kathleen McTauge, the oncology nurse and office coordinator; Jessica Burgers the oncology surgeon; Alexandria Diego, genetics nurse; Karim Arnaout, hematology oncologist; Phil Fusca, oncology social worker; and Vivek Patel, radiation oncologist. It was a full morning with the addition of blood draws for genetic testing and additional blood work.
Both Michel and I were impressed with the members of the team and how they handled themselves and how they explained everything in detail to make sure we understood what was being said and what the options are.
Dr. Burgers first came in with news. The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) test came back positive for HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2). HER2 is a gene that produces a protein on the surface of all breast cells. Sometimes, the HER2 mutates. When that happens, too much of the surface protein is produced and this makes cells grow too fast and divide too fast (the very definition of cancer).
I am HER2 positive which means my cancer grows faster than other types of cancers and therefore may spread faster. That’s the bad news. The good news is there are several drugs available that recognize the protein receptors and target them specifically. In a word, HER2 positive means my cancer cells respond well to chemotherapy.
You might know me, I’m a little peculiar. The cutoff point for decision of treatment for HER2 positive patients is if the tumor is greater than 2 cm in size. My tumor is pretty much dead on 2 cm. Most of the data of chemotherapy on HER2 proteins are based on women’s breast cancer. However, most oncologists think that the positive results of chemotherapy associated with HER2 proteins (greater than 50%) will also apply to males. Age also makes a difference. My age is against me but my physical condition is a mark in my favor.
The question for the oncology team is whether to go ahead with the mastectomy on 23 May and then do chemotherapy and/or radiation depending what is found in the sentinel lymph nodes during surgery or to do chemotherapy first to shrink the tumor and then surgically remove any tumor left after chemotherapy. They called me this afternoon and the oncology team agreed on chemo first.
As I undergo chemotherapy first, they will look for the response. A pathologically complete response would give ideas as to additional therapies that may be applied. An incomplete response opens me up to newer drugs for treatment.
The other good news is that the drugs that are used for HER2 proteins work very well on any cells found in the sentinel lymph nodes which means they may not have to remove a significantly larger portion of my breast and axillae area (under arm).
If surgery is required, it will be 3-5 months later, I’ll certainly be on tamoxifen for at least five years.
Alexandria Diego was next to counsel me on the benefits of genetic testing. The company they use accepts Medicare and so it should not cost me anything. She informed up that 5-10% of all cancers are genetically based and they test for 84 cancer causing genes. There are three possible outcomes of the genetics test: negative, positive, or variance of uncertain significance. The negative and positive are self explanatory. The third category is when there is a change in the gene but it is unknown what the change means.
The genetics test is by the Invitae company and it an RNA and hereditary cancer blood test. They did that later in the morning. It’ll take 5-10 days for some of the results to come back and 6-8 weeks for others.
Many of you have heard of the BRCA gene. There are actually two: BRCA1 and BRCA2. If these are positive then it may pay to get a double mastectomy. However both Dr. Burgers and Dr. Arnaout indicated data did not support a double mastectomy.
Next up was Phil Fusca, oncological social worker. He went over several support organizations for breast cancer both nationally and locally. There is a great likelihood that I will be recommended for home health care for wound care. He explained there are two categories of home care: skillable and custodial. Skillable is something that improves your condition (changing the dressing of the surgery) whereas custodial would be like bathing, cooking, and cleaning. Medicare pays for skillable and does not for custodial.
Dr. Arnaout, medical oncologist gave me an exam and then spent time dealing with the chemo first option. The treatment before surgery includes (1) blood work (2) echocardiogram and (3) placing a port into the chest for infusions.
During chemo, they will infuse me with four drugs (TCHP) all through the port: Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin and Pertuzumab. These are apparently pretty powerful and pretty toxic. I can expect fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, pancytopenia (lowered red and white blood cells – 24 hours after each infusion I have to return to boost my white blood cells), risk of infection, cardiac side effects, hair loss (ha!) neuropathy and infusion reaction. These are very nasty drugs but they seem to have a real good effect on HER2 surface proteins.
I’ve always been concerned with having to undergo chemo because of the side effects. Katherine, when she informed me of the decision today, told me they have many ways to negate the side effects, particularly the vomiting and nausea. The biggest complaint is lack of energy or fatigue.
There will be one infusion of the four drugs every 3 weeks for 6 sessions. My math seems to come up with 18 weeks or almost five months. That would put my surgery off until around either the end of October or the beginning of November (happy birthday to me). Then I would continue to be infused with the four drugs every three weeks for 1 year. After that, I would be on tamoxifen for five years.
To facilitate the chemo, they’ll put in a venous port in my chest so I don’t have to have needle sticks every time. They’ve already scheduled the port placement on the 25th of May after I return from my trip. The first chemo session will last 4-5 hours. I’ll probably need someone to drop me off and then pick me up after the first chemo session because they’ll give me Benadryl to negate some of the effects of chemo. They do the infusion slowly at first in case I have allergic reactions to the drugs. After that, it’ll be 2-3 hours per infusion and I should be able to drive myself to and from.
Katherine is scheduling my echocardiogram to make sure my heart can take the therapy and then she’ll schedule a meeting with Dr. Arnaout’s nurse to go over “chemo education.”
Dr. Patel, the radiologist was last and the briefest consultation because the course of treatment (or lack of treatment) by radiation depends on the outcome of the surgery and the survey of the sentinel lymph nodes. He did go over some of the side effects of radiation which may include skin change, possible burn area around the breast and shortness of breath.
