6 December 2024
I tried everything to stay awake last night but finally succumbed at 8:30 pm. Of course, I was awake at 1:30 am. I decided not to try the sleeping pill again and just tough it out and I did finally doze off and get almost 8 hours of sleep. My energy level is back to what it was two days ago.
One thing that kept running through my mind was I needed to put out the garbage and yard waste bins this morning. I would have done it at 1:30 am but I didn’t want to wake my neighbor Mary Kay by rolling them past her windows. Anyway, I got out of bed at 6:30 am and took the bins out. You never know when they will be buy to pick them up.
While putting the last one on the curb, I ran into Chris, Ivan, Gigi, Tucker and Milo. I was freezing to death because the sun had just come up and I was in shorts but I stopped to talk with them for a minute or two before rushing back inside. The heat is getting a work out in my house.
By the time I was ready for my morning walk (1.3 miles) the sun had warmed things considerably and I thoroughly enjoyed the walk. On the way, I spotted a white bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai).
It’s kind of the more dowdy version of the bird of paradise.
My friend Rob Nathans used the white bird as his muse for many of his paintings and lithographs.
I think Rob liked them over the bird of paradise because the white bird is a little tatty and torn and looks like it has been through a lot – like Rob had.
Biologically, yesterday was weird. I pooped five times. Normally, I usually have two bowel movements a day but I set a record and they were all very healthy sized pellets. It’s strange I go from diarrhea to constipation to five bowel movements in one day. Poop seems to rule my life.
I don’t know if Mother put me in a potty training dress or not but it seems my life is fated to revolve around feces. She checked Archie and me for worms every year by having us drink two bottles of citric acid mixture. Trust me, that’s a lot for a young kid. We pooped for days. Filling up those little round cardboard stool samples wasn’t a problem.
On the rare days I was constipated, she would give me enemas. Mother was a big believer in colonics. I was not a fan.
I think Rocky thought I was a little bit nuts chastising him if he pooped in the house but praising him for pooping on walks and then picking up his poop and carrying it home. Actually, when you think about it, it is kind of crazy.
I’ve been hospitalized twice in my life (if you don’t count St. Joseph’s Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi in 1948) and both times were due to dehydration from diarrhea. So maybe you can see why I wax eloquently about solid poop five times a day.
Stay tuned!