1 August 2023
It was an interesting night. I waked with a damp feeling in the bed. I quickly hopped up and found I had bled through to the sheets from the drain insertion. This was with a bandaid, and tee shirt covering the incision. Dr. Burgers told me I might still drain a little but this was a lot. I immediately put a towel down between the mattress cover and the fitted sheet, added a gauze bandage to the bandaid (I couldn’t get the bandaid off to change it) and added a new tee shirt.
This morning when I got up, the new tee shirt was as bloody as the one the night before. I’m now washing everything after getting the blood stains out. Thank goodness for Spray and Wash and cold water. Clean sheets now grace the bed.
I’ve been given the go ahead for a shower today!
After my watermelon/strawberry/blueberry/yogurt breakfast and first cup of coffee I kept hearing a chain saw. I thought someone down the street was doing some clearing. Then I heard a massive thud in the front yard. It was my Bismarck palm. Reyes Landscaping agreed to cut it down in time for bulk trash pickup tomorrow. I didn’t think they would get to it this morning because I saw his trucks drive off but they apparently just moved down the street a ways.
This was a huge tree. I figure over 30 feet in height. What was really amazing is that it was still standing after everything this past year. I almost lost it last year when most of the fronds died off but it made a miraculous comeback. Then the lightning strike!
As you can see, there wasn’t much left in the center of the trunk. Unlike dicot trees like oaks, elms, etc. palms trees have scattered vascular bundles for the conduction of food and water so it apparently had just enough tissue to keep it alive. However, I wouldn’t want to have it still standing during hurricane season. By the sound of the thud when it hit the ground, if it had fallen on the house it would have split the house into. I’m surprised it didn’t crack the sidewalk when it hit.
A single frond from the tree was over 10 feet in length. This was a very big tree.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, the company does outstanding work. He asked for $400 and I gave him $500. It was worth it. They cleaned up my yard after felling the tree including blowing away the sawdust. I will miss this tree. It was the tallest in the neighborhood and actually produced a good deal of shade for the house.
I officially retired and went into the DROP (Deferred Retired Option Plan) on March 1, 2009. That’s my retirement date. I worked for 5 more years in DROP and left the college on February 28, 2014. As a consequence of my actual retirement date of 2009, I am entitled to a 3% cost of living raise (COLA) every year. The fiscal year begins in July for Florida so today’s retirement check showed the COLA increase. It calculated out to be 1.6%.
I contacted the Florida Retirement System (FRS) and got connected with an instant message screen. The person on instant message gave me a phone number and of course, all the lines were busy and call volume was greater than anticipated and then click. I went back to the instant message screen and she promised to have someone call me. My suspicion is someone made a gross error at FRS and they are getting a lot of irate phone calls that have overwhelmed the system. Nothing like fighting state bureaucracy the first thing in the morning. Hopefully, I’ll get it straightened out. It’s a $63 difference between what they gave me and what it should be. That’s a least one Starbuck’s coffee!
I have a lot of phone calls to make today to clear my Mondays for the next year. I generally schedule doctor’s appointments, dentists, etc. on Mondays so I need to reschedule those since I’ll be busy with infusions on those days of the week for the coming year. Now if I can only quit seeping.
Stay tuned!