The only team member we did not see today was the dietitian. She was out but I was handed a packet of information. That was the second of two packets of materials for light reading I have to do.
I really appreciate all the support shown. Friends have been more than eager to volunteer to help me in any way possible. I don’t know what the outcome will be but knowing there are people out there who care about me gives me the confidence to go through this.
The team will call me as soon as they decide a treatment option – surgery first or surgery second to chemo. I’ll keep you posted.
I feel as though I am making progress on several fronts. I’ve finished my pre-op tests (x-ray, blood, EKG) and received final approval for the mastectomy. It was a little tense there for a while trying to get the oncologist’s office to send the request to the GP who then had to schedule the tests but couldn’t for several days because of a missing request. In any case, it got resolved.
The surgery is scheduled for 9 am on Tuesday, May 23rd. Actually, they want me there at 9 so that can pre-admit to the hospital in case that is needed. However, if all goes well, I should be home by the afternoon of the 23rd. If they have to do more surgery than anticipated, then it will be a two to three day stay at Holy Cross Hospital. I’m still waiting on the FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) report of the surface markers of the cancer cells to determine which treatment after surgery but they should be in before the surgeon operates.
I’m so lucky to have so many good friends. Michel will go with me on May 10th for a pre-op meeting, Barbara will take me to surgery, Tom will pick me up after surgery, and John will stay over two nights that I am home after the surgery. Many others have volunteered to help out during the 3-6 weeks for me to get back to my routine. When you start to think about it, mundane household chores become difficult – like changing sheets on the bed.
When I was a kid, there was no such thing as fitted sheets. You had two sheets, one you tucked into the mattress on three sides and one that sat on top and tucked in at the bottom. Fitted sheets are great until you get arthritis in your hands and try to put one on the bed. I can’t imagine trying to put a fitted sheet after a mastectomy. They don’t want me to even vacuum the floor after surgery.
Since I was able to complete the pre-op tests prior to my trip, I’ll be able to make the trip to Snoqualmie Falls after all. I fly out on United on the 16th of May at 7:46 am, stop at Denver for a short layover and then fly into SeaTac (Seattle/Tacoma) airport at 1:30 pm. From there, I get a rental car and drive 48 minutes to Snoqualmie Falls and check into the Salish Lodge. I have a 3 pm massage scheduled the next day to get over the flight and dinner reservations at 6:30 pm at The Dining Room. On the 18th, I intend to do Lower Snoqualmie Falls trail – all of 0.4 miles downhill from the lodge. After that, there are several waterfalls in the area I want to visit.
I’ll spend four nights at the lodge and then drive back to Seattle. I’ll be staying at the Paramount Hotel for one “night.” Actually, my flight leaves on the 20th at 11:41 pm. I have to be out of the lodge at 2 pm so I figured to leave early and tour Seattle, get a room, have a nap and then drive to the airport from the hotel. It’s a red-eye flight back through Houston to Fort Lauderdale and I land in Fort Lauderdale at 10:51 am on the 21st.
I splurged on the plane ticket and purchased first class seats for the entire trip. I’m getting too old to squeeze into economy and the difference between economy plus and first class isn’t too daunting to opt for first class.
That leaves me one day to recuperate from the trip before the surgery. I figure I’ll get plenty of sleep during the surgery.
As I mentioned in my notice, I had hoped to add to my travel blog with a trip to western South and North Carolina to take in some waterfalls, along with a visit with my cousin in Greensboro. Then came 26 inches of rain in 6 hours.
The trip was a nonstarter after the Fort Lauderdale deluge. I had everything planned out. I was to drive to Savannah and spend one night at Foley House Inn. It would have been the second time I stayed there and it’s a great place. They do a killer breakfast. My first time there was several years ago and I stayed in the main house. This trip I would have been in the carriage house section.
From there it was a short drive to Butterfly Ridge Mountain Retreat in Salem, South Carolina. I really, really wanted to stay in their Mountain View Suite for three nights. For a little extra, I added evening meals, because, let’s face it, the retreat is in the middle of nowhere and I would have to drive miles to find a restaurant.
I had even lined up several waterfall hikes: Opossum Creek, Long Creek, Blue Hole, Station Cove, Riley Moore, Bee Cove, and Lee falls. Some of the trails would have been more than a little challenging. I don’t normally think of mountains when I think of South Carolina, but there are several of the falls trails that are listed as strenuous.
From there I was to travel to Sapphire Valley, NC for a couple of nights at at Hampton Inn and more falls. There are three falls really close to the Inn: Maidenhair,Twin, and Fairfield Falls.
Then, it was to be three nights in Greensboro and then one night in Jacksonville before heading home.
That all went out the window when April 12 arrived. We had three solid days of rain before but it rained like I’ve never seen it on April 12th all day. I was just about to go to bed around 10:30 am when I heard a really heavy downpour. A couple of times during the day the rain had been horizontal and we had 4 tornado warnings during the day. I figured I’d better check it out.
Someone years ago had enclosed a portion of my front porch to provide a little more space to the living room area. It’s not much, but it adds about 4 feet to the living room. That means where the old, outside wall used to be, there’s a 5 inch step up into the living room. I stepped down to look out the front windows and stepped into water.
The area of the living room that flooded.
I’m nothing if not practical. I realized there was absolutely nothing I could do about it at 10:30 at night so I went to bed. Later, the high water mark there and in the utility room was 2 1/2 inches.
Floating laundry basket in the utility room.
It rose to 9 1/4 inches in the garage.
Everything was floating around in the garage but at least it didn’t get into the jeep.
