Month: September 2024

10 September 2024

I did yoga stretches today but did not swim. The lightning had something to do with that. I still can’t lie on the floor on my back or stomach without intense pain but if I lie there long enough, it begins to ease. I may end up having to do physical therapy again.

The afternoon, at the moment, is fair but we are predicted to have some severe thunderstorms late this afternoon. The ground is pretty saturated so we don’t need the rain. At least I don’t have to add water to the pool.

I get up every morning and see dirty windows as I look out. I finally decided I couldn’t take it any more so I looked online for window washers. One came highly recommended with hundreds of completed jobs. His name is Juan and he said he could come out and give me an estimate today and if I agreed, he could clean the windows today.

Juan showed up promptly at 11 am and walked through the house and around the outside and gave me a quote of $280 for the job. I thought it was higher than it should be but when I thought about what he agreed to do (screens, tracks, and inside and out windows, I agreed to the price. He’s a hard worker and hasn’t stopped since he started. I do know that if I were physically able to do them (I’m not) that it would take me two or three days as it usually does.

You can see he does a good job. The windows are crystal clear. I told him I’d probably call him back for Thanksgiving and Christmas since I will have guests. I hate dirty windows.

I guess I’m of the age that I need to stop doing most of the work around the house and hire it out done. I may be looking into a cleaning service since I’m getting more lax. I’ve put this off because I don’t think a service will clean like I would clean but at this age, who cares?

I still do the pool but I may be permanently handing that off to Denyse. Right now I can still lift the wet pool filter in and out of the cartridge but I can see the day that isn’t gonna happen any more.

It seems I’m a little maudlin today so it must mean it’s time to plan another trip.

Stay tuned!

9 September 2024

I’ve always been a little slow on the uptake. Being subtle is not a good way to approach me because I don’t catch on to the hints or the innuendo. However, after a period of time, I do catch on. That’s why I almost always let something percolate in my mind before acting. An unusual noise in the house that I hear, I investigate but let it go for a day or two until I think logically about the issue and then correct it.

Today was one of those “Aha!” days. I was not thrilled with getting out of bed today to do the morning walk. You might say I balked. Then I remember something my friend Chip said to me. “Why not swim first?” Duh!

This morning, I got out of bed, had breakfast while scanning the news on the computer, pooped (Hallelujah!) and had my second breakfast while working the crossword, unloaded the dishwasher, added the breakfast dishes to the dishwasher and made my bed.

I then proceeded to do my yoga stretches – for the most part – and then headed to the pool to do my “laps.” They really aren’t laps because I swim in place with swim cords. I managed to do 300 “strokes” in the pool. That’s far short of what I normally do (700) but it was a start back in the pool. Thanks Chip! Sorry it took me so long to wise up. Walking in this weather is not a good idea. I’ll start morning walks again when it gets cooler in November.

A few years ago, Tom and Kurt “sold” me an outdoor table and chairs for my patio. I already had something but it was cheap stuff from Lowes. What they had in storage and offered me was a very substantially built set of some very hard, and heavy, wood. It’s not teak but something very similar to teak.

When I asked Tom how much, he said ten dollars. I said sold. As you might guess, every so often I would remind Tom and Kurt that I owed them money and every so often they would remind me that I owed them money. Kurt then got on the high horse demanding payment in Confederate dollars.

I decided to honor my debt today.

I’m not really sure it is authentic, although the price for it was. It’s on very thin paper and looks like it was cut out with scissors which the Golden Eagle Coin website says exactly happened in the later stages of the Civil War when the South was nearly at an end.

I spent some time with Kurt at Holy Cross today. He looks much better and he really appreciated I had paid him in Confederate currency. Later, Tom came in and we had some good conversation. Hopefully, Kurt will be able to come home this week. It’s got to be tough on both him and Tom.

Stay tuned!

8 September 2024

I was up at 7 and ready to do my morning walk when I checked the weather app on my phone and it said it was raining outside. I looked and it wasn’t raining yet. Then I looked at the eastern sky and decided not to do my walk along Riverland Road this morning. It was a good call because shortly thereafter, it began to pour down.

