Everything Fred – Part 127

21 September 2023

Miracle of miracles! I slept 7 hours and 45 minutes last night! It’s been a while since I’ve slept in that long. I still got up at 6 am. At least it was daylight when I did my walk this morning of 1.3 miles. I ran into Ivan and Gigi and we caught up a little while they were walking Milo. That’s what I like about this neighborhood. The neighbors know you and stop and speak and care about you. It’s been pretty much like this since I moved in 28 years ago.

Twenty-eight years ago and I was the new kid on the block. Now, I’m one of the residents with the longest tenure. I think only Mary Kay, my next door neighbor has lived here longer than I have. It’s very much a working class neighborhood and has become racially diverse. Everyone seems to help everyone else out and look out for each other.

My energy level is low. I had three bouts of diarrhea yesterday and have already had one this morning. Usually, day 4 after chemo is my down day but it seems to have hit a day early this week. Good thing I go in for hydration therapy tomorrow at 1:15 pm. That always gives me a boost.

I hope to have enough energy today to get to trimming back the other patch of Heliconia in the yard. I got one patch done last week and I put out yard waste today for pickup tomorrow. Maybe if I take my time and have plenty of rest breaks.

Joel and John are supposed to come over tonight and we are going to order food in. Ostensibly, it’s our Thursday night dinners back on schedule but more than likely, they are just checking up on me.

Last night I tried a Dutch chocolate malted. It was pretty good. My next attempt will be with Blue Bell’s Coffee ice cream. I’ll keep you posted.

When I was making this, I forgot to add the malt powder. I went back and added and re-mixed. It’s was pretty good without the powder but much, much better when added.

I still am low energy but I found enough to sweep the pool deck, tend the leaf garden (it’s still producing) and then trim the other Heliconia patch.

Here’s the Heliconia before trimming.
Here it is after the trimming.

Somehow, in trimming, I lost my homemade knife. I felt it slip out of my hands and down into the the Heliconia but I could not find it. It’s either still there or in the yard waste bin to be emptied tomorrow. I got another knife (not as good) and it kept slipping out of my hands also. I think the peripheral neuropathy has not gotten to my hands.

When trimming this patch, you also have to deal with bougainvillea. I should really wear long pants and long sleeve shirts when trimming this patch but I guess that would just mean I would tear the pants and the shirts.

The joys of trimming around a bougainvillea.

I jumped in the pool to cool off and then eventually had a shower in the outdoor shower. The temperature is pleasant at the moment but we are due some heavy rain this afternoon with the accompanying humidity. I’m glad I got this set of chores done early.

Stay tuned!