The next morning I filed a claim with the federal flood insurance program (I’ve always kept that policy even though I’ve been declared in a flood free zone). They sent someone out two days later. By then, I had removed everything that had been soaked in the utility and living rooms and eventually emptied the garage.
The flood insurance is through Wright Flood and there is a $2000 deductible. The biggest thing is to remove and replace dry wall 2 feet above high water. Then I’ll have to remove the wall paper, have all the dry wall in that area refinished and painted. One contractor suggested I replace the indoor/outdoor carpet in the utility room with tile. I asked for a quote on both.
As you might guess, with insurance, it’s hurry, hurry, wait, wait. I still haven’t gotten a dollar figure from the insurance company nor a quote from the contractor. Meanwhile, mold and mildew progresses.
If that wasn’t distraction enough, on March 9th, I noticed a soreness around the areola of my left breast. I previously knew that the nipple of that breast had become inverted. I Googled male breast cancer and one of the signs was an inverted nipple. I called my primary the next morning and he saw me the next afternoon. He examined both breasts and immediately had me schedule a mammogram and ultrasound for both breasts. He wanted the right on done so he could compare the two. The earliest I could get an appointment was on the 14th of April. I even checked around to a couple of other hospitals and there was only a day or two difference in the times, so I stuck with my primary’s hospital, Holy Cross.
The morning of the 14th I arrived early for the mammogram and ultrasound and they got me in early. I had to wait, first for the physician to come to work to interpret the results of the mammograms and then again for the ultrasounds to be read. I knew something was up when a “patient navigator” asked to speak with me. She told me the results indicated I needed a biopsy. I got a little more concerned when she told me it would be two weeks before Holy Cross could do it at the Dorothy Mangurian Comprehensive Women’s Center where I was sitting with the navigator. Then she proceeded to tell me she might be able to get me in with one of two physicians that actually did the biopsy at their offices.
I really got nervous when she called me at home and told me she found an earlier appointment with Dr. Jessica Burgers for the following week. I made the appointment.
My friend Holley offered to drive me and after thinking it over, I realized she had been through this herself. I asked her if she would and if she would go in with me for the procedure. I figured she would know the questions to ask and be a good set of ears for me. She immediately agreed.
On the 21st of April, Holley picked me up a little before 9 am and we were on our way to the main hospital at Holy Cross. It took a little while before we found Dr. Burgers’ office but it was 9:30 when we walked in for a 10 am appointment to fill out paperwork. There must have been 15 pages of forms. Forms that I had already filled out online. Writers cramp set in.
The nurse took Holley and me in early and began taking blood pressure, temperature, oxygen levels, etc. Then it was more forms and more questions.
At 10:30, Dr. Burgers walks in and proceeds to explain the procedure. She listened carefully to any questions Holley and I had and answered them fully. The ultrasound indicated a mass that was 2cm x 1.1 cm x 1.7 cm. Apparently, that’s big but not too big. Dr. Burgers performed another ultrasound and she came close to the same measurements. Then it was injection with lidocaine and the biopsy. It was relatively painless.
Inverted nipple. A little bruising around the breast but just a couple of steristrips to close the incision.
I should know more if it is cancer and if it is benign or malignant by Wednesday.
Holley treated me to lunch afterwards and dropped me off at home.
The lidocaine wore off around 11:30 pm that night and by 1:30 am I decided enough was enough and downed two Advil. That allowed me to get to sleep and this morning it is much less sore.
27 April 2023
A lot has happened since I started this post. I got some references for remediation and reconstruction of the flood damage. The flood insurance appraisal came back. I got lab reports from the biopsy and today I had a long conversation with Dr. Burgers.
First, the flood.
The representative for Wright Flood sent me the appraisal and it was more than generous. In essence, after my $2000 deductible ($1k each for structure and contents) and depreciation, they will send me a check in 4-6 weeks.
I’ve had three contractors in to take a look. The first basically wanted to know how much the insurance would award and that’s what it would cost. I then called Servpro and they came out and they will give me a quote for remediation. A different branch of Servpro would come out later and provide a separate quote for reconstruction. My next door neighbor recommended the person who did their kitchen and he showed up today. I suspect if his quote is fair, I’ll go with him because he’s a one stop shop kind of company. I won’t have to get two separate quotes, like with Servpro.
The Biopsy
The biopsy came back about three days ago. In essence, yes, I have breast cancer. It is considered Grade 1 which means the cancer is slow growing and the prognosis is good. There was a bunch of other stuff in the report but that is the gist. What was missing was the report of the surface receptors of the cancer cells. That takes a little longer. That came today.
Cancer cells have all kinds of surface receptors but oncologists are mostly interested in three: estrogen, progesterone and Her2. They are either negative or positive. The cancer cells are positive for both estrogen and progesterone which means they respond readily to drug treatment. As far as Her2 receptors, my number is 2+. If it were 0-1, I would be negative and if I were a 3, I would be positive. A 2+ means equivocal. They will now do a FISH test (fluorescence in situ hybridization). Dr. Burgers thinks it will probably end up being negative. These receptor tests allow oncologists to determine the best treatment.
Dr. Burgers and I talked for around 30 minutes and she wants to do a mastectomy with follow-up of chemotherapy. I am scheduled for a team meeting with Dr. Burger’s team (consultants, counselors, etc.) on May 10th. I’ll need to schedule pre-op (blood work, x-rays, EEG, etc. with my primary). I leave for a vacation to Snoqualmie Falls in Washington state on May 16th and return on May 21st. Dr. Burgers anticipates surgery the week of the 22nd depending on scheduling.
