26 June 2023
Another rainy day, another small bout of diarrhea, and until a few minutes ago, no one showed up to work this morning. Situation normal.
Just a little while ago, someone rang the door bell and since that part of the house is closed off, I had to exit through the garage. I guy said he was here about the stucco job. I showed him the wall that had the skim coat on it. He kept shaking his head. He wasn’t thrilled with the person who did the skim coat.
The long and short of it was he said he could complete the job with a few more bags of mix and I needed to pay him $250. I told him I worked through the contractor and that cost had been factored in. I had to text the contractor to see what the deal was. The estimate was to include a finished stucco job. It’s irritating when someone outside a contractor starts asking for money. Hopefully, the contractor will tell him he’s covering the costs. In any case, if the finances get worked out, he can start as soon as tomorrow.
I managed a morning walk this morning for the first time in a very long time. It was warm but not oppressive. I didn’t do the full circuit but enough to get my blood pumping. I miss the walks, my yoga routine and my swims. I’m just getting back enough stamina to do it and then it’ll be time for the surgery and a six week recovery period and then more chemo. The only good thing to come out of this process so far is I’ve lost a little weight.
I’ve also tried to restart my basic diet. I think “real” food will help me get away from the diarrhea. This morning I had a banana with yogurt and for the first time in a long time a half grapefruit. Coffee still tastes like instant Sanka but tea still tastes OK.
I brew up a pitcher of Lipton tea and place it in the fridge. In the south, you boil water and then add tea bags. I use two family tea bags and after the water boils, cut if off, submerge the bags and let it steep for a couple of hours. I then pour it up into a pitcher and add water until I top it off. I learned this method from Arnema who used to work for Mom and Dad. When I want tea for breakfast, I pour a cup full and microwave it to get it hot. Works like a charm.
I have used tea “eggs” before and still do that occasionally, but I don’t like the mess of wet tea leaves left in the egg. My friend Wade in San Francisco got me hooked on Harrods blended black tea “English Breakfast No. 14.” It’s a loose leaf, hence the tea egg. It’s much better than Liptons but a lot more work.
I grew up on coffee. I’ve mentioned before that Grandmother Ruby boiled her coffee and poured some from her cup into a saucer and sipped it from the saucer after the grounds had settled. That was strong coffee I was reared on. I still love strong coffee.
I don’t spurge much on life but I do on coffee. I order my coffee from Blue Bottle in Oakland, CA. I got exposed to it one trip to San Francisco and was hooked. They roast the coffee on Tuesdays and send it out priority mail and if the postal gods smile, I get it on Thursday – often still warm from the roasting. Sadly, the gods have not been kind lately and it more often arrives on Friday or Saturday or even the following Monday but it’s still a cut above any you can buy in the supermarket. Priority mail has different meanings with different postal carriers.
It’s expensive, $21 for less than a pound bag of beans. I grind only the amount I need every morning. I get two shipments a month so that’s $42/month. However, another way of thinking of it is I used to drink 2 cups a morning so that’s 6o cups a month or $0.70 a cup. Let’s see you get that price at Starbucks. I long for the day my tastebuds readjust to Blue Bottle Coffee.
Hope springs eternal and I hope someone shows up tomorrow to (1) stucco (2) paint (3) and finish the utility room. Michel has already offered to help me put everything back after the vestibule is complete but I’m beginning to think it may not be by Wednesday.
Tonight, I plan on a hamburger for dinner. Like I wrote previously, I made the patties thin and plan to only have onion and dill pickles on it. I realize it seems like everything is always better when we were younger, but I really do think the best hamburgers I’ve ever had was when we lived in Boyle, Mississippi. Archie would ride me on the handlebars of his bike to a little hole-in-the-wall burger joint. (Can’t see that happening today with all the safety requirements with bikes.) Today, the burger place wouldn’t be allowed to open but those were the best tasting burgers ever. It was a weekly thing and it was addictive.
Stay tuned!