I met Tom at his place around 3:45 and we headed 0.1 miles to the offices of Island City Stage. That was, of course, after two idiots, in succession, blocked the keypad to get through the gates to Tom. I assume they were at the keypad waiting for someone to tell them the code.

At Island City Stage, on a specific Sunday, they have Mimosa Sundays with hors d’oeuvres for season ticket holders. If you are not a season ticket holder, you can pay to come. It was quite a spread.

They had champagne, bellinis, and, of course, mimosas. Tom forced me to drink two Bellinis and we both visited the spread several times. It was a really nice greet and meet and we met Roberto and Kathy. I ended up sitting next to Roberto during the play and Kathy sat behind us. Tom had us front row.

Die, Mommie Dearest! is what I would call a farce with overly emoted characters, often pausing for effect. To be honest, it was more entertaining than the movie that I saw years ago. There were some great one liners by the cast members and the audience really got into the performance laughing at all the right and wrong places! I’m even thinking of getting season tickets just for the Mimosa Sundays!

After the play, Tom headed to see Kurt at Holy Cross and I headed home. It was a great evening and I had a good time.

Stay tuned!

7 September 2024

The morning walk started with a light sprinkle. As I was heading home, it turned into rain and I had a wet hat, t-shirt and pants when I finished the walk. I made 1.2 miles but actually felt better during the walk compared to the other two days.

It’s been a busy day. I washed, dried and folded clothes; cleaned a little in the house; changed linen on the bed (still the most strenuous of my tasks) and cleaned the pool filter again. The pool had a build up of calcium and the pump is just now clearing it out so I washed the filter to rid it of the calcium it had from Thursday’s cleaning.

Since I purchased a yearly membership in Instacart, I ordered groceries from Publix again. I ordered them around 10:30 this morning and they were delivered before noon. That’s efficient. The shoppers must be running full speed through the store. I suspect the prices are higher than in the store with Publix. With Whole Foods, I think you are getting the regular price when they deliver.

I had a phone call from an old friend from Tupelo. I met Steve when I taught at Itawamba Community College (née Itawamba Junior College). His Dad ran the cafeteria and Steve was enrolled at the college. We became fast friends. I keep up with him on Facebook but we used FaceTime today to have a better conversation. He runs the Haunted House in Tupelo every year and he showed me backstage. I gave him a tour of my house.

Steve went to Europe with me in 1985. We also used to go camping while I was at the college and he’s thinking about getting back into it. He and his wife have two daughters and five grandchildren. It was great to catch up with him.

Jim seems to be recovering nicely from his surgery and I’m sure he and Holley needed a lot of sleep to compensate from the stress of yesterday.

Tomorrow I go with Tom to see Die, Mommie Die! a comedy at the Island City Stage. A friend of mine, Greg, is president of the board of directors. The play should be a lot of fun. It’s an intimate playhouse and there are no bad seats. Tom usually has front row seats there.

Stay tuned!

6 September 2024

During this morning’s walk I felt as though it was hurricane weather. It was 80°F at 7 am with no breeze and a lot of humidity. I managed 1.2 miles but was pretty soaked through with sweat and very tired. I still haven’t gotten my strength or stamina back. You’d think there’s not much difference between yesterday’s 0.9 miles and 1.2 today, but believe me when I tell you it was.

After getting my second breakfast and second cup of coffee, I showered, shaved and headed to Hollywood Memorial Hospital on Johnson St. Jim was having brain surgery today to correct a malfunctioning catheter in the vesicle of his brain. Memorial is a massive complex and the halls are maze you have to figure out. I finally gave up and saw a guy who looked like he had just come from completing a surgery. He led me left, right, repeat several times and pointed at a door and said “Go in there.” Of course, it was for personnel only but I bravely went in.

Three nurses immediately welcomed me in and took me through another maze to where Holley and Jim were. While there, I met two of the operation theater nurses, his anesthesiologist, and his surgeon (who looked very young). Hollywood Memorial is known for their neurosurgeons. Miami sends people to Hollywood.