The surgery will be outpatient under general anesthesia. While under, they will inspect sentinel lymph nodes to be sure the cancer hasn’t spread (and examine them immediately). If the lymph nodes are cancerous, they will remove them and I’ll have radiation therapy and, if not, sew me up and send me home the same day. The chemotherapy may be as simple as Tamoxifen or something more complicated.
I’ll have to have some help around the house for the first couple of days and no heavy lifting or exertion for 2 weeks after the surgery. I’ll have a surgical drain from the left breast for the first week or two.
It should be an interesting summer with remediation and reconstruction of flood damaged areas and breast surgery.
Anyway, stay tuned for more info on the Snoqualmie Falls trip and the surgery.
It was early in my childhood in Mississippi when I realized you marked the seasons with vegetation and not temperature. It only takes one 80+°F temperature on Christmas Day to understand temperature isn’t the best demarcation, especially when the year before there was snow on the ground.
The first sign of spring I remember as a child was daffodils (Narcissus sp.) poking their shoots up above the ground, even when there was still frosty mornings. My Grandmother Agnew (Ruby) had a row of them that demarcated the back yard from the vegetable garden.
Daffodils at Gibbs Gardens in Georgia
Later, I learned to recognize redbuds (Cercis canadensis) as a harbinger.
Redbuds belong to the bean family of plants.
You could find redbuds in the deep, moist woods and they were very common at Roosevelt State Park near Morton, MS. Soon after came the dogwood blooms (Cornus florida) and I remember my grandmother Ruby always wanting to go out to the park to see the dogwoods in bloom.
Dogwood bloom at O’Leno State Park, Florida
I always associate summer with the begonias my Grandmother Searcy had growing in enameled pails (not pots) hanging from hooks along the eaves of the porch next to the kitchen. You also knew it was full summer when Granddaddy Searcy started pulling watermelons from the garden and placing them in the dogtrot of the house outside of Pulaski, MS.
Grandaddy Searcy’s house in Pulaski with a view of the dogtrot.
They never really got cold on the dogtrot but if he knew the grandkids were coming, he would often lower one into the well to “chill.” Summer to me was sitting on the back steps of the “old place” and spitting watermelon seeds in a contest with my brother and cousins. I admit to being somewhat of a prodigy with my technique and distance in comparison with some of my older kin.
My Grandmother Ruby suffered terribly from hay fever in the fall and she blamed it on goldenrods, genus Solidago (a common perception back then) and would have me go through her back yard pulling any that dared rear their heads (okay, technically panicles of flowers).
Goldenrod
Only later did I learn that her allergy was actually due ragweed pollen, particularly from the species Ambrosiaartemisifoliawhich grew abundantly in her back yard ditch and garden. She didn’t have me pull those.
As a Boy Scout, I learned the sign of fall was when the Tupelo gum leaves (Nyssa sylvatica) turned red. I haven’t found another plant that the leaves change color any earlier than the Tupelo gum. As you might guess, there wasn’t much going on in winter as far as plants are concerned.
Any way, in that spirit, I’m proud to announce it is spring in south Florida! Although it is 57°F in Greensboro, NC, 45°F in Jackson, MS, 54° in San Antonio, TX, 40°F in Edgewood, NM and 22°F in Yellowstone but its 84°F in Fort Lauderdale.
I know it’s spring here because the yellow tab trees are in bloom.
They are pretty much the harbinger of spring in a subtropical climate.
Not only that, but the mangoes are in bloom!
Mango flowers are exceedingly small to produce such a large, delicious fruit!
Mangoes have an extended blooming period, some very early in spring like the one that hangs over into my yard and then some bloom in late spring to early summer. Tab trees are pretty much the first blooms of spring down here.
When I moved to south Florida in 1985, I missed observing the changes in seasons. At first glance we only get two seasons and it took me a while to discern our “winter” and “fall” seasons.
You have to be careful about trees shedding their leaves as a sign of “fall” in Florida. In subtropical climates, it’s not a sign of fall but probably spring. For example, the pongam tree (Pongamia pinnata) sheds its leaves in spring and then immediately blooms.
My grandmother Searcy not only grew begonias but she also had spirea in the yard that was also a spring bloomer. Right at the edge of the kitchen porch, on the ground, was a wisteria vine that produced purple flowers early in summer. On a warm summer night, you can’t beat the smell of wisteria wafting on the breeze.
My Dad taught me to make hot seed beds for garden plants like tomatoes. You generally planted tomato seeds indoors in trays and when they sprouted and got a certain size, you moved the young plants into a hot bed (a covered bed) outside to adjust them to the cold temperatures still around. After the last frost (based on an almanac) you then transplanted the hardier plants to their spot in the garden.
Dad, his Dad, and I suppose his Grandad all planted by the Old Famer’s Almanac. It had calendars with phases of the moon and listed on the calendar the best times to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, corn, peas, beans, etc. My Dad believed in the almanac and he often wrote on a regular calendar the almanac weather prediction for the day to see if it matched reality. It did more times than it didn’t.
I used to tell my students about when the Old Famer’s Almanac predicted snow in July in the U.S. . It was in 1816 and the almanac had a misprint and predicted rain, hail and snow for that month. It did snow in July in most of New England. It turned into the year of no summer due to the eruption of Mount Tambora in the East Indies (Indonesia). That pretty much made the reputation of Old Farmer’s Almanac and people have been planting crops based on the information within since.
I first learned plants from my grandparents, my parents, and other close relatives. Later, Boy Scouts taught me more and then I concentrated in botany in graduate school. I still tell seasons by the plants – even in subtropical Florida.