When it was time for him to go into surgery, Holley took me across the street to the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital for lunch at their cafe. Several nurses told us to go there instead of the regular hospital cafe. Holley, of course, paid for my meal but not for the reason you think. In my hurry, I forgot my wallet and driver’s license.

You might ask, how did I get in to the hospital without my license? I had a photograph of it that I showed the security desk.

Anyhoo, Holley and I returned after lunch to the Surgical Family Lounge which had quite a few people waiting for their surgeon to let them know how things went. Jim’s surgeon, Dr. Buttrick, came in soon enough and told us that everything went smoothly.

By that time, Tom arrived and we waited with Holley until Jim was “officially” in recovery.

Hollywood Memorial has an interesting system to let you know where the patient is. You are assigned a number and the nurse hands your loved one a card with a color code on it. That’s projected on a tv screen in the waiting room.

Holly was allowed back to see Jim and Tom and I chatted a while. Then Holley came out and said they are ready to discharge Jim. Holley walked us down through the rabbit warren to the main entrance where I bummed three bucks to tip the valet – I didn’t realize I didn’t have my wallet until after I valeted.

As soon as I got home, I climbed into bed and read a little and then napped for an hour. Jim and Holley are home – who goes home the same day as brain surgery? The doctor said it was fairly simple and routine and he would do better at home than in hospital. Also, they didn’t have enough beds.

I wish a speedy recovery to Jim. Holley and Jim have always been there for me and Tom and Kurt and everyone in our group. It was simple enough to pay it forward – with love.

Stay tuned!

5 September 2024

It was my turn to choose the movie last night and I went with Rose Marie starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. This 1936 black and white movie holds up very well and is one of my favorites for several reasons.

For one, it’s obvious that a lot of the scenes were filmed outdoors (Lake Tahoe). Yes, several were filmed in the studio and you could tell because the background often was another movie screen. The green screen hadn’t really been invented yet. Secondly, it reminds me of my childhood in an interesting way – more about that later.

MacDonald plays an opera diva, Marie de Flor who learns her brother has broken out of prison and killed a mountie. She flees to the wilderness with an Indian guide to find him and becomes entangled with Nelson Eddy, who plays Sergeant Bruce of the RCMP, who always get their man. He eventually does but not before he figures out who she is and then falls in love with her.

The movie has an early role for James Stewart as the brother and David Nivens [Sic] as a suitor. Apparently, later David changed the spelling of his last name.

Two songs stand out in the movie. “Rose Marie” and “Indian Love Call.” You first hear the baritone of Nelson Eddy sing “Rose Marie” and later hear the duet with MadDonald of “Indian Love Call.”

My childhood memory is not of the movie. I didn’t see that until an adult when channel surfing late one night. It’s of the song “Indian Love Call.” My Aunt Mabel had a piano and a lot of sheet music. One sheet was of that song. If my memory serves me correctly (iffy these days) she would play it and she, Jimmie and I would sing along. Of course, after a while, Jimmie and I began to exaggerate the love call and I think Aunt Mabel gave up on us.

If you click the link on Nelson Eddy above, you’ll find out that he and MacDonald had an extended affair and she had numerous miscarriages of Eddy’s babies.

My second favorite movie with Jeanette MacDonald is with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracey in another 1936 movie San Francisco. She, of course, sings the title song.

I slept poorly last night (4 hrs and 43 mins) probably due to the two glasses of wine I had. I did manage to get out of bed around 7:30 and do a 0.9 mile morning walk.

Along the way, I saw another huge night blooming Cereus.

It seemed to be the week for them. I found another a little further down the road.

This afternoon, I had a two hour nap. I know it doesn’t really replace lost night sleep but I surely did enjoy it. Tonight is leftover pot roast with potatoes, carrots and onions.

Stay tuned and meanwhile, enjoy “Indian Love Call” from YouTube.

4 September 2024

I got a good night’s sleep. I insured I did by taking a sleeping pill. Even so, I had, what I think, three of the longest farts of my life as I was reading before bedtime. I’m talking about 6-8 seconds each. That doesn’t seem like a long time until you count it off. It seems I let out all the air they pumped into my colon. It was a relief!

I also got the test results back from the biopsies. He apparently went a little deeper on the endoscopy than I realized because the first pathology report to appear was on the duodenum. It read “No pathologic diagnosis. No evidence of malabsorption.”

For the stomach, it read “No pathologic diagnosis, Negative for H. pylori bacteria.” Hurray! No ulcers!

For the colon, it read “No pathologic diagnosis. No evidence of colitis.”

That’s great news but it still leaves me with the question of why I had three severe bouts of diarrhea in one month’s time. He might make me swallow the horse pill with the camera.

I’ll be honest. I was very worried about the potential results. My mind went all the way to colon cancer and everything else in between, so these results are a little freeing.

I actually feel pretty good today to the point Chris, Tucker and I will be doing movie night tonight. I also feel good enough to make a pot roast for dinner. It’s been a very long time since I’ve wanted to cook anything (other than sweets) and definitely a long time to cook that much meat. I suspect the left over aroma will drive Tucker wild tonight.

I might even get in the mood to start planning another trip. Stay tuned!

3 September 2024

My long personal nightmare is over. I never have to have a colonoscopy again! I have it in writing. Although, I’m a little taken aback by the wording. It says “No repeat colonoscopy due to age.” I guess I am now a geriatric case.

After the last prep at 10 am, I pretty much visited the bathroom every hour on the half hour. I was still “outputting” when I left the house around 8:20 when Joel showed up.

They took me back at exactly 9:15 and in a first, the nurse actually filled out the forms she needed for me. All I did was answer her questions.

Just prior, she coyly asked if I needed the restroom (Yes!). Her name is Christine (she goes by Casey) and she was very good putting the IV line into my hand. After she made sure everything was hooked up and running, she handed me off to a nurse who rolled me into an endoscopy room.

I met Dr. “O” who was my anesthesiologist. He ran through the procedure and soon after Dr. Feldman walked in. I get the feeling he’s not one to joke in the procedure room. The same could be said for my previous gastroenterologist in Hollywood. Maybe it is a personality trait all gastro’s exhibit.

Dr. “O” had me take some deep breaths and that’s all I remembered until I waked in the recovery room.

Both tests came back as normal. There were no polyps in my colon but Dr. Feldman took a biopsy to see if he could determine why I was having bouts of diarrhea.

The endoscopy, which went all the way to the stomach, reported a hiatal hernia (I knew about that) and he also took a biopsy of the stomach to check for Helicobacter bacteria which causes ulcers. He did find some inflammation of the esophagus but that’s old news also.

By my count, I’ve had three endoscopies and five colonoscopies. I celebrate that I will never have another colonoscopy. The prep for endoscopy is a piece of cake – not food or water after midnight.

Dr. Feldman mentioned he might want to take a look at my small intestines by camera. I’ll swallow a large pill-like device that will traverse through my GI taking photos along the way like a tourist. He said he’ll be in touch.

The only side effects of the procedure so far is a little residual pooping and gas. They pump air into your colon so they can get a good look. They actually gave me pictures!

Now you know all about the real me! The report also said my prep was “adequate.” I resent that. I usually get praise for how well I’m cleaned out. Of course, I cheated on the last prep and only drank 5 of the 6 glasses. Who knew I was going to be marked down on my clean out evaluation. Now I know how some students feel.

Here’s a tip – never mix the MiraLAX with Crystal Lite. That stuff is tooooo sweet. It’s like Southern iced tea – so sweet your teeth ache.

Joel picked me up after the procedure and we met Barbara at Mom’s for lunch. I had the country fried steak (I used to call it chicken fried steak from the Gulf Cafe in Morton) with mash potatoes and gravy with veggies. I passed on the overcooked veggies but everything else was great. It was good to catch up with Barb from her recent trip.

When Joel got me home, I tried for a nap but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Instead, I actually feel like cooking tonight and may make a pot roast to round out the country fried steak. I still may lie down for a nap anyway.