Sometime around the beginning of this month, I was taking a shower and while drying off, I heard a rip. That towel has a great pile warp which means it dries you really well (think little tiny loops of thread). However, there are two horizontal bands, one on either end, where there is little or no warp. That’s where it tore. It got me to thinking when was the last time I bought towels for the house?
I generally purchase linens and towels from L.L. Bean. I like the quality of the materials and they hold up over time. It also doesn’t hurt that L.L. Bean has a liberal return policy (often abused by customers). I searched my purchase history on the site which only goes back to 2014, so my towels, hand cloths, and bath cloths have to be older than 8 years. I guess, with all the washings over those 8 plus years, they decided to give up the ghost.
I shopped the L.L. Bean website to find something similar to what I currently have (after all, they lasted a very long time) but didn’t find anything similar. I have to admit, the company makes online shopping very easy. When you type in “towels” in the search, you get the entire set – towels, hand towels, bath cloths and bath mats. You can purchase the items individually or as sets.
The price is fairly steep but I figured if the new ones last as long as the old ones, it’s a good investment. Now comes the big question – the color. I don’t remember the actual color of the old towels but it probably was something like sea green, antique pine, etc. Who knows? Color is not my strong suit. I called them green. They seemed to work well with my 1950’s bathroom of gray tile with pink trim tiles. and pink bath tub.
This time, I opted for “Silver Moon” thinking it would go great with the gray tile. The order was 4 towels, 4 hand towels, 6 bath cloths and 2 bath mats. A little over $400 later and the order was processed, shipped, and on its way.
When they arrived, I immediately washed and dried everything and realized “Silver Moon” didn’t looks as great as I thought it would. It certainly blends in with the gray tile but I think I need more color contrast. Oh well, these towels will probably have to last another 8 plus years.
“Silver Moon” hand towels“Silver Moon” bath towel
The whole point of this post is the bath cloths. The pile warp on these new ones are nowhere near that of my old ones. That doesn’t mean they don’t dry well, just there’s not much warp.
New bath cloth
Compare that to the pile warp of the old bath cloth.
Old bath cloth
The first time I used the new bath cloths I was taken back in time to my Grandmother Ruby’s house. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom type of house with a linen closet just inside the bathroom door. I think my brother Archie, me, and my cousins Jimmie, Jean and Jo all used to climb up into the closet on the built in shelves. The shelving was impressively sturdy and we made a mess of the linens and towels while “hiding out” from my parents and grandparents. By my description, you can probably tell we were pretty small when we played in the linen closet.
Ruby had a simple tub and anytime we had to take a bath, we simply went into the linen closet, pulled down a towel and bath cloth (we called them bath rags), stoppered and filled the tub and crawled in. Most of the time, Archie and I had to bathe together. It was those bath cloths and bath towels that sent me down memory lane. The new ones are like all the old cloths and towels at my grandmother’s.
Back in the 50’s plush linen was not in the vocabulary. We didn’t know anything about thread count on sheets nor pile warp on towels. Ruby had a washer but all clothes were dried on the line outside (or in the case of inclement weather on a clothes rack set over the floor furnace. There’s nothing like sheets and towels and bath cloths dried in the open air on a clothes line.
They have that stiff, crisp feel to them (and back before pollution got so bad – the smell of fresh air). They were stiff enough they could actually scratch you dry. The size, weight, warp and feel of the new bath cloths were, to me, exactly those of my childhood.
By the way, when I bought my house in 1995 in Fort Lauderdale, there was a clothes line in the back yard. I tried once to dry my clothes on the line and gave it up when I realized the amount of pollution in our area (I’m close to the Fort Lauderdale airport and we get a tremendous amount of particulates from jets taking off and landing). The sheets actually dried a dingy gray.
I distinctly remember on one bath night where Ruby was overseeing me and Archie in the tub. Archie, ever the devil, suggested I needed to soap the tip of my penis to get it clean. I didn’t like the idea and protested but he could be very persuasive. I did. There was an immediate burning at the opening to my urethra. It continued to burn, I continued to cry, and Ruby continued to tsk, tsk and say isn’t Archie terrible and Archie continued to laugh. I, to this day, have no idea if Ruby knew what would happen or just wanted to see what would happen. Archie continued laughing his ass off at my predicament. I probably exaggerate but it seems to me the burning didn’t stop for a couple of hours. Some of life’s most valuable lessons are learned from asshole brothers. My only question is how he knew what would happen. I can only hope he made the discovery on his own and suffered the same fate as I.
Bathing together was not unusual. I’m not sure when Archie and I stopped having a bath together. Oh, and you always saved the bath water. Often times, mother or dad would draw a bath, finish bathing, leave the water in the tub, and then send us in to get clean. Since I was the youngest, sometimes I was the fourth person in the bath water. Bathing after mom or dad was OK but the water got a little less clear after Archie bathed.
When I went to spend some time with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Jack (Sue was my dad’s sister) I was shocked when she ran the bath for me and only put about 2 inches of water in the tub. I couldn’t figure that out since at home we filled the tub half way up the sides. Later, I learned that their well was going dry and they had to strictly conserve water. This continued until they finally got city water from the town of Morton. I have no idea when or where I experience my first shower but it was probably at summer camp in the Boy Scouts.
I’ve written about this before but it’s interesting how your senses can send you back to your childhood or specific events in your life -the feel of that new bath cloth against my skin, the smell of newly mowed grass in the summer in Mississippi, the sounds of whip-poor-wills at evening, or the taste of my mother’s home made lemon ice-box pie or the tactile sensation of petting a Persian cat.