Right now, movie night is on with Chris. I usually am fine after a colonoscopy albeit a little more loopy than usual due to the residual effects of anesthesia.

Stay tuned!

2 August 2024

Happy Labor Day!

My day started without any breakfast except for the two cups of coffee that finally got me awake. From then on, it was a liquid diet or at least semi-solid one with lime Jello. I opted for the pre-made Jello from the refrigerated case. Later, I did a cup of Better than Bouillon, beef flavored, and then another cup of Jello. That stuff is addicting.

I sat at the computer reading e-papers for a while and then heard from Barbara who suggested I might be hungry after the procedure and would meet up with me and Joel for a late lunch. By then, it was pretty much 2 pm and time to start the prep.

I mixed one 328 g container of MiraLAX into 48 ounces of Gatorade last night and let it chill in the fridge. In case you are wondering, that’s 6 glasses of Gatorade. It made the Gatorade taste a little chalky but otherwise it was OK going down. By 3 pm I had finished the MiraLAX/Gatorade combination and decided to take a nap.

I realized something urgent was about to happen and jumped out of bed and made it to the bathroom just in time at 5 pm and stayed there for the next 35 minutes. You can play a lot of Solitaire on your iPad in that amount of time.

I hope they know what they are doing. I had not fully recovered from the last bout of diarrhea and here they are giving me diarrhea. Can I assume the Gatorade is hydrating with the amount of discharge I’m having?

I have no plans of getting any sleep tonight, particularly with the second dose scheduled at 10 pm. This time, it’s Crystal Lite. At least my back seems to be a little better.

The next 24 hours is censored.

Stay tuned!

1 September 2024

Welcome to the month with the most hurricane activity! We’ve been very, very fortunate so far. There seems to be a lot of activity out in the Caribbean and the eastern Atlantic so everyone needs to keep a watchful eye. The majority of the people I know live in an area that could be affected by a hurricane.

Sunday is a lazy day for me. It needs to be if I’m going to work the Sunday crossword. I managed to fill in all the clues except for four so I count that as a victory.

After unloading the dishwasher and reloading it with newly dirty dishes, I made the bed and then crawled back up in it to read. Of course, that meant a nap a little later. I got out of bed when a thunderstorm came rolling through. You could hear the thunder bursts as it approached from the south. It was moving so fast all it did was sprinkle heavily for a few minutes and it was gone.

Somewhere in the Netherland of dozing off, I remember the first “cuss” word taught to me by cousin Jimmie. We often played in the back of her Dad’s Shell station where there was a loft. We also had a swing that would swing out over the loft and into the void below.

She told me she knew of a very dirty word but I had to never repeat it because it was so dirty. Of course, I had to beg and plead for a while to get her to tell me the word. She whispered it in my ear and I apparently misheard her. I heard it as “funk.” Sitting directly across from us was a sign advertising Funk Corn. I began shouting funk as loud as I could as she tried to shush me. Aunt Mabel was in the front of the Shell station and I’m sure she thought I had lost my mind.

Trust me, I later learned the real word. After all, I was once a sailor.

I learned a lot from Jimmie. I learned Elvis played an electric guitar. She informed me it meant Elvis didn’t know how to play guitar so he had to use an electric one. Much later, I learned one of my favorite singer/songwriters, John Prine, did not know how to read music. He mostly stood in front of an audience and strummed the cords he knew.

Then there was the case where dogs were boys and cats were girls. As a biologist, I can now confirm that is not the case, although, my major professor’s son, who has a PhD in Zoology, misidentified the sex of his Dad’s cat. No one’s perfect.

Tomorrow is gruesome day. I start the procedure to clean out my intestinal system for the colonoscopy. I don’t mind the laxative, I don’t mind voiding the contents of my GI system. What I absolutely hate is not getting any sleep Monday night because of the frequent visits to the bathroom. I hate it when I don’t get a good night of sleep and it’s kinda hard when you are sitting on the toilet.

There may or may not be a post tomorrow. Stay tuned!