It’s often said that blind people don’t have better hearing than any other person but they simply rely on their hearing more than sighted people. As a child, I think my senses were on high alert. My dad told me not long before he died that his sense of taste and smell were gone. He was already losing his eyesight and his hearing. I can now relate. I hated hot peppers as a kid and now I crave them. Anything to boost the taste buds. My hearing and sight are going and food doesn’t taste the same. My sense of smell seems undiminished and the tactile sense of that wash cloth made my day. I think I’ll keep the new bath order.
By the way, I’m keeping the old bath towels/cloths. I learned as a kid you never throw anything away. The years of the Great Depression still live on in my family.
I think my first Christmas boat parade was in Greenwood, Mississippi when I was around 9 years old. Mom and Dad bundled Archie and me up and drove from Morton, Mississippi to Greenwood (some 114 miles and a two hour drive). The Yazoo River flows through downtown Greenwood. Back then, the boat parade was tied in with a band festival where high school marching bands competed in a street parade. Boats of all shapes and sizes were decorated with Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and everything else they could think of. It made a lasting impression on me.
Last night (December 10th) I attended the Seminole Hardrock Winterfest Boat Parade (better known as the Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade). By my recollection, this is my fourth boat parade in Fort Lauderdale. My first exposure was at Pier 66 on the intercostal waterway on 17th Street. My second was at a private house on the waterway. My third was in a friend’s condo on the waterway and last night was at Secret Garden at the Pillars Hotel dockside. Of the four, I enjoyed the one at the Pillars the best.
Dockside at the Pillars Hotel on the Intercostal Waterway, Fort Lauderdale. P.S. that’s not a stain on my shirt – it’s Holley’s shadow.
This was the 51st annual Fort Lauderdale boat parade. It’s estimated that over a million people line the bridges, the intercostal, cafes, restaurants, condos, and multimillion dollar homes. One parade at a private home I attended was amazing. They probably had 100 guests and a huge buffet and open bar. They planned for the event the entire year.
The first trick in attending a boat parade is getting there (and back home). There are 16 draw bridges in Broward County and there are seven that have to go up and stay up for the parade. You better know the schedule are you can be trapped in between bridges. (We had to get past 3rd Ave and the Las Olas bridges.) Here’s this year’s schedule:
7th Avenue bridge – goes up at 6 pm and comes down at 8:30 pm Andrews Ave bridge – 6 pm – 8:30pm 3rd Ave bridge – 6 pm – 8:30 pm Las Olas bridge – 7 pm – 9 pm Sunrise bridge – 7:30 – 9:30 pm Oakland Park Blvd bridge – 8 pm – 10 pm Commercial Blvd bridge – 8:30 pm – 11 pm.
The parade is 12 miles long and reaches from the Stranahan house on New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale and goes to Pompano Beach, Florida along the intercostal. The complete viewing takes approximately 2 1/2 hours.
The parade route is in black.
Of course, you cannot just start a parade – you have to assemble it.
The closed areas are part of the assembly of the parade and the sequence is done at the staging area. The western most staging area is less than 1/2 mile from my house on the south fork of the New River.
The second trick to attending the parade is to find some place to view it. There are very few public places to view the parade from the intercostal – it’s all condos and palatial homes. And I do mean palatial. You can fit a few hundred people on the draw bridges but otherwise you have to depend on the kindness of condo owners or book a table at a restaurant with intercostal views.
Jim, Holley and I made reservations for the parade on July 4th. We were watching the fireworks for the fourth on the dock on the Secret Garden and decided it would be great to do the same for the boat parade. We made dinner reservations for five starting at 6:30pm.
Our original intention was to stay at the Pillars Hotel (the Secret Garden is their restaurant) but there was either a two or four night minimum (I can’t remember which) and the cost of even one night was prohibitive. By the time last night arrived, we were down to the three of us. Even so, all the rooms in the hotel were booked as well as all the rooms in the surrounding hotels. It’s rumored the rooms were going for $800/night.
If you look over Holley’s head, you’ll see what I mean by palatial. That’s one house (two stories) and the property extends along the intercostal where you see the palm trees lit up.
Dinner, as usual, was excellent. Holley had the scallops, Jim the veal chop and I had a filet mignon. The restaurant/hotel greets you with a complimentary glass of champagne. Jim and I ordered cocktails and we three also shared a bottle of wine. Holly’s desert was an espresso martini! By the end of the night we were feeling no pain.
When I attended my first Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade, it was mostly small boats blowing air horns, Christmas music playing as loud as they could get it, and even people on paddle boards and kayaks.
These kayaks led the parade!
Some of the boats would shoot fireworks from the decks of their boats.
The theme of the parade was neon Nightlife Under the Sea
There were not so many “little boats.” Most were mega-yachts.
Notice the two mega-mansions in the background. I think this was the Hardrock boat.
As you might guess, there’s money to be found in the parade. It’s estimated the parade brings in $50 million dollars to the city. If you enter a boat in the parade, you have to apply and fit within a specific category. For this year’s parade, there were six categories: charter, commercial, government, nonprofit, private, and showboat.
The charter category entry fee was anywhere from $500 to $1500. Commercial – $250-$1000 Government – $35 Nonprofit – $35 Private – $35 Showboat – $8000.
I have no idea the difference between Charter, Commercial or Showboat but I don’t think I could afford the Showboat. Commercial boats generally are advertising their company – mostly beer companies or restaurants. Charter boats are those normal charters available all along the intracoastal that are used as party boats during the year. Booze and food available for extra charge.
What you didn’t see was much Christmas theme. About midway through the parade the Santa boat came through and toward the end of the parade came a boat with a sleigh and reindeer. Otherwise, very little Christmas music.
I’m kinda like Mardi Gras with boat parades. They are nice the first time you see them. I went to Mardi Gras the first time with my cousin Jimmie when we visited her sister Jo in New Orleans. The next three Mardi Gras I was trapped in the city and couldn’t escape the traffic and crowds. Boat parades are nice if you don’t mind traffic jams (it took us almost an hour to get to the hotel which normally takes about 20 minutes) and tons of people. I’ve never seen Las Olas so busy.
I’ve lived in Broward County for 38 years and I’ve seen four boat parades. I think I’ll try to keep that average for a while. The best part of the parade was the food and company.
September 15th is the peak of hurricane season in Florida but we get almost as many hurricanes in October. With the devastation of Ian on the west coast of Florida, it got me to thinking about my experiences with hurricanes. By my count I’ve lived through five hurricanes and since I’ve been in Florida, I’ve had close calls with 13 tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes. If you look at the historical map of tracks of hurricanes of Florida, you can see why.
My very first hurricane experience was Hurricane Camille (August 17, 1969), a category 5 hurricane and the second most intense hurricane to strike the U.S. since the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 (in the Florida Keys). According to Wikipedia, the highest wind speed was 174 mph or 151 knots (1 knot = 1.15 mph) however, it was reported the anemometer on the Hotel Buena Vista in Biloxi blew off the roof at 200 mph. The hotel survived but barely.
It was my grandmother’s favorite place to stay while on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I had a memorable run-in with a giant oak tree which grew up through a second floor patio. I think I still have the knot on my head. By the time Camille got to north Mississippi where I was at Ole Miss, it was still a pretty powerful hurricane.
In 1970, I enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, went to boot camp in Alameda, California and Radio School at Governors Island, New York. I was sent to sea duty on board the CGC Reliance in Corpus Christi, Texas with very little sea experience. September turned out to be a busy month with two hurricanes near Corpus Christi: Edith and Fern. Strangely, Fern arrived first and then Edith.
What a lot of people don’t know is that when a hurricane approaches, ships do everything they can to put out to sea and not stay in port to weather the storm. The reason is seen below.
These ships were washed ashore at Gulfport, Mississippi during Hurricane Camille. They are not small ships. (Hurricane: Science and Society)
We put out to sea. A lot of people think the Gulf of Mexico can’t get rough because it is shallow compared to the Atlantic or Pacific. Not true. It doesn’t take much to make huge waves in shallow water. We were being hit by 50 foot seas and I copied one radio message from the CGC Dependable out of Brownsville, Texas that was towing a disabled shrimper off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula who reported 80 foot seas. Just to give you some perspective, from the keel to the top mast of the Reliance was 80 feet.
I remember sitting on the mess deck trying to keep food down when a wave washed over the side of the ship and through the water tight door (which apparently wasn’t so water tight) and flooded the mess deck. That will get your attention.
Hurricane Fern came through first and then Hurricane Edith. While at sea with Edith, three of the four engines on our ship failed. The Reliance was a prototype which had two diesel turbines and two diesel locomotive engines. We were down to one locomotive engine and could only do 4 knots. The hurricane was heading towards us at 5 knots. We limped back into port and rode the storm out in Corpus Christi Ship Channel. I got up the next morning and the mooring lines had been let out continuously during the storm and the gangway from the ship to the dock, normally at a 3-4 degree angle was now at a 65 degree angle. You literally had to climb the side of the ship to board.
Trust me to attract hurricanes. I moved to Florida in 1985 and moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1991. Hurricane Andrew struck on August 24, 1992. Even though Fort Lauderdale did not receive a direct hit, we certainly felt the effects. I lived in an evacuation zone and went to a public shelter (which was immediately declared unsafe) and we had to move to a second shelter. It was miserable. At dawn, without any sleep, I escaped and headed back to the house. The side of my condo was plastered in leaves. You almost couldn’t see the stucco.
In 1995, I moved to my current home and in August 2005, I met Katrina. What’s interesting about that is I had ordered a stand alone generator to power the whole house. It was delivered but getting it installed was the problem. It sat, unconnected, in my driveway all during the hurricane. We were without power for 17 days.
All the weather personnel told everyone that Wilma wouldn’t be too bad since it was coming through the Everglades to get to us. What they failed to take into consideration is there is not one mountain between the west coast of Florida and the east coast of Florida. It’s called the River of Grass for a reason. Wilma did far more damage than Katrina to Florida.
In what I would call “Close but not quite” are near misses. They came very close to Broward County.
October 12, 1987 – Hurricane Floyd – Category 1 – 65 knots June 30, 1991 – Tropical Depression Ana – 20 knots October 16, 1991 – Tropical Storm Fabian – 40 knots September 21, 1999 – Tropical Storm Harvey – 50 knots October 16, 1999 – Hurricane Irene – Category 1 – 65 knots August 30, 2006 – Tropical Storm Ernesto – 40 knots July 23, 2010 – Tropical Storm Bonnie – 35 knots September 30, 2010 – Tropical Storm Nicole – 40 knots August 2, 2013 – Tropical Depression Dorian – 25 knots September 3, 2018 – Tropical Storm Gordon – 45 knots August 2, 2020 – Tropical Storm Isaias – 6o knots September 12, 2020 – Tropical Depression Sally – 3 knots November 9, 202 – Tropical Storm Etta – 55 knots
Remember, on all these near misses, hurricane panels went up for the first 10 years and then shutters, and finally impact windows and doors. You have to clean everything out of the yard to prevent missiles from being launched against your neighbor. Coconuts are deadly in a hurricane.
If you live anywhere on the eastern seaboard or around the Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes are a fact of life. At least, with todays forecasts, you have time to prepare. However, there are always those who don’t. Evacuation zones are clearly demarcated and if you have a radio or tv, you cannot miss that you may be in one, yet people do not evacuate. What they don’t seem to realize is the danger isn’t necessarily the wind – it’s the water that kills you.
I’m overly cautious. I have impact windows but I kept my shutters. I close them each and every time. I figure it is cheaper to replace a shutter than an impact window. I’m also a former Boy Scout and I stay prepared. I have water filtration systems I use when camping and they are handy to purify your tap water if pressure drops from the treatment plant. I have a portable toilet with disposable bags. I have freeze dried food for three weeks. I probably am too prepared.
These days, experts say if you are not in an evacuation zone (I am not) then you should ride out the storm. The reason is if you leave, your are likely to be snarled in traffic for hours on the roads out of here and you may run out of gas before you reach a station to refuel.
I’ve done everything I can do to protect my house. The house originally had roof tie downs to the walls every fourth rafter. Several years ago I put them on every rafter (as the arthritis in my hands can attest). Still, there are no guarantees with a category 5 hurricane.
The greatest danger from all the near misses (as well as direct hits) are tornadoes. Ian generously donated at least three to Broward County and we were no where near Ian. Studies of Andrew indicated that many homes and subdivisions were destroyed by microbursts and F1 tornadoes, not from hurricane winds.
As a former Mississippian, I’m familiar with tornadoes. I’m the only one on my block who closed shutters for Ian. Everyone knew it would miss us but what they didn’t take into consideration were microbursts and tornadoes in the county which led to some fairly significant destruction in western Broward. The best thing I can say about hurricanes is they give you warning. Tornadoes don’t.
It’s probably been 25 years since I’ve changed a tire but I did today. With Fiona looking stronger and heading westward, I decided to go top off the jeep with diesel. As I backed out of the garage, the warning light for my tires came on and the left rear was reading zero pounds per square inch. I thought it a mistake and when I got out and looked, it was flat as a pancake. I must have picked up a nail somewhere.
I find procrastination sometimes beneficial. It allowed me to think about taking my flat to Ovidios on US 441 in Hollywood. I finally thought it through and decided to change the flat to the spare today and take it in early tomorrow to get the flat fixed.
I used to change tires frequently and not always due to flats. I had a red 1985 Chevrolet pickup (three on the column) and I would rotate the tires with that.
It was fun to drive up to a valet and watch them try to shift gears on a column. They had no idea where reverse, first, second or third were on the column.
If you ever changed a tire, you know one real problem is mechanics often use pneumatic wrenches to tighten the lug nuts on the tire. They can be almost impossible to loosen. When I had the red pickup, I purchased a four sided lug wrench which gave me more torque (thanks Leon Tadlock for that physics lesson) and I could loosen the lug nuts a little easier.
Sadly, it was stolen out of my truck one night. I sold the red truck to a fellow faculty member. He said he wanted something he could work on instead of having to take to the dealer. It didn’t have a computer and it was a flat head six cylinder that he was familiar with. When he bought it from me, that’s when I purchased a white 95 Chevy pickup. (I tend to hold on to vehicles for a long time.)
I was used to rotating the tires on the red pickup and I continued that tradition with the white one. It was shortly after I moved in to my current home (27 years ago) that I last rotated the tires. Ever since then, I’ve always let the dealership do the job for me. I’ve continued with that with the jeep.
Every vehicle I’ve owned had a different jack, lug wrench, place to position the jack under the vehicle chasis, different storage locations for the jack and lug wrench depending on the vehicle and different instructions on how to change the tire in the vehicle owner’s manual.
In the red pickup, the jack and lug wrench were under the hood. In the white pickup, it was behind the seat. In the jeep, it’s in the cargo space in the rear under a panel. For the pickups, I had full size spares which were kept under the bed of the truck. (Weirdly, one year I had a blow out of the spare when it was stored under the truck.) The jeep has a temporary, albeit full size spare under the panel and the jack and lug wrench are found with the spare.
I always check out the owner’s manual and it indicated where the jack was to be placed for a rear flat. The front tires have their own location. Even more peculiar was the spare should only be used for rear flats. If the front is flat, you are required to remove a rear tire and place it on the front and then use the spare for the rear you replaced to the front. Strange!
It took a while to raise the jeep high enough to get the spare to begin to lift off the ground. Before I did get it high enough, I loosened the lug nuts and surprisingly, I was able to do it without too much exertion. In times past, I’ve had to put a pipe on the end of the lug wrench to give me more torque (again, thanks Leon).
After loosening the lug nuts, I continued to raise the rear and easily removed the lug nuts, pulled the flat off and with a lot of effort, lift the spare into place and hand tighten the lug nuts. Then I let the jeep down and tightened the lugs. All in all, it probably took me around 45 minutes to complete the job. Tomorrow, I’ll take the flat in to be repaired. The spare is good for 50 miles at 55 mph. After that, all bets are off.
I was pleased that I remembered what to do and how to do it. I forgot how heavy tires are and I’ll more than appreciate Ovidios putting the spare back in the space under the panel. It was all I could do to lift the flat back into the cargo space.
is the magnitude of the torque,
is the position vector (a vector from the point about which the torque is being measured to the point where the force is applied),
is the force vector,
denotes the 
is the angle between the force vector and the lever arm vector.